"If someone from Chicago's involved, do it. Do it, do it, do it" - my father
I’m taking a new job. Project management. www.mb-associates.com.cn British boss, small company, wants to train me up. Basically, we represent a client as they move their business to a new office, from dealing with the designers, architects, renovation contractors, furniture people, etc. Sounds a lot better than what I’m doing now [which is still not much]. I start in a little over two weeks. I’m VERY excited to get outta here and do something I actually want to get up in the morning to do. [The Chicago person is my boss’s wife, who has her own company but works out of the same office].
Besides that, its hot here but not as hot as it was last summer. I have a couple bike races coming up so I’m trying to train for those. I bought new plants for my apt as well as a second hand couch that is much comfier… I’ll try to take photos soon.
Random Observations of life here: [feel free to scan these]
An actual conversation I just had with the secretary at work:
"Fiona, I ran out of tissues. How do I get another box?"
"Did you apply last month for tissues?"
"No."
And that's how it goes in the world of anyone-takes-anything-that-isn't accounted for. SOMEHOW they had an extra box lying around and I was allowed to use that one. But this
month I will be applying for the maximum of two boxes, in an effort not to run out [other people use my tissues so it's hard to gauge].
Most executives that I speak to seem to intersperse their Chinese with English words. Most do not shake hands. Not even the men. We can have entire conversations without knowing each other's name.
"VIP" is a commonly used term in Chinese, they all know it and use it frequently, however, the letter 'v' is not an easy one for the Chinese pronounce [think the Japanese and the letter 'r'] so "VIP" becomes "wei IP".
Receptionists, in general, are meant to be friendly people. After visiting every company in my building to do a survey, I see this is Not true. Out of 35 companies, only two had friendly receptionists. And the others were not only not friendly, they were downright mean.
I used to think the ability to sit and do nothing was something
limited to the mentally challenged young adults I worked with at Hui
Ling, I now see that anyone whose job is content-free has that
ability, and they sit there perfectly content. Not filling their time
busying themselves with other things, like I do, but just sitting,
occasionally chatting [no doubt about important issues] because by
sitting and doing nothing at least they are not doing the Wrong thing
[like I am, reading the NYtimes and such]. How do they have this
ability? Were they not stimulated as kids? Does ADHD not exist here?
I'm served Nestle instant coffee by the office maid-lady. This is an
interesting form of coffee, I've had coffee flavored candies that
resemble coffee more than this does. Its amazingly sweet, which is odd
considering most Chinese don't eat oreos remarking that it "too
sweet". My boss drinks this regularly, I think more as a sign of status than actual enjoyment. He also has tobacco stained hands that shake. He works all the time, a workaholic for sure, yet seems to be trying to kill himself as fast as possible with his cigarette intake. I don't get it. And he burps.
China needs basic health classes. In addition to many misconceptions of ways to lose weight that I’ve heard Chinese women make, I particularly enjoyed this one:
"the best way to lose weight is to not work out. because when you work
out, you need to eat more. so if you just rest and sleep then you can
eat less and lose weight"
You mean your work doesn't supply you with pantyhose?
Mine does. And demands that I wear them to, along with the rest of the uniform. The Communist idea of the 'dan wei' is still alive and well, even in the multinational corporate world. I also get $1.25 for lunch every day, a shuttle bus to and from work, and a locker room where at 6.10pm all my female co-workers are sprinting towards the free hot water showers.
Summer is here, which means my neighbors have commenced sitting guard at our doorway at most hours of the day, making it easier for them to monitor my every move and ask me questions like "is your toilet still blocked up" [it isn't] and 'do you think its hot? [turns to another neighbor] she runs her air conditioning 24 hours a day [not true, only at night]. I guess they don't know the energy hogs that americans are usually known to be.
On the airplane: we've discussed the squat toilets before, all public toilets are squats, but most modern facilities and homes have toilets as we know them. The Chinese seem to insist that they squat, even on a sitting toilet, even on the airplane. It's true. On my Air China flight, I found footprints on the seat. That's quite a physical feat!
Biking statistics (from the Economist)
Between 1978 and 2004 the number of vehicles [cars] on China's roads increased 20-fold to 27m. As recently as 1998, 60% of Beijing commuters used bicycles, according to the Cycling Association of China. By 2002 that figure had already dropped to 20%. Some 1,000 cars are added to the city's roads each day.
Combover [the operations manager here] is gone, he was only here briefly and left for unknown reasons. So far I don't miss his odd English or listening to him spit into tissues. Some other things he did to pass the time:
Rubbing his eyes
Looking like he's thinking
Playing with his cell phone
Folding tissues
Quietly spitting into tissues
Looking at what he spit into the tissue
Rubbing his hands
Crossing his hands in front of his computer
Rubbing his head
Inspecting zippers on his briefcase
repositioning his laptop and mouse
getting and drinking horrible instant Nescafe
putting the long strands of hair barely covering his bald spot back on top of his head [only when it falls forward]
sneezing
scratching the back of his head
closing his laptop and opening it again
arranging documents on his desk
staring blankly
blinking repeatedly
rearranging pre-folded tissues
digging into pockets for tissues
staring at his turquoise cell phone [not the manliest of colors even in china]
yelling at his assistant to fetch documents from the printer
hiring more educated young women to do nothing
Replacing Combover is a man who has worked mostly in the government/ bureaucracy and goes by the English name "Jahops" which he took from his Chinese name "Jian Guo". [I don’t see the connection in the two names, nor where he gets the idea that he can invent his own name].
