Snowing here

We have had a week of snow. With much delight amongst the workers and then they had to get in to the office. Like the southern UK Shanghai doesn’t get much snow. People here were arguing when they last had such a covering. It couldn’t be very often as the attempts at snow balling were amusing. Gone now though.

On the way to the office the day after the snow, a team of workmen were actively sweeping the snow to the side of a pedestrian road bridge and so making it easier for people to cross six lanes of traffic on the Bund. Trouble was the sides were railings and snow was cascading down on cars passing beneath.

More travel this week. Went to Singapore on Sunday / Monday and now en-route to Florida. Singapore was warm, and clean and efficient. Arrived late Sunday night after 5 hour flight. Flew back Monday night over night (4 hour flight!) Took 4 taxi rides whilst there. The drivers were very pleasant and the fares were relatively cheap. However they do a good impression of theme park rides. On this small sample  - they are all maniacs once they get on the road. Even my hair was raised at one point. (My colleague went white and very quiet – which if you know her was quite an achievement.) We had pulled out of the office en-route to dinner in China town. This involved a U turn across three lanes of rush hour traffic. Didn’t hesitate to do it, 30 mph, tyres screeching right in front of a single decker bus. My ears are still ringing from the horn on the bus: if it was a film I would have seen the air come out of the horn. The drive then proceeded to shout abuse and wave gestures at the bus as he sped off. Twenty yards further on he is chatting amicably with us smelly statues in the back.

Had another language difficulty when I arrived back in Shanghai. Arrived early and as travelling light was through immigration and customs very quick. Stood and waited for the driver. Got past the due time (to which I had been waiting 30 minutes) so I tried to text and phone the driver, in case he had overslept. Our Chinese/ English does not overlap yet and so I had no idea what he was trying to say. So I phoned the customer service / account manager. From the mumbled response it was clear she was fast asleep. (It was 6.30am). Problem resolved and I was soon on my way. Perils of working in a front end service business.

Have been learning more about Chinese New year which is rapidly approaching (Feb 2-8) and the excitement is building with the team in the office. I have been given to hong bao – envelopes in which to put money in for my staff. The amount of money cant have a 4 in it and ideally divisible by eight. I was advised it ought to be >CNY50. The red colours and fireworks are designed to scare off the spirit Nian, and on Feb 3 you are meant to put all the lights on and keep the windows open. (it needs to warm up a tad first.)

In China Daily there was an article about the demand for Rabbits for Chinese New Year, as it is the year of the Rabbit. The prices have risen dramatically as people are realising they are less demanding than having a dog as a pet, it doesn’t need walking and it can be left in a cage during the day. One shop owner now offers to look after the rabbit when you go a business trip. Even in China animal activists have expressed concern about whether the rabbits will be abandoned after a few months. Can’t wait for the year of dragon or tiger!

So back to my flight – now 37000 feet over central Montana. It makes one think on how much trust we put in a lot of people when travelling. From the taxi drivers in Singapore, who I was hoping could drive (now not so sure) and know where they were going, and had had the things serviced (not from the sound of them) to the whole flying system.

If you think about it, when you get to the airport we rely on so many people to do their jobs and do it well. Check in girls making sure your bag has the right label – and then the whole team to get it on the airplane. Most of that relies on some spotty software geek having programmed the automatic system properly.

Then security. Those bored people checking the monitor for that device. Into the lounge and something to eat. Which we assume is cooked safely; the same in preparation of the the food for on board. Onto the plane and into the hands of air traffic control, the pilot, and hoping the service and mechanic crews have done their bit and not left something off! Then in the air and relying on other pilots to not get in the way, all those systems to have been made well and still functioning. Amazing really how many people are involved and who we blindly just trust.

And we moan about the size of the overhead bin. I do wonder why they have the size checkers, and the one bag rule. The guy next to me had a suitcase as big as a house and three other bags. So not only couldn’t I get my caravan in the overhead bin, neither could three other people sitting near by. I was all for throwing him off the plane. The wonders of flying. Off to watch my 6^th movie of the flight.

I wonder if it will be snowing in Florida!

Postnote: Arrived in the US OK. Couple of further notes before I forget.

