30 January 2011
Gung Haggis Fat Choy
30/01/11 14:17
So a couple of weeks ago we had to get a new laptop for one of the managers at the Nanaimo Office. This week it hadn't arrived so I decided to check with the main office to see what the status was. I knew the recipient was going to ask. She had asked me about it every time I'd seen her since the week BEFORE it was ordered. So I dropped a note to my boss. He replied that the laptop had arrived but they had mistakenly sent us a French version.
A French Version?
Up here you can get computers (and other things) in either English or French. It's a multicultural sort of thing. Some things like appliances normally have a button to switch languages. This wouldn't work with a computer. Once the French version of Windows and the drivers, and applications are all installed you can't just flip a switch and change it back. Even the reinstall software is only in French. They had to return the laptop and get an English one shipped so we're still waiting, and she's still asking.
I think I've mentioned that Canada is very proud of it's multicultural heritage. Not just English and French, there is Metis, First Nations, Indo-Canadian, Chinese, Haitian, Scottish, and all other points around the globe. Our Doctor for example, is a South African who says he was headed for Australia but got lost and washed up in Lantzville by mistake. He has a patient who's from Amsterdam. They both are fluent in English but she insists on only talking to him in Dutch. Now my Doctor doesn't speak Dutch but he does speak Afrikaans which is kinda' similar in some ways. He always looks really tired when I see him after she's been in.
Channel 10 here in Nanaimo is specifically reserved for programming for all different cultures. So it's not unusual to click by and encounter the Macedonian Hour, The Croatian Hour, Arabic programming, Japanese shows, Indian and Pakistani programming (though not, I should mention, on the same show), and others. One of the HD sports channels will often run Central American, Dominican, and Premier League (British) soccer. There is a whole channel dedicated to Cricket with teams from all over the world. As you might expect there are a number of French stations including one for the Parliament where we get to see members giving speeches in English which we can't hear because they are dubbed in French which we don't understand with Chinese or Hindi subtitles that we can't read. It's really kind of amazing all the things on our Cable system that I've no interest in watching.
It is however, possible to carry this a bit too far though. January 25th was Robert Burns birthday. Robert Burns, in case you didn't know, is a hero to the Scottish people. He wrote many well known things including the song Auld Lang Syne, which has been sung on New Years by generations of drunks who didn't know the words Auld Lang Syne are Gaelic for "I'm drunk and don't know what this song means".
A few years ago someone in Vancouver noticed that Robert Burns birthday lines up, more or less, with the Chinese New Year. The traditional greeting for the latter is Gung Hay Fat Choy. Another phrase that I don't know the meaning of. He then put two and two together and came up with the square root of 37. More importantly he came up with an excuse to party. The result was the founding of Gung Haggis Fat Choy. A celebration of the many things the Chinese and Scotts have in common.
Things like Haggis egg-rolls I suppose.
What puzzles me is that I've never thought of China and Scotland as having anything in common. Literally they are from opposite ends of the earth. When I think of the two cultures I try to find parallels. Confucius on one hand and Robert the Bruce on the other. Rice versus Mutton. Shaolin Temples versus hairy guys in skirts running through the heather painted blue (the guys are blue not the heather). It's such an odd combination that I'm not sure how it can work. But apparently it's a good match as they now celebrate Gung Haggis Fat Choy in both Scotland and China as well as Canada.
So this week we all should raise a glass of Saki to Robespierre, a glass of Whisky to Che Guevara, a pint of Porter to Ghandi and a fine Chianti to Lao Tsu. Who cares what any of them did as long as we have an excuse for a party.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Piper's Lagoon Park. Marsha was playing with closeups of driftwood. There are really some interesting shapes. We went down there right as the sun was coming up and wandered down the beach for about 5 minutes. It was cold. Bitterly cold. Painfully cold. Like 37F with a breeze from the south. We stayed for just a few minutes and then retreated inside where it was warm. We are such wimps now.
A French Version?
Up here you can get computers (and other things) in either English or French. It's a multicultural sort of thing. Some things like appliances normally have a button to switch languages. This wouldn't work with a computer. Once the French version of Windows and the drivers, and applications are all installed you can't just flip a switch and change it back. Even the reinstall software is only in French. They had to return the laptop and get an English one shipped so we're still waiting, and she's still asking.
I think I've mentioned that Canada is very proud of it's multicultural heritage. Not just English and French, there is Metis, First Nations, Indo-Canadian, Chinese, Haitian, Scottish, and all other points around the globe. Our Doctor for example, is a South African who says he was headed for Australia but got lost and washed up in Lantzville by mistake. He has a patient who's from Amsterdam. They both are fluent in English but she insists on only talking to him in Dutch. Now my Doctor doesn't speak Dutch but he does speak Afrikaans which is kinda' similar in some ways. He always looks really tired when I see him after she's been in.
Channel 10 here in Nanaimo is specifically reserved for programming for all different cultures. So it's not unusual to click by and encounter the Macedonian Hour, The Croatian Hour, Arabic programming, Japanese shows, Indian and Pakistani programming (though not, I should mention, on the same show), and others. One of the HD sports channels will often run Central American, Dominican, and Premier League (British) soccer. There is a whole channel dedicated to Cricket with teams from all over the world. As you might expect there are a number of French stations including one for the Parliament where we get to see members giving speeches in English which we can't hear because they are dubbed in French which we don't understand with Chinese or Hindi subtitles that we can't read. It's really kind of amazing all the things on our Cable system that I've no interest in watching.
It is however, possible to carry this a bit too far though. January 25th was Robert Burns birthday. Robert Burns, in case you didn't know, is a hero to the Scottish people. He wrote many well known things including the song Auld Lang Syne, which has been sung on New Years by generations of drunks who didn't know the words Auld Lang Syne are Gaelic for "I'm drunk and don't know what this song means".
A few years ago someone in Vancouver noticed that Robert Burns birthday lines up, more or less, with the Chinese New Year. The traditional greeting for the latter is Gung Hay Fat Choy. Another phrase that I don't know the meaning of. He then put two and two together and came up with the square root of 37. More importantly he came up with an excuse to party. The result was the founding of Gung Haggis Fat Choy. A celebration of the many things the Chinese and Scotts have in common.
Things like Haggis egg-rolls I suppose.
What puzzles me is that I've never thought of China and Scotland as having anything in common. Literally they are from opposite ends of the earth. When I think of the two cultures I try to find parallels. Confucius on one hand and Robert the Bruce on the other. Rice versus Mutton. Shaolin Temples versus hairy guys in skirts running through the heather painted blue (the guys are blue not the heather). It's such an odd combination that I'm not sure how it can work. But apparently it's a good match as they now celebrate Gung Haggis Fat Choy in both Scotland and China as well as Canada.
So this week we all should raise a glass of Saki to Robespierre, a glass of Whisky to Che Guevara, a pint of Porter to Ghandi and a fine Chianti to Lao Tsu. Who cares what any of them did as long as we have an excuse for a party.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Piper's Lagoon Park. Marsha was playing with closeups of driftwood. There are really some interesting shapes. We went down there right as the sun was coming up and wandered down the beach for about 5 minutes. It was cold. Bitterly cold. Painfully cold. Like 37F with a breeze from the south. We stayed for just a few minutes and then retreated inside where it was warm. We are such wimps now.