Over two dinners and after

THE PROBLEMATIC FISH
I could not name the fish and I still cannot. Essentially, it’s my fault for not asking. It’s a sorry attempt in being adventurous. But well, at least it’s a good deal. Two pieces for £1 pound plus.

But the last two dinners, I had terrible fish dishes. I steamed the first piece yesterday night. It was so hard that I had to abandon half of it. In fact, it looked so strange that Sara had to ask, “What is that?” I just looked and her and smiled, “Overcooked fish”.

But that was yesterday and today I did a better job. I fried the fish, made some white wine sauce (from a packet, of course), then poured the sauce over the fish. It tasted fine but I did not realize the fish had some many bones! Every millimeter of flesh had a bone. I had a terrible time eating it.

If fishes had arthritis, this one would have it bad.

But of course, I should really blame the one who can neither cook well nor eat properly.

THE GREEK AND THE CHINESE
Ye-shu. That’s “hello” in Greek.

Well, it turns out that my Greek flatmate, Anatasia, is not doing her MA afterall. She’s doing her PhD. She loves foreign cultures, particularly the Chinese one. When she was doing her first degree in London, she went to Chinatown everyday for her meals. In Greece, she attended some cultural course which delved with the Chinese culture. She said it was extremely interesting to learn about a culture so entirely different from hers and even candidly said that Greek civilization could not compare to Chinese civilization because the Chinese go a long way back. Now, some Europeans love exotic cultures and some Asians just love the European (or American, or Australian, does not matter so long as it’s WHITE) culture. As long as it’s for the sake of understanding and exploring cultural differences, I think it’s a healthy sign.

She even revealed to me that she is a “Water Rat” under the Chinese zodiac sign.

Hence, she was sufficiently taken aback when she heard that Singaporeans study their mother tongue as a second language.

“But Chinese is so important. You learn about your culture.”

I tried to explain the economic and political benefits of taking English as a first language but she was not very convinced and commented, “That is very peculiar”

On another note, I went for a medical check-up to register for Uk’s National Health Service scheme. The nurse asked me some routine questions to which she entered the answers onto her computer.

One question, “Where do you come from?”

My answer, “Singapore”

She nodded, “Hmm…ok. That would be Chinese.”

A SMALL PIECE OF SNOT
Sara was eating dinner and reading a copy of “The Independent” at the same time. She suddenly turned to me and read out, “Mark Chen, foreign minister of Taiwan, is not apologizing for the comment that Singapore is “a small piece of snot”.

Is that big news in Singapore now? Gotta go to the ST interactive website.

But for someone who is ill-informed or mis-informed (thinking that Singapore is part of China), there is now an additional piece of information.

“Oh… I’ve heard of Singapore. She once caned an American for vandalism and she was once called a small piece of snot …”

REALITY RADIO
I don’t have a TV in my room for several reasons. Firstly, I don’t want waste money to buy one. Secondly, I don’t want to pay for a TV license. Thirdly, I want to read more. So, whenever I am doing “light” stuff, like writing my journal, reading the papers or magazines, I listen to the radio.

Honestly, I should really listen to serious radio like “the Cultural state” on BBC 4. But I often listen to a certain Dr Pam. This is a call-in programme where listeners call in to Dr Pam for ALL sorts of problems. Of course, the most common problems are emotional, sexual or mental. But people call in even for tax problems.

I’m riveted. I’m sure Singaporeans have the same set of problems too but it’s quite something to listen to people talk about them publicly. And some probably know that Dr Pam could not solve all the problems. So, why are they calling?

Today’s theme is “Secrets”. One listener’s secret is sexual. He obsesses about big bums. Another is secretly jealous because her younger sister is getting married (and she’s still single).Then, there’s this strange man who managed to get through.

Guy: I have a secret.
Dr Pam: Yes, that’s our theme tonight.
Guy: I don’t know if I should tell you or not.
Dr Pam: (silence)
Guy: I am jobless at the moment
Dr Pam: Yes.
Guy: When my dad passed away, my mum came to live with me
Dr Pam: Right.
Guy: Then my mum passed away a year ago.
Dr Pam: ( The suspense is probably killing her) I’m sorry to hear that.
Guy: I am still collecting her pension.
Dr Pam: Well, it is wrong and it seems that you know that you are wrong. That’s why you’ve called me. If you own up and said, “Look, I did this and I know it’s wrong”, I think they would not be too harsh on you.
Guy: All right.

End of call.

There’s this other programme on the same channel where the host Clive Ball would ask a couple of (sometimes very trivial) questions and callers would respond. I think these questions might be good warm-up starters in CRS lessons.

Examples are
1) Do you think left-handers are treated fairly?
(e.g Computer cursor points to the right)
2) Is it all right for pregnant women to go on a diet?
3) Road bumps are better than speed cameras.
4) Is Marmite a good salad dip?
5) What have your diaries taught you?
6) What do you think of women with beards? (?!)

Tonight
1) Is Tony Blair’s heart procedure really minor? If so, is it a political move?
So, people are now calling in to tell other listeners of all the surgery they have gone through! I did not know you can get a CD of your operation.
2) What is the most boring sport to watch?
Golf is leading so far, followed by cricket, followed by F1.