自由式轉池

今日學自由式轉池，不過學唔識... 轉圈個時好易入水，同埋轉到冇晒方向...

Last lesson of A2-1

Today I had my last lesson for the course A2-1. Beatrice brought us some Swiss-style home-made bread and cheese for an end-of-class party.

2 CDs borrowed from Goethe's Library

I used my library card for the first time after applying it for almost a year. I chose 2 CDs with the topic "Reisen". The silly looking one: "Mit Alex auf Reisen Deutschland" is functioning well, ab 8 Jahre is printed on the CD. There is no English scripts, the content is too silly to be endurable... =p The more professional looking one for ZD does not run on Win XP.

Hopefully something else in the library is useful? I saw many many Duden(s), and I skimmed it a bit, but their content is a little bit different from what I thought...

Language exchange D1

Met D today in the afternoon. I told him the wrong MTR exit, ahah, so we had a slight communication problem in meeting up. =p Met J and her family inside Cityplaza, while we were heading to the "Taiwanese drink store", which was in fact an English tea "house" and it was full. We had drinks in EAT instead. I wonder what is "HK style" milk-tea... The next stop is Pacific coffee, since it was too noisy near the rink. D is the 3rd person to tell me that my German carries an American accent. *lol* Another remarkable joke (only the meaning is reproduced, not the exact wordings): A: Did you call me in German? D: No... I called you in English! A: Really? D: Maybe my English has a problem? Last time I called a friend in China, and he said I spoke in Chinese. I was flatten. A: Last time my freind picked up the call and said "wei", and I told him his Cantonese is very good, then he said he was speaking in Mandarin. =D At night, I had dinner with relatives at the Jade-garden.

Beta's B'day Gathering

Rain pours while we ride a 23 to Causeway Bay. B + P + I + A had shanghainese food at 小南國狀元樓 . Next to our table I recognized 2-3 juniors in BPS. I never know their names, I only know one of them is the sister of my primary schoolmate. Then we moved on to 杏花甜品屋 @ 翡翠明珠廣場 for dessert. B + I + P played their BT handys for a while, my handy stays very primitive. I tried to convince L not to give up his diploma from 2.10-3.55am, but I didn't succeed. Maybe it's only a matter of choice. Everyone has his/her own reasons. Along the way, I learnt a few new terms:

• "to throw a stag party", stag := one who attends a dance or party without a companion
• chippendale:= of or relating to an 18th century English furniture style characterized by graceful outline and often ornate rococo ornamentation.

Security

At around 3:30pm today, Pegasus called to inform me about the informal offer. Immediately I told K and L. A: I got the job!!!! L: bravo!!!! congratulations, you win A: and get the higher end of the salary L: damn they are even more mad than you were thinking Indeed, I should have thanked K for his kind advice earlier, but since our tension goes on, it is still strange. Finally, I find back a little sense of (virtual) security.

Regulations...

I was appointed as the invigulator for CSIS0406 exam at LE4 in the morning. A total of 6 out of 24 students went to the washroom during the 3 hours. I'd say the examination regulation about "a student must be accompanied by an invigulator to leave the classroom, if he/she is to return to his/her work" is a written non-existance. Am I being too serious?! At night, I had my German class again. I don't really feel I learn that much in class. I'm going to the class only to fullfill the attendance requirement in order to take the Start-Deutsch II test.

Email debt

Since I learnt how to Skype, I write fewer emails, and 5-6 email connections are thus broken. This week, my penpals begin to go after me for the debt... 5 days ago: G 2 days ago: M today: T + D and I still owe H an email. The last time I had penpals was around F.3 in BPS, with 2 friends from Turkey, and 1 friend from U.S. At that time, we were encouraged to have penpals for improving our English. So letter writing was my best skill for the composition exams in HKCEE/AL. Meanwhile, new connections are establishing. I have a feeling that June 2005 is when my German learning really begins, though I have learnt it for a year.

Revenge of the Sith

Went with S to Windsor Plaza Broadway for the Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. The film is quite exciting, and the digital graphics looks great. No one checked our student cards at the help-yourself ticket collection machine with cinema-staff assistance?! :D This is probably the second last time which I meet her in HK.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Quarrels out of nowhere

Er sagtet am 15 Mai:

mein Tipp an dich, ist einfach mich ein paar tage fern zu halten.

