Wong's Weblog
Day 4
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I left the mainland on this day but before we left, we played a round of golf. The facilities were beautiful and they had a fantastic clubhouse for the players, which included private lockers, individual rain showers, sauna, etc. The course was very nice also. It was very green with lots of foliage everywhere. When we got changed and ready to play, I was kind of shocked because we each had our own caddie. I’ve never had a caddy before. I had two thoughts, wow this is the coolest thing ever and why do I suck so bad at golf. I started the round off with a pretty shot on a par 3. I got probably 30 feet from the whole so it was an easy chip and at most a 2 putt right? Nope, I shanked my chip and chipped again, then proceeded to 3 putt on some ridiculously slow greens. Great start to the round. My round that day consisted of a lot of draws and then switched to slicing the ball. It was nice to have the caddy position me and even give me the line on putts, which helped tremendously. Near the end of the round of some par-4s I started to actually hit straight so instead of my ball going to where I was hitting before, I pretty much killed some drives they were no where to be found. All in all, I realized that man I am really bad at golf and I should never touch another club in my life but lets face it, that’s not going to happen.
Day 3
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I was rather tired on this day due to all of the late night festivities of the prior day. Most of this day, I just finished reading a book and learned some more Mandarin. Not really too much happened in the day time but at night we set up a basketball game against another factory nearby. Finally, I could see a glimpse of what street ball was like in China. We walked to the other factory, which took about 30 minutes, and when we go there, most of the workers had gotten off work and were standing around waiting to watch the game. Many of these factories have recreational courts in them for their workers, so it was commonplace to see basketball courts, badminton courts and table tennis tables around the factories. When we go there we shot around and actually warmed up like game. I was shocked to see that there was a referee there also. This game was legit. At first my team was dominating. We went ahead by as many as 20 points and then some new guys started showing up and playing for the other team. These new guys came in and they actually took the lead. We played 4 quarters for nearly 2 hours. It was exhausting but at the end we came back and won by 10.
Day 2
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The second day at the factory was not extremely eventful so I finished a book in the morning and then one of the interns taught me how to speak mandarin the rest of the day. She was a very good teacher and afterwards I felt very confident that if I actually get to be put into an environment where I have to use it throughout the day, everyday, I will be able to catch on rather quickly.
That night, there was a company dinner. These dinners happen every other month or so and they are usually hosted by one of the departments of the company. I thought, Yaaay another dinner but this was no ordinary dinner. This was a Chinese business dinner where you drink red wine. It’s both traditional and cultural to have these types of dinners in China. I was not prepared for what this night would turn out to be.
First off lets just make it clear up front, everyone knows that we Chinese can’t drink a lot in the 1st place. In fact, after doing research most Asians do not have an enzyme that breaks down alcohol thus causing the redness in their faces and the quick tipsiness.
So at this dinner, there were around 30 people. The night starts off slowly with a lot of joking around and mingling and then you start off with some appetizers. This is probably a 14 course meal so about 4 courses into the meal, the workers start toasting each other and the boss. They say their toast and then it’s bottom’s up. I should also mention, the night starts off with very little alcohol in the glass but by the end of the dinner things get out of hand. At first, I just sat there quietly and joined a couple of toasts because if you don’t it is very impolite. After a while, people started noticing the new guy (me) and then I started getting toasted.
The fun didn’t end at the dinner, there was much more hilarity that followed this night. We left the dinner and headed to…yes, you guessed it, a Karaoke Bar!!! Like that’s not stereotypical at all… This was no ordinary Karaoke Bar. Us Asians know how to really do it right. These Karaoke Bars are not like the open night mics that we have in Phoenix, they are like private vip rooms. The mics are cranked up all the way and you can barely hear the music, what you hear is a bunch of Chinese people yelling into the mics. All I can say is my descriptions of this event do it no justice. The only thing I could think of the entire time at the Karaoke Bar was, “why don’t I have my camera, why!” And yes, I did sing some songs. I sang “You’ve lost that loving feeling” by the Righteous Brothers and I sang a duet with my uncle “My way”, which I thought was was an Aerosmith song (I was wrong). I also sang a couple Japanese songs. To sum it up, that was a most interesting night and a memorable one.
Mainland Extravaganza Pt 1
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Day 1
This past week I got to go up to the mainland and visit one of the factories that my uncle manages. Not really having any expectations, I had no idea what to really expect of the few days that I would get to spend up on the mainland. The drive from HK was only about a couple of hours. When we arrived, we got a quick lunch with my uncle’s friend. They spoke Mandarin during lunch. This gave me my 1st test of how much I could really understand the language. Well, I left that lunch pretty much not knowing anything that was said. One of he 1st things I noticed was that people in China drive on the right side of the road like in the US. I always thought they drove on the left like in HK and in Europe. I asked my uncle about that and he said some people from HK get confused when they drive across the border and drive on the wrong side of the road. I thought that was pretty funny. Now, the thought of it was funny, but when it actually happened to us later that day, not so funny. I don’t think I will ever touch a steering wheel in that country. I was literally scared to death at how people drive. Most streets don’t have medians, let alone lanes to keep your car in. In fact, most of the 4 way intersections didn’t have stop lights. The way it works is, you drive full speed up to the intersection, ease off the gas a little bit to see if anyone is coming and then you keep on going. The intersections that did have lights on them, some people just blew right through it like there was no red light. My face was in utter shock. I asked my uncle, “is this how it really is?” His response, “This is China.” I couldn’t stop laughing after that.
