Irene Eng The Kibbitzer

Juggling memory with my g/f now that she’s up.. Prof Ding Zilin 丁子林 taught Chinese at People’s University, Renda. The boy who died was her younger son from her second marriage. She has an older son – who was at the same grade with me at high school but not the same class – from [...]

At beginning of every holiday season our school district would distribute ‘no gift’ to teacher/staff policy. Sweet nothing made by kid is ok but extravagant purchase from the parents are no no. When King first started in kindergarten, one day I got a phone call from a friend who’s child also in school, she informed [...]

An obese 26-year-old man in northeastern China died after a “marathon” online gaming session over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Wednesday. Lord … so the mild shock treatment failed to save him … Share

I’m not sure China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.. needs an open debate or a resolution. It seemed to me, a few college kids seized the opportunity and profited handsomely on those who died/jailed – blood shed and lives ruined. Back in 1989, China was just opening up, lots of uncertainty and frustration; a few youngsters [...]

Tags: Politics

FT: .. .. Golf has a severe image problem in China, and no senior official would dare be caught playing the game in public. .. .. A senior official, Hao Heping, who had been in charge of government purchases of medical equipment, was recently convicted of taking bribes of about US$64,000 solely in the from [...]

During difficult moments in talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme, China’s chief negotiator, Wu Dawei, sometimes slipped away to thrash out problems over a round of golf with his South Korean counterpart. Such out-of-work encounters should come as no surprise. More than anywhere, golf is the Asian political and business networking sport of choice, and [...]

Due to my credit card expiration date change, the oil company wasn’t able to get payments in few months. I ignored their letters b/c they all looked like those marketing materials. Finally I noticed, from other vendors’ payments patterns… can you image if we were in Europe and perhaps also in China? We’ll be left [...]

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, (2005) by Malcolm Gladwell. A very good book. There were moments in life that require quick thinking, making split second decisions. Last week I was in a losing doubles game.  I was at the net while my partner was receiving. The serve was very close to the line but [...]

We had New Year’s dinner at my in-laws when we talked about kids growing up fast, the old times and yesterday’s wedding they just had attended – Uncle Richard’s daughter’s. It’s very moving, particular for my father-in-law – Golfer’s kid sister is still single – he choked up tears when he told us what Uncle [...]

Few years ago, I was at Uncle Jimmy’s house listening to few mothers’ conversation, bout their kids. They lament at their experience: waiting in the car few blocks away after dropping off; insisted on hosting the party; .. and even the kids knew the drill that they’ll furnished a bio of the new kid and [...]

Before my kids started their Chinese school (see, I tried!), I didn’t have any Chinese-speaking friends, either Mandarin or Cantonese. Then it just mushroomed. I met Rita thru one of my g/fs at a dinner in a private room 10 years ago. As soon as she walked in, she took over the conversation, and few [...]