Dormatory room...

The Studentenwerk still offers me no dormatory room... Today a netpal has helped me to ask... and the lady said they can offer me a room right away if I can pay the rent since Sep... What a logic?!?!

A mess...

Today I have my first A2-3 class with Ulla, missed two lessons due to the Hawaii trip. It was a complete mess... many too many new words to be caught up, over 20 new pieces of notes and a whole new chapter? Plus... the A2-4 class with Wilson (also missed 1 lesson), thesis writing, and preparation for Germany (still no dormatory room, no flight ticket, phone card and so on...). I feel VERY headache...

A tragic story?

One of the questions which my mother asked after I come back from Hawaii was: "Have you talked with xxx recently?". Then she told me again the story of her friend G in Australia who married a foreigner. Seems like this time she's trying to convey a point... =p Like she often repeats, R is a painter, and the income of a painter is quite unstable. At that time R tried to purchase some old houses, renovate them, and sell them in the new look. But then the property prices went down a few years ago, and the couple had a very difficult period. G was very strong by supporting the whole family. So this time she stresses another point: R is playing golf, while G is having 2 jobs. He's only doing what he's interested. Many foreigners think like this way. But the hard fact is without bread, people don't live. G is strong and endurable, R is lazy. He doesn't even help to do the house-work, like he's exploiting his wife without contributing... blah blah blah.... Why talking all these to me?! =p

fait chier

After I asked what is the meaning of "merde putain chiez" I was taught also "bordel de putain de merde à con de chiotte de pute" and "fait chier"

I don't think I particularly like to learn these dirty language, but they are what I frequently encounter. =p For example, I never know why I learnt the words "shit" and "prostitute" so early in German and French.

Conference

At first I thought they deliberately assign all the groups who speak poor English into the same session, so the schedule is like this: Session 2: USA, New Zealand, Germany, Korea, USA Session 5: Taiwan, Taiwan, France, PRC (=HK), Taiwan Later, I find it's only a matter of paper number. BUT... none of the Taiwan groups showed up. Again, I never understand why Germans from big cities speak English so well (they learnt 3 foreign languages in Gymnasium). Loosely speaking, I learnt English since kindergarten... but my spoken English is choppy... Room Koko at Waikiki Sheraton and the Beach The Waikiki beach is very beautiful, but I don't have the chance to swim... =p

Hawaii

而家o係 Honolulu，數落成十幾年冇黎... 而家住係舅父舅母屋企，日日跟埋佢地出去睇樓，咁算唔算係好 "本山" (local) 既生活？最搞笑既係，我自從上星期五黎左呢度，餐餐都係食本山 style 既中國野，不過我暫時唔覺得我掛住香港... 好彩既係我係呢度都有得上網，又係用人地個 wireless =D Local Chinese Food and My Room 琴日有個朋友同我講佢發左個惡夢，佢黎香港搵我 (呢個係惡夢個 part)，但係我唔認得佢 (呢 part 唔係)... 係非常之古怪，但係發呢個夢其實係咪都冇得話點解？

The art of SOS

How I asked for help: Hallo! Ich bin eine Freundin von Eric. Er sagte, dass du in der Naehe von Tuebingen wohnst. Ich moechte fragen, ob es leicht ist, ein Zimmer in Tuebingen zu finden. Ich freue mich auf deine Antwort. :)

How Eric's friend replied my "Vielen Dank fuer deine Hilfe": "jederzeit, ich versuche kompetent zur seite zu stehen." = everytime, I try completely to stand at the side.

How someone sent me a SOS: "I wish to don't ask you to read again but I guess your thesis is almost finished and as you are workaholic... :p"

What a joke!?

十萬個問號...

近排好多人問我既問題： 1) 去德國做乜？ 2) 有冇諗過移民或者o係德國做野？ 答案： 1) 唔知做乜 (其實可以有個認真o的既答案...) 2) 冇諗過長住，德國都唔會俾我長住 近排我好想知道答案既問題： 1) 之後我會做o的乜，o係邊度？ 2) 點解某個法國人要離開法國去大陸，但係我從來都唔覺得中國(人)咁好? 3) 乜野係 "hermit"? 係 "曲高和寡" 定係 "自我中心"? (目前我仍然係覺得自閉唔健康) 4) 乜野係覺得自己一直o係度搵緊一樣野? 咁即係搵緊o的乜? 係要專登搵既人先會搵倒，定係亂打亂撞都得? 搵唔倒又點? 搵倒又會唔會自己唔知? 5) 十萬個為什麼....

Last HKU German Lesson

It seems the environment of a small class is really good. A few of them even took photos to have "family pictures" together with Herr Wang. Frankly speaking, I don't think Herr Wang is the best German teacher, but I think he's not bad, in a unique Chinese old man way, with other lessons (or occasionally rubbish =p) for life. L: "you are as clear as the depths of the sea" I am sure this is not my first time to hear such a comment, is it my problem?! =p Being able to give this comment on me, does it mean these people know me very well OR not at all? A paradox...

Books to read

Some books on my wish list after 31 Aug: xenophobe's guide to the French xenophobe's guide to the German The author: Drew Launay N.B. I can never imagine why these books are on hold in HKU library. Are they so famous? =p Will I be studying European Studies someday? =D

Surprises

Suprise 1: Received an email:

Didn't follow up your previous message. So how're you doing? Work in the new job or plan to stay in Mars? :-)

so I tried to reply with the language spoken in Mars:

vor 3 Wochen habe ich meine Arbeit gekuendigt. Ich denke, ich fliege Anfang Oktober nach Tuebingen. Aber ich habe noch kein Zimmer im Wohnheim und keine Flugkarte. Im Moment bin ich sehr beschaeftig mit meiner Masterarbeit. Wenn du Lust hast, koennen wir vielleicht im September zusamman Essen gehen. Was meinst du? =D

Then I received the reply:

Adfalskd, a;sdo09;kj ,;lkj sdfkj,, llaksdf- --..jlskd (translation: yes!)

Surprise 2: When I went to Cafe de Coral to have my tea before my German class, I splashed the whole glass of Cola. Quite embarassing, but no one scolded me. Instead 3 people gave me tissues, and the staff gave me a new glass of Cola. Glueck im Unglueck.

Surprise 3: Today is the birthday of Dr. Robin Sackmann. Amazingly, some of the classmates remembered, and bought him a singing candle, potato sticks, and cakes. He received a B'day card with his head printed on it (created with ICQ, costs US$15?), and also a self-hand-made Chinese style signature chop from Yan. The biggest impact of this event on me is that... I realize how unskillful I'm in creating happiness for other people.