Okay, everyone, Natalie has been asking me to write in the blog for awhile, so that you can see a different view of Shanghai. Here are the things I see:
- People walking backwards down the streets in the morning. We haven’t figured out why at work, but the guess is that they are retracing the paths of their ancestors.
- Firehead: She is the bathroom ayi at one of the offices where I work. She has flaming red hair and is extremely busy cleaning up around those using the facilities. Some days she actually lets you finish using the toilet before she decides to clean it! It has been an adjustment, but now you just see her as part of the facility. There is also a sign hanging on the wall for those of us using the urinals: “Aim high!!! You are a good archer!!!” and “Please put bumf in the litter bin”. The reasons for the sign: 1. the urinals are about 3 feet up in the air. Most people using them are Japanese and Chinese. The urinals are too high for them. Therefore, they need to “Aim high!!!” 2. As near as we can tell, “bumf” is one of two things: cigarette butts or used toilet paper. Either way they are both not supposed to be placed in the toilets!
- How many tries does it take to change a light bulb? So far, we are on the second request to about 6 different people. Apparently when we there are 20 million people you need to have jobs for all of them. Relaying the maintenance task to the least employable person must be the way it works.
- Deb, I just saw a bird on the balcony outside of my bedroom. It is blue, about the size of a finch, and seems to hop around a lot.
- Service levels: After the light bulb story, I will give you a great service story. I sit in one office about once a week. It is on the 17th floor way away from normal people and is not easy to get to. Usually only Ron (Grandpa Good) and I are sitting up there. Anyway, there is an ayi who cleans and answers the phones on the 9th floor, also is in charge of cleaning the 17th office. One day I asked her if the coffee pot outside of our office on 17 works. We had been taking the elevator to the 9th for coffee. After she determined that it didn’t, we just assumed we would have to continue going down to 9 for coffee. Instead, she brought us some instant coffee to my desk. Ron and I thought it was great she did this. However, fifteen minutes later she walked in with a fresh pot of brewed coffee. She had taken the pot from the 17th, filled it on the 9th, and brought it back to my desk. She also found a warmer for us to keep it on. Now, every time she figures out we are in the office, she brings us a fresh brewed pot of coffee to our desk and then checks to see if we need a new pot an hour later. Now that’s service! Oh, by the way, she speaks zero English. All of this has occurred through non-verbal communication.
- Betsy, the days of the week use the Mandarin word for day, “Xingqi”, followed by the Mandarin number for that day of the week. Monday is xingqiyi (sheeng-chee-ye). Tuesday is xingqier (sheeng-chee-are) . Wednesday is xingqisan (sheeng-chee-san). Thursday is xingqisi [sheeng-chee-sih (kind of take the s sound and drag it into a hiss)]. Friday is xingqiwu (sheeng-chee-woo). Saturday is xingqiliu (sheeng-chee-leo). Sunday is special as we all know. If you followed the numbering system, it would be xingqiqi (sheeng-chee-chee). However, instead, they call it xingqitian (sheeng-chee-tea-an). If we were discussing hours, you would simply reverse the format and change xingqi to dian. Example: 5 o’clock would be wu dian (woo dee-an)
- As near as we can tell, “non-hazard” apples are apples that haven’t had a load of pesticides in them. Most people would call them “organic”.
- There are really 3 sports of choice here: football (soccer for those of you in the US), table tennis, and volleyball. Other things are starting to catch on, but these are the ones you see on CCTV all the time.
- A quick shout out to my HOMES group: I am drinking coffee from the mug. “JUST DO IT”.
- Songs (artists) heard on the radio, “Amazing Grace” in Chinese, Steven Curtis Chapman in English, “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order in Chinese, “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne in Chinglish. Sometimes you just shake your head and wonder how anyone figures it out. The best was Hang Lei (our driver) and me singing along to “Bizarre Love Triangle”. He was singing along in Chinese, and I was singing along in English. All those wasted years in the 80’s and 90’s learning strange song lyrics are starting to pay off. I knew there was a reason.
- Books to read if you haven’t already. They are Ch****tian books and they are awesome at explaining the situations behind the scenes here. The first is “Safely Home”, by Randy Alcorn. The first seven chapters give a great description of what life is like here for the nationals. The other is, “Heavenly Man”, by Brother Yun. For those of you with a heart for mis***ns, this is definitely for you.
- Finally, a picture of what I see when I sit on my egg-shaped hanging chair on our balcony:
I’ll check in again in a few weeks with more things I see…Mark
3 comments:
Wow! You added an interesting perspective Mark!! It sounds like for the most part it is "Ask and ye shall receive"! Wouldn't Bill love that fresh pot of coffee showing up on his desk each morning. You guys are going to be spoiled rotten when you get home--than we will have to unspoil you!! We only get those johns cleaned once a day if we are lucky!!!
That was cool, Mark, for you to take a turn on the blog site! Natalie, You are one lucky gal that Mark is your husband!!
God Bless!
Aunt Carol
Yikes, Mark. TMI on the urinal story. :-) Having said that, I will add that if "bumf" means REALLY used toilet paper, you might really be living in Mexico. What a small world after all.
Thanks for the Mandarin lesson. If I'm understanding you right, Monday is basically "Day One," Tuesday is "Day Two" etc. And the hours translate to "Five hour" for 5:00, "Four hour" for 4:00, etc. So now, I can count to seven in English, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. Cool.
It's raining here today. And it's a beautiful thing. And it SMELLS beautiful. I, too, will never again take that lovely smell of rain for granted.
A few more ponderings from the Question Queue:
* What do they do about your garbage in China? Does someone come in a truck once a week and haul away the dumpster contents?
* Is recycling a known practice?
* Do Chinese people do as much "disposable" stuff as Americans do?
* What kind of hours do people keep at work? Are they in at dawn, out at dusk? Do they take a real lunch break?
* Do people chew gum, drive, and talk on the phone at the same time? Or just drive and talk on the phone? Or just drive?
* Did you purposely scramble certain words in your section on books, or did the server do that to you? Why?
After this, I'll try to give you a little break from questions.
Soon.
Betsy
Hey Mark, good timing on your blog update. Some people were just asking me what you've been doing. I figure you probably keep pretty busy at work, since that was the main purpose in moving there. I'm really happy they have some good music there for you to listen to. I heard "Bizarre Love Triangle" on my iPod last week and that was the first time that I'd heard it in a LONG time so how strange that you mentioned it in your update. That was the first song I ever learned a pom routine to. Of course, that version was in English and not Chinese. Maybe next week you'll hear "True Faith" or "Blue Monday". Anyway, thanks for the update. You always have an interesting spin on what you observe!
Aim High!
Angie
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