Kraut_in_HongKong

Originally Posted By: grungy-gonads It took you a few months?! Wow, you must be a slow learner. I am a soso learner. I never really looked seriously at Japanese. But i think Kanji has less characters the Chinesen, and that should make it a bit easier. I am not sure how many Kanji you need to get by. For Chinese you need about 3000 characters to read a newspaper. But I believe one can crack Kanji also with the right method. Problem for most is not really the learning but more the 'forgetting'. If you can prevent the 'forgetting' then your learning will be more efficient. "Heisig's" "

It will most likely get announced on Feb 9th. What really sux most on the iPad is the reflective screen. Almost impossible to use outside (other then as a poor quality mirror). Of course Apple fans will disagree, but I look at the device from a users point and not as a collector and certainly not as piece of worship. Another annoying thing, more general though, is iTunes. That I can't get Apps from other iTunes stores. I wanted to get the free Aldi-Süd App from iTunes Germany to keep me informed about discounts, but can't get it.

Forget it! At least for now. Coz you lack the basics. How can you have a conversation without the basics? I don't learn Japanese, but the ways to learn a language, any language, are similar anyway. 1. Get a good course (book + CDs). Check what's good. Ask for recommendation here. Then buy it and do the course. 2. I really mean DO the course and not just browse through chapter 1-4 3. Learn to read Hiragana and Katagana. It's simple and you can do that within a day. Kanji is more difficult though and can take a few month intensive study. 4. Get some alternate source

This is a little off topic but the renowned German magazine 'Titanic' had some amazing pictures of well known world structures duplicated with beer cans or bottles. I find it amazing what a creative brain can think of when pushed to the limit!! Cheops Pyramid, Egypt The Great Wall, China Sydney Opera House, Australia

Originally Posted By: Ezorisu If the bucket trick didn't work, there are always "adult diapers"... And while on the slopes they would also add more safety padding to your snowboard gear - and as an extra plus you avoid time wasting loo times! And since you snowboarders sit next to your board in the snow anyway it they give an extra layer of warmth, plus the warm poo! More cushioning + more time on the slopes + warm ass = win-win-win!

Originally Posted By: Black Mountain Don't be so surprised Jynxx. It happens everywhere... It certainly happens in Hong Kong a lot. I see police often stopping people and checking their ID. They usually check young dudes that look slightly mainlandish.

Strange story. I wonder what their motives were. I think that happens not too often in Germany. What sounds rough here is maybe due to communication problems. Those police on the beat may not speak English well. Plus they like your hands to be were they can see them. Attacks on police are on the rise in Germany so I fully understand that. Why they asked you in the first place puzzles me.

Originally Posted By: Mamabear not too sure I would be keen to pour the kettle over the [ahem] used loo - the rising stench would be worse than closing the lid and waiting for the weather to warm up! Coz I anticipated this potential problem I added a 'first'.... If the ubend is solid frozen that won't help much I guess.

I presume that hopefully other water in the house still work. In the very worst case, for those who don't know, snow melts into water when it gets over 0ºC. And again a practical advise, if you need to chose the "outside option" for your urgent toilet demands and still want to melt snow later do not grab your snow from the same spot!

Originally Posted By: RobBright Great idea, pouring down water into an iced up toilet. If the inlet has iced up, there is a good chance the ubend or outlet has frozen too. Well, it said "Water supply non existant, iced up.". The ubend does not hold that much water, maybe you can break it. Or try to flush with hot water first. The main drain pipe is hollow and does not have water in it.

Originally Posted By: pie-eater But, what is "beef"? It's not THAT finely minced, you can still see a normal beef structure. If you want to rant then go for the chicken nuggets, they are finely minced and I don't want to know what's all in it.

I am aware that in this technology driven society many people lose the ability to do even very simple handywork, but in this case it is not very complicated and I would just flush with a bucket of water.

