Ramblings of a seriously bored person in Hainan, China
It's been awhile, I know. I thought I would post a recent event that occurred to some friends of mine. I hope this hasn't happened to any of you so let this be a warning.
A couple of friends of mine recently returned to Hainan from the States. They flew into Beijing's new airport. No problem. Picked up their luggage and then proceeded to the domestic section of the terminal. No problem. Arrived at Air China's check in desk, got their e-ticket. No problem.
They gave them the luggage and now we have a problem - THE SCAM!!!!!!
Let me set this up so you'll have a better idea of what the scam is. There were two men at the desk that are, or should I say, supposed to be, Air China employees. One was working behind the desk, the other was standing in front. Both of these have uniforms on though they are different on color. Now when my friends handed the man behind the counter their luggage, he muttered in broken English that they were overweight. He then handed their tickets to the man standing in front of the desk. That man, in broken English, tried to explain to them that they would have to pay 1,000 RMB for the excess weight. They discussed this for awhile, but refused to pay. The guy behind the desk did take their luggage to be placed on the plane. Then the man standing in front of the desk said they needed to go to the overweight office. They take off walking and they pass that office and head for the customs sections. When they reach that point, the man said, "See, I took care of it for you. Now pay me the weight charge." Took care of what was the reply and my friend reach out and lifted up a loosely pinned name tag. The name tag was the Beijing Garden Hotel! Needless to say, he didn't get any money. He even tried to get them to pay a tip for walking them to the Customs Gate! What arrogance!!!!
Apparently, these two guys were working together. One Air China employee and one hotel (friend) guy were working together to rip off foreigners. Now it has come to my attention that this sort of thing has happened to other teachers that have come to Hainan.
We called the airport to report them, but as usual, complaints go no where in China.
With the Olympic Games coming to China, I can see a lot of people getting ripped off and the gov't. doing nothing about it.
If this has happened to you, let me know. If you know of someone, let me know.
But make it known, there are scams in Beijing's Airport and nothing is being done. Be careful and warn your friends if they come to visit you!!!!!!!!
I attended my friend's wedding dinner a few days ago. The dinner was held at one of the local restaurants here in the city. As the guests entered the restaurant, they were greeted at the entrance by the newly weds in their formal wedding attire. Billy was dressed in a black suit. Kinda hard to make a guy look really sharp but it's amazing how they can make a woman look! Cathy looked amazing. She wore a light pink wedding gown, make-up, hair done, sparkles on her face. I almost didn't recognize her.
As we entered the restaurant, we were happily escorted by the bride's mother to our table. I would estimate there were about 80 folks that attended this wedding dinner. After everyone was seated, "Hear Comes the Bride" started to play and the couple, followed by two young girls throwing red rose petals behind them, entered the restaurant and slowly walked to a small stage located at one end of the restaurant. Once they were on stage, the M.C. introduced the couple to the crowd. There they stood, holding hands, big smiles on their faces and no doubt thinking about their future together (actually thinking, "Man I can't wait until this is over so we can hit the road!"). Everyone then stood, held glasses in the air and yelled, "gan bei" to toast the new couple. After the introduction and the couple was seated at the honor table, three very attractive young ladies then performed a dance number for our enjoyment. While this was going on, the waitresses were busily, actually they were somewhere between a trot and full run, serving the food.
Our dinner comprised of chicken soup. Now this wasn't Campbells Chicken Soup by any stretch of the imagination. This was real chicken soup and what do I mean by that; a whole chicken, head to feet. We also had boiled fish entrails, chopped turtle for the conviences of using chopsticks, another chicken that boiled and commonly known as WenChang chicken (Hainan's famous dish), several vegetable dishes and some other dishes that I have no idea what they were. Needless to say the food was great and I thank you Billy and Cathy!!!
While the initial stages of the food was being served, several other waitresses were going around to each guest and handing out the red envelopes or hongbao. You could say, money envelopes. This beats having to worry about what to kind of gift to buy.
Speaking of the wedding and something I forgot to mention in the earlier post, was a couple of things a lot of us westerners do before the wedding. For example, as far as I know, they don't have bridal showers. Too bad for the bride to be. She doesn't get to listen to all of that pre-marriage trash talk and get embarrassed with the variety of lingerie and no telling what else. And for the groom, no stag party. Too bad....no stripper jumping out of a large baozi.
That enough for now, later.....Homie
A good friend of mine will be getting married at the end of this month so I asked her a few questions about marriage. Not surprising there are a few differences between the East and West.
For example, wedding photos are taken before the ceremony. Whereas we in the West have them taken the day of the wedding. Both have good points.
What makes a couple married? In the West, the words "I Do" whether it's a civil or religious ceremony. Here, after both parents have agreed that they can marry. So technically, after the parent's agree, that makes them married and they can begin to live as husband and wife.
