Thin-Slicing

I am reading Malcolm Gladwell's "blink thinking". We were trained to think that a good decision must be associated with accurate observation and prudent thinking. However, we are making judgements based on our instincts from time to time. Life simply doesn't allow you the time to gather information and digest them. However, our reaction patterns are heavily shaped by our experience, language and surroundings.

One very interesting point he brought up is that we are all very bad story teller. We cannot clearly describe what we want until we see it. Trying to explain our decision almost always twists the true reasoning. Putting it into words handicap our decision making process.

Claire's Brother

I was dragged out by Clement on Friday night. He is really a character. He just came back from a week long meeting in Bankok, spent few hours in Taipei and then boarded on the plane to Beijing and endured a full-day meeting and then still want to go out and play.

We went to the pub where lots of expats frequent. The terrace on top of a building, nice breeze in the mid summer night. Clement enjoys life enormously. He is easy-going, chatty and energetic. We hung out until 3am, almost went to another pub with some French to watch football.

I asked him what is so good about life, we are doing the same old things again and again for thousands of years. He replied "that's why we have to do it better".

Divoced is Desired

It is rather enlightening talking to my colleague in Beijing Office. He claimed, the divoced man or woman in their 30s are in most demand. If you are single to this age, people start to imagine all kind of reasons why you are still single. You must be a super play girl not to be married this late.

Thus, it is of most beneficial to claim that you have had a marriage before. And your partner treated you most unfairly, you suffered for very long time, still try to find a way to get out of the painful experience.

Obviously, I am not very marketable in China.

Reading is so Fun

Because of English footballer's freckles, I started to miss London very much. I bought the 20 hour long BBC documentary of religion and Agatha Christie's "Murder is Easy". I lay the book in the project room and my client looked at the title, asking me in a worried voice "That is not a non-fiction book, right?"

I accidentally bought another copy of a book I possessed but have not read. Gee, I am really getting old. That is a novel whose background is set at Beijing under Japanese's control before world war II. The cruelty and violence bit are often heard, but I am really interested in the description of real Beijing life.

Beijing natives are very proud to be useless. The ethinic group, Chi, were from east north of China. They came into the central land, drving away the Ming Dynasty and started Chin Dynasty. Those Chi people were absolutely minority but shared the glory of becoming the govening class in central land. As they induldged themselves in foods, drink, having fun, they lost their fighting skills. No longer knows how to ride a horse. However, they are all masters of the art of good living.

Working hard is viewed as very low class thing to do, that's for the servants. They breed birds in spring time, train eagles in summer, bet on little cricket fight in fall and go to the famous brothel in winter. They worship uselessness.

Take breeding bird for example, it is definitely not an easy work to do. First of all, you have to get the right bird, get the most delicately carved cage and work out different bird foods in different seasons. You then have to wake up at 5am to "walk" the bird. Walking with the bird in a cage but you have to swing the cage so the bird's muscle can be trained while holding tight to to the stick. The next thing is to find a good environment for the bird to learn how to sing. You have to get the bird in the middle of other birds for quite a while so it feels intimidated first and wants to do better later. It is very very important to get the bird into the right crowd, otherwise, it would learn the type of singing it is not supposed to do.

Serious Air Pollution Alert

My mom bought me the finding-demo mask to fight the bad air quality in Beijing. Too embarrassing to wear it....
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I walked out of the building and thought I was in foggy London, it turned out that is the serious air pollution. The uncunning combination of temperature and humidity has created this disaster.

Smart Kids

Finally met with HuaRu in Beijing. We have not seen each other after graduating from high school in Taiwan, it has been almost 13 years. It is so interesting that we both think that each other looks exactly the same as in high school.

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My mom and I talked about how XiaoHo has exhibited intellengence above his peer group. He's never asked for help when playing with kids older than him and always makes other kids cry for help. My mom started to worry that he might have a tougher road in life.

Being normal and complying with others' expectation is a way to survival?

Toilet Seat Up

When I was growing up the household was run by my bad-temper father. The dinner table was sometimes a frightful place to go. He had this funny mood swings, sufficient to bring everyone's appetitle down when bad enough. He showed his stress openly, and demanded our attention. We had to feel bad about ourselves for not contributing to the finance and burdening him.

At the end of day, he walked freely in his undergarments around the house and ignored the fact that I was very uncomfortable. He never closed the door when using the toilet (only when there were guests). And the toilet seat is alway up for male family member's convinence.

Things are very different now. My mom insisted to get the automatic cleaning toilet seat. Girly lotions and hair dryer were moved from our rooms to the bathroom rack. The glassy divider was not installed so she can bath XiaoHo easily. No one can walk around the room without fully dressed except XiaoHo. I cannot help but feel a great relief.

I think my father's confidence has suffered a serious blow. He cannot control us financially and he sees no other means to re-gain his power. He wilts day after day.

Be nice to your family members.

