A first

Tonight was the first time in 5 months that I noticed the stars in the skies above Beijing.

I don't think this is an anomaly. Rumor has it that the "smackdown" is put on the factories here (i.e., use your filters) when the Olympic committee is in town. Oddly enough, they were here in the middle of January.

The real blue zoo

My apartment didn't come "fully stocked" with things like dishes, glasses, etc.... It had some, but not much and certainly not anything you'd be proud to entertain people with. Well, I decided I'd have some people over for dinner this Friday, so...time for some purchasing.

Where to go? I figured either Walmart or IKEA. I had been to neither thus far in my stay here in Beijing. I've heard stores about both. Particularly, IKEA...where people would hang out on the couches (which are in the furniture showrooms), go there just to eat the Swedish meatballs in the food court, over-crowded, etc... Based solely on those rumors, I decided I'd go see for myself....and, buy some stuff too.

I'll start off with the good stuff. All of the rumors I heard are true. The place is a mad house (hence, the blue zoo), people literally do seem to go there just to hang out. The top floor consists of many different style rooms (living rooms, dens, kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms). There were people just sitting around, chatting away in every one of these rooms. I didn't come across anyone sitting on a toilet, but I was hoping too (thankfully, they don't have squatters in the show rooms). The food court, it was packed...not an unhappy person in there. And the elevators, you could fit a mid-size car in those things!

All-in-all though, it's a great place to go shopping for "home stuff" here in Beijing. They have everything you need. I'd highly recommend it. Although, be prepared to get pissed off due to the over flowing amount of people wandering around.

BTW...I walked around just about that whole place. I think I was 1 of 10 foreigners in there. Thousands of Chinese.

Pond hockey at the blue zoo

On Sunday afternoon, I went and met some friends at a restaurant near the "Blue Zoo" and the "Worker's Stadium." The Workers Stadium is a huge soccer (futbol) stadium that is being renovated now for the Olympics. The first NFL game will also be held there in August, this year.

Anyway, the restaurant looks over a small pond in front of the blue zoo. It's frozen now...well, mostly frozen. There were quite a few people out there skating. Not only skating, but also scooting around on these small wooden stools with short wooden poles to push them along. Weird. I'll get some pictures next time. There were also a lot of old people out there, skating along in their "speed skates." Those are the skates with long blades and flimsy boots.

All of the sudden, I see a puck slide down the ice! Then, a group of four Chinese guys appear with some sticks and gloves on. I didn't think people would play pond hockey in China. It was pretty cool to see. Made me want to get out there with them....but...I can't find any sticks here! I also don't have the rest of my equipment. Sounds like a job for my cousin, when he comes here in March.

I'm not sure this ice would hold me too well though. My mom does say I'm a graceful skater, but I think this ice is a bit too thin for this big, graceful guy.

What is the "blue zoo" you ask? Come on!

The coffee maker

A few months ago, I bought a coffee maker for the office. I did this mostly for my benefit, but I figured some people on the team would use it. I knew that coffee was not very popular in China (tea, of course, is the hot beverage of choice). However, I didn't realize that people would not know how to use a coffee maker, stupid me.

So, after a couple weeks of just assuming no one else wanted coffee, the team finally asked me for a quick tutorial on how to make coffee. I was a bit surprised and found it a tad funny, but I went on with the tutorial. I went through it, step-by-step ... how to put the filter in, how many scoops of coffee, how much water ... that's pretty much it!

So, it was going fairly well. Although, the coffee pot would get left on for hours & hours...I think they were using more of the powder cream than the coffee...to be expected, I guess. Then, something happened...we ran out of coffee filters.

My expectations...someone would order some more. Nope. They continued to make coffee, using the little basket that you place the coffee filter in, as the filter. I wasn't sure what to think, but it was time for another quick tutorial.

I think we're back to normal now, but we'll see what happens when we run out of water.

Lost in translation x 2

Last night, I wandered around the corner to an Irish pub (Tin Whistle) I had heard about in Dalian. It was a Tuesday night, but I was expecting to see some people in the bar. I walked in to find only the bartender and another women who works in the bar.

This was my first visit to an Irish pub in China. I ordered a Guinness and felt like I was sitting at the Blackthorn in South Buffalo (though, I would be drinking Labatt Blue there). The bartender's name; Cherry. She spoke some English, but not a ton. I decided I wouldn't ask her why she chose that name. I sat there for about an hour talking to her about China, where she's from (Harbin), why she's in Dalian, etc...

Then, the owner stumbled in the door. He said a quick hello & proceeded to sit down on a bar stool with his head hanging down as if a brick was hung from his neck. Cherry whispered to me..."I scared of him." I asked why. She said..."Because when he drunk, he crazy and he always drunk!" He's an older Irish man. He lives a simple life..."runs" a bar, lives in China, gets drunk.
Finally, he decided to leave (after he left and came back about 5 times).

Next, a French guy wandered in. He was clutching two books...a French-English dictionary & a French-Chinese dictionary. Both looked to be heavily used. He really could not speak much English. I almost found it easier to try to communicate with him in the little amount of Chinese that I know, but that didn't work either. I did manage to determine that he lives in Dalian as a ship captain.

