Different Ads, different psyche

My friend M took a very "modest" Chinese "egg custard" ad in Shanghai this summer, and posted it on her blog. It says: "Macao's Lilian egg custard 'probably' is the best custard in Shanghai".

Weeks later, I found another not-too-modest ad printed on a menu of a restaurant in Santa Monica, which responds to the Chinese ad very well. The American ad says: "Omelette Parlor 'probably' (which is crossed out) the best omelettes in the west".

Just an interesting find.

Restroom Signs

I have been travelling a lot for the past 2 months... finally got some time to update my blog!

My currently 8-year-old super-cute niece has been visiting me in the U.S. once a year since the age of 4. I taught her some survival English sentences while she was here (those English lessons they taught in kindergarten NEVER comes handy in real life...).

One important thing to ask is knowing how to go to the bathroom. So, I taught her: "Excuse me, where is the bathroom?"

Then, when you arrive in front of the bathrooms, try to recognize the sings printed on either door (if, unfortunately, they don't have the universal icons on the doors, e.g. pipe/tie for men, skirt/high heels for women). If you see W-O-M-E-N, which means girls, then you can go in. And the way to remember women is easy. The word women starts with a "W", which looks like women's breasts, then "O" look like a pretty face a woman has.

So, there she goes without any problem at all time. Until one day, she returned with an anxious facial expression.

"What's wrong? You couldn't find the bathroom?"
"No", she said, "I found it."
"So, what's the problem?"
" I couldn't find the word you told me on the door. I didn't know which one to go into..."

I followed her to the bathroom. And see only one word on each door, without any icons or graphs.

"Ladies"
"Gentlemen"

I pointed to the right one, and asked her while she was doing her business:
"Ning-zi", I said, " Now you still think you're too busy to take English classes?"

I'm glad to know that her mom has already enrolled her in an English class, starting this September. Hopefully, she'll be more literate when she visits me next year.

Same thing in Chinese. Sure I always taught my students to ask:
"Qing wen, ce suo zai na?" before they traveled to China as one of their survival Chinese sentences, and how to recgonize the words "nan(2) 男”and "nu(3) 女". But, look at the following signs I took on the bathroom doors in Taiwan.

Which one(s) you can't tell right away?

The Name's Sake

Watched the morning news at KTLA this morning, and found out the most popular names of 2007 (per Social Security Administration):

BOYS:

1. Jacob
2. Michael
3. Ethan
4. Joshua
5. Daniel

GIRLS:

1. Emily
2. Isabella
3. Emma
4. Ava
5. Madison

Mmm... Not surprisingly, there are 3 out of the 10 most popular names in my husband's family!

The baby name expert in the show said that if a girl's name is ended in an 'a' sound makes the name sound more powerful. Hence the bella, ma, and va. Also, girls' names tend to be more romantic and old-fashioned these days. Of course the pop culture has another influence on the baby-naming business too.

The interesting thing is, many popular American names in the 70's have fallen out of the top 100 list. Therefore, when we were in high school in the 80's, those cheerleader types of names, such as: Jennifer, Julie, Stephanie or Megan, were not used to name baby girls in the new millennium any more...

This also reminds me my "Critical Thinking" class back in college. That summer in 2003, when I found out there were 7 "Jen, Jenny, and Jennifer" out of 35 students in that Philosophy class (thanks to my last name... it's on the very end of the alphabet chart that gives me the chance to hear everyone's name before the professor called my name), I decided it right away to change my American name back to my Chinese name. Ever since that smart decision, I hardly hear anyone has the same name like mine (though it usually takes a while to let people remember my name if they weren't told a story associated with it...).

So...Guess what my previous American name is? Haha.

Mao's Kitchen on Melrose

My husband and I went to a Chinese restaurant on Melrose after we watched the latest Indiana Jones' movie in Hollywood on Memorial Day.

The restaurant is called "Mao's Kitchen", apparently is in honor of the evil former Chinese communist chairman "Mao". The whole decoration is pretty 50'~60's Chinese communist theme. It feels pretty interesting to me.

