Farrago

Wipha Sucked But Krosa Blew

Back a couple weeks I wrote about Typhoon Wipha coming to wipe Suzhou and the rest of China’s eastern seaboard off the map. It failed to do so. The other day all the reports seemed to indicate Krosa was coming to do the same. Nada. However, what it did do was give Suzhou that long-needed …

October 9, 2007
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Practice writing Chinese on your computer

Over the past couple years of half-heartedly studying Chinese I’ve come across a good number of computer-based tools to help in my studies. ChinesePod, Google’s IME, Adsotrans and Google Translator, Wenlin and a bunch of great freeware and Firefox plugins – just to name a few. However, about two months ago I was casually browsing …

October 2, 2007
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In Love & Hate of Chinese Supermarkets

Hey, so I’ve started a new Group Writing Project over at Lost Laowai called China: Love It Hate It. Essentially I’m asking China bloggers (not at all limited to English-speaking bloggers) to chime in and sound off on what they both love and hate about China. The post can be written in any form or …

September 26, 2007
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Why I support MMP, and what the heck is it anyway?

On October 10th a provincial election is being held in my home province of Ontario, Canada. In conjunction, a referendum is also being voted on – the subject of which is Ontario’s (and by future extension, Canada’s) voting process. Generally it’s being hailed as the most important electoral reform of “our” lifetime, and the most …

September 23, 2007
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Wipha! Hit me baby one more time

Back two years ago I posted about being a bit let down that typhoon Matsa never quite hit Dalian as promised. Well, looks like the (ahem) winds of fortune are changing and I might get my wish to finally experience a full-on typhoon (which is fancy Pacifician terminology for ‘hurricane’). Typhoon Wipha, possibly the coolest …

September 18, 2007
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Has anyone seen my face?

One of the things I like about Chinese is that it tends to be quite module-like. There are lots of little structures that you can just modify with new nouns, adjectives or what have you, to create entirely new meanings. A couple examples: 越 … 越 … 越(来)越(好) | yuè lái yuè hÇŽo | better …

September 15, 2007
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Soochow University, here I come

So, I’m registered. As of yesterday afternoon I am officially a student of Mandarin at Suzhou University (cue hollers and hats thrown in a random and celebratory fashion). The whole process was pretty straight forward, and I have to admit that I’ve little clue as to what is actually going on (mantra – follow the …

September 7, 2007
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The Long-needed Lost Laowai Facelift

Hey all, as most know I run another little site called Lost Laowai. It’s a community site dedicated to demystifying China with a no-nonsense approach. On top of the core site – featuring message boards, job listings, classifieds, and a number of other things – the site also plays host to a nifty little collaborative …

September 2, 2007
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