Why I love working here...
Been crazy busy for the past week.
Working on a new biz pitch. Worked both days last weekend and will be working this coming one too. Sigh.
But I love working here.
Not just because I've got great friends / colleagues / bosses here, but also because we're like family.
Like today, about 17 of us went out to eat bak kut teh (pork in herbal and garlic soup) for lunch. It's wonderfully communal, chopsticks digging into 2 huge claypots of boiling broth and pieces of meat, mushrooms and tofu. It's wonderfully delicious, with a bowl of rice and a mini-dish of raw chopped garlic, thick black soy sauce and birds eye chillis on the side. The shop was wonderfully hot, crowded and noisy. And we ate, laughed and poured tea above the din.
On the way back in the car, a few of us were discussing Chinese idioms. I'm illiterate in my own mother tongue, knowing just enough for basic daily conversation with my mom and some relatives. So I was learning quite abit about clever Chinese wordplay. It was interesting to say the least, and it made the short car ride back to the office such fun.
Here are some simpler ones (in Cantonese) I learnt from JH and JC.
Sui lok sek choot (receeding water exposes rocks)
- Truth will reveal itself with time.
Tau ngak gwai pin (steal bluff kidnap cheat)
- Untrustworthy (quite obvious hor?)
For siew kei gon (fire burns flag post)
- Now this one is a little complicated. A well-burnt flag post would give you a long piece of charcoal, which in Cantonese is "cheong tan", which also sounds like a "long holiday". So by saying you're burning a flag post, you're actually going for a long holiday. Uh. Okay...
Gai mou ngap huet (chicken feather duck blood)
- Nothing left but worthless things. Usually used when you're saying someone is in deep trouble (especially when it's about money).
Mou ngok butt chok (not evil not done)
- Do nothing but evil. Used to refer to people who does nothing but... well, evil. Quite self-explanatory this one.
Chat chat bat bat (seven seven eight eight)
- Almost compete, but not 100% yet. I wonder if number 10 is considered a complete number by the Chinese. Hmmm.
There are alot more but I can't remember them all now. And it's time to get back to work. Maybe I'll post another one about this, once I have time to do more research.
* For some strange reason, every time I'm stuck in a meeting with a government ministry client (it's nothing short of painful), I get this huge craving for bak kut teh. Good thing my colleagues agree it is the best comfort food. Eating it, even if out of spite, is a balm to my soul. If you want to know why, ask via email. I don't want a lawsuit. Hahaha.
Working on a new biz pitch. Worked both days last weekend and will be working this coming one too. Sigh.
But I love working here.
Not just because I've got great friends / colleagues / bosses here, but also because we're like family.
Like today, about 17 of us went out to eat bak kut teh (pork in herbal and garlic soup) for lunch. It's wonderfully communal, chopsticks digging into 2 huge claypots of boiling broth and pieces of meat, mushrooms and tofu. It's wonderfully delicious, with a bowl of rice and a mini-dish of raw chopped garlic, thick black soy sauce and birds eye chillis on the side. The shop was wonderfully hot, crowded and noisy. And we ate, laughed and poured tea above the din.
On the way back in the car, a few of us were discussing Chinese idioms. I'm illiterate in my own mother tongue, knowing just enough for basic daily conversation with my mom and some relatives. So I was learning quite abit about clever Chinese wordplay. It was interesting to say the least, and it made the short car ride back to the office such fun.
Here are some simpler ones (in Cantonese) I learnt from JH and JC.
Sui lok sek choot (receeding water exposes rocks)
- Truth will reveal itself with time.
Tau ngak gwai pin (steal bluff kidnap cheat)
- Untrustworthy (quite obvious hor?)
For siew kei gon (fire burns flag post)
- Now this one is a little complicated. A well-burnt flag post would give you a long piece of charcoal, which in Cantonese is "cheong tan", which also sounds like a "long holiday". So by saying you're burning a flag post, you're actually going for a long holiday. Uh. Okay...
Gai mou ngap huet (chicken feather duck blood)
- Nothing left but worthless things. Usually used when you're saying someone is in deep trouble (especially when it's about money).
Mou ngok butt chok (not evil not done)
- Do nothing but evil. Used to refer to people who does nothing but... well, evil. Quite self-explanatory this one.
Chat chat bat bat (seven seven eight eight)
- Almost compete, but not 100% yet. I wonder if number 10 is considered a complete number by the Chinese. Hmmm.
There are alot more but I can't remember them all now. And it's time to get back to work. Maybe I'll post another one about this, once I have time to do more research.
* For some strange reason, every time I'm stuck in a meeting with a government ministry client (it's nothing short of painful), I get this huge craving for bak kut teh. Good thing my colleagues agree it is the best comfort food. Eating it, even if out of spite, is a balm to my soul. If you want to know why, ask via email. I don't want a lawsuit. Hahaha.
Labels: being chinese, colleagues, eating out, ranting about work
says Wandernut on Wednesday, April 25, 2007
6 wandered by:
~~~~~~~~~~~~geekchic
Don't need to ask via email. i know why BAK KUT TEH IS SO GOOD!!! i feel the same too. And I attack it with vengeance. I wonder why :)
BKT is just GOOD period.
No reason needed to eat it;-b
Penang, mah...
Was reading out the idioms to Ed. At first he thought I was speaking in a foreign language. Took him a couple of minutes before he said, "Oooooh!" HAHAHA!
P/S: BKT is awesome! I want when I'm back!
Geek: Sometimes I feel tempted to go into a meeting with 'chue yook' breath. Just to contaminate the air. Who knows. It just might make them smarter.
Clare: True! Any time is a good time for BKT. But it's extra comforting before or after a 'stressful event'.
Rin: HAHAHAHA... solly la, I dunno how to romanise Cantonese wor. Mou bin... OK, you come back we go eat yuk guat cha! Melbourne cannot make meh? But yah hor, the 'chue yook' there is extra smelly. Add more garlic?
Dear Ms. Or Kui Khe Lau Yia,
PIG out!! Only way to go when you find yourself feeling down.
The smell of the soup, the sinful combination of meat and fat, and ew char koay added with cabai and tow ew (minus the GARLIC)just makes any problem fade away...
P.S - And the best part? The meat and fat are here to stay, unless evicted by exercise
D
Bakuteh schmakuteh. Nothing beats the breakfast we had last friday morning after WIP.. hee
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