Weekend Giggles

Topic of the day: Weekend joke highlight

 

Q: What do you get when Sheila's in the sauna?

A: A hot Sheila!

 

Hehe, it gave me the giggles.  Thanks to Simon, the Australian, for sharing the joke.

 

10 official work hours left before my internship ends - waa-hooooo!!!

 

Friday night's Thanksgiving dinner was great.  Everything was homemade - from the huge turkey, to the mashed potatoes, to the stuffing, to the the cassaroles.  Yummm...  Had, for the first time in my life, a drink concoction that mixed wine, gin, & beer together.  And it wasn't that bad at all.  Had another one that had vodka, beer, lemon concentrate, & sugar.  Not bad either.

Thanksgiving Food

Topic of the day: Thanksgiving fare on the other side of the world

 

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, just thought I'd give an idea to the kind of Thanksgiving feast that us semi-expats in Beijing can conjour up:

 

Main course:

Yellow beef curry

Green pork curry

Crab rangoons

Shrimp spring rolls

Baked chicken

Faux shrimp & duck patty

Chilled sirloin beef slices

Pinapple fried rice

 

Dessert:

Shave ice with flan with condensed milk

Shaved ice with taro & condensed milk

 

And tonight will be a homemade traditional meal!

 

Yummmm...

Thanksgiving Pad Thai

Topic: American holiday, expat style

 

First of all, a very happy Thanksgiving to all the two people who's reading this blog!

 

For the first time since the age of seven, I do not have Thanksgiving off as a holiday.  Even though I'm working for an American company right now, they still follow Chinese holiday scheme, and the Chinese do not recognize the holiday of Yanks escaping from the Brits and subsequently killing off Indians.  Besides a few restaurants having special Thanksgiving fares, the holiday passes relatively unnoticed by even the expats themselves.  Work goes on as usual, life goes on as usual.  (By the way, Turkeys are also ridiculously expensive in Beijing - up to 350 kuai a bird!)

 

With all luck, I'm still crossing my fingers on getting some Turkey.  One of Stephanie's American expat friend is cooking a big dinner for a bunch of friends tomorrow night & I'm tagging along.  The guy's opening a Mexican restaurant in Beijing soon, so I assume can cook.

 

Since this holiday is about spending time with family & friends, I've decided to dedicate my Thanksgiving night to the latter (my family doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving anyway).  Not willing to pay more a minimum of at least 150 kuai, almost $20 USD, for any restaurant's Thanksgiving dinner, Stephanie, myself, and another IU alum are going to get some Thai food tonight.  Hmmm - nothing says Thanksgiving more than Tom Yum Soup & Pad Thai!

 

 

 

 

Quote of the day

Topic: Avian Flu

 

Setting: Sitting in a cab, the cab driver & I listening to the radio news.  One news of the day was the report of two more avian flu death in China.

 

Taxi Driver: I reckon that's how all the dinosaurs died.

 

Beijingers have a funny sense of humor.

 

WTF man, WTF...

Once in a while, I have one of those days where at the end, the only thought that comes to mind is "What the fuck??". Last night was definately a WTF night.

The evening started off nicely enough - Troy & Eduardo were having a housewarming/birthday party (for the latter). After a few hours, we decided to head off to Bar Blu. That's where everything started going downhill. Here's a quick list of some of the things that happened:

- Had the pleasure of meeting the biggest asshole in the club.
- Heard possibly the worst pickup line ever: "Excuse me, have I seen you before...like in a movie or a magazine??"
- Argued with the coat check man for 15 minutes to get my jacket back.
- Having someone who I previously thought was gay hitting on me. So weird.
- And worst of all: Losing the game. Arghhh...

The only light part of the evening was this quote from Eduardo: "Why do you want that ugly mule??"

At the end of the night, I came out of the taxi dazed & confused. What the fuck??

Now this morning, my head hurts & my pride hurts.

Needed to bitch & rant...

What the...

Topic of the day: Marketing Ingenuity?

 

For those of you who didn't know, Beijing is a very dry city.  The city actually does not get that much precipitation of any form at all.  Thus, to protect your skin & respiratory system, humidifiers are hot commodities around this part of the woods.  Earlier this week, I was walking around a local Carrefour (a huge French chain of supermarket/convenient store) and was checking out the humidifiers.  I walked past one humidifier sample where they actually put two live fish in it. 

 

Using fish to advertise humidifiers.

 

PETA would have a fit.

Precious & Fluffy Flashback

Topic of the day: Precautions Against Bird Flu

 

During the summer time, when I was in Beijing, I woke up almost every morning by the shrill croaking of the neighbor's rooster.  Even though I live in the middle of a huge metropolis, some man who lives in the building across the street keeps a flock of carrier pigeons and a rooster on the roof of his building.  The rooster was very good at his job.  Every day, the bird would start croaking its sweet little head off at around 7am.  Not only that, the thing seemed to start earlier on days when I needed the extra sleep the most.  At the time, I cursed the rooster numerous times in my half awake state, wishing that it'd end up in someones cooking pot as soon as possible. 

