The Chinese government is committed to eradicating all Chinglish – the strange English translations of Chinese words - before the Olympics. There are actual teams who do nothing but scour the city and look for incorrect words. They contact the owners of the shop and offer to repaint or reprint the wording in correct English. It’s kind of sad that it’s disappearing. Of course it’s only happening in Beijing; the hinterlands will have it for years to come. Here are some of the recent ones that have disappeared:
“Fried crap!” – item on restaurant menu
“Oil gate” – gas station
“To take notice of safe: Slippery are very crafty” – slippery when wet
“It is small to fry the chicken miscellaneous” – item on a restaurant menu
“Mixed elbow with garlic mud” – item on a restaurant menu
“Myriad stretch golf, ethereally luxury home”– real estate advertisement
“Acid food” – item on restaurant menu
“Hospital for Anus and Intestine Disease” – now the "Dongda Hospital for Proctology”
“Ideas powder” – Italian spaghetti
“Fry the dark winter in the sun's way” - A thick wheat-based noodle in Japanese cuisine
“Please lead your child to tare the life”– Warning sign in elevator
“Danger! Inhibition astraddle transgress” – Do Not Enter
“Bake the cell phone” - Hand dryer.
“Harsh browns” – hash browns
“To run business” - Open
“Drink tea” - Closed
“Deformed Men” – sign on handicapped bathroom stalls
“Question authority” - Help desk.
“Big Bowl Fresh Immerse Miscellaneous Germ” – item on restaurant menu
“No entry in peacetime” - Emergency exit.
“Cow bowel in sauce” – item on restaurant menu
“Escape urban and enjoy looking at in Provence good time bandits” – tourism billboard
“Terrorized US Pork Steak” – item on restaurant menu
“Pleasanty surprise of groping” – on a fashion billboard
My black suits now have white spots on them. Some of my coworkers come up and try dusting me off, only to realize it’s more of a stain. I think it’s from the pollution. I took my clothes to the dry cleaner over the weekend (Judy typed out a note in Mandarin) and when the clothes came back they were the cleanest I’ve ever had them. I realize it’s a stereotype about Asians and dry cleaning but all stereotypes have some basis of truth. They even wrapped the buttons on my suit in foil so they wouldn’t lose their shine during the cleaning process. I was very impressed. The white spots disappeared too. It’s going to be fun to compare before and after lung X-rays when I come back!
I asked Zoe Lee to take me after work to Carrefour, which has been described to me as the “French Wal-Mart.” We rode the bus together and it’s just a few minutes away from where I live. I actually loved the neighborhood where she lives. Carrefour itself was nice. I loved the three aisles of office supplies I found. It’s amazingly difficult to get things like that. Again, very ironic since you know it was all manufactured here!
On the way out of the store, there was a vendor selling what is known as Tang Huo Luo. It’s basically a candy kabob. She wanted to know if I’d ever had one and I confirmed I had not. She bought me one and it was SO good. It was like chocolate and strawberry covered in a sugary glaze, so it crunches when you eat it. They only sell it in the autumn and winter, so this was probably my last chance to eat one. They sell a number of different combinations. Dangerous stuff!
Sally brought me a USB disk of a bunch of movies she downloaded illegally off the Internet. I thought that was nice of her. Judy said she’s willing to give me some websites where I can watch free content but she’s scared I’ll tell the Americans and it will be shut down.
I arranged another Internet meeting with someone interested in language exchange. His name is Tristan, he’s 28, and works as an engineer for China Mobile. We met at a Metro station I hadn’t been to before. He spoke very well and almost had a slight British accent. He taught himself English mainly by watching American movies. The Chinese who speak really well have watched tons of our movies. It’s a good strategy.
We went to a nearby restaurant that served very good food. Unfortunately, I didn’t “click” with Tristan. He seemed extremely socially awkward and so unlike most of the Chinese people I’ve encountered here. He was nice but I was the person driving the conversation. He drank three bottles of beer in about 20 minutes. I’m not sure what his issues are. I can’t even figure out why he wanted to meet. He seems like he might be very lonely. When I got home he sent me a text message wanting to make sure I made it back safely. I won’t be contacting him again.
You can tell a lot about people based on their pop culture. For example, all the Chinese know who Madonna is but are clueless as to who or “what” Oprah is. The Chinese are extremely proud of Yao Ming, the 7’6 Chinese man who plays basketball for the Houston Rockets. I’d like to get Nick a Houston Rockets baseball cap. (Peter: You have an assignment). I just have to make sure it’s not green. Men who are given green hats here mean that their wife has committed adultery. An American company found this out when they gave a Chinese businessman a Celtics baseball cap in a very large meeting and the room fell silent. Oops!
I was chatting with a man I work with who I just discovered speaks wonderful English. He wanted to know which state I was from and I said New Mexico. He told me that New Mexico’s largest city is Albuquerque. I was stunned. I was further stunned when he knew about the labs there and that New Mexico is close to Colorado. Apparently years ago he became rather obsessed with geography and devoured issues of National Geographic. He knows the names of 40 states and the District of Columbia. I promised to teach him the other 10. Little does he know that most Americans don’t even know that New Mexico is a state!
I was meeting Mo and his friend Zhang for dinner Friday evening. I chose the subway station and got a text message from Mo saying that their bus was stuck in traffic and they’d be a few minutes late. This small Chinese woman in her mid-30’s was walking and stopped when she saw me. “Hello!” she screamed. I didn’t say anything for a second because I was so startled. “Do you speak English?” she asked. I told her that I did and she came closer. “Welcome to Beijing! We will host the 2-oh-oh-8 Olympics in Beijing!” Gee, really? She talked too fast and was really exasperated. Apparently a woman in Las Vegas (pronounced similar to Nick’s “Laughing Gas”) calls her every night at 11 pm and teaches her English. She’s saving up money to go to Las Vegas in five years. She kept repeating the same things again and again. When I would try to ask a question she would just say, “I’m sorry!” and keep going. She told me that she learns English by watching movies. I managed to ask her what some of her favorite movies were. She responded by singing. It took me a minute and then I figured it out. She was singing “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic. At the end of her performance, “You know?” and then made a gesture with her hand indicating a boat was sinking. I told her I knew the movie quite well.
When Mo and Zhang finally showed up they spoke to her in Mandarin and I could also tell they thought she was odd. She told me she’s a student but has to “work to make money.” I asked where she worked and she kind of embarrassingly held up a KFC bag. I told her that KFC was an American company and she had no clue! I pointed at the photo on the bag and said, “His name is Colonel Sanders.” She repeated it several times. Very bizarre.
I really liked Mo’s friend Zhang. They work together at Mercer, although Mo is getting ready to leave. He said the job doesn’t really match his major. When I asked him how his boss took the news he said, “She’s a Chinese woman and their faces never reveal what their really thinking.”
We walked around for a little in order to find a place to eat. They’d never been to this area so I was guiding them around. It was kind of funny. We finally ended up that Moscow Restaurant that’s in the embassy area. The entire menu was in Russian which was kind of funny. We were all kind of on equal footing. I did have one advantage over them: they had never used a fork and knife. They were both sort of nervous about it which I thought was funny.
Personally, I didn’t detect any differences at all between so-called Russian food and what we’d eat in America. I basically ordered fried chicken patties and they were good. I felt bad though because I think the texture of the food and everything was just different for them. Mo especially seemed uncomfortable. He kept asking me what “order” he should eat the food on his table. I told him it didn’t matter. I said that in America a salad would usually come first and you would eat that first, but when the main dish came it was up to you it was their prerogative. I told them eating in America is a breeze compared to China.
Last week I had taught Mo the term “Dutch treat.” The Mandarin word is pronounced “a-a-8.” Mo had forgotten all of it and just said “Dutch,” I also told him that would work. I taught the term to Zhang. Chinese people always seemed confused by the term “Dutch treat.” I always laugh and say, “I don’t really know what it means either; we just say it!”[1]
We had a wonderful conversation the next few hours. Zhang is also from South China but not as far South as Mo. They helped me to understand some differences between north and south China. I mentioned that it seems as though everyone in Beijing just loves to argue and is always looking for a reason to start a feud. They said South Chinese are different. They are far more introspective and ponder things before they say anything. They said they themselves were often uncomfortable with all the haggling and arguing that goes on in Beijing and further up north.
They also confirmed what WooJung had told me about Asian education. Even at the college level, it’s memorizing facts and statistics. There is no analysis. I asked them if they could disagree with one of their professors in class and they laughed. They said that in China the professor is the “boss” and you couldn’t disagree. They wanted to know if in America students and professors were “friends.” I said that it wouldn’t be considered a friendship but that there can be a special mentorship bond. They have nothing like that in China or apparently the rest of Asia. They said that there teachers don’t even seem to enjoy teaching; it’s just a job. I told them I was at least happy that they could tell the difference. They saw that their professors weren’t doing a good job and not encouraging critical thinking. My mind flashed back to the article about the American CEO’s who don’t want Chinese MBA graduates because of this. I wish these guys could study aboard. It would change their outlook and lives.
I also saw the first cracks today between what we’re all hearing about China and the reality. It had started that day at lunch with Nick. He was complaining about the low salaries Chinese people are given and some of the working conditions in general. I told him that the transition must be hard but that the economy in China was improving. He indicated that it would take a long time. I told him that all the financial experts say that China will be the number one economy in less than 20 years. He seemed very dismissive of this, but he didn’t go further.
It continued that night with Mo and Zhang. Mo told me that people his age are under “immense” pressure. They know that there are very few jobs waiting for them after graduation and they don’t know what they’re going to do. Mo feels as though he must repay his parents for his college education (a year at his college is 5500RMB - $600USD). They said some college graduates will tell companies they’ll work for free as long as they can get their foot in the door. They also said that men in China are increasingly not marrying until their mid-30’s because they need to get stable first. Of course, women who aren’t married by the age of 30 feel as though they’ll never get married. They said that the man will always ask the woman how much money she makes at work. The marriage has to be looked at as a financial partnership. As a result, many young Chinese have decided not to have children because they can’t afford it. They said that being a Chinese man whose about 40 is extremely difficult because you’re trying to support your own family and you have to start providing for your own family. All the more difficult in a country where there is only one child from a family – there’s no one else to lend a hand.
They both lamented that Chinese people are getting increasingly sucked into materialism. The bigger your house and car, the more you’ve accomplished. Mo said he just wants to be happy and have a family and friends. It was a really sweet sentiment. I think I misjudged him a bit from our first meeting. At that meeting, I viewed him as this burgeoning cutthroat capitalist. But he’s not. He just wants to make enough money to be happy.
I found all this really heartbreaking. It felt like a veil had been pulled down and the ugly reality was being revealed. Mo and Zhang are considered some of China’s elite. Remember, very few people get to even attend college. And while they have this advantage, they don’t know if they will survive themselves. There’s something else that’s important to point out. All the high-paying jobs are in the big cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The majority of the country – 900 million – live in the countryside. The situation is very dire out there. The clashes with local authorities are happening in these rural areas on an increasingly regular basis.
While I think the Chinese people have very few “issues” with their government, China’s leaders have to do something to address this issue or they risk losing power. It feels as though something is bubbling under the surface and could give way soon. They are lucky, frankly, that the Chinese people are so patient but they won’t be forever. China basically requires military service for most of its young men. Mo and Zhang told me that this is just another way to keep people working. The soldiers in the army only make 200RMB a month, most of which is sent back to their families. This also explains why I see so many stores with TONS of employees who aren’t working. It’s just another way to keep people working. I guess the government is subsidizing most of these industries.
It was funny because we probably got to the restaurant at 7:30 and we left at 11 pm. It felt like we’d been there an hour. They made me request the bill (mai-dan) from the waiter. We talked so long that the subway had already shut down. We took a taxi together and they dropped me off first. Mo felt bad that they hadn’t taught me much Mandarin at dinner so they were trying to rush some in on the ride. I learned that “dowla” means “stop” (that’s what I kept hearing on the bus!). Mandarin has also adopted an English word: cool. In order to say that a person or thing is cool you say, “Knee hun cool.”
It was a very wonderful evening. Although Mo and Zhang are younger than I am, I feel a special bond with them. I told them that we all “clicked.” They repeated the term several times. I’m looking forward to seeing them again and meeting more of Mo’s friends. They probably don’t even realize how much they are teaching me. My hope is that one day I can return the favor and show all these people America. If not, I will always be nice to foreigners. Even a gentle smile can make one feel more comfortable. As the Good Book says, “When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. The foreigner who resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God."[2]
I was walking along with Nick and I saw a billboard with the President of China on it. I asked Nick, “What does that billboard with President Hu say?” He was stunned that I knew the name of the Chinese president. I said, “Hu Jintao, right?” I do read the newspapers! It was basically a message from the president congratulating this community on winning an award of some type.
I finally broached a difficult topic with Nick: dog as delicacy. I asked him if he’d ever eaten it. He said that dog is very popular “up north” where he’s from in Harbin. He turned to me, surprised, “They don’t eat dog in America?” I just quietly shook my head no. I told him that it’s very, very important to me that I never eat dog and he needed to make sure that I was never served it. He started laughing. “But Flan, dog is just like a cow or a pig.” I explained that in America we consider dogs and cats to be members of our family and we don’t eat them. He begged me to try it sometime and he said I would “love” dog. I told him no. He just kept laughing. He thought my reaction was so funny! For the record, he doesn’t like cat. I guess he’s more of a dog person.
What makes Mandarin such a difficult language to master is that one word has four different meanings based on the tone used. Even a slight variance in the tone and the meaning has changed completely. I was very sad to learn that I’d been mispronouncing the word for “water.” The words for “water” and “sleep” are very close. I’d been telling waiters that I wanted to “drink sleep.” Maybe they thought I wanted a sleeping pill?
I stayed home Saturday morning which was nice. I’ve been running around a lot and just wanted some time to unwind. I met up with Apple around 4 to go to an art show at the Dashanzi Art District that had been promoted in one of the expat magazines. It was a really nice show. I’ve always loved photography and some of the galleries were selling some beautiful, historic images[3]. There was one exhibition at the Paris Beijing Photo Gallery that was really haunting. A photographer named Wen Fang has taken pictures of some of the Chinese laborers that are doing all the construction in Beijing and posted their images on cement bricks. The exhibition is titled “The Dream of the White Mansion.” There was something about this particular exhibit that was really moving. These laborers have moved to Beijing from the most remote parts of China, leaving their families behind, in order to make some money. They often work in unsafe and unsecure conditions in order to help fuel the construction demand that is here. They often live in little shacks that are on the construction property. They are very easy to spot because their clothes are more ragged and they just look really exhausted.
These men look at me because they are from areas where they really haven’t seen white people. On the subway after the show, Apple and I got on a car and some of these men were on it. They stared at us intently the whole time. I played with my cell phone and when they got off I said, “Did you feel them staring?” She did. Apple’s convinced that one night I’m going to be walking alone and some of these farmers are going to surround me and rob me. I told her that if they do I’ll just start hissing and maybe they’ll run.
Sunday was a busy day. I met up with a 26-year-old woman named Shirley. She lives about 10 minutes from me. Her degree is in English and she also spoke fluent English. She’s from South China’s Sichuan in the Chengdu Province. Sichuan (four rivers) is where the spicy food comes from. She was happy to hear that I liked it!
Shirley works for Phillip Morris and her husband works for a sports marketing company. They’ve known each other since they were children and got married last year. I really liked Shirley’s energy. She was so relaxed and unassuming. Like Karen from last week, her accent made things easier to understand and she gave me some really, really good tips. She actually used to teach Mandarin to children so she has memory aids and other materials.
We chatted in Monet Coffee for about two hours and then I asked her to take me to the Pearl Market because I wanted to buy a voice recorder. Since I’m meeting so many people it only makes sense that I record them properly saying some of these terms for playback at home. We went to the Pearl Market but she didn’t like the quality of what was offered. She drove me to an electronics store and we picked out a nice one.
We had some delicious Peking duck for lunch AND those pumpkin-sophapilla things that Scarlet loves. However, these weren’t hollow – they had some pumpkin on the inside. They felt kind of heavy. Shirley wants me to have dinner with her and her husband next week. I think it will be fun.
I then took a taxi to the Dawanglu Metro station to meet a woman named Helen. I’ve been so overwhelmed and busy that I thought I was meeting her at 3 and it turned out we’d agreed to meet at 2. I was about 20 minutes late.
Helen was so shy and timid. She’d scouted out the area and took me to a coffee shop. She’s 29 and works as a book editor for a Beijing publishing company that specializes in financial and military titles. Apparently she’s getting ready to take some sort of English proficiency test and wanted to practice. She had SO many questions about the English language. When you really think about our vocabulary it’s kind of overwhelming!
We ended up staying in the coffee shop for three hours. We went through two pots of coffee and ordered some dinner. She helped me a bit but I was feeling pretty spent. I actually felt really obligated to help her knowing that she has a big test coming up. She insisted on paying the tab and I allowed her. I think it came to 120RMB and a private English tutor runs about 400RMB. I was a steal.
She confirmed what everyone else has told me about the education system throughout Asia – don’t challenge the teacher, rote memorization, no critical thinking, etc. She also believes that in America the teachers and students are “friends.” I guess that’s what you get from movies like Good Will Hunting and Mona Lisa Smile.
I think Helen is a really sweet person. While her personality is truly that of a book editor, I want to help her. So many people have helped me and it’s the least I can do to help her. If she gets a good score on this test she can go overseas and earn an MBA. It would probably change her life.
I realized today that most of my friends here are in their 20’s. I think as someone who wants to understand where China is headed in the future, they are the best people to show me. I appreciate that they’ve all shown me in different ways their dreams, aspirations, fears, and humanity.
[1] From Wikipedia.com: “The phrase ‘going Dutch’ probably originates from Dutch etiquette. In the Netherlands, it is not unusual to pay separately when dating. English rivalry with the Netherlands especially during the period of the Anglo-Dutch Wars gave rise to several phrases including Dutch that promote certain negative stereotypes. Examples include Dutch courage, Dutch uncle and Dutch wife. The particular stereotype associated with this usage is the idea of Dutch people as ungregarious and selfish.”
[2] Leviticus, 19:33-34
[3] My favorite galleries were: www.parisbeijingphotogallery.com; www.798photogallery.cn; www.popzhao.com.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Some New Friends
I'm spending the May holiday in Vietnam, with a stop in Shanghai first. I had to go to the Embassy of Vietnam in order to apply for a visa. All of the embassies are located in the same area, much like in Washington, DC. I almost didn't make it because the embassy closes at 4 and I forgot that I needed to get a passport photo. The woman at the counter was really rude. I got in about 3:50 and when I was handing her my money, she says, "Please hurry, we close at 4:00." Um, can Vietnam really afford to turn away tourists? I have to go back on Friday and pick up the passport. I need to do some research on the re-entry process back into China. I have a feeling there's going to be some "issue."
