Job fair

Today I got my first opportunity to be a part of a job fair (did I mention that I’m in China and no, I’m not looking for a job). We’re looking to hire operators and had put in for the job fair to meet with interested people for these jobs. Gary and I met at the office and then left to join with Helen who was already at the job fair. The building where the job fair was being held was the size of a small sports arena and very much had the same look. As we drove up, I noticed there was a large crowd of people basically lined up around the building. It looked like an American Idol tryout or something; there had to be over 5,000 people lined up outside waiting to get in. There were more than 40 companies there to meet with job candidates. We walked into the building and it was just filled with people. We located our “cube” and went in and sat down. The cube consisted of a 6m x 6m box where we flipped a section of countertop (like an old style diner or something) and walked through behind the counter. The three of us sat side-by-side, Helen to my left and Gary to my right. The applicants were in some semblance of a line (I would call it more like an undulating, human wave) and stood holding their resumes or personal job experiences while waiting to be called (more on this coming right up). Helen would speak with a possible candidate for several minutes and essentially filtered out the non-viable candidates for the position. If Helen thought they merited consideration, Gary would then interview the candidate. Me, what did I do…..glad you asked. I really did nothing. I got stared at by many (it seems there aren’t many foreigners at these things and so people would slide a little to look around and see me….look ma, it’s one of those funny looking people) and so I would purposely look around and see how many eyes I would meet as I looked out into the mass of humanity waiting to be seen not only by us but by the companies on both sides of our cubicle (did I mention it was wall-to-wall people). I did my best to look interested and act like I understood what each candidate was talking about. I would watch them intently as they talked and stroke my chin and do some “harrumphing” (per Dr. Garsombkie, you know the throat clearing noise that’s made by some “intellectual” [aka. pompous windbag] as they say nothing but want to sound important doing it). “Yes, Yes (harrumph) it was in the 1950’s that the exploits of a certain tribe brought about the (harrumph) methods to convert beans into coffee (thoughtful pause). It was this kind of futuristic thinking that led to coffee chains like Starbucks, which was named after the leader of the tribe (harrumph) Chieftain Sterbuk.” Sorry, back to my role in the job fair. I was the middle man that had nothing to do but try and look comfortable and important (or perhaps I was the “pretty girl” normally used at trade shows to draw people to your booth……it does sound far-fetched doesn’t it). My favorite thing was that after Gary finished talking with the guy, he would turn to me and say “Do you have any questions?” It took all the control I could muster to keep from saying, “Just two questions. “WHAT!?!?”; and “Could you repeat all of that in English?” It was comical, the first time he asked that of me I just laughed; what else could I do. Gary, let’s find out his problem solving skills, if a train leaves Rhode Island at 4:15 pm carrying 15 passengers (yadda, yadda, yadda)...when can I get the heck out of here?

I know it’s not Gary’s fault so I don’t blame him but I just wondered what I was supposed to bring to the party. I would ask if they spoke English (there he goes again, the foreigner wants us to speak his language in our country), many simply shook their heads; one or two could speak decent English. It’s not a job requirement but if I have to train someone, either they need to speak some English (and I need to speak some Chinese) or we’ll need to develop some hand gestures (if I touch the tip of my nose and then run my hand down my left arm, that means I want you to bunt unless I follow it with the groin scratch which means I need some powder…). One guy came back after he left to try his English. He said he wanted to work and he did not want to miss out on the job because he didn’t try. I actually thought just that effort alone merited some consideration for the job because he was young and willing to stretch out beyond his comfort zone but Gary wasn’t buying it.

Some of the interesting things;
There are 3 levels of schooling all based on the results of standardized testing. You take your first important test at the end of middle school. If you test well, you move on to high school. If you don’t test well, you go to a trade school or something similar to that. You test in high school (high school is 3 years here), if you test well, you get the opportunity to go to University (which means a 4 year school), if you do not test so well, you go to College (which is a 3 year school). A high school degree (diploma) is considered to be a limiting factor for job considerations. The guy that came back was a high school graduate but according to Gary his English should have been much better. I still think he was worth a chance but I don’t get the final say here (tell me again why I went?).

When the folks were in “line”, they were heel-to-toe, I mean right on top of each other. People had no problem sliding to the side and leaning out over the person in front of them or looking at the resumes of the other candidates as we did the interviews. Helen’s candidates stood up and if they made it through, they would sit down with Gary and me. Other job applicants would lean over the chair or lean on to the counter to see his resume and listen to his answers and the questions from Gary. It was almost like there was 1 guy getting interviewed and 5 or 6 others observing closely the interview (it was like they were his attorneys…I object…leading question). People would walk out of line to the front to see what was happening and/or gain some insight into their competition. In the US, this would’ve caused a riot; no one blinked an eye here. In one case a guy came to the front to ask Gary a question (and when EF Hutton talks, everybody listens) and while Gary was answering it was like everyone crowded in to get the answer. One girl in line was basically squished between two other guys; I could only see her hand as she attempted to wiggle between the two guys to get the answer. It was comical to observe all of this but I had to hold back the laughter. I’m telling you there are more comedy routines here that I’d love to capture on video, but I couldn’t post it on YouTube anyhow so it would go to waste.

One the resumes, most people here include their birthdays. Not something you see in the US.
On the personal work record form, all of the data entry areas were in Chinese (well duh!) with the exception of one thing. E-mail was written in English on the form (yep, I could read that, they would even write their e-mail address in English. So strange to see a form all in Chinese with the exception of e-mail….I guess there’s no Chinese word for e-mail). It’s also interesting to note that numbers are written with English characters rather than Chinese symbols.

Most of the 12 candidates that made it through to Gary would not make eye contact with me at all, I mean zero. I purposely watched them while Gary asked questions and even when I would ask Gary to clarify something, I would look to see if they would look at me (but for all I know Gary could’ve told them not to pay attention to his butler….pay no attention to the man behind the curtain). Only 3 did, of the 3 we thought one was a solid candidate. It was interesting to me that one guy refused to try to speak English but when he was done he said “Thank you” as opposed to XieXie. I mean, what was that about? He didn’t stand a chance anyhow, his cell phone went off during our session (c’mon dude, shut it off). He checked it but chose not to answer it. One thing I have learned here is that the cell phone is more important than you are in almost every circumstance. I’ve witnessed people answering the phones in meetings and other times when they should not (by my standards). I even saw a supplier come in and in the middle of the meeting stop and answer his cell phone. I get pretty upset about it but they don’t bat an eye. It’s my hang-up so I’ll try and move beyond it but it is one of those things that drive me nuts. Is anyone so freaking’ important that their phone has to be on 24/7? Really!?! That’s right; talk super loud so we can all hear about your bunions or your grandma’s secret recipe for Swedish meatballs (Oooh, that sound delicious, c'mon, you're grandma was obviously drunk when she made those). The worst offenders are the ones at church that I guess expect God to reach them via Verizon (can you hear me now….good, you’re going to Hell! Thanks for playing.)….I really hate that. Oops! Off on a rant, sorry.

So the job fair was another interesting experience. I know this is a long post so I appreciate you making it this far. I always try to keep the posts short but sometimes I get a little carried away. I know, if I remove all of my parenthetical insights I could cut it down to 1 paragraph, but what fun would that be. Take care and I’ll be back.

Two more down...

