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A funny thing happened on the way to the Chinese grocery.

Alceste

Vagabond
I live in a neighbourhood that is mostly populated by Asian people, so most of the shops are Chinese.

So I'm off to pick up some veggies for tonight's dinner when I pass a group of four or five people murdering an acoustic guitar and having some kind of off-pitch singalong, which was unintelligible to me on account of it being entirely in Chinese.

Nevertheless, I start fumbling in my pockets for change, since I am the sort who always tries to throw buskers a bone. They're not buskers though, I soon realize. As I pass them by, smiling and nodding and pretending to appreciate the godawful racket they're making (everyone needs such musical encouragement), a little Chinese dude emerges smiling from the crowd with a fistful of pamphlets.

"Are you a Christian?" he asks, in hopeful, heavily accented English.

"No, you won't believe this, but I'm actually a Taoist. lol."

I don't think he appreciated the irony, though. It's possible he didn't understand what I said at all. He just said "Give it a try!" and poked a leaflet into my hand.

tl;dr: I think I've just joined the BC Mutual Cultural Appropriation Society.
 

Quagmire

Imaginary talking monkey
Staff member
Premium Member
I know, right? I'm still smiling. For some reason I half expected a lively discussion of the relative merits and drawbacks of Oriental and Occidental religious beliefs. You lot have spoiled me rotten.

"Give it a try!" :p. Hey, if you really want to help them out you should suggest that from now on they offer to stop playing for 5 minutes whenever anyone accepts christ. :yes:

Or maybe, "Free earplugs to the first 100 converts!".

Hey Alceste, next time you see them ask them if they want a manager.
 

Alceste

Vagabond
"Give it a try!" :p. Hey, if you really want to help them out you should suggest that from now on they offer to stop playing for 5 minutes whenever anyone accepts christ. :yes:

Or maybe, "Free earplugs to the first 100 converts!".

Hey Alceste, next time you see them ask them if they want a manager.

Didn't occur to me until I was half a block away to say "Already tried it." :D
 

gzusfrk

Christian
I live in a neighbourhood that is mostly populated by Asian people, so most of the shops are Chinese.

So I'm off to pick up some veggies for tonight's dinner when I pass a group of four or five people murdering an acoustic guitar and having some kind of off-pitch singalong, which was unintelligible to me on account of it being entirely in Chinese.

Nevertheless, I start fumbling in my pockets for change, since I am the sort who always tries to throw buskers a bone. They're not buskers though, I soon realize. As I pass them by, smiling and nodding and pretending to appreciate the godawful racket they're making (everyone needs such musical encouragement), a little Chinese dude emerges smiling from the crowd with a fistful of pamphlets.

"Are you a Christian?" he asks, in hopeful, heavily accented English.

"No, you won't believe this, but I'm actually a Taoist. lol."

I don't think he appreciated the irony, though. It's possible he didn't understand what I said at all. He just said "Give it a try!" and poked a leaflet into my hand.

tl;dr: I think I've just joined the BC Mutual Cultural Appropriation Society.
Welcome aboard.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Not too long ago, there was some Hare Krishnas playing their sitar music or whatever it was. It quickly wore out its welcome as they played the same thing over and over and my mom and I were struck listening to it while we waited forever for the bus.
 
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Alceste

Vagabond
Slightly off-topic, did you get anything interesting there?

Yep. Large bags of baby bok choi, green beans, sprouts, potatoes, a box of ****ake mushrooms, and a giant bag of Chinese noodles for $15. It always surprises me how cheap the produce is in the local markets compared to the grocery store.
 

Desert Snake

Veteran Member
Yep. Large bags of baby bok choi, green beans, sprouts, potatoes, a box of ****ake mushrooms, and a giant bag of Chinese noodles for $15. It always surprises me how cheap the produce is in the local markets compared to the grocery store.

sounds good.

I saw some old illustrations of Jesus on Asian..I think they were illustrations on parchment, but I don't know the medium, they were very interesting.
 
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Alceste

Vagabond
Not too long ago, there was some Hare Krishnas playing their sitar music or whatever it was. It quickly wore out its welcome as they played the same thing over and over and my mom and I were struck listening to it while we waited forever for the bus.

We live right next to a Christian church. Sunday mornings on the balcony are unbearable. No offense to Christians, but their music is awful. Not the stuff the choir sings, but the stuff the congregation has to sing.

I don't think the church across the alley has a choir. I think they're one of those ones with a band. (*shudder*)
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
We live right next to a Christian church. Sunday mornings on the balcony are unbearable. No offense to Christians, but their music is awful. Not the stuff the choir sings, but the stuff the congregation has to sing.

I don't think the church across the alley has a choir. I think they're one of those ones with a band. (*shudder*)

Yikes. I can't stand modernist churches and modern service music. They're usually ugly and the music is equally as ugly as the building.

Before we became Catholic, my mom and I went to a few churches that had a band. I always left with a headache because of the banging drums. It was horrible.
 

Alceste

Vagabond
Yikes. I can't stand modernist churches and modern service music. They're usually ugly and the music is equally as ugly as the building.

Before we became Catholic, my mom and I went to a few churches that had a band. I always left with a headache because of the banging drums. It was horrible.

Yeah, we had a choir. Two, actually. A kids one and an adults one. There were always lots of awful hymns, but at least we had a piano accompanist instead of an organ or worse.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Greatly depends on the player. ;)

Ah. I thought you had something against them. An organ is the only instrument used at my church, besides the choir. But I go to a cathedral, anyway, so my experience with church-going is quite different from most people's.
 

BSM1

What? Me worry?
We live right next to a Christian church. Sunday mornings on the balcony are unbearable. No offense to Christians, but their music is awful. Not the stuff the choir sings, but the stuff the congregation has to sing.

I don't think the church across the alley has a choir. I think they're one of those ones with a band. (*shudder*)

The Tao line was funny. My daughter-in-law drags us to her Episcopalian church every Christmas to watch the grandkids. This is a perfect example of money not making you any less tone deaf. There are a lot of African-American congregations in the area and most of these choirs understand the difference between melody and harmony. They a lot easier to listen to.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Yep. Large bags of baby bok choi, green beans, sprouts, potatoes, a box of ****ake mushrooms, and a giant bag of Chinese noodles for $15. It always surprises me how cheap the produce is in the local markets compared to the grocery store.

And I'm invited over for dinner, when? Love that stuff.
 

Alt Thinker

Older than the hills
I lived in many-cultural New York City for most of my life. The only ones who ever wanted to convert me religion-wise were Christians (including fake J4Js) and Hare Krishnas. And the Krishnas were the least objectionable in manners.
 
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