Posted on

English errors from ESL students – Verse 1

Can you spot any errors in the below sentences? Please leave a comment below.

esl

  1. Please excuse me. I have to leave now to put my children to sleep.
  2. I am really busy right now. Can we discuss tomorrow?
  3. Only a few of us would get to make interesting things. This is sad. Would you prefer stacking shelves in a supermarket than making scientific instruments?
  4. We just met. Please don’t hold my hand. After people will gossip.
  5. I have a cocktail this Friday at the office. Would you like to join me?
  6. For a typical Singaporean breakfast, it doesn’t get better than a cup of Kopi with Kaya Toast and two half boiled eggs drizzled with dark soy sauce!
  7. I am 6 weeks pregnant. Is it recommended to drink snakehead fish soup (sang yu soup) during this time?
  8. Tickets will go on sale at 9AM BST on Tuesday 9th October and will be sold on a first-come-first-serve basis.
  9. Sorry. I left only one Japanese crab. Can take local crabs instead?
  10. The CEO informed that he will increase everyone’s salary by 10 percent.
  11. Today’s census is expected to confirm that a greater proportion of the UK’s households now comprise of single parents, adult children living with their parents, or pensioners than 10 years ago when the last census was conducted.
  12. When we discuss about giving maids one day off Singaporeans worry about what the maids will do during their day off, yet they trust the maid to look after their expensive homes and their children.
  13. She said, ‘you can send me home but can not have supper with me because I am meeting my friends for supper.’  I took the opportunity first and locked her in by agreeing at 10pm, she finished work and hop into my car parked.
  14. I heard that you moved to Singapore permanently, where do you stay in Singapore?
  15. My dad doesn’t like that actress who tries to copycat the Americans.
  16. I didn’t want to choose a gift that can be found a duplication somewhere.
  17. I designed this album as a gift for my girlfriend with a photo-editing software. I wrote some sweet messages expressing my feelings of each photo.
  18. ST understands one new criteria could be for the presidential candidate to have experience working in an international sports federation.
  19. After 43 years of independence, Singapore comes a long way in terms of development, from a once fishing village to today’s bustling urban city.
  20. Persuading Japanese companies to do business with us is very challenging. During the meeting with one of business partners, Kodansha, the biggest publisher in Japan, I was bombarded with difficult questions.
Posted on

Swift 3 – upgrade nightmare

One of the things I don’t like about develop on Mac / iOS, is that you have to spend tremendous amount of time to maintain your project to deal with Apple’s fast yet messy language and library update.

It is so exciting that Swift 3 has released! But hold on. Here is the screenshot of my prject after pressing this magic and powerful “Convert to Swift3 syntax” button! What a nonsense, it is just a nightmare!

 

screenshot-2016-11-05-11-25-49

Posted on

What bothers American in Singapore

Believe or not, what bothers an American most in Singapore, it is not the hot weather or chewing gum ban. It is the unavailability of what it is on the menu. If you go to a shop or resturaunt, often, you order something on the menu, but the staff will tell you the thing that you want to order is not available or sold out.

So once, one of my American friends told me what’s the point to put it on the menu to disappoint your customers .

Posted on

Japanese traditional house centre Tokyo

If you have been to Tokyo for a while, you must have heard of the fashion street near Shibuya called Daikanyama, where you can find a spate of indie fashion designer shops for furniture and clothing. However, little knows there is a hidden traditional Japanese house in this neighbourhood, which was built almost a hundred years ago. The name is called Kyu Asakura House. If you Search it in Google Maps, then you will find that it is just off on a side street next to the crossing of Daikanyama koban-mae. I like its lovely garden especially.

It is definitely a worth visiting after a long and tiring shopping near the Daikanyama station.

file_8612x3076_085914

Posted on

A weekend trip to Saigon

A weekend trip to Saigon , September 2016

Ho Chi Minh city does not have subways but it is the home to about 8 million people as of 2016. According to a signage on the street, It seems that Japan is helping it to build its subway, and the famous Japanese department store Takashimaya also has its branch, where you will see lots of Japanese and international food and products.

Once again, I saw another southern east country that is under heavy influence of Japan. No wonder that I stumbled into many Japanese wives of expat(駐在員)

vietname-japan

 

Through a conversation with a local, I heard some interesting anecdote about the men’s mentality towards women’s sexual experiences. For example, many Vietnamese guys prefer to marry a virgin , they will be upset if they discover that the bride is not virgin. So many girls here thrive to keep their virginity.