Eins noch. Wie du schon sagtest, dass ich deine Worte nicht verstehe. Nein ich verstehe sie, aber ich wollte sie nur nicht verstehen. Nun es ist nur, vielleicht wie du sagtest, du bist vorsichtig mit dem Worten. Aber bei mir... Sage einfach das was du sagen willst und rede nicht ueber den Brei. Ausserdem wir sind nur netpals und keine normale Freunde. Freunde sind es nur, wenn man sich wirklich kennt und du kennst mich ja wirklich nicht. Und noch was, es gibt kein Problem zwischen uns. Ich arbeite zu Zeit auf einen projekt. Du kannst es als Ausrede oder Luege betrachten, aber das bleibt dir ueberlassen. Ich wuensche dir viel Glueck auf deinen Interview am Dienstag und ich melde mich wieder bei dir, wenn meine Sachen erledigt sind. Sorry ich muss weiter. Wir koennen am kommenden Wochenende wieder unterhalten. Schoenen Tag noch.

Er sagtet am 16 Mai:

Hi A, I am K. I found out someone crack my acc. Did sth happen on the last few days? Please let me know. Thanks.

Das klingt ja wirklich komisch, dass ich nicht glauben kann...

So weit die Fuesse tragen

M called me in the morning, telling that she is going to switch to another job. It seems she's really busy lately. Later, I talked with N. He said my German has an English accent. I thought, this must be very terrible, because my English in turn carries a Cantonese accent. :D He adviced me to FORCE myself to speak more German (like what M told me yesterday), and to watch more German movies. On the other hand, N is living with two Chinese roommates in Aachen, so he speaks Mandarin every day. He told me his friends thought he's crazy. Right at this moment, I wanted to tell L about the common point that is shared by people learning foreign languages: they all think they are crazy. =p We had dinner at Wu Gong, Wan Chai. The place was noisy. Afterwards, I made a little effort looking for DVD/VCD with Gemran dialogs. The shop had two such movies, one of them is a III-rated abnormalie, and the other (which I bought) is "As Far as My Feet will Carry Me". The theme is similar to "Das Wuender von Bern" which I saw last week.

A Day Trip to UST

Today I met S at Yau Tong. I was told about "the two malls", and I have never been there, so we went there to have a look and were supposed to have a movie. This time I mean to watch a normal choice :D. Then, I discovered there is only a very small shopping mall there called the "Lei Yue Mun Plaza", and I realized "the two malls" are located at Hang Hau instead.

S und ich an der Universität zu Wissenschaft und Technologie

As there is no cinema at Hang Hau either, we took a van heading straightly to UST. Today, I visited the part of the UST campus that I have never been to: the food court, the student halls, the swimming pool and the basketball courts along the sea-side. Today was extremely hot. S showed me some tourist leaflets of Königsbrunn, which is *I guess* a middle-size town next to München. Now I have a feeling of what is "middle age". =) At 17.30, I called M, my German teacher who taught me böse Wörter and dirty languages. This is my first time to meet him in person, the feeling was quite funny, maybe because he always looks/sounds a little bit hyper **. We came across Ling (from SE) while we were walking towards the canteen, M said hi to her, his classmate :O. We stayed about 15 min in the canteen, I think he finally caught what I meant by "mein gesprochen Deutsch ist sehr schlecht." He said we could meet once a week in June for practicing German, *if I like* (the fav. saying from German/Swiss). Then he left, all the way in a hurry as usual (as in my impression).

** Side-story

At the moment when M and S shaked hands. I thought about these dialogs: [M warned me "lass dich virtuell nicht aufreissen", I asked S for the meaning afterwards] A: Hi! Ich habe die Bedeutung fuer 'aufreissen' gefunden. Das heisst 'Zeit fuer boese Woerter Uebung' M: aha willst du mir jetzt sagen dass es Zeit ist.... oder meinst du das das die Bedeutung ist A: Ich verstehe jetzt der Wort M: das Wort M: gut ebenfalls zwei bedeutungen welche kennst du?? A: zwei bedeutungen??? einen Moment bitte... A: I will copy and paste what I found... M: na ja zwei Zusammenhaenge A: [from S] god, who taught you such language? :) aufreissen = (for girls) being taken to the home of a guy and then persuaded/forced to have sex with him M: no no no not forced M: nothing criminal A: really? M: means more one night stand when guys are talking to each other M: really A: but my friend also told me 'persuaded' A: so the other meaning is simply 'to open (sth)' M: persuaded could be right but not neccesarily A: I hope my dictionary hasn't cheated me... M: to open is also right especially for fruit gumms M: aufreissen means open something very fast and mostly the bag will be sliced What would S feel if she knew this? At the moment when M shaked hands with me, I felt being brought from virtual to reality.