1) why is it whenever and wherever I land at an airport I always seem to be at the gate furthest away from immigration or arrivals. I always end up walking past many many unused gates which could have sped up the process of getting out the airport. I could understand if there were many outlets to call in on the way past, but there rarely are.
2) arrived Detroit and made the queue for visitors (not the US Citizens and Resident Aliens - I guess the non resident aliens are visitors) at immigration. So the usual happened. Joined the back of the queue of about 100 people which wound its way snake like across the floor inside taped areas. So more people arrived and joined the back of the queue or three queues. The attendants decide to try and make the queue move faster so rearrange the tapes and queues, and of course I end up in the one where everyone in front has paperwork deficiency, or can speak no American. Then they re-organise again and the small pocket of people around me are then moved over the US citizen (and resident aliens) side. Finally there are six of us left in the hall.
3) having made the front of the queue I notice a notice stuck on the side of the immigration officers booth. It is headed - We are the face of the Nation. Which I am sure is great intent and the officers have (almost) always been polite and efficient. However the notice is stuck on about 30 separate booths, tightly spaced, grey to chest height with perspex panels to above head height. There are thick red lines with DO NOT CROSS UNTIL CALLED on the carpet, and the officers wear dark blue smart uniforms with gold attachments, epaulets, etc resembling Police officers. The officers ask many questions and challenge simple statements and visitors see people whose language is not English struggling, and often after applying for a visa that says they can enter the country. This imposing scene I am sure is not what the nation wants to project as its face to the millions of visitors who pass through. Fortunately in Detroit the sign is only in English.
4) the new electronic visa system (ESTA) works a treat and when I got to see the officer I was through in  a couple of minutes and a laugh and joke about my inability to speak Chinese. So no longer do I have to fill in the form that asks me if I have been convicted of espionage or committed moral turpitude.

The weather is sunny in Florida

250 green hats

Mid January and the temperature has dropped and hovers around freezing – few degrees above during the day and a few degrees below during the night. Not too unpleasant most of the time. Was real brass monkeys on Sunday on the golf course as a stiff breeze got up and the sun didn’t break through the cloud. When the sun breaks through it is very pleasant.

Went for a walk Thursday. Had a meeting in another part of the city. Checked the map and worked out it was about 20 minutes to 30 minute walk from the office. The look of astonishment amongst both my international and Chinese colleagues when I said I was going to walk. Claims of too far, you will never find it, its too cold, will you make it back. Well I walked both ways in the wintry sun, found M&S and a neat bakery en-route. Also found the Burberry and Rolex shops. Pavements , zebra and pedestrian crossings – all things you need in cities to get around. Shows that people here have designed things well for people like me.

En –route to the meeting I went round a corner and was confronted by a shoe shine man. I refused and tried to walk round him. However very quickly he moved across me and bent down. Pointing at my shoes saying dirty. On the left shoe was a white splodge – which he had just put there! Steam coming out of my ears I pushed past him, shouting no. Further on I was approached by someone else wanting to shine my shoes. When I got to the venue, I got a couple of tissues and fortunately found the splodge to be a cream – probably a shoe cream. Walking back another shoe shine approached me telling me my shoes were dirty. I just waved and carried on walking, noticing another shoe shine being shouted at by another westerner. So on Nanjing Lu (W) wear trainers. It was still worth the walk, especially through the park in the late afternoon winter sun.

Had an interesting experience on the flight over from Dubai to Shanghai. Normally I check my seat positions before I check in, to make sure I am not in a poor position.  I was sat in the aisle bulkhead seat, great in that nobody in front would drop their seat back in your lap, however it was overlapping with the door way from the galley. So sat there as the plane was boarding and people walked past, whacking my left shin with their bags, the occasional kick. I received a couple of apologies a few glares but mostly ignored. When they came to serve the drinks, I was asked what I wanted. So in my normal serious way – I said orange juice and a pair of shin pads. The guy sat next to me cracked up laughing when she came back with a glass of Champagne.

