Me Ol' China (week 10)

(please be informed that I need to revise the text as I got not time to go through a second reading. I apologise if things are not too clear)

Let's see where to start... Got so many things to talk about and I do not really have a clue on where to start.

I would start talking about my rude neighbours or perhaps about Health Hazard when studying Chinese? Or I could start with the development
from last week ads? Or perhaps thanking those of you that are showing support to my "work".

Yes, let's start thanking you for your support.

I wish to thank Peter Pan, an Italian guy with the passion for Asia that has never stopped supporting me in going ahead with the blog. I have known
Peter for quite some time now, since I used to write on a Finance Forum.

Let me thank Sue that has been very supportive. Sue is a Chinese lady living and working in Sydney that has been very nice in her comments to my
effort to describe a bit this wonderful place I am in.

Thank you Nic, a Romanian lady, that is learning a bit of China through my weekly bulletins and feels cheered up by my adventures.

Thanks a lot to the biggest Stronz1 in the world: Peter, from Sydney. A young man living in Sydney and that I can list with great pleasure amongst my
very limited circle of friends.

Thank you Josh, a Chinese man living in NY that has given me a full list of places to visit when and if I will have time, just to get my impressions about
them as, he has never been there. It's becoming a job now!

Thanks Sergio, from Italy, for the list of Restaurants you sent me time ago. I tried a couple and I have to admit that you are right. Sergio is married to a Chinese lady and was one of the first to suggest me to move to China for a new experience. He was right. He has been very supportive about my blog.

Thanks to Phil, an English colleague/friend that has helped me to discover many aspects and places of Beijing I was not aware of. Two pair of Nikes for 13 Euro is a good business card for this man.

Thanks to Gwen for thanking me for a women's day message I published on a Beijing website. I couldn't thank her personally or via email so I am doing it from here.

Thanks to Ellen for inviting me to a lovely concert this week and for not telling me that it was her birthday or I should have spent money to buy her a present. Thanks for showing me a Chinese part of Beijing I was not aware still existed.

Thanks to Xu Wong Chen, someone that sends emails in Chinese full of smiley, so I assume that he (or she) says nice things about my Blog.

Thank you to Teresa from HK, for her nice email.

Thank you to all of you reading these lines.

When I started, one of Peter Pan's comments was "I hope you will manage to keep on writing as you are doing now" implying, clearly that I might not have managed to report new things every week. Perhaps in other parts of the world this would not have been a doubt but a certainty, but in China, even those who cannot see a few yards away will have enough to observe and write about.

So, let's go to what you really are interested in. Me Ol' China, week 10.

Wow, 10 weeks already. 10 weeks without seeing the family, 10 weeks without Italian food, with only one Western food experience (TGIF, disgusting!) and a fast food experience (KFC), 10 beautiful weeks in China. Wow! And I still like it! Normally 12 weeks is the period after which I get fed up of a place if I do not like it but already around the 9th week there are intolerance symptoms.

Actually my interest for this country is increasing, especially now that I am starting understanding something of the language. Let me start with the rudeness of my neighbours.

The Chinese people living in my block of flats are the kind of enriched poor, if you know what I mean. They tend to be Westerners in their ways and they think that being rude makes them modern and Westerner. At the gym they move in flocks. The rich wife is accompanied always by the rich husband. the wife dresses in a sort of sporty conservative way, trying to cover all "strategic" parts, while the husband in Jacket and shirt sits somewhere around keeping an eye on the young wife and make sure that nobody else look at her. The lady has all branded clothes and looks at Westerners with sweet glances, trying to hide her looks to the watching husband. Look guys, this is not one case! Most ladies are accompanied by their aged husbands here and this annoys me quite a lot... Tell you why... I go to the gym and I found husband, wife and children all in the gym, 4 or 5 people (they are rich so they can have more than one child and pay the extra tax), the wife running on the walking ng machine, the husband pedaling on the cyclette, the young child sitting on the bench playing wit the weights, the older daughter walking at 1 Kmh on the other walking machine watching her Chinese TV with a full blast volume. Add to this another few people that in jacket and trousers are just talking and sitting around and you will understand how annoying going to the gym can be. I complained but nothing seems to be changing and now, the only decent time to do some exercising is between 10 pm and midnight.

A few days ago there was a new arrival in the building and since his arrival, everything has become complicated. We have gorillas deployed everywhere to protect someone important. Bodyguards everywhere are making life quite difficult and I had to complain to the management about this. I refused to show my passport to one of the bodyguards and went straight to the Management office to complain about this new thing. Apparently I am not the only one pissed off with this setting and they are going to find a solution to this issue.

My Chinese classes are going a bit slower but now that I got an iPod I can repeat my lessons in the train to work. It's really cool. Especially when, to isolate myself completely, I put on the shades. Once I closed my eyes and repeat "My name is bla bla bla and I come from bla bla bla". I felt like some hair on my face and I saw this lady, in her 40's, talking to me at a couple of inches fro my nose. I jumped and when I took the headphones off, I heard her repeating "My name is bla bla bla and I am from China"! It was so funny! I started laughing like mad but the poor lady looked very confused by my behaviour...

I have been receiving more emails to my ad, this is one of those, the nicest one I received:

Let's play pretend for a moment,In another place, at a different time, I'm a different person,With a different life,Where everything has an answer,So clear within reach,And all that is lost; is found,Back to its rightful place.