It was very interesting to be in China (Dalian), sitting in an Irish pub, drinking a Guinness, listening to U2 and trying to bridge communications between a French guy, two Chinese women and myself. Very interesting couple of hours.

Spit sacks

I'm going to be a bit negative here...

"Shanghai cabs to get ‘spit sacks’"

What the hell are you thinking!? I'm sorry, but there is no way this is a good idea, nor is it going to help to alleviate the amount of spitting in Shanghai. Really, spend 30 seconds and think about it.

First of all, does anyone want to ride in a vehicle sitting next to a bucket full of spit? I don't. Second, does anyone want to ride in a vehicle with spit all over it (because, people are not going to hit the 'sack' 90% of the time)? I don't. Third, does anyone want to ride in a vehicle with a bucket full of spit tipping over on you as the taxi driver weaves in & out of traffic, dodges people on bikes, etc...? I don't.

I haven't seen the design of this thing, maybe it's great and none of the above will happen. But, I can assure you, people aren't going to use this. Spitting will continue until people have suck straws (like dentists use) permanently installed in their mouths.

Sounds of a hotel lounge in Dalian

"Hit me baby one more time"
- The cell phone ring tone of a Chinese guy...not only was it weird to hear it, it was the loudest I've ever heard a cell phone ring in my life

Deep southern accents
- A couple of guys from North Carolina chatting away over a couple of beers

Hotel girls asking for room numbers
- About every 3 minutes, you hear the hotel greeters asking for room numbers as people enter the lounge.

The constant beeping of car horns
- OK, this is anywhere you go in China

CNN
- On every TV...for the foreigners, of course

Starbucks...maybe a bit too invasive

P1010233
Originally uploaded by MJM80.

While there isn't a Starbucks on every corner in China, they are certainly plentiful. In my recent visit to Shanghai, I came across a Starbucks that just seemed to be a bit out of place (pictured above). This Starbucks is located in the Yu Garden area of Shanghai. I don't know much about the Yu Garden, but I know it's a very old and historic place in Shanghai & maybe Starbucks shouldn't be there.

This morning on CNN, I heard Starbucks may get evicted from its Forbidden City location in Beijing. I kind of hope they do. There really is no reason for Starbucks to exist inside the gates of the Forbidden City. If us foreigners want some Starbucks, we can get it before we enter the gates. Read more here...

Time to move out Starbucks, there are plenty of other corners in China for you to park your over-priced beverage stand.

It's a small world

Buffalo is a fairly well-known city in the US (mostly negatively well-known, that is ... snow & the Bills ... also known as the home of the chicken wing & the Sabres are starting to add some positives to the city). Buffalo is also known for the huge number of people that leave the city each year.

I would have never thought that I'd run across someone from South Buffalo, living in China. Well, on Wednesday night, I did! I was out at the Goose & Duck in Beijing with a guy from North Carolina (he's a friend of my Uncle's). Ed (the guy from South Buffalo) was rifling through some DVDs and as we were asking him about the titles, we found out he & his wife were from South Buffalo. I forgot his last name, but we didn't seem to know any of the same people (which is strange), but I'm sure we'll meet up at the G&D again.

Weird!

More pictures from China, finally!

PC250121
Originally uploaded by MJM80.

I have finally gotten around to loading most of my backlog of pictures from the last few months (Beijing, Dalian, Taishan, Shanghai, etc...).

Check them out here @ my flickr account.

The flat world + pizza

As I get back into the blogging groove, I thought I would start with some fresh content. I still have loads of content from the last 30 days to get up here, including a lot of pictures. I've been really slacking lately (sorry).

Anyway...tonight I learned something new. Pizza is a "global food." Before coming to China, I obviously knew pizza would exist here, but I didn't know how many Chinese have actually every had it, or like it. Well, tonight, I asked my team to hang with me until about 9pm, so I ordered a bunch of pies. From where? Domino's.

I didn't ask the entire team before I ordered it if they liked pizza, I was kind of just hoping everyone would. Well, they did...the really, really liked it. I asked some stupid questions, like..."have you ever had pizza before?" There were a couple who hadn't, but the majority did.

I guess this was just one of those experiences that may seem really trivial & common, but it was actually pretty interesting for me.

So, the reason for the pizza dinner in the office...

Tonight, I held my first video conference, with the help of friend and colleague Esteban (thanks dude!) Obviously, Lenovo has teams across the world, in many different countries. Well, part of our web teams are in Buenos Aires, Argentina & Beijing, China. Aside from the language barriers, 11 hour time differences and slow connection speeds, we pulled off a first video conference between the two teams. There was a very simple purpose...to introduce the two teams to each other. It was a cool experience and there will certainly be many more to come.

Through 2007, my "flat world" experiences will be a theme over here on manninchina.

I'm still alive

The last 30 days or so have been very busy and quite interesting. I will admit, I did slack on the blog. However, much hiring was done and it was a first for me to spend the Christmas & New Year holidays away from the US and away from my family.

Don't despair, there is a blog backlog built up that will be released soon.

As for the new year...still thinking about it.