The Lingering Garden and the Master of Nets Garden....check. Both are World Cultural Heritage sites, if that means anything to you and so are big draws for Suzhou (along with other places like the Humble Administrator's Garden). If you've looked through the other photos of the gardens that have been previously toured, you might begin to notice some similarities. The rocks are probably the one major common thread between them. These rocks were all brought here from a lake to the southwest of Suzhou. It had to be a major haul to get them to Suzhou but with the canal system in the city, I am certain the rocks were probably moved by boat for some portion of the trip.

As with last weekend, we ended up getting our photos taken several times by some Chinese. In one photo, I noticed we were going to be in the shot and so Steve and I shifted out of the frame. When they realized we had moved, they asked us to be a part of the photo (typically they just say "picture please" and indicate to stand with them). We obliged, they had a good time with it and so what they heck. We weren't nearly as interesting as this young toddler from Europe (I think France from hearing the parents). They scooped him up and starting snapping photos with the Mom's permission. It was fun just watching, the Dad was off watching the other kids while this was happening but he knew what was going on. This guy never realized it but he was a rock star. The image below shows the photos being taken by many with a camera.

They worked him over pretty good, there's at least 4 people taking the photo with everyone trying to get his attention. His mom is watching but it's obvious she knew this was going to happen and perhaps has experienced it before. It's not that they are rude or anything but if they aren't from the Eastern seaboard of China, there's not a whole lot of Westerner's to be found so we're a bit of an oddity (like the freak show has come to town...come and be amazed by the human walking stick). Most of the Suzhou locals are accustomed to us but for others, it's a new experience. It's a little odd but it isn't threatening, you are different and they are reacting to it. They giggle when they ask to take the photo and then laugh as they walk away. I think next time, I will ask that they take a picture for me with my camera, I wonder what the reaction will be at that time.

I've posted the photos so take a look and enjoy. The English translations from some of the signs are funnier than anything I can write so I'll let them stand on their own. Have a good one.

Language Barrier

I am working to try and at least obtain some small working vocabulary of Chinese while I am here. I really should’ve worked harder while in the US to get it done but I can’t change that so I move forward, I’m just a little farther behind that I wanted to be at this time (I’m somewhere over the Island of Misfit Toys I think; like a cowboy that rides….an ostrich.). Some things I am learning are rather simple and I’m always listening while I’m in the supervisor’s office (my temp. location) to see if I can pick up some “common” terms or phrases. Unfortunately there is a twist to this location. Also in the supervisor’s office are the machinery manufacturers from Germany and so I’m surrounded by Germans and Chinese (the axis of evil?). I worked hard over the last two years to polish up on my German for my trips to Germany and unfortunately that’s working against me a little since I can pick out the German words faster (and by faster I mean I understand one word out of a hundred) and when I’m hearing both Chinese and German at the same time my mind shuts down and I want to curl up into a ball under the desk (tell me when it’s over). I may not know German well but I feel more comfortable with it since it’s not based as much on tone and pitch as the Chinese language and it seems to make more sense to me.

I digress a little so I’ll get back to the point; at all times you must remember that they are speaking Chinese and although something sounds familiar, it isn’t. For example, while I was listening the other day I heard a word/phrase that stood out to me. “Bù xiè” is term (pronounced “boo shee” just to be clear) when said is tough to distinguish from a word used in the US to describe cow manure (it’s ma, which is good, followed by nure which is also good…so you see it’s really a positive word). These words are said quickly in normal speech patterns so you react like you heard something bad but you have to remember where you are and that the word isn’t what you think. By the way, “Bù xiè” is the term for “you’re welcome”. So when you say “Xiè Xiè” (shay shay) and they say “Bù xiè” (boo shee), they aren’t telling you that you said it wrong or you’re full of it, they are responding as you would in English. Thank you. You’re welcome. Notice that it’s the combination of words that detail the meaning, the word “xiè” (spelled and pronounced the same) is not the same here. How can it mean both “thank” and “you” and “welcome” (and sound different)? I don’t know, it just does…this is why the language is so difficult to grasp. There are also multiple local dialects that stray from the standard Mandarin, so someone from Suzhou and someone from Shanghai would use different words to mean the same thing. Believe it or not, there are places where the Chinese go in China that they don’t understand the Chinese spoken in that region. I thought getting used to “Southern” was tough (I still don’t understand how “running like a scalded dog” is a good thing….I’m not sure if that would translate properly in Chinese, it might mean to them that I’m hungry and I’m indicating what I want to eat). There are plenty of other examples of a word/phrase that I didn’t know what it meant in Chinese but I knew what it sounded like in English (that is if I understood it correctly). I was in the office with a Canadian as well (takeoff eh) so I would ask him about the word/phrase I just heard (What was that!?!). I wanted to be sure I heard it properly. I’ve found many cases that build upon this concept but in some cases the English word that closely resembled the Chinese word/phrase would be considered offensive and so I’ve decided against stating more examples (despite the good intentions, I don’t want anyone to feel slighted. Those who know me would understand but in this case discretion is warranted). The bottom line is that a different language is just that…different. Slang terms don’t come into play at all and you have to remember that it’s not English (in most cases it’s not the hard to remember). Even though there are times when words sound like English words, they are not English words. When I hear some Chinese terms; I know that in the US that word/phrase could get you in a world of trouble in a hurry, not because of the intent of the speaker but because of the interpretation of the listener (isn’t this the same with e-mail [or blogs for that matter], tone cannot be conveyed in written form and a simple word or phrase taken in the wrong way by the reader can lead to big problems). It could also happen in reverse, say I’m swearing at a Chinese person in English and tell him he is full of bull**** (not that I would ever do that…got to keep “face” right), he’s wondering why I’m yelling at him and saying you’re welcome at the same time (and he’s wondering why I can’t pronounce it properly…Stupid American, he’s very excitable isn’t he, if he keeps it up and I’ll have to go all Jackie Chan on him). This is one of those major reasons why learning Chinese or any other language is so difficult and why I’m struggling to keep up. All I know is that right now it all sounds like boo shee to me that’s for sure.

Does anyone want to buy a van?

With Scott being in China, there is no reason for us to keep two cars.  I am going to sell the van first, then at the end of May/first of June, I will be ready to sell my car.  If anyone is interested, here are the details:

1998 Dodge Grand Caravan

175,000 miles

integrated child safety seats in the middle row (big selling point when we purchased)

never in an accident

smoke free interior

Kelly Blue Book valued at $2800

2002 Mazda 626

77,000 miles

one minor accident (not my fault), body shop repaired

smoke free interior

Kelly Blue Book valued at $4900

If you know anyone who might be interested, please let me know.  I'd like to post the van on a couple of different sites this week.  

Panman Gate Scenic Area

New pictures loaded, click on the photos link and see all that's been added!

So today, Steve, Sharon and I took a trip to see the Panman Gate Scenic Area in the Southwest corner of the old city. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a ceremony honoring something. It wasn't us but it was very nice to see the costumes and the dragon, the men beating the drums and so on, you'll find those photos seperated into an album. I took some video with the camera but it's 73 meg so I don't think it'll really work to add it to the site unless you want to come back in an hour. This was a very nice park/garden/historic site. They had the first pagoda that they allowed you to walk up so I jumped at that chance. I have those photos in there as well, the stairs and very steep and aren't meant for many of the "meatier" Westerners. I wasn't able to go out on the top 2 floors of the pagoda but I was able to get some photos from there showing the sights. It's too bad it was overcast today but I think somehow I'll be back to see this again (along with many of the other sights).

