January 31st, 2006Back from 厦门
I’ve been back from my short trip since a few days already. I’m down with something(a mild case of flu?) but it’s nothing serious. I’ll be okay in a few days.
I will upload the photos soon.
I nearly forgot about this pic but…
Here’s :
me, Marjorie, Alex and Natalie at Yuyuan.
Two days before leaving for Xiamen, Rosemary, Alex and I met up with Marjorie and Natalie , two Mauritius studying at Beijing Language and Culture University. They are also on holidays and came to Shanghai for a few days. I know Marjo from high school and got in touch with her via the internet some time ago. I still can’t get over the fact that more and more Mauritians are coming to China to study ,whether it’s for a short or a long term course. The young sino-Mauritians in Mauritius were never really interested in studying Mandarin but during the last few years, I hear of more and more young Mauritians who are coming to China to study Chinese.
That day, Marjorie bought the standard bing tang hu lu( 冰糖葫芦). Alex and I bought a variation of it, one with kiwis and melon. I ate bing tang hu lu many times since I came to China. It’s very sweet and often, I can’t finish the whole thing.
Usually, it’s just 7 or 8 of the red fruit(the size of large marbles) skewered on a stick, coated with a light sugar syrup that has crystallized. It is supposedly a very traditional, ancient candy treat. In English, bing tang hu lu is called Candied hawthorn fruit.
Oh… and Shu phoned me today when he stopped in Shanghai for lunch. He was in Shanghai for a few hours only unfortunately and is off to some other part of China already. It seems like I won’t get to meet him but it was still great to hear from him. He spoke a bit like my bf, with all the lah, lor … Not exactly a bad thing. It’s just that I miss my bf even more now. (darl, come back soon!!)
Shu, Have fun in China. Hopefully, we’ll get to meet one day. 
. I had the choice either to have the...
those things you guys are eating are the worst thing i’ve ever tasted
sweet like 
You say increased interest mauritians learn chinese? eh i still dont see that. Did you know am the first guy to have ever sit for chinese language exam in my college? Cambridge did it best for me not to move to other exam centres, instead they kindly moved 5 officers to watch over me while i sit for it in my very own college.
When i sat for the Chinese language Cambridge O level exams, there were 3 other girls in my college who also sat for the exam but for HSC, I was the only one. Still, the exam was in QEC. I was in a room with the students sitting for Hindi, Urdu,etc (the other oriental languages)…. I didn’t have to go somewhere else.
lol well ,they are not interested in learning Chinese in middle or high school but after they finish school yes. I know some Mauritians who came to China to study Mandarin for a few months before going off to university in some other country. Anyway, we don’t have many Chinese language teachers in Mauritius. We have quite a lot in primary schools but not many in middle schools. If we had more teachers, maybe more people would get the opportunity to study Mandarin.
About bing tang hu lu, yes it’s very sweet but I still like it. aww..come on, it tastes ‘okay’. You should try the ones with kiwis,strawberries,etc. Not bad.
OMG! the almighty Aline has replied! i thought she stopped doing that (was even thinking no longer leaving comment here).
FYI Chinese Simplified is hard to learn and read -_- am happy our tuition teacher has decided to guide us thru Traditional now.
lol even you say it tastes OKAY lol hahaha
lol okay, it tastes great…
It depends on the fruits used. 
FYI Chinese Simplified is not hard to learn and read.
Traditional Chinese is hard for me because I never learned it when I was younger and first came across it in some music videos. I noticed that many Chinese websites in HK or Taiwan are in Traditional chinese and since your mum is from HK & you’ve been to HK so many times already, I guess that’s why you are more comfortable with Traditional Chinese characters. They simplified the Traditional Chinese characters to make them easier you know..that’s why it’s called Simplified Chinese.
I won’t argue with you over it because everyone has his/her own preference.
Anyway, I’m learning some Traditional Chinese now so that I can go to KTV with friends. lol
with Traditional, if you understand 3/4 of the letter you can guess the rest and even guess how its pronounced. With simplified, you can’t. Only can guess the use of the word by its side stroke.
and oh
always write your name in Chinese Traditional. LOOKS SO NICE!!!
China’s economic growth is what is driving the interest in the mandarin language. Even here more and more students are taking it as a foreign language in secondary school. In fact, there is heavy recruitment of Chinese to teach mandarin in British schools.
Reminds me I intended to learn mandarin this year. I tried the online courses, but didn’t see myself making any progress
Welcome back.
I hope you feell 100% better ASAP! 
We have dried hawthorn flakes here. Used to eat tons of that as a kid.
oh boy… i miss shanghai!!!
I have never been to shanghai ler! I want to go there!
Wow.. looks like you have fun
I didn’t go to China before and haven’t tried that kind of candy before but I will in my life time. I’m down with a cold too, sick during the new year is soooo 
Anyway, hope you feel better soon 
给你拜个晚年，哈！春節快樂！
Happy belated Chinese New Year!
Well,it is not often that we do see Aline replying to the comments here
*digression*
That 冰糖葫芦 looks so delicious!
My personal stand is that Simplified Chinese is definitely easier to learn as compared to Traditional Chinese:laughing: But it is good to know how to read traditional Chinese characters as people in Hong Kong and Taiwan are still using them 
From far away, they kind of looked like grapes!
Haha. Grapes are my favourite, especially those seedless ones. I’d really ought to try some of the fruit there the next time I go to China. I don’t really like Kiwis, though. They tend to be a little sour sometimes.
.. it was nice to be able to chat with you the other day, aline. sorry i couldn’t speak mandarin, but after this trip.. i’ve decided to learn. your english’s perfect you know!
I love China, can’t wait to plan another trip back there soon. take care
To learn a language, you need at least 1 person with whom you can practise speaking the language regularly. Learning using pimsleur or learning via online courses is okay but I doubt that you can make much progress. It’s not the same. Maybe you can find a Chinese language class which you can attend at least once a week ? (during weekends better for you I guess.. because of work)
awwww.. come to Shanghai again!
lol
Come to Shanghai then. Maybe you’ll like it here.
谢谢
hehe I know. Sorry about that. I wanted to install threaded comments first. This took a while. Anyway, threaded comments or not, I’ll be replying to comments now.
Yes,I agree.
I want to learn Traditional characters too. Then I’ll have an easier time at KTVs. I don’t know why the music videos at KTV bars don’t have Simplified chinese characters.
yes but the kiwis I had were quite sweet.
Next time you come to Shanghai,let me know.
thanks!
maybe i’ll see you in Malaysia instead? I might just go there during my hols.
no I don’t. It’s cheap so I prefer to buy rather than try to make. too troublesome.