The World

I counted that we've exchanged 19 emails just for a meeting. How come it looks so complicated? This is our first time to meet after the laptop incidence, but I still feel quite strange. I suggested to go for a movie, but I didn't expect I was offered such 'alternative' choices. I was a little bit surprised if he could know all these entertainment places in HK, but it turns out I'm the one who knows where is the McAulay Studio without having to look up a map. Suddenly, I feel I am level-up. :D

• Woddy allen's "melinda and melinda" 19.50 @ broadway cinematique in yau ma tei English with Chinese subtitles
• Island of the Sharks 19.20 @ Imax in Space Museum TST
• Solitudes Multiples 20.00 @ fringe club (part of the french may) relatively expensive: $100/student Cantonese and French with subtitles
• The World 19.30 @ agnes b. cinema (Wan Chai) Mandarin with English and Chinese subtitles
• Brecht on Trail:I pledge (not) guilty @McAulay Studio 20.15 Cantonese

At first, we would go for Brecht (because M told me about "Waiting for Godot", which I mistaken was by Brecht, but it is in fact from Samuel Beckett), but it is in Cantonese. Finally, we watched "The World" instead. It is the only Chinese nominee of the Venice Film Festival. If I were to describe you about this film with a single sentance, I would tell "the main actor and actress commited suicide at the end"... =p

Today I spoke two sentances in German. *lol*

2nd Interview @ Entone

They called me at 3pm today, that they wanted to postpone the interview to next Tue. Well, to me it doesn't make a big difference... Kind of argued with K in the afternoon. =p Feeling very headache again, I went bed right after my dinner at 9pm today. Then I woke up automatically at 3am. So I checked my email, and B is saying that he's kind of recovered and we may meet tomorrow. Then I talked to L for half an hour. Then I couldn't go into sleep for another hour. I heard the birds sang again...

Feeling very sick

Could not even swim one turn of the training pool. The coach asked me "do you want to cancel the lesson today, and we will continue the next week?" I feel like I can't breath and have no energy.

Phone Interview with IBM OZ

Last Monday I received an email from IBM OZ about having a phone interview today. It says Jo Rabnott would call me at 10am HKT. She called me at ~10.15am. Her English was clear, so my worries about the accents were rather unnecessary. My English today is okay, much more fluent than yesterday afternoon. She was very very polite, which made me a little bit confused about what I should answer... J: Hi, this is Job Rabnott. [obmitted] How are you? A: I am fine. Thanks. And how are you? J: Thank you for your time for answering my questions. (then she paused, expecting my response) A: Thank you for your time for interviewing me(??). J: If you can hear me clearly? A: I'm sorry, but your voice is a little bit too soft. Could you speak a little bit louder? J: But I can hear you clearly. Is it better now? A: (Actually there wasn't any difference, but I just wonder what else she could do with the telephone connection.) It's all right. She said the interview will be short, that she simply wants to ask me a few quick questions. In fact, I have prepared 4-5 pages of Q & A over last sunday and monday. Finally they didn't turn out to be of much help. And the interview ended like follows: J: I am sorry to inform you that if you have no real working experience, we are unable to proceed with our interview, because this position is not for fresh graduates. A: (Don't you notice that from my CV?!) So should I apply for fresh graduate positions? J: Yes, you may just click on the web site and look for fresh graduate positions. I'm sorry. Good luck! Bye.