When I got to the factory, I got to meet a few people that I would be spending the week with (otherwise known as the young English speakers that I could communicate with). There were 3 young ladies there that were just finishing up their 1-month internships before they went back to their university to finish graduating this summer. I spent most of my time with them as well as one of the guys that worked in the office of the factory. They all showed me around the factory, showing me the different departments and the processes for the development of the product. It was all very interesting seeing the product move from a raw material to the finished good. My supply chain class actually came in handy for once. On the site of the factory, there is also a very large dormitory for the workers. I stayed in one of the dorms next to my new found friends. Then one of the most kind things happened to me. One of the interns that was with me when I got to my room said, “the floor is dirty, we need to mop your room.” The floor really wasn’t dirty but she proceeded to go back to her room, got a mop and mopped my floor for me. I was kind shocked, she by no means had to do that and when I insisted that she didn’t have to and she still did it anyways. This reinforced some of my preconceived notions of people form the mainland as very hardworking and on top of that, very hospitable.
Live Life, Don’t be a Spectator of it
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I read this article in the Washington Post shortly before I left the States and it really made me think. It is about Joshua Bell, a world famous violinist. The Post arranged for him to do a little experiment in the New York City Subway. He went in normal clothes and his $3.5 million dollar violin, propped open his case, put some change in it (a little trick to get the money rolling!) and started, playing seeing how many people would pay attention. According to the Post:
In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.
Here you have a musical prodigy playing some of the most beautiful music ever created and not even 1% of the people that heard it stopped to even pay attention to it. It makes me wonder, how many times have we been so caught up in our day that we miss an instance of beauty, of magic, of brilliance…
More Observations
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Here is a continuation of observations that were not on the last list.
11) Crocs, those little rubber made sandals/shoes/whatever. They are worn by a lot of people in Asia. They go so far as to have Croc botiques. How can such hideous looking foot apparatuses be so appealing for people all over the world? This I will never understand.
12) Men tend not to wear sandals here in HK. I have been here for just over a month now and have been able to count maybe a handful of men wearing sandals. I swear I’m the only person that wears Rainbows in this city and i’m pretty sure I get dirty looks…
13) Water comes served hot. Thats right, hot and sometimes its comes boiling hot in a tea kettle. So you may ask, what if I want iced water? Well, you mix in the hot water into a cup of ice. You may also like to know that some places, ice costs extra. Needless to say, I have not drank much water since I’ve been in HK. I have become somewhat of a tea connoisseur, if such a thing exists.
14) Napkins are a rarity to find a restaurants. Some places have wet naps in packages that they leave out but a majority of places just don’t have napkins. I combat this by carrying with me a little travel sized tissue package with me wherever I go in my manbag. And no, you may not make fun of me for that.
15) I have yet to find a decent cup of coffee. I still have a few places to try but every restaurant has been a disappointment so far with coffee. For now, I have to stick with Starbucks and McCafe.
16) The popped collar sensation did make it over the pond but at least I escaped this:
17) Cell phone service is amazing in HK. I am shocked that my cell phone works while I’m on the MTR (subway) 3 floors underground and I can still make phone calls and hear clearly. I mean, that is just unbelievable. I would not go a day without dropping at least 5 phone calls in Phoenix thanks to good ol’ Sprint, who lost 1 million customers in the 1st quarter of 2008 by the way. If you know me, you knew my frustrations with how crappy Sprint was and is. I can’t recall how many times i’ve thrown my phone across the room or yelled at my phone for dropping a call. I can’t even begin to describe how sick I was of watching stupid Verizion “can you hear me now?” commercials. How can my phone not work above ground in America and yet my phone can work 30 – 40 feet below the surface of the earth? I just don’t get it.
***With regards to the earthquake, I just wanted to thank everyone that left messages regarding my safety. Nothing was felt in Hong Kong where I was staying at the time the earthquake occurred. This is truly a tragedy, especially with the deaths of so many children. Many people lost everything and with China’s population regulating rules, lost their family line. It’s difficult to imagine losing an entire future generation of families in one event.
Observations
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1. Chopsticks are still going strong. Created almost 5,000 years ago, it has defied common day inventions such as the fork and the spork (a freakish experiment of a spoon mixed with a fork).
2. You’re not cool unless you wear Converse All-Stars.
3. Man bags are a must in this culture. You are probably asking if I have conformed to this custom and the answer is yes…
4. Chinese TV is low-budget yet incredibly entertaining. Chinese variety shows bring happiness and joy to my Sunday nights. If you would like a taste of what it is like, go on youtube and type in “human tetris.”
5. Water is not served cold at restaurants. It is served boiling hot which does not lead to a refreshing experience when it is hot and humid.
6. Why is America the only country not using the metric system and Celsius?
7. Walking is fun.
8. When you go to a movie, you actually pick your seat when you purchase the movie ticket. That is kind of awesome. Think about all of those times when you have to show up to the newest, greatest movie and have to wait in line for over an hour and then proceed to save seats for your friends who always show up right before the movie starts. Is this not a great solution? By the way, go see Iron Man. It was surprisingly good and got rave reviews.
9. People pronounce Hilary and Obama quite funny on the news here. No mention of McCain that I can recall…
10. I can confidently say that I rank in the top 90th percentile in height. Super weird. I have also discovered that my body type isn’t the norm out here. I found this out while shopping at H&M (coming soon to Scottsdale, across the street from Kierland at Scottsdale Quarter, but don’t tell anyone, it’s supposed to be a big secret). Anyways back to the story, while I was looking for shirts at H&M, I had a hard time finding shirts that fit me. A majority of the shirts I saw came in one of two sizes, small and extra-small. Really? Really? I guess that makes it pretty clear that I don’t fall into the stereotype of the skinny asian. I fall into the other chinese stereotypes/nicknames that my mom kindly explained to me: ABC (American Born Chinese) and Banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside).
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