Scarlet was missing the pumpkin-sophapillas so much she decided to venture back over to the office area for lunch on Tuesday. She wanted Nick to come as well to formally thank him for the birthday present he gave her. We had a nice lunch, although it felt a bit rushed because she had to leave early. Scarlet is going with WooJung on a trip around China. She'll be gone for two weeks. I think it's a really great opportunity for her to go and see the rest of the country. It's going to cost $3,000 which really isn't bad for a two-week guided trip.
She's been staying with WooJung's family since she left the office, and she really wants to get her own place when she's done with the trip. Apparently WooJung's mother doesn't realize that Scarlet can actually understand most Korean. The mother has been making comments about Scarlet's weight and sleeping patterns. She also expects Scarlet to eat all the food that the father and WooJung don't finish on their plates. The mother told Scarlet that she should just go back to America after the trip is over. I think she really doesn't want her there anymore.
Scarlet asked me to give Judy, Sally, and Phoenix some hair clips that she didn't want anymore. They were very cheap looking, but they really appreciated the gesture. They got so excited when I brought them back. It was nice to see how much they appreciated the smallest of gestures.
I went to the post office to mail some postcards and two small packages. You wouldn't believe the bureaucracy that was involved in shipping the packages! First of all, they actually had to see what was being mailed. The woman carefully studied each item. Then the customs forms were horrendous. For some reason they don't believe in carbon copies, so I had to fill out six forms on each package. It was insane! I felt bad for all the people in line behind me.
I had to go to a dinner with a delegation from the Chifeng region, located in Inner Mongolia. The bigwig of the group was the mayor of Chifeng. I always get really nervous at functions like this because the Chinese are really big into protocol. It goes so far as to the order that people walk into the room, down to where you sit. So stressful. The man sitting next to me pointed at my chopsticks and was basically asking, "Do you know how to use them?" It really annoyed me. Why would you try to make someone feel incompetent? My boss said that the man was "challenging" my ability to use the chopsticks. He must have been disappointed when I was able to do it.
Then the toasting started. Oh God, it must have gone on forever. It felt like it anyway. My boss suggested that I show the mayor some "respect" and offer him a toast, which he would translate. We both stood. The mayor looked very unhappy. I basically wished him a prosperous future and toasted him. I got so sick of the toasting that if I had known Mandarin for "Sit down, shut up, and eat!" I probably would have said it. It's no wonder that they can't get anything done. Later in the meal my boss asked me to practice my Chinese on the mayor. WHAT?! "Wa ba hoi shaw Po-tung-wah." That means, "I don't speak Mandarin." Everyone, minus the mayor, was clapping and laughing. He looked so angry and I think he corrected my pronunciation of "Po-tung-wah." I felt bad that he had to deal with me, to be honest. It's time like these when I get really "pro-America" and want to say something like, "We have a bigger military than you!" My defensiveness wore off the next day.
I posted an ad on Craig's List for a Chinese tutor. I said I would be willing to pay 20RMB an hour for instruction. I got TONS of responses as you might imagine. I ended up selecting a woman named Nancy Yang. She's worked at UPS for seven years and I could tell just from her e-mails that she had a firm grasp of the English language. We scheduled a meeting Wednesday evening at Starbucks.
Nancy was right on time and extremely friendly. She grew up in Beijing and has never traveled outside of China. Nonetheless, she's got good English conversational skills because many of her co-workers at UPS only speak English. We got off to a bit of a slow start because we didn't know where to begin! I finally just pulled out my dictionary and we went through it. I didn't want to do too many words at once or I would forget them. Repetition is really key. I also wrote down the phonetic pronunciations of each word. She invited me to go with her friends during the May holiday next month to a "forest." She said I could really practice my Chinese with them. I thanked her for the kind invitation but explained that I could not. She also asked me to go to a Cherry Blossom festival with her this weekend. I told her I would love to. She laughed occasionally at how I sometimes pronounced the words. Some words are really just too difficult. Our brains want to process each sound through the scope of the English language. They have many sounds and clicks that don't exist in the English language. By contrast, they all say that learning English was a breeze.
When our hour was up, I reached into my wallet to give her the money. She refused to let me pay. "No, I want to do this as a language exchange." "But Nancy, you already speak English!" She claimed that I was helping her understand English because I called my phone a "cell" instead of a "mobile." While the gesture was very nice, I felt bad. She'd spent an hour on the subway to meet me and had an extremely long trip back. At a minimum, I'm going to pay for things when we get together.
I was very excited to try out my Chinese phrases on my co-workers the next day. They all worked! I went up to Nick and said "Knee hun shh-why" (You are very handsome). He was stunned that I knew this and said, "Thank you very much!" I think I'm going to learn a lot by being around Nancy.
Nick wanted to take me back to the place where I got sick for lunch. Sadly, they were too busy and we had to go elsewhere. We went to another place that so good. All the dumplings were fried and they were so crisp and good. Interestingly, the dumplings looked like breadsticks you'd get in an Italian restaurant. I really loved them and made a big point to Nick about how much I enjoyed this place. I really don't want to go back to the other dive again.
All the water we drink at work is from water coolers because the water has to be sterilized first, and as a result it's always hot. I filled up my water jug and went back to my desk. What is that swimming in my cup, I wondered? A baby cockroach. The girls in my office ran over and were horrified. I walked over to Nick's desk to show him. “I think it not very good,” he proclaimed. No, it's not. Judy told me that I should tell Tan Lu, one of the office manager's about it. She just started laughing when I showed it to her and said, “It's very common.” Uh huh.
My weekend ended up being extremely busy, which was probably a good thing. I ended up meeting with four different people - two a day. First up was Nancy at Starbucks. We had agreed to meet there at 11 and then she was going to take me to a cherry blossom festival at an area park. I was a few minutes late because the bus line had changed one of my routes! I usually take the 807 to go down to Starbucks and for some reason they renumbered it to 684. I didn't get on the first one because I was so confused. Luckily, the 684 took me where I needed to go. While Nancy and I were practicing my Mandarin another Chinese woman sat down at the table next to us. She kept interjecting into the conversation and was interested in my pronunciation. It was kind of annoying! When I was learning how to count to 10, the woman had her little daughter come over and count with me. The Starbucks employees brought everyone samples of the new Banana Coconut Frappacino. It's really, really good. Try one today!
After about an hour of studying, Nancy wanted to take me to an area park for the cherry blossom festival. It was a really gorgeous day to be doing this. There were various young women posing next to some of the trees with tons of photographers swirling them, taking their picture. I guess they were competing for the title of Ms. Cherry Blossom. Nancy bought me some fruit that had a straw in it and I was to drink it. It was OK, not something you'd order more than once. Nancy took lots of photos. She got angry when I told her that I needed to meet someone else at 3 and told me that I was to tell her that in advance. Um...you're not my boss. The other thing she did that kind of made me angry was she kept making me say things in Chinese to people. We're not talking "hello," I'm saying full sentences. It was stupid because I didn't know the actual meaning of the words. If I were focusing on pronunciation it would have been OK. But at this stage I need to learn very basic words. We're a long way away from saying full sentences. I may limit my contact with her.
At 3 pm I met up with one of my co-workers, Apple. You may remember that I had scaled the mountain with her the weekend before. She's probably 22 or 23. Her assignment was to help me get a haircut. She met me in the subway near my apartment. There's a mall nearby that had a salon I'd seen. I'd asked Nick how much I should spend on a haircut and he told me 10 RMB. I suspect he goes to very barebones barber shops. This was a really nice salon and it cost 30 RMB. I think that was a good price. They really shampooed and conditioned my hair.
Apparently the man cutting my hair told Apple that it wasn't long enough to be cut. He did a very good job and I've kept his card for a future visit. Apple then wanted to go to a restaurant for the "instant, boiled mutton." This turned out to be a hot pot place and it was really good. I boiled all my stuff in the spicy pot.
We had a long walk to get there and chatted along the way. She told me that before she met me she thought foreigners were "bad." I asked her why and she said they "look strict." What she's talking about is the constipated look that these Europeans have on their faces here. I don't blame her for thinking foreigners are bad, quite frankly. I gave her the scoop on the Europeans and explained our vast differences. We were in the embassy area and a lot of the people we passed were white and she assumed American. She was stunned when I told her they weren't. She asked me how I could tell the difference between an American and a European and I told her to look at their teeth.
Apple said that she likes the way Americans “smell.” I told her I didn't realize that there was a difference. All I can of is the fact that I shower at least once a day and use soap. Apple is of Hui heritage and is Muslim. She kept telling me that she's never allowed to eat pork. As a minority in China, her family was allowed to have more than one child so she has a 16-year-old sister. Her father was in the military in Beijing for several years and is now some kind of Communist party leader in Harbin. Her mother works for the state-owned petroleum company, SinoPec.
After dinner I took her to the T.G.I. Friday's around the corner. I feel so bad because my Chinese friends always insist on paying for everything. I know that they don't have much money and are probably sending money to their families. She was very intrigued by Friday's. She'd never really seen a place designed like it. I ordered an ice cream sundae for us to split. As we were leaving, I stopped to explain some of the pictures that were on the wall. The first was a photo of The Doors. She had no clue. The next was of the Beatles. She had no clue. The last, and most surprising to me, was Elvis Presley. She had no clue. I said, "The King of Rock and Roll?!" She felt bad and said she needs to do more research on America. I'll say.
On Sunday I met up with a woman named Karen Pan. She works for GE and wants to improve her conversational English. I have no idea why really - she speaks fluently. I liked her very much. Of everyone I've met who's tried teaching me Chinese, she was the best. I could understand her more and she was better at explaining why certain sounds are made. For example, she said that the Beijing accent is to add an "err" sound at the end of all words. She said that's why some words could be pronounced in different ways and still be correct. This finally made some sense! She also taught me some Beijing-only phrases that she said locals would like. For example, if someone thanks you or apologizes for something you can respond, "Mishar, mishar." It basically means "no big deal."
Karen wanted to take me back to that antique market that WooJung's parents had taken me to. It was actually better to go with Karen because she was able to really explain some of the art and things that were being sold. She pointed out these little glass bottles that the artists had painted from the inside. I can't imagine how long it must have taken.
I was starving when we were done and I saw a street vendor selling some sweet potatoes. I told her I wanted a "sweet potato." For some reason this made her CRACK up! She just started sobbing in the middle of the street. They are always really surprised that a) we have sweet potatoes in America and b) that I like them. The Mandarin word for them is "di gua." She got into a very heated argument with the man selling them. Apparently he tried selling us bad ones and she wasn't going to take it. She put the ones he gave us back on the warmer and then started sniffing other potatoes. It was confusing. Long story short: we each got our di guas!
We sat down in a little square nearby and ate them. There were groups of men and women in little clusters. Some people were playing cards and others had their little Pekinese dogs running about. I felt bad for one little dog who scooted his butt along the concrete for a long time. I doubt he's ever had his glands flushed. The owner seemed to think it was cute. I asked Karen what the old men were talking about. She said that one of the men was remembering how this entire area was nothing but a field when he was a boy. Now it was completely developed. She said men enjoy discussing politics and women talk about children. I asked her what Chinese people think of Americans. She said they think we are hardworking, smart, and have lots of money.
I really enjoyed my time with Karen. She didn't try to overwhelm me and she gave me practical advice, like how to stand on the bus. She didn't attempt to control me the way that Nancy does. I think I can learn a lot from her!
After Karen dropped me off at the metro, I was headed to the other side of Beijing. I was en route to meet Mo, a 22-year-old college student at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This would end up being my favorite visit of the weekend. He wanted to meet at Wal-Mart. We had some issues finding each other - we both went to different entrances but we finally connected on our cell phones.
He really exuded a cheerful personality. I was very impressed by his command of English vocabulary. He's studying international trade and knew many business terms, including "protectionism." He's been studying English since he was 12. I think within a few years he can probably eliminate most of his accent. He wanted to go to a coffee shop. He told me on the walk over that when I had e-mailed him that I was 31 he expected me to "look older" but I was nothing more than a "big brother." Thanks!
Mo is from a town called Hechi in South China's Guangxi Province. He was the top student at his school and he intends to pursue an MBA. He interns at an international consulting firm called Mercer. He said that when they have conference calls with the New York office they don't start till 9pm in Beijing and they have to say "Good morning" to their East coast colleagues. It's amazing that anything gets done with a 12-hour time difference.
Mo's English name is Jackie. I told him that there was a famous American baseball player named Jackie Robinson. We spent the next two hours just talking. He worked with me on my pronunciation of certain words. He's convinced that he's going to teach me the written Chinese language. Yeah, right! At a certain point he proclaimed that we were "now friends." I thought that was nice. Most of the things that he knows about American culture are from movies. For example, he loves the "American Pie" movies. I'm thrilled that American Pie is the portraiture we're painting for the rest of the world! He also loves Harrison Ford.
Like Apple, he didn't know some of our bigger American icons. I gave him an American pop culture lesson and told him to Google the following people: Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean. I said that if he wants to get by in America, he needs to have some working knowledge of these people. He had a number of questions about America.
I think as a future businessman he expects to interact with Americans and he wants to know the appropriate protocol. He wanted to know how to "be polite" when dining at an American's home. I told him that most Americans are very casual and relaxed. I said they would be more conscious of the fact that they have a foreigner in their home and would do everything they could to accommodate him, perhaps even providing chopsticks and they wouldn't openly question his ability to use a fork and knife (unlike my experiences!). I also told him that Americans eat much slower than Chinese people and that food is more a social interaction; an opportunity to visit and exchange information.
He also wanted to know if Americans could tell the racial differences between a Chinese person and another Asian race. I had to be honest and tell him "No." He seemed offended. "Why?" I explained that most Americans just can't tell the difference and because we don't like to offend people we typically won't ask, "Hey, are you Chinese?" We're sensitive that people take their heritage very seriously and we would never risk offending someone. I told him that perhaps when I go back to America I would be more attuned to Chinese people and be able to spot them. I pointed out that he probably wasn't able to distinguish an American from a European but that I could. He said it was true. "Look at the teeth, Jackie."
Jackie is also preparing to learn Japanese. At one point I told him he was going to be very successful and he wanted to know why. I told him that he's clearly a hard worker and ambitious. He seemed very uncomfortable when I would compliment him, so I eventually stopped.
Jackie was by far one of the most well-informed and intelligent people I've come across in China. I had written in the last dispatch that I wasn't convinced that China was really “ready” to take over the world again based on some of the thinking and work habits I've witnessed. If there a lot more up and comers like Jackie here, China is well-positioned to take its place at the head of the global table.
When it was time to pay, he insisted on getting the check. I really tried to pay but he said this was his "place." It makes me so uncomfortable. I know he can't have that much money and the last thing he needs to do is buy an American his coffee. I'm meeting up with him and his friend Zhang Friday evening. I'll pick up the tab!
After our wonderful conversation, he walked me back to the Metro. I told him I actually wanted to run into Wal-Mart to see if there was anything I needed. He went in with me. The store was HUGE. It was probably five or six levels. A couple of minutes into my browsing, he asked me if it was "polite" that he was with me. I told him I didn't understand the question. "Perhaps you want to buy something that you don't want me to see. Is it polite that I'm standing with you?" What a great question! I told him that in this case, me as a foreigner in this store for the first time, it was completely appropriate. I told him that in America if someone didn't want him around, they would make up an excuse. "You just wait here; I'll only be a minute." Sometimes the more I explain the American psyche I realize we're all just a bunch of liars!
I picked up a few things at Wal-Mart and he walked me back to the Metro. I thanked him for all his help. He was very stern that since we are friends I was not to thank him. The things he was doing are his duty. This has been a common theme with all my Chinese friends. They view certain things as obligations and that's all there is to it.
On my ride back home, I reflected on the people I'd met this weekend. I realized that Chinese people are enormously generous and good people. I find them so sincere and caring. When I told this to Nick the next day he wanted to warn me that yes this was true but there were plenty of people that would also try to take advantage of me. Yes, like the sweet potato vendor. At the same time, the character of the vast majority of Chinese people is well-intentioned. I'll give you an example. I took a cab home after my evening with Apple. She told the driver that I needed to go near Longtan Park. Apparently she didn't do a good job because we got in the general region and he wanted me to point where I lived. I didn't know! I just pointed at one of the roads and he went. He kept looking at me because he knew it wasn't right. I finally said, "Lawn-tan gone-yuan." He knew what I wanted and laughed. Anyway, when we pulled up to my building the fare was 20. I gave him the money and prepared to get out when he stopped me. He gave me 5 back. He knew that without our communication barrier the fare would have only been 15. That, I think, demonstrates the character of China.
The next day at lunch Nick told me that my Chinese co-workers really like me. Really? He said that they've been talking about me and even the ones who can't speak English have decided that I'm a good person and a "gentleman." I felt really relieved when he said it. When you can't understand 95 percent of what is being said, it's nice to know that they aren't saying bad things!
I'll admit that there are many times when I can still get offended or feel an affront. The other day I was preparing to put my badge away and some of the Chinese employees ran up ahead of me. There was seemingly no reason to do it; they weren't in a hurry. I was initially angry at the rude gesture and then just had to accept it. It was nothing personal about me, it's just who they are.
I've mentioned that the government is desperately trying to get the Chinese to understand "lines" and order at public places in advance of the Olympics. Some of the bus stops have people who wear yellow coats and are "Supervisors of Riding Politely." Apparently my morning bus stop must be considered one of the worst because it has three supervisors! The women supervisors are tougher. If they think you're trying to cut in line, they'll yell at you.
I got really irritated Monday morning because one of the busses came and everyone tried piling on it. There was no logical way it was going to work. The bus stayed at the stop for 20 minutes - I'm not kidding - while people attempted to fit on and the Supervisors of Riding Politely were yelling at people on the bus to make more room. It was so stupid and completely inefficient. I just kept thinking about how backed up all the routes were going to be that day from this one stop. I decided to walk to work on Tuesday!
I started this entry with saying that I'm going to Vietnam next month. I have since decided not to. I couldn't justify the expense and I just got to China. I need to master Beijing before I start hop scotching across Asia! I'm planning on going to a language camp and spending time with some of my new friends in Beijing.
I just got back from a lunch with officials from the Hebei area. What lovely people! Such a different experience than the last meal I had. They were extremely warm and friendly. They were surprised at how well I handled my chopsticks and the variety of their food that I seemed to enjoy. I voluntarily made toasts and received them in return. I was even given a special paper lantern by them. It felt so liberating to understand more of the customs and feel accepted. I thanked them all and said they were some of the friendliest people I had met in China and that I would like to travel to their hometown. The man next to me toasted me and said I was "very young and handsome." We all probably had about 20 shots of wine that they brought from their region. Clearly, people in Hebei like to party!
I went to dinner Tuesday evening with Apple. She wanted to take me to another Hui restaurant that served traditional Muslim food. We ordered what was basically stew and corn. It was all very good. I was clearly the first white person to have ever been here. Our server was a 13-year-old boy and I'm sure the son of the owner. He kept staring at me and giggling as Apple and I conversed in English. Eventually his brother and mother also had to come over and supervise our ordering process.
