Monthly Archives: April 2009

“Man boobs”, or, To raise boys you need great sense of humor…

I was finally going to go to bed but found in the dark something on my pillow. I could tell that they are water-filled balloons since the boys were playing with balloons in the bathtub earlier… I also felt a note under my pillow so I turned the light on again to read it. Imagine my surprise and mixed reactions when I saw the “balloons” in this fashion…

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What? These are water-filled balloons. Filthy mind!

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And the note as written by my 11yo says:

It was 6 yo’s idea to put them together like this and call them “man boobs”. He in no way liked this but promised to do something so only 20% his fault.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I think I will sleep for 3 hours first then decide.

The importance of understanding Chinese…

Someone forwarded me this as a cautionary tale for people to understand the Chinese characters on the t-shirts they are wearing or, especially important, those that you are about to have tattooed on your body:

1. Pig. Not BOAR. But PIG. There is only one common Chinese word which stands for all types of pigs, but mostly the domesticated pigs, so yes, all negative stereotypes apply and don’t kid yourself by saying what you have means BOAR. NOT.

2. Not sure whether she is knowingly wearing the t-shirt for shock values since it says “Love intercourse the most”. ‘nough said.

3. Chicken. Again, the one common Chinese character that stands for all chicken, so for example, Rooster is “male chicken”, chick, “little chicken”, chicken (that you eat), “chicken meat”, and so on. The trouble with this t-shirt is that this word is also a slang for “hooker”…

4. The kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese) on the t-shirt says PERVERT. It would be funny if the person wearing it looked anything but…

Food we missed…

These things that we have taken for granted are either hard to find or ridiculously expensive…

Frozen food in general.

Cheese pizza: pizzas have to have LOTs of toppings. Tried to teach a
server at an Italian restaurant how to make cheese pizza and they came back with crust and cheese and nothing else.

Strawberry milk: we saw apple milk & even fruit milk. No luck finding low fat or no fat milk.

Cucumber: only saw small cucumbers with no visible seeds, like English cucumbers only much smaller.

Carrots that are peeled and washed; people are not as lazy… I think…

Pancakes and waffles in some fancy restaurants, especially pancakes with syrup at McDs were a big hit with my kids, but syrup seems to be a rare find: if you can have honey or jam why would you want “thickened sugar water”?

Sliced American cheese. Fancy French cheese yes. Mundane sliced American Cheese, say what?

Cream cheese: surprised to see bagels @ several restaurants, and there is even a New York Bagel Shop. But big tubs of cream cheese are not sold at stores. Naturally.

Ice cream: not difficult to find all sorts of fancy ice cream shops, and the more common ones too, in Taipei, including Cold Stone Creamery now. But our sticker shock in Beijing – 90 rmb ($15) for a tiny tub of B&J’s prompted me to splurge on 3 @ 2 for $7 just now.

The small things in life…

SOGO Department Store in Taipei : There is a recession here in Taiwan?

From what I was told, yes there is. 
 
This is inside the SOGO department store in Taipei.
 
So who is buying the Hermès, the Louie Vuittons, the Tods, and the Cartiers? I guess it is the same everywhere you go. The top of the pyramid is not really affected despite the global economic downturn. So they have to downsize from Mercedes Benz to Lexus. No tears from me for them…

I finally saw it with my own eyes! Sound machine inside public toilet to mask the embarrassing noise…

I have heard about this along time ago: Japanese women often flush the toilet as soon as they enter the stall to mask the embarrassing noise people naturally make when in the bathroom. This act of civility turned out to waste a lot of water resource. At first, they tried sound machines with music, etc., but still did not see significant reduction in water usage. Finally someone (or some company) came up with the idea of duplicating the sound of toilet flushing. This time, success.
I have always wanted to see one and after so many years, finally saw one in the luxurious restroom at the Takashimaya Department Store in Taipei (which also has the bidet-toilet seat…)
I only took a picture of it (while fully clothed mind you!! Was just there to take the picture…)  But someone actually videotaped it here on Boing Boing. Glad to know I was not the only one fascinated by this thing.