Well, it’s been about 6 weeks. As I write this, Monique is at Salt Lake Airport awaiting to board her flight to head out here. As I was sending her off (via my Magic Jack IP phone connection) a couple of thoughts came to my mind that perhaps I am starting to fit in here. Thought I’d share them with you. Some are kooky, some are interesting and some are useless.
As a backdrop, I take a taxi to work every morning and home from work every night. These are my 20 minute opportunities to get a glimpse into the “real” China – through the eyes of my Taxi drivers. Every day is a different taxi driver, so every day I ask many of the same starting questions – which then lead in a different direction every time. It’s great to practice my Chinese, and I’ve learned some interesting things, such as:
· All taxi drivers in Shanghai work one day on, then one day off. They work for about 20-22 hours at a stretch. For this they earn the equivalent of US $454 per month. No raises, bartering, or variable wages. On top of this they have to pay for gas and repairs (see below) by themselves. Whew!
· All taxi’s are heavily regulated by the city. Some are not allowed in the center of the city, others can only stay within the center of the city, and some have a lower rates (why? Who knows). If you get in the wrong taxi and come to the border in question, they simply pull over and kick you out (after you pay).
· Prices increase by 30% after 11:00 pm. This is exactly when the subways quit running, so if you are unfortunate enough to be a long way from home when the subways shut down, you’d better have a load of cash on you.
· If a taxi license plate has an “X” in it, it is owned by the driver, otherwise it is owned by a taxi company. They are all monitored in real time by GPS and the dispatcher can tell if the driver is speeding. Sometimes they get a cell call from the office saying slow down. Big brother.
· There are few if any police on the streets to catch speeders – but on major high speed roads, every ½ kilometer there are permanently mounted radar guns spanning the highway with cameras and powerful flashes. If you are speeding, your car is photographed and you will get a ticket at your house. Apparently there is not too much effort for anyone to actually follow up on these tickets – so maybe you pay, maybe you don’t.
· Taxis can only stay in service for up to 4 years then have to be sold. From the looks of it, they just sell them to each other, cause there are LOTS of cars older than 4 years old. Oh, by the way, apparently repairing vehicles is at the discretion of the driver (company doesn’t pay for repairs), and nobody seems to worry about shocks or suspension – I am reminded of this every morning and night as we drive over the speed bumps in my neighborhood.
· I no longer worry about hitting the pedestrian or bike rider who seems perilously close to death – somehow the actual impact never takes place. (although the other morning I did stomp heavily on the floor – my natural reaction to a daring pedestrian who stepped out in front of our speeding taxi)
· China has a mandatory retirement age of 50 for women and 60 for men
· If you are sick, all you have to do is go down to the hospital and take a number (there are no private family doctors or appointments or clinics, etc.)
· If your temperature is below a certain threshold (which I haven’t been able to figure out yet), then you have to wait in one area – with the other hundreds of people who aren’t all that sick. If your temp is higher, you go to the area where sicker people are. Since there are fewer people, you tend to get seen faster. So people actually “hope” that they are sick enough to go to the more serious side of the hospital.
· A colleague of mine has had to go to the hospital three times since I’ve been here – once for himself, once with his wife, and once for his baby. Took him all day each time for the adults (not sick enough) and only 4 hours for the baby who was running a high fever.
· Medical bills are covered by the government – to a point. If you want the more advanced medicines or ones that are specific to an illness you have to pay for those yourself. Otherwise the standard and/or Chinese medicines are free, as is the visit – as long as you don’t see a specialist. My company-provided insurance provides this sort of coverage for me at no out of pocket cost.
· Food issues are less of a concern for me than they were. Although I never eat at the ever-present street vendors, I’ve become comfortable with the myriad weird concoctions and servings that I’ve been surprised by. My favorite meals include “jiao zi” (meat dumplings) that we ate every day on our missions in Taiwan.