The interesting items from this (among all the other things);

• We got asked to be a part of a photo with a Chinese young lady. Initially when they asked about taking a photo, we assumed they wanted us to take a photo of this young lady & her boyfriend. We were a little wrong on that, she indicated that she wanted us to be in the photo with her and the boyfriend took the picture....we were the attraction. All the history around and they wanted a photo with 3 Americans, I guess there are still people in the world that like us despite what we have been told for the last couple of years.
• If you don't get a ticket from the front gate when you enter, don't bother. We were going to sit in on a Chinese Opera performance but we didn't have the ticket and they wouldn't allow us to buy on on the spot. They preferred to perform for one lady rather than an audience of 4. Really stupid since we would stand outside the door and hear the cats yowling (that's not very nice, it was more like an animal with it's paw in a bear trap....spiteful aren't I). We walked away but it was odd. In the US, there would be a ticket booth selling the tickets right there.
• The market in the middle of the walk had some interesting items, most noticeably the wooden crossbow for kids. You'll shoot your eye out kid! (the classic mother / crossbow block)
• They would try and con you into wearing robes and getting your photo taken in many places around. Something that will be fun with the kids but I opted not at this time. Who knows where that photo would end up. I also didn't like the "Linked to Hang themselves as Stars" translation.
• Some things just don't translate well, the photo is self-explanatory.

So after we took the grand tour, we decided to walk around a bit and see what there was in the area, see the street market album. All kinds of dishes and stuff to buy to outfit the kitchen. We walked to the Confucian Temple which was nice and ran into 2 other Americans (one with a distinct New England accent, wearing a Mead-Westvaco hat). Just to clarify, Mead-Westvaco is/was a paper company that would purchase from my company, strange to find a guy wearing this hat of all the hats out there. Anyhow, we found a small street market behind the temple selling all kinds of items. I have only 2 photos of this area, I hated to bring my camera out in this area. I don't feel comfortable taking photos of people in these settings. Strangely enough, we walked through with very little harassment. I expected to get hit with the buy this, buy this guys but really no one approached us and was rude about it. They pretty much left us alone but for goodness sake, don't point. As soon as you point, they get excited and start the sales pitch. Most of the stuff seemed to be crap but there was a lot of foot traffic in this area. This isn't a place you'll find on any tour map that's for sure.

One of the things I find most strange is the tea fetish in China. Below is an image of a tea container that you'll find just about everywhere. People carry their tea much like a water bottle, in the cabs, down the street, everywhere you turn. I don't know what the tea is made of, in many cases it looks to me like pine needles or grass clippings but they like it. I see women in the office drinking rose tea, they put rose buds in hot water and call it tea. We're nuts for coffee and they're nuts for tea, it's a matter of taste. There is a strainer in these cups to keep the tea "leaves" in the cup. At the office, there is a small waste bucket with a strainer on the top. When people finished their drink, they dump it in the container, the water goes into the can and the strainer holds the tea leaves (I've noticed kidney beans in the mix, I wonder what that's about). It looks really nasty but they don't want to dump it down the drain and clog the pipes so at least they strain it. I think it would be interesting to plant the remnants and see what comes up out of the ground.

So another weekend has passed, back to work tomorrow. Have a good week, keep checking in for more from the other side of the globe.

Split Pants

It's Saturday, it rained very hard early this morning but cleared up by around 9:30 or so. I had decided last night that I was going back to Auchan, by myself this time (cue the suspense theme....dun, dun, duuuuuuuh!). If you don't know what I am talking about, go back and read about my first visit to Auchan with Steve about 2 weeks back, Reader's Digest version....Wal-mart on crack. Now we can move on. I decided to walk to Auchan just because I get a better feel for the area on foot rather than by taxi. Somehow I feel safer walking than riding in the cabs, imagine that. It took me about 35-40 minutes, not bad since I wasn't really pushing it. It's not too far a walk and I took a few different streets to see what's around. I arrive at Auchan and take a Xanax and a shot of tequila to build up my nerve to walk in....okay, (deep breath) baby steps down the sidewalk, baby steps into the entrance, baby steps towards the escalator. I walk around on the ground floor and it seems that there isn't much here, I was expecting a larger area but there really isn't one so up I go to the second floor (housewares, groceries, 1 million people, watch your step sir). I head to the very end of the store passing all of the scooters (yes, they sell electric scooters here in the store, there are actually people riding them around a small area to give them a test drive) and other stuff right into the electronics section. Cool, TVs, DVD players, stereo systems, headphones, and on and on. It just doesn't end. I walked around looking for a few things, some earbuds, a surge protector, some rechargeable batteries, storage bins for food and some other odds and ends. I was also looking for a George Foreman grill, you know what I'm talking about. At home, we used this for a hot sandwich press, chicken nuggets (soon to be squiddy nuggets), chicken sandwiches and a host of other uses. It's a great tool. I finally located it but it looked different, it was the George Foreman/Jackie Chan grill. I guess George doesn't have the following in China so they put Jackie Chan's signature (allegedly) on the item. They only had the small one, it could cook about 1 chicken patty at a time which would not be helpful (okay, who wants to eat and who wants to wait another 30 minutes?). I decided not to buy, we'll make the decision on if we will bring one from home or perhaps switch to a toaster oven. Perhaps we'll just go with one of the 200 rice cookers they had on the shelf. Also interesting is that they sell electric hot plates but not like the old style. You know the new cooktops with the glass and the element underneath, yep, they have them by the dozen here and are happy to sell them. Anyhow, I never made it to the grocery side of the store. After an old lady gave me a push to the side so she could get her batteries I decided it was probably time for me to get out. Oh yeah, I could've knocked her down but what's the fun in that (besides if she knew karate, I was about to get my butt kicked by Pat Morita's mom). Something interesting at the checkout, you pay for the bags. They ask you which bag you want (I think that's what she said or perhaps she said I looked cute in my jeans, it was close but I'll stick with the bag thing just to be sure) and you point to one of the standard bags, a heavier plastic bag or a reuseable bag. Then they scan the bag and beep....you're paying for it. Wait until the Democrats get ahold of this one, paying for your grocery bags, GENIUS! Almost got off course for a second, deep breath and continue. So I get my stuff and follow my blockers to the exit.

On the way out, I mean right there (right there) is a small boy squatting down. I take a second look as his mom and dad watch, is that what I think it is.....yep, he's peeing on the sidewalk right at the entrance to Auchan. What the....... !?!? I notice he is wearing what they call split pants here. It's gonna sound crass but these are essentially crotchless pants for small children, I don't know how else to describe them. Potty training is different in China and so when a child is off the diaper, they move to split pant (where we would perhaps move to the pull ups). So when the kid has to go, badda-bing, they go. I was warned about this before coming over but I wasn't expecting it to be right at the entrance to Auchan. People are getting out of cabs and walking right around this boy, someone else is walking around him to get into a cab. HE'S PEEING PEOPLE...RIGHT THERE....HIM....PEEING...ON THE SIDEWALK. I mean what are you going to do? I fear the reaction of Warren and Jacob when they see this, it's going to be a 300 db level "LOOK HE'S PEEING" and laughter. I know it's going to happen I only hope that I can stop them before the reaction happens, I can see it and if you know them you know it's going to happen. So while I'm pondering the long term ramifications of being trained that peeing anywhere is okay, a boy about 8 years old walks over to a bush and yes, he takes a pee right there. His mom keeps walking (hurry up son, there's a sale on squid chunks), nothing to see here people just a kid taking a leak in public. I've seen this many times with contruction workers just turning their back to traffic and peeing on the side of the road and of couse, the infamous peeing cop. There are public toilets around but perhaps they are not conveniently located, I don't know. It's the darndest thing and just a part of being in China. You know what they say, when in China do as the Chinese do. So, tomorrow I'm going to find me a tree and mark my territory (here's looking at you kid).

