他很帅!!

Anyone that knows me knows I’m attempting to learn Chinese. Well of course I can say the basics, and even write the basics, but my new favorite phrase is basic and quite important. 他很帅。Simple and to the point. He is very handsome. Or in the case of using it directly, 你很帅.

This was an important phrase for living in Beijing this summer, and it’s come in handy in DC! I find this is a great code for public outings, but of course you come the risk of people actually knowing what you’re saying. So when I was telling my girlfriend about how when we learned the phrase in class I proudly and enthusiastically professed my ability to say he is very handsome, we happened to be on a public bus. Of course there happened to be a throng of Asian businessmen behind me that all turned around and stared.

By now, I’ve now managed to teach it to the majority of my girlfriends and or gay boys. So when we go out this has become a great code. I also had another run in with my friend’s roommate (who was the he of my he is very handsome) who happens to know Chinese. Of course I caught myself, but nonetheless it’s quite a fun code.

I just wish that the rest of my Chinese was as good as my expressing handsomeness. Maybe I’ll meet a nice boy to practice this language on, so the rest can become just as proficient. (Well my grandma wishes about the boy. I’d be happy with the language ability!)  I’m contemplating moving to China for a while to do a language immersion program. I guess it’s time to see what is all in the cards, but for now, 我要练习。

中文七

Work this week was…well work. Monday I was sick due to either chicken on a stick or spaghetti that I had for dinner on Sat. Alyssa and I both had each, and we both were sick. The irony of it…we’d had chicken on a stick before (sure from a different street vendor…so it’s entirely different) but Dmitri totally was playing the safe card and seeing how chicken on a stick made us feel the first time…we totally were fine…but he was still in debate. Then second go around we got sick…naturally he thought this was hilarious.

But so Tuesday, Miwi needed my computer (the only Mac in the office) for her project so I was asked to switch with her. After work I met Alyssa in Sanlitun for dinner (it’s the embassy area). We had Chinese versions of American food…and I got a blue cheese hamburger and it could have been the best burger I’ve ever had in my life. Then somehow I lost my phone somewhere (my Chinese one that had no reception anywhere…so not that devastated.)

So Wednesday was more of Miwi’s office area. She sits at the window and has a lovely view…however it was HOT. The wall of her desk just totally blocks the air. I was in shorts and a tank top just sweating sitting down. Keep in mind they ACTUALLY had the air-conditioning on, but as the norm, the window was open. I said I was hot, and Miwi was like “well it helps if the window is closed.” So later I decided to shut it…the problem is Lucy went right behind me and opened it. So about 2 hours later Lucy asked me if I was hot…I said yes, and she advised me to open the door to the private office next to me, and turn on that air conditioner, again with the window open and the other one on. This is not a great method of cooling down an area, but sure I’ll go along. The part that hit me the hardest however was that I had just read an article about how Shanghai is having to close businesses and shopping areas on top of factories during the summer to reduce the power usage and reroute it to homes. Clearly, we were wasting energy, but what can you do? On a happier note…we all got cacti!

Miwi's cactus is on the left! Mine is the right!

The new intern (Moni…I think) she’s from Hong Kong and looks so young…she’s an undergraduate for sure and I think she’s really like 18…but she started this week. And because it was Cathy’s and Driver’s (I don’t know his name…we nod and non-verbally communicate mostly) birthday we got cake! So it was happy birthday and welcome cake. We sang happy birthday and proceeded to listen to Josh Grobin and the Fray for a while. Later in the afternoon my first shipment of Chinese print catalogs to museums and universities went out. NYU, AU, and the Freer Sackler were the biggies in the batch. Hopefully they’ll decide to take some art!

Chinese birthday cake!

中文六

Just another normal week in the office…not.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal. Just a visit by the CEO of the multi-million dollar office. However, Wednesday and Thursday were straight out strange.