So we took off at 3am and so I began to settle down for some kip. Seat back , blanket on, ear plugs in, eyeshade down, feet hanging off the seat bottom through the curtain in the doorway. So every time someone went through the curtain they moved my feet. When they served food they ran the trolley into my feet. Eventually I gave up trying to sleep, and sat back up – a little annoyed. So the next stewardess to come through I asked for a complaint form. Fortunately it was the purser. Who when I explained, apologised and found me a seat where I could sleep. She also said she had never seen it before and she had flown this plane many times. I guess they hadn’t had a tall irritable Englishman trying to get to sleep in that seat before. Have changed my seat position for the way back!

Had two language lessons this week. Had some fun with the young Chinese tutor. Though she is beginning to realise I am a naughty student. Learnt many things. No green hats here in China. Something to do with the fact that the phrase for green hats is the same as the phrase for a man who has an affair with a married woman. Means to bring separation and so is seen as bad. White wine is not white wine, it is a rice spirit – you may have heard of maotai, one of the biggest brands. The phrase for 250 also means stupid – so I have been trying to think of times when the two would be mixed up and cause offence. An Australian cricket bowler having conceded 250 runs from his bowling spell, probably is stupid, so no issue there. An English cricket batsman scoring 250 – probably stupid to think that could happen. Maybe only in Australia.

Big stereotype this week. Met with a consultant, who is Indian, and it took about a minute after the introduction before we got onto cricket. Small world for such a wonderful game.

Big low light of the week – excited by the prospect of seeing Scunny live on Chinese TV to be deflated by a fearful first half performance and a second half walloping at the hands of Everton. Good news was I didn’t tell too many of my colleagues that it was on so I can sulk in the corner. They are live on Sky TV next week again – home to Burnley, but if it is on will be too late for me.

Big news of the week in our small world was the speculation of a takeover bid from J&J for S&N. it took a couple of days for the news to filter through here, and it was clear it was speculation. Lunch time conversation revolved around why the speculators are allowed to do this and cause such huge distraction inside a company. Most of my colleagues could not understand what value it added to anything. Lesson there about controlling the press and economic recovery…

Almost made a faux pas in the office today. The HR department send round a list every month of people’s birthdays. They do a bit of research and show which famous people were born on this date in history. So walking past one of the desks I recalled that it was the girls birthday on Monday coming. So I wished her happy birthday – as I am in Singapore Monday. Apparently you are supposed to give a gift when you say happy birthday. Well quick as a flash I pulled out of my pocket a small packet of sweets I had just been given by someone else. She was delighted. It was then explained to me that they were pulling my leg (they said having a joke). Somehow I think they have grasped my sense of humour. Looks like I may need to move on.

So having got the VPN to work so I can post this on the Google site, off to bed. Singapore this week  for a day. Warmer there, but damp.

Till next time….

I'm back

Like a bad penny - arrived back in China on Thursday to be greeted at the airport by the driver with a big smile. He was surprised i had no coat on. The temperature was a balmy 6C, no wind, blue skies. Who needs a coat! Definitely didn't need one in the car as the driver sat there in his and the heater on full blast.

The wonders of central heating.

I had two letters when I arrived. Both of them looked like bills, both looked as if they had been paid too! However being totally in Chinese I was going to struggle. HR seemed happy with them though.

First day back in the office and everyone seemed in good spirits. I was a little perturbed that they thought I had been on holiday for 3 weeks - even the people who I had spoken to a few times thought I had. Perceptions are hard to change - expats disappearing for long periods, do no work, live it up. Hard to show you are different.

Still the cadburys chocolate selection bought me back into favour again.

Having just left the UK and experienced and disliked the commercial Christmas chaos, I arrive back to a country that is preparing for Chinese New Year. The supermarket has aisles of decorations, special cakes, and other "spring festival" paraphernalia. The office is getting excited and like December in the UK, trying to get people to focus on key things being done by then is hard work.

Just shows how us humans are all alike.

Good weekend ahead - golf planned for Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday night live on Chinese TV, 11pm Scunthorpe vs Everton. You never know the Iron may play better on Chinese TV than when I watched them in the UK. They couldn't play much worse than last Saturday.

Back to regular updates

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2011.

I hope everyone enjoyed their versions of the festive period and are looking forward to another momentous year.

