Who's the Driver?

I am staying at the Pargon Hotel.  Its a good 5 star hotel in China and I admit, they do treat me pretty well.
As part of their service, all vehicles entering the property pass through the security gate where the nice unifomed guard will give a quick scan to a credit card sized card and then hands it to the driver.  This scanning opens the gate (and I'm pretty sure takes a photo of the license plate). When you leave, you return the card and they open the exit gate and you depart. This takes maybe 4 seconds either direction so its not a hassle and doesn't slow anybody down.   I asume the purpose is so they know what vehicles are on the property at any given moment because a car may be there a few minutes to several days and good vehicle security would be important to both Hotel Management and Customer.  Of course, if a taxi arrives, they don't bother to give them the little card because they will only be there 2 minutes to either drop off or pick up.  In and out.

Now, the General Manager of our plant, Bill, only lives a few blocks away so he picks me up/drops me off everyday.  He drives a black Volkswagon sedan.  Every time he enters the property they give him the little card and he returns it as he leaves.  The usual pattern for the morning pick up is that after breakfast, I settle down into a chair near the Assistant Manager's lobby desk so I can watch the front door for Bill's arrival.  I don't really need to do this because after a week, the doorman, or bellhop, or Assistant Manager will recognize him pulling up and then come tell me that he has arrived.

We also noticed after about a week the guards stopped giving Bill the card at the gate; they just wave him through.  We joked about this because the guards obviously believed he was a private driver contracted by the company to ferry me back and forth to work.  We also believe that the doorman thinks the same as each morning he opens the back door of the car for me and then looks very puzzled when I proceed to get in the front passenger seat instead (why do you want to sit up here with him?).  Bill and I have enjoyed the odd humor that the GM is thought to be the lowly driver.

So today, I thought I would mess with everybody - including Bill.
The Assistant Manager motioned to me this morning that Bill was pulling up and she walked me towards the car ("I wish you nice day."), I said to her "Please do me a favor, I need to stop at the Bank of China down the street to get some cash from the ATM, so please explain to my driver that I would like him to stop and wait as I run in, get some money and then he can continue on to work."
I get in the front seat (more puzzled looks) and she sticks her head in the window and very dutifully explains my needs.  Bill looks very confused and looks at her and then at me and then back to her.  He nods his head and answers affirmatively and we pull out.
He says "If you need money, you just ask me to stop.  Why you make her tell me?"
I said "Because if you are my private driver, then I figure you don't speak English and I needed help to explain what I need to do."
There is a slight pause as that thought registers and Bill begins laughing so hard he has to pull over to the side of the driveway to avoid a wreck.  He says "Now they really do think that the Genaral Manager is really the private driver!  Why you do this to them?"
Why? Because it just seemed the thing to do.  And both of us laughed all the way to work.

And that is my weird humor story for the day.

Chinese Etiquette Classes for Women

     Over your Chinese Breakfast of two fried eggs (over easy) served on top of a healthy portion of rice noodles mixed with red chili peppers; a side dish of dumplings, fried pork and peppers, pig knuckles, taro root in spicy chili sauce, some bacon that only maybe saw the image of a frying pan, and finished off with watermelon slices, chunks of fresh pineapple, some black tea and a cold glass of Tang Orange Juice, this tasty tidbit from the daily edition of the "China Daily" newspaper.

China now has Finishing Schools for Women. 

For a mere 10,000 RMB/day ($1600 USD), wealthy Chinese women can learn all the fine etiquette required to help them assimilate into our modern global culture.

In fact, these classes are being added to middle school and high school curriculum and are even being added to Executive MBA Courses at several leading universities!

I'm thinking this could be a good idea.  No more watching beautiful Chinese women spitting their chcken bones out on the floor; no more sticking your face down onto your plate and just shoveling the rice into your mouth as if somebody was about to take it away  from you to leave you starving; no more slurpng your noodles; no more picking your teeth at the table, and certainly no more burping mid sentence with a mouth full of food and yet never missing a single syllable while talking loudly in a restaurant so that everybody within a 3 kilometer radius can overhear what you are discussing.  Yes, these finishing classes will the savior of young women across the country and not a moment too soon I say.

So I read on.  I'm curious as to what these classes will be teaching and concerned that the cost of the finishing school will be too prohibitive so the idea of incorporating these classes into the public school system will certainly help with the outreach program.

Some people quoted in the article think the classes are a great idea to "empower" young women; while others think they will only encourage women to be more superficial.  Since when are basic etiquette skills superficial?  Not a chance.  How could they be?  The article continues ... "In some cities, such as Chengdu and Beijing, many women, mostly white-collar workers, attend courses such as

• "Factors existing in relationships with successful men",
• "Wealthy men's general requirements for their future wives" and
• "How to create chances to date rich men".

Superficial?  Oh come on.  These are the skills every "empowered" woman needs and desires.

Yeah, right.  I think I feel my taro root in spicy chili sauce beginning to turn in my stomach. 

Maybe they have a course for that, too?

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2013-05/31/content_16552375.htm

     



Yes, I am back in Xiangtan

I have returned to Xiangtan to complete what we started last April for our customer.
As I passed through Beijing Airport and then arrived at the Xiangtan Paragon Hotel, I ran into some "interesting" signs and pictures I needed to share ...