Apple was in the bathroom when he dropped off one of the dishes and I thanked him in Chinese. He responded with the traditional “Don't mention it” in Chinese but he seemed really embarrassed. He ran over to his brother and I could tell he was saying that I had thanked him in Chinese. Sometimes I think I must make them feel like a walking, talking animal has entered their establishment. We'd find it funny too!
My Chinese colleagues were extremely alarmed about the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. More than anything, they don't like America's gun laws. They wanted to know how this boy had purchased a gun. In China, you can't own a gun unless you're police or military. They all told me that America should not have guns. I tried explaining American sentiment towards “the right to bear arms” but they didn't get it. I was just relieved that the madman was Korean and not Chinese.
I've written a lot about friendships in this dispatch. My experiences to date have reinforced that Chinese people very much like and respect America, although it's clear that they quietly believe they are the superior people. Everyone has been very kind to me. The word for America in Chinese is pronounced “may gaw.” Do you know what it means? It's the Chinese words for “beautiful nation.” Despite our many, many differences, the Chinese have a genuine interest in and appreciation of America.
Scarlet was missing the pumpkin-sophapillas so much she decided to venture back over to the office area for lunch on Tuesday. She wanted Nick to come as well to formally thank him for the birthday present he gave her. We had a nice lunch, although it felt a bit rushed because she had to leave early. Scarlet is going with WooJung on a trip around China. She'll be gone for two weeks. I think it's a really great opportunity for her to go and see the rest of the country. It's going to cost $3,000 which really isn't bad for a two-week guided trip.
She's been staying with WooJung's family since she left the office, and she really wants to get her own place when she's done with the trip. Apparently WooJung's mother doesn't realize that Scarlet can actually understand most Korean. The mother has been making comments about Scarlet's weight and sleeping patterns. She also expects Scarlet to eat all the food that the father and WooJung don't finish on their plates. The mother told Scarlet that she should just go back to America after the trip is over. I think she really doesn't want her there anymore.
Scarlet asked me to give Judy, Sally, and Phoenix some hair clips that she didn't want anymore. They were very cheap looking, but they really appreciated the gesture. They got so excited when I brought them back. It was nice to see how much they appreciated the smallest of gestures.
I went to the post office to mail some postcards and two small packages. You wouldn't believe the bureaucracy that was involved in shipping the packages! First of all, they actually had to see what was being mailed. The woman carefully studied each item. Then the customs forms were horrendous. For some reason they don't believe in carbon copies, so I had to fill out six forms on each package. It was insane! I felt bad for all the people in line behind me.
I had to go to a dinner with a delegation from the Chifeng region, located in Inner Mongolia. The bigwig of the group was the mayor of Chifeng. I always get really nervous at functions like this because the Chinese are really big into protocol. It goes so far as to the order that people walk into the room, down to where you sit. So stressful. The man sitting next to me pointed at my chopsticks and was basically asking, "Do you know how to use them?" It really annoyed me. Why would you try to make someone feel incompetent? My boss said that the man was "challenging" my ability to use the chopsticks. He must have been disappointed when I was able to do it.
Then the toasting started. Oh God, it must have gone on forever. It felt like it anyway. My boss suggested that I show the mayor some "respect" and offer him a toast, which he would translate. We both stood. The mayor looked very unhappy. I basically wished him a prosperous future and toasted him. I got so sick of the toasting that if I had known Mandarin for "Sit down, shut up, and eat!" I probably would have said it. It's no wonder that they can't get anything done. Later in the meal my boss asked me to practice my Chinese on the mayor. WHAT?! "Wa ba hoi shaw Po-tung-wah." That means, "I don't speak Mandarin." Everyone, minus the mayor, was clapping and laughing. He looked so angry and I think he corrected my pronunciation of "Po-tung-wah." I felt bad that he had to deal with me, to be honest. It's time like these when I get really "pro-America" and want to say something like, "We have a bigger military than you!" My defensiveness wore off the next day.
I posted an ad on Craig's List for a Chinese tutor. I said I would be willing to pay 20RMB an hour for instruction. I got TONS of responses as you might imagine. I ended up selecting a woman named Nancy Yang. She's worked at UPS for seven years and I could tell just from her e-mails that she had a firm grasp of the English language. We scheduled a meeting Wednesday evening at Starbucks.
Nancy was right on time and extremely friendly. She grew up in Beijing and has never traveled outside of China. Nonetheless, she's got good English conversational skills because many of her co-workers at UPS only speak English. We got off to a bit of a slow start because we didn't know where to begin! I finally just pulled out my dictionary and we went through it. I didn't want to do too many words at once or I would forget them. Repetition is really key. I also wrote down the phonetic pronunciations of each word. She invited me to go with her friends during the May holiday next month to a "forest." She said I could really practice my Chinese with them. I thanked her for the kind invitation but explained that I could not. She also asked me to go to a Cherry Blossom festival with her this weekend. I told her I would love to. She laughed occasionally at how I sometimes pronounced the words. Some words are really just too difficult. Our brains want to process each sound through the scope of the English language. They have many sounds and clicks that don't exist in the English language. By contrast, they all say that learning English was a breeze.
When our hour was up, I reached into my wallet to give her the money. She refused to let me pay. "No, I want to do this as a language exchange." "But Nancy, you already speak English!" She claimed that I was helping her understand English because I called my phone a "cell" instead of a "mobile." While the gesture was very nice, I felt bad. She'd spent an hour on the subway to meet me and had an extremely long trip back. At a minimum, I'm going to pay for things when we get together.
I was very excited to try out my Chinese phrases on my co-workers the next day. They all worked! I went up to Nick and said "Knee hun shh-why" (You are very handsome). He was stunned that I knew this and said, "Thank you very much!" I think I'm going to learn a lot by being around Nancy.
Nick wanted to take me back to the place where I got sick for lunch. Sadly, they were too busy and we had to go elsewhere. We went to another place that so good. All the dumplings were fried and they were so crisp and good. Interestingly, the dumplings looked like breadsticks you'd get in an Italian restaurant. I really loved them and made a big point to Nick about how much I enjoyed this place. I really don't want to go back to the other dive again.
All the water we drink at work is from water coolers because the water has to be sterilized first, and as a result it's always hot. I filled up my water jug and went back to my desk. What is that swimming in my cup, I wondered? A baby cockroach. The girls in my office ran over and were horrified. I walked over to Nick's desk to show him. “I think it not very good,” he proclaimed. No, it's not. Judy told me that I should tell Tan Lu, one of the office manager's about it. She just started laughing when I showed it to her and said, “It's very common.” Uh huh.
My weekend ended up being extremely busy, which was probably a good thing. I ended up meeting with four different people - two a day. First up was Nancy at Starbucks. We had agreed to meet there at 11 and then she was going to take me to a cherry blossom festival at an area park. I was a few minutes late because the bus line had changed one of my routes! I usually take the 807 to go down to Starbucks and for some reason they renumbered it to 684. I didn't get on the first one because I was so confused. Luckily, the 684 took me where I needed to go. While Nancy and I were practicing my Mandarin another Chinese woman sat down at the table next to us. She kept interjecting into the conversation and was interested in my pronunciation. It was kind of annoying! When I was learning how to count to 10, the woman had her little daughter come over and count with me. The Starbucks employees brought everyone samples of the new Banana Coconut Frappacino. It's really, really good. Try one today!
After about an hour of studying, Nancy wanted to take me to an area park for the cherry blossom festival. It was a really gorgeous day to be doing this. There were various young women posing next to some of the trees with tons of photographers swirling them, taking their picture. I guess they were competing for the title of Ms. Cherry Blossom. Nancy bought me some fruit that had a straw in it and I was to drink it. It was OK, not something you'd order more than once. Nancy took lots of photos. She got angry when I told her that I needed to meet someone else at 3 and told me that I was to tell her that in advance. Um...you're not my boss. The other thing she did that kind of made me angry was she kept making me say things in Chinese to people. We're not talking "hello," I'm saying full sentences. It was stupid because I didn't know the actual meaning of the words. If I were focusing on pronunciation it would have been OK. But at this stage I need to learn very basic words. We're a long way away from saying full sentences. I may limit my contact with her.
At 3 pm I met up with one of my co-workers, Apple. You may remember that I had scaled the mountain with her the weekend before. She's probably 22 or 23. Her assignment was to help me get a haircut. She met me in the subway near my apartment. There's a mall nearby that had a salon I'd seen. I'd asked Nick how much I should spend on a haircut and he told me 10 RMB. I suspect he goes to very barebones barber shops. This was a really nice salon and it cost 30 RMB. I think that was a good price. They really shampooed and conditioned my hair.
Apparently the man cutting my hair told Apple that it wasn't long enough to be cut. He did a very good job and I've kept his card for a future visit. Apple then wanted to go to a restaurant for the "instant, boiled mutton." This turned out to be a hot pot place and it was really good. I boiled all my stuff in the spicy pot.
We had a long walk to get there and chatted along the way. She told me that before she met me she thought foreigners were "bad." I asked her why and she said they "look strict." What she's talking about is the constipated look that these Europeans have on their faces here. I don't blame her for thinking foreigners are bad, quite frankly. I gave her the scoop on the Europeans and explained our vast differences. We were in the embassy area and a lot of the people we passed were white and she assumed American. She was stunned when I told her they weren't. She asked me how I could tell the difference between an American and a European and I told her to look at their teeth.
Apple said that she likes the way Americans “smell.” I told her I didn't realize that there was a difference. All I can of is the fact that I shower at least once a day and use soap. Apple is of Hui heritage and is Muslim. She kept telling me that she's never allowed to eat pork. As a minority in China, her family was allowed to have more than one child so she has a 16-year-old sister. Her father was in the military in Beijing for several years and is now some kind of Communist party leader in Harbin. Her mother works for the state-owned petroleum company, SinoPec.
After dinner I took her to the T.G.I. Friday's around the corner. I feel so bad because my Chinese friends always insist on paying for everything. I know that they don't have much money and are probably sending money to their families. She was very intrigued by Friday's. She'd never really seen a place designed like it. I ordered an ice cream sundae for us to split. As we were leaving, I stopped to explain some of the pictures that were on the wall. The first was a photo of The Doors. She had no clue. The next was of the Beatles. She had no clue. The last, and most surprising to me, was Elvis Presley. She had no clue. I said, "The King of Rock and Roll?!" She felt bad and said she needs to do more research on America. I'll say.
On Sunday I met up with a woman named Karen Pan. She works for GE and wants to improve her conversational English. I have no idea why really - she speaks fluently. I liked her very much. Of everyone I've met who's tried teaching me Chinese, she was the best. I could understand her more and she was better at explaining why certain sounds are made. For example, she said that the Beijing accent is to add an "err" sound at the end of all words. She said that's why some words could be pronounced in different ways and still be correct. This finally made some sense! She also taught me some Beijing-only phrases that she said locals would like. For example, if someone thanks you or apologizes for something you can respond, "Mishar, mishar." It basically means "no big deal."
Karen wanted to take me back to that antique market that WooJung's parents had taken me to. It was actually better to go with Karen because she was able to really explain some of the art and things that were being sold. She pointed out these little glass bottles that the artists had painted from the inside. I can't imagine how long it must have taken.
I was starving when we were done and I saw a street vendor selling some sweet potatoes. I told her I wanted a "sweet potato." For some reason this made her CRACK up! She just started sobbing in the middle of the street. They are always really surprised that a) we have sweet potatoes in America and b) that I like them. The Mandarin word for them is "di gua." She got into a very heated argument with the man selling them. Apparently he tried selling us bad ones and she wasn't going to take it. She put the ones he gave us back on the warmer and then started sniffing other potatoes. It was confusing. Long story short: we each got our di guas!
We sat down in a little square nearby and ate them. There were groups of men and women in little clusters. Some people were playing cards and others had their little Pekinese dogs running about. I felt bad for one little dog who scooted his butt along the concrete for a long time. I doubt he's ever had his glands flushed. The owner seemed to think it was cute. I asked Karen what the old men were talking about. She said that one of the men was remembering how this entire area was nothing but a field when he was a boy. Now it was completely developed. She said men enjoy discussing politics and women talk about children. I asked her what Chinese people think of Americans. She said they think we are hardworking, smart, and have lots of money.
I really enjoyed my time with Karen. She didn't try to overwhelm me and she gave me practical advice, like how to stand on the bus. She didn't attempt to control me the way that Nancy does. I think I can learn a lot from her!
After Karen dropped me off at the metro, I was headed to the other side of Beijing. I was en route to meet Mo, a 22-year-old college student at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This would end up being my favorite visit of the weekend. He wanted to meet at Wal-Mart. We had some issues finding each other - we both went to different entrances but we finally connected on our cell phones.
He really exuded a cheerful personality. I was very impressed by his command of English vocabulary. He's studying international trade and knew many business terms, including "protectionism." He's been studying English since he was 12. I think within a few years he can probably eliminate most of his accent. He wanted to go to a coffee shop. He told me on the walk over that when I had e-mailed him that I was 31 he expected me to "look older" but I was nothing more than a "big brother." Thanks!
Mo is from a town called Hechi in South China's Guangxi Province. He was the top student at his school and he intends to pursue an MBA. He interns at an international consulting firm called Mercer. He said that when they have conference calls with the New York office they don't start till 9pm in Beijing and they have to say "Good morning" to their East coast colleagues. It's amazing that anything gets done with a 12-hour time difference.
Mo's English name is Jackie. I told him that there was a famous American baseball player named Jackie Robinson. We spent the next two hours just talking. He worked with me on my pronunciation of certain words. He's convinced that he's going to teach me the written Chinese language. Yeah, right! At a certain point he proclaimed that we were "now friends." I thought that was nice. Most of the things that he knows about American culture are from movies. For example, he loves the "American Pie" movies. I'm thrilled that American Pie is the portraiture we're painting for the rest of the world! He also loves Harrison Ford.
Like Apple, he didn't know some of our bigger American icons. I gave him an American pop culture lesson and told him to Google the following people: Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean. I said that if he wants to get by in America, he needs to have some working knowledge of these people. He had a number of questions about America.
I think as a future businessman he expects to interact with Americans and he wants to know the appropriate protocol. He wanted to know how to "be polite" when dining at an American's home. I told him that most Americans are very casual and relaxed. I said they would be more conscious of the fact that they have a foreigner in their home and would do everything they could to accommodate him, perhaps even providing chopsticks and they wouldn't openly question his ability to use a fork and knife (unlike my experiences!). I also told him that Americans eat much slower than Chinese people and that food is more a social interaction; an opportunity to visit and exchange information.
He also wanted to know if Americans could tell the racial differences between a Chinese person and another Asian race. I had to be honest and tell him "No." He seemed offended. "Why?" I explained that most Americans just can't tell the difference and because we don't like to offend people we typically won't ask, "Hey, are you Chinese?" We're sensitive that people take their heritage very seriously and we would never risk offending someone. I told him that perhaps when I go back to America I would be more attuned to Chinese people and be able to spot them. I pointed out that he probably wasn't able to distinguish an American from a European but that I could. He said it was true. "Look at the teeth, Jackie."
Jackie is also preparing to learn Japanese. At one point I told him he was going to be very successful and he wanted to know why. I told him that he's clearly a hard worker and ambitious. He seemed very uncomfortable when I would compliment him, so I eventually stopped.
Jackie was by far one of the most well-informed and intelligent people I've come across in China. I had written in the last dispatch that I wasn't convinced that China was really “ready” to take over the world again based on some of the thinking and work habits I've witnessed. If there a lot more up and comers like Jackie here, China is well-positioned to take its place at the head of the global table.
When it was time to pay, he insisted on getting the check. I really tried to pay but he said this was his "place." It makes me so uncomfortable. I know he can't have that much money and the last thing he needs to do is buy an American his coffee. I'm meeting up with him and his friend Zhang Friday evening. I'll pick up the tab!
After our wonderful conversation, he walked me back to the Metro. I told him I actually wanted to run into Wal-Mart to see if there was anything I needed. He went in with me. The store was HUGE. It was probably five or six levels. A couple of minutes into my browsing, he asked me if it was "polite" that he was with me. I told him I didn't understand the question. "Perhaps you want to buy something that you don't want me to see. Is it polite that I'm standing with you?" What a great question! I told him that in this case, me as a foreigner in this store for the first time, it was completely appropriate. I told him that in America if someone didn't want him around, they would make up an excuse. "You just wait here; I'll only be a minute." Sometimes the more I explain the American psyche I realize we're all just a bunch of liars!
I picked up a few things at Wal-Mart and he walked me back to the Metro. I thanked him for all his help. He was very stern that since we are friends I was not to thank him. The things he was doing are his duty. This has been a common theme with all my Chinese friends. They view certain things as obligations and that's all there is to it.
On my ride back home, I reflected on the people I'd met this weekend. I realized that Chinese people are enormously generous and good people. I find them so sincere and caring. When I told this to Nick the next day he wanted to warn me that yes this was true but there were plenty of people that would also try to take advantage of me. Yes, like the sweet potato vendor. At the same time, the character of the vast majority of Chinese people is well-intentioned. I'll give you an example. I took a cab home after my evening with Apple. She told the driver that I needed to go near Longtan Park. Apparently she didn't do a good job because we got in the general region and he wanted me to point where I lived. I didn't know! I just pointed at one of the roads and he went. He kept looking at me because he knew it wasn't right. I finally said, "Lawn-tan gone-yuan." He knew what I wanted and laughed. Anyway, when we pulled up to my building the fare was 20. I gave him the money and prepared to get out when he stopped me. He gave me 5 back. He knew that without our communication barrier the fare would have only been 15. That, I think, demonstrates the character of China.
The next day at lunch Nick told me that my Chinese co-workers really like me. Really? He said that they've been talking about me and even the ones who can't speak English have decided that I'm a good person and a "gentleman." I felt really relieved when he said it. When you can't understand 95 percent of what is being said, it's nice to know that they aren't saying bad things!
I'll admit that there are many times when I can still get offended or feel an affront. The other day I was preparing to put my badge away and some of the Chinese employees ran up ahead of me. There was seemingly no reason to do it; they weren't in a hurry. I was initially angry at the rude gesture and then just had to accept it. It was nothing personal about me, it's just who they are.
I've mentioned that the government is desperately trying to get the Chinese to understand "lines" and order at public places in advance of the Olympics. Some of the bus stops have people who wear yellow coats and are "Supervisors of Riding Politely." Apparently my morning bus stop must be considered one of the worst because it has three supervisors! The women supervisors are tougher. If they think you're trying to cut in line, they'll yell at you.
I got really irritated Monday morning because one of the busses came and everyone tried piling on it. There was no logical way it was going to work. The bus stayed at the stop for 20 minutes - I'm not kidding - while people attempted to fit on and the Supervisors of Riding Politely were yelling at people on the bus to make more room. It was so stupid and completely inefficient. I just kept thinking about how backed up all the routes were going to be that day from this one stop. I decided to walk to work on Tuesday!