A wedding dinner is planned and friends and family are invited to celebrate the uniting of two people. I suppose you could say this is the ceremony - a public announcement. There are no ceremonies like we have in the West.
The wife does not lose her last name like in the West where the wife takes on the husband's last name. However, when a child is born, the child takes the father's name.
Thought I would post some differences that you might not know and find a little interesting as I did.
Once again, this is homey writing. I don't believe Stephen is going to be back so I've made a decision to change the name of this blog. I will do this next week, so be ready to make a change for the change.
Now, concerning the title of this blog. Strange.....well kinda. You see, I went to Shenyang last week for a business meeting. Had a great time by the way, in case you're wondering. Anyway, another business associate and I were standing in the hotel lobby discussing the day's events. He looks over and notices that the hotel has a sauna. So we walk over to the front desk to make a few inquiries. After some sign language and using my poor Chinese, we were able to find out where it was. We head on up to the third floor and exit the elevator into a very well decorated waiting room. The staff was very friendly and extremely helpful as we tried our best to find out the prices and what all they had to offer. They also seemed a bit surprised to see two foreigners coming in and trying to ask them about the sauna.
I finally managed to ask one of the staff members if my associate could have a look at the sauna. He was really wanting to know if they had a chill pool. I decided to wait in the lobby while my friend goes to have a look. A few minutes later he comes out and says let's go. Not thinking much about it, we get back on the elevator and head back down to the lobby. Once we get there, I asked him why he decided to leave.
Now, neither I nor my friend have ever been to a sauna here in China nor in Asia so what I'm going to say (write) was a little shocking to the both of us. He tells me that when he entered the sauna area, he sees 6 totally nude young men sitting around the sauna. They see him enter the room and they all get up and approach him. There's no telling what he was thinking at the time; but I can imagine. He tells me that while he is looking around these guys are constantly trying to get him to take his clothes off. They even lead him to the change room and offer to help him get undressed.
I don't know nor does my friend know if this is normal; helping to get you undressed and so forth. Is this what they do in China and other Asian countries or is this....well...6 guys wanting to rub a dub dub in the tub!
Can anyone out there enlighten me? After this, as we say down south, "we ain't goin to one a dem again!"
Homie writing,
First of all, I found a couple of news sites that were airing the CBS interview that I was in. I was cut out!!!!!! What a bummer!!!!!
Now, the "Question of Face." I pose this question from a book I'm reading to see how you would react, respond or retaliate. Depending on how you answer this question, determines how well you understand the term "face".
You are riding in a car that is being driven by a Chinese man. He is driving at a high rate of speed and is rapidly approaching a much slower vehicle. As the distance between both vehicles grows shorter and shorter, you begin to get really nervous. He is not slowing down nor does he really seem to care. Then, he suddenly swerves into the oncoming lane and begins to pass the slower moving vehicle. As his speed increases in order to pass the vehicle, you see another vehicle heading towards you in the oncoming lane. Now your really worried, but you manage, at this point, to stay quiet so as not to distract the driver; your life is now in his hands!
Both vehicles are quickly approaching one another....closer....closer..closer...and you start to pray and just when you begin to see a glimpse of heaven, your driver cuts back over in front of the vehicle successfully completing his mission.
What do you say?
Homie writing again,
Looks like I'll be doing the posting from now on unless, of course, Stephen, shows back up. It would be nice to hear how things are going in the States.
Well, school is back in session and the freshmen are in step....learning to march that is. For the next few weeks they will be under the guidance of a military instructor learning to take orders and march. I really feel for these students. Marching in the hot sun, listening to the barking of some drill sergeant, and those camo's don't even look comfortable. But I guess, it is their duty.
Another thing that I'm finding out is how little a lot of teachers that come here do their homework concerning China. It's like they expected to find life here the same as being at home. On the contrary, in many ways, it is just the opposite. I've been here for a little over 4 years now, and I still have a lot to learn. I've been reading a book entitled, "The Joy of Getting Along With The Chinese" by Fred Schneiter. I highly recommend that if you are planning to come here and stay awhile to read this book. Or at least read something about where you're going.
It also seems that quite a few teachers only plan to come and stay a year or two and then return home. Kinda sad, because that seems to be the time it takes to get your bearing (culture shock) and at least begin to understand how life is here. Hopefully, there aren't that many teachers that have left with a bad taste in their mouth. Life is what you make it; so make the best of it...right!?
Life in a foreign country is not easy so don't expect it to be; it ain't home. We're a guest in another man's house. I'm amazed at the demands some teachers make on a school like the school is supposed to cater to the teacher. If I came to your house and told, ordered, your wife or mother to cook me a meal or complain how dirty the house was, what would you say or do. Why do we make the same demands on the host when we're a guest? No wonder schools continually make it difficult on teachers!
