I realize I have been slacking on my blog updates, but I am so busy I can't help it! I straightened my hair this week at a hair salon where I live...not just straightened, but permanently straightened. It looks so sleek and nice, but I'm sure once I wash it it'll look a little different. I just wanted to try something new, something that would make my life easier! I would also like to say I've been in China for 3 months now! WOW. I have been busy looking for tickets for my sister to come visit me, and the prices have gone up so much for two reasons: the volcanic ash over Europe (the after effect) and the Shanghai World Expo (which I am planning on taking Joanna to when we visit Shanghai) I'm sooo excited! I get to show someone around MY China now (heheheh, MY China...funny hearing that!) And I found out I am for sure going to visit Josie in Taiwan the first weekend in July! We decided we're going to celebrate the 4th of July there (finally someone I can share my American-ness with!) Ok, so let me begin my numerous list of things to write about!
Chinese HORRIBLE (WORST) Drivers
Chinese Children and Babies (Once Again!)
Fake
Censorship and Chinese Communism
Hong Kong
Chinese Drivers
Alright, I know I can't generalize, but I must admit most people here who have a car would be considered the worst drivers if they came to the US. Imagine- people turning right OR left, not from the respective lane but instead the middle lane while cars are swerving next to them. Imagine- drivers honking as a warning to pedestrians or other cars as a WARNING "Don't get in my way, because I'm coming through!!!" Imagine- Making U-turns when oncoming traffic is clearly present and vast. Imagine- Lane changing without checking blind spots. Imagine- Blowing RED lights because "no one" (that means the police) is around to see you. Imagine- driving into oncoming traffic because it gets you to the side of the street you need to be on easily. Imagine- parallel parking into a spot that could fit two cars taking about 5 minutes. And best of all, imagine- Being on a narrow street with cars parallel parked both ways (on the right side, cars are parked correctly, and then facing the other direction) and even better, trying to get out of the spot by making not a THREE point turn, but a SIX point turn, AND even better than that-- The cars have a beeping machine that tells the driver when they are too close to an object behind them, so they don't bother to look in mirrors or glance through the back window. These are things I experience EVERYDAY and so now I know why Chinese drivers are considered the worst drivers in the US. I assume they actually think they are good drivers with the snail-paced driving that sometimes occurs, or the warning honks, but to drive in China, you have to expect ANYTHING and EVERYTHING from the driver next to you because most likely, they will do it (such as merge into your lane and realize they are about to hit you only when you honk)...
Chinese Babies
Babies here are cherished. They are little emperors. When I was talking with friends, they said this attitude is good to have toward babies and children because when they grow up, they won't take NO for an answer. I'm not really sure how this "next generation of emperors" will affect Chinese politics, the economy and such, but I'm interested to see. It still surprises me though when person after person gets up in the subway to let a 6 year old child sit in their seat...Children are perfectly healthy and capable of standing...and that's when I think the children are spoiled, not just respected (although I do understand that when a subway is THIS crowded, as they are here, the kids can get trampled so it makes a LITTLE sense to let them sit). On the subject of Chinese children being mini-emperors, I'd like to sneak in a comment about the Chinese population. So many people work so hard here because they want to get ahead of everyone else. Basically China was ahead of any other country through history. Not just a little advanced, BUT generations ahead. After Mao, China slowed down and actually became somewhat backward (mind me, I don't know every detail of Chinese history), so now the people feel they need to make up for it and work twice as hard, to get China back on the right track. If a country such as...France (smaller in size and population) can be in many ways more forward than China, it makes the Chinese look like they aren't working hard enough. They have a HUGE population and an enormous country, THEY should be the ones who are first in the race of the countries. Just a theory...