I started this entry with saying that I'm going to Vietnam next month. I have since decided not to. I couldn't justify the expense and I just got to China. I need to master Beijing before I start hop scotching across Asia! I'm planning on going to a language camp and spending time with some of my new friends in Beijing.
I just got back from a lunch with officials from the Hebei area. What lovely people! Such a different experience than the last meal I had. They were extremely warm and friendly. They were surprised at how well I handled my chopsticks and the variety of their food that I seemed to enjoy. I voluntarily made toasts and received them in return. I was even given a special paper lantern by them. It felt so liberating to understand more of the customs and feel accepted. I thanked them all and said they were some of the friendliest people I had met in China and that I would like to travel to their hometown. The man next to me toasted me and said I was "very young and handsome." We all probably had about 20 shots of wine that they brought from their region. Clearly, people in Hebei like to party!
I went to dinner Tuesday evening with Apple. She wanted to take me to another Hui restaurant that served traditional Muslim food. We ordered what was basically stew and corn. It was all very good. I was clearly the first white person to have ever been here. Our server was a 13-year-old boy and I'm sure the son of the owner. He kept staring at me and giggling as Apple and I conversed in English. Eventually his brother and mother also had to come over and supervise our ordering process.
Apple was in the bathroom when he dropped off one of the dishes and I thanked him in Chinese. He responded with the traditional “Don't mention it” in Chinese but he seemed really embarrassed. He ran over to his brother and I could tell he was saying that I had thanked him in Chinese. Sometimes I think I must make them feel like a walking, talking animal has entered their establishment. We'd find it funny too!
My Chinese colleagues were extremely alarmed about the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. More than anything, they don't like America's gun laws. They wanted to know how this boy had purchased a gun. In China, you can't own a gun unless you're police or military. They all told me that America should not have guns. I tried explaining American sentiment towards “the right to bear arms” but they didn't get it. I was just relieved that the madman was Korean and not Chinese.
I've written a lot about friendships in this dispatch. My experiences to date have reinforced that Chinese people very much like and respect America, although it's clear that they quietly believe they are the superior people. Everyone has been very kind to me. The word for America in Chinese is pronounced “may gaw.” Do you know what it means? It's the Chinese words for “beautiful nation.” Despite our many, many differences, the Chinese have a genuine interest in and appreciation of America.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Weekend Outing
Something happened on April 5th, 2007. I don’t know if it was the fact that it felt like spring had finally arrived (in the afternoon anyway) or just the fact that I’d been here a month, but I felt like I was accepted by my Chinese colleagues. People were asking me for my personal e-mail address. Others wanted to laugh with me. Some had questions about America. Judy offered me the equivalent of Chinese peanut brittle and Nick gave me some of his tangerine. It just felt like a veil had been lifted and after monitoring me to see what I was about, I was deemed acceptable. It was a really nice feeling.
I discovered that I ride the bus with one of my Chinese co-workers. Her name is pronounced like Lee-JHA. She’s a very beautiful, graceful young woman. She seems so gentle. Her English name is Zoë Leigh. Wouldn’t you love to slap the English teacher who assigned her that one? I didn’t realize that she spoke some English until we got off the bus. I’d seen her sitting on the bus and I waited for her. I was gearing up to say “Ni hao” when she jumped off and said “Hello.” She works in the scheduling department and because of all the time zones we deal with, works extremely long hours. I don’t even know how long she has to stay at night, but I feel for her. I think we’re going to try to meet up for a language exchange.
Nick asked me to go to lunch with him on Friday. He wanted to take me to “the” place for dumplings, although he kept calling them balls. It was a very small little place with maybe six tables. There was absolutely no room to sit. He seemed surprised by this. I told him that I suspected the warmer weather was encouraging people to get out of the office. We tried going elsewhere, but everything was full. We went back to the restaurant and it seemed like he was telling off these two women sitting at a table. Then he turned to me: “You sit down here. I go get the food.” Great, I have to sit at the table with the women he just yelled at! I sat down and just bowed my head while they gobbled their dumplings and soup.
Looking around the restaurant, I realized this was the first truly “local” place I’d been – and it was filthy. The floors hadn’t been mopped in weeks. A man at the table next to me took a glass with some liquid in it and just dumped it on the floor. Ugh. Nick was back soon enough. He got us each a packet of dumplings and an odd soup. The dumplings weren’t bad really; they tasted a lot better when I added vinegar to them. Nick was insistent that this was “real” Chinese food. I asked him how much the food cost and he said both of our meals came to 10RMB – about $1USD. You can really eat cheap when you go to a place like this. Nick continued to praise my chopstick skills. “You a fast learner, Flan.” He’s also impressed that I’m able to remember some of the Mandarin words. He had taught me the words for “left” and “right” the day before and quizzed me on them. He was thrilled when I remembered. I think it’s just the fact that I want to learn; it makes them more comfortable. Nick always asks me if I like the food and when I respond in the affirmative, he always smiles and says, “That makes me so happy.”
I had asked Nick what he likes to eat for dinner and he said “anything.” I believe it. Then he indicated that there was some fruit that he doesn’t like to eat. He said it “stinks.” I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. On the way back to the office, we stopped into a corner market. Some of our colleagues, including Tan Lu and Leejha, were in there, along with two of our other female co-workers. They thought it was really cute that we were in there. Tan Lu wanted to know what it was that I needed help buying. I told her I was just there to see some fruit that Nick had told me about. They followed us into the fruits and vegetable area, when he excitedly pointed it out. I still don’t know what it was. It’s almost looked like a flat pineapple. It had that kind of texture. I announced that we didn’t have those in the United States. The girls started laughing. I told Nick that it must mean that Americans don’t like it either![1] On the walk back to the office, three of the women linked arms and seemed as though they had not a care in the world. It’s extremely common here to see women holding each other as they walk down the street.
When you speak to a Chinese person who knows limited English you have to use the “correct” words. Most of them haven’t been to the States and they don’t know our slang. One time I went with Scarlet to Pizza Hut and she asked the waitress if the green tea cheesecake was “tasty.” The woman had never heard this word. She modified, “Is it delicious?” That, the woman understood. Nick wanted to know how to respond when an American asks him “How are you?” He said that in school his textbooks always said to say, “Fine, thank you.” I told him that was correct, but there were a number of other responses he could give and that Americans would give in response to the question: “Very well,” “great,” “good.” I also said that a number of Americans might give the response “hanging in there.” I tried explaining what it meant (not great, but could be worse). I also told him that when I worked in DC there was a Capitol Hill police officer who would always respond to the question, “I’m FANTASTIC, Mr. Loveland, how are you?” I just wanted him to know that there are a lot of different responses. It can be quite jarring when you’ve been trained to only hear one response and then get a variety. I think he’s going to stick with “Very well.”
I’ve learned some lessons about the whole concept of “face.” It’s a rather complicated concept but basically you can’t embarrass the other person. No matter what the situation, you can’t expose them. It makes the office interesting, to say the least! I felt really bad because I unintentionally caused Judy to lose face, and I didn’t mean to. Judy and I were working on a project together and it required a significant amount of writing. I knew that it was something I could churn out in about an hour and then let the refining process begin. To me, it’s just important to have a starting place. I told Judy that I would write the first draft. No such luck. She wanted to write the first draft and have me “perfect” it. Oh boy. She e-mailed me the document after four days. The writing wasn’t as bad as I would have suspected. The real problem was the formatting. This was an extremely important document and it needed to look professional. I essentially rewrote the entire thing and e-mailed it back to her. I was prepared to let her know that I was pleased with her original writing and I had really just made “formatting” changes. No such luck. She knew what I’d done, and I’d embarrassed her. I even encouraged her to e-mail it to the boss. She wouldn’t do it. Our relations were frosty the next few days and that was when it occurred to me that I’d made her lose face. The only real problem is I don’t know how to avoid this in the future. Do I placate her and pretend it’s OK? Do I ask her to sit next to me while we edit (i.e. rewrite) it together? I haven’t figured that out yet. At least she gave me peanut brittle today!
The other person I work a lot with is Sally. I haven’t really written about Sally because I hadn’t been able to sum her up. Until today. Wanna a great visual and “feel” for Sally? Remember Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club? The really meek and scared young woman in detention? Sally is the Chinese version. She even has that Ally Sheedy haircut. She wouldn’t talk to me the first few weeks. If I walked in her path she would avert her eyes. She’s most comfortable when she’s facing her computer. She also loves doing these long whines. I wonder if we sound that weird? I feel really bad for her. Now that we’ve teamed up on some projects, it’s much better. I know she spent some time in Australia working on her English and it’s pretty good. She just gets really nervous. I do like her though and she’s funny. She was complaining about someone in the office and I told her the word that we would call them in English in America. She got really embarrassed and turned back to her computer. Totally different senses of humor.
One of the most frustrating things that can happen is when you hear a word being constantly used in conversations and then when you ask them what that word means, they have NO clue what you’re talking about. So much of it is based on getting the tones right. For example, there’s a word that’s used on the bus as we approach the stops that I want to know. I’ve also heard the word “tucci” but when I ask they look at me like I’m crazy. I’m probably only hearing a portion of the word. Like if a Chinese speaker only heard the “lat” in collateral and then asked you what “lat” meant. You’d probably tell them it means not being somewhere on time! One little mystery was solved. Some people always say “nega.” I hear it spread out through dozens of ordinary conversations. I finally asked Judy about it. She said it’s a word you use in a conversation when you’re trying to think of the next thing to say. I guess it’s like us using “uh” or “Ok.”
I went to an African restaurant with Scarlet Friday night. She'd mentioned that she'd really developed an affinity for Ethiopian food while living in DC. The Adams Morgan area has a bunch of international places and she enjoyed going there. We each cabbed over to the "Star Bar Street" where the African restaurant was located. It was a cute, although quiet, area past Salintun. Fortunately none of the South African drug lords here! The restaurant had a really fun, jovial atmosphere. It was a very international crowd. There were performances on stage, including a man walking through the audience on stilts. While it was a fun place, I don't think it was really authentic African. The band was playing American songs and the whole atmosphere seemed like the Disneyland version of Africa. They even had a mixed drink called the Hakuna Matata. Scarlet always tries ordering bar drinks without the alcohol and our server was very honest when he said it wouldn't be good without the liquor. I read that it's never a good idea to order mixed drinks in China because they water down the alcohol and if you order a specific brand, say Absolut Vodka, they'll give you a cheaper brand. This is probably one reason why beer is so popular here.
Saturday was the morning that we left for our retreat. I woke up and was sick as a dog. See previous reference to yesterday's lunch with Nick for a reason as to why. I took some prescription medication I received in the States and felt better within a couple of hours. I met my co-workers at the office at 10 am. It was the first real spring day we'd had. It was really beautiful and I was so glad that we had chosen today for the outing. Nick immediately took possession of me and located where we would sit on the bus. The bus was actually comfortable, although there was no bathroom. They played really cheesy movies on the bus, including a 1970s movie about a literal killer whale. I really got a feel for the enormity of Beijing as we traveled on the bus. The traffic wasn't bad and it must have taken two hours to just make it out of the city. For some reason the tour guide had his microphone on the echo feature so everything came across really weird.
Nick and I had a wonderful conversation on the way out of Beijing. He brought one of his electronic translation devices in case we ran into words that we didn't understand. It helped a lot! Nick served in the military for two years and I think he's now in some sort of reserve status. He told me he's not allowed to visit foreign countries while he's in this status because the government is concerned that soldiers could be recruited for spying. I typed the word "Buddhist" in his device and asked him if he was one. He said that when you join the military you have to devote yourself to Communism and you can't have a religion.
He had a question about America but told me I didn't have to answer it if I wasn't comfortable. He wanted to know what America thinks about China and Taiwan. I told him that America does officially recognize Taiwan as a part of China. At the same time, America will not idly allow China to attack Taiwan and that's why we've been selling missiles to Taiwan, so they can defend themselves. I said that America hopes that China and Taiwan can diplomatically resolve their differences and that there is no aggressive action. He had his mouth open for most of this and didn't respond.
When we got out into the country everything just felt different. The skies were so blue out here. Funny what pollution does, isn't it? The area felt like the rural areas of any rural area. There were people selling fruit by the road and commingling near the path to chat about the day's events. Like all country people, they had that rough-hewn, tough look. They could handle just about any challenge put in their path.
We went to a restaurant for lunch out in the country. It looked like the kind of place that was accustomed to having tour buses. I have to say that I don't think there's anything more stressful than eating a meal with Chinese people. They go into a different zone when it comes to food. First of all, they eat incredibly fast. You just see tons of chopsticks flying about. They are unnecessarily messy; in their haste juices spill all around. It gets really confusing when they start offering toasts to each other. You can barely get food into your mouth before you're standing up, touching everyone's glass. Eating with Chinese people is draining!
Some of the girls at the table were looking at me and giggling. Nick said they wanted to know if I knew how to use chopsticks. I guess they were disappointed that I did. The food itself was decent. There was nothing at this meal that I particularly loved. There were these gross, thick yellow noodles, shaped like spaghetti. I asked someone what they were and they said it was noodles made out of potatoes. Yummy. Everyone at the table kept asking me if I liked the food. This would become a theme throughout the weekend - do you like the food and are you happy? No matter the truth, it's best to smile and nod.
Following lunch it was time to go to the "hot springs." I guess "hot springs" is code for hot tubs. It was basically a YMCA-type place with various pools and hot tubs. You know the comforting chlorine smell that hits your nostrils at all American swimming pools? Yeah, well it wasn't here. Judy, who didn't come to the retreat, asked me Monday if it was "sanitary." I shook my head and said "No." I did just enough swimming to not be rude. I actually got kicked out of one of the pools because I wasn't wearing a cap. Aww, darn. I only dipped my legs in the hot springs. The water was grey. How refreshing! I spent most of my time in the sauna. I've always loved saunas and I thought that sweating out the toxins I've absorbed the past month was probably a good idea.
Nick and I finished early and walked around the surrounding community. He taught me so many things about Chinese culture. I can't really explain them all here. But if we saw a traditional Chinese sculpture he would explain to me the symbolism. So many things I hadn't even thought about. He loves starting off these lessons with, "In China...."
I was understandably exhausted after the "hot springs" adventure (funny, I thought it was supposed to be rejuvenating) and I slept most of the way to our next stop. We were spending the night at a farmer's home, where they would prepare a meal for us. When I woke up, we were in the mountains, not that far from the Great Wall. The landscape of the mountains reminded me of the Sandia's, minus the cherry blossom trees that were scattered about. It was dusk now and just really beautiful.
We were shown to our rooms. Nick and I had to share a concrete bed with two other men, including the driver. I guess that in the winter you actually light a fire in the furnace underneath the concrete. Sounds safe! Since it was warming up, there would be no need to light a fire. Nick and I did some more exploring before dinner. Everyone in this little hamlet had dogs. We saw one German Shepard that had recently given birth. The vast majority of the dogs are these little Pekinese that ramble up to their doorways and look at you like, "City slickers."
The meal in the evening was better than lunch. Tons of sweet potatoes! They were also trying to explain the concept of "corn bread" to me. Thanks, but I know it quite well. I didn't realize that I was getting to sit at the senior table until this meal. Our table was the only one with glass bowls, versus the plastic everyone else got. As my guide, Nick got to sit with me which I think meant a lot to him; he ordinarily wouldn't have qualified for this table. One of the most compassionate things he did was tell the others in Chinese that he was going to take me outside after we were done because I wouldn't be able to enjoy the conversation. He sacrificed his own "status" in order to make me more comfortable. It was really a selfless gesture.
When we walked around outside it was now dark. It was the first time I've been in China where I could actually see stars. He told me that he knew the names of all the constellations, but not in English. I told him that was OK and I wanted to know the Chinese names. Walking along the road with them, I thought, "I can't believe I'm here." It felt like a dream.
Nick told me that after everyone finished their meals there would some "programs." Mhhm...I didn't like the sound of that. I should mention that I was bitterly tired by this point. I'd been sick in the morning, swam, stuck in a bus, and was just exhausted. I think I was also dehydrated. I really just wanted to go to bed. But what kind of message would I be sending about Americans? They started lighting the fireworks. The type of fireworks that they use isn’t the type that we are allowed to buy in the States. No, these are the kind that would be used at a professional, staged show like at a military base on Independence Day. It seemed so irresponsible that they were lighting these huge fireworks in the middle of the country. Yet, for all the potential problems that I always see here, none ever come to fruition. Everything works out for them. Whether it be the crazy driving (where I've yet to see a single accident - this in a country with no liquor laws), or lighting these gigantic fireworks, everything just falls into place. Maybe we’re the ones who don't have it right.
They lit a campfire in the courtyard outside. I was seeing really for the first time a bunch of people who I work with but don't deal with on a daily basis. I'm basically limited to the people with the better command of English: Tan Lu, Nick, Judy, Sally, and Phoenix. Seeing everyone together, you could ascertain what kind of personality they are. "This guy is the ham, this woman is the gossip." It's funny to see that they also fit into these pre-determined formulas as well.
The next few hours were kind of a haze. They sing and dance a lot. They do really bad karaoke. They play poker (but not for money; it's against the law to gamble). They smoke. They eat sweet potatoes by the fire (I'm not gonna complain about that one). The impressions that I had from this orgy of fun was that they are a really innocent people and totally non-judgmental. Everything they do is in good faith and they wouldn't intentionally judge someone. It kind of makes you relax.
I've never understood the concept that in order to make the outsider more comfortable, we will embarrass them. Well one of the Chinese men who doesn't speak a lick of English decided he was going to make me more comfortable. Great. It was at one point when we were all in a circle around the campfire. He summoned for me to come forth. I pretended not to notice but it wasn't going to work. I was very confused. I think he was trying to get me to pose in Chinese opera stances. Everyone was really laughing. Glad I could provide some entertainment. I think the driver got really upset about it and told him off.
At yet another point, the man had the microphone and again summoned me. It was actually funny because he sounded like an auctioneer and he yelled "Glam!" That was my cue. I turned to Phoenix and was like, "What's going on?" "He wants you to sing a song." WHAT?! He had this really self-satisfied smile. I took the microphone and turned to the crowd. I basically had to prove myself here. If I didn't do it, what would it mean? Would they interpret it that I'm better than them? I had no choice. I needed to sing something though that could link us. I didn't learn any Chinese songs before coming over and I also didn't think "SexyBack" or "Vogue" would play real well. I sang the only thing I could think of: The ABC song. "Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me?" All the people under 30 started clapping real excitedly when I sang it. They've all had English teachers who taught them the song. I think it was the best choice.
My tormentor then wanted me to sing another song. I flat out said "No." He started laughing and was mocking me, "No? No?" I didn't care if I was making him lose face. He said something in Chinese and handed me the microphone again. I turned to Nick. "He wants you to say something from your heart." Oh God. I'd almost prefer to croon another tune, honestly. I took the mic again and faced the audience. "It means a lot to me to be here with you all tonight. I'm learning so much about China and its people and its customs and its culture. I have great respect for all of you, and everyone has been so nice to me. Even if you can't speak English I've learned a lot by just watching you. Thank you all so much." Everyone started clapping. That would be my last performance of the evening.