Originally Posted By: RobBright I enjoy going a controlled speed, either slow or fast. I think that's when I know it isn't a fear. Too fast is when you don't have total control, and control comes with ability.

Originally Posted By: Valve Bounce Originally Posted By: sunrise buy the smaller sized (cheaper) ipod touch and you'll have wireless. Actually, I wouldn't mind buying an iphone when I am in HK; the only trouble is that I don't have any contacts in HK anymore as I left there 13 years ago. I do know where to shop, but have heard some people ended up with fakes or copies which didn't work so well. iPhone 4 is currently (since Oct.) not available from Apple in HK and in the shops you pay WELL above the Apple price (HK$~7000 vs. HK$4988). The chance to get fakes is slim though.

Originally Posted By: panhead_pete Originally Posted By: stemik Interesting to see. The lady without gloves on the pull lift....wow must be strong. She is a real champ. Thanks for the info Kraut, will be going to Harbin to see the Ice Festival on the 10th but will still drag my gear up there Google for "Yabuli", it's one of the biggest resorts in China. Bring also cold weather wax, you can have -30ºC on the slopes. (I had -28ºC on the top of mount Sölden and you could feel that the wax was not for that temperature - plus! - you MUST use a face mask!) Harbin Weathe

Originally Posted By: RobBright If Australia win, cue cries of "Australia isn't part of Asia..." blah blah blah. But in terms of football if not in Asia then they would need their own group with just NZ, and with some good will maybe the South Pole in it. AU and NZ in the Asia group is certainly good for otherwise below average football.

Coz Pinyin got only introduced in the 1940th or 50th and nowadays all cities in China follow that romanization now. Other examples are Qingdao/Tsingtao or Chongqing/Chunking. IMHO that is something good, specially since we have in HK very poor romanization from Cantonese. 'Gold/金' is gam, but can be kam, kan, gan or jin. No system at all, just one big mix.

Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver a bit of a sidetrack here, but in Japan they still call Beijing, "Peking". Why did the name change after the commies took over? Nothing related to commies at all. Beijing would be the correct mandarin for 北京, or to make it very exact, Běijīng. Peking derives probably from the Cantonese "Bak King" and is still the cities name in some languages, German i.e.

Originally Posted By: panhead_pete Have you been to any of the others Kraut? Nope, I did intensive research about ski in China but never went. Since I need to fly somewhere and then travel by bus a few hours time would be similar to Japan. I have checked for Yabuli near Harbin once, but cost was higher then Japan. And after you spend all that money on tickets you get one 500m slope. If I were in Beijing (or whatever place near a slope) I would try it, but just for ski. No. Originally Posted By: panhead_pete Appears there is something happening at the Bird's Nest at the moment...

That area is interesting for those who visit Jilin, which is bit remote. If you come near Beijing there are quite a few ski resorts nearby. I guess that difficulty is similar to the one from Jynxx. Ten resorts here: http://en.beijingski.com/resort/skiresorts.htm I estimate there are probably around 20-30 resorts in China.

Did I mention that before? Baumkuchen (The Japanese must be very puzzled when they visit Germany and can't find hardly any Baumkuchen.)

Originally Posted By: Mantas I'm on the third book of Stieg Larssons trilogy. A very popular best seller at the moment. I don't normally read fiction but this is very good. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it here yet. I mentioned it! I finished the 1st one (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) last week and this book makes one really greedy for more pages. Took me just 4 days or so. Really eager to start #2....

Skyline Not sure why they made it. Aliens look cool though. So no regret.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Fascinating story on every page. I seldom read, and if then usually something around PHP, mySQL or JavaScript. But that book really caught my total attention.

Another thing which I found annoying at first in Sapporo, but then later thought it's actually a good way to make people think: It's very hard to find a rubbish bin in Sapporo. If you buy some food in 7Eleven and don't eat it right away in the store be prepared to search for the next 30 Minutes for a rubbish bin. They are hard to find.