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Published: August 4th 2006
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Hi All,
Simon, Clare & the pie have enjoyed a few weeks in Singapore by way of a start to the travels. We are not really quite into full 'backpacker' mode quite yet as we have been staying with Jon & Kat in Singapore. Thanks to them for turning their home into a commune, and providing us access to comfort, full fridge, pool, wifi, luxury & a great time spent with them!
The luxury is about to come to an end. Mandarin lessons finished this week.... so we're off to China next week!
It was a little bit scary going back into the classroom after so many years, and it's been really hard work concentrating for 3 hours every day, but it's been great learning something new and we have really enjoyed the classes. The school was rather disorganised but out teacher, Joey, was GREAT - she has a lot of energy & is very passionate to teach us about China as well as the language, as she is from Beijing originally. We have managed to complete the 3 month 'basic' course in 1 month .... so now it's time to practise what we've learned. We have picked
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our 80 dollar 'luxury' models up a lot of vocabulary ... much more than I thought we would ....I must know about 400 words and I can count to 100 ... not sure I could do that in French anymore! We really feel like we have achieved something in this month. I quite liked being in the classroom again & using a different part of my brain! The hardest part is the pronounication as there are 4 tones / ways to say words. so you can have the same spelling of a word, but the meaning depends on how you say it : 'Ma' could be mum if you say it one way, but horse if you get it wrong!! 'Ke' can be thirsty, but if you say it wrong you could say quarter! It's a bit like finding the right note to sing - some sounds go up, some are flat, some come down & the other sound goes down then up. Have to use your whole mouth & tongue to make the sounds!
We are not learning all the Chinese characters, that would take too long .... but we are learning a few as they are quite interesting & tell a story
would you like to try some pie?
it might make a change from rice behind each character. Very difficult to write - have to buy these special exercise books with squares rather than lines, so we can practice writing the characters... feel like I'm at primary school again, learning to write the alphabet! Fortuneately (for us) sometime in the 1970s the Chinese managed to covert all the words so that they also have spellings with our 'usual' letters, although they don't sound the same as when we use them. E is Errrr and Q is Ch for example, but once you know that & can get used to it, you can figure out how to say things!
The daily routine has changed to a morning of some swimming & some homework, before the cycle to the station on our 80 dollar (that's about 28 quid) mean machines (BAT folks ... please note the name of the bikes ... can't escape from it!). Clare nearly got a pink one with a basket on the front, but decided the terrain might be a little difficult for it to cope with ...
We have met up with a few friends, some who have moved down from KL, and have done some 'sightseeing' .... although 'foodie
smith st
such a popular name ... even in Chinatown tour' might be a more apt way of describing it:
We headed of to Little India for some amazing curries: in one of the restaurants & Simon had something he really enjoyed which he thought was mutton, but when he commended the waitress for his gorgeous mutton curry she said that the restaurant was STRICTLY VEGETARIAN .... and the mutton was 'mock meat' made from soya!
There was a visit to Baghdad St for murtabaks (a kind of stuffed nan bread you eat with curry sauce) - very filling. Paul & Joyce have seen to it that we leave with full tummies of meat, inviting us to a Brazilian churasco for 'all you can eat' and also to their poolside bar-B-Q ... we probably ate as much meat in one night than we will for the next 3 months!!
One evening we went for something to eat at what I thought was a pretty normal / modest Chinese restaurant with the formica tables & plastic plates, but when I placed the order the women kept asking me what frog dish I wanted & I kept declining. She was quite adamant that I should be ordering frog .... but I stood
it's all yellow
coldplay concert .... unfortunately I can't add mpeg files on here so you won't get the full impact my 'I can do without it really, thankyou' ground. It turns out that we were at the oldest / most famous frog restaurant in Singapore ....
Other days we have tucked into simple but yummy hawker fare ... chilli stingray, stir fries galore, noodles, rice and some more rice, and the obligatory odd bit of intestine (take slightly overdone squid & multiply the chewyness but a factor of 20 and you're about there - we need to do some serious jaw exercise before we get to China!)
We were lucky enough to be here when Coldplay passed through Singapore on their 'Twisted Logic' tour ..... and managed to get tickets to the concert, which was fab!
And there was the footy .... well let's not mention that .... the pictures below say it all!
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cheryl r
Cheryl
Excellent.....
Hi you two, great to hear your news, excellent blog, am looking forward to reading the next one. Have fun. Cheryl.