Looking Back on the Week

Gutentag! (Ni hao gets so redundant around here)

I'm mentally revisiting the past fews days as I type, so there will probably be some disconnected thoughts here. I also don't remember if there has been any truly noteworthy happenings, but I can embellish with the best.

MONDAY:

This night was probably like most nights. It consisted of me getting home from work 45 or so minutes before Cheng. I change out of my, now sweaty, work clothes, sitting on the couch and cracking open a bowlful of pistachios as I watch an episode of something saved to my hard drive.

Right now I'm working on the no-longer-existent tv show entitled The Unit. Army special forces unit. Decent acting and subpar writing, but it doesn't involve me thinking through any run-on sentences or sorting through some non-sensical indrusty babble.

Cheng gets home and we play the "Where do you want to eat tonight, Honey?" game. That goes back and forth a little bit until we decide to just wander. We find a Japanese restaurant. An odd sight to see considering annually there are anti-Japanese demonstrations where the locals run through the streets destroying Hondas and Toyotas. Cheng wants to go there, of course. I'm waiting for someone to pitch a brick through the window at the American. 2 birds with one stone.

We each order some fried rice. Mine, "Japanese Fried Rice" his, "Eel Fried Rice." I guess that makes mine mystery meat. Its enjoyable, though the complimentary tea tastes like barley. I'm not a huge fan, but they don't give refills on the good drinks so I'm dealing with what I've got. Cheng has reached the hypothesis that Chinese people don't typically drink anything with their meals because they end up slurp down soup as if its a beverage anyways. I like my drinks cold. The food was good though and there were no bricks involved. All in all a success.

We walk across the street to find some rice puff snack we had when we met Fella the other day. We found what we believed to be it... so we bought 4 bags. We get home only to discover this is not it at all. We picked up a corn puff (like Kix cereal) that is seasoned with a sweet garlic powder. No thanks. Anybody care for 3 bags of this stuff? The rest of the night entailed watching 1 1/2 world cup games then hittin the hay.

TUESDAY:

Ugg. Oh, I decided finally that I was tired of sweating in slacks so I decided to wear jeans and mix things up a little. Well, I got to work and had been sitting at my desk editing for a few hours, when the Big Boss walks past. I give him a wave and he starts spittin off Chinese 100 miles a minute. Eventually the girl in front of me pops up, eyes me up and down and gets to talking with the boss. When this happens I typically smile and nod. They continue to talk about me, I continue to not understand. Eventually the boss walks over and Florence says to me that I'm going to be sitting in an investors meeting, but the boss was concerned about my "t-shirt". It was a short sleeve, casual, button-up.

Regardless, I sit in on the meeting. A 6'3" white guy from New York (I know he gets funny looks) and a man from Hong Kong. Can I call them Chinese? Or is he a Hong Kongian? Sorry.

The white guy "takes" the business card instead of "receiving" it. Taking is what us Americans do when someone hands us something- a one handed pull. Receiving is what the Chinese do. Humbly having the article bestowed upon both of their hands. They sit across the table from one another. I'm 2 seats removed from the action and holding my breath as to avoid being a disturbance.

The agent representing the hedge market firm in NYC plays 20 Questions with the Big Boss. The questions he asks contain sardonic undertones and incorporate a sly, slight grin. Its interesting to see. Probably 30 to 45 minutes into this the BIg Boss begans thumbing through text messages. I find that to be strange. At some point the agent has to repeat a question because the boss wasn't paying attention. I found that to be odd when you have a man sitting across the table wanting to throw money at you. Finally, the Big Boss says he's got to wrap it up to get to another meeting.

Florence and I take the investment agents downstairs to lunch. This building has more dining rooms than the Gulf has gallons of oil. I see a new one everyday. Anywho, I can tell that it's going to be an awkward lunch if I don't start rambling. Eventually "Daniel", the giant amongst little people, begins to warm up to the same idea. We begin to chat. He's from Jersey. We talk colleges, sports, education, business. By the time its over I feel like I've done a little good.

Coincidentally, I took part in this meeting after reading an article online discussing the Chinese business paying White people to dress up and sit in on meetings or go to workshops in order to display a "international" feel. Oh the irony. Except I wasn't dressed up and I dont know if I'm getting paid... Sounds like I'm getting a raw deal.

Afternoon was pretty dull. I stuff into a bus, get home, change clothes and decide I need to get some exercise. I start doing stair runs. It wasn't long before I think I began to cough up smog. I run up to the 14th floor and begin to do pushups on each step (a declined position, each step a varying degree of declination). I make it down to the 11th floor. The staircase is filthy, as I expected it to be. I ran back down, caught a strange glance from a woman standing at the door downstairs, run back up to the 7th floor (my floor) and call it quits.

Cheng gets home. More dinner indecisions which leads to aimless wondering. We meander over to a restaurant that happens to serve donkey meat stir fry and "dog meet" as well. Chicken please! Pit stop at the supermarket on the way home. Cheng wants some beer, I want those rice puff snack things. I find a bag which I think might be it. I decided it might be best to only purchase one. We step outside, I crack it open. Wrong again! These were much better than the first failed attempt. It was Smacks cereal (the box with the Frog on it; carmalized looking rice puffs. Nothing in them but air). World Cup and sleep ensues.

WEDNESDAY

The morning starts off typically. Cheerios and skype with Mom or Aunt Connie. As I'm standing at the bus stop I hear a shriek from the taxi lane behind me. Casually I wheel around to see that someone has finally (I say that like I was looking forward to it) been hit by a car. Well, partially run over.