Wednesday was eerie on it’s own. It’d rained through out the night so the basketball courts were totally empty (normally they are packed with even onlookers). Then at the construction on campus, some of the workers were in a fistfight. Get to the metro, make my hour and a half long commute, for a woman to be screaming and flailing her arms while on the phone. No idea what that was about, but I get to work, for there to be an early morning meeting on the fundamentals of Capitalism. Everyone looked dumbfounded except for naturally me and the Chinese-Canadian CEO. Later in the day we redecorated the office because Mr. Wong decided he wanted to take some of the art to his OTHER apartment in Hong Kong. So somehow out of that deal I got a cool print that is too large to be viewed in one photo!

So then today…I ran into Miwi and Nancy on the elevator and they said there was an afternoon meeting at the Agricultural University.  I assumed I’d be staying at the office, but Mr. Wong asked me if I’d like to come, so of course I said yes, and am I glad I did. It could possibly been one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had. To start, we listened to Christmas music in the van on the way there as we passed a HUGE neighborhood that looked like it’s straight out of Europe. He said when it opens he’d take us one Friday evening! The minute we got to the Agriculture University, he tried to get me a boyfriend, which is strange considering Miwi and Nancy are much older than me and single, but I laughed it off which he commended.

Next thing I know we’re in the Chancellor of the Agricultural University’s office, and I’m sitting in between him and the school’s highest ranking CCP party official. There’s a cameraman following us around, and I had some lovely conversation with both men. –As a side note, when I was in Jinan visiting a friend who is teaching English at a university there, I was the guest lecturer in her classes. Every class asked me to sing, which I thought to be very odd.– Then so I’m at this super important meeting…and Miwi stands up and starts belting out a beautiful song. I’m of course then asked to sing (and I politely declined), but soon after the 30 min discussion of pingguo (apple) iPads and iPhones, Mr. Wong gets out his iPhone and starts blasting some Cultural Revolution era song. Chancellor told me that the song is about working hard 365 days- all I could understand in the song was 365- as everyone belted along. After another legitimate photo op where I’m placed between the CCP member and the Chancellor right in the middle of the picture and am offered an English teaching job, we go to meet the students that we actually came for. (Mr. Wong yearly sponsors the education of 300 students from poor and rural areas. We met 50 at the Agricultural University.)

The point of the meeting was to discuss ways to change your life. Mr. Wong gave them lots of very enthusiastic discussion…at one point he was kicking his leg over his head…along side videos and yes, more song. The same 365 days song was played again and again everyone sang along. There was also a movie about children and books. Turns out, he also sponsors a library project and was encouraging these students to return home and spread the word to their high-schools and towns about him providing a library for them. Periodically he’d translate for me (hence me knowing about the libraries), but then it’s spotlight Ashley hour. Everyone was encouraged to use his or her English (since it is a way to change their life), but everyone was too shy. He pulled out his wallet and offered the first 3 students to ask me questions 100 RMB (around 18 dollars). So one boy stands up (and the point is to use English but he asked me in Chinese). I thought he said something about loving my mother in English so of course I said yes very much. Apparently he asked me to marry him in Chinese. Mr. Wong was like “did you understand him?” and when he translated I said oh no and everyone started laughing hysterically. But then there were more normal questions like how did you fund your education and coming to China, etc.

Finally as we’re wrapping up, another song comes on, and everyone instantaneously stands up and begins holding hands. I assumed it was the Chinese national anthem and didn’t know what to do. Mr. Pang (the company’s vice-president) took my hand and so did the student on my left. So next thing I know I’m swaying and holding hands. Turns out it was the New Year’s song, but with Chinese words.

So as I think we’re about to head back to the office, we get a personal tour of the Agricultural Nutrition building. Turns out they do all kinds of testing on what is good for you and what food really contains and what not. It looked like a huge science lab, but ironically with the Great Wall Winery in the middle. Followed by another sit down discussion, but this time in a hot dark room (the Chinese way). Eventually gifts were given and since I was close to Beida Miwi said I should taxi which I’d already considered. Then everyone began freaking out about me taxing alone (it’s maybe a 20 minute ride…) so then Brin appears. He’s assigned with taking me back to Beida, but he turned out to be a teacher at the Agricultural University with great English and quite fun.