 

A few days ago, as I was in my room, zoning out while staring out my window, and it suddenly hit me that I haven't heard anything from the rooster in a long, long time - since the end of summer!  Sure enough, when I scanned the building's roof, there were no traces of life - even the giant pigeon cage seemed eerily empty. 

 

Now of course, I assume that with the threat of avian flu ever increasing, the chicken's owner took the most responsible action & sent the rooster to rooster heaven.  At this point, memories of Precious & Fluffy from this past April's Austin Reception Weekend rushes back to me.   I guess I got my wish.  With the shock of its sudden (assumed) death,  I do feel bad for the rooster - honestly.  I can only hope that the man spared the lives of his fleet of pigeons...

 

RIP Rooster, Fluffy, & Precious 

Let there be heat!

Topic of the day: There's finally heating!!

 

Even though modern day China oozes capitalism from almost every pore, traces of Communism still remains.  Case and point: in various other countries of the world, once winter rolls around, one is able to turn on their heat (granted, if they have a heating system) any time their little heart desires.  Not so in China.  In the Middle Kingdom, the party decides every year when the heat comes on.  If it's too cold for one's taste before the heat comes on, the only solution would be to pile on the layers of clothes.  Luckily, the temperature now is still pretty mild (considering the season) & the set day for the heat to start this year is today, November 15th!  This means no more waking up in chilly rooms!

 

Beijing is very lucky in that almost all buildings have central heating.  Further south, starting from around the Shanghai area, there is no central heating.  Anywhere.  The few winters when I was in China & was down in Shanghai visiting family, I remember everyone would sit in a freezing living room, wearing heavy coats, gloves, hats - the whole nine yards.  Even public institutions - like schools - have no heating.  Kids would go to school & try to keep warm all day in their coats & gloves.  I believe the same is true for western China.  I think I've heard that very few guesthouses in Tibet have heating.  We barely had any during the Gansu/Qinghai trip.  

 

Winter is rough in China, indeed.  But, one have to find happiness in all the little things: I'll be very happy to sleep in a cozy room tonight.  :)    

Shanghai Crew

From left to right: Nick, Michelle, Myself, Eduardo, & Troy
In front: Adam

Inspired!

I'm inspired by Troy's daily notes on life in Beijing (he's a trainee from Australia).  So inspired, in fact, that I have decided to attempt keep my own nearly daily updates on observations of life, living, & experiences in Beijing and the greater China area (and by daily, I mean weekdays).  We'll see how this goes.  But on to the first topic!

 

Topic of the day: Beijing Traffic

 

Beijing traffic has a notorious reputation all around China.  The city is probably one of the most congested traffic in all of China.  I've recently heard a statistic of something like everyday, there are 2,000 new cars on the streets of Beijing.

 

You can basically guesstimate when & where there will be heavy congestion everyday: 7am - 10pm, anywhere within the 4th Ring Road, sometimes the 5th Ring Road (to give a scope, most of the city functions within the 3rd Ring).  You can also bet that traffic will be exceptionally bad on Monday mornings & Friday afternoons.  And if there is a fender-bender anywhere, don't plan on budging. 

 

When living in a city with such bad traffic, it isn't surprising hear traffic stories from hell.  For example, last night, I was stuck in traffic in a cab, listening to a popular radio program (ironically called, "A Clear & Un-congested Way") & the topic of the day was "waiting in line."  The show offers frequent traffic updates & listeners can SMS their own responses & personal experiences to the daily topics.  One driver text in & said that he's been stuck in traffic for 1.5 hours - and have not moved more than 500 meters!!!  Another story that hits closer to home was when I went from my office to the MC apartment for dinner.  It usually should not be more than 15 minutes drive.  I was stuck in traffic for close to 50 minutes.  And that's not including the 30 minutes I spent trying to find a cab.  The same program that day had a driver on our same road text in with a message saying something to the effects of: "If you want to see a grand car exhibition, there's a free one today on the 3rd Ring Road"

 

With all this traffic & the ever increasing popularity of personal cars, there seems to be no traffic solutions in sight.  So what should one do to keep sane while stuck in traffic in Beijing?  Start thinking about investing in a bicycle!!! 

Shanghai Night

This weekend, I went with a bunch of Beijing pimps & pimette to take a much needed weekend of relaxation in the Pearl of the East - Shanghai.  This time, there were no workshops to attend or late night overtimes to pull.  Thankfully, all my energy was reserved for relaxing, eating, drinking, & generally soaking up the atmosphere.