Fake
You can buy anything and everything fake here. Fake earrings, fake jewelry, fake bags, fake clothing, fake shoes, but also fake food. Yes, fake food. Kenneth told me that he doesn't really trust much of the food sold on the streets here because they use fake (therefore cheaper) ingredients, which then might cause harm to the stomach or other body parts. About a year ago, some famous Chinese milk company sold milk which contained some sort of substance (something like a paint-like substance) in their milk to make it thicker (imagine going from skim milk to whole milk with white paint). Obviously it was hidden and when people bought it, they fed it to babies. Eventually some babies developed ulcers (or kidney stones, I'm not too sure) and died. The milk company closed down, but I'm not sure what happened to the CEO. Anyway, the repercussions for selling fake FOOD in China is the death penalty. Supposedly they don't play around and use the death penalty as a form of punishment in many instances. (Then again, why would you not when you have such a high population? Just kidding!)
Censorship and Communism
Those that know me well, know that I am not a big fan of Communism. Not because of things I have read and because it is a general consensus, but because Poland used to be a part of the USSR and I grew up in Poland right after Communism ended. My mom and dad and whole family for that matter, had to live in Poland throughout Soviet rule. My grandfather escaped from Poland to Austria, then to Texas and then to Chicago because he didn't want to continue living under Communist rule. So I believe I have a right to, well...DISLIKE Communism. The fact is that the Chinese actually want to model their ECONOMY like the economy of the USSR... From what I have learned (my major IS mainly focused on political economies) and heard and experienced, the Communist theory doesn't work. I won't get to into this because it's a pretty touchy subject for me to have people say that the Communist THEORY is a good one, when in reality (as it has been shown in history, and history repeats itself) it doesn't ever work the way it's SUPPOSED to or the way it is advertised to. Even though there are many Communist theories having to do with politics, economics, social structure, I am and always will be, biased against it for the sole purpose that I know and have heard about what happened when Communism was supposed to make a country and people well off, when actually it did the opposite and made it even worse. Just saying... read about it! Oh, back to my point...when I went to Hong Kong, there was a celebration in memory of those from the Tienanmen Square protests, but I missed it because I didn't find out until after it was over. I wanted to buy a newspaper to keep for myself, but I was advised not to. Basically the people I was talking to said "If you want to continue having a job in China, I would read the newspaper and not buy it or bring it into the Mainland" and "If they catch you with this on the border, they will just throw it away". I would rather not be interrogated and NOT lose my job, so I didn't buy one. Turns out they didn't check my bags in immigration though, so I probably could have bought one! The longer I live here, the more I learn just how censored I am. I know I already mentioned monitoring, but I found out they keep a close eye not just on foreigners, but people in general! For example, to enter the subdivision where I live by car, you get a slip which says the time you came in, and when you leave, you have to present the slip so they can see how long you were there. The guards who walk around and sometimes slack off and chit chat in front of our buildings are actually provided by the Chinese government, and they are at every subdivision I have been to. I'm assuming they get hired to be a guard for the Chinese government in a residential area. How coooool! (hah, sarcasm!) I find them, for the most part, annoying because whenever I walk by a big group of them, one usually says hello as if he speaks English, but in reality I know they're saying something about me in Mandarin or better yet, in Cantonese. They think they have so much power, but they patrol a residential area! (I do think it's good that they're there though because I feel a little safer knowing I'm in a gated community)
Hong Kong
Last but not least, let's talk about Hong Kong. I had to go there because I needed to get a Work VISA instead of the Business Visa I have now. You might ask why I went to Hong Kong instead of somewhere in China when it is s Chinese embassy...well I asked the same thing. The main reasoning is that it is easier to get a work visa in Hong Kong rather than anywhere around here. I guess you really have to jump through hoops to get all this paperwork finished in time to apply, but Kelly and the Director's secretary of my division in Midea took care of everything for me, and for that I am so grateful. Plus, the company reimburses me for travel expenses and the hotel I stayed in, so even better! Hong Kong is a mix of the West and of Canton. Most people used to speak English, but in the last 20 years, people have been speaking Cantonese more. The street vendors in the markets speak English because they deal with tourists all day, but the cab drivers and even the people at local restaurants speak Cantonese (and some Mandarin maybe). I took the ferry to Hong Kong on Wednesday morning and looked for a hotel after I dropped off my VISA application. I made it to the VISA office at 11:59AM and it closed for lunch at noon. They were such ASSHOLES telling me to hurry up. If I didn't NEED this VISA, I would have bitched them out, but in this country, bitching doesn't get you anywhere since they don't HAVE to do anything for you. I got the feeling that while I was in the embassy they controlled me, because they had the upper hand in deciding whether I could get a VISA or not. This is probably how my parents felt when they were trying to come to the US for the first time. I hated that feeling and that is one reason I really appreciate the US now, because I, for the most part, always feel in control of myself and outcomes of situations. Anyway I quickly filled out the application and handed in the forms Kelly (my supervisor) gave me- such as permission from the Chinese government with a stamp and everything saying that I could work in China.