The food is pretty tasty and authentic. However, I got very bad rashes after eating that fantastic pineapple fried rice... I guess it's the shrimps and fried cashew in it...

China's One-Child Policy

After reading all those sad, shocking or touching "earthquake" stories happened during the past few days in SiChuang province, China, I had a very weird and pretty sci-fi nightmare last night.

Skip my spooky earthquake-related dream, I shed tears when I watched the TV news, and saw those heart-breaking parents cried and howled when they witnessed their dead kid being dragged out of the debris of the collapsed school buildings. I tried to explain to my step-mom-in-law that this is the biggest tragedy for those parents, because most of the parents only had one child under China's One-Child Policy established in 1979.

I personal had a few chances to deal with those mainland Chinese "only child" back in college. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get along with them. One common traits among those only child is-- self-eccentric-- which is also criticized by many social observers.

One girl A, who's like the 1st generation of the One-Child policy (the first generation should be 29 years old now, so she should be about 22, 23 then in 2002), never showed up in the meeting for our group projects or always called in sick after the meeting started. She always made all kinds of silly excuses for her absence (e.g. my boyfriend's mom is in town...). And the funny thing is, A is actually the first person who told me that she's going to attend a Chinese graduate program for an "easy" master degree. For that, I despise Chinese people who is going to get a master degree in Chinese using their native-speaking advantage for a while (that was way back to the year 2002, before Chinese is getting really hot).

Another boy, X, about 18 or 19 in 2005, came to the U.S. for college, had lived with me under the same roof for a few months (thank G-O-D, only a few months...). During those months, X never cleaned the bathroom or kitchen we shared, always left a mess (let me just mention a bit about the stinky yellow stains on the toilet seat.... not to mention he'd never had the slightest idea that he should lift the toilet seat when he has to share a toilet with a girl). I guess those "little emperors" (one of the popular nicknames for the "only-boy" in China) never learned how to share things with other people.

X would also shout (or chant? I never got it...) every morning during his morning routines: doing exercises (that's good for him, if he didn't mean to jump up and down for the last few forms of his exercises...), shouting some words out of his chest to wake himself up (and also wake the whole house and neighborhood), and running up and down the stairs in a 80-year-old wooden constructed house...

Another example: X never properly knocked on my door after he found out I used to be an ESL teacher. He felt so lucky that he got to ask me questions regarding English anytime. Yep, I meant, any-time to him.

I actually had to post the rules on my bedroom door after he totally disturbed my daily life.

Anyway, I might be just in bad luck to meet the wrong Chinese "only-child"s. Only child in general does has some unique traits compared to the child has siblings. However, when the whole society and the whole country is going for the only child, they were, are, and will be spoiled in a way, or two.

A Teacher's Biggest Fulfillment

I hardly check my old Taiwanese yahoo e-mail account anymore; but don't know why, I decided to check it today, and surprisingly found out a mail from my former student J among hundreds of junk mails...

I was overjoyed to hear from her again. After all, it was the most wonderful feeling a teacher could have to have a student remembers you and contacts you, even after 6 years apart.

Here's what she said in the mail (in purple text, no editing at all, just delete her full name):

Dear Minnie, (yeah, don't laugh, that was the old English name I used when I was teaching ESL for kids. Why Minnie? Remember who's Micky Mouse's girlfriend? Minnie! Kids dig that!)

I havn't kept in touch with you for a long time. Do you still remember me?

I have been really busy during the past three years in senior high school. Luckily, now I get admitted to the department of foreign languages and literature in National Cheng Kung University, which is located in Tainan and is famous for its outstanding college in science and engineer.

As the matter of fact, I'd like to be an hotelier in the future. However, there isn't any department about hotel management in prestigious universities in Taiwan. As a result, one of the reasons why I want to study foreign languages is that I want to study hotel management abroad in the future and bilingual ability is important to a hotlier.

What do you think about my idea? Is it "correct"? Could you give any advice? I wonder that it is correct for me to major foreign languages just because I want to be an hotelier.