Tonight, the Drunken Chef. A English Pub out near Walking Street. A bunch of people are headed out for some pool and drinks. Last time I had the Quesidillas (yes, that's right at an English pub, it's amazing the variety of food served everywhere to try and accomodate all tastes), tonight I'll be eyeing the Sheperd's Pie.

Thoughts & LL Bean

One more story about last week. I got my first experience sitting in on job interviews with several candidates for a supervisor job at the plant. I never sat in on a job interview in the US so this was a totally new experience for me. The Internet takes a very prominent role in the job search process; people see the job description and submit resumes from all over the country (just like Monster.com). The HR department goes through the resumes and weeds out the bad ones and puts through those that pass muster. We had 6 candidates lined up for interviews. After an interview with someone from HR, followed by Gary, Steve and I would be called in to talk with the candidate (speaking & understanding English is a job qualification). Gary and Helen had completed their assessment in Chinese and we would check him out as well in English. Just one funny thing about this, if the candidate had trouble understanding what we asked in English, we would ask Gary if he could help with the explanation. Now, I was expecting Gary to ask the question in Chinese, makes sense right. Again, it shows how much I know. Gary would repeat the question, pretty much verbatim, in English (of course with the Chinese accent)…..??? I nearly started laughing the first time it happened just because it seemed funny (maybe it’s just me or perhaps Gary was still checking out his English skills). Oddly enough in some cases, he would understand the Chinese English better and be able to answer the question. If there was still a problem, Gary would explain in Chinese. If that happened too many times, it was clear that the candidate was out of the running since they must be able to comprehend English for the job. I also had a hard time with mannerisms; I could not tell if the candidate was nervous about his English language skills or if he was intimidated by the presence of two foreigners asking questions, etc. Some things you can just tell about people from reading their body language seem to be different here and I’ve got to re-learn many of those things as well. I have to change my speaking pace (Tammy wonders why I’m doing my standup routine on Skype, it’s not because I’ve been drinking, it’s because I can take off the shackles and move at my normal pace again…release the hounds!) and mannerisms to be understood and I have to utilize simple words or terms. This is something I know that many of those Thesaurus dweebs out there (and we all know at least one of “those” people) would have a hard time doing since they like to use the big words to show their intellect. Personally, I think they are compensating; like a balding man in the sports car.

Small children seem to really enjoy the foreigner’s. Probably one of every 20 kids will run up and say “Hello”, wave and laugh. If you say Hello back to them, they just laugh like it’s the funniest thing in the world as they scoot away. One young child we walked by on the weekend said “Hello” and later when he rode by us on his bicycle he said “This is my bicycle. Goodbye.” and waved as he passed us (he was on the back of the bicycle and his dad was doing the pedaling). We will get a second looks from about 1/3 of the people riding by on scooters or bicycles (they will turn their head and look at us as they go by, not just a glance but a 2-3 second stare which around here could be the difference between getting home on the bike or ending up under a truck). It’s not a look to the side but watching the entire time they pass by, it’s almost an indicator of where they are from in China. People used to seeing the “white devils” don’t give us much thought but those from less modernized areas of the country will always watch you with curiosity. It’s not uncomfortable, nothing threatening; they just don’t consider the same things rude that we do and so they stare. We’ll see the same thing on the bus ride, we’ll pass by the buses and some will almost seem shocked to see a van full of foreigners. Quick, what do you call a van full of foreigners at the bottom of the China Sea….

This weekend was very busy, as you might have noticed from all of the photos uploaded. Just to be clear, if you click on the Scott’s Photos from China link, it will show all of the photo albums that are available to be viewed. Click on any of the albums to open it up and look at all of the photos from that area. Although I have the albums listed, those names may change. I’ve got two different names for the place where we were, at least the mountain name. It’s very difficult to tell in many cases where exactly you are since everything is in Chinese and when I go back later to search online to ensure I have things correct, some of information is misleading (at least the information in English, perhaps the all Chinese websites are fine). We were at Stone Lake but it’s a matter of interpreting the map as to which mountain we were really on. It probably isn’t all that important but I like to know where I have been. I’ll go through one day and do some insights into the photos to indicate what was happening or what you may miss when looking at the photo that was more obvious while I was there. For example, the photo shown below was taken at New Times Square in Suzhou. It's a large shopping complex on the North East side of JinJi Lake in Suzhou Industrial Park. It has a mall that is 4 stories at the moment (5 stories are completed but there are no stores are on that floor at this time). The bottom floor contains a very large grocery store, the first floor is housewares, second floor, clothes, etc. It's huge, but not like Western malls. There are no "storefronts" as we are used to them. In the US, walk in to a store and it's JCPenney merchandise throughout, same with Sears, etc. Here, it's a storefront but once you get past a section, there could be a totally different section with other clothes, shoes from someone else. For example, there was a shoe area that sold Aasics, Nike, Puma, Adidas, each was it's own little shop with it's own salesperson. It wasn't like there was a gap between them, on the shelves to the right, Adidas, 20 paces up was Nike, on the left was Puma and so on. Anyhow, as we walked through the different levels, we stumbled on an LL Bean store, imagine that a little Freeport, Maine right here in Suzhou.

Nothing makes you feel like you're back home like a quick stroll through LL Bean and I mean quick, this photo covers pretty much the entire expanse of the LL Bean section in this part of the mall. So it's not everything from Bean, not the entire Freeport experience but it'll do.

Links

You may have noticed the links on the left hand side of the page. I was adding links to my photo albums as I went to these various sites around Suzhou. Well, that wasn't really working out well so I have made a change. If you want to see photos referenced in the blog, just click on the Scott's Photos from China link. That will take you to my Public albums and you can look through the pictures at your leisure. The albums are sorted by date so you can tell when an album was added or when the pictures were taken. This way, I won't have to add the links one-by-one and make the links section very long. I'd say I did it for you but that would not be the truth....it's all about me. Enjoy the photos.

Charades

I’m going to live up to the hype by telling some stories from work this week, so here goes. We had an Asian customer ask for handles to be placed on their fabrics to assist with installation. The company made the decision to try and add the handles in Suzhou as opposed to shipping the fabrics back to the States for the rework. Keep in mind that this is the first time that any of the workers here in our facility have ever seen a Press fabric. The average age in the facility on the factory floor is very young; I would guess it’s around 24 years old. I know that this may not be understood, so I’ll try to explain (briefly) what we do. Paper machines require woven textile products to assist in the papermaking process. The woven products act as a screen to allow water to be removed from the paper pulp and to transport the pulp through the machine, pulp goes from being 99% water to paper as it moves through the machine. The Forming and Dryer division are strictly woven products, so think of them like a screen on the window (although each is different, this is as simple as I can make it). The Press divison utilizes this same screen type woven product but then we add thin webs of fibers to the screen (think of it like small, thin layers of a blanket), so our final product is much different than the other two divisions. Much heavier and thicker, on the order of 4 times the thickness and weight of the products they are used to handling. To summarize, we’re the same company but make dramatically different products all for the same industry. Each product has it’s role in the papermaking process. This is what I do in very general terms.

