Something which perplexes me now and again. Do I have a face which reads "I can't speak Chinese"? Let's recount 2 incidents.
Scenario 1 While working in GIS last year, I realized most of the people in the lab speak Chinese to one another. No problem with that. The problem I have is that the moment I appear in the midst of a Chinese conversation, everyone suddenly switches to English .... even the people from China. C'mon, I know you people are trying to be considerate and obliging, but hey, it's not as if Chinese is to me, as Man Utd is to winning. I do have a certain bond with Chinese too .... unlike the distant relationship between Man Utd and victories .... so yeah, you people can speak Chinese to me too! So toward my last week of attachment, 2 of the China students in the lab actually said to me "Yuan lai ni hui jiang hua wen de ah". I mean ... ah-buh-then. I actually got A1 for O' Level Chinese ok? Realize everyone: ACS boys Actually Can Speak Chinese proper.
Scenario 2 I am in the midst of my 1 year attachment in IMCB. Again, people in the lab speak English to me. That's fine .... when the non-Chinese people talk to me. But what I find puzzling again is when the China post-docs start speaking English to me. The other day, when I went to talk to them in Chinese, subtly hinting that I would rather they speak Chinese to me, they remarked "Wo men yi wei ni bu hui jiang hua yu". Oh no .... wat must I do to convince others I am able to hold conversations in Chinese and English. Granted my Chinese writing sucks big big now, but I dun think that translates into verbal skills lah ah.
This aside, just came back from Settler's Cafe .... first group outing of the newly established ASOH (ASTAR Scholars On Holiday). I guess there are 2 different ways to pronounce it. 1) Ah-soh (as in elderly woman) 2)Asshole (as in ass-hole)
Ridiculous games make for good times. Moulding plasticines into figures of a fireplace and a unicorn ... simply shows we suck at art. After all, Arts n Crafts Suck. There's still a lot more hilarious stuff that went on ... innuendos of sex, and wedgies figuring heavily, but it's late, and tomorrow's not Saturday or Sunday, which means I should go shower and sleep soon
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