Monday, February 25, 2008
Lantern Festival - Taipei (MP3 at www.teacherbill.com)
Okay, it is Lantern Festival, her in Taipei. And, uh, that ball there has got, uh, “fortune” and “happy” on it. So, “Gongxi facai! Xinnian kuaile!”. We’re celebrating Lantern Festival.
I’m over here, right in front of the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, and, um, beautiful—love that red color up there. So, and uh, there’s lots of people here—I don’t know how many people, but an awful lot of people. They’re covering up my spotlight over there for some reason—I’m fading in and out.
But, Chinese New Year is always very interesting—I’m an ox, so this is the year of the rat. And, um, the ox helped carry the rat over the river, and uh—but the rat jumped off and beat the ox to the other side of the river. So, I’m a little upset about that—the rat kind of cheated me out. But that doesn’t matter; at least I came in second place.
So, the Jade Emperor had this race—I would suggest that you go back and take a look at Advanced Magazine for February, and read all about Chinese New Year. We talk about the tradition of the Jade Emperor, and how he came up with twelve animals for Chinese, for the Chinese calendar.
But, I just thought we’d take a look at the Lantern Festival here in Taipei.
See you next time!
Key Words
Spotlight-n-a strong light, directed at an object.
Fading-v-not clear, losing the ability to be seen.
I’m over here, right in front of the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, and, um, beautiful—love that red color up there. So, and uh, there’s lots of people here—I don’t know how many people, but an awful lot of people. They’re covering up my spotlight over there for some reason—I’m fading in and out.
But, Chinese New Year is always very interesting—I’m an ox, so this is the year of the rat. And, um, the ox helped carry the rat over the river, and uh—but the rat jumped off and beat the ox to the other side of the river. So, I’m a little upset about that—the rat kind of cheated me out. But that doesn’t matter; at least I came in second place.
So, the Jade Emperor had this race—I would suggest that you go back and take a look at Advanced Magazine for February, and read all about Chinese New Year. We talk about the tradition of the Jade Emperor, and how he came up with twelve animals for Chinese, for the Chinese calendar.
But, I just thought we’d take a look at the Lantern Festival here in Taipei.
See you next time!
Key Words
Spotlight-n-a strong light, directed at an object.
Fading-v-not clear, losing the ability to be seen.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Mahjong for Dummies (or Bill)
Okay, we’re playing Mahjong here—I have no idea how to play. No, but we just won, right? We just won—I have no idea how we won. So.
One of my favorite parts of Mahjong is this.
“It’s L.V., L.V.” (Lester)
“Real L.V.” (Theresa)
This is top of the line Mahjong.
It’s called, um luxury.
Luxury. But you can see, my opponents are deadly serious—this is a serious game. So, alright, my partner is deadly serious about this too.
Okay, alright, I’m getting there.
Gotta grab these things, line ‘em all up, so, okay.
How much money did we win?
“We lose” (Brenda)
I thought we won!
“We still lose” (Brenda)
We won but we still lose?
Okay, I think we got it.
Alright, two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen . . . two more. Okay.
Alright, everything all lined up like this, nice and orderly. Okay, alright.
Okay, who’s next?
“You follow my mom” (Brenda)
Okay.
Key Words
Deadly serious-idiom-intense, very, very serious, no laughter.
Orderly-adj-everything where it should be, very straight.
One of my favorite parts of Mahjong is this.
“It’s L.V., L.V.” (Lester)
“Real L.V.” (Theresa)
This is top of the line Mahjong.
It’s called, um luxury.
Luxury. But you can see, my opponents are deadly serious—this is a serious game. So, alright, my partner is deadly serious about this too.
Okay, alright, I’m getting there.
Gotta grab these things, line ‘em all up, so, okay.
How much money did we win?
“We lose” (Brenda)
I thought we won!
“We still lose” (Brenda)
We won but we still lose?
Okay, I think we got it.
Alright, two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen . . . two more. Okay.
Alright, everything all lined up like this, nice and orderly. Okay, alright.
Okay, who’s next?
“You follow my mom” (Brenda)
Okay.
Key Words
Deadly serious-idiom-intense, very, very serious, no laughter.
Orderly-adj-everything where it should be, very straight.
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