My tormentor came up to me later when I was around Nick. He said something to me and put his hand on his heart. Nick said, "He said that you have a very good heart." I thought that was really nice. I decided to be nice and asked to take a photo with him. While we were getting things ready, the driver saw that we were about to take a picture and he ran over and wanted in too. It was kind of funny. I felt like a celebrity. One girl whom I don't know at all demanded a photograph with me. She'll probably show it to her family in rural China.
The other thing that surprised me about this outing was how many of my co-workers can speak English! Like I said, if they're under 30 they had English instruction for most of their student lives. They are terrified to speak it though because they've never really been around native English speakers. All of their instruction came from textbooks and interaction with fellow students. What's sad though is that most of them are quite well-spoken. I met two young women who have virtually no accent at all. They kept saying, "But I don't speak English well." They were stunned when I told them that they do.
One small girl came over to and struck up a conversation. She doesn't look Han Chinese; she must be another ethnicity. She told me she taught herself English while working in Pakistan. She was so cute because she was short and really scrappy looking. She asked me very seriously, "Are you happy?" I smiled and said yes. She wasn't going to let me off the hook. "How can you be happy? You're alone. The only person who speaks English to you is that boy." Wow! Well you have me there. I told her that while I can't fully participate, I'm learning so much just by being an observer. She seemed satisfied with this. She told me her English name was "Hope." Another girl named Snow (because that's the season she was born in), started laughing and told her that she probably doesn't even know what her name means in English. Hope looked down at her feet and said, "I think it means something very nice." Yes, it does.
Nick had left me earlier to go play poker and told me that when I was ready to go to bed I was to tell him. I wandered into one of the rooms where people were singing karaoke and wanted to shoot myself. One woman felt compelled to tell me that she'd just had "four beers." Congrats. I finally asked Sally to take me to Nick. We went in and I told him that he didn't have to leave the game; I was just going to go back to the room and go to sleep. Nick insisted on walking me back. Once I was tucked in, he asked me if I minded if he went back to the game. I told him not at all. I slept so soundly that night.
Everyone was up and ready the next morning before I even emerged. Nick and I walked around down by a stream. This little grey Pekinese, which had been born white, looked at us as we crossed. I had just asked Nick if he had slept well and he said yes. Looking at the dog he said, "I don't think he slept well last night." I responded, "Nick, that dog has never slept well."
After breakfast we hopped back onto the bus and we headed to the "Silver-Clad Pagoda Forest." It was at one time some type of sacred Buddhist outpost. There were various towers and their explanations. The area was gorgeous; lots of natural waterfalls. I didn't realize it at the time, but we were going to be walking up the entire mountain. Gee, wish I'd gotten bottled water! About six of us clumped together and headed up the stairs. Most of the women weren't wearing outdoor gear. I stuck pretty close to a young woman named Apple (Gwyneth Paltrow would be SO proud) during the hike up. The poor thing was wearing heels! At one point, this idiot in our group decided that he wasn't going to take the stairs, it would be better to just scale the mountain. So unsafe, I thought, as everyone in my group started following him. I couldn't believe I was scaling a mountain when a staircase was about two feet away. Nick told me I was to go up first and then "help the others." Ooh-kay.
We managed to get up without injuries. One of the women in my group kept asking us to eat some prunes she'd brought. I'd have eaten anything. She also brought some dried-out tomatoes which were now "gummy." I thought it was strange but they tasted good! At one point we had to clear off the stairs because these laborers were coming down with a cot of some sort. I thought someone had been injured. It turns out they were transporting some kind of antique statue from the top of the mountain. Something tells me this wasn't an "official" excavation!
We FINALLY made it to the top of the mountain. All I can say about Chinese people is that while they don't look athletic, they are strong. They managed to do this climb with nary a whimper or forced breathing. They could have been walking in an air-conditioned mall. The views from the top of the mountain were amazing. I could see the Great Wall and realized that we were enveloped in the mountains. Please excuse the pun, but it really was breathtaking. The walk down was of course easier but just as treacherous. I should mention that these weren't regular stairs. They were stone steps and some were extremely steep. It was flat-out dangerous.
I talked to Apple on the way down. She's a really sweet girl from Harbin. I realized why so many people from Harbin are in Beijing. They speak the exact same dialect and accent as people in Beijing. This means that they are able to easily adapt in the city. She wants to take me to Harbin to meet her family and show me the street where the foreigners like to hang out. She's also insistent that she can teach me Mandarin. We're going to do something "fun" this weekend. I told her I didn't have any ideas and she said she wants to eat "boiled, instant mutton." Note to self: always have an idea ready.
Because most Chinese were taught English by people from the UK and Australia there are certain words they use that, while appropriate, aren't part of our daily vernacular. For example, it's always "rubbish" instead of trash. The one that always gets me is their use of "clever." I think we've given that word a negative connotation in the U.S. I always think of clever as being "you think you're so smart, don't you?" When Nick and I were walking around and he'd ask me a question like, "What is this used for?" And I would guess correctly, he'd laugh and say I was "clever." He also thinks I'm clever because I can understand what he's trying to tell me the vast majority of the time even when he's not sure what it is he's saying. He lamented, "Glen, when I studied English in school I thought it was so easy. Talking to you I realize it's hard!"
After the mountain adventure, we had lunch in another village. This was the best meal yet. Among the food items was omelets! It was kind of funny to see them served for lunch. They also served sliced tomatoes with sugar sprinkled on top. While tomatoes are a fruit, I feel that we've turned them into a de facto vegetable in the States. We prefer to highlight their acidic quality. Eating them with sugar I realized that they are really sweet!
The bus ride back was uneventful. I was happy to have had the opportunity to experience all these things. I really do feel more of a connection with my coworkers now.
On Monday I asked Judy why she didn't go and she said she didn't want people to see her in her bathing suit. Can't fault her for that, I guess. Judy is about 28 or 29 and she's obsessed with age. We were alone in the office a lot and she wanted to keep talking about it. She says that she's getting wrinkles on her face from staring at the computer all day. She asked me how old I was and when I said 31 she said I looked younger. Then studying me further, "But you have wrinkles near your eyes." I told her these were called "crow's feet." She asked that I write it down for her and she studied it very closely. I explained what it meant. She studies herself in the mirror a lot and I also found her absently looking out the window. She's really somewhere else.
She's extremely concerned that no one is going to marry her. She said she dated a Chinese man in college but he didn't want to marry her. I asked her what the normal dating procedure would be in China. She said that typically the man approaches the woman, but that since she's an extrovert, she has no problem approaching men. I can tell she has a secret crush on our boss. She also told me that Tom Cruise and Bill Clinton are "very handsome." I told her that with China's female shortage it seemed to me as though the woman should hold all the cards on relationships here. She didn't really explain but said it's not the case. I guess the law of supply and demand doesn't apply in China.
[1] A few days later the New York Times ran an article about the fruit, which I found out is called “durian.” The article was about scientist who has invented a “no-smell” durian, which is quite controversial. Here’s a section of that article: “The durian, a spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia, has been variously described by its detractors as smelling like garbage, moldy cheese or rotting fish. It is banned from many hotels, airlines and the Singapore subway. But durian lovers are convinced that like fine French cheeses, the worse the smell, the better the taste. Under the durian's hardy shell are sections of pale yellow flesh with a consistency that can be as soft and oozy as custard and a flavor that is nutty and sweet with hints of vanilla and an occasional bitter bite. ‘To anyone who doesn't like durian it smells like a bunch of dead cats," said Bob Halliday, a food writer in Bangkok. "But as you get to appreciate durian, the smell is not offensive at all. It's attractive. It makes you drool like a mastiff.’"
I discovered that I ride the bus with one of my Chinese co-workers. Her name is pronounced like Lee-JHA. She’s a very beautiful, graceful young woman. She seems so gentle. Her English name is Zoë Leigh. Wouldn’t you love to slap the English teacher who assigned her that one? I didn’t realize that she spoke some English until we got off the bus. I’d seen her sitting on the bus and I waited for her. I was gearing up to say “Ni hao” when she jumped off and said “Hello.” She works in the scheduling department and because of all the time zones we deal with, works extremely long hours. I don’t even know how long she has to stay at night, but I feel for her. I think we’re going to try to meet up for a language exchange.
Nick asked me to go to lunch with him on Friday. He wanted to take me to “the” place for dumplings, although he kept calling them balls. It was a very small little place with maybe six tables. There was absolutely no room to sit. He seemed surprised by this. I told him that I suspected the warmer weather was encouraging people to get out of the office. We tried going elsewhere, but everything was full. We went back to the restaurant and it seemed like he was telling off these two women sitting at a table. Then he turned to me: “You sit down here. I go get the food.” Great, I have to sit at the table with the women he just yelled at! I sat down and just bowed my head while they gobbled their dumplings and soup.
Looking around the restaurant, I realized this was the first truly “local” place I’d been – and it was filthy. The floors hadn’t been mopped in weeks. A man at the table next to me took a glass with some liquid in it and just dumped it on the floor. Ugh. Nick was back soon enough. He got us each a packet of dumplings and an odd soup. The dumplings weren’t bad really; they tasted a lot better when I added vinegar to them. Nick was insistent that this was “real” Chinese food. I asked him how much the food cost and he said both of our meals came to 10RMB – about $1USD. You can really eat cheap when you go to a place like this. Nick continued to praise my chopstick skills. “You a fast learner, Flan.” He’s also impressed that I’m able to remember some of the Mandarin words. He had taught me the words for “left” and “right” the day before and quizzed me on them. He was thrilled when I remembered. I think it’s just the fact that I want to learn; it makes them more comfortable. Nick always asks me if I like the food and when I respond in the affirmative, he always smiles and says, “That makes me so happy.”
I had asked Nick what he likes to eat for dinner and he said “anything.” I believe it. Then he indicated that there was some fruit that he doesn’t like to eat. He said it “stinks.” I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. On the way back to the office, we stopped into a corner market. Some of our colleagues, including Tan Lu and Leejha, were in there, along with two of our other female co-workers. They thought it was really cute that we were in there. Tan Lu wanted to know what it was that I needed help buying. I told her I was just there to see some fruit that Nick had told me about. They followed us into the fruits and vegetable area, when he excitedly pointed it out. I still don’t know what it was. It’s almost looked like a flat pineapple. It had that kind of texture. I announced that we didn’t have those in the United States. The girls started laughing. I told Nick that it must mean that Americans don’t like it either![1] On the walk back to the office, three of the women linked arms and seemed as though they had not a care in the world. It’s extremely common here to see women holding each other as they walk down the street.
When you speak to a Chinese person who knows limited English you have to use the “correct” words. Most of them haven’t been to the States and they don’t know our slang. One time I went with Scarlet to Pizza Hut and she asked the waitress if the green tea cheesecake was “tasty.” The woman had never heard this word. She modified, “Is it delicious?” That, the woman understood. Nick wanted to know how to respond when an American asks him “How are you?” He said that in school his textbooks always said to say, “Fine, thank you.” I told him that was correct, but there were a number of other responses he could give and that Americans would give in response to the question: “Very well,” “great,” “good.” I also said that a number of Americans might give the response “hanging in there.” I tried explaining what it meant (not great, but could be worse). I also told him that when I worked in DC there was a Capitol Hill police officer who would always respond to the question, “I’m FANTASTIC, Mr. Loveland, how are you?” I just wanted him to know that there are a lot of different responses. It can be quite jarring when you’ve been trained to only hear one response and then get a variety. I think he’s going to stick with “Very well.”
I’ve learned some lessons about the whole concept of “face.” It’s a rather complicated concept but basically you can’t embarrass the other person. No matter what the situation, you can’t expose them. It makes the office interesting, to say the least! I felt really bad because I unintentionally caused Judy to lose face, and I didn’t mean to. Judy and I were working on a project together and it required a significant amount of writing. I knew that it was something I could churn out in about an hour and then let the refining process begin. To me, it’s just important to have a starting place. I told Judy that I would write the first draft. No such luck. She wanted to write the first draft and have me “perfect” it. Oh boy. She e-mailed me the document after four days. The writing wasn’t as bad as I would have suspected. The real problem was the formatting. This was an extremely important document and it needed to look professional. I essentially rewrote the entire thing and e-mailed it back to her. I was prepared to let her know that I was pleased with her original writing and I had really just made “formatting” changes. No such luck. She knew what I’d done, and I’d embarrassed her. I even encouraged her to e-mail it to the boss. She wouldn’t do it. Our relations were frosty the next few days and that was when it occurred to me that I’d made her lose face. The only real problem is I don’t know how to avoid this in the future. Do I placate her and pretend it’s OK? Do I ask her to sit next to me while we edit (i.e. rewrite) it together? I haven’t figured that out yet. At least she gave me peanut brittle today!
The other person I work a lot with is Sally. I haven’t really written about Sally because I hadn’t been able to sum her up. Until today. Wanna a great visual and “feel” for Sally? Remember Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club? The really meek and scared young woman in detention? Sally is the Chinese version. She even has that Ally Sheedy haircut. She wouldn’t talk to me the first few weeks. If I walked in her path she would avert her eyes. She’s most comfortable when she’s facing her computer. She also loves doing these long whines. I wonder if we sound that weird? I feel really bad for her. Now that we’ve teamed up on some projects, it’s much better. I know she spent some time in Australia working on her English and it’s pretty good. She just gets really nervous. I do like her though and she’s funny. She was complaining about someone in the office and I told her the word that we would call them in English in America. She got really embarrassed and turned back to her computer. Totally different senses of humor.
One of the most frustrating things that can happen is when you hear a word being constantly used in conversations and then when you ask them what that word means, they have NO clue what you’re talking about. So much of it is based on getting the tones right. For example, there’s a word that’s used on the bus as we approach the stops that I want to know. I’ve also heard the word “tucci” but when I ask they look at me like I’m crazy. I’m probably only hearing a portion of the word. Like if a Chinese speaker only heard the “lat” in collateral and then asked you what “lat” meant. You’d probably tell them it means not being somewhere on time! One little mystery was solved. Some people always say “nega.” I hear it spread out through dozens of ordinary conversations. I finally asked Judy about it. She said it’s a word you use in a conversation when you’re trying to think of the next thing to say. I guess it’s like us using “uh” or “Ok.”
I went to an African restaurant with Scarlet Friday night. She'd mentioned that she'd really developed an affinity for Ethiopian food while living in DC. The Adams Morgan area has a bunch of international places and she enjoyed going there. We each cabbed over to the "Star Bar Street" where the African restaurant was located. It was a cute, although quiet, area past Salintun. Fortunately none of the South African drug lords here! The restaurant had a really fun, jovial atmosphere. It was a very international crowd. There were performances on stage, including a man walking through the audience on stilts. While it was a fun place, I don't think it was really authentic African. The band was playing American songs and the whole atmosphere seemed like the Disneyland version of Africa. They even had a mixed drink called the Hakuna Matata. Scarlet always tries ordering bar drinks without the alcohol and our server was very honest when he said it wouldn't be good without the liquor. I read that it's never a good idea to order mixed drinks in China because they water down the alcohol and if you order a specific brand, say Absolut Vodka, they'll give you a cheaper brand. This is probably one reason why beer is so popular here.
Saturday was the morning that we left for our retreat. I woke up and was sick as a dog. See previous reference to yesterday's lunch with Nick for a reason as to why. I took some prescription medication I received in the States and felt better within a couple of hours. I met my co-workers at the office at 10 am. It was the first real spring day we'd had. It was really beautiful and I was so glad that we had chosen today for the outing. Nick immediately took possession of me and located where we would sit on the bus. The bus was actually comfortable, although there was no bathroom. They played really cheesy movies on the bus, including a 1970s movie about a literal killer whale. I really got a feel for the enormity of Beijing as we traveled on the bus. The traffic wasn't bad and it must have taken two hours to just make it out of the city. For some reason the tour guide had his microphone on the echo feature so everything came across really weird.
Nick and I had a wonderful conversation on the way out of Beijing. He brought one of his electronic translation devices in case we ran into words that we didn't understand. It helped a lot! Nick served in the military for two years and I think he's now in some sort of reserve status. He told me he's not allowed to visit foreign countries while he's in this status because the government is concerned that soldiers could be recruited for spying. I typed the word "Buddhist" in his device and asked him if he was one. He said that when you join the military you have to devote yourself to Communism and you can't have a religion.
He had a question about America but told me I didn't have to answer it if I wasn't comfortable. He wanted to know what America thinks about China and Taiwan. I told him that America does officially recognize Taiwan as a part of China. At the same time, America will not idly allow China to attack Taiwan and that's why we've been selling missiles to Taiwan, so they can defend themselves. I said that America hopes that China and Taiwan can diplomatically resolve their differences and that there is no aggressive action. He had his mouth open for most of this and didn't respond.
When we got out into the country everything just felt different. The skies were so blue out here. Funny what pollution does, isn't it? The area felt like the rural areas of any rural area. There were people selling fruit by the road and commingling near the path to chat about the day's events. Like all country people, they had that rough-hewn, tough look. They could handle just about any challenge put in their path.
We went to a restaurant for lunch out in the country. It looked like the kind of place that was accustomed to having tour buses. I have to say that I don't think there's anything more stressful than eating a meal with Chinese people. They go into a different zone when it comes to food. First of all, they eat incredibly fast. You just see tons of chopsticks flying about. They are unnecessarily messy; in their haste juices spill all around. It gets really confusing when they start offering toasts to each other. You can barely get food into your mouth before you're standing up, touching everyone's glass. Eating with Chinese people is draining!
Some of the girls at the table were looking at me and giggling. Nick said they wanted to know if I knew how to use chopsticks. I guess they were disappointed that I did. The food itself was decent. There was nothing at this meal that I particularly loved. There were these gross, thick yellow noodles, shaped like spaghetti. I asked someone what they were and they said it was noodles made out of potatoes. Yummy. Everyone at the table kept asking me if I liked the food. This would become a theme throughout the weekend - do you like the food and are you happy? No matter the truth, it's best to smile and nod.
Following lunch it was time to go to the "hot springs." I guess "hot springs" is code for hot tubs. It was basically a YMCA-type place with various pools and hot tubs. You know the comforting chlorine smell that hits your nostrils at all American swimming pools? Yeah, well it wasn't here. Judy, who didn't come to the retreat, asked me Monday if it was "sanitary." I shook my head and said "No." I did just enough swimming to not be rude. I actually got kicked out of one of the pools because I wasn't wearing a cap. Aww, darn. I only dipped my legs in the hot springs. The water was grey. How refreshing! I spent most of my time in the sauna. I've always loved saunas and I thought that sweating out the toxins I've absorbed the past month was probably a good idea.
Nick and I finished early and walked around the surrounding community. He taught me so many things about Chinese culture. I can't really explain them all here. But if we saw a traditional Chinese sculpture he would explain to me the symbolism. So many things I hadn't even thought about. He loves starting off these lessons with, "In China...."
