Cultural Shock - dishwashing detergent

My Chinese inputting software is still not working so I'm afraid I can still only write in English. Sorry for those who enjoy me talking in Cantonese! 

Lately I read some articles in a blog of a Taiwanese young woman who is married to a Spaniard and  is living and working in Spain. Because of her background, you can imagine she must have gained so much experience over the years in her exchange with the locals there.  Some of the topics that she brought out are pretty interesting.

One of the things that she said was about the use of dishwashing detergent (洗潔精) in the handwashing of dishes.  She said a lot of Spaniards use a lot of dishwashing detergent in washing the dishes. She thought they use too much dishwashing detergent.

 

What's your dishwashing habit? For me, since I was little, my mom would teach me to use dishwashing detergent to wash the dishes. We would first stack the dishes aside, fill the sink with water, then squeeze some dishwashing detergent into the water, then start washing.  And afterwards, we will rinse all the dishes twice, making sure that not any dishwashing detergent and washing suds are still left on the dishes.

But people I know from the UK are so different.  I remember when I was living in the UK, every single hallmate of mine (who were British) would use tons of dishwashing detergent to wash the dishes.  After the first round of dishwashing, they WOULDN'T rinse the dishes, but rather, immediately stack the dishes (with washing suds still on the dishes) on the tray to dry. 

Amazing to me!!  They washed the frying pans and glasses and cupsin similar ways too - no rinsing of the dishes. 

I wonder if people from any other nations do wash the dishes the same way as the people in the UK do.  Well, at least as far as I know it, all the people whom I know from Hong Kong rinse the dishes after using the dishwashing detergent.

When life sucks, and when it really sucks...

What's going on these days to me??!!!  First, my MSN, facebook and Hotmail didn't work; then my pc produces some funny sounds when I switch it on and sometimes I have to switch on and off the pc for as many as 10 times in order to have it up and running; and now, even my Chinese inputting software (9 Square) isn't working because my antivirus software blocks it and I still can't figure out how I can use the software again. Annoying. 

I almost wanna give up using this useless pc!! It keeps giving me problems from time to time. What I need the most now is probably a high EQ.......

Life sucks when my pc sucks because I need it for work. 

And then there are some new worries again about my job prospects. Well, maybe I worry too much.

I think I'm more in a "Faith Crisis" instead because I've not been going to the church for a long time.

Dump the worries into the big deep sea... that's probably the best remedy.  And watch some crazy videos to cheer myself up.

 

My life would suck without you.... my pc!!!  (well at least I still joke, lol)

 

They can really give you a lot of fun.......... Highly recommended!!!

The King's Speech

尋日放左工走去左去戲院睇 "The King's Speech", 呢套戲對我來講實在好好睇, 對白好精警, 真實的歷史元素, 再加上 Colin Firth嘅演技, 以特價 $50幾元睇呢套戲, 真係好過之後先租碟或者係上網xxxx來睇啦, 哈哈哈! 

我最先對 Colin Firth做嘅戲有好印象, 係緣自一套佢做過嘅BBC電視劇, 改編自名作家 Jane Austin一本名著 "Pride and Prejudice" ("傲慢與偏見")。當時讀書時因為 take一個 subject係關於 Jane Austin, 所以特登走去買左呢套戲嘅DVD睇睇睇, 然後寫 report。

唔知閣下是否喜歡 Jane Austin嘅小說, 但我自己就真係麻麻喇...佢D小說來來去去都係講差唔多嘅野, 悶到飛起。講真, 我都唔特別覺得"傲慢與偏見"有幾好睇, 我諗我唔識欣賞佢嘅名著。

****************************

I went to see "The King's Speech" yesterday after work.  I like this movie very much - the witty dialogues, some authetic historical background , plus the excellent performance of Colin Firth (almost a guarantee, lol). It's really worth the $50 or so to see it at the cinema than to rent its DVD from stores or to xxx from the internet later on, hahaa!!

The first movie of Colin Firth that I watched and started to have good memory of him is a TV film from BBC called "Pride and Prejudice" - adapted from a famous novel of the same name from Jane Austin.  At that time I was studying and doing a subject regarding Jane Austin. In order to do a report on her writings, I picked "Pride and Prejudice", bought the DVD and watched several times.

I'm not sure if anyone here likes Jane Austin, but personally I don't find her novels very interesting.  Boring instead, however, because the topics in her novels are more or less the same thing.  Honestly, I don't think "Pride and Prejudice" is particularly good. Perhaps, I can't appreciate her style of writing.    

T-shirt & 2011 calendar

替一位朋友上球衣店買一件球衣, 怎知自己都荷包出血, 見到一件祖記的 t-shirt, 就買了...好彩球衣店朋友給了我一個 discount, 所以叫做便宜了一點啦。

近排祖記的戰績真的差到不能再差, 已經3連敗, 再如此下去, 會不會要變成護級? 我都沒有多大心情看比賽, 應不應該多謝 NOW TV, 這麼一場大場比賽都可以沒有直播? 好!  我租 NOW TV來做甚麼? 難道真的為看4am/5am才開場的西甲嗎?