Stress About What

I was slightly drunk and decided to cut my hair, not quite sure how it turns out so the picture.
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I had a horrible dream that my colleagues all turned against me because they don't like the way I work. I was isolated and my wallet was stolen again. No one gave me any helping hand. I was lost in a big department store and Irene (funny why she was involved in our project?) wouldn't tell me where she is exactly over the phone.

Be nice to your colleagues.

I Miss London

I was sitting in a pub watching the English and Pauraguay game. Reading the last name of English players' last name, for example, Hargreaver; seeing the freckles on the footballers' face, all those remind me so much of UK.

Madera and Chinese Rice Wine

When I first tasted Madera in Golden's Wine Bar near Embankment station, I thought it is really much like the Chinese Rice Wine I had while I was small.

I bought a bottle of Chinese Rice Wine tonight and I thought, Gee, this is so much like Madera. The sweetness level is low, its dry and very smooth.

What do Chinese and Spainish/Porteguese have in common taste of alcohol?

Strange Things I Notice So Far

World Cup opening, I am staying home watching TV and updating my blog. This is my coffee table but I work, eat, read on it.

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1. Every Chinese phrase in public area has English translation, not the English that English native could understand but the HanYu spelling. For example, 洗手間 would become Xi Shou Jian, which means washroom. I really don't understand what those English letters are for.

2. Strange decoration in hotels and office buildings' lobby area. For example, in my client's office building, there is a fountain with a huge marble ball rolling in the middle. The ball is so huge (radius is almost 2 feet) and I still couldn't figure out how they keep the ball rolling on top of a small crust with the tiny amount of water coming out of the crust. Anyhow, I think it is really an eye sore. Less is more is definitely not true in Beijing.

3. News stand plays a high-pitch, not pleasant woman voice, hurriedly and repeatedly saying "Xinhua Newspaper, XXX Newspaper, YYY Newspaper...". Is it necessary to tell the passbys what newspapers you have? If it is, would it be nice to use some pleasant voice and make she speak it slowly?

4. A talking bus. Of course, the bus itself doesn't talk. There are always 1 or 2 managers go with a bus, they collect tickets and talk. They don't only talk to the passengers but use the loud speaker talking to the pedestrains or drivers around the bus "Be careful, be careful, the bus is approaching the stop. Watch out, watch out, the bus is leaving the station". Their voices sound exhausted, tired and I-do-it-only-because-I-have-to.

5. The door of Lady's room is alwasy wide open (oh, there is door to each stall, thank god). It is quite embarrassing for me to use the toilet while the corridor is so quiet and I think every one in the office across the hall can hear the sound I make. That doesn't seem to bother other girls.

6. I have met girls in the lady's at work place, bringing with them some newspaper or files or magazine. I thought doing number 2 is something really private and personal. You don't want to do it in the public toilet, not even to broadcast it by bringing with you a magazine to the toilet.

To Be Continued.... (as I discover more)

Unexpeccted Death

Upon returning home after a week in the camp (a meeting with client, not fun, believe me), three of my friends are dying. They are now moved to the intensive care unit where plenty of water is supplied, the comfined environment can effectively lock the moisted air. I can hope maricle would happen and I only need to give up taking shower for a while.
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I was hanging out with a expat group, we talked about how hard it is to bargain in Silk market. The expat group all look Chinese but very "white" inside. But they do learn how to play the game very well.

Some told me to go there very early in the morning, the stall keepers are eager to close the first deal. Or around the closing time, the stall keepers are tired and want to make a sale quick. The other guy told me his experience. He walked into one stall and found a suitcase he really likes. As usual, you have to feedback the 30% of the asking price. The stall keeper snorted. He walked out and pretended to look around in the neighbouring stalls, hoping the stall keeper would come out and agree on the price he offer. Nothing. He then spent another few hours searching for that particular suitcase to no avail. The stall keeper smiled brightly when he returned.

Amazingly, westerners in Silk market are very good bargainers. They can shamelessly counter offer 1 RMB to some item whose asking price is 500 RMB. I guess they truely believe everything is amazingly cheap in China.

The bargaining process is emotiona-filled. I have seen the sellers got so angry that she threw the pair of shoes on the floor. As a shopper, you sometimes feel guilty not to buy it or offer the price too low. I am not very good in this game, never bought anything apart from foods.

Ding-Ling, Ding-Ling

Riding around town in Beijing is quite easy and stress-free comparing to the public transportation. Well, theoretically speaking, taking taxi should be nice and easy until one Friday, I had 2 unpleasant taxi ride experiences. One taxi driver forgot to bring enough changes, we had to break a hundred yuan bill while I was really in a hurry to the client site. The other taxi driver didn't get my instruction correctly, I had to argue with him to make him stop the meter.

I have been very nice and quiet initially when riding my bicycle. But I find it very dangerous while going through crowded streets. Because pedestrains don't really pay attention to their surroundings. I started to use the bell, I thought it is rude at first but no one seems to mind.

Ring the bell gives you the strange sense of power as if the blocking-your-way pedestrains would be blown away with the Ding-Ling Ding-Ling sound.