Started well - Anderson takes another wicket in Sydney, and I catch a flight back to China this week. This will save the punishment of watching Scunny lose again. Bizarrely have been to two games in the last three days. The first the ambulance broke down on the way to the game so kick off was delayed for an hour. The second the floodlights went out three times during the second half.

Only happens watching the Iron

More next week.

Cold here in the UK

Safely home to the delight of my family

one week gone and found the weather a bit brass. Spent one day shovelling ice to clear the road and drive.

Work wise had to get up early to participate in eastern conference calls and contact my new colleagues before they go home. Been a bit of a challenge staying awake in the evenings as a consequence. However one benefit has been later in the week when the third ashes test started. Up early watch the play, do the phone calls with mute on both TV and phone. Magic. then close of play do the written work.

Another week of phone calls and early starts to come.

Then Christmas and the football starts. So far been home and both Scunny games called off. Lets hope for a bit more warmth at Christmas.

Hope everyone has a fun time at Christmas and enjoys the New Year.

Home for a while

Three important events close together have allowed me to make the long trek back home from China to the UK for a while.

The most important and on its own worth the effort is my daughters 18^th birthday.  The second is to attend a wedding reception, and the third thing – you will have to guess and see at the end. Remember England are 1-0 up in the ashes and I haven’t been able to see any yet, the Xmas football fixture list including the fixture against forest this weekend, the snow and cold weather, moving house, Yorkshire Tea or the X Factor final (I have been kept up to date by my other friend in the London office, come on Matt)

This week has been one of perceptions that made me consider how so often we let our conditioning rule the way we think about things even when we are in completely strange environments.

Christmas preparations have come to Shanghai. The picture is taken in the lobby of the office block where we work. This is quite sensible. The office has a bright Christmas tree and hundreds of snowmen around the place. Which I guess is natural if you don’t get much snow, but I guess those reading in the UK the last thing you want to see. The building management company also play Christmas songs in the public areas, lifts, toilets. Bizarre hearing frosty the snowmen etc, as you go down in the lift. Fortunately I have not heard Cliff Richard or Slade.

I was asked the question – do they celebrate Christmas in China, which is a surprise and I guess a perception we have been conditioned to believe from the western side of the Himalayas. Most interestingly I was involved in a lunch time discussion with about 10 people in the office about religion. They were discussing how many times they went to church, and how important it was to them. (the discussion was being translated to me by various participants) Then I was asked whether I had a religion. At lunch in York or London I would have flippantly said yeah – football or cricket, however such was the intensity of the discussion this would have been highly inappropriate. I had to reply no. The table went silent. Then in a rapid babble, Why not, we thought all englishmen were Christians. As you can imagine the excited discussion and interrogation went on for a little while. This group at least had a different perception of the UK people. Same as the other way round.  It is interesting that such an open discussion happens in China – indeed a number of the staff pray, say grace openly before meals – where as it would be rare to see in many workplaces in the UK.

Next perception, I was invited with many of the local managers to an offsite two day training course which ran this week. I had happily accepted as had one of my expat colleagues (Australian) wanting to be part of the team. Only when talking to the organiser by chance did we realise the course was in Mandarin.  Obvious really it would be. So why did I think it would be in English, even the invitation was in Chinese – I had our assistant tell me what it said before I accepted. On discovering this they offered to rearrange and find an English speaking trainer or bring in translator for two of us. Surprising how easy it is to forget that everyone in the office uses a second language to work with me. How many times do we do that in the UK / US?

I have my local Chinese lessons starting when I go back. The agency came in and gave me an assessment. The lady was gentle with me after about four questions I had to stop her and say sorry I had no idea what she was asking. After showing her my notes the questions were much more understandable and she said I did very well! Obviously the night time practice of curling my tongue has paid off.  Fascinating how easy it is to forget or get into habits: in Dubai airport this morning one of the cleaning staff held the door for me – to which I said thank you – in Chinese. Poor guy looked totally perplexed.

