Published on
January 31, 2007 in
General.
Or, in Hindi (Devanagari script):
मेरा नाम जेरेमी हैं
Tonight was my first Hindi lesson at Sydney Uni! I decided to start learning it for when I go back later in the year.
The above text wasn't really the product of today's lesson (I had help from a friend getting the diacritics and vowels right… damn silent vowels), but we learnt 4 consonants (ka, kha, ga, gha), basic grammar, transliteration and some basic Devanagari script.
Of course, I came home and tried to write some of what I had learnt on my computer. After installing the fonts (MacOS X Install CD -> Additional Asian Fonts) and enabling the "Devanagari-QWERTY" keyboard layout, it works! Sweeeeeet.
Published on
January 28, 2007 in
General.
I had a really interesting conversation tonight with a taxi driver, on the way home from Rob's farewell party in the city. A few of us had been trying to hail cabs for about 10 minutes, but weren't having any luck because none had their "vacant" indicators on, and they rarely stopped (even those without passengers). I quizzed the driver of the taxi I hopped in, and he said it was due to the fact that 3.00am is the changeover time for taxi drivers, so they generally don't pick up people, unless it's on the way home.
What was really interesting is that taxi drivers make judgement calls on the passengers they pick up late at night. It sounds like common sense, but the thought hadn't occurred to me!
Questions like the following are asked:
- Are they drunk?
- What nationality are they? (In my case, the driver thought I was a safe bet since I look sort-of Asian, and therefore wouldn't be that drunk – see (1))
- What suburb are they going to? (According to the driver, North Shore == good, since they don't run away without paying and often tip. The taxi driver had issues with people doing runners at Punchbowl, Dulwich Hill and Cronulla, and said he was less likely to take people to those areas as a result.)
You learn new things every day!
Published on
January 20, 2007 in
General.
If Energy Australia is so big on renewable energy and saving the environment, why can't I elect to NOT receive a paper bill in the mail?
P.S. I'm back in Sydney after going to the AIESEC national conference in Adelaide. Had an awesome time, met some great people, and now I've got a whole lot of work to do (more info forthcoming). (Photos)
