Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
semi
I have officially lived in China for 6 months! And have so far managed to avoid breaking either of my two very important rules.
Could be that it's time for some additional rules to guide the second half of this first year in Asia.
Could be that it's time for some additional rules to guide the second half of this first year in Asia.
I blame China...
...for my finally succumbing to Twitter. While I am tempted to cite its incessant banning of all things free-speech, or the general saturation of conformity, or even just something in the "crazy bad"*TM air as the culpable party, there is actually no legitimate support for this accusation. Except that I spent a long time in the US avoiding a non-avian use of the word "tweets" and a mere six months into China, my formidable restraint has failed.
Do you suppose one's first "tweet" is supposed to be especially memorable?
*TM US Embassy. I'm not sure they've copyrighted it, but they definitely should have.
Do you suppose one's first "tweet" is supposed to be especially memorable?
*TM US Embassy. I'm not sure they've copyrighted it, but they definitely should have.
Tonight, tonight
is the last night of Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year celebration and something having to do with lanterns that I'm not culturally aware enough to understand yet. This means many things, the most notable of which being that this is the last day for a very long time that fireworks are permitted within Beijing city limits.
Fireworks displays from the elaborate to the dangerously obviously amateur have been ongoing since the first day of the CNY celebration over two weeks ago. I love fireworks, and yes, I get all sparkly-eyed in a literal sort of way gazing in amazement as bursts of fiery glitter reflect in my pupils. And yet, I must say, two weeks is more than enough of this good thing.
Fortunately - and this may or may not be a sarcastic use of the word - this last day of the festival means that every fireworks vendor and every purchaser of fireworks who has yet to use his or her wares, may - nay, must - set off all remaining fireworks before sunrise tomorrow.
While it is exciting and giggle-inducing to watch cars stop and overzealous civilians running in and out of the street, carelessly bounding beyond the "do not cross" tape to set off fireworks displays in front of my building, it is somewhat disheartening that there is one more night I will not have the benefit of peace and quiet to supplement my attempts at sound sleep. Fortunately, there is always Nyquil.
Happy New Year! Finally.
Fireworks displays from the elaborate to the dangerously obviously amateur have been ongoing since the first day of the CNY celebration over two weeks ago. I love fireworks, and yes, I get all sparkly-eyed in a literal sort of way gazing in amazement as bursts of fiery glitter reflect in my pupils. And yet, I must say, two weeks is more than enough of this good thing.
Fortunately - and this may or may not be a sarcastic use of the word - this last day of the festival means that every fireworks vendor and every purchaser of fireworks who has yet to use his or her wares, may - nay, must - set off all remaining fireworks before sunrise tomorrow.
While it is exciting and giggle-inducing to watch cars stop and overzealous civilians running in and out of the street, carelessly bounding beyond the "do not cross" tape to set off fireworks displays in front of my building, it is somewhat disheartening that there is one more night I will not have the benefit of peace and quiet to supplement my attempts at sound sleep. Fortunately, there is always Nyquil.
Happy New Year! Finally.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
take 2
Tomorrow, the parts of the pumpkin, mouse, and fairy godmother will be played by my colleagues on the Education Team. Because they are excellent sports. I am excited to try some before and after tableaux of famous fairytale moments with some international kindergarten teachers. Hopefully, the translation of the word "freeze" will be less of a problem this time...
bartistic differences.
Apparently, it is not safe and harmless to flirt with bartenders here. While it is commonplace in most of the establishments I frequented in the states, and is practically the bartender's job to encourage female clients to flirt with him there, it seems in other countries this favorite pasttime of single ladies (on Valentine's Day, no less) carries other connotations. This vaguely reminds me of the rather embarrassing incident in Paris, where I was completely oblivious to the fact that Parisian women don't dance in clubs the same way American women do. Oops. Live and learn, and try to keep a little bit of dignity in tact.
It seems that every few months here, I must endure groping against my will, just to keep my foreign sense of entitlement in check, and to put a few glitches in the matrix that provides the illusion of trust and safety. There is very little doubt in my mind that the legal system here would pretty much settle on a "she was asking for it." And despite the fact that it makes me sound like a Lifetime movie victim, I'm not sure I'd disagree with them. On the one hand, I feel as though it is my responsibility to understand the implications of my actions in a foreign country. There may be some gray area between that and my right to control who touches me, but even in the markets here with vendors who have never met you - let alone refilled a glass of some effervescent concoction that they assure you is "better than champagne" - the idea of personal space is pretty nonexistent. On the other hand, a certain level of aggression seems in appropriate in some circumstances. On the other (apparently third) hand, I could have kicked him and made a scene, and I didn't.
So, in conclusion, shame on him, but I probably should have known better.
And a special shout out to my friend for staying up to calm me down.
It seems that every few months here, I must endure groping against my will, just to keep my foreign sense of entitlement in check, and to put a few glitches in the matrix that provides the illusion of trust and safety. There is very little doubt in my mind that the legal system here would pretty much settle on a "she was asking for it." And despite the fact that it makes me sound like a Lifetime movie victim, I'm not sure I'd disagree with them. On the one hand, I feel as though it is my responsibility to understand the implications of my actions in a foreign country. There may be some gray area between that and my right to control who touches me, but even in the markets here with vendors who have never met you - let alone refilled a glass of some effervescent concoction that they assure you is "better than champagne" - the idea of personal space is pretty nonexistent. On the other hand, a certain level of aggression seems in appropriate in some circumstances. On the other (apparently third) hand, I could have kicked him and made a scene, and I didn't.
