Magores is blocked again

I've mentioned once or twice that the blogspot.com domain was blocked in China. This means that, for the majority of the last year, I have been unable to (officially) see my own blog.

A couple weeks ago, someone made the decision to allow this country to see blogs posted here. Yay!

But, today, I can't see the blog again/anymore. Hopefully, a temporary glitch.

I have new stuff to share....
--I'm returning to the US for a couple weeks (Got floor space in SF for a world traveler for a day or two?)
--I'll be moving from one place to another (within Beijing) soon. Probably within same general area.
--Got my absentee ballot for the SF/CA elections. Showed the material to my co-workers. First comment by them... "Why is there Chinese on here?" Me: "Because SF is over 33% Chinese."

--Offical ballot question: "Should it be City policy to seek the impeachment of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney?" I won't tell you how I voted on that one. But, I think that everyone should understand that it doesn't matter what "The City" thinks/says. If you want it, say so... Loudly. If you don't, say so... Loudly. For better or worse, the current Administration of the US has helped to make the US a very polarized society. If you want something (or don't want something), make sure that "the powers that be" know what you prefer.

(How's that for walking the tightrope on what I say on here?)

Point is.... Let the politicians (aka, Your Employees) know what you want. And, hold them accountable.

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Oh yeah... More pictures coming soon. Forbidden City or Great Wall? You decide.

Chinese Lesson of the Day - Archive

Well, if I'm going to have a Chinese Lesson of the Day, I suppose I should update occasionally. And, if I'm going to update it, I suppose I should save the previous update... So, that's what this is. This is what the lesson was, before I changed it to the new thing.

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English: Thank you.

Chinese: 谢谢你

Pinyin: xie4 xie ni3



Pronunication Guide for Westerners:

"Thank you"...

is a good thing to know how to say in as many languages as your brain can hold. Here's how to say it in Mandarin Chinese...


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The official way of writing it, using latin script is "xie4 xie ni3", but, I'm not going to bore you with the official stuff. Here's how you should think of it if you aren't really studying Chinese...

"sye sye knee"


Steps...

1) Say the word "yet". Now, leave off the "t" at the end.
2) Now, add a "s" sound before the "ye".
3) Now, say "sye" twice... "Sye sye". That means "Thanks."
4) Now, think of where your leg bends in the middle. That's your knee, right?
5) "knee" means "you"
6) So... Say "sye sye knee" and you have just said "Thank you"

Actually... It's a little harder than that. You need to put "oomph" on the first "sye", and then "bend" the "knee" so it starts at a high pitch, then goes low, and then goes back up. But don't worry about the tones right now. Just remember "sye sye knee", and Chinese speakers will understand.

And, most native Chinese speakers will honestly be impressed that you have learned even this little bit of the language.

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So there you go.