Saturday, September 15, 2007

Notes

Terms used at home
Ah-mi-to-fu
Formerly a bodhisattva, after many good deeds became Amitabha. In Chinese, pronounced Emituo-Fo. Once a king, renounced his throne when he learned of Buddhism. Repeating his name 10 times will get you into his Pure Land on rebirth.

Bai Bai
Bow with hands together, pay respect, worship

Tone practice
Peggy sent me this great link for practicing tones in combination: tone samples I've added it to my Helpful Taiwan Links post, as well as a few other links, under the Learning Chinese section. Keep the tips coming!

Random picture

While waiting for a bus, this guy was off to the side cutting up some food into big squares. At one point he went over to the left side where a container was roasting over a fire, turned to us and said something in Chinese (which I didn't understand), and then proceeded to pull open the top...at which point a very loud explosion of air and fragrant smell came out (guess he was warning us before the big boom). I was already too full of muachi and other goodies to find out what this stuff was. Perhaps next time. Notice how the whole contraption is connected to his motorbike.

Class update
Zhang Lao Shi realized we spent too much time on BoPoMoFo in the first week to be able to keep up with the "one chapter a week" guideline that ShiDa has. So we sprinted through Chapter 2 in just a few days. This brings our writing vocabulary to 53 words.

One of the words we learned was 太 (tai4), which means "too". When doubled as 太太, it means wife. A sample sentence is "Ta shi4 wo3 tai4tai", at which point, Zhang Lao3 Shi said that we must use the feminine form of 'ta': 她. This led to a discussion of gay marriage, which Zhang Lao Shi said doesn't happen. Ke4 Rei4, another American, said it was legal in some states in the US. Zhang Lao Shi could barely believe it. She asked Li4 Shan if it was the same in Paraguay and Rini about Indonesia. It was clear from her attitude and tone that she didn't approve. Interesting cross cultural exposure. Though, to be fair, there are plenty of people in the US who feel it's not right either.

According to wikipedia, in one poll 75% of Taiwanese thought gay relations are acceptable. However, a law proposed in 2003 to legalize gay marriage was rejected. So far, no Asian country recognizes same-sex unions.

Mangoes
Yes, mangoes get their own heading. I still have a very large mango for breakfast as often as I can. I can no longer find the smaller sized ones. These big ones are almost too filling. I now look for the smaller of the giants.

as big as my hand, with thin seeds and lots o meat!

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