I was understandably exhausted after the "hot springs" adventure (funny, I thought it was supposed to be rejuvenating) and I slept most of the way to our next stop. We were spending the night at a farmer's home, where they would prepare a meal for us. When I woke up, we were in the mountains, not that far from the Great Wall. The landscape of the mountains reminded me of the Sandia's, minus the cherry blossom trees that were scattered about. It was dusk now and just really beautiful.
We were shown to our rooms. Nick and I had to share a concrete bed with two other men, including the driver. I guess that in the winter you actually light a fire in the furnace underneath the concrete. Sounds safe! Since it was warming up, there would be no need to light a fire. Nick and I did some more exploring before dinner. Everyone in this little hamlet had dogs. We saw one German Shepard that had recently given birth. The vast majority of the dogs are these little Pekinese that ramble up to their doorways and look at you like, "City slickers."
The meal in the evening was better than lunch. Tons of sweet potatoes! They were also trying to explain the concept of "corn bread" to me. Thanks, but I know it quite well. I didn't realize that I was getting to sit at the senior table until this meal. Our table was the only one with glass bowls, versus the plastic everyone else got. As my guide, Nick got to sit with me which I think meant a lot to him; he ordinarily wouldn't have qualified for this table. One of the most compassionate things he did was tell the others in Chinese that he was going to take me outside after we were done because I wouldn't be able to enjoy the conversation. He sacrificed his own "status" in order to make me more comfortable. It was really a selfless gesture.
When we walked around outside it was now dark. It was the first time I've been in China where I could actually see stars. He told me that he knew the names of all the constellations, but not in English. I told him that was OK and I wanted to know the Chinese names. Walking along the road with them, I thought, "I can't believe I'm here." It felt like a dream.
Nick told me that after everyone finished their meals there would some "programs." Mhhm...I didn't like the sound of that. I should mention that I was bitterly tired by this point. I'd been sick in the morning, swam, stuck in a bus, and was just exhausted. I think I was also dehydrated. I really just wanted to go to bed. But what kind of message would I be sending about Americans? They started lighting the fireworks. The type of fireworks that they use isn’t the type that we are allowed to buy in the States. No, these are the kind that would be used at a professional, staged show like at a military base on Independence Day. It seemed so irresponsible that they were lighting these huge fireworks in the middle of the country. Yet, for all the potential problems that I always see here, none ever come to fruition. Everything works out for them. Whether it be the crazy driving (where I've yet to see a single accident - this in a country with no liquor laws), or lighting these gigantic fireworks, everything just falls into place. Maybe we’re the ones who don't have it right.
They lit a campfire in the courtyard outside. I was seeing really for the first time a bunch of people who I work with but don't deal with on a daily basis. I'm basically limited to the people with the better command of English: Tan Lu, Nick, Judy, Sally, and Phoenix. Seeing everyone together, you could ascertain what kind of personality they are. "This guy is the ham, this woman is the gossip." It's funny to see that they also fit into these pre-determined formulas as well.
The next few hours were kind of a haze. They sing and dance a lot. They do really bad karaoke. They play poker (but not for money; it's against the law to gamble). They smoke. They eat sweet potatoes by the fire (I'm not gonna complain about that one). The impressions that I had from this orgy of fun was that they are a really innocent people and totally non-judgmental. Everything they do is in good faith and they wouldn't intentionally judge someone. It kind of makes you relax.
I've never understood the concept that in order to make the outsider more comfortable, we will embarrass them. Well one of the Chinese men who doesn't speak a lick of English decided he was going to make me more comfortable. Great. It was at one point when we were all in a circle around the campfire. He summoned for me to come forth. I pretended not to notice but it wasn't going to work. I was very confused. I think he was trying to get me to pose in Chinese opera stances. Everyone was really laughing. Glad I could provide some entertainment. I think the driver got really upset about it and told him off.
At yet another point, the man had the microphone and again summoned me. It was actually funny because he sounded like an auctioneer and he yelled "Glam!" That was my cue. I turned to Phoenix and was like, "What's going on?" "He wants you to sing a song." WHAT?! He had this really self-satisfied smile. I took the microphone and turned to the crowd. I basically had to prove myself here. If I didn't do it, what would it mean? Would they interpret it that I'm better than them? I had no choice. I needed to sing something though that could link us. I didn't learn any Chinese songs before coming over and I also didn't think "SexyBack" or "Vogue" would play real well. I sang the only thing I could think of: The ABC song. "Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me?" All the people under 30 started clapping real excitedly when I sang it. They've all had English teachers who taught them the song. I think it was the best choice.
My tormentor then wanted me to sing another song. I flat out said "No." He started laughing and was mocking me, "No? No?" I didn't care if I was making him lose face. He said something in Chinese and handed me the microphone again. I turned to Nick. "He wants you to say something from your heart." Oh God. I'd almost prefer to croon another tune, honestly. I took the mic again and faced the audience. "It means a lot to me to be here with you all tonight. I'm learning so much about China and its people and its customs and its culture. I have great respect for all of you, and everyone has been so nice to me. Even if you can't speak English I've learned a lot by just watching you. Thank you all so much." Everyone started clapping. That would be my last performance of the evening.
My tormentor came up to me later when I was around Nick. He said something to me and put his hand on his heart. Nick said, "He said that you have a very good heart." I thought that was really nice. I decided to be nice and asked to take a photo with him. While we were getting things ready, the driver saw that we were about to take a picture and he ran over and wanted in too. It was kind of funny. I felt like a celebrity. One girl whom I don't know at all demanded a photograph with me. She'll probably show it to her family in rural China.
The other thing that surprised me about this outing was how many of my co-workers can speak English! Like I said, if they're under 30 they had English instruction for most of their student lives. They are terrified to speak it though because they've never really been around native English speakers. All of their instruction came from textbooks and interaction with fellow students. What's sad though is that most of them are quite well-spoken. I met two young women who have virtually no accent at all. They kept saying, "But I don't speak English well." They were stunned when I told them that they do.
One small girl came over to and struck up a conversation. She doesn't look Han Chinese; she must be another ethnicity. She told me she taught herself English while working in Pakistan. She was so cute because she was short and really scrappy looking. She asked me very seriously, "Are you happy?" I smiled and said yes. She wasn't going to let me off the hook. "How can you be happy? You're alone. The only person who speaks English to you is that boy." Wow! Well you have me there. I told her that while I can't fully participate, I'm learning so much just by being an observer. She seemed satisfied with this. She told me her English name was "Hope." Another girl named Snow (because that's the season she was born in), started laughing and told her that she probably doesn't even know what her name means in English. Hope looked down at her feet and said, "I think it means something very nice." Yes, it does.
Nick had left me earlier to go play poker and told me that when I was ready to go to bed I was to tell him. I wandered into one of the rooms where people were singing karaoke and wanted to shoot myself. One woman felt compelled to tell me that she'd just had "four beers." Congrats. I finally asked Sally to take me to Nick. We went in and I told him that he didn't have to leave the game; I was just going to go back to the room and go to sleep. Nick insisted on walking me back. Once I was tucked in, he asked me if I minded if he went back to the game. I told him not at all. I slept so soundly that night.
Everyone was up and ready the next morning before I even emerged. Nick and I walked around down by a stream. This little grey Pekinese, which had been born white, looked at us as we crossed. I had just asked Nick if he had slept well and he said yes. Looking at the dog he said, "I don't think he slept well last night." I responded, "Nick, that dog has never slept well."
After breakfast we hopped back onto the bus and we headed to the "Silver-Clad Pagoda Forest." It was at one time some type of sacred Buddhist outpost. There were various towers and their explanations. The area was gorgeous; lots of natural waterfalls. I didn't realize it at the time, but we were going to be walking up the entire mountain. Gee, wish I'd gotten bottled water! About six of us clumped together and headed up the stairs. Most of the women weren't wearing outdoor gear. I stuck pretty close to a young woman named Apple (Gwyneth Paltrow would be SO proud) during the hike up. The poor thing was wearing heels! At one point, this idiot in our group decided that he wasn't going to take the stairs, it would be better to just scale the mountain. So unsafe, I thought, as everyone in my group started following him. I couldn't believe I was scaling a mountain when a staircase was about two feet away. Nick told me I was to go up first and then "help the others." Ooh-kay.
We managed to get up without injuries. One of the women in my group kept asking us to eat some prunes she'd brought. I'd have eaten anything. She also brought some dried-out tomatoes which were now "gummy." I thought it was strange but they tasted good! At one point we had to clear off the stairs because these laborers were coming down with a cot of some sort. I thought someone had been injured. It turns out they were transporting some kind of antique statue from the top of the mountain. Something tells me this wasn't an "official" excavation!
We FINALLY made it to the top of the mountain. All I can say about Chinese people is that while they don't look athletic, they are strong. They managed to do this climb with nary a whimper or forced breathing. They could have been walking in an air-conditioned mall. The views from the top of the mountain were amazing. I could see the Great Wall and realized that we were enveloped in the mountains. Please excuse the pun, but it really was breathtaking. The walk down was of course easier but just as treacherous. I should mention that these weren't regular stairs. They were stone steps and some were extremely steep. It was flat-out dangerous.
I talked to Apple on the way down. She's a really sweet girl from Harbin. I realized why so many people from Harbin are in Beijing. They speak the exact same dialect and accent as people in Beijing. This means that they are able to easily adapt in the city. She wants to take me to Harbin to meet her family and show me the street where the foreigners like to hang out. She's also insistent that she can teach me Mandarin. We're going to do something "fun" this weekend. I told her I didn't have any ideas and she said she wants to eat "boiled, instant mutton." Note to self: always have an idea ready.
Because most Chinese were taught English by people from the UK and Australia there are certain words they use that, while appropriate, aren't part of our daily vernacular. For example, it's always "rubbish" instead of trash. The one that always gets me is their use of "clever." I think we've given that word a negative connotation in the U.S. I always think of clever as being "you think you're so smart, don't you?" When Nick and I were walking around and he'd ask me a question like, "What is this used for?" And I would guess correctly, he'd laugh and say I was "clever." He also thinks I'm clever because I can understand what he's trying to tell me the vast majority of the time even when he's not sure what it is he's saying. He lamented, "Glen, when I studied English in school I thought it was so easy. Talking to you I realize it's hard!"
After the mountain adventure, we had lunch in another village. This was the best meal yet. Among the food items was omelets! It was kind of funny to see them served for lunch. They also served sliced tomatoes with sugar sprinkled on top. While tomatoes are a fruit, I feel that we've turned them into a de facto vegetable in the States. We prefer to highlight their acidic quality. Eating them with sugar I realized that they are really sweet!
The bus ride back was uneventful. I was happy to have had the opportunity to experience all these things. I really do feel more of a connection with my coworkers now.
On Monday I asked Judy why she didn't go and she said she didn't want people to see her in her bathing suit. Can't fault her for that, I guess. Judy is about 28 or 29 and she's obsessed with age. We were alone in the office a lot and she wanted to keep talking about it. She says that she's getting wrinkles on her face from staring at the computer all day. She asked me how old I was and when I said 31 she said I looked younger. Then studying me further, "But you have wrinkles near your eyes." I told her these were called "crow's feet." She asked that I write it down for her and she studied it very closely. I explained what it meant. She studies herself in the mirror a lot and I also found her absently looking out the window. She's really somewhere else.
She's extremely concerned that no one is going to marry her. She said she dated a Chinese man in college but he didn't want to marry her. I asked her what the normal dating procedure would be in China. She said that typically the man approaches the woman, but that since she's an extrovert, she has no problem approaching men. I can tell she has a secret crush on our boss. She also told me that Tom Cruise and Bill Clinton are "very handsome." I told her that with China's female shortage it seemed to me as though the woman should hold all the cards on relationships here. She didn't really explain but said it's not the case. I guess the law of supply and demand doesn't apply in China.
[1] A few days later the New York Times ran an article about the fruit, which I found out is called “durian.” The article was about scientist who has invented a “no-smell” durian, which is quite controversial. Here’s a section of that article: “The durian, a spiky fruit native to Southeast Asia, has been variously described by its detractors as smelling like garbage, moldy cheese or rotting fish. It is banned from many hotels, airlines and the Singapore subway. But durian lovers are convinced that like fine French cheeses, the worse the smell, the better the taste. Under the durian's hardy shell are sections of pale yellow flesh with a consistency that can be as soft and oozy as custard and a flavor that is nutty and sweet with hints of vanilla and an occasional bitter bite. ‘To anyone who doesn't like durian it smells like a bunch of dead cats," said Bob Halliday, a food writer in Bangkok. "But as you get to appreciate durian, the smell is not offensive at all. It's attractive. It makes you drool like a mastiff.’"
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Something's In the Air
I've written about Nick in several of my previous reports. He's the nicest guy you could hope to meet. Every single day at lunch he comes to my desk and asks, “What do you want to eat?” He views it as his solemn duty to see that I'm fed at lunch. Most days I go out to one of the nearby restaurants whereas he buys “quick food” from the woman in the van. I told him I would go with him to get the “quick food” today. As we were walking downstairs, he told me he knew of a store that also sold quick food and he would take me there. Great! I love going places with a local.
On the walk over he was asking various questions about America. He wanted to know if cars were expensive there. He started explaining the concept of the Chinese calendar to me and how he was a “pig” and 2007 is the year of the pig (I was able to deduce from this that he was 24). I told him I was the year of the rabbit. He seemed stunned that I actually knew what animal I was. “People in America know about this?” I told him that most Chinese restaurants in the U.S. put the explanation of the calendar on the menus or placemats and that most Americans know what “animal” they are. He seemed really tickled by this.
The place he took me was somewhere I never would have found on my own. The directions would be like, “You go down this alley and turn northeast...” It was like a grocery store and had a counter where you could order food. I really think I was the first American to have ever set foot in here. People were looking at me like, “What's HE doing here? Shouldn't he be at the Great Wall?” The entire menu was written in Mandarin, so I turned around to look at what other people were eating. I pointed to a dish that looked good and told him I wanted it. He ordered for us. When we sat down he told me if I didn't like the food I was to tell him. He's always very firm about this. Luckily, I really enjoyed my meal! He told me that my chopstick handling ability had really improved. I still don't hold it like they do, but I get most of the food to my mouth!
We had a nice conversation. He told me he wants to take me to a place called “The Moonlight Bar.” I told him that was very nice of him and wondered which area of town it was in. “Salintun.” This is the area crawling with the South African drug lords that I don't like. “Oh, you know what Nick I've already been to that area. We should go somewhere else.” “Other foreigners there. We go.” Sigh. I'll let you know how that visit goes!
I went on the Metro with Scarlet to meet WooJung and her friend Liz at a restaurant. The Metro areas usually have people selling something. There was one man selling some Adidas products. There was, however, one vendor I didn't expect. She was a frail elderly woman standing at the top of the steps. She was holding a plastic shopping sack with something desperate to escape. It was a kitten! The kitten was obviously perturbed and kept meowing. When I walked by her I was just kind of speechless and stared. She smiled at me and held up the bag like, “You want?” I hope someone well-intentioned rescued that kitty!
One of the restaurants that I go to on a regular basis serves these delicious little pumpkin sophapilla-type things. They are a dessert and you have to order them. A regular order is six of them. They come out really hot and tasty. You sure don't need honey for these. It's kind of nice that they appreciate the pumpkin year round. When Scarlet and I went for lunch on Friday, we split a basket of them. She liked them so much she ordered a dozen to-go. She wanted to have some for the weekend. You know how many made it home? None. She nibbled on them throughout the day until they disappeared. They really are that good!
I've only been here a month. That means that I am far from being an expert on China. I can only rely on my knowledge and intuition to make judgments. However, I'm starting to form some opinions about the work ethic and future of China. The Chinese work harder than Americans, there's no debate about that. They are extremely focused and they aren't going to spend six of their eight hour day surfing the Internet and chatting with co-workers. They show up to work long before they have to and leave long after they were supposed to. I guess the only “weakness” Americans would find in their work habits is the tendency to nap at lunchtime. Of course, recent medical research has touted the benefits of napping, so in the long run they will be better off than us.
Already the world's fourth-largest economy, China will become surpass the United States in less than two decades. What I have to ask myself is, “Are they ready?” While dedicated and “good” people, I am deeply troubled by some of their thinking. The “normal” way of doing business here is extremely inefficient and the reasoning behind decisions wouldn't fly in the West. They will not question the boss or authority in general. There is little or no creativity or innovation. I got into a heated exchange with one of my co-workers over the meaning of the word “contract.” She literally kept giving me the legal definition of the word, and wasn't able to process what it was that I was trying to tell her. For if it didn't meet the definition in the dictionary, it couldn't possibly be a contract.
I should also point out that the real business capital of China is Shanghai. That is where the American companies set up their operations. Perhaps the Chinese in Shanghai are different and approach these things in entirely different ways. I recall a story I read in Business Week last year about all the MBA graduates that China is producing. Unfortunately, Western companies don't want them. An American CEO was quoted in the article as saying that most of them were “incapable of making a decision.” What it makes me realize is that China will dominate very soon because of the size of their population. This means that they will stay successful in manufacturing and factories. But China's leaders resent being viewed as a place where you can get “cheap labor.” The new economic policies, including a landmark law allowing people to own private property, are also creating a New China. But if they don't adapt and innovate, China may end up as nothing more than a paper tiger. [1]
Watching some high school students on the bus, I realized that kids really are the same everywhere. They were loud, rowdy, and rambunctious. It's just nice to know that for all of our differences, we have many things in common.
How do you tell a really nice restaurant? The back sections of the menu will have a cigarette list. After your beer and dinner you can simply light up. Because tobacco is a state-owned product you're not going to find any warning labels on the packages. In fact, the government regularly extols the virtues and health “benefits” of tobacco on government websites. You can't blame them really. Tobacco keeps the economy pumping and it's another form of population reduction. Unfortunately the non-smokers are all getting it too!
There was somewhat of a crashing of the cultures here. The Chinese are very direct and don’t follow our social norms (I'm sure that's come across loud and clear in previous entries!). Anyway, Scarlet was at her desk and felt “stressed.” She ate three milk chocolate bars in a row to help calm down. As she was finishing the last one, she asked Judy if she wanted any. Thinking it was chocolate from America, she said yes. Then Judy decided to share some information with Scarlet. She did so rather loudly. “Scarlet, you shouldn't eat so much. It not good for you. Phoenix told me this.” A lot of the Chinese girls in the office started giggling. She continued, “And you shouldn't eat sugar. It not good for you.” Scarlet responded that chocolate was in fact healthy as it has antioxidants (that's actually only true of dark chocolate). There was a rather long silence in the air for several minutes after. What was sad about this was Judy wasn't trying to be cruel. She sincerely thought Scarlet should have this information. She herself didn't know better until someone had told her. Nonetheless, it would have to be considered a breach of American protocol.
