About every 4 months I get a flyback, means: I return to Germany for something, which supposingly is vacation. Didn’t fully work out as vacation this time. Those, who know me, can imagine why. I had just one week in Germany. And nearly no entirely ‘free’ day… I wanted to see people, and there are even some people who wanted to see me 😉 Makes in total a pretty packed week. Continue reading Flyback
Category Archives: China
China, mainland and others (Tibet, Hongkong, Macau…)
John Paul II.
The passing of Pope John Paul II is even mentioned in today’s paper issue of the English newspaper China Daily on the title page (however, below the break). When reading ahead we were a bit surprised by the tactlessness of Chinese officials who–according to China Daily–combined a condolence note with stating that relations to the Vatican could be improved if the Vatican would stop diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Continue reading John Paul II.
Salsa
And nearly gone is March now, without any entry on the site. That cannot stay like that… Why couldn’t I do any updates? Because I’m working all day and night and weekend long? Certainly, that is part of the problem. But it got worse: Since a good week I’m learning Salsa… Continue reading Salsa
Pool II and Intersection Warden
Pool Addendum
Today, above mentioned workers took care of the other half of the pool. And it seems that they learned their lesson: Again the night before some ice grew on the water’s surface. Not as much as before, but something. And they started their activities in the part of the pool which was hit by the sun first. No smashing of ice, no heaving of buckets, they could start with their mops and cleaning machines nearly right away! Some light at the end of the tunnel…
Continue reading Pool II and Intersection Warden
About Taxis on Chinese, Fools, and Book Stores
I got up late today, some when in the middle of the day, as I worked late on an Update Notification mechanism for Sonux.net, soon to be released, but not yet ready… I saw bright sun shine and thought that I ought to have to go to down town again, where I haven’t been for quite some time.
Taxi I
As our Chinese teacher keeps insisting that we have to practice our Chinese a bit more in real life I decided to try my Chinese on taxi drivers today. I wrote down a couple of terms and street names (as so often, just writing it down helps remembering the phrases), ordered a taxi at the reception (that still in English) and were perfectly able to tell the taxi driver in a complete Chinese sentence that I want to go to People’s Square (“Wo you qu Ren Min Guangchang”, if anybody cares to try it himself). He repeated, I confirmed, and 20 minutes later I was there. Continue reading About Taxis on Chinese, Fools, and Book Stores
Translating “commit transaction”
This is the log of a chat I just had with a colleague working on a translation of a technical specification document from English to Chinese. No need to comment on, just plain reality: Continue reading Translating “commit transaction”
Cleaning a Pool
Cheap Work Again
Today again another example of too cheap working resources…
Between our project site and the next building there is a pool with fountains. Its a very shallow one, just 10 centimetres in depth, tiled in light blue. But it covers a large rectangular area: About 100 meters long, 30 meters wide. It is cut into squares of about 10 meters width by the white bars, on which the fountain pipes sit. The beauty of that installation is arguable, but not our topic today. Continue reading Cleaning a Pool
January
January 2005 nearly passed. And I thought that should not happen without a note here. That obviously proves, that my time available for updates is limited. I decided to do more web-log-like comments, i.e. less comprehensive reports about specific events like visits to far-away cities. I still have some 100+ pictures to review and place here. Beijing is still incomplete, Hong Kong and Bangkok still completely missing. That will take time…
But more brief comments about day-to-day life. As I’m here for work purposes some 80%+ of my time is project work, about which I won’t disclose details on a public web site. But still, there are a couple of small things, observations, which might be of interest. Continue reading January
Beijing in 1 Day III: Tiantan / Bejing Duck
Tiantan – Temple of Heaven
The last hotspot we wanted to see was Tiantan – Temple of Heaven in the south of the city. We had decided to take a taxi from the north exit of Beihai Park to the south entry of Tiantan. Continue reading Beijing in 1 Day III: Tiantan / Bejing Duck
Beijing in 1 Day II: Beihai Park
Beijing in 1 Day II: Beihai Park
Note: All pictures starting with “br_” or “don_”, are again published by courtesy of Britta or Don respectively, xiexie nimen!
After exiting Forbidden City we decided to visit Beihai Park, only a 10 minutes walk away. Its most famous attraction is the White Pagoda, situated atop a small island within a lake, which again is surrounded by the park. Continue reading Beijing in 1 Day II: Beihai Park