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I’m Dying To Know Who You Are
Photo by Marco Bellucci
First I want to thank everyone for leaving comments, joining the discussion and sending emails. I would like to know little bit more about you and that’s why I created this poll. As you can see, you can choose multiple options so check all the boxes you think describes you. If you don’t belong to any group you can also write yourself who you are. And if you want to share more, like your life story, please share it in the comments.
Thank you!
19 Comments
Marcus
Hello Sara! This is my first visit to your blog, hope you are enjoying life in China. I am a Hong Kong citizen but for most of my time I live in UK and Shanghai. I am always quite interested in reading about foreigners’ experiences of living in mainland China. Are you still studying in university?
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Sara Reply:
January 24th, 2011 at 12:15 am
Thank you for coming by and leaving a comment Marcus! Yes I’m still an university student. Right now an exchange student at Guangzhou University, but next autumn hopefully start my BA degree in Sun Yat Sen University. Where are you living at the moment? And are you a business man and therefore travel between UK and China?
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SAM
I am HK chinese, but living in Beijing… I have been in Beijing for a little bit more than 2 years… But my Putonghua is still not good….
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Sara Reply:
January 24th, 2011 at 3:55 am
Is Cantonese your native language Sam? Don’t worry, I think the most important thing is that people understand, not perfection. But sure learners always want to aim higher and higher.
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Sam Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 12:21 am
yup.. Cantonese is mynative language, well, like all HK student, we learn English since i was 3 year old or something… but after so many years of learning, my English is still not perfect. Yup… We, the language learners, alway want to be fluent in the language that we learn. Hopefully, one day, we can speak standard Mandarian. and British English…
Happy chinese New Year..
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Sara Reply:
February 5th, 2011 at 6:51 am
I really wish to improve my English too Sam, but not sure which is the best way because now my time is fully devoted to learning Chinese. Actually I learned to swear in Cantonese today, but it’s not really so useful and nothing I could write in here! I also learned one sentence in Yangjianghua which mean give me lipbalm, well, that’s something I can use. Happy Chinese New Year Sam!
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Marcus
Haha no Sara I am not a businessman. I haven’t even begin university yet! Although I am going to uni soon this year. I am in the UK at the moment.
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Sara Reply:
January 25th, 2011 at 1:01 am
It is a great benefit for you that you can get to know different places and cultures. Maybe you will later on have a job too that allows you to travel? Which major will you choose at uni?
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Marcus Reply:
January 25th, 2011 at 3:55 am
Quite possibly yes. I got a place studying Oriental Studies; Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies to be specific. I think I am similar to you in the way that we are both interested in a culture radically different from our own. So it can be possible that I will travel in the future back and forth the Middle East, or maybe I will join the diplomatic service in UK. No one knows really.
I read some of your earlier posts that your boyfriend is a southerner as well. Have you attempted to learn Cantonese? I am sure his Putonghua is good but meantime you must have realised by spending time in Guangzhou that a lot of us Cantonese people are no better than foreigners in speaking Putonghua. There is a saying in China that 天不怕地不怕，最怕廣東人說普通話。(In traditional writing, but I am sure you can read it)
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Sara Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
So nice to hear about your interest towards Egypt and Middle East. I think there just is something fascinating about cultures that are really different from yours and it’s always good to know about other cultures and people.
He tried to teach me few sentences of Cantonese and his own dialect (because I asked), but I forgot already. It seems very difficult and would need a weekly studying in order to learn even a little. I can only count from 1 to 10 in Cantonese, say hello and thank you. My boyfriend’s putonghua is not that good and he admits it himself. It doesn’t matter because he isn’t my teacher, but sure it affects to my language skills too.
That is a really interesting saying! And I do have noticed that Cantonese people doesn’t speak so good putonghua and some sounds they can’t pronounce. So in that sense I’m in the same boat with them. The z and zh are really difficult for me too.
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Ben
我现在在惠州工作，2009年的时候在广州工作、生活过。09年广州的空气真的很糟糕，不知道现在有没有改进？
非常高兴见到你享受在中国的生活，Sara，也谢谢你能让我从另外一个角度观察和理解我们自己的文化、生活等方方面面。
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Zacky Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 4:35 am
完全没有改进！～
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Sara Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Ben, 我没去过惠州。你喜欢在那边生活吗？广州的空气有时候还可以，有时候不太好。我在大学城住，因为这里没有那么多车，所以空气比较好。
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Ben Reply:
January 28th, 2011 at 4:37 am
Zacky,我还以为亚运之后应该有点改进的，要知道，在2009年，我在广州住的房子，外墙整天都在被人敲啊、拆啊，晚上都睡不好。
Sara,惠州市中心的空气有时候也很糟，但总体来讲，确实还是比广州好很多的，市中心有个西湖，环境不错，有山有水。
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Zacky Reply:
January 28th, 2011 at 10:07 am
在广州呆了1年半，压根就没见过几次蓝天白云！（不超过十次），我在广州天河区这边，亚运期间空气勉强好了一点，可是还是灰尘感还是很严重，在广州呆久了早晚得肺结核！！！
亚运时候车辆限行，可是地铁却挤得一塌糊涂，亚运完后市区上下班高峰期又恢复了往日塞车时的情形，前后一个鸟样！不想浪费口水谈论这些太多，反正感觉广州这城市不适合人居，读完书后赶紧撤…XD…lol
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Zacky
correction, Sara, I wanna vote Chinese with foreign bf/gf/husband/wife OR wants to have one, but I accidentally voted Chinese living in Guangzhou ：p
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Sara Reply:
January 28th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Don’t worry Zacky, I remember.
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Kyon
Hey Sara, sup girl?
Random creep from the internet here, crashing your blog. I’m going to be visiting Tokyo/Beijing in April. Can’t wait! So right now I’m just surfing around the net, trying to soak in as much culture as I can. Preparing myself for the shock. By the way, I’m a twinkie.
Keep up the interesting stories. Laters.
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Sara Reply:
February 17th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Oh, Beijing is a really nice city! Your first time there? There is so many historical and cultural sight to see and of course interesting daily life to observe. Don’t forget to try the Beijing Duck! There’s a good restaurant just few steps away from Wangfujin shopping street. Welcome to crach again!
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