At the moment, I'm working on Friday's Chinese lesson. It seems I'm a little sidetracked! The dialogue is one page and my teacher assures me it's not an easy one. I've been asked to prepare the first two paragraphs. In doing this, I came across a great site ... nckiu.
This site allows one to draw Chinese characters using their mouse. None of my teachers have really taken the time to teach me about radicals nor have they taught me how to look things up in a proper Chinese dictionary. This website keeps it simple with only needing the ability to draw the character.
The first paragraph in my dialogue introduces the idiom 民以食為天. The meaning: the masses regard food as their heaven (as their prime want). The second is a proverb which I can't quite figure out as of yet. It says 吃飯皇帝大. The direct translation would be eat/meal/emperor/big. This leads me to believe that the meaning has something to do with people that have the luxuries of food are perhaps considered superior? Just a guess, of course.
The sentence following says that these two sayings are very important. They are more important than sleeping and sitting on the toilet. I'm wondering if this page will finally give me some insight into the fascination that people in Taiwan have with toilets and bathroom activity.
I've been teaching at the same school for four years. On a daily basis I get asked the question, "May I go poo poo?" I always remind my students that it's not my business what goes on behind the door. A simple, "May I go to the bathroom?" will do. My students thinks it's great to talk about toilets and pu pu, which is how they spell it.
In doing a quick search for the word, Merriam Webster offers this definition:
pu pu (noun): an Asian dish served as an appetizer or main course and consisting of a variety of foods (as egg rolls, spareribs, and fried shrimp) (a pupu platter)
That just made this blog a bit more comical. If only my students could understand the humor here.
The above pictures were taken at the Taipei Zoo. These are only two of many to be seen. I'm quite intrigued as to where this dialogue will go. Perhaps I can finally ask an adult as to why 上廁所 is such an openly talked about thing.
2 comments :
well, I know they have to say that they are going pooing, because in the communication book the Chinese teacher needs to tick whether they went pooing or not. If a kid gets sick they can see when last he went etc.
Found out in a funny way....one of my kids said it...and I said 'I really don't need to know what youre going to do there, just say youre going to the bathroom' and he looked at me and said.. NO, you really really need to know.
I figured it to be something like that .... shows you how much the parents DON'T play the role of ...
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