So the fabrics come in to the facility, we uncrate them and everyone gets their first view of a Press Fabric. It was very interesting to watch everyone come over and put their hands on the fabric to feel the surface, look closely at it and see how thick it is. They were like kids (like kids….they are kids) seeing something for the first time and being very curious. Many people would come over to the fabrics and get the touchy-feely. Once they got it out of the crate and placed it in a cart to push around, I think they got the first indication of what was to come. When they received sample of felts to work with, they got small, thin fabrics and not the monster fabrics that came in from the customer so they weren’t prepared for how heavy the fabrics were. They learned quickly that it took a group of people to move these things around. Just unrolling the fabric on the floor was very difficult. Rolling them back up was even worse.

Okay, I don’t bring this story up to talk about the difficulties of installing the handles; you’ve indulged me with reading this far so I’ll get to the point. I learned several things by working with this team to accomplish this task. For some days, there was someone there who spoke English (a supervisor or Gary) but for other times, it was me and them. I believe they understood English a little but I had no idea what they were saying. In many cases, it seemed they were shy about using their English because they didn’t want to sound bad (yeah, my Chinese was much worse). So I was forced to use very few words (it seemed the more I spoke, the more they backed away), basically playing Charades to get my message across. I’m sure from an outsider’s view it was very comical to watch me make large gestures to try and indicate things to the crew (movie, 3 words, first word…..). It was like a bad silent movie (you must pay the rent, but I can’t pay the rent…). Sometimes it took a little time and other times, it was rather easy. These are college age kids so they acted like college age kids, one even used my patented “hitch up the pants” move (they steal everything in China) to be funny and overstate his “brute strength”. I listened closely to what they would say to try and ascertain meaning but it didn’t work. If Gary was nearby I would ask what a phrase would mean, but many times I got it wrong when I asked him and I would have to point out the phrase the next time I heard it. Hou De, Hou De (how dah, how dah) was something I heard a lot. It means good or okay. I used it a couple of times when I was on my own and I may have got it right since they seemed to understand. Nodding my head was always understood (2 syllables, first syllable….). This was a very difficult task given that none of the guys were any bigger than me and it takes some muscle to move these things around (look it’s Big Papi). They worked very hard and were quick to take action once they understood what was needed to get the job done, and they got faster with each fabric. I was impressed with how well they worked although they tended to be joined at the hip. They would move as a flock rather than as an individual (it’s like women going to the bathroom). There were times when one or two could handle one task while the others worked on something else but they would not do this naturally. Everyone would move together unless otherwise directed. What’s a good charade move for separate? We worked through all of the fabrics and were able to get them reworked and back out to the customer by the agreed deadline. I have a picture with me and my posse below (I know, I'm huge!). I'd tell you their names but they did not have English names with the exception of Gary (on the far right, you might remember him from such photos as the Humble Administrator's Garden) and Leo (to the left of Gary, a supervisor at the plant)

It wasn’t an easy task but it reinforced the need to at least grasp a rudimentary grasp of some Chinese. Before I left the US, we taped episodes of Ni Hao, Kai Lan to see if starting from a kids level would be beneficial. It turned out that this show was even more annoying than Barney, even the kids were telling us to turn it off. So it’s back to struggling with Chinese for me or when I leave here I will the world’s foremost expert on Charades.

The first week

So it’s Thursday, my official first week in China has passed without incident. It somehow seems like it’s been a lot longer than 1 week but I landed in Shanghai last Wednesday and had my first day in the office on Thursday. What’s a typical day for me in China? Good question (if you didn't ask this question - get with the program), here is a general look at my days here.

Wake up between 5:45 and 6:00 am, shower and get dressed. If you want the details here, you’re looking for a different site (or you need some counseling). I go down to breakfast right when they open at 6:30. Although the food changes slightly from day-to-day, my typical breakfast is 3 pieces of French Toast, some meat product (sometimes it’s SPAM, sometimes it’s bacon), potatoes (could be hash browns, pan fried potatoes or even mashed potatoes), and some fried rice (again this varies as far as the type, ham, salmon, pork, whatever). I’ve added 2 fried eggs and some toast to the breakfast fare as well to ensure if there is “fish day” at the office, I can make it through until dinner (see earlier posts on my Feb visit to Suzhou for information on “fish day”). Of course, there’s coffee; or at least what passes for coffee here. It’s harsh stuff but with a pound of sugar and a gallon of creamer it’s palatable. I grab a couple of small muffins on my way out to take in to work with me. Sometimes I eat the fruit (melon, oranges, etc.) but since I’ve added the fried eggs, I don’t want to overdo it. I’m back to the apartment by 7:00 am.

Contact the family on Skype webcam for 20-30 minutes and then pack up and get ready to go to the office. Warren always asks questions, Jacob is watching TV or playing his PSP (I get no respect I tell ya). I’ll head down to the lobby by 7:50 to catch the van to work at 8:00 am. It leaves by 8:05 so you’d better be there or prepare to grab a cab. Usually the morning is quiet on the van ride in, some have earphones on listening to music, some sleep. I look around a chuckle at all of the strange sights you see and how the driver is doing. It’s just so different, watching someone ride a bicycle and talk on a cell phone all while riding across 8 lanes of traffic. Sometimes it’s just best to close your eyes or turn your head and talk to someone on the drive.

In to the office by 8:30 at the latest. I’ll do a quick walk around until the supervisor’s office (my temp office space) is opened. I’ll snap some photos and see what has changed since yesterday. Then, it’s into the office and hooking up with the computer. I’ll catch up on e-mail and see what’s in store for my day. Tammy and I will IM on Skype for a short time before she goes to bed. I’ll also get notes from others back in the US so I’ll chat and get the latest information. C’mon, it’s work related……

The day has no real routine yet, it changes by the day. For whatever reason, the morning usually flies by and it’s 12:00 and lunchtime before I know it. I take the walk of quiet anticipation as I head to the canteen to see what’s for lunch. MMMmmm, I can taste it now, gelatinous clear potato noodles or is it silken tofu stuff, perhaps it’s mushrooms & peppers. I don’t really enjoy the lunches but I try to taste everything. I didn’t get the “Boo Yow” out quickly enough this week and had the fish dumped on my plate (stop looking at me while I’m eating). I have to say it wasn’t all bad but my chopstick ability is terrible. I drop more food than I eat, I stop eating out of sheer exhaustion from trying to pick up something (hand cramps, hand cramps). I’m about to pack it in and bring a fork and knife but I don’t want to stand out any more than I already do.

As with the morning, the afternoon can be just about anything. But when it’s 4:45; pack it up baby and get your butt headed out to the van. If you’re not out there by 5:00, there’s hell to pay and there’s no guarantee that they will wait for you. Especially on Friday, be there or you’re on your own kid. It’s a little livelier ride in the afternoon. I still chuckle as we weave through traffic for the 20-30 minute ride back to the Chateau. Look out, d’oh!, sheesh! The Chinese are either the bravest people I’ve ever seen or the dumbest, time will tell.