Besides that, its hot here but not as hot as it was last summer. I have a couple bike races coming up so I’m trying to train for those. I bought new plants for my apt as well as a second hand couch that is much comfier… I’ll try to take photos soon.
Random Observations of life here: [feel free to scan these]
An actual conversation I just had with the secretary at work:
"Fiona, I ran out of tissues. How do I get another box?"
"Did you apply last month for tissues?"
"No."
And that's how it goes in the world of anyone-takes-anything-that-isn't accounted for. SOMEHOW they had an extra box lying around and I was allowed to use that one. But this
month I will be applying for the maximum of two boxes, in an effort not to run out [other people use my tissues so it's hard to gauge].
Most executives that I speak to seem to intersperse their Chinese with English words. Most do not shake hands. Not even the men. We can have entire conversations without knowing each other's name.
"VIP" is a commonly used term in Chinese, they all know it and use it frequently, however, the letter 'v' is not an easy one for the Chinese pronounce [think the Japanese and the letter 'r'] so "VIP" becomes "wei IP".
Receptionists, in general, are meant to be friendly people. After visiting every company in my building to do a survey, I see this is Not true. Out of 35 companies, only two had friendly receptionists. And the others were not only not friendly, they were downright mean.
I used to think the ability to sit and do nothing was something
limited to the mentally challenged young adults I worked with at Hui
Ling, I now see that anyone whose job is content-free has that
ability, and they sit there perfectly content. Not filling their time
busying themselves with other things, like I do, but just sitting,
occasionally chatting [no doubt about important issues] because by
sitting and doing nothing at least they are not doing the Wrong thing
[like I am, reading the NYtimes and such]. How do they have this
ability? Were they not stimulated as kids? Does ADHD not exist here?
I'm served Nestle instant coffee by the office maid-lady. This is an
interesting form of coffee, I've had coffee flavored candies that
resemble coffee more than this does. Its amazingly sweet, which is odd
considering most Chinese don't eat oreos remarking that it "too
sweet". My boss drinks this regularly, I think more as a sign of status than actual enjoyment. He also has tobacco stained hands that shake. He works all the time, a workaholic for sure, yet seems to be trying to kill himself as fast as possible with his cigarette intake. I don't get it. And he burps.
China needs basic health classes. In addition to many misconceptions of ways to lose weight that I’ve heard Chinese women make, I particularly enjoyed this one:
"the best way to lose weight is to not work out. because when you work
out, you need to eat more. so if you just rest and sleep then you can
eat less and lose weight"
You mean your work doesn't supply you with pantyhose?
Mine does. And demands that I wear them to, along with the rest of the uniform. The Communist idea of the 'dan wei' is still alive and well, even in the multinational corporate world. I also get $1.25 for lunch every day, a shuttle bus to and from work, and a locker room where at 6.10pm all my female co-workers are sprinting towards the free hot water showers.
Summer is here, which means my neighbors have commenced sitting guard at our doorway at most hours of the day, making it easier for them to monitor my every move and ask me questions like "is your toilet still blocked up" [it isn't] and 'do you think its hot? [turns to another neighbor] she runs her air conditioning 24 hours a day [not true, only at night]. I guess they don't know the energy hogs that americans are usually known to be.
On the airplane: we've discussed the squat toilets before, all public toilets are squats, but most modern facilities and homes have toilets as we know them. The Chinese seem to insist that they squat, even on a sitting toilet, even on the airplane. It's true. On my Air China flight, I found footprints on the seat. That's quite a physical feat!
Biking statistics (from the Economist)
Between 1978 and 2004 the number of vehicles [cars] on China's roads increased 20-fold to 27m. As recently as 1998, 60% of Beijing commuters used bicycles, according to the Cycling Association of China. By 2002 that figure had already dropped to 20%. Some 1,000 cars are added to the city's roads each day.
Combover [the operations manager here] is gone, he was only here briefly and left for unknown reasons. So far I don't miss his odd English or listening to him spit into tissues. Some other things he did to pass the time:
Rubbing his eyes
Looking like he's thinking
Playing with his cell phone
Folding tissues
Quietly spitting into tissues
Looking at what he spit into the tissue
Rubbing his hands
Crossing his hands in front of his computer
Rubbing his head
Inspecting zippers on his briefcase
repositioning his laptop and mouse
getting and drinking horrible instant Nescafe
putting the long strands of hair barely covering his bald spot back on top of his head [only when it falls forward]
sneezing
scratching the back of his head
closing his laptop and opening it again
arranging documents on his desk
staring blankly
blinking repeatedly
rearranging pre-folded tissues
digging into pockets for tissues
staring at his turquoise cell phone [not the manliest of colors even in china]
yelling at his assistant to fetch documents from the printer
hiring more educated young women to do nothing
Replacing Combover is a man who has worked mostly in the government/ bureaucracy and goes by the English name "Jahops" which he took from his Chinese name "Jian Guo". [I don’t see the connection in the two names, nor where he gets the idea that he can invent his own name].
posted by Claire at 4:41 AM
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