Nick is ADAMANT that I look like Nicolas Cage. He kept turning around and staring at me like he'd seen a long lost friend. I heard him speak to one of the girls in Mandarin. All I could make out was “Flan” and “Nicolas Cage.” She started studying me too. Scarlet asked them what was going on. Nick said, “Flan looks like Nicolas Cage!” I should say from the outset that I've never been a Nicolas Cage fan, so I was naturally disappointed by this. Seeming to sense this, he quickly added, “Nicolas Cage very handsome.” All day when I would go to his desk he would look at me and then kind of shake his head like, “Wow, it’s so eerie how much they look alike.” All I can think of is the angular face and the blue eyes. I don't see the resemblance, do you? [2]
Scarlet's birthday is on Tuesday, so I decided to plan a small get together on Saturday night. I called WooJung and asked her if we could get together. I'm also on planning a lunch at the office on Tuesday. Anyway, WooJung said she would love to have dinner and was going to bring her friend Kuong Ly. I'd met him last week when we were in Salintun.
Scarlet was craving American food, so I did some research in my Frommer's Guidebook and found a place called “Steak & Eggs.” It was owned by an American and had won some awards from expats living in China as the “best” American food. Sounded good. We went to the neighborhood where the diner was located a couple of hours early to explore. This neighborhood is where all the embassies are located, so it had a very international feel. A number of U.S. establishments were there (Starbucks, TGIFriday's, Sizzler, Haagen Daz) and the Beijing International Club. There were a number of Russian institutions in this area. There was a “Moscow Restaurant” that seemed very popular.
We turned the corner and found one of those Friendship Stores, a symbol of a more difficult past when diplomats used foreign exchange certificates to take comfort in familiar food and shoes sizes not sold elsewhere in the country, while the Chinese suffered rations and were barred entry. Many of the Friendship Stores are being torn down as China's economy opens up more. Indeed, during our visit the grocery store section was practically empty. There was some comfort though in finding more American brands and having easier access to staples like milk and cheese (although the cheese was extremely expensive). In the other areas of the store I actually located some current American magazines (Business Week, Time, Newsweek, and The Economist) and a few books. Again, it’s just nice knowing that this store is here.
We met WooJung and Kuong at the diner at 6. The outside of the place was really shabby looking. We went in and were one of the few customers. The server spoke English and gave everyone their own menu (we usually only get on to a table). They serve breakfast all day and Scarlet ordered a waffle, I had these tempura-like chicken tenders, WooJung had chicken primavera, and Kuong had a hamburger. The food wasn't great; it's just that you don't have access to it really. The guidebook said this place was really famous for its carrot cake. During the dinner we kept hearing the owner, Paul, talking to his staff. He seems like he's from the East Coast and the place is covered in photographs and news clippings of his achievements. We were really disgusted about how he was treating his employees. He was really condescending and had this long and bizarre conversation with one of his waitresses about how she should try on a blond wig and see how she's treated. Yuck. It made me sad that he'd decided to act just like any other Chinese boss. Wouldn't it be great if the employees could feel lucky that they work for an American? No, he's decided not to set a precedent or an example. We were so offended by his behavior that we decided to go elsewhere for dessert. We were voting with our wallets. What a creep.
We took a cab back to WooJung and Kuong's area of Beijing. We went into a new really cute coffee shop. Kuong needed WiFi in order to work on a grant proposal. We stayed for several hours and had a really wonderful conversation. Among some of the tidbits:
· Koreans oppose “quota” systems at universities because they know that they can score very high on any necessary entrance exams and a quota system would actually limit the number of Koreans at some universities.
· Scarlet's family was not served at a restaurant in New Jersey because they were Asian.
· Tokyo is outrageously expensive. Have you ever seen those “tube beds” that some hotels offer where you're basically getting to sleep in a morgue drawer? One of those tubes goes for about $100USD a night!
· There is a pecking order in terms of Asian countries. China is of course at the top, followed by Vietnam. Then the various countries rank in different order according to some system that they all accept. Thailand is at the bottom. Apparently some Thai's do take offense to this because they like to brag that they were never invaded by a Western country or colonized.
· I mentioned that I was looking forward to eventually traveling to Shanghai. They were very dismissive of it. They said it's just like any other Western city and there's nothing to do there. This seemed very disappointing. One of my favorite movies is the Steven Spielberg epic Empire of the Sun, about a young boy's harrowing and remarkable experiences in World War II-era China after the Japanese invasion. I would love to see the international settlement where the British lived before the attack. That would be really special. If you haven't seen Empire of the Sun, you must rent it. Christian Bale was only 13 when he made it and it's the most impressive film debut of any teenager that I've ever seen.
Kuong opened up about his past. He's probably 21 and is a junior at Boston College. He was born in Cambodia and his ethnicity is Cambodian, Vietnamese, French, and Chinese. He has unique looks. He spent a summer working for a non-profit on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and was immediately adopted by the Navajos; they claimed him as one of their own because he almost looks Navajo.
His parents were successful business people in Cambodia and lost everything in the aftermath of Pol Pot. They needed to get out Cambodia and get to the United States. The only problem was that the U.S. wasn't interested in Cambodian refugees. However, the U.S. would accept Vietnamese refugees. The family moved to Vietnam and had to learn the language. When Kuong was seven years old, he and his four siblings were placed in a refugee camp in Vietnam. The parents told the oldest boy to contact them after they were settled in the U.S. and bring them over.
The children were extremely lucky as they got adopted by an extremely wealthy family in Lexington, Massachusetts. The family was extremely loving and kind. The parents back in Cambodia believed that their children had forgotten them. The older brother searched for them and was able to locate them within five years. The adoptive parents were totally supportive of bringing the parents over to America and did so. The family was reunited at last.
Kuong and his parents moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts. He said this was a black and Hispanic neighborhood and extremely violent. Because of his good grades he was bussed into one of the better white schools. Because of his ethnicity he didn't fit into either world. Some kids would come up to him and ask him to speak his language or would make funny sounds trying to imitate an Asian language. He was really an outsider on all sides. He just didn't fit in.
Nonetheless, he managed to turn all this drama into a remarkable academic career. He was just notified last week that he's a recipient of the Truman Scholarship, which provides $30,000 graduate scholarships for students interested in public service careers. After he receives his degree, he will head to England and get a master's degree from Oxford. He spends his summers doing volunteer work. He helped a village in Africa one year and spent another working on a coffee plantation in Brazil. He's thinking of spending this summer working in Rwanda, after a brief visit to Cambodia. He is a remarkable young man and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him. I don't think it's the last any of us will hear of him!
I was told the sandstorms would start in April and like clockwork they did. Scarlet and I were shopping on Sunday when seemingly out of thin air we were hit by a sand blast! We stopped in our tracks to clear our eyes and mouths. The Chinese just turned on their heels and started walking backward. They weren't going to let a little sand stop them!
We'd been meaning to buy some sunglasses in advance of the storm. We saw an optometry store and went in. They had various stands of sunglasses out. I picked out a pair and the optometrist showed me on the calculator that they were on sale. He put them in one of those glass polishers and really cleaned them. Then he put the sunglasses on me and looked to see if they needed any adjustment. He made some slight tweaks and then put them in a very nice case. Not bad for a $13USD pair of sunglasses! As it turned out he actually spoke wonderful English. When we left he even held the door open for us. We had a lot of nice experiences on this street.
Armed with our sunglasses, we only needed to pick up some face masks and we did. Our daily uniform throughout April will be the mask, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses. It should make for some interesting conversation!
I've been complaining a lot about the cold weather and someone told me to enjoy it while I can. Apparently the summer temperatures reach about 120 degrees. I've heard different things about whether or not Beijing is actually humid. I was told that it gets so hot it would be better just to walk work because the bus is like a cooker. Sounds enchanting, doesn't it?
Speaking of the bus, I can't believe how the Chinese try to cram onto them. It's really something to watch. No matter how full it is, they think they can get on – and they usually succeed. Some people will stand on the front and back stairs and wait for the doors to close, effectively sealing them in. They literally have no room. The bus I took on Sunday was absolutely packed. I was supporting someone's weight on my back and I had to hold on so tight to the bar. If I had lost my grip I would have taken a lot of people with me! They seemingly don't mind about the maximum capacity.
I've tried some Taiwanese food. There's a very popular place called Din Tai Fung. It's headquartered in Taipei and has expanded to several locations, including one outside of Los Angeles. Chinese food is bright and festive. The Taiwanese food was colorless but had lots of flavor. There were these dumplings that have hot soup inside. I ordered a fried pork and noodle soup dish. It was extremely good. There's another Taiwanese chain here called Rabbit, but it strikes me as the McDonald's of Taiwan. I don't think it's very legitimate and they make most of their money selling fancy looking drinks.
Tuesday was Scarlet's 22nd birthday. It was also the day she decided to quit. She packed all night Monday, and presented me with a letter and her keys for our boss. It's probably not the best way to leave a job, but it's not like this is something she'll be able to list on her resume anyway. I helped her get her huge suitcases in the tiny taxi on the street. She was crying as she hugged me. I think she felt as though she couldn't hack it. It's not that she failed; it's that she didn't fully succeed. To only be 21 and decide to move to a place like China without knowing a word of the language is an extremely brave thing to do. I admire her for taking the risk.
She's going to stay with WooJung a few days while she searches for a room to rent. She’s thinking about tutoring English. The only problem is that she doesn't “look” American. Most schools and individuals won't hire her because of this and if they do, it will be at sharply reduced rates. I suspect she'll stay in Beijing a few more weeks and then head back to New Jersey. It was really sad because I had planned a lunch celebration for her with the people who work in our office. Nick came in early and was surprised I was there. He asked me if Scarlet was coming in and I told him the situation. He was very concerned about where she'd gone. He had also gone out the night before and bought her a present that he'd wrapped. It was so touching. I know when I deliver it to her tonight she's going to be extremely pleased. (It ended up being a pair of red slippers).
I went to lunch with Nick again. It really does help going out to eat with a local. A lot of the restaurants give you those sealed packets that have chopsticks and a moist towel in them. He told me that they charge you extra if you actually open it and use them. This was a BBQ place so everything is served on skewers and you don't need the packet. Who knows how much money I've wasted opening those things!
Nick is from Harbin, an extremely cold community on the border with Russia. I've actually met tons of people in Beijing from Harbin. They are all migrating to the cities for better jobs. He's going to school on the weekends to study accounting. I can tell he really loves teaching me about China. I don't pretend to understand all of it. For example, the host should never completely fill up a person's tea cup because leaving a little room represents the “heart.” He also told me where the host would sit in a restaurant and they would face the door. I said, “Oh, is this like feng shui?” He just blinked at me.
He wanted to let me know that there were KFC's in Beijing in case I missed them. I told him I had already located them. He said he's only been once. I told him that KFC really isn't that popular in the States, but McDonald's is. He said in China these places (which I told him we call “fast food”) are really only popular with kids. He said, “Americans really like fast food, yes?” I had to admit that it's very popular with the masses. Nick's cell phone ring is a really bad rendition of “We Will Rock You.” Nick lives with three girls and has his own room. He said he pays under 1000RMB a month for the room.
Sometimes when Nick doesn't understand me he thinks I'm asking him for help to purchase something. I told him that I'd been listening to my iPod on the bus in order to gain a better understanding of Mandarin. He knew what iPod was but wasn't following the rest of it. “What do you want?” he asked very concerned. Nothing, Nick, nothing.
When we were walking back to the office he wanted to ask me if I had ever been to a certain part of America: Laughing Gas.
“What? Laughing Gas?”
“No, Laughing Gas.”
Then it hit me: Las Vegas. I confirmed that I had and used to have relatives that lived there. He knew that Las Vegas was the top tourist destination in America. I told him that he needs to visit America eventually. He said its very “difficult” for people to go there. I asked him later if he had ever been to Hong Kong and he said “no” because it requires a passport. I asked him if that was hard to obtain. “A little.” I don't know what this means. It could be that he's trying to indicate that it's expensive to get a passport or go to these places. I'm not sure.
Nick seems to be very concerned about my eating habits. Since Scarlet left he's become my lunch buddy. The past couple of days all I've wanted is the “quick food.” I don't buy it from the lady in the van anymore because you can't see what you're getting. A couple of guys have set up a competing stand across the way from her and I like how you can actually look at the food. I felt bad because they were going to give me a pear and I told Nick I'd prefer a banana. It sounded to me like he was screaming at them to fix it. The inflections they use in their tones are so confusing. I overheard a conversation in the conference room and I asked one of my co-workers if someone was in trouble because it sure sounded like it. “No, he just getting new project.” Wow, and to English ears it sounded like, “I will cut your heart out!” Nick always orders two rice packs at lunch. I noticed that he didn't today and I thought perhaps my custom banana order had thrown him off. “Oh Nick, you didn't get two rice's. Let me give you mine.” He seemed kind of upset about this. When I came back in, he turned around and told me, “Glen, you not eat enough. You need to eat more. It healthy. Rice is good for you.” Uh huh.
I asked Judy the day before if she knew that women in America were jealous of Chinese women because they can seemingly eat all they want and remain thin. “Is the meat. Meat makes you fat. That's why Americans are fat.” Oh really? I told her that in America people try to avoid white rice because it's so bad for you. Remember Lilly, the woman I met on the plane? We talked about weight and diet and she said it's the different portion sizes. She said Chinese eat a lot of different foods but not too much of each. We all know about our American portion sizes (Venti, Big Gulp, Texas Fold Em’, etc.). There was a book out last year called “French Women Don't Get Fat.” I didn't read it but I seem to remember that the author also made the portion argument.
Judy desperately wants to work in New York. She asked me again about it. “Glen, could I get a job in New York?” I told her that with her ability to speak both English and Mandarin she'd have a better chance than most. I also told her not to get hung up on New York and that America had many other nice cities. I said the best thing she could do is try to get a job with an American corporation that has an office in Beijing. “Just get your foot in the door and try to prove yourself.” She wanted an explanation on what this meant. I recommended that she try McDonald's or Pizza Hut.
I've actually been confused about how everyone got their job. I asked Judy how she got hired and she said she “sent an e-mail.” Hmm...Ok. I asked Nick the same question and he said he “found it in the nighttime.” Wow. The job opportunities are really few and far between here. There was a story on CCTV about a job fair in Shanghai for recent college graduates. About 10,000 showed up and there were only 150 positions. The jobs paid 5,000RMB a month which is decent but in a desperate attempt to land a job the applicants were telling the employers they would take as little as 1,500RMB a month in order to undercut their competition.
I was chatting with a Chinese-American man who's lived in Tokyo, Seoul, and now Beijing for the past decade. He gave me a really helpful tip: use the hotel concierges as your personal translator. He's programmed into his cell phone all the major hotel chains in Beijing. When he runs into a problem, he whips out his phone, asks for the concierge, tells them the problem, and then hands his cell phone to the Chinese person. He said it's just vital that you rotate through the different hotels so they don't start recognizing your voice. What a great idea!
China Daily, the only state-run newspaper printed in English keeps running articles and editorials asking if the United States and Canada will ever open their borders to Chinese tourists. I didn't realize it was a problem? I don't know if this is in reference to some type of post-9/11 regulation or something. The articles make the U.S. and Canada seem quite hostile to Chinese visitors.
I've written before about how the Chinese love their lunchtime naps. If you make too much noise while they are sleeping they will “shh” you. Judy loves her naps so much that she's trained herself after lunch to sleep sitting straight up at her desk. Scarlet had told me about this but I didn't believe it. Well I saw it with my own eyes. She faces her computer, puts her hands on her mouse, and literally sleeps. You wouldn't be able to tell she's asleep. Those tricky Chinese!
[1] The phrase paper tiger is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase zhi laohu (紙老虎), meaning that the nature of a person or organization appears powerful but in reality is powerless and ineffectual; "He reminded Mao that the paper tiger had nuclear teeth.”
[2] A very popular website, My Heritage, allows you to upload one of your photos and their face recognition software matches the dimensions of your face to a database of celebrity photos. According to them, I resemble Josh Groban, Roger Daltrey, Michael Phelps, Patrick Stewart, Jason Lee, Matthew Fox, and Richard Gere. You can try it yourself at: http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/tryFaceRecognition.php
On the walk over he was asking various questions about America. He wanted to know if cars were expensive there. He started explaining the concept of the Chinese calendar to me and how he was a “pig” and 2007 is the year of the pig (I was able to deduce from this that he was 24). I told him I was the year of the rabbit. He seemed stunned that I actually knew what animal I was. “People in America know about this?” I told him that most Chinese restaurants in the U.S. put the explanation of the calendar on the menus or placemats and that most Americans know what “animal” they are. He seemed really tickled by this.
The place he took me was somewhere I never would have found on my own. The directions would be like, “You go down this alley and turn northeast...” It was like a grocery store and had a counter where you could order food. I really think I was the first American to have ever set foot in here. People were looking at me like, “What's HE doing here? Shouldn't he be at the Great Wall?” The entire menu was written in Mandarin, so I turned around to look at what other people were eating. I pointed to a dish that looked good and told him I wanted it. He ordered for us. When we sat down he told me if I didn't like the food I was to tell him. He's always very firm about this. Luckily, I really enjoyed my meal! He told me that my chopstick handling ability had really improved. I still don't hold it like they do, but I get most of the food to my mouth!
We had a nice conversation. He told me he wants to take me to a place called “The Moonlight Bar.” I told him that was very nice of him and wondered which area of town it was in. “Salintun.” This is the area crawling with the South African drug lords that I don't like. “Oh, you know what Nick I've already been to that area. We should go somewhere else.” “Other foreigners there. We go.” Sigh. I'll let you know how that visit goes!
I went on the Metro with Scarlet to meet WooJung and her friend Liz at a restaurant. The Metro areas usually have people selling something. There was one man selling some Adidas products. There was, however, one vendor I didn't expect. She was a frail elderly woman standing at the top of the steps. She was holding a plastic shopping sack with something desperate to escape. It was a kitten! The kitten was obviously perturbed and kept meowing. When I walked by her I was just kind of speechless and stared. She smiled at me and held up the bag like, “You want?” I hope someone well-intentioned rescued that kitty!
One of the restaurants that I go to on a regular basis serves these delicious little pumpkin sophapilla-type things. They are a dessert and you have to order them. A regular order is six of them. They come out really hot and tasty. You sure don't need honey for these. It's kind of nice that they appreciate the pumpkin year round. When Scarlet and I went for lunch on Friday, we split a basket of them. She liked them so much she ordered a dozen to-go. She wanted to have some for the weekend. You know how many made it home? None. She nibbled on them throughout the day until they disappeared. They really are that good!
I've only been here a month. That means that I am far from being an expert on China. I can only rely on my knowledge and intuition to make judgments. However, I'm starting to form some opinions about the work ethic and future of China. The Chinese work harder than Americans, there's no debate about that. They are extremely focused and they aren't going to spend six of their eight hour day surfing the Internet and chatting with co-workers. They show up to work long before they have to and leave long after they were supposed to. I guess the only “weakness” Americans would find in their work habits is the tendency to nap at lunchtime. Of course, recent medical research has touted the benefits of napping, so in the long run they will be better off than us.