Then I’m on my own for dinner. I went out the first night but since then I’ve gone grocery shopping and have been eating in more. I think I’ll limit myself to going out on the weekends or once during the week. It’s not about the money, it’s my paranoia about eating alone (I always see the scene from the Steve Martin film, The Lonely Guy, when he asks for a table for one). I’ll get over it since I need to find a good stable of eateries before the family arrives. I’ve already got a few, Marios and The People’s Kitchen, I need a few more (it’s tough to find mac-n-cheese and chicken fingers on any menu here). I’ve got to find a Thai place…getting the craving for L24. Anyhow, I’ll put in a load of laundry and think about what I want to eat. What’s in the fridge? Not much, Beer, Prego Spag,. Sauce, Salsa, Cheese and Butter (sounds like a dorm room fridge doesn’t it). When dinner is ready, I’ll watch one episode of 24 with dinner. It’s usually close to 7:00 by then and I’ll work some Chinese course in for 20-30 minutes or longer depending on my ability to focus. I’ll check the laundry and put it away when done and get the dishes done (that’s right ladies, laundry and dishes and I bring home the bacon….what else do you need?). Then I surf the web for awhile and when I see Tammy is online, I’ll Skype and we’ll chat for a few minutes while she gets her coffee in the morning. By the time we’re finishing talking, it’s time for bed. I’ll brush and get ready and then I’ll turn on the TV for a few moments, I don’t know why. The TV is on HBO so I’ll see what movie is on and sometimes get suckered into a bad movie (like anything on HBO is good) and then get mad at myself for watching the movie. I don’t stay up past 11:00, I need my beauty sleep or I’ll be cranky in the morning.

Sounds glamorous, doesn’t it? The schedule isn’t much different than many others, it’s the experiences during the day that make it different. I’ll post more soon on some of the experiences at work, that’s gold my friends but I’ve got to leave you wanting more so you’ll have to stay tuned in. Same bat time, same bat channel (you think I watched too much TV as a kid).

Sunday - Sunday

Okay, it's Sunday and the time change has moved to 12 hours so it should be much easier to remember the time difference, no math involved, look at my watch and change am to pm or visa-versa.

Today I went out on my own (I'm a big boy) to get some things done. I waited until the cleaning crew arrived and then I headed out to Singa Plaza with 3 goals. 1) Make sure my ATM card works before I run too far down on cash. It does work so Item #1- completed. 2) Look at the DVD store and see what I could find. I've had my eye on the Simpsons DVD set that covers Seasons 1 - 18 (mmmm, donuts!). They had the DVD but no price listed so I bypassed it. I know what it costs at other places and so I kinda looked and thought that perhaps I would wait for a little longer. There is a part of me that believes I need to avoid these things in order to allow me to do other stuff, TV can help pass the time but I should do something constructive. Before I left, I noticed the 24 box set; Seasons 1 - 6....only 90 RMB (less than $14). I love 24 and I never saw all of the episodes for the first couple of seasons, in fact I missed the endings of nearly all of the seasons. Ok, I'll get that and have something to fall back on (plus you never know if Jack Bauer is around the corner waiting to put you in the sleeper hold; of course in reality Keifer would need a stepladder to reach your neck [step away from my Lucky Charms]). Nice, double paranthesis...did you follow that one? 3) pick up some groceries. I went to Summit and walked through the market and picked up some real basics. A little pasta, spag. sauce, can of soup, laundry detergent and a few other things. I didn't buy much since I have to carry it all back the 15 minutes to the Chateau. I figure I can always make a couple of trips and each time pick up a few more things and eventually I might have what I need to survive. There's a small store here at the Chateau as well so I've got that to fall back on. Although, nearly everything there is labeled in Chinese so if I can't tell what the photo is, I'd better not get it. Did you know that Campbells sells Oxtail soup in a can? Oh yeah, Mmm, Mmm, good. There was some odd stuff but there's enough to feed the Westerners if they don't mind paying for the stuff. I don't shop much at home (check that...I never shop at home for groceries) so like the politicians in Washington, I have no idea how much stuff costs at the stores. Some things there I thought were expensive but I'll have to wait for Tammy to let me know if I'm right. Just as an example, a can of minestrone soup (like Progresso but anothe brand) was $4.67...seems a bit steep. A small jar of Prego was about $4.20...again seemed on the high side to me. On the other hand, Gatorade was about 70 cents for a medium sized drink (it was in Chinese so I don't know what the size was), defintely less expensive than the US.

I did laundry (ooohh, tell me more Mr. Exciting) and worked on my Chinese a little bit. The washer/dryer combination is really bad. It washes the clothes fine but it takes forever to dry them. Not to mention that it's very small and anything past 1 days worth of clothes seems to be too much to handle (I had 3 days worth). I had to essentially wash the clothes and then dry them in small batches. I had partially dry stuff hanging in the apartment, crazy but you do what you need to do. I'll start doing laundry every night and keeping on top of that to prevent this from happening again. I stayed in tonight and had pasta for dinner, you can't go out every night. Last night I went out with Steve & Sharon to The People's Kitchen (sounds about right doesn't it). It's a little bit away from the standard Westernized eateries but not too far. They had Delicious Frog on the menu (as opposed to gross frog I guess), pig's stomach, goat and (cover your eyes pet lovers) rabbit and dog on the menu. It didn't say fragrant beef (sorry I don't remember the exact verbage) but it was close enough that you knew it wasn't beef. I could be wrong but I don't think I am. Anyhow, the food was fantastic. Mountain Noodle Soup; spicey broth with noodles (duh), Sesame Chicken (sorry Golden Buddha but you don't know how to make this....seriously, get a cookbook or something), thin potatoe strings with spicey sauce, sweet corn pancake (think of a waffle looking thing filled with kernels of corn) which tasted much Corn Pops but better, chicken with broccoli, eggplant with soy, and another veggie dish. I think in total we have about 7 or 8 different things we ordered and just picked through the plates. It was really good, it may be a hole in the wall joint but they know how to cook. I'll have to find this place again. The best part was it cost 122 RMB, less than $20 for 3 people to eat and still have food leftover to take home. It cost me 60 RMB to eat by myself at Jack's Home on Thursday night. It just further proves that if you live like a local, you can save yourself a lot of cash.

Anyhow, I'm going to wrap this one up and get ready for some sleep (perhaps 1 more hour of Bauer).

Saturday

Today's post will be short, no really I mean it. I will rely on photos to tell the stories. Steve took me out today to see the sights and we walked for much of the day. It was brisk outside but not too cold so it was a good day.

We started at U Town, a 4 story electronic shop. H-U-G-E!!!!! It was unbelievable what was in there. Think of the computer section at say Best Buy, the glass cases with laptops, desktops, cameras, flash drives, etc. These glass cases were everywhere, seriously. There were areas for Apple products, Dell, Sanyo, Sony and the list goes on. It was overwhelming. The glass cases were made into "cubicles" for lack of a better illustration, each cube was run by an independent contractor who rented the space and sold whatever they could. There must have been let's just say 50 per floor selling everything under the sun. They had cell phones in all styles, colors and models (perhaps not all real models but it was something to see). I mean it was everything electronic, circuit boards, keyboards, computer cases, PSPs, soup-to-nuts, they had it all. On the 3rd floor there was an arcade for 1/2 of the floorspace. What is really odd is where U Town is, it's located in the older part of the city. The photo below is taken outside of U Town.

Once we had our items (me a cable and Steve some batteries) and had moved through the entire store (you know we're guys so it was less than 30 minutes, not much window shopping here). We walked to bar street to find a DVD store that was highly recommended. Along the way, we passed some interesting sights so I'll show the photos with a caption to explain.

We passed a natural medical store and there was the jar in the picture. Look closely, it's dried frogs....good for what ails you. They also had the birds nests to be sold for soups and such, along with the "blue pill" stuff like horns and antlers to keep "up" your health (if you know what I mean).

