Of weekends away, grandmothers and the Far East Για τα Σαββατοκύριακα, τις γιαγιάδες και την Άπω Ανατολή 周末外出、祖母和远东

Hello everyone, this is Owen and this is my podcast for Friday 19th June, 2015. I hope you are all well and healthy. It's been a hot and fabulous month in Kunming. The rain hasn‘t arrived yet. Every day has been beautifully sunny and clear. When it gets hot and sunny in China, you see a lot of funny things. One of them is rather fat, middle-aged men. Um deles é um homem de meia-idade, bastante gordo. When it's hot a lot of them pull their t-shirts up to their chests to cool their hot stomachs. Quando está calor, muitos deles puxam as t-shirts até ao peito para arrefecerem os seus estômagos quentes. And you often see them walking in the streets showing off their naked, fat bellies. E é frequente vê-los a passear nas ruas, exibindo as suas barrigas nuas e gordas. In Beijing this is very common. We call it “the Beijing bikini“. Then there are the women who look like ducks. Depois há as mulheres que parecem patos. Because they don't want to be exposed to the sun, they wear funny masks. Light skin is considered more beautiful than tanned skin here. Aqui, a pele clara é considerada mais bonita do que a pele bronzeada. Lots of women are very careful and walk around with umbrellas. Muitas mulheres são muito cuidadosas e andam com guarda-chuvas. Especially in Kunming where the sun is very bright. Especialmente em Kunming, onde o sol é muito forte. But there are some women who not only carry an umbrella but also wear special face masks. To make sure that you can breathe the masks are made of two pieces of fabric. Para garantir a respiração, as máscaras são feitas de duas peças de tecido. The top piece covers the nose and looks a bit like the beak [1] of a duck. Some women are extra careful and have an umbrella and a face mask and also a pair of gloves, a hat and sunglasses. I always think they must get very hot. Penso sempre que devem ficar muito quentes. Today I'll be talking about a short trip Vittoria and I took, a birthday I attended and a book I have just finished reading. Hoje vou falar de uma pequena viagem que eu e a Vittoria fizemos, de um aniversário a que fui e de um livro que acabei de ler.

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Living in a city is nice and getting out of the city for a weekend is even better. Viver numa cidade é bom e sair da cidade durante um fim de semana é ainda melhor. Although Kunming is a large city, it's surprisingly easy to get out of the city. Embora Kunming seja uma cidade grande, é surpreendentemente fácil sair da cidade. So a few weeks ago Vittoria and I decided to do just that and go away for the weekend. Assim, há algumas semanas, a Vittoria e eu decidimos fazer isso mesmo e passar o fim de semana fora. There's a lake just south of Kunming - called Fu Xian - that we had heard was very nice. Há um lago a sul de Kunming - chamado Fu Xian - que tínhamos ouvido dizer que era muito bonito. We caught a bus there and then rented bikes. After enjoying a big lunch of stir-fried [2] cauliflower [3], a tomato and tofu dish and beef broth [4], we set off on our bikes. Depois de saborear um grande almoço de couve-flor frita [2], um prato de tomate e tofu e caldo de carne [4], partimos para as nossas bicicletas. The distance around the lake is about 90 kilometres. A distância à volta do lago é de cerca de 90 quilómetros. We thought that would be perfect for a two-day trip. Achámos que seria perfeito para uma viagem de dois dias. What we didn't consider was what the bikes would be like. O que não pensámos foi em como seriam as bicicletas. Unfortunately, the saddles were really uncomfortable. Infelizmente, os selins eram muito desconfortáveis. It was great to begin with. Para começar, era ótimo. The road was beautiful and the views spectacular. The road was right next to the lake. A estrada era mesmo ao lado do lago. Every 10 or so kilometres we passed small villages on the lake with sand beaches. A cada 10 ou mais quilómetros passamos por pequenas aldeias no lago com praias de areia. 每隔 10 公里左右，我们就会经过湖边有沙滩的小村庄。 We didn't want to leave ourselves too many kilometres for the second day, so we kept cycling without making too many stops. Não queríamos deixar muitos quilómetros para o segundo dia, por isso continuámos a pedalar sem fazer muitas paragens. 我们不想给第二天留下太多的路程，所以我们一直骑行，没有停太多的路程。 It was quite painful though. Mas foi bastante doloroso. The saddles were so hard and uncomfortable, we could barely sit on them. As selas eram tão duras e desconfortáveis que mal nos conseguíamos sentar nelas. Luckily it was quite flat and there was very little traffic on the road. Felizmente, era bastante plana e havia muito pouco trânsito na estrada. 幸运的是，路面很平坦，而且路上车辆很少。 We brought our tent [5] with us and we were looking out for a good camping spot along the way. It's actually illegal to camp by the lake. De facto, é ilegal acampar junto ao lago. There are big signs everywhere with all the things you're not supposed to do: no camping, no barbecues, no washing and no washing of cars in the lake. So we decided to wait until the sun had set until we put up our tent. Por isso, decidimos esperar que o sol se pusesse para montarmos a tenda. 因此我们决定等到太阳落山后再搭帐篷。 That also gave us time to find a nice place for dinner first. Isso também nos deu tempo para encontrar um bom sítio para jantar primeiro. We stopped in a little village and found a restaurant with a beautiful view of the lake and the setting sun. We ordered fish and shrimp. Pedimos peixe e camarão. Both had been freshly caught in the lake. Ambos tinham sido apanhados recentemente no lago. Although it was painful for us to sit, we really enjoyed the dinner and the view. We then found a nice spot [6] right on the lake to camp for the night. People say it's one of the cleanest lakes in China. We took advantage [7] of that by going for a quick swim. Aproveitámos [7] para dar um mergulho rápido. It was very cold but wonderfully refreshing. The next day we still had quite a way to go. No dia seguinte, ainda tínhamos um longo caminho a percorrer. The first hour on the bike was really tough and it didn't really get easier. A primeira hora de bicicleta foi muito dura e não se tornou mais fácil. The perfect weather and the beautiful scenery helped us through it though. No entanto, o tempo perfeito e as belas paisagens ajudaram-nos a ultrapassar a situação. But by the time we made it around the whole lake, we promised ourselves no more bikes ever again. Mas quando demos a volta a todo o lago, prometemos a nós próprios nunca mais andar de bicicleta. Or at least no more bikes without comfortable saddles. Ou, pelo menos, não há mais bicicletas sem selins confortáveis.

