The minimum wage will rise from the current €8.30 to €8.65 [...]
(From Indo online: Read more)
You can find more information at Citizensinformation.ie as well: Minimum rates of pay in Ireland.
June 2007 Archives
From the Sindo1, according to Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan, tougher measures will be brought in to deal with immigration.
Measures include the introduction of US-style linguistic exams to test competency in English for those who want to be granted citizenship of this country
1 Sunday Independent
From the Beeb, some pictures on the historic area of central HK, that will be demolished for new skyscrapers and apartments.
This opens a new window: In pictures A historic part of Hong Kong is under threat from developers
Follow on from my last post on the cable car plunge, seems the attraction has been shutdown for now, and the HK tourism board is seeking compensation of HK$1m , now that the promotional material for the attraction is not going ahead. Such a pity, it was really good when I was on it with my hubby. I hope they get this resolved and re-open the ride again.
*gulp... my heart kind of stopped when I saw this headline, Hong Kong probes cable car plunge. Hong Kong as you know, now has cable cars travelling to the Bronze Buddha (Ngong Ping Skyrail) and Ocean Park has them as well. The incident could happen in one or the other. It happened to be Ngong Ping Skyrail cable cars. But luckily no-one got hurt, and it happened in a test run, and the ride was closed on the day. But still, it's pretty scary thing to hear about since my hubby and I were on it earlier this year. And we love cable cars. I suppose it's a known risk that this will happen, but still... eep!
The problem with too many people (around 1.3 billion) and only 100 surnames might just rear its ugly head. Even though there are just over 1600 surnames in total in China. Changes suggested that both parents surnames are to be adopted to help ease confusion, especially for the police.
At least 100 000 people share the name "Wang Tao", the China Daily said, citing the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
So, my trial of cooking bitter melon did not work out. Well, my hubby did not like it. So I had the whole thing myself, well, I could only eat half, there was so much. Had pan fried some tofu as well. Well, it was the worse of both worlds for my hubby. So much for trying something healthy.
While Irish students sit their exams, so too the millions of Chinese students. It's so shocking to see the amount of stress these kids go through, just to please their parents and get into college with limited places. The lengths the students and parents go through...
A newspaper in Tianjin, a city in northern China, reported local girls have been buying contraceptive pills to delay their periods.
All I know in HK, they take their chicken stock, or their gingki supplements. They have cram schools as well as personal tutors outside of school. It's starting to get like that here with all the exam-prep schools, but not as crazy as what the kids and their parents go and do in the Far East.
And I whole-heartedly agree that there are other routes aside from going from secondary to college, and to Chinese parents, it has to be a university. In Ireland, apart from Unis, we have FÁS, adult education schools, IT colleges, and other professional training courses. As I have tried to tell my brothers and cousins, you don't have to make the big leap to Uni straight off the bat, there are many ways to get there. And even if you don't choose 3rd level, there are many paths to choose from to do what you want to do. And it's your choice. But sometimes that is easier said then done with parents on your back all the time.
Just saw this in my search for more Irish Chinese blogs, news etc... Interesting opinion found in the Indo. Heehee, and I did indeed fill out the Census.
This has got to be worrying, given that Dell employs nearly 4500 people in Ireland. Most down in Limerick. I know that many Chinese people work part-time there. Of course, may locals and East Europeans work there also. It's not just manufacturing down there, they have an R&D department there.
What's confusing is Dell is still on a recruitment drive, even with these rumours . I only hope that the impact is not as bad as it seems. I suppose this is one of the many dangers of relying on large corporate US companies.
