Recently in Experience Category

Paul Chiu has been trying to prod me to get meet ups going, but it has not been going according to plan. There are sites that communicates when met ups are available like meetup.com (subscription needed) and upcoming.org (free). I found over the years, it's just not working in Ireland, unless you really work hard at it, and a very specialised area, take one of the meet ups I organise called Python Ireland. We hold talks, or meet up in pubs once every month without fail, but it did stop for awhile and took quite a long time to get it going again, initially the group owner ended up sitting by himself in a pub for a few months, then we came along with a few others, now it's averaging over a dozen a month. Ireland must be one of the few places where meet ups are not working out, there are lots of cultural groups like Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Asian Professionals in meetup.com, yet, no one has organised any meet ups at all. Even the Mandarin meet ups were not that great, according to my Irish friend who attended some awhile back. Is this something to do with our society, I mean as a Cantonese Chinese being brought up here, or just being Chinese here? Why do we keep to ourselves? Is it partly something to do with being Irish as well, such as socialising, but there is an element of shyness. A bit contradictory, right? It's just so strange that is all, that Chinese here are so seggrated, maybe there is not enough of us in college, or working together? I really don't know. It's some sort of mentality that is keeping us all from meeting each other. Do I see a research project arising out of this?

I swear, the prices of food is sky-rocketing, it's not funny any more. I tend to buy a lot of fresh vegetables, some meat and fish, and it's hurting our pockets big time. Maybe some common sense might help here though instead of convenience. I also did not know that many Hong Kong's eateries will be out of business due to the food crisis over there. I take HK as an example just from talking to my mom over the weekend. It's an example of a country that is reliant on imports of everything, the rising value of the Chinese currency compared to the HK Dollar, it's really hurting the normal folks. My aunt in HK told my mom that cooking oil is up by 100% since last year, and buying from wet markets is just as dear as in supermarkets. Back home here, I don't even know what will happen to restaurants and takeaways that sells rice, given that some rice-producing countries have stopped exporting rice, will they be bulk-storing rice over here? I cannot imagine being without rice, I don't eat it everyday, but it's part of who I am. I grew up eating it as part of my staple diet, as with all Asian families.

So I suppose what I can only do here is shop smarter, which will help me stop buying crap and only get essentials. Supermarkets will probably have to work harder now, as I wouldn't be the only consumer trying to save on food spending.

I was racking my head to remember strange things I came across in HK. The one thing that hit me was the first day I arrived in HK, after getting off the airport bus to meet my aunt, I see a couple walking their dog, and the dog had booties on all four paws! I know they are obsessed with dogs, but that was so wierd, my hubby was commenting on how the hell they could get the booties on the dog's paws in the first place. My aunt was saying that a firedogs gets his own boots in case the dogs burnt their paws, that's understandable, but what I saw was just ridiculous. It's the kind of thing that you would have to look twice and fall over laughing afterward.

I was in Shatin Plaza and went by the pet store and I saw what I thought was a baby carriage, but it was for dogs, and guess what? I did see someone pushing a "dog" carriage with their little darling doggy in it! My last trip to HK saw a lot more dogs in handbags. Really now, dogs should be allowed to walk around on their own, not carried.

• You get into a crowded lift and smell mothballs everywhere.

• People opening doors for themselves and let it close in your face instead of holding it open.

• You get followed and pestered by store staff with patronising English “Welcome to [insert store name], how may we help you, sir/missy?” and smirking.

• Wondering where all those pesky store staff disappeared to when you really want one.

• All people who eat fast food are skinny according to their ads (KFC, Mc Donald’s).

• Food is so cheap, it’s the price of a cup of coffee over here for a meal for two at lunch time.

• You see poor ol’ grannys pushing the carts picking up cardboards and newspapers just to make a few bucks.

• Markets and shopping plazas are unbelievably clean, there are staff cleaning everything from door handles, air-con systems, lights, etc.

• January sales are between 50% and 90/95% off, and additional purchases get more money off, and on top of that, you can use the money off voucher, and in conjunction with a loyalty card, more discount.

• First thing in the morning, all you want is a custard tart or “Gei Mei” bun from the local bakery.

• Mini-bus drivers only know stop and goes really fast on the roads, regardless of the speedometer display to the passengers (digital display, it beeps when the driver goes over the speed limit).

• Pestered by Indians to make you a shirt/suit (Golden Mile, who would have thunk, ay!)

• Huge LV stores on both sides of the harbour (and another being built), that’s just ludicrous!

• You can “beep” yourself on any public transport and buy things from shops, let’s hear it for the Octopus Smartcard, huzzah!

• Everyone walks in a snail’s pace, and you can’t seem to walk around them, worse than a maze, even in the city itself.

• You are surround by cheap electronics, it’s like mini-IT-Direct/Komplett all around the place.

• You buy electronics, the price may not be all that different to Ireland (apart from Apple), but there are lots of freebies that come with them. Say a camera, bigger mem card, carry case, etc.

• People wear flip-flops even when they are “frozen”.

• You see Japanese sushi and noodle restaurants everywhere.

• Stand and wait for your ticket number to be called out for dinner or Dim Sum.