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The other day I was invited to a friend's birthday party. The plan for the evening was a big dinner followed by karaoke. The birthday boy had made a reservation at his favourite restaurant. O aniversariante tinha feito uma reserva no seu restaurante preferido. He told me that the food was delicious, like home-cooked food. A big group of us met up and then we walked into a large apartment block. Encontrámo-nos com um grande grupo e entrámos num grande bloco de apartamentos. 我们一大群人聚在一起然后走进一栋大公寓楼。 We took the lift to the 14th floor and walked into an apartment. All the apartments on that floor were either restaurants or tattoo parlours [8]. Todos os apartamentos desse andar eram restaurantes ou estúdios de tatuagens [8]. I found out [9] then that people open restaurants in apartments in order to avoid having to get all the proper [10] licences for a proper restaurant. Nessa altura, descobri [9] que as pessoas abrem restaurantes em apartamentos para não terem de obter todas as licenças [10] necessárias para um restaurante. 我当时发现[9]，人们在公寓里开餐馆是为了避免获得开办正规餐馆的所有[10]相关许可证。 The food and the atmosphere was very nice, very homely. A comida e o ambiente eram muito agradáveis, muito acolhedores. After the dinner we went to KTV, which is the name Chinese use for karaoke. KTV is pretty popular and KTV places are generally quite posh and fancy [11]. A KTV é bastante popular e os locais de KTV são geralmente bastante elegantes e sofisticados [11]. As with all KTV places, you get your own private room. Como em todos os locais de KTV, tem a sua própria sala privada. It had a beautiful marble table in the middle with black leather sofas around three sides of it facing a big flat screen TV. Tinha uma bela mesa de mármore no meio, com sofás de couro preto à volta de três lados, de frente para uma grande televisão de ecrã plano. Next to it there was a little stage with a microphone for people to perform on. They were all singing Chinese ballads, getting drunk and having a good time. 他们唱着中国歌谣，喝着酒，玩得很开心。 We also had a cake for the birthday boy. He blew out the candles and then it was time for a short speech [12]. Apagou as velas e depois foi a vez de um pequeno discurso [12]. 他吹灭了蜡烛，然后发表了简短的演讲[12]。 The Chinese love giving speeches. 中国人热爱演讲。 Because there were a few foreigners there he wanted to give the speech in English. His English is OK but he was a little drunk and emotional. He spoke about friendship and thanked us all for being there. At the end of his speech he took a deep breath, put his hand on his chest, looked down and said: 'I'm very sorry but my grandma is a shit.' No final do seu discurso, respirou fundo, pôs a mão no peito, olhou para baixo e disse: "Peço imensa desculpa, mas a minha avó é uma merda". Suddenly it went very quiet. De repente, tudo ficou muito calmo. I glanced nervously at the others in the room. Olhei nervosamente para os outros presentes na sala. Why would he say something bad about his grandmother on his birthday? I just hoped that this wasn't the start of some horrible story about his childhood. Só esperava que isto não fosse o início de uma história horrível sobre a sua infância. He looked at us and repeated: ‘I'm really sorry but my grandma is a shit.‘ After a rather awkward moment, we realised that he wasn't apologising for his poor grandmother but that he was actually trying to apologise for his poor English grammar! Ele olhou para nós e repetiu: "Peço imensa desculpa, mas a minha avó é uma merda". Depois de um momento bastante embaraçoso, percebemos que ele não estava a pedir desculpa pela sua pobre avó, mas que na verdade estava a tentar pedir desculpa pela sua má gramática inglesa! 他看着我们，重复道：“我真的很抱歉，但我的奶奶真是个混蛋。”经过一段尴尬的时刻后，我们意识到他并不是在为他可怜的奶奶道歉，而是在为他糟糕的英语语法道歉！