So, in conclusion, shame on him, but I probably should have known better.
And a special shout out to my friend for staying up to calm me down.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
the customer is always...riiiiiight.
So there is many an opportunity in any country to question the customer service values and standards within the service industry. Much like the concept of Human Resources, however, in some countries the concept of "customer service" doesn't actually translate.
We traveled to Dalian for a few days over the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year) holiday, selecting a decently priced hotel by US standards for its great location, pool and fitness center, spa, and rotating restaurant. We arrived at said hotel to find a lovely, relatively clean and upscale hotel, with all of the amenities completely shut down. To be fair, the rotating restaurant was open for two and a half hours each day, though it was a different two and a half hours, despite a staff who were being paid to sit at an empty table while the restaurant offered a panoramic view of the city to its zero customers, and informed us each time we visited that we needed to come back in a few hours. Which we did and were turned away again.
The fitness center, pool and spa were not only completely closed, but the elevator wouldn't even go to the completely dark floors where these things were located. The front desk staff informed us in rather frustrated broken English that it was a holiday. To which my friend replied in similarly frustrated but slightly louder English, "Yes, that's why we're ON HOLIDAY."
Admittedly, it is a fairly western expectation that a hotel - or any business for that matter - will actually provide what it has promised, especially during a holiday season. Also, it was somewhat surprising to us that the fitness center and pool were actually owned by a different company who had elected to close down for the holiday independently of the hotel, which was clearly open. This was potentially beyond the control of the hotel staff. But unfortunate for us nonetheless.
We were told to check back with the desk to see when these services would be open, and to see about potential compensation given that we paid for a hotel with all of these services and we weren't warned anywhere that they'd be closed when we booked the room for those dates. And we were asked to pay a deposit the equivalent of twice the total room price when we arrived, probably because they half expected us to realize we'd paid for a room that wasn't what was promised and go somewhere else instead. They insisted that this was standard for any hotel in China - which we know isn't true, since we are not, as they probably assumed, tourists, and then finally conceded that it must only be standard for hotels in Dalian. Granted, everything in China is negotiable, so we only paid one room night at a time and a small deposit for our room key. And by the time we finished at the front desk, they probably would have preferred that we go somewhere else. But this just illustrates how absurd our expectations must have been. Given their response, which clearly indicated that they were astonished we would give them such a hard time, and that they found us to be completely unreasonable, there are about six levels of cultural disparity going on here.
To be honest, in most of my China experience (and, I've come to find out, in other countries' opinions of China), the best and often only way to get what you want is to pitch a fit about it until they concede. When this doesn't work, it's probably logical to assume that what you want is completely absurd to the other party involved. Interesting.
We traveled to Dalian for a few days over the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year) holiday, selecting a decently priced hotel by US standards for its great location, pool and fitness center, spa, and rotating restaurant. We arrived at said hotel to find a lovely, relatively clean and upscale hotel, with all of the amenities completely shut down. To be fair, the rotating restaurant was open for two and a half hours each day, though it was a different two and a half hours, despite a staff who were being paid to sit at an empty table while the restaurant offered a panoramic view of the city to its zero customers, and informed us each time we visited that we needed to come back in a few hours. Which we did and were turned away again.
The fitness center, pool and spa were not only completely closed, but the elevator wouldn't even go to the completely dark floors where these things were located. The front desk staff informed us in rather frustrated broken English that it was a holiday. To which my friend replied in similarly frustrated but slightly louder English, "Yes, that's why we're ON HOLIDAY."
Admittedly, it is a fairly western expectation that a hotel - or any business for that matter - will actually provide what it has promised, especially during a holiday season. Also, it was somewhat surprising to us that the fitness center and pool were actually owned by a different company who had elected to close down for the holiday independently of the hotel, which was clearly open. This was potentially beyond the control of the hotel staff. But unfortunate for us nonetheless.
We were told to check back with the desk to see when these services would be open, and to see about potential compensation given that we paid for a hotel with all of these services and we weren't warned anywhere that they'd be closed when we booked the room for those dates. And we were asked to pay a deposit the equivalent of twice the total room price when we arrived, probably because they half expected us to realize we'd paid for a room that wasn't what was promised and go somewhere else instead. They insisted that this was standard for any hotel in China - which we know isn't true, since we are not, as they probably assumed, tourists, and then finally conceded that it must only be standard for hotels in Dalian. Granted, everything in China is negotiable, so we only paid one room night at a time and a small deposit for our room key. And by the time we finished at the front desk, they probably would have preferred that we go somewhere else. But this just illustrates how absurd our expectations must have been. Given their response, which clearly indicated that they were astonished we would give them such a hard time, and that they found us to be completely unreasonable, there are about six levels of cultural disparity going on here.
To be honest, in most of my China experience (and, I've come to find out, in other countries' opinions of China), the best and often only way to get what you want is to pitch a fit about it until they concede. When this doesn't work, it's probably logical to assume that what you want is completely absurd to the other party involved. Interesting.
I know they were serious, but...
how does this headline NOT result in a really funny cartoon image?
"Ruling Puts Walruses Facing Habitat Loss In Limbo"
"Ruling Puts Walruses Facing Habitat Loss In Limbo"
Pie, easy as
Some days, I really appreciate having a job where researching the origin of the Frisbee and the history of the UFO is part of a day's work.
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