A usual Monday

Lis told me that the one who scored the highest in the Start Deutsch Pruefung can go to Germany for one month. There is a photo of that guy with Martin Bode posted on the notice board... How come no one has informed me about this when I took the test?!?! =p Received a phone call again for an interview tomorrow. I said I will have classes. She asked when my class starts. I guess I simply can't tell her the truth, I will go swimming tomorrow. So it's now on Wednesday. =D B is back again. I knew this when he asked me to find the book "Der Vater eines Mörders" by Alfred Andersch in Hong Kong. This book can be found in 4 universities, but they are all translations. The I recall he asked me last time "Why HKer don't read literature? The literature section in the bookstores is so small" What am I supposed to answer?!

Eclipse, from WRIGILEY's instead of IBM

After I was told that Aspartame can cause numbness, I performed a little survey on the chewing gums availabe in the supermarket. Today, I conducted my second investigation, and discovered that "Eclipse" is the only product that does not contain Aspartame. It is also the product with the best packaging vs. its cost.

Eclipse

However, it still contains sweeteners 950 & 955 with side-effects. The conclusion from my little study is that the safest mint product can be Tic-Tac and Polo, if getting fat is not a concern. =p 951 Aspartame May provoke a variety of health effects from headaches, blurred vision, seizure, numbness, insomnia, memory loss, eye problems, hyperactivity, rashes, ear ringing, slurred speech. 952 Sodium and Calcium Cyclamate Causes bladder cancer and testicular atrophy in rats. 954 Saccharin Causes bladder cancer in rats. 950 Acesulphame K Can stimulate insulin and aggravate hypoglycaemia. 955 Sucralose Causes thymus glands to shrink in animal tests.

Was wolltest du als Kind werden?

Als Kind wollte ich Managerin in einem Eisgeschäft werden, weil ich viel leckeres Eis mit verschiedenen Aromen essen kann. Leider im Moment kann ich noch nicht, weil die Miete in Hongkong zu teuer ist, deshalb habe ich nicht genug Geld ein Geschäft zu eröffnen. Mein Vater ist Landvermessungsingenieur, und meine Mutter war Krankenschwester, aber ich habe keine Lust diese Berufe zu machen, weil die anstrengende Arbeiten sind. Außerdem habe ich Angst vor Blut, also könnte ich nicht Krankschwester werden. Zum Glück durfte ich meinen Beruf selbst bestimmen. Jetzt bin ich eine Informatik-Studentin. Beim Programmieren macht mir viel Spaß.

Ein paar Scherze

Nach lerne ich fast ein Jahr Deutsch, mehr Unfälle sind entdeckt, obwohl ich noch nicht weiss, ob Ogamer 11 oder 23 ist. Scherz 1: A: wohnst du in HK? O: was ist hk? A: es ist ein Stadt. O: ja ich komme aus HB A: ok... ich komme aus HH. O: komst du erlich aus hong kong A: Eckt... kommst du erlich aus HB? ;) O: ja klar Anmerkung: == Names of the States == BW Baden-Württemberg BY Bayern (Bavaria) BE Berlin BB Brandenburg HB Bremen HH Hamburg HE Hessen (Hesse) MV Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) NI Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) NW Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) RP Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate) SL Saarland SN Sachsen (Saxony) ST Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt) SH Schleswig-Holstein TH Thüringen (Thuringia) Scherz 2: A: vielleicht kannst du um Easter [sic.] nach Deutchland farhen.. ?: ich bin in deutschland A: Hey... I'm not supposed to know that... ?: was is ???????????????????????????????????????????????? A: ich weiss auch nicht. ?: was ist da Hey... I'm not supposed to know that. A: Das bedeutet ?????????? auf Deutsch... =p ?: wwwwaaaaasssss ist was meinst du ich ferstehe nur BAHNHOF A: ich farhe mit dem Bahn nicht ... ?: das heist (ich farhe mit der bahn) A: ok. danke. Anmerkung: "ich verstehe nur BAHNHOF" - It's all Greek to me.

金龍船

今日去金龍船，見度倒米既服務態度... 之後轉左去香辣屋... 諗起個日 E 問我聞唔聞倒佢有煙味... 我答：少少啦，不過你個隻唔係好難聞... 上次我聞過隻好臭 [o係 HW327]... 佢話：梗係啦，我唔會好似o的傻仔咁噴晒落自己個身度，我向上噴o架嘛.... 我隻牌子好咪唔臭咯... (我諗)：乜原來食煙都有咁既學問...