I didn’t know that Vietnam is one of the biggest coffee bean producers until I hit the famous Bến Thành Market and found myself surrounded by numerous coffee bean stalls. I bought a few Vietnamese coffee beans in the market, and I will try them out with my Mazzer machine in Singapore.

vietnamese-coffee

I discovered some new fruit that might be unique to Vietnam. For example, Sapoche smoothie, and Mia Lau tea and a lime smoothie which is very tasty and refreshing!

vietnamese-tea

And for the first time, I learnt how a papaya tree look like in Vietnam

papaya

Since, there are currently no subway. The scoot-like motorbikes are like streams on the street , they are ubiquitous, rampant and never stop even in the middle of the night. Check out this video below:

Vietnamese cuisine is amazing. I fell in love with it . The food is affordable, healthy and tasty, compared to the food in Singapore anyway. Meals usually include fresh herbs and veggies. Apart from the famous Vietnamese phô , which can be found in other countries. I tried many dishes that I have never seen in my life before

vietnamese-food

This is a desert. It may look not as sophisticated and pretty as western desert, but it is simple, primitive but yummy and healthy. It suits my Asian tongue well.

vietnamese-desert

Posted on

Miss food in Japan

Having been in Singapore for almost 8 months,  partaking spicy, oily or salty food (of course, tasty) here, I ,sometimes, miss the food in Japan. Sadly, I could not find any affordable yet delicious authentic Japanese food with fresh ingredients in Singapore , like the picture showed below. Anyone knows good place?

file_3264x2448_081832

Posted on

Mid Autumn Festival (中秋节)

每逢佳节倍思亲。王菲的《但愿人长久》是我的最爱。
感谢宋朝的苏轼写下了这首千古传唱的词。以下是日文翻译

明月幾時有　　　明月幾時よりか有る
把酒問青天　　　酒を把って青天に問ふ
不知天上宮闕　　知らず天上の宮闕
今夕是何年　　　今夕は是何れの年ぞ
我欲乘風歸去　　我風に乘って歸り去らんと欲す
又恐瓊樓玉宇　　又恐る瓊樓の玉宇
高處不勝寒　　　高き處寒さに勝へざらんことを
起舞弄清影　　　起舞して清影を弄ぶ
何似在人間　　　何ぞ似たる人間に在るに

轉朱閣　　　　　朱閣に轉じ
低綺戸　　　　　綺戸に低（た）れ
照無眠　　　　　無眠を照らす
不應有恨　　　　應に恨み有るべからざるに
何事長向別時圓　何事ぞ長へに別時に向って圓なる

人有悲歡離合　　人に悲歡離合有り
月有陰晴圓缺　　月に陰晴圓缺有り
此事古難全　　　此の事古より全くなり難し
但願人長久　　　但だ願はくは人長久に
千里共嬋娟　　　千里　嬋娟を共にせんことを

 

Posted on

Food in Vietnam

Despite that I have to give up my vegetarian diet for 3 days, food in Saigon is cheap and incrediblely tasty and pleasant for my tongue. I tried so many tasty food that I never had in my life.

The broth they made is very tasty.  I gave up 3 days of my vegetarian diet to try the local food, I still do not like the meat in it. Actually, I got a bit “drunk” – some strange reaction from my body, radish on my skin (maybe allergy). Nevertheless, I recovered from that in an hour or so. I especially loved the spring roll with vegetables.

 

Vietnamese food

 

Posted on

buy coffee beans in Saigon

As one of the main coffee bean producers in the world, Vietnam has its unique coffee style. I went to the famous Bến Thành Market, to scout some good coffee beans. I found some interesting roasting method. Almost all the beans were roasted with some sort of butter, which gives the beans a oily and shining coat together with sweet and caramel smell. 

Famous beans like “blue moutain” are incredulous cheap, costing about 5-6 SGD per 100g. I am curious how this buttery roast will affect the taste of I use these beans to make my espresso at home, so I bought some. I will report the taste after I try it out with my La Pavoni.  

Posted on

Lift operator in Japan

The below pictures was taken by me in Takashimaya Tokyo, one of the oldest and most famous Japanese department stores. This is an epitome of Japan’s human redundancies, which you can see almost everywhere you go. It seems that people enjoy spending valuable time doing things that don’t need to be done. Well, at least, I believe most of the people can press the buttons in the lift and know which floor they want to go to.

img_0633

 

She is cute and polite, and I assume the Japanese customers enjoy this kind of services and her hospitality.