Fined for wasted food?

Half a year ago, I promised to talked about the story of being fined in Germany for wasting food (see Yada Yada Yada...)

Seems like the story had made it to the "lifestyle" section in Zaobao some time ago.
Erh..wait, I seem to have forgotten half of it liao. Let me recap first...*surfing over to my yahoo to retrieve the email*

Hmm...can't find liao...no worries, it was a forwarded email, so it must be lying somewhere in cyberspace now...
*searching thru google.......searching 0%.....10%...58%.....100%* And we have a hit!

I shall let you read the story first...sorry, it's in Chinese. Me too lazy to translate such a long passage today....maybe I'll translate it after my Aug production....oh, have i told you about my Aug production? I believe I haven't. It written by Seah Goh. Who's Sean Goh, you must be wondering. Well, he is my friend from JC...Ah ha! Now even more blur right? Our JC got someone called Sean meh?

Yah, I also din know he is called Sean until recently. Now this production....

Erhm...ah...I kena sidetracked...opps... Before I get sidetracked again, here's the story...

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Title: 德国餐厅的一张罚单让我汗颜

　　德国是个工业化程度很高的国家，说到奔驰、宝马、西门子、博世……没有人不知道，世界上用于核反应堆中最好的核心泵是在德国一个小镇上产生的。在这样一个发达国家，人们的生活一定是纸醉金迷灯红酒绿吧。

　　在去德国考察前，我们在描绘着、揣摩着这个国度。到达港口城市汉堡之时，我们习惯先去餐馆，公派的驻地同事免不了要为我们接风洗尘。

　　走进餐馆，我们一行穿过桌多人少的中餐馆大厅，心里犯疑惑：这样冷清清的场面，饭店能开下去吗？更可笑的是一对用餐情侣的桌子上，只摆有一个碟子，里面只放着两种菜，两罐啤酒，如此简单，是否影响他们的甜蜜聚会？如果是男士买单，是否太小气，他不怕女友跑掉？

　　另外一桌是几位白人老太太在悠闲地用餐，每道菜上桌后，服务生很快给她们分掉，然后被她们吃光。

　　我们不再过多注意她们，而是盼着自己的大餐快点上来。驻地的同事看到大家饥饿的样子，就多点了些菜，大家也不推让，大有“宰”驻地同事的意思。

　　餐馆客人不多，上菜很快，我们的桌子很快被碟碗堆满，看来，今天我们是这里的大富豪了。
　　狼吞虎咽之后，想到后面还有活动，就不再恋酒菜，这一餐很快就结束了。结果还有三分之一没有吃掉，剩在桌面上。结完账，个个剔着牙，歪歪扭扭地出了餐馆大门。

　　出门没走几步，餐馆里有人在叫我们。不知是怎么回事：是否谁的东西落下了？我们都好奇，回头去看看。原来是那几个白人老太太，在和饭店老板叽哩呱啦说着什么，好像是针对我们的。

　　看到我们都围来了，老太太改说英文，我们就都能听懂了，她在说我们剩的菜太多，太浪费了。我们觉得好笑，这老太太多管闲事！“我们花钱吃饭买单，剩多少，关你老太太什么事？”同事阿桂当时站出来，想和老太太练练口语。听到阿桂这样一说，老太太更生气了，为首的老太太立马掏出手机，拨打着什么电话。

　　一会儿，一个穿制服的人开车来了，称是社会保障机构的工作人员。问完情况后，这位工作人员居然拿出罚单，开出50马克的罚款。这下我们都不吭气了，阿桂的脸不知道扭到哪里去了，也不敢再练口语了。驻地的同事只好拿出50马克，并一再说：“对不起！”

　　这位工作人员收下马克，郑重地对我们说：“需要吃多少，就点多少！钱是你自己的，但资源是全社会的，世界上有很多人还缺少资源，你们不能够也没有理由浪费！”

　　我们脸都红了。但我们在心里却都认同这句话。一个富有的国家里，人们还有这种意识。我们得好好反思：我们是个资源不是很丰富的国家，而且人口众多，平时请客吃饭，剩下的总是很多，主人怕客人吃不好丢面子，担心被客人看成小气鬼，就点很多的菜，反正都有剩，你不会怪我不大方吧。

　　事实上，我们真的需要改变我们的一些习惯了，并且还要树立“大社会”的意识，再也不能“穷大方”了。那天，驻地的同事把罚单复印后，给每人一张做纪念，我们都愿意接受并决心保存着。阿桂说，回去后，他会再复印一些送给别人，自己的一张就贴在家里的墙壁上，以便时常提醒自己。

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So many Chinese words, got blurred yet? Okay, let you rest a bit. I'll write my "thesis" on this story later...

Hello...

Nothing much to say nowadays. Just leaving a note to tell you that I'm still alive and kicking.

Forgot to pay my credit card bills again. Had to call up the bank to ask for waiver of late charge and interest. So malu...

So many cards, so many bills to pay at different times...how to remember...

Jobless

Today i received news that a friend has lost his job. He is the main breadwinner of the family, his wife holds part-time jobs, has 3 young kids to feed...and he has no idea when he will find his next job.

Quite pitiful hor?

The worst part is, none of his friend (including myself) can find it in their hearts to pity him. We find it rather hilarious actually...and some of us even made fun of him...

I can actually tell the truth (about my friend's situation) and yet paint a picture that couldn't be further from the truth. And this is a lesson all of us would do well to keep in mind. A person does not have to tell lies to lie.

Why like that, you wonder.

Well...

Tomorrow, you will know why. For tomorrow he will be interviewed and he probably will make the headlines...at least in the evening papers.

Tomorrow, watch the news tomorrow...if you haven't guess who I'm talking about already...

Peacock Jungle

Link: 孔雀森林 by jht

I'm feeling very depressed today.

Partly because I got the flu (again!) and feeling groggy from medication.

But I think mostly because I've just finished a novel titled 孔雀森林. There's no peacocks and there's no jungle. And that's why I am depressed...

That's rather lame, pardon my attempt at humour. Not feeling very humorous right now.

A personality quiz; imagine you have lived in a jungle and reared 5 animals: Sheep or Goat, Bull or Cow....oh bother, this is a Chinese novel. In Mandarin sheep is goat, goat is sheep and who cares about the gender of an animal. Can't imagine why all relatives are either Aunt or Uncle, but an animal-that-goes-moo can be a cow, bull, ox, buffalo, heifer, stag, steer...they even have names for a castrated bull and from the name, you can even tell whether it was castrated as an adult or as a calf.

Okay, let's try again..

Imagine you have lived in a jungle and reared 5 animals: Sheep/Goat, Cattle, Horse, Tiger, Peacock. One day, you have to leave and take with you only 1 animal. Which will you choose?

And so the story goes about a boy who chose peacock falling in love with a girl who chose sheep, and in the process hurt a girl who chose tiger. He spent many happy hours in a pub opened by a girl who chose horse. And his good friend stubbornly insisted on choosing dog, even though he has been told for the umpteenth time that "there IS NO DOG!!"

Which would I have chosen, I wonder?

A sensitive story about growing up and as with all good stories about growing up (Like the movie "20-something Taipei"), it makes you want to cry...