j a m e s f o r s y t h ✡ n e t

Wikipedia (i.e. anyone on the planet) provides a definition of metrosexual:

a portmanteau of metropolitan and heterosexual, is a neologism of the 2000s that refers to a heterosexual man (especially one living in a post-industrial, capitalist culture) that has a strong concern for his appearance or a lifestyle that displays attributes stereotypically associated with homosexual men.

I live in Melbourne, Australia, which is maybe post-industrial and capitalist.

My concern for my own appearance is moderate to low. I shave daily, but some of my tshirts are over a decade old.

I don’t have a lifestyle that is in any way stereotypical of homosexual men.

That basically rules me out of this trendy-sounding group.

I’d be curious to know whether 型男 is translatable as metrosexual.

The Honda HRV. I love them. Too bad they stopped making them in 2001.

Yes! Still busy. I’m on lunch between classes right now and will be heading back for 2 more hours of teaching before going home for the day.

Some of my lunch was taken up with correcting. But I managed to squeeze two samosas in at Flora.

Ying and Asher are both doing OK. It’s quite a frantic time of the year (not that Asher knows how to tell the difference about that yet). We look forward to another trip to Singapore and beyond - next year. Can’t wait!

Unlike the usual me I’ve been working 5 days a week for the last few weeks. It’s a tough life.

Ying had a big lunch with some colleagues that made her feel ill for the rest of the day. Right now we’re home watching Iron Chef (铁人 - tetsu jin). The secret ingredient is curry powder!!! These are all repeats from Japan about 10 years ago, but it’s still a great show.

I’ve been asked to lead at Church again tomorrow. That means I don’t preach, I just lead the service. One thing I really enjoy when leading is that I get to choose the hymns.

All the vegetablefood and fruitfood I want to eat now is durianfood. I’m not going to bother eating healthifood until I return back to Melbournefood where the whole idea is feasiblefood, viablefood and possiblefood.

The picture above is a piece of durianfood that I got the supermarketfood staff to cut straight out of its shell so that I could be assured of its freshnessfood. I brought it straight home and ate the whole piece immediatelifood.

Durianfood is so totally delicious. I want some every dayfood.

I got some photos taken the other day. So, when you look at me, who am I thinking about? Who do I miss from my home town?

Mum (妈妈)

Dad (爸爸)

MeiYing (美莹)

Asher (明达)

Janne (妹妹)

Tyrone (妹妹的未婚夫)

In line with my readers’ high expectations I’ve managed to get photo - computer - internet friendliness happening. Hopefully more photos to come soon (and more handsome).

This is one of me luxuriating in business class between Melbourne and Singapore.

Well, this morning I had my first class in Jinan. The students were all very friendly but the building is a bit cold.

I have a long lunch between morning classes and morning classes. It will give me a chance to write posts here and prepare my lessons.

The commute this morning was not as long as we thought, as the traffic isn’t so bad at around 7am when our bus takes off. At that time the commuters appear to be mostly teachers, going from one campus to the other.

I’ll probably be having 粽子 for breakfast most days. It’s sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaf (?).

I just had lunch too. That was quite nice. 土豆丝 with some tofu, chicken and a deepfried unidentified food object. All tasty. But there’s no guarantee it’s going to be the same every day. If I find a food I like I’m quite happy to have it every day because I prefer to stick with familiarity. In Melbourne I hardly eat anything other than Flora Indian, Sichuan food and Sweet & Sour at this particular Swanston Street place (the latter admittedly I have tired of a bit).

There’s a Carrefour (家乐福) near us. I was there just yesterday. But I might drop in there again tonight for some bits and pieces.

Hi all,

Well, I leave for Jinan this evening. I’m mostly packed and am trying to think of things I shouldn’t forget.

On the way home, God willing, I’ll be meeting up with my friend Peter and going to a few cities in China, as well as Singapore.

Don’t forget you can still contact me on Skype while I’m away. My login is jamesrlforsyth. If you’re a friend from Australia or around the world, you’re welcome to contact me for a chat. If you are from China and are reading this, remember that my default Skype language is actually Chinese. So if you’re from China, and I don’t know you and you contact me in English then it will be a very short conversation (or language lesson!)

Yes. I’m already homesick, and I haven’t even left yet.

As you may be aware I’m heading off to Jinan (济南) in about 5 days. I’ll be there about 12 weeks. Afterwards I’ll be having a short holiday in Wuhan, Beijing and Singapore, visiting friends and buying a few books.

For a pessimistic look at what’s in store for me, see here.

For a map of where it is, which is really to show the Grand Canal of China route, see here.

I had no idea that baidu.com, China’s biggest search-engine (and most popular website) is listed on the U.S. stockmarket. It’s listed right now as $246.15 a share.