Do you remember the text of my ad? Well... I am not sure it had anything to see with it but I found it very nice and I sent a thank you mail back.

this is another one I received:

Hai ,am SusanI have the feeling that this piece of mail will reach you in a perfect state of mind and in a better healthy condition. While searching through the site, I came accross your contact address and decided to contact you. I believe and also have the feeling that in todays world, neither race, nationality nor religion will any longer posse a barrier to male/female relationships. Interesting innit? Have you ever had the feeling of being observed? Well... This message gives me those feelings: how did she know I wasn't too well last week?

Anyway, did I meet any of these people? Would have you met them? Ok... that's the answer.

Temperatures are rising here in Beijing and it's now starting the windy season that carries sand from the Inner Mongolia region. This means that between now and Autumn the weather will be very "unfriendly" for those like me that do not like , sticky and windy days. I heard that during wind season there are a few accident involving objects falling off buildings so extra care is necessary... Now, you tell me, how the hell I can be careful about something like that?

Oh, I forgot to mention that Chinese is not good for diabetics! I am not talking of Chinese food but I am referring to the Chinese language!

In order to practice my Chinese I have been to restaurants and order without pointing the finger at the usual picture: Noodles, Rice, beer, coffee, mineral waster, dumplings, stuffed buns...
That's lesson 3 of my book... to eat a bit of chicken I have to wait lesson 18, after Summer...

Now, I am diabetic and all the things in lesson 3 do not suit me, except for the mineral water. I have lost more than Kg during the past week just because I am drinking mineral water all the times and sending back everything I order, untouched... I have asked my teacher to teach me about proteins and vegetables... This Tuesday I will learn how to order things I like! I know that it will be even more frustrating because an order is not a normal order here: any command implies a question. this is an example:

You: noodles please
Waiter: how do you want them?
Y: fried
W: Special fried or chicken or shrimps?
Y: special fried
W.: what type of noodles?
Y: flat ones
W. Spicy?
Y. yes
W; big or small portion
Y. Big
W. Ok

So if you had order a Big Spicy Special Flat Fried Noodles you would have gotten no question back... is it true? Let's see when you will go back next time

You: Big Spicy Special Flat Fried Noodles please
Waiter: How spicy?
Y: not too spicy
W: Special noodles, what do you mean with Special?
Y. those I had last time
W. sorry but I do not remember, was it chicken or shrimps?
Y: both were in
W. Ok. You said Flat noodles, right?
Y. Yes
W: and big, right?
Y. yes
W so you asked for Big Spicy Special Flat Fried Noodles. right?
Y. yes

I am not joking folks, if you want to eat quickly, just finger point at the pictures and do not try to order anything that it's not portrayed because they try to be very nice and ask you if you are aware of what you are ordering and the risk of being asked one thousand questions and get something completely different than what you order is high! they are lovely, helpful but seems like it is hard for them to understand that you cannot speak and understand Chinese. Even worse is if you ask for tea... You will get so many questions about it... Get some water.. much easier, or ask for a beer. there are only a couple of brand and learn the name of one. so it will sound like this:

You: A beer please
Waiter: bla bla bla bla
you: Tsingtao (name of a beer)
W: bla bla bla
you: shi (or Dui dui)

No matter what he said, you will get a beer because probably he just told you that they didn't have the Tsingtao beer but another brand.

If you are coming to Beijing for the Olympics, get used to the local beauties. There are so many good-looking girls all around the San Li Tun area.

Tall, beautiful, perfect bodies, big smiles and... all being slightly touched by the surgeon blade. Girls you can lose the head for are I never bar. they are very provocative and it's difficult to resist until they shoot the price. The Da Bi Zi (Big noses), try to look sexy and charming to attract these creatures but it's the wallet the main object of desire for these ladies. Nevertheless, I was in a Disco Bar with some friends on Saturday evening, the place is called Tong Li and it has a very sexy setting. Black and Red are the prevailing colours and scenes of sex and female nudes everywhere don't leave much to the imagination of the main activity/desire of those going there. Being this the first time in that area I entered the first bar I found and I ended up there being X-rayed by most of the girls in there. Well, there were a few Big Noses and a group of Italians, dressed up like they would never do in their country. I really wonder if they think that anyone would find them fascinating. The guys with me started laughing when they came in and they were the most ridiculous thing in that place, more than the inflatable doll smoking a cigar! I really wish the Italian embassy would kick them out!

They started chatting up these group of pros and try to be charming. I really wonder if these people have ever been with a woman and understand the difference between a pro and someone just having a drink. inevitably, they left after 10 minutes of chatting as they must have gotten the quotation...

San Li Tun is a crazy place. There are so many bars and clubs, all packed with drunkards of any colour and nationality. Seems like Disneyland for the Party Beasts. Many Suzie Wongs and Sheilas around. Even Big Nose girls look quite slutty and I think that this is due to the fact that they get ignored by Caucasians that rather try to charm Oriental girls. It sounds much nicer to add to your list some exotic names rather than the usual Essex girl... But anyway, it is so obvious that "Everybody is looking for something. Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused".

Anyway, last week I went to a Jazz concert in Beijing Music Hall. Westerners were the majority. The concert was good, especially the band. I was there with some people I met at my local Jazz lounge where I go nearly every weekend. After the concert we went for dinner in a typical Beijing restaurant in Ritan Park. Very very nice and Chinese. It seemed like going back in time. You cannot see sky scrapers or anything modern from there, just trees, little bridges on the small artificial rivers and pagodas... Very fascinating. I decided that after Summer I will start traveling around China to view more places like that. I am waiting to master a bit more Chinese.

Anyway folks, that's all for this week. The coming week will be pretty eventless and the week after I will be in Italy for a week so, perhaps the blog will be suspended... keep tuned, never know!

ZaiJian!