Exchange

Words I've taught my office mates:
alien
giggle/giggling
zoning
FAR/ floor area ratio
lobby
corridor
plum
Mormon
dinosaur
taco
popsicle
pastry
workaholic
pineapple
at-grade / surface

I often write these words down, at their request, and I looked back over the various scraps of paper today. Its fun to try and remember the conversations that spurred these words (alien = looking at my sister's ultrasound. A boy!) and how I went about using smaller words to explain their meaning ("small men from space" [pointing to sky]). Though I will admit I can not remember why we were talking about Mormons!

I also like the two basic themes present: food and planning. The basics.

The list of words I have learned in return is decidedly less interesting (right, left, 1 through 10, etc.), but this is obviously due to my lack of any Mandarin knowledge before arriving, and not their ability to teach.

Bowling!

I went bowling this afternoon with some of my department. It was a lot of fun and very entertaining. Bowling is apparently just becoming popular, and almost everyone had never been before. Thus, the concept of scoring or taking turns was largely out the window and it seemed more like a game of musical bowling -- with people giddily roaming between lanes at will, picking up balls and flinging them down the lanes. There was much laughing, dropping balls, hitting the pin sweeper with over-eager rolls, etc. Alas I did not bowl a turkey, but I did get a strike on my first roll!

The importance of togetherness

Guillermo and I had lunch with the Chinese interns in the alley near work earlier this week. Lunch in the alley is a casual affair -- grabbing a bowl of noodles or pork sandwich-type thing from the food stands and maybe a piece of fruit from the open air market (more on this in an upcoming food post). On this specific day, Guillermo bought a couple of peaches -- one of which he and I shared.

Later, back in the office, I tried to give He Wei Dong one of the remaining peaches. He declined saying that the peach was too big. To which I replied, "Oh, just share it with your friends!" (Thinking he was just shy about taking my offering).

Well, there was quite a bit of hemming and hawing and some vague "no we don't share" statements which I didn't really understand (maybe he and his roommates didn't get along or something), when suddenly the other intern piped up and said: "We don't share peaches in China like you do in America. Like you and Guillermo did at lunch."

Now at this point it is clear what she means, because Guillermo and I shared the peach without cutting it -- he would take a bite or two of the pear and then hand it to me, and vice versa. So, I quickly clarified that most Americans would not share a peach in this way, but that Guillermo and I were just good friends.

With that somewhat embarrassing detail cleared up (note to self: no more sharing fruit like barbarians), I suggested that He Wei Dong take the peach, cut it into pieces and then share it. But, still he resisted saying that his parents told him sharing a peach would make his mouth [insert strange facial expression with a crooked mouth]. And then he added that they don't share pears either. I was throughly confused, but it was time to go home and I figured we could clarify the next day.

Luckily though Jenny, Peter's wife, is Chinese-American and she was able to explain some of this in more detail over dinner that night. At least the pears part.

The phrase "sharing a pear" is a homophone of "separate" (both are roughly pronounced as "fenli"), and therefore it is considered bad luck to share pears, especially with close friends and family lest you become separated.

This reminded me of an old saying that my grandmother taught to say years ago when you were walking with someone and had to part to avoid and object/person: "bread and butter." According to the word detective the use of "bread and butter" is:

one of a number of rituals children follow, on the order of "step on a crack and break your mother's back," designed to invoke magical protection from bad luck. In this case, the fact that bread and butter "go together" gives the ritual power as an affirmation of togetherness, lest a momentary separation be an omen of permanent one.

(By the way, my grandmother is reading this blog so she might be able to confirm/elaborate on the meaning of this saying. She's way tech savvy. Me so proud!).

As for the peaches, the only clarification I have gotten is that an old legend says your mouth will become crooked if you share a peach. I'm keeping an eye on my mouth for now, and glad that Guillermo and I will be safely together for the next few months of our adventure.


[Dragon fruit, not peaches or pears, pictured above.]

Daily Routines

Every morning precisely at 10 a.m., music starts playing over the loudspeakers in the halls at work, and handfuls of people get up and filter outside into the hall. There they line up and follow the man barking (and counting) out the steps of the exercise routine.

Somehow, I missed the whole affair in the first few days, but late in the first week I got caught out in the hall on the way back from the restroom at 10 a.m. and had to squeeze by and avoid people as they made sweeping arm movements and deep knee bends. Since that time I have avoided the hallways around 10 since following a routine was never really my forte (I'm more into the organized chaos that is team sports) and I didn't want to tempt fate.

Today, however, I was *personally* invited to partake in the daily exercises, so there was no hiding at my desk. Nope, had to go out there in all my ungainly glory.

Oh boy. There is nothing like a coordinated routine to make me feel very large and uncoordinated. But, just to add salt to my wounds, my (small and dainty) friends have been doing this *same* routine since grammar school!

I managed to struggle through though, and it was fun. I will get better with practice, as I'm sure I'll be expected to participate from now on.

The morning exercises are only one of several times during the day that the loudspeakers serenade us. At 1:30 p.m. a very rousing, military-sounding ditty marks the end of the two hour lunch period (generally waking up many people who slouch into their chairs or put their heads on their desks for a post lunch siesta). My personal favorite though, is the muzak version of "We are the world" played promptly at 5 p.m. Every day.

Lonqing Gorge

Escaped the hustle, bustle and smog of Beijing this weekend for an adventure into "nature" -- a park about 2 hours north east of the city called Lonqing Gorge. There was some amazing scenery and we had a blast rowing our gimpy rowboat into the deep gorge, once we escaped the bowels of the dragon (i.e. the escalator up the side of the mountain), the large pontoon motor boats full of Chinese tourists, and the bungee jumping area. If Guillermo looks like he is scowling in this photo, it is only because the oars they gave us for the boats were basically to pieces of raw lumber nailed together -- made for tough rowing!