· KFC is NOTHING like the KFC in the states – I don’t think there is a single item on the menu that you’d find in the states. McDonald’s has the same basic menu plus a wide array of localized menu items – like extra spicy Szechuan chicken sandwiches, etc. Subway is EXACTLY the same as in the states, right down to the oatmeal and raisin cookies.
· Every once in a while I allow myself a western indulgence. I bought a box of Frosted Flakes recently. It was about 1/3 the size of a normal box and about 3 times the cost. Got it home to find that I hadn’t yet bought spoons. Was pleased to discover that my chopsticks skills have advanced to the degree that I can eat Frosted Flakes (and milk) with chopsticks. Yikes.
· In our neighborhood the butcher hangs various skinned carcasses in front of the shop. I think it’s his way of advertising. Right now it is cold enough that I don’t worry too much about them going bad, but will be interesting to see what happens come summer (I won’t be buying there in any event).
· Most of the carcasses at the butcher you can tell what they are. I saw one carcass the size and shape of a dog. Since I can’t think of any animals of similar form, I’m guessing that dog is fair game. Or maybe it was a small lamb?
· Speaking of dogs, I think we are the ONLY ones in our neighborhood without a dog. Every morning the Ayi’s (maids) are out walking the owner’s dogs and hanging out at the corner with their Ayi friends. Seems that no one wants a small dog, they are all German Shepherds, Akita’s, Golden Retrievers, etc. Is it some form of food storage? Wink.
· I LOVE where I work. The people are fantastic and kind and helpful. The environment is positive and the facilities are pretty high end compared to a lot of other places I see.
· Most Chinese companies have a cafeteria. By most accounts, ours is quite good. Each employee’s ID badge is loaded with money each month, and you simply swipe your badge as you go through getting your food – lunch on the company every day. Not bad.
· The food is excellent (for the most part). I was surprised the other day by some sort of fish stew complete with the fish head, etc. Took one sip and tactfully “forgot” to eat my soup.
· There are some things that take getting used to…like the whole restroom thing. I guess when there are a billion folks crammed into a small area, you are less worried about the potential embarrassments of “bathroom matters”. In our case neither the men’s room, nor the ladies room has a door – just openings – and the openings are directly across from each other. Furthermore, the stalls in both are directly in front of the opening, so basically you and a colleague of the opposite gender might come back from lunch and walk to the restroom at the same time, and enter your respective stalls at the same time – maybe 6 feet from each other. Open the stall, wave at each other, pass notes… just kidding – but you can imagine the scene. I may end up knowing more about a colleague than I bargained for.
· This weekend is the company kick off dinner – for all ~5,000 employees. This is not just a dinner. There is some pretty serious home-grown entertainment and every employee gets (and is expected to wear) a matching garment. This year it is a bright red zippered hoodie that says “Red Hot Friday” on it. I haven’t been able to figure out why. Teams from all over the company (entire departments) have been practicing their parts for the entertainment portion. There will be a 100 person ballroom dance exhibition, a synchronized martial arts demonstration, one department has a world-class chorus (literally), another will have an ancient Chinese drum line (like during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics) etc. etc. Everyone takes this VERY seriously. I’ve never seen anything like it, but I think is it actually pretty cool.
· They don’t typically allow spouses at the company party, but Monique was formally invited by the CEO. I’m the only Caucasian in the company and I think they were trying to be nice by allowing her to come (or maybe we “waiguoren” bring good luck). Anyway, all my colleagues are looking forward to meeting her. I’m going to tell her that it is a welcome party just for her. I figure since she doesn’t speak Chinese, she’ll never know.
In closing let me share with you what I’ve shared with my new Chinese friends. Despite what you hear in the news, etc. we’re all pretty much the same. They love their kids and spouses, are worried about pollution, want peace in the world, laugh the same, cry the same and love the same. We may eat different foods, drive differently, or have different manners, etc. – but those are all little things. When it counts, we are amazingly similar.
Cheers, Love, Regards, etc. (take your pick)
Jay
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