• Mark all those bits of paper for Dim Sum, only problem is, it’s all in Chinese.

• Everything on the menu in any diner, restaurant has to be read out to me, as I don’t understand Chinese.

You know you still miss home when:

• You check up the list of Starbucks store locations in Hong Kong.

• Get internet access as soon as possible, when one is out and about (yes, I miss my internet access at home).

Ok, the latter list is miniscule, but at least there are some! Hong Kong is still cool place to visit.

Well, I have never been so mortified in my life! Since I just got my new HK ID card, I decided to use it on my trip to HK recently. That was fine. It's when I was leaving when I sort of made a roll-your-eyes-knowing-you-are-from-overseas boo-boo. I did not understand "boarding card" in Catonese. I was so use to hearing "boarding card" in English, and normally I have it in my passport when I had it to immigration. There was no fingerprinting or putting card through the machine (come to think of it, I did not did that either when I was giong into HK, had to hand it to the officer). Anyhoo, he laughed and waved me through, and me looking bright red. Especially seeing my hubby standing there waiting for me grinning for getting through immigration before me. I rang my aunt to let her know I got though ok and recounted what happened at immigration. She really laughed out loud. On hind sight, it is sort of amusing. Well, I've forgotten what boarding card in Cantonese again.

I was getting a lift from a friend after a practice session for our radio assignment in DCU, when she drove onto Parnell Street. At the cross-roads, all I saw was neon lights with lots of Chinese letters in front of us! It was just like driving into Chinatown. Heh, was very strange indeed.

I should have taken a picture. Maybe I will next time. It will have to be evening time to catch the full effect.

Via americanbornchinese.wordpress.com, this link to an audio clip on the discussion panel on discussions between ABCs and Chinese immigrants.

Some of the concerns rings home true for me here as well, e.g. I had to speak Cantonese at home when I was young. My brothers and cousins are lucky enough to speak English in front of our parents. One of the things that I would be thinking of would be, when I have kids, will they be fluent in Cantonese? I want them to keep part of their culture. Apart from talking to my mother, I don't want my kids to grow up and think that we did not teach them Chinese (written and/or oral). I see that from what I see in the IBC forums that some teens are kicking themselves for not taking to learning Chinese culture seriously. Maybe it seemed too old fashioned, been told by your parents to do things almost always means the opposite for teens. Everyone has been through these phases.

For those who are lucky to learn Chinese, you are the lucky ones. Go to HK, and see the difference from being able to speak the language. The traders are not as despicable. This perhaps applies for all other languages as well.

One mother commented that she is finding it hard to convince her teenager that it's good to learn Chinese, and the one answer that stumped her was "So?!?". I hate that kind of apathetic reply, but that's teenagers for you though. The fact that he kept saying that Japanese keeps coming out with cool stuff does not help her argument at all.

I wonder if anyone who reads this blog, or check out the forums, the experiences by the people who spoke in that clip, does that apply to you as well?

Chinese dinner etiquette is not just nice to know, it's a must-know. It's like someone not knowing how to use a knife and fork in a restaurant properly and making a fool of oneself.

It's very hard to explain to people how important it is, you are eating with chopsticks, and to most non-Asians, it seems just as an annoyance if they don't know how to use them. It use to be Asians were thought to be barbarians for not knowing how to use the knife and forks by their western counterparts, and vice-verse. It's cool that it's the norm to know how to hold and use the chopsticks nowadays.

I invited a rake of my friends to a Chinese dinner at my local Chinese restaurant. Most were Irish and also included a HK friend and my cousin. Three of us decided to use chopsticks and bowls, and the rest using knifes and forks with plates. When the food arrived, I was speaking for a few minutes to my cousin and turned around and I noticed that everyone grabbed as much food as possible to their plates. It was meant to be communal for all to share, but there was hardly anything left for my cousin, friend and I! So we looked like an ass that night. Heehee. Oh well, I should probably learn to explain how communal sharing of food works at a Chinese dinner.

Well, the Mid-Autumn swung past, and no, no mooncakes for me. I'm not that big a fan of them. Mom wanted a box of them, and so my cousin and I wandered into the Asian Market on Drury St. here in Dublin, and checked out selection (this was a month ago). I noticed that there were huge labels indicating that some were made in Hong Kong. Mom made me double-check, given all the scares of things fake and dodgey from Mainland China, many of us are wary of what to buy in the Asian Market. As many of you realise (or not), mooncakes are not terribly healthy, but I've been noticing that more and more alternatives come on the market for these mooncakes.
* Just the lotus seed paste (no duck egg yolk)
* Substitute to lotus seed paste like red bean.
etc...

Just goes to show that there are healthier alternatives to the traditional recipes, and Chinese people are getting more health concious, which is a good thing.

IBC got a mention in a podcast by podcasting.ie. I was especially interested in the part regarding ethnic minority in Ireland, and all the comments from some Chinese residing in Ireland. Immigration, racism, dealing with holding down several jobs to get by in College, or being expected to work twice as hard than any other foreign immigrants. All different insights and experiences.

Have a listen, and see what you think - Link to podcast