Hey, if the school ain't rippin you off, which I know some try and do, at least remember you're a guest and show some respect. It's hard enough living in a foreign country much less trying to clean up another teacher bad attitude!
So comment away!
I got a call from the CBS office in Beijing the other day letting me know that I was about to be aired all across the States. I was really shocked that they even remembered me much less call to let me know. Maybe I left such an amazing impression on the reporter that there was no way she could ever forget me. And then again, who am I kidding, this is vanity and she was just doing her job.
So I emailed all of my friends, all three of them, to let them know I was going to be on nationwide t.v. either this past Thursday or Friday.
I received an email from my mom and guess what; yep.....didn't see it. I was so looking forward to some feedback on how I did. Why? So I would know whether or not I could ever show my face in the States again. I also thought this would give my mom something to brag about. "Hey, did you see my son on t.v.? Didn't he look good and didn't he do a fantastic job!" This would have really help out her in the arena of bragging rites because the last time my face was shown I made the front page of the local newspaper; I was being....well, enough of that.
Oh well.......maybe I can get another shot at being an extra in another Chinese movie!
You've probably heard someone say something along the lines of, "when you die, I'll dance on your grave." Obviously this kind of remark is one of disdain. Who wants to dance on someone's grave, or even at their funeral, unless you really want to drive the point home that you hate that person. Now hold that thought, because that might not be entirely true.
Paid mourners have been around for centuries. In some countries, like the Middle East for instance, this activity still continues today. Now I'm not writing this post to condemn the practice though I do find it a very curious one. Paying strangers to cry is, to me, strange. I know this is done for several reasons, one of which is to give the deceased a good sending off. The more mourners or larger the crowd; the greater the send off.
Well, leave it to the world of enterprise to cash in on this tradition, or at least on a segment of the population that holds to this type of practice.
You may have read the article posted on Yahoo News concerning "Dancing at a Funeral", (my title). Apparently, the enterprise of strip-tease funerals is now coming to an end in a part of rural China. Enterprise at it's best, wouldn't you say. I mean, what better way, and creative one at that, to attract a large crowd of folks to send off a deceased family member.
I've already told me wife not to cry when I die, but now think I had better tell her not to dance and strip either; after I die that is!
Since Stephen hasn't posted the news yet, I thought I would do it for him. Stephen has left us here alone. Yep, he's returned to the States. I don't know if or when he will be back, but just in case you're a fan of his or if YOU, Stephenopolis, are reading this - We miss you dude!!!!!!
So, I think I'll start doing a little writing in an attempt to revive this blog. In case you are wondering who this is....well..this Homie. Yeah I know, what kind of a stupid name is that. Fact is...I like it.
Also, as a memorial to S. I'm not going to change the name or the profile because, after all, he started this.
So without any further ado, I'll write a little snippet on something that happened roughly two weeks ago. I received an email from CBS asking if they could interview me. My first reaction was, "this has got to be a joke and how in the world did they find me." I answered the email anyway figuring what harm could it do. A little spam maybe, who knows. Then I get a second email from another CBS person asking the same thing. I didn't reply to that one. The next day I received a telephone call from.....yep, none other than CBS from Beijing. I gotta tell you, I kinda freaked out.
Anyway, they flew down from Beijing just to interview my wife and I about living abroad in a place that has a lot of typhoons. They arrive in Haikou and the next day, I get a phone call and give her directions to my apartment complex. Now I'm thinking, she sounds nice and friendly and she assured me that the interview would be painless and that I would do fine.
Shortly after lunch, they call me informing me that they were on their way. Now I'm getting really nervous. After all, I don't want to come across as an idiot. Well, no more than I already am! While they're on their way, I'm picturing a Barbara Walters type individual. Not so....I meet them at the main gate and out from the van comes a very attractive young woman. Was I shocked. It's amazing how your mind conjurs up all kinds of images.
The interview lasted about an hour and she told me that it would be nationally televised in the States. I knew being in two movies here would one day pay off. So if you, my man J. Doom read this, take that! And for the sake of not embarrassing this lovely CBS reporter, I'll forgo revealing her name. Suffice it to say, if you're in China and get a call from CBS, do the interview.
I just had to do it! I got tired of reading the same thing so I thought, me, Homie, would invade the site and at least write something. I hate seeing Sept. 2005!
First of all, let me tell you that if you are a member of stephen's fan club, he's still alive and kickin'. I guess he's been busy since the last post and over 13,000 hits later, answering fan mail. Man, it must be a lot of mail or emails or something. Anyway, he's still around.
Now, for my junk. That's it! I gotta go watch my newly downloaded SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skits. Good stuff!
Oh yeah, I also got my chinese drivers license. Now I too can join the auto-dodge ball game. Can't wait to start driving!
Homie
Name: Stephen Mills
I'm Stephen, I live in China, Have lived here for 13 years. From the States, Bama (roll tide) to be exact.
That's all.
---Stephen
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