Hey, what's this? Anyone that's a fan of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman knows that this is daschi (the thing hanging....not the banannas), a fruit popular in Asia that stinks and that Andrew even spit out so you know it's got to be bad. I also found out that stinky tofu is exactly that, you don't need to pass close to know it's there. I noticed it last time I was on Walking Street but I didn't know what the "aroma" was, Steve indicated it's stinky tofu. The best way I can put it is that it's really bad foot odor cranked up a few notches. Firecracker to M80, that's about the right scale (and I may be sugarcoating it a little, it makes the fish smell at the office seem like roses in bloom).

We went to Auchan, a large store here for shopping. It's Wal-Mart on crack......really! If you hate Wal-Mart, you'll despise this place. Take a Xanax before walking into this store. The image below might help illustrate. I'm making an appointment for a therapist now, I've got Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after going in this place.

Note that the lane numbers (75, 76, 77,...). There were over 100 check out lanes and the crowds are just like the image. I wish I could've taken a shot from much higher up to show the people. One more image, please note the flavor on the baby formula.

I'll post a link to the photos when I have them uploaded to the web so you can review all of the photos. We walked for miles and stopped in a Starbucks to recharge for the final 15 minute walk back to the Chateau. It was a very interesting day, a lot of stuff seen and photos taken (and uploaded now that I have my cable...15 RMB for the cable, basically $2, something that would've probably cost $8 in the US. Steve bought Slumdog Millionaire on DVD for 6 RMB, less than $1. They are selling the first 18 seasons of the Simpson's for 200 RMB which is about $30. $30 might get you one season in the US. Anyhow, enjoy the photos and stay tuned.

I have to say one thing about the Expats here from my company; they are all great and willing to step up and help out with advice, places to avoid, etc. They have all gone out of the way to help me feel welcome in this very different world. This is a support system that anyone would need to make this transition. I feel very fortunate to have these folks to rely on when I need a hand.

First week back

Okay, so it’s really not the first week back, it’s been a couple of days. I arrived on Wednesday so I’ve been here exactly 3 days. First off, I’m an idiot (like that’s news to anyone). I thought I had packed the correct cable to hook my camera to the computer, it turns out I had the cable color right but the wrong cable so there will be no photos until I locate the cable here locally (or until my box arrives in 4-6 weeks). So I have my first challenge, find a cable. Something I could do in the States relatively easy may be more challenging here but we’ll see (now before when I would say “we” it would mean Tammy but now “we” is me and “we” is some kinda lazy). I know I could obtain one at the office but the easy route isn’t something I should do in this case in order to prove to myself that I can survive these types of situations. Lesson #1; double check everything. Lesson #2; don’t hook anything to the outlet unless you’re darned sure it has a transformer to convert the power properly. I came here with a Logitech cordless handset that would allow me to send & receive phone calls using the Skype VOIP system like Vonage. So, yesterday morning I decide to test this out while on Skype with Tammy & the kids. I plug it in and it rings but dies out immediately. No big deal, it needs to be charged. I screw around with it and nearly miss the van ride to the office checking out the phone. After work, I look again and notice that the plug in, although it looks like a transformer, doesn’t convert the voltage properly. I realize that I fried the unit…very nice. Not only that but I didn’t change out of my sneakers and realized about halfway to the office that I was wearing sneakers and not my steel-toed shoes. Lesson #3; take off your footwear when you walk in the door. Welcome back dummy!

The 16 hour flight was a 16 hour flight, exactly as you would think….are we there yet? The entire flight was booked solid, a change from Sat. morning when there were a ton of empty seats. The Monday flight to Shanghai was cancelled and so they pushed everyone to the Tuesday flight. I booked this flight specifically to avoid the crush but I think Delta is starting to use their standard practice. If a flight isn’t sold out and you have flights on back-to-back days, cancel the one flight and force everyone on to the other flight….so much the better (for them, customer service is for suckers). They would do this all the time with the flights from Boston to Portland or Bangor. They would claim mechanical difficulties to turn 2, ½ empty flights into one full plane. I was hoping for the empty plane so I could lie across the row and sleep but no such luck. I got to sit next to 2 kids (12-14 years old) from an International School in Shanghai, they were returning home from a 12 day trip to the States and Orlando. Imagine that, in this economy flying halfway around the world to Disney. These kids were from all over and were scattered all around the plane. One of the chaperones threw a hissy fit when he realized the problem (I guess he couldn’t figure it out before they boarded by I don’t know….checking the seat assignments on the tickets). Evidently they booked in October and were promised to all be seated together. What he didn’t factor in was that they booked the Monday flight and when it was cancelled, all bets were off. The flight attendants did all they could for them, asking people to move and such but it was a bad situation. His attitude didn’t help either. I mean what was the point of all of the kids sitting together? Think about it. If the plane went down, would it have helped that the kids were all together (ok, let’s do a head count……...I know that’s bad but I’m still sleep deprived so what are you gonna do?). It wasn’t like kids were everywhere, typically there were two seated together where possible. There were 6 or 7 chaperones so just scatter the chaperones. He was asking adults to take a middle seat in place of the kids…..c’mon dude the kids fit better into the middle seats. Of course, he had to have an aisle seat. They attempted to resolve this on the ground but even after takeoff, once we reached 10,000 feet they were still moving people. The best part and most telling part is that once in the air, I didn’t see any of the chaperones get up from their seats to check on the kids, not once….so exactly why did they have to sit together? After 12 days in Orlando with a bunch of kids, the last thing I would want is to sit by them for 16 hours. I don’t even want to sit by my kids for 16 hours (hey you, Jeffrey Dahmler looking guy in the back….switch seats with me). I watched 2 or 3 movies, who can remember since they are all terrible. It’s a long flight, I’m sure I don’t need more explanation (although I just gave more). Strange food choices from Delta, lunch and dinner were “normal” airplane food; beef, chicken or pork. The snack, a (10 cm; that’s right folk’s….metric, get used to it) small wheat roll with sliced hard boiled egg and cucumbers (I think there was cream cheese as well). Not exactly what I normally have for a snack but it’s not like we could stop at the fly-through for a burger.

First night I went out to Casa Rosa, a Tex-Mex place that is popular amongst the Expat community. It was nice, very non-threatening food. Funny how there was pizza on the menu. It seems that many places attempt to cater to everyone so the menus touch a little on everything (jack of all trades, master of none). Not too far from the Chateau, just a short cab ride away that’s near a place called Singa Plaza. I was able to figure out where I was so my memory is still intact. I can’t remember street names and such but I know general directions. Singa plaza has a lot of restaurants, Starbucks, Cold Stone Creamery, a bakery, etc. More of an Expat experience there than other areas.

First day in the office; as I mentioned previously, I wore sneakers which is a no-no, so I kept in the office for most of the day to avoid any possible issues. I did get to walk through the plant and see all the changes since I was here 3 weeks ago. Equipment is starting to be assembled and it’s going fast. It’s interesting to see how things look when you arrive versus when you leave that same day, they aren’t afraid to get things done. The biggest issue is the fumes from the fork lifts. I might as well go ahead and plan for the lung replacement now to beat the rush (I’d schedule one for China but it would probably be a counterfeit lung….made in China, comes with lung disease at no extra fee). These aren’t propane lifts, think of the crappy truck you see heading down the highway spewing out the black cloud of exhaust. Now put that truck in a warehouse moving stuff around and you’ve got the idea. Nasty stuff! The heaviest pieces of machinery aren’t even here yet….I can’t wait to see what kind of tanks they bring in to move that stuff into the building.