Girl A hops out of her...Ford (only Ford I've seen in this country is of course involved in the only traffic incident I've seen) runs over to the other side of the car and is coddling Girl B. Girl A helps Girl B up, Girl B continues to look under the tire and she's hobbling around. Girl A sets Girl B into the passenger side of the car, runs around to the driver side, rolls forward, hops back out, runs around to the passanger side and picks up a flip flop from where the tire was.

How the flip-flop was still there and the foot wasn't, I can't say. Girl B's foot is probably either broken or the gal deserves an Oscar. I heard that if you get hit by a car here you stay down in front of it and they will throw money at you to make the problem go away. Girl B didn't get that memo. They drive away I get on my bus and I realize that I guess these drivers are only human. No matter how wild and crazy they all get, things happen. I had been waiting on that for a week now- I'm somewhat happy I finally saw it.

One of the guy's I converse with felt obligated to share with me 2 episodes of his 2nd favorite show, "The IT Crowd" (he works in the IT department). I didn't really how to tell the guy "Sorry bud, that really doesn't appeal to me" in Chinese. He gave me two episodes and said "I give you two. If you like, you tell me and I give you rest." You got it, dude. His first favorite show is Battlestar Galactica. This is the same guy that loves NASCAR. Chu Ke, you are a very eclectic individual.

Work wrapped up. Bus. Home. Pistachios. The Unit. "Honey, what's for dinner" game. And the result is the same Japanese restaurant. Cheng is one of those that finds something he likes (music, food, etc.) and eats it or listens to it until he hates it. I get the Eel Fried Rice this time. It was very good. Tasted like snapper. More Barley tea.

We end up getting shoo'ed out of the place. We wonder over to Cafe No. 9 (where we met the 8-fingered Candaian, Fella). We try to convince them to show the USA World Cup game. The fu yuan (server) gives a few excuses. Cheng and I get into a conversation that takes up the entire first half (45 minutes). We ask again if they can change the channel. Neither one of us understood what he said (no surprise that I didn't get it). We have 3 plates of the rice puff things we've been craving. "Ka fei dou" (Coffee ___?___).

We decide to get back to the apartment to catch the tail end of the USA game. We ask for the receipt of our 3 bottles of domestic (here, Yanjing) beer and my cup of tea. RMB113. The equivalent of about $20 US. We are shocked, our dinner was less than that. We ask how it came up that high. The beer was RMB15 (a little over $2 US; 1 bottle in the supermarket costs about 50 cents). Here comes the kicker, and most assuredly my first White-skinned "discount," well, premium. RMB68 for a cup of black tea. Thats $10 USD. "The best tea they have."

It tasted just like brewed Lipton or anything else. I sure hope it helps me grow 2 inches or fills in the patchy spot on my beard. Something to show that this outlandish $10 cup of tea was worth it in some way. We go to pay and the fu yuan tells us 110 will work if we dont have the 3 dollars on us. Gee, thanks Fu Yuan. After a walk full of griping & moaning about the price of that tea we get upstairs. 83rd minute of the Cup game. We're about to give up and go to bed. When we score in the 91st minute we lose it. We run through the apartment screaming our lungs out. Its close to midnight and around 10 is bedtime for most of the people. Whoops. Cheng gets to showering, I fall asleep on the couch. He wakes me up, I shower and go to bed.

THURSDAY

This morning I approached the bus stop as my bus was leaving. I made a step to chase it but an elderly man stepped in the way. I figured he wouldn't appreciate getting bowled over. So I waited. My bus takes its sweet time. I eventually get to work, ride the elevator with a coworker named "Sammy."

She's always got some crazy oufit on. I think she just buys those designer clothes you see on the runway and ask yourself "Why in the world would anyone wear that? Who would buy that?" Sammy will. She works in the Finance department, she says 'You study Accounting?" I say "Shi. Dan shi wo bu xihuan (I do. But I don't like it)." she laughs, compliments me on my Chinese and walks into her office. The girl in front of my desk, Jenny, has been looking at jewelry and hotels online for the last 3 days. The kid to my right sleeps with his head on his desk. Chu Ke reads forums and watches the IT Crowd; yet, this company racks up approx. $6,000,000 USD a year in revenue.

Assorted information:

I have a bus card that I swipe everyday. My 15 minute bus ride costs about RMB .8, which is about 11 Cents USD. Every company/business hires people to do absolutely nothing but collect a check and not cause civil unrest. There's usually 2 or 3 girls congregated in the supermarket aisles.

The buses have bus "conductors" which just point you to empty seats. Every restaurant has someone that stands outside and ushers you in when you approach. There are "security guards" everywhere. Hotels, restaurants, office buildings, malls.

They all dress in various colors of valet uniforms, are 14 years old and stand around. Its amusing. A women sells socks on the footpath that goes over the highway so I can get to my apartment. Socks and chinese fans. McDonalds ice cream cones are all over the place here. When we visited the Bird's Nest, a middle aged man pulled out his video camera to record me walking. I'm going to be a YouTube sensation.

I paid about $22 USD to have laundry done for me. 10 articles of clothing I believe and thats more than I've ever paid in the States. I'd buy an iron, but the only ones I've seen are like RMB1000 which is a little over $100 US.

All the toilet paper and paper towel holders say, in English, "Please reserve resources, and save paper." Guess I need to call ahead next time I want to dry my hands...

C'est la vie!

Craig