A Little Old Lady Bringing Krispy Kreme Doughnuts to China
(saw this in Beijing Airport)

Leave it to China to change the "Yellow Brick Road" from Yellow to Red!

But if you do these things on a regular basis; that would be OK?

Arm & Who?

I dont ususally post twice in a day, but I had to ...

Saw this today after lunch.

Need I say more?

Labor Day Weekend In The Middle Of The Week

It's Labor Day Weekend Here.
I know today is Wednesday, so how is that a weekend?  I'll Explain.

In China, each holiday is celebrated on the actual day it occurs.  So this year Labor Day (01 May) is on Wednesday so that day is observerd as official Labor Day.  Therefore, in order to maximize the holiday and provide for a three day weekend, they just move the weekend to Monday/Tuesday - which means we work Sat/Sun like a regular business work day.  So after a grueling 7 day work week, we have 3 days off.  Everybody gets excited about the long holiday and despite my many reminders that it is really only a one day holiday with a shuffled weekend, they all claim its a three day holiday.  The fact that the quantity of work days/year is unchanged is either forgotten or just plain ignored.  So there it is; a long weekend in the middle of the week.

So what to do?

Sunday night after work, Devid, Joyen and I had dinner with a friend of Devid and her family.  Her name is Ting Ting.  She has a 7 year old son named Chun Qi Xuan and a husband whose name I never grasped.  She teaches English here at a local elementary school after spending 2 years in West Virginia teaching English in some small coal mining town as part of her University Internship Program.  As a result her and her family's English is quite good. 

We arrived to her small apartment and her son met us with his prepared speech ...

"My name is Chun Qi Xuan.  Welcome to my house.  I am seven years old.  Pleased to meet you.  This is my mother and my father and my grandparents.  I go to school here and learn English (and so on) ..."  It was very cute and you could tell he had worked very hard to learn and practice this in order to deliver it to us to meet his mother's expectations.  We crammed into their apartment and feasted on spicy roast rabbit, meatballs, pork, smoked tofu, eggplant, Chinese collards, etc, etc.  It was delicious and I know they spent entirley too much money and effort for us, so it was especially nice to be included.

After dinner Chun Qi Xuan played his violin for us.  He has been taking lessons for 1 month and I was surprised at how well he played.  He played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and while he played so slowly I couldn't recognize the tune, it was not screatchy and each note was carefully played and he had the most serious scowling look of concentration on his face.  Cute kid.

Monday I went to Changsha to visit with one of my friends who has since left working for us to catch up with her on her new job and her life.  Changsha is 40 miles north of Xiangtan which means an an hour bus ride.  I have learned how to do this, but I did have a paper with "Changsha Bus Railway Station" written in Chinese to show the ticket agent.  The hotel concierge didn't believe me when I said I was doing that and was concerned I would end up in the wrong place, but no worries.  I got my ticket which lists the bus number and after matching that with the sign next to the bus; I was on my way.

Li Mi met me at the bus station and she drove me in her NEW car, a Volkswagon Polo (Marty, her driving skills are now excellent) through the pouring rain so instead of some sightseeing we went to a small coffee shop where she filled me in on all the reasons she left our company and told me everything about her new job (Siemens) and everything going on with her and her family.  It was great to catch up, but I had to chuckle at spending the afternoon in a Chinese Coffee shop talking.  It was very Chinese.  I asked her about her boyfriend and she said "how did you know?"  I soaid I didn't and was only guessing, but obviously there is a boyfriend now.  She showed me hs picture and told me all about him (7 years older than her); but I get the feeling this will not last.  Who knows?  Later, we had dinner at a spectacular Hot Pot

restaurant and then she dropped me back at the bus station and I was back in the hotel by 10:30 PM.

Tuesday, the weather had cleared and I decided I needed to just walk and get excersize.  I walked across the #1 Bridge to the downtown and made a big loop just walking and looking and seeig sights.  I came across a shopping mall where they were having a skateboard competition so I grabbed a DQ oreo blizzard and sat and watched and talked to one of the skaters for a while.   They were jumping over stacked up skateboards building the height up with each round and next was was the ramp and the rail.  Two skaters were very good, but most were average and how nobody

broke an arm or split their head open, I'll never know since "personal protective equipment" was non existant.  I watched for awhile then continued on my walk.  I did see this scooter parked next to one store.  I call it the "Harley Scooter" since it has been all pimped out in chrome.  Pretty funny looking. 

I also saw a billboard for Nike.  Now I know what they were trying to say (I'm cocked and loaded and faster than you) - but can you imagine the outcry from our Amercan Liberal Left if Nike tried to use this Ad in the USA?

It was cool and breezy and by the time I returned to the hotel I had logged 8.5 miles.  My phone logs the distance and route but no map since I guess Google hasn't mapped Xiangtan yet (imagine that).  A good day of excersize and while my legs were tired, it was great to get out and do something physical.

Now today I have some work to do to prepare for tomorrow.  I have to find out tomorrow if some components have arrived from our supplier and determine if they are suitable to use (yes,there is some debate on this).  If yes, I will stay one more week to help ensure our first assembly of this product is completed correctly to ship.  If not, I'll come home on Saturday as originally planned.  So that makes Thursday "Decision Day for Me" (not to be confused with Charles' Decision Day).
I'll let you know what the plan is as soon as I know!