Sincerely Yours
J 5/3/08

Sure I replied her right away with absolute delight and some advice she wants.
Life is all good.

Chinese Hot Pot

I accidentally watched one episode of "The Essence of Emeril" on Food Channel yesterday (he's generally not my favorite cooking show host though), and surprising found out this re-run show (originally broadcasted in 2003) was introducing 2 types of Chinese hot pots.

He showed the audience how to build a Mongolion Lamb hot pot, then a Chinese seafood hot pot. The process he used and the result he presented looked somehow awkward for a Chinese like me who loves to eat hot pot a lot, and sometimes even have it for 3-4 meals in a row.

Anyway, it also reminded me how many "Americans" perceive the Chinese culture/food/ideology in a very biased (or "different" from we Chinese) way. For example, you can use so many different ways to build a hot pot. And not all the hot pots are made of hot and spicy, heavily seasoned with ginger, garlic and chilly pepper broth. There are ways to use only boiled water (that's the usual "broth" I use for my hot-pot), chicken broth, veggie broth, seaweed based broth... etc. to create a healthier hot-pot.

While I was watching the cooking show, I was so worried about the audience who watched it and copied the exact same recipes would suffer from the aftermath later. Without further understanding of nutrition concepts (e.g. the super high cholesterol content in that rich seafood hot pot will sent someone who has high blood pressure or chronic kidney problem directly to emergency room), and how to eat according to your own constitution and current physical conditions (e.g. if you have cold or flu, you should NEVER have that lamb hot pot...), and how to consume them in a mild or colder weather (hot pot, especially the hot and spicy one is definitely not an ideal meal in hot, warm weather), these 2 Chinese hot pots might make you sick, have constipation or diarrhea, heart burn... and then you will say "Chinese Hot Pot sucks!" and move on forever...

Just some observation from the cooking show.

On the top is a typical hot pot I will prepare for my family.

The Story of Stuff

I'm not sure how China is doing on environmental issues these years. I heard they have been more aware of it, and have been improving on air pollutions, conserving woods... etc.

Anyway, I got an e-mail from my cousin A yesterday. And checked out this website she forwarded me right away.

www.Storyofstuff.com

To sum it all: We should all do our parts in saving the mother nature, so our kids (can't even think about "grand kids"... ) still have places to go fishing when they grow up!

As a "foreigner" in this country for the past 5 & half years, I'm pretty proud of myself doing almost everything very "environmentally".

1. I don't have a car. I take public transits (though I'm thinking about getting a Toyota Prius these days to survive in L.A....)
2. I don't shop/buy a lot of new outfits (of course I lost control sometimes, thank GxD, the U.S. has the greatest return policies in the world. Or you can always sell it to a 2nd hand store for a bit cash and some conscience back).
3. I don't have an i-pod, blackberry, i phone, updated new electronic equipment every year (however, I did finally "upgrade"my cell phone I had used for 5 years to a camera phone last month... Hahha. Very happy).
4. I recycle everything I can and encourage (or nag at) my husband to do so.
5. I turn off the light every time I leave the room, even though I know I'm coming back in a minute and encourage (or nag at) my husband to do so.
6. I don't buy or keep chemicals in the house (all my cleaning products were passed on from the previous apt. owner). You can simply find out a lot of alternatives we used before 1950's. Hot water and vinegar, hot water and newspaper, hot water and lemons... etc. And, yes, "Windex" is definitely not the most effective product when it comes to window cleaning or dealing with a pimple on your face (if you don't get this one, refer to the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding").
7. I don't use hair gel, mousse, perfume. I don't do manicure or pedicure. Because I'm allergic to any chemical or aerosol products (I do use deodorant though. And I think everyone who takes public transit should do so. You can be NOT pretty, but can't be stinky).
8. I try to bring the shopping bags every time I do grocery shopping (I admit sometimes I got lazy or forgot about it. And the U.S. didn't ban the plastic bags like Taiwan, San Francisco or Japan, so I don't have to pay for plastic bags. Yeah~).
9. I recently start doing compost, simply hoping my herb garden in my balcony would grow better. Sure, it smells sometimes. But you'll have "organic" herbs in your dining table. Yum yum.
10. The list goes on and on...Blah blah blah...