除了 t-shirt, 早一排多謝一位好友幫忙, 買了祖記今年的年曆。沒有想過要買, 但朋友通知我, 而她又準備來香港, 買了可以直接交給我, 實在太好了! 在此要特別再多謝那位朋友呢!

年曆的封面是這樣的。

黑面神已經去了 AC Milan....

他? 本來是我們的最大希望, 但就偏偏一早已經收工大吉了!

這個昆哥, 今屆豪無表現。

我們的隊長, 剛剛續約球隊一年。簽的合約竟然是空白的合約??!!

兩個巴西人 - 一個是正牌紅牌阿叔!!! 另一位則分明和球隊過不去, 是關之前在球隊像完全不懂入球似的, 但一被外借去 Parma後卻就連有幾個入球。

二線球員大雜會!!

請問我們的後防大柱之一..... 發生了甚麼事防得那樣差勁??

中場的希望......拜托幹些大事啦。

這兩位.....已經沒有甚麼意見想講....

Cat's falling...

哈哈, 點解有個咁攪笑嘅網址標題呢？ 因為前幾日有隻猫從我屋企個窗口跳左落街 !! 

事緣我某日放工返到屋企, 我阿媽同我講, "隔離屋 X太隻猫今日走左來我地屋企, 被佢嚇死 (當時佢地唔知隻猫係邊家人養的)。Y (我姪女)在我張牀瞓緊覺, 我入去房諗住攞D野, 伸手去一堆衫度攞時 (當時我阿媽冇望住堆衫的), 揸到一D野軟林林, 覺得奇怪, 咪望望囉, 嘩, 嚇死, 望見一對眼睇住我, 我大叫左一聲, 嚇到我飛起!"

我阿媽驚隻猫會爪我姪女, 所以即刻抱左佢出來, 然後我阿爸就想趕隻猫出間房, 咪引佢出廳, 點知隻猫好驚青, 係個房跳來跳去一輪後, 衝出廳, 出左大門外, 又9秒9跑番入屋, 衝番入個房, 唔肯走, 我阿爸唔知佢躲左去邊, 攪左一輪, 隻猫跳落街喎!!! 我住6樓呀!!

唔知點樣, X先生同佢女世知道隻猫啱啱走過來我地間屋企, 知道跳左落街後, 就衝落樓搵佢地隻猫。好彩我屋企樓下係公園, 所以好似話好快之後佢地搵番隻猫了, 仲要聽講隻猫冇事喎, 不過佢地帶左佢去睇獸醫掛。

希望佢地一家唔會唔高興佢地隻猫由我地屋企跳左落樓, 因為都唔關我地事。我阿爸一路只係諗住引佢出廳, 然後出番條走廊, 因為估到佢應該來自同一層樓某一家人的。但隻猫係咁瘋狂自己亂走一通, 仲自己一野跳落街, 嚇鬼死!

點解又有猫自己走入我地屋企架? 已經係第二次了。好驚呀, 我好驚猫的, 唔好來啦唔該................

 

Haha, why do I have such an interesting heading for this blog entry?  That's because a cat fell off the window of my flat a few days ago! (Which floor do I live on?)

One day when I returned home from work, my mother said to me, "The cat of Mrs. X (our neigbour who lives just next to us), (at that time my parents didn't know the cat belonged to her) sneaked into our house this afternoon. I was so shocked by it. Ying Ying (= my niece) was sleeping on my bed and I went into the bedroom to get some clothes. I stretched out my hand to a bag (my mom wasn't looking into the bag at that time), but I felt something very soft and fluffy, so I looked into the bag, and WOWWWW!! I saw a pair of eyes looking to me too! I was so scared to death! I screamed."

My mom was worred that the cat would scratch my niece so she quickly took her out of the room. And then my dad tried to get rid of the cat from our house. He tried to "lure" it out of the bedroom and then out of our house. The cat was so timid however. It ran around in the bedroom like mad, and then rushed into our living room, then straight out of our house, but within two seconds (before my dad had time to close the main door), it ran into our house again into my parents' bedroom! My dad couldn't find it in the bedroom, and after some time, the cat suddenly jumped out of the window into the street downstairs!!! Mamma mia, we live on the 6th floor!!

Somehow, our neighbours - Mr and Mrs. X, and their son-in-law realised that their cat was in our house before and knew it jumped off our flat, ran downstairs to look for their cat. Downstairs on the ground floor it is a small garden so it shouldn't be too hard for them to find it back. And as we know it, they got it back (the cat survived well!!!), put it into a bag, and carried it to see the vet.

Well, it's not our fault. The cat sneaked into our house and messed around. I hope Mr. X and his family are not unhappy with us. 

I am relieved that I wasn't home that time coz I'm a super "cataphobic" person. My biggest concern is if the cat ever came into my bedroom - and huh... it didn't, luckily, because my bedroom door was closed. 

In fact, it is the second time already that a cat came into our house. Many years ago when we were living somewhere else, there was also a cat sneaking into our house. It's too scary........