 

Without going into too much elaborate details, here are a few weekend highlights:

 

- Adam.  Laptop.  I say no more.

- Meeting up with the smelly POS, his pretty wife, & their nice friends.

- Big & Little French girls w/ Nick & Adam and all the subsequent stories that ensued.  "Not even if I was drunk" - Eduardo

- Noticing for the first time ever that from certain angles, the Shanghai broadcast tower looks like a huge penis.  This is especially true on a foggy Shanghai night.  I think the building should be rechristened as the Penis Building.

- Seeing soooo many foreigners at various club & bar establishments.  I have not yet seen so many white folks in any bar in China.  It felt like I was back in Indiana.

- Seeing for the first time a white girl working as a ticket collector in China (for a bar).

- Random Asian American at Bar Rouge (from Irvine, CA) who donated his bucket of shooters to Nick & I.

- Nick showing Michelle & I all angles of himself.  Really.  All angles.

- Michelle & I trying to scare Nick, but only ending up scaring ourselves in the end.  :(

- Trying to find shoes for Michelle up and down Hui Hai Avenue.

- The lovely wine, music, & atmosphere at Le Petite Cafe.

- Jingmao Tower's cooool atrium.  Probably the coolest one I've ever seen!  Thanks, Adam, for showing us the place!

- Brunch at Azul's - best I've had in a longgggg time.  I'm still dreaming about it!

- Nick being eyed up and down by the small group of gay Chinese guys while we were waiting for our flight at the lounge of Hongqiao Airport.

 

In the end, I have to admit it - Shanghai is growing on me.  I'm enjoying the great climate, beautiful architecture, gorgeous food, & lovely atmosphere (still not a huge fan of the locals though).  The mix between European & Chinese is wonderful! 

I'm Hired!

Good news! It looks like I'll be starting a new position at Hill & Knowlton in early December!!! (the day after my internship ends) I can officially say now that I won't be unemployed after my stint with GM! Yay!!!!! I'm kinda proud as well, being how the H&K job was the first real full time position I've ever applied for. It always feels good to make the first shot. :) :) :)

This also means another good news: that I won't have to live with my Mother anymore & can move to a flat in Chaoyang - the flat is within minutes from Chaoyang Park east gate - there's even a Jenny Lou's near me!

I think this calls for a celebtration in Shanghai this weekend. :)

An Observation

I just sent an old professor of mine an email with two observations I've made about the Chinese working culture.  I'm repasting it on my blog for anyone who might be interested in reading...

 

Just wanted to give you an update on what happened during the rest of the Shanghai conference: After I last talked to you, I had the opportunity to talk to 2 of the PR people who were at the conference - one from GM China & one from the states.  I talked to them about my feelings of the presentations - how it was very basic PR/communications knowledge.  Both their response were basically that they realize that as well, but they had to do it to present it for everyone else at the meeting (all public policy, tech people) - so basically, formalities.

 

One thing I realized about working in a large international corporation is that there are so much bureaucracy !  It seems like for even a simple decision, countless powerpoints have to be made.  After college, I thought my ppt days were over.  I was sorely mistaken!

 

There are two other things I picked up about the Chinese working culture, made more obvious by this meeting with the Americans.  For one, people seem so passive when it comes to making contributions or suggestions about anything.  For example, during the most crucial part of the meeting, when we were trying to start to establish a work plan for the project, most contributions were made by the Americans.  That's funny considering the fact that, after all, they are the newcomers who are relatively unfamiliar with China's situation.  Meanwhile, most of the Chinese colleagues were just sitting there, asking questions only when pushed to.  Mind you, most of the Chinese are very bright people in their own fields.  Even the big boss of the Beijing office mentioned this.  Similar occurrences takes place even in regular office meetings, causing many deer-in-the-headlight looks.

 

Another thing I noticed about China is how little people "think outside the box".  It seems like if employees here have done something that's been proven to work before, they're more keen to sticking with that than exploring other options which might be more affective.  For example, I am working on a ppt to present a new internal website.  Previously, they always had gif images of the website on the ppt itself.  I advised that it might be better to show them the website directly.  Needless to say, my idea was shot down.

 

I sat next to a Brit who worked for Volkswagen this summer on the plane to China.  He said that compared with Western kids, you'll find some of the most respectful, brightest, & diligent kids in China.  However, when it comes to finding leadership potentials, you'll be more likely to find that in Western kids their Chinese counterparts.  I remember reading an article a while ago on a very small minority of people are complaining that the Chinese school system stifles creativity.  I think that, combined with Confucian ideas of conformity, creates this current environment with problems like the ones I just mentioned.

 

I guess the moral of this email is just for you to tell your students how lucky they are to be brought up in an environment that promotes creativity, independence & individualism!  All this definitely made me realize that maybe an American education does kind of live up to its reputation - and that's why so many people in the world wants one!