The next day I picked up my VISA (after paying 1300HKD) and went sight seeing. I went to Hong Kong with Ross, an Irish guy who works in my division in the Overseas Sales Department, and met up with his friend Greg who was traveling and had already been to Australia, the Philippines, and I forget the other places. While I was in Hong Kong I saw the city at night, climbed up to Victoria Peak and saw the lights of the buildings which really was a beautiful site. We walked around SoHo and went to the museum. Of course we took a tram and a ferry across to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon and went out in an area that consisted mostly of older foreigners and business people (I wanted to give the exact names of this, but as it happens, the GREAT Chinese censorship will not let me look up Hong Kong on Wikipedia). I stayed in a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui which is an area abundant with tourists that has a ton of hostels.
Some things I hated about Hong Kong were the Indians who sold "Fake bags, watches and jewelry" (this is what they said to us literally EVERY time we walked by) or that tailored custom suits. I can't even count how many times we walked by them and that's all they said. Eventually I started saying "Fuck off" to them, or "Don't even" and put my hand up, because I was getting TOO tired of it. To my Indian friends- don't be offended, I would have done this no matter who it was! I don't know why so many Indians live in Hong Kong. Probably because it was a British colony, so many migrated here. Another I really hated were the prices. For things I could have bought in China for 15 Yuan, I could buy in Hong Kong for 80 HKD (1 Yuan = about 1.12 HKD). We paid 60HKD for a simple Dim Sum meal, 30HKD for noodles and vegetables, and 15HKD for post cards. The thing that I find interesting is that many of my coworkers tell me that they go to Hong Kong to go shopping. In Hong Kong electronics, watches and brand name clothes are cheaper. The only thing I bought was shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Heheheh. I am trying to save though for my countless traveling adventures that are coming up (Macau, Taiwan, and uncountable cities in China).
Oh and it is a small world after all. The week I was in Hong Kong was the same week there was an AIESEC Conference on "Being Green", or something like that, and by the tram to go up to Victoria Peak, I saw some U of I AIESECers! CRAZY! All in all, I enjoyed Hong Kong, hated the prices (that's why I ate a nutritious dinner at McDonald's every night where I got a chicken sandwich, a coke and french fries all for 20HKD), loved seeing all the high-end boutiques and the sites, but was China-sick (homesick, but for China). And yes, I MUST talk about the fashion. I have to admit I didn't really see anything that amazing in Hong Kong. I took some pictures of cool outfits that I saw, but those are things I would think to wear or I have seen before. There were only about three outfits that I saw that I can say were cool and representative of what I thought Hong Kong fashion was, but the rest was just your average Louis Vuitton bag and shirt and pants. Even the people out at night didn't look too amazing. Too bad because I expected fashion out of this world, and I got Chinese fashion mixed with a little of the West (I now hold an opinion that New York really has the best fashion for guys, at least the one that I like most. For girls, I would say maybe LA or some city like that). The girls who dressed up that were Hong Kongese wore a lot of eye makeup, heavy upper lid eye liner, fake eye lashes, and their hair up in a high pony tail and were pretty skinny... similar to Chinese girls!
