Wednesday 16 September 2009

Not the brightest bulb

I moved desks on Monday (because I preferred to do it on Monday morning rather than on Friday night at 18:30 when everyone else started moving), and as it got darker, I realised that the light bulb above my new desk didn't work.  I am one of those people who prefers to work in well-lit areas (not fluorescent lighting, but just bright enough to see everything I'm doing and not fall asleep), but for some reason people here don't bother turning the lights on until it's actually dark.

I would normally fix these sorts of things myself, but the light fixtures are quite high, and we seem to have someone to take care of these things.  So, I sent a quick email to the receptionist (as she'd already gone home for the day) to see if she could get the bulb changed.  I got this in reply:

Dear Starla,

I'm sorry, there's no extra light bulbs now, we will handle it as soon as possible.


This made very little sense to me, especially because our office takes up the whole floor of the building and we are using about half of the desks.  The lights above those desks don't get used, so... switch out the bulbs, please? 

After some further follow-up including a suggestion about unused-but-functional light bulbs, the receptionist had a guy from the tech department get up on my desk to fix the situation.

Unnecessary, but very China.

Posted via email from Banana Undercover

Friday 11 September 2009

But... it's a kitchen in China, is it not?

Shanghai is a transient place in many ways.  People come and go more often than you'd think, with short-term positions, internships, holidays, and the recent financial woes of the world.  So it's not uncommon to have to say goodbye to friends as they move away, and mentally prepare to do the inevitable making new friends later.

The last couple of nights have been dedicated to saying goodbye to a friend who is moving to Taiwan (one of the major reasons he's leaving is actually the state of the internet here, which is tragic for us in many ways), as well as some "bonus" money that I received (but more on that later).  He kindly offered up anything in his kitchen that we wanted to take away. 

I was mentally going through things I might need, when I suddenly said... "Wait, do you have a rice cooker?"

This was met on all sides by horrified exclamations of "You don't have a rice cooker?!"  "What kind of Asian are you?!" (Okay, that second one might be something I would have said had I been the exclaimer.)

And, it's true.  We've never had one in my apartment, mostly because my flatmates aren't Chinese and don't really cook rice (if they cook at all).  It was a noticeable omission when I arrived, but, to be honest, I've been cooking pretty good rice on stovetops for so long now that I never got around to to investing in one (transient lifestyles don't really allow for carrying a rice cooker in your backpack - although it has been done).

So last night after dinner I went over to my friend's place, and came out with the culinary haul you see here.  A rice cooker!  A set of steamers!  A freakin' spatula!  I didn't even need a blender, but this one is an upgrade.  Sweet.  I will miss my friend, but I always appreciate free stuff.  Especially small appliances.

Posted via email from Banana Undercover

Saturday 5 September 2009

Even worse than seeing this on a Friday night...

...is seeing this on a Saturday morning.
 
 - Taken at 9:59 AM on September 05, 2009 - uploaded by ShoZu

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Falafel, but not as I know it.

Chick pea cookies? The vege plate at Wagas has not fulfilled my falafel needs.
 
 - Taken at 12:26 PM on September 05, 2009 - uploaded by ShoZu

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Thursday 3 September 2009

360-something days on...

I had my one year anniversary at work on Tuesday (and hence one year and 2 days since I arrived in China), and it passed without note, except that I had a coincidental enforced day off.  While it is nice to have a weekday off, I have to make this up on Saturday, with no opt-out or alternative way of working off a break that I had no choice about.  Oh well.  Nobody complained, either (I voiced my displeasure to HR, but they were overruled by the CEO).  Thanks, Chinese mentality.

I don't really have much time for a self-reflection right now, but hopefully I will be able to manage something in the future.  All I know is that this is the longest I've ever stayed in a full-time job (it was already the only permanent position I have ever taken), so that's somewhat of an achievement. 

It took me a good 6 months to feel like I'd settled in here, develop a few worthwhile friendships, and get to know the city.  Some of the friends have moved on, but I am still enjoying the city.  I've been lucky to have friends visit me here, and hope more will do so in the near future.  I've met some great people here, too, sometimes in unexpected places.  I have an apartment that I love, and great flatmates (although that wasn't always the case).  That situation may be changing, but, as always, I'll roll with it.

At the moment I feel like I have a fair amount going on, but that I'm not really achieving anything.  I've always had a bit of a lack of motivation (slash direction), and at the moment that tiny amount is being stretched out towards disparate, often vague goals (although reading about the Mosaic approach yesterday makes me feel a little more positive about it!).  My Chinese has improved somewhat, despite me not paying much attention to it.  Despite (or including) all the distractions, there are a couple of things in my life that make me really happy, and I can't really complain too much about the other stuff.  It's all balanced out by positives and side benefits. 

An upcoming trip home is also distracting me, and I can't wait to catch up with friends and eat a bunch of things that I can't get here.  I will probably come back to China with a lactose intolerancy from the copious amounts of dairy I am likely to consume.  Hopefully it will be balanced out by the meats and seafoods.  I haven't been out of Asia for over two years, so I hope that there's no reverse culture shock.  I may be able to ask for exactly what I want, and then receive it.  Amazing.  Perhaps I'll experience some kind of overload because I'll actually be able to understand everything that's on TV, in advertising, and in the conversations of strangers (although those strangers probably won't be standing quite so close to me as they would be on, say, any of the trains going through People's Square).

In light of a few recent developments, and of course the upcoming Expo 2010 (which probably nobody outside of China has even heard of), I'm feeling pretty positive about the next year.  I hope it pans out even better than I envision it...

Posted via email from Banana Undercover