My day started out by waking up again at 5:15 am local time. What the heck. I always prided myself in my ability to sleep. For some reason that is not possible in China. I read my email and did some work on my blog. While typing away I watched some BBC which was enlightening on why America is so awful. I guess I never knew.
At around 9:00 am I spoke with my friend who was coming to my hotel via cab. We decided to take the cab into work. We have been warned that the traffic is real bad in Beijing. Apparently there are 3 Million cars in the city. That is why we are going into work so late.
The taxi ride was not that exciting of a ride. Maybe it was because we were moving so much slower. There were a couple of times where I braced for impact, but it never came. Maybe I will have better luck next time.
As we drove through the city I was so amazed at the size of the buildings that are here. It reminded me of walking the Las Vegas strip. You think that building is right over there but then you realize that the building is hugs and it is not close to you at all. I took a bunch of pictures of these buildings. You can view them here:
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| Beijing Trip - Day 2 Buildings |
It seems to me that all of Beijing is under construction. On my way into work I saw so many cranes erecting new buildings. And the sounds of jackhammers are everywhere. It is interesting to note that you will see so much manual work being done along side machinery that could be used to do the work in much less time. It is almost as if China employs people just to employ them. There are guards everywhere. People to open the door for you, people picking up trash, people wanting your empty water bottle. I have not seen anybody begging for money. I am approached all the time by people, but they all want to sell me something, or to do something for me. American beggars should take a lesson from them. This genral attitude is what I think makes this country impressive.
Arriving at work, the first thing I noticed was that the AC was not on. Crap, I should have put on more deodorant, and why the hell did I dress up. Long sleeve shirts suck in the heat. Introductions were great, I gave away my business cards with both hands, I pointed out something interesting on the cards. I admired their business cards. Just like I was taught. I met the team, 11 girls one boy. I am immediately curious as to why in the tech field there would be so many women. Everyone is excited to see me and they have gone out of their way to make me happy. Some have moved desks so that I can have a place to work. I give away the gifts I picked up at the company store and they are accepted with many smiles.
Before any real work can start a couple of the girls want to take Henry and I out for lunch. we agree, thinking that we will be going to a cafeteria or something small. Nope they take us to a nice formal sit down place. Both of these girls did receive their masters in England (I forget the schools names) so their English is pretty good. I let them order explaining that I would like to try what they like to eat. We drank tea, and one of the girls explained that she would like to show my friend and I how to make traditional Chinese tea. She says it will take 30-45 minutes. We have never seen this and we both agree that we would like to see this. Hopefully this will become a reality. Apparently there is a lot of equipment and work that goes into it.
The food arrives:
Wow what a feast. I try everything and I like it all. We all fill up and there are so much left overs, it is crazy. One of the things that I notice with other patrons is that they all have a 2.5 liter soft drink on their table. It is the same diameter as one of our 2 liters just taller. It looks like a miniature bomb. I have to get one of these, imagine what a pinched whistling pete would do in one of these. I am still eating with chop sticks, I will not eat with a fork. I get a couple of giggles, but for the most part I am successful. The whole trick is to get low and next to your food. My mother would kill me if I did this at the dinner table. You must also slurp the slimy noodles otherwise you will never get them into your mouth. Everyone else is doing it and so do I. The bill comes and I want to pay, but it gets put on their company. That was nice of them.
The rest of the work day is spent with me training them in a small conference room, with no AC. The only exciting thing that happened was when the wind blew through the window and knocked the white board down onto the back of my head. That got a lot of laughs, but then again someone getting hurt is universally funny.
The whole group is excited, they all are going to take me out to a nice restaurant and the company will pay for it. I am the guest of honor. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I want to make a favorable impression, but my eating skills are not that great, and I am not as familiar as I wish I was on their customs surrounding the formality of dinner. We arrive at this very nice restaurant, that has all of the food laid out in the lobby. It seems weird but I guess you know what you are getting. Here are several pictures so that you have an idea of what I mean:
I have no idea what most of this stuff is. There is also the section where the live food is kept. The group thought that this was very special, I thought it was weird, but I knew I was in for a treat. Here is what I mean:
Just to make my moms happy here are the veg tables:
The head of the group chose the dishes and we all went up to a room that had been set aside for us. There were two waitresses that stayed in the room with us and filled our tea and beer whenever it was half full. We sat around and chatted for awhile and the food started rolling in. There were two tables each with a lazy susan on them. The food kept rolling in in waves but nobody started eating, we just kept chatting away. Finally, my friend tells me that I must give a toast wishing everyone well and wishing something for them personally. Uhhh what? I can try, but why don't you show me... Haha got him. Well not really, I grab my beer and we stand up, he says some words about prosperity, a good future to them, and then I say "thanks to the people that provided us the food, and that I hope that it nourishes our bodies". Basically it is the Catholic grace but substituting them for god. Nobody notices and I am saved by the grace of god.
Finally we start our eating. Here is a picture half way through the meal:
I tried everything and I did it with chop sticks. I am so awesome I think. My friend would not eat the boiled fish (bottom right in pic), I did and then I laughed at him, and when the women started laughing at him. He put up and tried it himself. He loved it, and had seconds. Me? Not so much, it was way too oily and I really do not like fish eyes and other weird parts. There was one thing (top middle right)that I took a huge bite of and it had all of these small bones in it, I tried gracefully to spit them into my small napkin but there was too many of them. Plus it was kind of slimy and mushy. It tasted alright, but I was just not sure. Something was not right. I asked what it was and I was told I just had a bull frogs head.... Uhhh what the hell. They asked me if I was going to be sick, I said no, but I sure wish they would de-bone the next frog head that I eat.
We finish dinner and take pictures. I get several comments on how big I am. I am thinking that they mean my gut, but then when I look at the picture in my camera I think I see what they mean:
I may only leave this picture up for a little while, I am trying to keep this posting as anonymous as possible.
Dinner done, I take a taxi back to my hotel. Along the way I feel like I am in Tokyo through the Electronics district in Beijing.
The day ends with me going to a supermarket to buy more weird drinks (more on that later) and a bunch of water. I will call today an huge introduction to Chinese cuisine.
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