Overall it was a crazy week. It was so insane today; I left a lot of my things at the office, but overall a great week. I hope to get more done next week (the 3^rd book is coming out soon, and if I do well I get to be named as an international consultant). I feel like with Mr. Wong in office though, this is how most things go. I definitely think I have the best internship here.

中文五

I always just feel out of the American pop culture loop in China. This is partially due to Rolling Stone, Mtv, etc being blocked here. Typically however I accept it at face value and am not bothered by the censorship. However, right now, I’m quite annoyed.

I downloaded skype…in which it takes forever to find the Mac version on the Chinese site. Then, so I finally get it, and it’s in another language. Logically, Chinese would make sense, or even English, but no, it’s in French. This wouldn’t be that big of an issue, if it’d let me change it to English, but the way you apparently change language does not exist on this version! I even uninstalled and reinstalled for the same thing to happen.

How does censorship relate…if youtube was not banned, I could easily watch any of the like 5 videos explaining how to change it (that is also assuming the government decided to not mess with the internet for the hell of it and the internet actually worked). But no, this is not an option. I’m currently Google translating the Chinese skype site into English, to try to figure out how to change it from French. And the help page is in French, so I’m Google translating from French to English.

“Est-ce que je peux utiliser Skype dans ma langue? Oui. Nous travaillons d’arrache pied à traduire Skype dans autant de langues que possible. Vous pouvez changer la langue de Skype en sélectionnant Outils > Changer de langue”

Clearly, if I could find outils, it looks like there shouldn’t be a problem. However there is no tools option. It would also be nice, if skype.com didn’t redirect me to Chinese only. Oh the irony. It looks like it’s going to stay in French.

中文四

A very American moment:

My boss called me asking me to teach the other ladies how to make cookies and muffins. This to me seemed incredibly strange. Sure the younger girls might not know how to make cookies, but that’s just cause they’re young! We went on a trip to the Carrefour (the Wal-Mart of China so to speak) and it was crazy. The young and the older ladies had no idea what goes in cookies, what you need to make them, etc.

Mr. Wong asked me to show them how to make healthy cookies, so sure the best option was the applesauce oatmeal raisin cookies. Apparently Chinese people are unaware of what applesauce is because they kept trying to give me berry jelly calling it berry sauce. After I just decided to use regular cookie ingredients minus the applesauce, it was still hard to find things. We were in the imported foods section and they kept handing me like brownie mix, etc.

We finally went to the cooking utensil section, and I needed a muffin tray.  No one knew what I was asking for, and finally I found a mini one that was silicone. I had to get a measuring cup, potholder, muffin tray, etc. I didn’t even think about them not having a potholder or measuring cup or the like. I definitely didn’t remember to get Pam, but thankfully nothing stuck.

The oven was a disaster on it’s own. Apparently it’s not common to have an oven, so no one knew how to work it. I was handed the Chinese directions to figure it out, and apparently it was a Microwave/ oven. I’m not sure, still, but there was a bake option. However, like ever 4 minutes the oven turned off, so the first batch of cookies was super gooey for a long time.

Moral of the story, the cookies were bad, and the muffins were thrown away. I mean first off I’m not the best baker on the planet anyways, and then thrown in with all the cultural differences, not knowing how to work the oven, etc they were just bad. They all said they liked the cookies because they weren’t too sweet (fruit is the typical Chinese desert or in recent years ice cream has become popular). It still was just astonishing to me that none of them had made cookies. I feel very ignorant and American saying that, but it was an eye opening experience.