Already the world's fourth-largest economy, China will become surpass the United States in less than two decades. What I have to ask myself is, “Are they ready?” While dedicated and “good” people, I am deeply troubled by some of their thinking. The “normal” way of doing business here is extremely inefficient and the reasoning behind decisions wouldn't fly in the West. They will not question the boss or authority in general. There is little or no creativity or innovation. I got into a heated exchange with one of my co-workers over the meaning of the word “contract.” She literally kept giving me the legal definition of the word, and wasn't able to process what it was that I was trying to tell her. For if it didn't meet the definition in the dictionary, it couldn't possibly be a contract.
I should also point out that the real business capital of China is Shanghai. That is where the American companies set up their operations. Perhaps the Chinese in Shanghai are different and approach these things in entirely different ways. I recall a story I read in Business Week last year about all the MBA graduates that China is producing. Unfortunately, Western companies don't want them. An American CEO was quoted in the article as saying that most of them were “incapable of making a decision.” What it makes me realize is that China will dominate very soon because of the size of their population. This means that they will stay successful in manufacturing and factories. But China's leaders resent being viewed as a place where you can get “cheap labor.” The new economic policies, including a landmark law allowing people to own private property, are also creating a New China. But if they don't adapt and innovate, China may end up as nothing more than a paper tiger. [1]
Watching some high school students on the bus, I realized that kids really are the same everywhere. They were loud, rowdy, and rambunctious. It's just nice to know that for all of our differences, we have many things in common.
How do you tell a really nice restaurant? The back sections of the menu will have a cigarette list. After your beer and dinner you can simply light up. Because tobacco is a state-owned product you're not going to find any warning labels on the packages. In fact, the government regularly extols the virtues and health “benefits” of tobacco on government websites. You can't blame them really. Tobacco keeps the economy pumping and it's another form of population reduction. Unfortunately the non-smokers are all getting it too!
There was somewhat of a crashing of the cultures here. The Chinese are very direct and don’t follow our social norms (I'm sure that's come across loud and clear in previous entries!). Anyway, Scarlet was at her desk and felt “stressed.” She ate three milk chocolate bars in a row to help calm down. As she was finishing the last one, she asked Judy if she wanted any. Thinking it was chocolate from America, she said yes. Then Judy decided to share some information with Scarlet. She did so rather loudly. “Scarlet, you shouldn't eat so much. It not good for you. Phoenix told me this.” A lot of the Chinese girls in the office started giggling. She continued, “And you shouldn't eat sugar. It not good for you.” Scarlet responded that chocolate was in fact healthy as it has antioxidants (that's actually only true of dark chocolate). There was a rather long silence in the air for several minutes after. What was sad about this was Judy wasn't trying to be cruel. She sincerely thought Scarlet should have this information. She herself didn't know better until someone had told her. Nonetheless, it would have to be considered a breach of American protocol.
Nick is ADAMANT that I look like Nicolas Cage. He kept turning around and staring at me like he'd seen a long lost friend. I heard him speak to one of the girls in Mandarin. All I could make out was “Flan” and “Nicolas Cage.” She started studying me too. Scarlet asked them what was going on. Nick said, “Flan looks like Nicolas Cage!” I should say from the outset that I've never been a Nicolas Cage fan, so I was naturally disappointed by this. Seeming to sense this, he quickly added, “Nicolas Cage very handsome.” All day when I would go to his desk he would look at me and then kind of shake his head like, “Wow, it’s so eerie how much they look alike.” All I can think of is the angular face and the blue eyes. I don't see the resemblance, do you? [2]
Scarlet's birthday is on Tuesday, so I decided to plan a small get together on Saturday night. I called WooJung and asked her if we could get together. I'm also on planning a lunch at the office on Tuesday. Anyway, WooJung said she would love to have dinner and was going to bring her friend Kuong Ly. I'd met him last week when we were in Salintun.
Scarlet was craving American food, so I did some research in my Frommer's Guidebook and found a place called “Steak & Eggs.” It was owned by an American and had won some awards from expats living in China as the “best” American food. Sounded good. We went to the neighborhood where the diner was located a couple of hours early to explore. This neighborhood is where all the embassies are located, so it had a very international feel. A number of U.S. establishments were there (Starbucks, TGIFriday's, Sizzler, Haagen Daz) and the Beijing International Club. There were a number of Russian institutions in this area. There was a “Moscow Restaurant” that seemed very popular.
We turned the corner and found one of those Friendship Stores, a symbol of a more difficult past when diplomats used foreign exchange certificates to take comfort in familiar food and shoes sizes not sold elsewhere in the country, while the Chinese suffered rations and were barred entry. Many of the Friendship Stores are being torn down as China's economy opens up more. Indeed, during our visit the grocery store section was practically empty. There was some comfort though in finding more American brands and having easier access to staples like milk and cheese (although the cheese was extremely expensive). In the other areas of the store I actually located some current American magazines (Business Week, Time, Newsweek, and The Economist) and a few books. Again, it’s just nice knowing that this store is here.
We met WooJung and Kuong at the diner at 6. The outside of the place was really shabby looking. We went in and were one of the few customers. The server spoke English and gave everyone their own menu (we usually only get on to a table). They serve breakfast all day and Scarlet ordered a waffle, I had these tempura-like chicken tenders, WooJung had chicken primavera, and Kuong had a hamburger. The food wasn't great; it's just that you don't have access to it really. The guidebook said this place was really famous for its carrot cake. During the dinner we kept hearing the owner, Paul, talking to his staff. He seems like he's from the East Coast and the place is covered in photographs and news clippings of his achievements. We were really disgusted about how he was treating his employees. He was really condescending and had this long and bizarre conversation with one of his waitresses about how she should try on a blond wig and see how she's treated. Yuck. It made me sad that he'd decided to act just like any other Chinese boss. Wouldn't it be great if the employees could feel lucky that they work for an American? No, he's decided not to set a precedent or an example. We were so offended by his behavior that we decided to go elsewhere for dessert. We were voting with our wallets. What a creep.
We took a cab back to WooJung and Kuong's area of Beijing. We went into a new really cute coffee shop. Kuong needed WiFi in order to work on a grant proposal. We stayed for several hours and had a really wonderful conversation. Among some of the tidbits:
· Koreans oppose “quota” systems at universities because they know that they can score very high on any necessary entrance exams and a quota system would actually limit the number of Koreans at some universities.
· Scarlet's family was not served at a restaurant in New Jersey because they were Asian.
· Tokyo is outrageously expensive. Have you ever seen those “tube beds” that some hotels offer where you're basically getting to sleep in a morgue drawer? One of those tubes goes for about $100USD a night!
· There is a pecking order in terms of Asian countries. China is of course at the top, followed by Vietnam. Then the various countries rank in different order according to some system that they all accept. Thailand is at the bottom. Apparently some Thai's do take offense to this because they like to brag that they were never invaded by a Western country or colonized.
· I mentioned that I was looking forward to eventually traveling to Shanghai. They were very dismissive of it. They said it's just like any other Western city and there's nothing to do there. This seemed very disappointing. One of my favorite movies is the Steven Spielberg epic Empire of the Sun, about a young boy's harrowing and remarkable experiences in World War II-era China after the Japanese invasion. I would love to see the international settlement where the British lived before the attack. That would be really special. If you haven't seen Empire of the Sun, you must rent it. Christian Bale was only 13 when he made it and it's the most impressive film debut of any teenager that I've ever seen.
Kuong opened up about his past. He's probably 21 and is a junior at Boston College. He was born in Cambodia and his ethnicity is Cambodian, Vietnamese, French, and Chinese. He has unique looks. He spent a summer working for a non-profit on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and was immediately adopted by the Navajos; they claimed him as one of their own because he almost looks Navajo.
His parents were successful business people in Cambodia and lost everything in the aftermath of Pol Pot. They needed to get out Cambodia and get to the United States. The only problem was that the U.S. wasn't interested in Cambodian refugees. However, the U.S. would accept Vietnamese refugees. The family moved to Vietnam and had to learn the language. When Kuong was seven years old, he and his four siblings were placed in a refugee camp in Vietnam. The parents told the oldest boy to contact them after they were settled in the U.S. and bring them over.
The children were extremely lucky as they got adopted by an extremely wealthy family in Lexington, Massachusetts. The family was extremely loving and kind. The parents back in Cambodia believed that their children had forgotten them. The older brother searched for them and was able to locate them within five years. The adoptive parents were totally supportive of bringing the parents over to America and did so. The family was reunited at last.
Kuong and his parents moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts. He said this was a black and Hispanic neighborhood and extremely violent. Because of his good grades he was bussed into one of the better white schools. Because of his ethnicity he didn't fit into either world. Some kids would come up to him and ask him to speak his language or would make funny sounds trying to imitate an Asian language. He was really an outsider on all sides. He just didn't fit in.
Nonetheless, he managed to turn all this drama into a remarkable academic career. He was just notified last week that he's a recipient of the Truman Scholarship, which provides $30,000 graduate scholarships for students interested in public service careers. After he receives his degree, he will head to England and get a master's degree from Oxford. He spends his summers doing volunteer work. He helped a village in Africa one year and spent another working on a coffee plantation in Brazil. He's thinking of spending this summer working in Rwanda, after a brief visit to Cambodia. He is a remarkable young man and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him. I don't think it's the last any of us will hear of him!
I was told the sandstorms would start in April and like clockwork they did. Scarlet and I were shopping on Sunday when seemingly out of thin air we were hit by a sand blast! We stopped in our tracks to clear our eyes and mouths. The Chinese just turned on their heels and started walking backward. They weren't going to let a little sand stop them!
We'd been meaning to buy some sunglasses in advance of the storm. We saw an optometry store and went in. They had various stands of sunglasses out. I picked out a pair and the optometrist showed me on the calculator that they were on sale. He put them in one of those glass polishers and really cleaned them. Then he put the sunglasses on me and looked to see if they needed any adjustment. He made some slight tweaks and then put them in a very nice case. Not bad for a $13USD pair of sunglasses! As it turned out he actually spoke wonderful English. When we left he even held the door open for us. We had a lot of nice experiences on this street.
Armed with our sunglasses, we only needed to pick up some face masks and we did. Our daily uniform throughout April will be the mask, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses. It should make for some interesting conversation!
I've been complaining a lot about the cold weather and someone told me to enjoy it while I can. Apparently the summer temperatures reach about 120 degrees. I've heard different things about whether or not Beijing is actually humid. I was told that it gets so hot it would be better just to walk work because the bus is like a cooker. Sounds enchanting, doesn't it?
Speaking of the bus, I can't believe how the Chinese try to cram onto them. It's really something to watch. No matter how full it is, they think they can get on – and they usually succeed. Some people will stand on the front and back stairs and wait for the doors to close, effectively sealing them in. They literally have no room. The bus I took on Sunday was absolutely packed. I was supporting someone's weight on my back and I had to hold on so tight to the bar. If I had lost my grip I would have taken a lot of people with me! They seemingly don't mind about the maximum capacity.
I've tried some Taiwanese food. There's a very popular place called Din Tai Fung. It's headquartered in Taipei and has expanded to several locations, including one outside of Los Angeles. Chinese food is bright and festive. The Taiwanese food was colorless but had lots of flavor. There were these dumplings that have hot soup inside. I ordered a fried pork and noodle soup dish. It was extremely good. There's another Taiwanese chain here called Rabbit, but it strikes me as the McDonald's of Taiwan. I don't think it's very legitimate and they make most of their money selling fancy looking drinks.
Tuesday was Scarlet's 22nd birthday. It was also the day she decided to quit. She packed all night Monday, and presented me with a letter and her keys for our boss. It's probably not the best way to leave a job, but it's not like this is something she'll be able to list on her resume anyway. I helped her get her huge suitcases in the tiny taxi on the street. She was crying as she hugged me. I think she felt as though she couldn't hack it. It's not that she failed; it's that she didn't fully succeed. To only be 21 and decide to move to a place like China without knowing a word of the language is an extremely brave thing to do. I admire her for taking the risk.
She's going to stay with WooJung a few days while she searches for a room to rent. She’s thinking about tutoring English. The only problem is that she doesn't “look” American. Most schools and individuals won't hire her because of this and if they do, it will be at sharply reduced rates. I suspect she'll stay in Beijing a few more weeks and then head back to New Jersey. It was really sad because I had planned a lunch celebration for her with the people who work in our office. Nick came in early and was surprised I was there. He asked me if Scarlet was coming in and I told him the situation. He was very concerned about where she'd gone. He had also gone out the night before and bought her a present that he'd wrapped. It was so touching. I know when I deliver it to her tonight she's going to be extremely pleased. (It ended up being a pair of red slippers).
I went to lunch with Nick again. It really does help going out to eat with a local. A lot of the restaurants give you those sealed packets that have chopsticks and a moist towel in them. He told me that they charge you extra if you actually open it and use them. This was a BBQ place so everything is served on skewers and you don't need the packet. Who knows how much money I've wasted opening those things!
Nick is from Harbin, an extremely cold community on the border with Russia. I've actually met tons of people in Beijing from Harbin. They are all migrating to the cities for better jobs. He's going to school on the weekends to study accounting. I can tell he really loves teaching me about China. I don't pretend to understand all of it. For example, the host should never completely fill up a person's tea cup because leaving a little room represents the “heart.” He also told me where the host would sit in a restaurant and they would face the door. I said, “Oh, is this like feng shui?” He just blinked at me.
He wanted to let me know that there were KFC's in Beijing in case I missed them. I told him I had already located them. He said he's only been once. I told him that KFC really isn't that popular in the States, but McDonald's is. He said in China these places (which I told him we call “fast food”) are really only popular with kids. He said, “Americans really like fast food, yes?” I had to admit that it's very popular with the masses. Nick's cell phone ring is a really bad rendition of “We Will Rock You.” Nick lives with three girls and has his own room. He said he pays under 1000RMB a month for the room.
Sometimes when Nick doesn't understand me he thinks I'm asking him for help to purchase something. I told him that I'd been listening to my iPod on the bus in order to gain a better understanding of Mandarin. He knew what iPod was but wasn't following the rest of it. “What do you want?” he asked very concerned. Nothing, Nick, nothing.
When we were walking back to the office he wanted to ask me if I had ever been to a certain part of America: Laughing Gas.
“What? Laughing Gas?”
“No, Laughing Gas.”
Then it hit me: Las Vegas. I confirmed that I had and used to have relatives that lived there. He knew that Las Vegas was the top tourist destination in America. I told him that he needs to visit America eventually. He said its very “difficult” for people to go there. I asked him later if he had ever been to Hong Kong and he said “no” because it requires a passport. I asked him if that was hard to obtain. “A little.” I don't know what this means. It could be that he's trying to indicate that it's expensive to get a passport or go to these places. I'm not sure.
Nick seems to be very concerned about my eating habits. Since Scarlet left he's become my lunch buddy. The past couple of days all I've wanted is the “quick food.” I don't buy it from the lady in the van anymore because you can't see what you're getting. A couple of guys have set up a competing stand across the way from her and I like how you can actually look at the food. I felt bad because they were going to give me a pear and I told Nick I'd prefer a banana. It sounded to me like he was screaming at them to fix it. The inflections they use in their tones are so confusing. I overheard a conversation in the conference room and I asked one of my co-workers if someone was in trouble because it sure sounded like it. “No, he just getting new project.” Wow, and to English ears it sounded like, “I will cut your heart out!” Nick always orders two rice packs at lunch. I noticed that he didn't today and I thought perhaps my custom banana order had thrown him off. “Oh Nick, you didn't get two rice's. Let me give you mine.” He seemed kind of upset about this. When I came back in, he turned around and told me, “Glen, you not eat enough. You need to eat more. It healthy. Rice is good for you.” Uh huh.
I asked Judy the day before if she knew that women in America were jealous of Chinese women because they can seemingly eat all they want and remain thin. “Is the meat. Meat makes you fat. That's why Americans are fat.” Oh really? I told her that in America people try to avoid white rice because it's so bad for you. Remember Lilly, the woman I met on the plane? We talked about weight and diet and she said it's the different portion sizes. She said Chinese eat a lot of different foods but not too much of each. We all know about our American portion sizes (Venti, Big Gulp, Texas Fold Em’, etc.). There was a book out last year called “French Women Don't Get Fat.” I didn't read it but I seem to remember that the author also made the portion argument.
Judy desperately wants to work in New York. She asked me again about it. “Glen, could I get a job in New York?” I told her that with her ability to speak both English and Mandarin she'd have a better chance than most. I also told her not to get hung up on New York and that America had many other nice cities. I said the best thing she could do is try to get a job with an American corporation that has an office in Beijing. “Just get your foot in the door and try to prove yourself.” She wanted an explanation on what this meant. I recommended that she try McDonald's or Pizza Hut.
I've actually been confused about how everyone got their job. I asked Judy how she got hired and she said she “sent an e-mail.” Hmm...Ok. I asked Nick the same question and he said he “found it in the nighttime.” Wow. The job opportunities are really few and far between here. There was a story on CCTV about a job fair in Shanghai for recent college graduates. About 10,000 showed up and there were only 150 positions. The jobs paid 5,000RMB a month which is decent but in a desperate attempt to land a job the applicants were telling the employers they would take as little as 1,500RMB a month in order to undercut their competition.
I was chatting with a Chinese-American man who's lived in Tokyo, Seoul, and now Beijing for the past decade. He gave me a really helpful tip: use the hotel concierges as your personal translator. He's programmed into his cell phone all the major hotel chains in Beijing. When he runs into a problem, he whips out his phone, asks for the concierge, tells them the problem, and then hands his cell phone to the Chinese person. He said it's just vital that you rotate through the different hotels so they don't start recognizing your voice. What a great idea!
China Daily, the only state-run newspaper printed in English keeps running articles and editorials asking if the United States and Canada will ever open their borders to Chinese tourists. I didn't realize it was a problem? I don't know if this is in reference to some type of post-9/11 regulation or something. The articles make the U.S. and Canada seem quite hostile to Chinese visitors.
I've written before about how the Chinese love their lunchtime naps. If you make too much noise while they are sleeping they will “shh” you. Judy loves her naps so much that she's trained herself after lunch to sleep sitting straight up at her desk. Scarlet had told me about this but I didn't believe it. Well I saw it with my own eyes. She faces her computer, puts her hands on her mouse, and literally sleeps. You wouldn't be able to tell she's asleep. Those tricky Chinese!
[1] The phrase paper tiger is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase zhi laohu (紙老虎), meaning that the nature of a person or organization appears powerful but in reality is powerless and ineffectual; "He reminded Mao that the paper tiger had nuclear teeth.”
[2] A very popular website, My Heritage, allows you to upload one of your photos and their face recognition software matches the dimensions of your face to a database of celebrity photos. According to them, I resemble Josh Groban, Roger Daltrey, Michael Phelps, Patrick Stewart, Jason Lee, Matthew Fox, and Richard Gere. You can try it yourself at: http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/tryFaceRecognition.php
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)