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I would now like to tell you about a book I read. It's called 'A fortune-teller [13] told me: Earth-bound travels in the Far East' and it was written by Tiziano Terzani. Chama-se "Uma cartomante [13] contou-me: Viagens terrestres no Extremo Oriente" e foi escrito por Tiziano Terzani. 这本书的名字是《一位算命先生[13]告诉我：在远东的地球旅行》，作者是提香·特尔扎尼。 He was an Italian writer and journalist. After studying Chinese language and culture, he moved to the Far East in 1971 to work as a journalist. He lived in Beijing for a number of years until he got kicked out by the Chinese government. Viveu em Pequim durante vários anos até ser expulso pelo governo chinês. On a visit to Hong Kong in 1976 a fortune-teller told him: ‘Beware! You run a grave risk of dying in 1993. Corre um sério risco de morrer em 1993. 1993 年，您面临巨大的死亡风险。 You mustn't fly that year. Don't fly, not even once.‘ Seventeen years later he took the warning seriously. Não voes, nem sequer uma vez". Dezassete anos mais tarde, levou o aviso a sério. He didn't fly for the whole year. And this book is a travel book about that year. E este livro é um livro de viagens sobre esse ano. At the time he was working as a correspondent for Der Spiegel in the Far East. He had to travel a lot for work and he also had to visit his mother in Italy that year. And he did it all without flying. Throughout the year he visited most countries in South-East Asia and also crossed China in order to catch the Trans-Siberian train to Europe. He also looked up a fortune-teller in every city he passed through. Também procurou uma cartomante em cada cidade por onde passou. The book is full of his impressions of East Asia and especially the changes he saw happening over the years he lived there. It's a very interesting book and a great reminder that you don't have to fly in order to see the world.

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Before I go, I'd like to thank you very much for all the comments you left on the website. Guy wrote a question about Chinese characters. He asked how children learn to write Chinese characters. Perguntou como é que as crianças aprendem a escrever caracteres chineses. Well, children first learn pinyin. Pinyin is the system of writing Chinese using the Latin alphabet, so children actually learn to write the alphabet before they learn to write any characters. They then learn to write characters. Quite simply, they memorise them by copying them. The teacher will show them the correct stroke order, which means which line to write first, second and so on. O professor mostra-lhes a ordem correcta dos traços, ou seja, que linha escrever primeiro, segunda e assim por diante. The students copy the character and then they write it again and again and again. It helps that Chinese characters are made up of components. O facto de os caracteres chineses serem constituídos por componentes ajuda. 汉字是由部件组成的，这很有帮助。 So by recognising a part of a character you know the general meaning of a character. Assim, ao reconhecermos uma parte de uma personagem, sabemos o seu significado geral. For example that it is a person, a building or in some way related to water. Children learn all the components as they learn new characters. Now, Chinese with a university education know between 6000 and 8000 characters. However, to read a newspaper you need to know between 2000 and 3000 characters. Most words, though, are made up of a combination of two or more characters. For example, the word computer is made up of the character for ‘electricity' and the character for ‚brain'. Thank you very much for listening. You can listen to all our podcasts by downloading our app or by visiting our website. I wish you all a nice month. Gerry will be back in two weeks. I'll be talking to you again on 17th July. Remember to visit our website www.podclub.ch to leave a comment or question. Thanks again! Bye.

Glossaire: Owen in China [1] beak: a bird's mouth

[2] stir-fried: cooked quickly in hot oil

[3] cauliflower: a white vegetable similar to broccoli

[4] broth: a clear soup

[5] tent: a place to sleep that you can put up yourself

[6] spot: a particular place

[7] to take advantage: to make the most of

[8] tattoo parlour: a shop where you can get a tattoo

[9] to find out: to discover a piece of information

[10] proper: here: right, correct

[11] fancy: made to look impressive or important

[12] speech: when someone speaks to a group of people

[13] fortune-teller: someone who tells you what will happen in the future