中文三

Working in China has thus far been nothing like I expected. The office environment is incredibly loud, chaotic, and super casual. For example, the workers just yell between cubicles…when they’re right next to each other. I was told I had to be here exactly at 8:30, I was running late today and got here at like 8:40 and was the first one here! Then apparently Tuesday is shorts day at work (I didn’t get the memo and wore dress pants to again be very over dressed.) Wednesday is apparently jeans day (I wore shorts so I guess tomorrow is my jeans day!) Ironically, yesterday the CEO of the company called out one of the girls for her outfit. Sure…you’re probably thinking for possibly having on shorts. No it was because he thought her necklace didn’t match her outfit. (First off it’s China and anything goes, and second, it didn’t really look bad.)

Speaking of the CEO, he called me directly to ask me to teach the other girls how to make healthy cookies and muffins. (Not sure where I’m supposed too, but we’re going to IKEA to get cookie jars?) He said, “he wants his colleagues to be happy and healthy first.” Sounds great right? That includes constant nagging that the 4 single girls in the office (me and 3 Chinese girls all around my age or younger) aren’t married to men from Stanford yet. Apparently that’s my mission: to go back to the US, meet a man from Stanford and bring back his friends for Miwi, Nancy, and Cassie.

Back to the cookies…I’m thinking they might be for the party I’m hosting next week? (Not excited about that…but what can I do?) Or it’s his subtle hint that I’m a fat American and need to eat better so he tries to Americanize it? Not really figured that out yet. Or maybe it’s his master plan for the Chinese girls to learn to cook American food for their future husbands, because he told me I need to learn how to cook Chinese authentic food if I’d even considered having a Chinese husband. Not really sure, but we’re going to IKEA and the grocery store one day, and I have his permission to get whatever I need regardless of cost.

After the discussion of cookies, he also told me that we’re going to start playing 30 min of Classical music in the morning, and everyone walking around the office…to be healthy (yay so excited!) Then after this they turned on music…but so far it’s been Christmas music and Josh Groban, and I can’t help but wonder if this is because I sit with my iPod on to block out the noise and chaos?

It’s also really interesting how different the CEO is than I’d expected. First off, he runs a decently large Canadian energy company so I never expected to meet him. We’ve had 3 conference calls and he came to meet me the other day (also, this is like my 3rd actual day here). Then, everyone is told Chinese people are humble and quiet. He is the definition of eccentric with money (that he told me he doesn’t want his children to have, so he donates Chinese art to the world.) He’s always on like a manic high, I feel.

But as of now I’m not complaining. It’s an interesting job combining my two main areas: art and international communication. I just hope that it leads to something good (the past two interns now have awesome jobs in Beijing), so hopefully it will. And hopefully this foreign party with wine and ice (that we have to special order cause no one uses it here) will go well and some foreigners will actually come.

Fingers crossed.

中文二

Before coming, we were all told that the working environment in China is very quiet and calm. Maybe this is the case within other companies, but this is far from the method at my job. This could be due to them just moving offices, but it was a very noisy situation, and of course I’d forgotten my iPod.

It was a very strange first day. There’s a housekeeper in the office, who literally at 9 am was washing the floors on her hands and knees. The Internet seems to be as bad there as it is in our dorms. About every 3 hours the Internet would just stop working. Also, in the early morning they were cranking the AC and then in the afternoon when it was 97 outside, they opened the LONE window and had the AC off. Needless to say I fanned until my arm wouldn’t fan anymore.

Overall though I think my internship will be a good experience. Day one I had a conference call with the CEO of the company. That was really welcoming and I really appreciated it. Unlike the other interns, I got a company email and job title of “Art Director.” That’s especially nice, but I feel that mine is also going to be a lot more strenuous than the other’s. For example, I have to be there at 8:30-5:30 no exceptions and no flexibility. (It takes 1.5 hours to get there and then repeated on the way home, so I was hoping to come in a little later than 8:30).

Hopefully this will turn out to be a great experience, and I’ll survive the 85-degree temperature inside and the Christmas music that we seem to listen to on repeat.