Monthly Archives: March 2007

Olympic Security English

China

I recently came across a book with the intriguing title “Olympic Security English.” With chapters ranging from “Giving Directions” to “Dealing with Brawls” this text covers all the bases. It is good to know the police will be prepared in 2008. Here is an excerpt:

At the Lost and Found Office:
Foreigner: Hello, officer.
Police: Hello, sir!
F: I’m Joe Kennedy. I’ve been notified to come here for my lost wallet.
P: Please give me the Report on Lost Article.
F: Okay. Here you are.
P: To make sure, will you tell me what’s in the wallet?
F: It’s black and rectangular.
P: What’s in it?
F: 300 US dollars, 3000 yuan, 2 telephone cards, and 3 credit cards.
P: Anything else?
F: And a photo of my wife and daughter.
P: Absolutely right! Here is your wallet. Please sign your name on the Report on Lost Article.
F: All right. It’s really incredible! A lost wallet can be recovered! Only in Beijing can this be possible!
P: The taxi driver found it and sent it here.
F: Thank you very much. I really appreciate your efforts.

While I am certainly happy for Mr. Kennedy, I have some serious doubts as to the veracity of this exchange. Only in Beijing indeed.

For more on the book check out: Book will help police converse with English speakers and Beijing police learning ‘Olympic Security English’.
Breezy Security

Not to miss Swiss

Europe, Other Places

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Europe was taking the ferry across Lake Lucerne to the small town of Brunnen. My father and I were looking for a little relief from the city life and picked a random out of the way place based on the description in our guide book. It was a fortuitous decision.

We stayed at the lovely Hotel Alpina, which was by far the nicest place we stayed in Switzerland, and a bargain to boot! The owner, Stéphane, was super friendly and very helpful. Originally we were only planning of staying one night but as soon as we set our bags down we made it two.

During the next two days we toured the nearby town of Schwyz, home of Victorinox factory, road a funicular up a mountain and a cable car down the other side. We found a great Swiss/Thai restaurant which was so nice we ate there twice.

About a month after returning home my father received a hand written note from Stéphane thanking us for our visit and welcoming us back anytime. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend staying a few nights. Below are some (slightly squeezed) photos from the area.

Swiss Peaks

Schwyz

Blue Cow

Espresso Hell

Europe

I guess Dante forgot to mention this particular circle. It is reserved for rude baristas and coffee shop patrons who order complicated drinks and refuse to tip. I came across this machine in the Zürich train station. Click on the photo for a larger version.

Espresso Hell

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Uncategorized

I am still in the process of making cosmetic changes to the site. For now I am using the vSlider theme from iRui.ac with a slightly modified color scheme. Please bear with me as I try and make improvements. Comments are back up and running with an extra spam filter in place, let’s hope it works!

The new colors are only temporary, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Even though I am living in the home of China’s most famous beer I doubt I’ll be able to locate any of the green variety. Oh well.

Bridge to Somewhere

Uncategorized

After leaving Qingdao for my winter vacation last month my first stop was Korea.

 

 

Unfortunately, I dropped my camera my second day there so I do not have many photos. Luckily, I was able to get my camera fixed in my next port-of-call, Frankfurt. Due to a somewhat random chain of events my father was able to take some time off and meet me in Europe. We had a great time traveling around doing the museum-church-historic site-museum route.

More later.

Long Time, No See

Uncategorized

To say it has been a while would be a major understatement. I don’t know if there is anyone still reading this little blog of mine; I have been away from keyboard and mouse for sometime. At first it was just the cold weather which was making me lethargic, then the end-of-term push that kept me away, eventually I left China for a while to do some traveling.

But never fear loyal readers I am alive and well. I will get photos and entries posted of my misadventures to Korea, Germany, Switzerland, and back to Korea soon. In the meantime enjoy this taste of things to come.

I want to thank my brother Kris for stepping in and shutting down the comments before the spammers had a chance to really take over. I am going to keep them turned off for the time being. If you really want to reach me you’ll just have to stay tuned.