all of beijing is busy getting ready for the olympics, and one day i think i'm going to stand in front of the huge electronic billboard at the end of the expressway on the way to school, and take down all the slogans which flash past. my favourite one so far is 我奉献、我参与、我快乐 (wo3 feng4 xian3, wo3 can1 yu2, wo3 kuai4 le4) - i'm contributing, i'm participating, i'm happy. there's just something very communistically (is that a word) optimistic about it.
and you wonder where the singapore government's penchant for slogans came from.
there's also 迎奥运、讲文明、树新风 (yin2 ao4 yun4, jiang3 wen2 ming2, shu4 xin1 feng1) - as we welcome the olympics, let us be gracious and put aside past habits.
at the bus stops during the morning and evening rush hours, there are about four or five senior citizens, usually fat, red-cheeked old women- 阿姨 - dressed in the bright blue and yellow uniforms of the beijing transport services. yesterday i noticed that they wore tags on long cords around their necks which said that they were 文明员 (wen2 ming2 yuan2). their titles might have been slightly more descriptive, but i was running to the bus when i noticed the tags and couldn't see them properly. anyhow, from those three words one can gather that they're, quite literally, gracious people helpers - i.e. they're there to help create a more gracious beijing.
which they do by waving little red flags and telling people to line up in orderly queues to get on the bus.
it doesn't work.
and these 阿姨 usually end up helping people to get onto an already full-to-bursting bus (if buses could burst), by shoving and pushing and cramming them against those already on the bus, holding them there until the bus door folds closed and they can't fall out.
i sacrificed a loaf of bread that way the other day, because it costs eight singapore cents to take the bus and at least two singapore dollars to take a cab on your own.
once you're on the bus, the bus driver and conductor will holler for passengers who've just boarded to move towards the back, which one can endeavour to but will usually fail to do. i spend my time on buses wedged tightly between people, praying very hard that i'll be able to move towards the exit and be right in front of it when the bus door opens at my stop.
the bus conductor yesterday morning couldn't see his side-view mirror due to the sheer mass of people blocking it. after hollering very irritably for people to move aside, he swerved and someone shouted from behind 你会驾车吗 do you know how to drive?
i say, these people have never died before.
in other news, the central heating has been centrally turned off, heralding the arrival of spring! which, unfortunately, appears merely to be stirring slightly from her hibernation. we thought it was just the wind making it cold in our apartment, but i realised yesterday that the heaters, which used to give out a faint but sufficiently cosy heat, are now Stone Cold.
here is a very interesting picture:
i never saw a chinese emporer so dark, even though we were at the summer palace
don't think they went tanning in those days
i really think i look like a right old prat, but maybe not, because you can tell i was trying Very Hard not to laugh. jinni said i couldn't show my teeth, whether when smiling or otherwise, because then i wouldn't look like a proper ge ge (daughter of emperor). shangren couldn't get his costumes right, he captioned a picture of xiaoyun (as a manchurian princess), him and me on facebook Me and my 2 concubines.
anyway, you can see the dustbins in the background.
and you wonder where the singapore government's penchant for slogans came from.
there's also 迎奥运、讲文明、树新风 (yin2 ao4 yun4, jiang3 wen2 ming2, shu4 xin1 feng1) - as we welcome the olympics, let us be gracious and put aside past habits.
at the bus stops during the morning and evening rush hours, there are about four or five senior citizens, usually fat, red-cheeked old women- 阿姨 - dressed in the bright blue and yellow uniforms of the beijing transport services. yesterday i noticed that they wore tags on long cords around their necks which said that they were 文明员 (wen2 ming2 yuan2). their titles might have been slightly more descriptive, but i was running to the bus when i noticed the tags and couldn't see them properly. anyhow, from those three words one can gather that they're, quite literally, gracious people helpers - i.e. they're there to help create a more gracious beijing.
which they do by waving little red flags and telling people to line up in orderly queues to get on the bus.
it doesn't work.
and these 阿姨 usually end up helping people to get onto an already full-to-bursting bus (if buses could burst), by shoving and pushing and cramming them against those already on the bus, holding them there until the bus door folds closed and they can't fall out.
i sacrificed a loaf of bread that way the other day, because it costs eight singapore cents to take the bus and at least two singapore dollars to take a cab on your own.
once you're on the bus, the bus driver and conductor will holler for passengers who've just boarded to move towards the back, which one can endeavour to but will usually fail to do. i spend my time on buses wedged tightly between people, praying very hard that i'll be able to move towards the exit and be right in front of it when the bus door opens at my stop.
the bus conductor yesterday morning couldn't see his side-view mirror due to the sheer mass of people blocking it. after hollering very irritably for people to move aside, he swerved and someone shouted from behind 你会驾车吗 do you know how to drive?
i say, these people have never died before.
in other news, the central heating has been centrally turned off, heralding the arrival of spring! which, unfortunately, appears merely to be stirring slightly from her hibernation. we thought it was just the wind making it cold in our apartment, but i realised yesterday that the heaters, which used to give out a faint but sufficiently cosy heat, are now Stone Cold.
here is a very interesting picture:
i never saw a chinese emporer so dark, even though we were at the summer palace
don't think they went tanning in those days
anyway, you can see the dustbins in the background.
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