羽之助の帝紀

Friday, January 06, 2006

Mei Foo 美孚

This is the area of Hong Kong that I'm staying in. Right next to the subway and bus terminal. So this is where all the Chinese words that enter Canada come from ... with all the haphazard romanization it's certainly easy to see why as kids we make fun of the 'ching-chong' language.
これは朕が泊まっている香港の地域の名前だ。地下鉄とバス停留所の隣に在る。やっぱりこの地方からカナダに入った中国語の単語が出た・・・メチャクチャなローマ字でどうして子供の頃にこの「チン・チョン」な言語をばかにするとはよく分かる。

On the flight over I met an awesome Japanese woman who had been living in Hong Kong since forever, teaching Japanese to middle schools ... we had a great conversation and I'm very happy to have met her. If you read this, let's meet up sometime!
飛行機で香港で凄く長い間で働いている中学校で日本語を教えている素晴らしい日本人の女性先生に会った。とても面白くて楽しい会話が出来たので会えたのは嬉しい。これを読んだらいつか会いましょう!

Jamie was kind enough to give me an Octopus Card, and kind of debit card that works pretty much everywhere. Just press against the panel and voila, you have paid and can ride the bus or pay for your double cheeseburger.
優しいジエメイが朕に「八達通」カードを買ってくれた。これはJRのスイカカードみたいと思うけど普通の店でも使える。ただ画面でカードを振れて払う!

As Jamie had to work yesterday, I was on my own to explore Hong Kong. I took the bus and shot a lot of video. I copied down her phone number incorrectly, got lost trying to find an internet cafe to check her phone number, was accosted by an Indian telling me I was very lucky, and got change for the phone to dial the incorrect number again.
昨日、ジエメイが働かなくちゃならなかったから朕が一人で香港を探検した。バスに乗って動画を一杯撮った。ジエメイの携帯番号を間違えに書いた、番号を調 べる為にネット・カフェを探しながら迷っていた、朕がとても運が良いと変なインド人に言われた、そして間違え番号を掛ける為に硬貨をもらった。

How I got change was very interesting. I bought some food at McDonalds ($8, divide by 7 to get Canadian price), and got $2 back in change. So I asked the girl (the English-speaking guy who took my order had gone off) for two $1 coins. She then took my $2 coin and gave me ice cream. Good, but not what I needed. Spying the guy again, I attempted to explain what I wanted in English, but he thought I was asking for food that cost $1, which they didn't have. So I switched to Mandarin.
"你可以说中文吗?啊,对不起,普通话吗? "
"一点儿。"
"我有二元,可是我要一元,二个。"
"二个?"
"二个。"
And then he gave me the coins I needed. The lesson is, screw Cantonese, learn more Mandarin! But I did buy a Lonely Planet phrasebook just in case. And a notebook to write down pronunciations.
硬貨を貰うのは面白かった。マックで$8(7で分けたら日本円になる;8ドルは百円ちょっと)で二倍チーズ・バーガーを買って食べたが、二ドルの硬貨を 貰った。英語が分かる店員が他のレジに言ったので或る女性店員に「この2ドルの硬貨から1ドルの硬貨が二つ欲しいです」と説明してみた。彼女が朕のお金を 取ってアイス・クリームを上げた。いいけど欲しいものではなかった。英語の店員さんをまた見て頼んだけど、彼は朕が1ドルの値段な食べ物が欲しいと思って いた。それから北京語をやってみた通じた。それから欲しい硬貨を貰った。勉強した事は、広東語を無視して北京語に集中して!でも、「寂しい地球」という会 社の表現本を買った、そして看板で見る広東語のローマ字の発音を覚える為にノートも買った。

Today's plan is to finish exporting video files to my HD and go to the Hong Kong Museum of History, then meet Jamie and around 8:30 in Times Square.
今日の予定は電脳に動画のファイルを全部輸出して香港歴史博物館に行く事です。それからは八時半ぐらい「時代広場」でジエメイに会う。

7 Comments 論評:

  • Dude, you speak Mandarin too? No fair! (and my respect to you!)
    I want to start learning another language too (probably Mandarin), but I don't speak Japanese well enough yet to use it as a medium for learning other languages.
    ....well, I suppose that probably means I should continue to learn Japanese first....

    By Blogger MNJetter, at 1/06/2006 4:30 PM  

  • Bwahaha beware my linguisticness! Actually my Mandarin is horrible - I can't have a conversation. All I can do is speak in short statements. Are there any Mandarin-speaking people in your neck of the woods? Ichinoseki even has a teacher for the public education classes ... hmm maybe I should give her a call and get some private lessons going.
    Actually, I would encourage you to go ahead and start learning now ... I think my 'head has hardened' so now it's difficult for me to think in anything other than English or Japanese.

    By Blogger 羽之助, at 1/06/2006 4:40 PM  

  • Hi Pat!

    Just read your Blog. Glad to hear that you are having a good time.

    Love Mom

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1/07/2006 9:26 AM  

  • Holy Crap!...you're in my old neighbourhood!

    I lived in the apartments that faced the what used to be a bay/ocean. It has been filled up to create a park I think. The bus parking garage should still be there.

    I hate you even more now

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1/07/2006 3:22 PM  

  • Pfff...!香港でジエメイとエンジョイしてるみたいで良かったぁ。空港で心なしか、後姿に哀愁が漂ってたよ~。いつまで滞在するんでしたっけ?チン(珍?)道中は楽しみにしてるので、毎日でも書いてね。N.P.(さて、正式な地名は何でしょう?≠North Pole)もいい町ですよ。100万ドルの夜景も堪能したかしら?またいつかお会いしましょう。
    kazu.mikan-jiru

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1/07/2006 6:19 PM  

  • Wow, just a little bit of traveling eh? Hong Kong is pretty high on my list too. Maybe later in the year I'll pop over for a weekend or so.

    By Blogger Travelingrant, at 1/12/2006 11:02 PM  

  • カズさん、書いてくれてありがとうございます。毎日書きたかったけどジエメイと大変忙しかった(笑)。NPってどこでした?色々な場所に行って体験しましたがその所は聞いた事ないですが、ジエメイは知っているかな。100万$の夜景を見ましたよ!すぐ記事を書きます。

    Hong Kong was great, a perfect destination. A weekend really isn't enough but if you want to see as many places as possible then it's all you can do, eh.

    By Blogger 羽之助, at 1/14/2006 9:16 PM  

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