Second night I went out to eat by myself, back to Singa Plaza to walk around and grab a bite. I selected Jack’s Home just because it seemed a little better fit for me at this juncture. While walking along the row of eateries, I happened upon a guy was having a tantrum on the street at a parking attendant (not sure exactly what the job was for the Chinese guy but he was there to collect a fee for parking). Crocodile Dundee (the guy was an Aussie) jumped in his face, screaming in Chinese and English that he wasn’t paying the 4 RMB to park here since he paid it to park over there. The F-bomb was thrown a few times and I thought the guy was going to hit the attendant, the body language was unmistakable. Over 4 RMB…..that’s less than $1 US. I thought it was so odd to see this behavior in a country where “face” is huge. Either this guy didn’t know or didn’t care and decided that he was going to intimidate the guy doing his job. I was embarrassed for him; he could’ve just either paid it or dealt with it better. I mean he was arguing like the guy was trying to take him for $1000 or something. It’s a lesson for me to try and see things with the third person perspective (that multiple personality disorder is really going to dividends now…thank me very much, you’re welcome). The food was good, different but good. As I noted previously, it’s odd to see a menu include Western options (burgers & fries), Mexican options (quesadillas), English options (fish & chips) and local options (curry chicken). The menus are very large due to this and I’m sure it’s demanding to have a decent grasp of the different cooking techniques. A new learning was that once you have finished the meal, there’s no bill. You have to ask for the bill, it seems they will let you sit there and take up space until you are ready to leave. Not really the US method where it is pack ‘em in and get ‘em out. They will bring you the bill, open it and tell you how much for the meal (kind of like a presentation from the Price is Right…..60 RMB [with hand gesture, palm up to show the total]). 60 RMB for dinner, not bad but its Western dinner at Western prices, the meal was actually 48 RMB, its 12 RMB for the beer (local brand, other brands cost up to 20 RMB). Local fare would’ve been cheaper but I’ll dip my foot in the pool first before diving in.

On the walk back “home” I turned a corner and noticed a police car parked on the side of the road. No big deal but then I see the policeman standing near a fence relieving himself. Two young ladies walking towards me don’t really even take notice……what!?! Public indecency….perhaps but he’s the cop and I’ve seen this on the way to work in the morning as well; when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. But it leads me to my new expression, “I’ve got to pee like a cop (you know, replace the word racehorse)”. I took a different road back but still found my way, look to HoJo’s….it’s the monument to find and see where you need to be headed. If I can’t see the sign, I look for the “twinkling building”, there lights on the HoJo that twinkle so from all directions I can pick out the building as long as I am not surrounded in small streets and stuff. Okay, well this is enough to post and I’ll have more soon. Sorry for the length but what can I tell you, I’ve procrastinated and the post has grown by leaps and bounds. Stay tuned for the next episode of 我在哪里.

Scott

Week one of twelve

Scott left Tuesday morning for Suzhou to begin his two year contract.  We have been able to talk to him only a couple of times via Skype because of jet lag and trying to figure out the whole time zone thing (he is 13 hours ahead of us ~ until Sunday when we "spring forward" one hour).  I'm sure that he will blog sometime this weekend to catch everyone (including us) up on what he's been doing, in his creative way of writing.  

It's only been a couple of days and the boys have been adapting well (knock on wood).  I figure this weekend, Jacob may have a moment or two (last time Scott went for the 2 week period, it was about day 5 when Jacob had a minor breakdown).  I do have to say, that we have really good kids and I'm hopeful that there will not be too many times that I have to call on the dads that I know to knock some sense into either of them (you guys know who you are!).  I am also very thankful that we have some good people (friends) that have said that whatever I need, just call ~ thank you in advance for all that you will help me with.  I am also VERY, VERY thankful that we have great neighbors!  I must admit that I will miss them all when June gets here.  You know the type of neighbors that pick up pizza boxes off the lawn after a windy night, push down sod after a giant dumpster is picked up, or mow the lawn when you've been out of town for a few days.  You know who you are, we are so thankful for you, God Bless you!!!  Thank you so much!!!!   

Not much of a blog tonight, I just wanted to get back into the blogging routine.  It's hard to blog when my husband is such a good writer.  I've had somewhat of a complex, since my writing is not nearly as interesting as his.  But I know that is because I'm here in the States, and he is on his adventure in the Middle Kingdom.  

Someone owes me dinner

WARNING! This could be a TMI (too much information) post so read at your own peril.

This week we were told that we should go to our doctor and get a prescription for antibiotics, pain killers, nausea and anxiety. These are “just in case” prescriptions, hoping we would not need them but if needed we didn’t have to risk the local doctor’s office. Tammy was also told to get a fluoride rinse since there is no fluoride in the water in China and we’ll need this to keep our teeth strong. So, Tammy made me an appointment to see the doctor on Thursday afternoon. I thought I would get a quick check and get the meds and be on my way. WRONG!

After sitting in the waiting room next to a nut job that decided to talk across the room to Judge Alex on TV (I figured she was there to up her meds, I mean get real lady…..it’s a TV show and you’re yelling across the room with 20 other people that want you to shut up). So I get called back to see the doctor. As we walk by the restroom, the nurse indicates I need to pee in a cup. Hmmm, okay…perhaps they just want a quick drug check or something. I do my business and get led to the exam room where there is another nurse and a bunch of blood tubes. Uh-oh, what’s that all about? I ask the nurse why they need blood. It’s for my physical. Okay, it’s a little more than I expected but I guess they want to check me out before they prescribe anything to ensure I don’t get the wrong meds. Lucky me, I just got a check-up in China and now I get another check up. So I get stuck with Nurse New Needle, she looks like she’s right out of class and gets to try to take blood from her first real patient (you’ll feel a little stick…….OUCH!). Her companion nurse is asking me all of the standard questions (you have diabetes, cancer, chronic halitosis, cuticle pain, etc.) while I’m bleeding into a tube and she got to see my face when the needle went in. After Nurse Needle is finished, I’ve got to take my shirt off and get an EKG. I’m really not liking where this is going. My EKG is fine, as I would expect but now she indicates I need a chest x-ray. Are you kidding me…..alright, whatever it takes. After she leaves, in comes the doctor to chat with me. She discusses what prescriptions I was looking for and asks a lot of questions about where we’ll be living and so on. I figure she just wants to be sure before prescribing anything so being thorough is not an issue. Out comes the pad and she begins to note the medications to take with me and I figure I’m out of there in a few minutes. Then comes the big surprise…….”I’ll need you to stand up and drop your pants so I can do a testicle and rectal exam”. (long pause)

I must’ve looked like an insect when the light comes on….freeze, perhaps she won’t see me. Did I hear that right? I’m just here to get some medications to take with me to China…..I’ve been duped!! Exactly what kind of appointment did Tammy set up for me? I was not expecting this turn of events. So I quickly change the topic….I’m supposed to get a chest x-ray. She indicates to me that based on the results of the other stuff, I don’t need it (and since I walked in front of a floodlight, they saw all they needed). Rats! Nowhere to go now, I’ve got a few options; be a man, curl up in a ball and cry like a small child or make a run for it, leaving my shirt and jacket behind. I guess there’s not denying the fact that I’ve now moved into my 40s and now this is something I’ll have to get done with every doctor’s appointment (if I ever see a doctor again). So I have little choice (can I see your medical license?) but to drop ‘em and get fondled and the finger. Turn around and put your elbows on the table (just tell me George Michael is not in the building). I know, it’s for my own good to detect prostate cancer but it just doesn’t seem right, it’s like this test was developed by Dr. Jeckyl (or the IRS). Welcome to your 40’s Mr. Dudley, you’re number 1.