Opened a bank account this week, with the help of Tracy from the office. The forms were all in Chinese , and she filled them in Chinese. Not a hope there then. Clearly the Chinese are not used to long names and the forms not designed for foreigners with middle names. Consequently on the printed forms that they give you back my surname is HOULDRI. Interesting process, fill in the form, take ticket, go to the teller when your number is called. Hand form and passport over, sign three forms (all in Chinese) which one of them I guess said I understand the terms and conditions… Handover 15 RMB, 10 to cover the annual fee and 5 as the first amount in the account. You then input a six figure pin at the counter (and again to confirm.) They hand over the Debit/ ATM card, and copies of all the forms you have signed. All done and ready to use in 10 minutes. Upstairs to the foreign exchange department to get the details I needed to transfer funds from the UK. Now compare that with the UK, a nation that claimed to be leaders in financial services – as long as you don’t want to use them.

Back in September / October when I booked my travel tickets with Finn air via Helsinki it never occurred to me to think through about the winter weather. Fortunately the Finn air staff went on strike on 30^th November and are still not back to work so my flight was cancelled. So with Marion’s help I am now flying via Dubai on Emirates.  It is longer but the service is great. They are trying to feed me again so I will end here. Not sure whether I will add to the blog until I return to Shanghai. You all know what I get up to at home. In answer to the question above – the third thing – a chance to spend some time with my family especially Geraldine. Though I wonder how long it is before they ask – “when are you going back to China?”

Run of the mill

4th week - and not much really to report.

Whilst the UK is under heavy heavy snow, building igloos, factory roof cave ins, schools closed and trains not working we have had the worst weather since I have been here. Temperatures in an evening have dipped to about 10C,  Tuesday it poured with rain, and Thursday we had some more. Still it is due to warm up for the weekend, may be 14 to 18C. Cant say I miss the snow and chaos. Just hope the airport is open next week both in Helsinki and Manchester.

Cultural differences still prevail. Went to a Japanese restaurant on Wednesday evening. The cook and staff were told of my dislike of seafood. They managed to avoid giving me the lobster that they cooked alive in front of us, however the whelk and mushroom salad as an alternative to the tuna fish cake was interesting, as was the roe on foie gras. Even more funny when they tried to scrape the roe off.

One thing I have found that always seems to be done well is pumpkin soup. Sometimes it is done with cream other times without. Apparently it is a favourite of many Chinese so done well. Worth trying when you come here.

On a different culinary scale 4 of us working late (conference calls with UK and US mean have to do them at 2100 or later to avoid someone having to be up in the middle of the night.) went to get a quick bite to eat close to the office. We were recommended a place on the next block. Wandered in to find a Chinese Italian restaurant. We have Italian restaurants in England so why not in China? The menu had fried rice with bolognaise sauce, noodles with bolognaise some sort of cannelloni type dish with rice. I stuck to the Hawaiian pizza - which was very good, but the BBQ chicken and fried rice left a lot to be desired. Still for less than £4 a head with drinks - cant be bad.

Had some altertaions to the house this week. The walk in wardrobes has six rials for hanging stuff. However they are above drawers and shelves. The gap between rail is too small so when you hang a suit or a shirt on the rails the bottom 5 or 6 inches of the garment rests and crumples on the shelf. Every wardrobe is the same. Obviously not designed for suits or shirts that fit a 6ft 2in Englishman. The workmen came Tuesday and removed some shelves - suits hang perfectly now.

Last week I received an e-mail from the house mmanagement company, to tell me the Ayi (house keeper) wanted me to buy Glass cleaner so she could do the shower and some of teh doors properly. Well after much effort I did so in Carrefour and left it on the side for the Ayi. Monday arrived home after the Ayi had been to find two other bottles of glass cleaner - different makes, a window cleaner squeegee and sponge on the side with receipt from carrefour. Obviously male englishman chose the wrong stuff!

Now have a very basic mobile phone for use in China. China brand of phone and very cheap. So it is easier for the china team to get hold of me and cheaper - rather than ringing the UK etc., Trouble is though I selected English language option, trying to send and receiving texts they appear in Chinese. So not a chance in understanding them. The instructions are also in Chinese so havent worked out how to change that.

So early start tomorrow - 7.31 tee off time, - sorry for those in the UK who will just have to watch re-runs of old sporting events