Sometimes I'll ask myself, do I do such things above for the sake of saving $$, for my allergy, or for the planet of earth. I guess it's more on the $$ side first. Then, after you get used to it, you'll find out your "happiness index" (plus health) actually raise higher when you semi-successfully escape from this evil capitalism-induced consuming propaganda. Even though my husband or I could have become millionaire some day (finger crossed, we'll never know...), I will still keep doing a better job on converse our resources in the world.

Why? It's simple. I just want my kids to have some places to go fishing when they grow up.

The Year of RAT!! 鼠年到

Sure. I'm Chinese. And I know I've mentioned fortune teller too much here. But, I do feel the difference for this new year even though it's just started for 20 days! (Yep! It's only January 20th in Chinese lunar calendar today!)

Last year was a bit disaster-after-another for me (It was my own year-- The Year of Boar-- aka the conflicting year for me, since I was born in The Year of Boar as well). I moved from Nor Cal to So cal, travelled a lot, felt not settling at all, been sick a lot, experienced a lot of dramas (mostly from family and a nasty new neighbor...). Anyway, they were ALL in the past.... With the new year's coming, it does bring some new positive aspects into my life. And I finally feel a bit more like home here in this Lala Land.

I officially quit my "chicken wishbone" job as an over-the-phone interpreter at home. When I said "wishbone" here, it doesn't mean a good or lucky job in Chinese. In Chinese, we say a job that is more a torture than fun -- a "ji(1) le(4)" 鸡肋-- which means, it's tasteless, but kinda a pity to throw it away also... 食之无味，弃之可惜

Anyway, after pondering for a few days, I decided right after my mom's visit that I'm willing to give up those pathetic-yet-bit-help-for-grocery-shopping $500~ 600 monthly income in exchange of more focus on getting a Chinese teaching position I'd prefer in any independent schools in L.A. area.

"Neng(2) she(3) cai(2) neng(2) de(2)" 能捨才能得--No pain, no gain.

I reposted some old blog entries on the same day, so I got a examine myself, and rediscovered my belief and passion in education. When I read the old entry dated March 9th, 2005, I guess that's how I get here today-- tyr to becoming a fantastic Chinese Teacher.

Hence my new blog -- CT in Lala Land.

Lunch time. Chinese hot pot w/Japanese potato noodles again. BTW, those Tokyo green onions from Nijiya supermarket on Sawtell St. was AWESOME this season!!

The Heavy Woman Upstairs...

September 25, 2007 (old blog entry)

The follow-up letters did work a bit. I got a reply right away from the language school in Beverly Hills. Nothing promising yet. But, it’s a start.

Anyway, the woman lives upstairs of us gets up around 6:30 every morning (and she didn’t take a shower this morning… I started to sound like a stalker or pervert listening to the noise she makes every day… sigh). There’s nothing you can really do for this kinda condo co-living situation, so I decided to sync our schedule. If I get a regular full-time job, that will be the same time I have to get up as well. Besides, being a morning person is good to your health also.

What I’m gonna do today job-wise are:

• Send out more job-inquiry e-mails to at least 5 language schools within my zip code found on CitySearch website.
• Contact a tutor agency Mom told me.
• Re-organize my previous ESL teaching folders.

Of course life is not just about job searching, I’m also gonna do:

• Continue cooking 3 healthy meals a day for my husband and I
• Taking a walk in the neighborhood
• Watch a Netflix moive or a show in my DVR

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Yom Kippur

September 21, 2007 (old blog entry)

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur. Got to drive down to O.C. to meet my hubby’s family for the dinner tonight. Stay there for one night, and back to the city tomorrow. Hence, maybe 24 hours without keeping job searching going…

However, I updated my tutoring service ad and resume on Craigslist this morning. It’s always more effective and usually get more responses if you post or update it on Friday.

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