Wall
Humorous Speech Contest: Wall 21 Oct 2006
Introduction
Ladies & Gentlemen, have you ever kissed a wall? I HAVE! The meeting room in my office has glass walls. I was rushing in with my report and BANG.. OUCH!! I KISSED THE WALL KISS - that’s MY RED LIPSTICK MARK on the wall
Wall is a barrier or partition that divides. We all know the physical wall – we can see it, touch it BUT PLEASE DON’T KISS IT It’s painful! Very often, physical wall is necessary. I remember my first trip to China when I was young. Have you been to China Beijing? What’s your most unforgettable place? Great Wall? Forbidden City? I was too young to remember all these BUT I remember vividly the TOILET! Believe it or not, there is no partition or door in the toilet. When I stepped in, I saw many people I looked carefully and I realized I was facing a lineup of PALE NAKED BUMS! I’m glad the toilet in HK has doors!
That’s the physical wall – But have you thought about the IN-VI-SI-BLE wall around us? The wall that you could not see, you could not touch and yet it’s wall that divides!
I was shopping in Bangkok last week. I saw a pair of PRADA shoes selling at 500 Thai Baht (that is about 100HKD). What? PRADA shoes selling at only 100dollars? “HO PENG AH!” I said to the salesgirl. The salesgirl responded “MAI PENG”, took a calculator, punched some numbers and showed it to me, “Ok? Mdm, Ok?” I looked at the numbers on the calculator WOW it’s even cheaper! “PENG” means CHEAP in Cantonese but “PENG” in Thai language means EXPENSIVE. The salesgirl thought I was bargaining and gave me discount after hearing “HO PENG AH”
We often speak Cantonese in the office. Are we building a wall between us and our non-Chinese colleagues? Our non-Chinese colleagues may not understand Cantonese and may feel like we are talking to the wall. But be careful, walls could have ears! Our non-Chinese may understand us especially when we are gossiping about them.
At home, my husband likes to reads his newspaper holding it high up. My little girl sees Mickey Mouse on the front page of the paper and is very excited. She tells her Daddy – “Daddy, Daddy, I want to go to Disneyland!” No response from her daddy. Feeling curious, I look across at my husband. He is so absorbed in his newspaper, and on his face, I see a BIG “DO NOT DISTURB” sign.
David, my sister’s non-Chinese boyfriend recently moved from Singapore to work in Hong Kong. One day I asked him. I know David LOVES PIG. I mean he likes to eat pork. But I can’t believe he has been having BBQ Pork Rice for 3 months everyday! Because that’s the only dish he knows how to order! The David I know is short & slim, but that day I saw David looking like, hmm.. ahh.. our Division Governor Neil Sy.. before his diet program. But now, David has a stack of takeaways menu printed in Chinese but with handwritten English translation! My sister has to fly all the way to Hong Kong to translate for him!
My sister, she is something. She is not shy, not afraid to step forward to communicate her needs to others. She went to Cambodia recently. Was sitting in a restaurant, looking at the menu, could not understand it, decided to walk into the kitchen, smiled sweetly at the cook, opened the various pots to see what’s inside. Next she did this…. point to the pot of rice and so she ordered her Chicken Fried Rice
Are we unknowingly building an invisible wall around us? This invisible wall is often a barrier that creates frustration and misunderstanding that drives everyone up the wall.
Bring down the wall today – speak the language our non-Chinese colleague understand, let our family know we are there for them, do not be shy, step forward to communicate our needs.
When we bring down the wall, a new and exciting experience awaits all
Introduction
Ladies & Gentlemen, have you ever kissed a wall? I HAVE! The meeting room in my office has glass walls. I was rushing in with my report and BANG.. OUCH!! I KISSED THE WALL KISS - that’s MY RED LIPSTICK MARK on the wall
Wall is a barrier or partition that divides. We all know the physical wall – we can see it, touch it BUT PLEASE DON’T KISS IT It’s painful! Very often, physical wall is necessary. I remember my first trip to China when I was young. Have you been to China Beijing? What’s your most unforgettable place? Great Wall? Forbidden City? I was too young to remember all these BUT I remember vividly the TOILET! Believe it or not, there is no partition or door in the toilet. When I stepped in, I saw many people I looked carefully and I realized I was facing a lineup of PALE NAKED BUMS! I’m glad the toilet in HK has doors!
That’s the physical wall – But have you thought about the IN-VI-SI-BLE wall around us? The wall that you could not see, you could not touch and yet it’s wall that divides!
I was shopping in Bangkok last week. I saw a pair of PRADA shoes selling at 500 Thai Baht (that is about 100HKD). What? PRADA shoes selling at only 100dollars? “HO PENG AH!” I said to the salesgirl. The salesgirl responded “MAI PENG”, took a calculator, punched some numbers and showed it to me, “Ok? Mdm, Ok?” I looked at the numbers on the calculator WOW it’s even cheaper! “PENG” means CHEAP in Cantonese but “PENG” in Thai language means EXPENSIVE. The salesgirl thought I was bargaining and gave me discount after hearing “HO PENG AH”
We often speak Cantonese in the office. Are we building a wall between us and our non-Chinese colleagues? Our non-Chinese colleagues may not understand Cantonese and may feel like we are talking to the wall. But be careful, walls could have ears! Our non-Chinese may understand us especially when we are gossiping about them.
At home, my husband likes to reads his newspaper holding it high up. My little girl sees Mickey Mouse on the front page of the paper and is very excited. She tells her Daddy – “Daddy, Daddy, I want to go to Disneyland!” No response from her daddy. Feeling curious, I look across at my husband. He is so absorbed in his newspaper, and on his face, I see a BIG “DO NOT DISTURB” sign.
David, my sister’s non-Chinese boyfriend recently moved from Singapore to work in Hong Kong. One day I asked him. I know David LOVES PIG. I mean he likes to eat pork. But I can’t believe he has been having BBQ Pork Rice for 3 months everyday! Because that’s the only dish he knows how to order! The David I know is short & slim, but that day I saw David looking like, hmm.. ahh.. our Division Governor Neil Sy.. before his diet program. But now, David has a stack of takeaways menu printed in Chinese but with handwritten English translation! My sister has to fly all the way to Hong Kong to translate for him!
My sister, she is something. She is not shy, not afraid to step forward to communicate her needs to others. She went to Cambodia recently. Was sitting in a restaurant, looking at the menu, could not understand it, decided to walk into the kitchen, smiled sweetly at the cook, opened the various pots to see what’s inside. Next she did this…. point to the pot of rice and so she ordered her Chicken Fried Rice
Are we unknowingly building an invisible wall around us? This invisible wall is often a barrier that creates frustration and misunderstanding that drives everyone up the wall.
Bring down the wall today – speak the language our non-Chinese colleague understand, let our family know we are there for them, do not be shy, step forward to communicate our needs.
When we bring down the wall, a new and exciting experience awaits all
posted by Mae at
12:03 AM
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