Hastenly Spken English

It is very interesting to listen to people talk in Kuala Lumpur. They rarely finish a whole sentense. The receipiant would always interpolate and acknowlege. Communication without full communication seems like a culture. It is almost natural not to express yourself fully.

The rapid rythm of speaking accentuate this impatient movement in conversation. You almost feel you are stupid if wanting to finish a statement with clear pronouciation and normal tempo.

Revenge of a Panda

Gu Gu, the panda in Beijing Zoo. Of course, Gu Gu is much bigger than this now
_________________________________

The drunk Chinese guy felt the urge to hug Gu Gu, the Panda. He jumped into the panda enclosure and got bitten by Gu Gu in his left leg.
Don't hug anything you think cute.

Fear of Money

I went through the horrifying experience of wiring money out of China. It is not possible for foreigners to buy dollars with Chinese Yuan, unless you can provide 5 various types of documents to prove that your Yuan deposit comes from a earning, paid by a foriegn company. I then asked help from my Aussie colleague who needs to convert the dollars to Yuan.

I know the exchange rate is less than 8. I said I should buy the dollars with this exchange rate. She suggested otherwise but I declined her offer as the token of my gratitue. I then went to check the real exchange rate and found that I am losing almost 100 dollars in this deal. If I should be cool not to care about this? But that's a lot of money! I went to her, fully embarrassed and expressed my will to adjust the exchange rate. I felt like a complete idiot! Luckily for me, she didn't mind at all.

Man, this is really a good lesson for me. I guess sometimes I am too eager to express a good will money-wise. Nevertheless, I sometimes find myself being trapped in a very ackward situation by my not-at-the-right-time-and-right-place generosity. Perhaps I should just smile and geniunly say "thank you very much". And find some other opportunity to repay the favor. I am just too impatient.

With USD cash in hand, I was so shocked to realise that I can only deposit and wire 5,000 dollars maximum a day.

Clipping Nails in Public

This is one of the most untoleratable thing for me. I cannot figure out why people can clip their nails in the train, in the office, in the book store or in a coffee shop. One clip after another, each crispy sound cuts through the air almost creating a paper-cut like sensation on my skin. I cannot explain exactly why it is so getting on my nerve. Clipping nails is supposed to be very private thing to do?

What do Girls Talk About?

Girls talk about boy friends at their early twenties. The girl gang I hang out with now talk about wedding bangquets, marriage life and then, inevitably, babies. The shocking piece of information Grace told me is that we will be talking about extra-marital affair (wether it is his or hers) in about 5 years time.

Washing Up After Number 2?

Poor Nir lost his racksack in a half-baked taxi ride (he was driven off the cab because the taxi driver wouldn't understand where he wanted to go and he forgot to take his racksack with him, ha ha). This is the second week of Nir's miserable stay in Beijing.
________________________________________

When I was little, we had guests from Malaysia, Indonisia or Thai. Those were my father's relatives and for some reasons they all came to stay with us when visiting Taipei. Of course, they were all telling us how the natives in those far away countries clean themselves with the right hands and eat with the left hands.

I finally came to understand this is one of the muslim's behaviors. In Kuala Lumur, every toilet stall, regardless it is the squatter or wester style toilet) is equiped with a seperate host, well, I guess, people use it to clean the rearends. The floor is constantly wet, and cleaning ladies linger in the bathroom to mop dry the floor.

In Kuala Lumpur, you can see the amazing concoction of people with different ethinical origin and religions. Malays, Chinese and Indians all speak each other's language, eat each other's traditional foods and work side by side.

Acceptance

I am preparing for a job assignment in Kuala Lumper next week, and just started to read loads of documents compiled by other consultants.

As reading a 26-page doc, I gradually lost patience to comprehand the passage toward the end. I am not panicking at all, which I might get angry with myself few years ago. I am taking it easy because I understand I have to read it again later on. What's the big deal I couldn't get through it the first time? It might not seen efficient but that works very well for me.

Exploring the Difference

I spoil myself a massage treat every weekend. I always ask for girls and, interestingly, I manage to get a new massues every time. Could it be because the turn over is high or it simply because they have a mass number of massues waiting for work?

Anyhow, although they are all very well trained (not only they can all accurately massage the "chi" point in your body but also their techniques are almost identical), you can still feel the subtle difference. It is almost exciting to explore different massage styles. I must be mad.

GuanXi 201

I was reading another book, describing China as a big secret society. During the small agriculture society, there is limit room for GuanXi to develop because people are quite self sustainable. However, when the economic has grown to certain scale, supply/demand driving market is not yet mature and the government has not yet developed an efficient way to liquidify goods/labor, GuanXi is almost the only way to survival.

The book has taken the GuanXi analysis into a second level. We all know that connection is a big part of success, success in making business, getting good jobs, receiving a proper medical attention or sending your kids to the right schools. I think this is true every part of this planet. Chinese world has used it to an extreme, is that all?

The secret social analogy the author has proposed is quite illuminating. In a secret society, honesty and honor are the pillars to build a name. With a name, you can borrow trust, friends, women and wealth without any tangible collaterals. But you put your name on the line. However, chances are you don't need to return those. Being driven by the desire to become somebody, people start to boast, bluff, vainity follows (quite well explain Modern China).

The way GuanXi is built up is quite like an art. It is constructed on top of favor debts. The timing to return the favor and the amount to return are both very critical. The various concoction send different messages to the creditor. For example, if you return it immediately with the equal value, that means you do not want to build up a GuanXi with the creditor. Normally you don't return the favor in equal value, which indicates you and the creditor is merely doing a deal (absolutely not acceptable by Chinese). Taking some time to return the debt tells the creditor that you truely accept his help and geniunly grateful. This might not seem clear cut if this returning goes around several times. However, that was intended effect. The two persons involved know clearly who owns what and how much. GuanXi is then nurished and grown.

Clean Aired Beijing

We had the unexceptional good weather in Beijing this past weekend. The sky is so clear that I can see some mountains miles away from my bedroom windows. The temperature is just about right, even a bit chilly at early morning and evening. I couldn't resist the temptation to go out cycling on the big streets at night. Chang'an road lies between the Forbidden city and Tianmen squre is really huge, riding really fast pass Forbidden city is really fun.

On my way back, I rode past the Beijing Friendship store, which was the only store open to foriegners before 80's. I recalled a story about the saleswoman who was so irritated by a customer who merely asked her a question. They quarelled and the saleswoman was so angry (I don't know why) that she hit the customer on the head with the ice cream bucket. The customer ran and she started chasing him because she wanted to hit him on the back as well.

Don't ask me why those women who work for the state-owned business are so obnoxious to customers. They never laugh and seem to hate everyone. Of course I have met some friendly and nice saleswomen. But very few.