Random Notes & Observations

1. I may have ranted to many of you in the past about this....I am a big $1 coin guy. I hate the wad of dollar bills stuffed in my wallet - and for what? $1 doesn't get much anymore. My solution is to get rid of the $1, bring back the $2, and let Susan B. Anthony be famous again by putting her on a new $1 coin.

Well folks, this is my personal hell here in China.

Coin are very rare. You go into a shop to buy something that costs 6.80 yuan; you give them a 10 yuan bill - and you get 3.20 in change.

That's 3 1-yuan bills, and 2 0.1-yuan bills.

Now - if you take into account the exchange rate;

that's 3 bills worth 16 cents each, and
2 bills worth just under 2 cents each.

My wallet is thinker than the opening day in Vegas. And it's all full of small bills that total $1.47.

I've been giving the boys the 0.1-yuan bills (called "jiao") as payment for silly things like changing the channel on the TV.

2. There is no such thing as a bakery here that will bake cookies for a birthday. As a substitution, I am bringing in strwaberry and mango donuts for Warren's class in honor of his birthday (which was yesterday (but still today for some of you readers)).

3. Warren is having a party this Saturday....at the Ritz-Carlton. Every kid should have a birthday party at the Ritz, no?

4. Reason #46 why I will weigh 300 pounds after this assignment: We visited our new apartment this past Saturday. Hopefully, we can move in for good during this coming weekend. In the complex, there is a conveinience store that has many Western comfort foods, like cereal, tomato sauce, and American (and European) pop.

PS - I love the grapefruit Schweppes soda. I am not joking.

Anyway, the boys and I got ice cream there after the visit (when Janice was picking out drapery patterns for 90 minutes). I opened the ice cream freezer and saw....

oh my....Viennetta.

Viennetta has a special place in my heart (and Steve's heart, too). I'll have to share this story later, but it involved Beavis & Butthead, cards, suggestive advertising and many people at Finast thinking we were homosexuals.

But now that I know that our new place has Vienetta on a stick, I'll be gaining 20 pounds pronto.

5. Cultural references: A lot of reruns are shown here. For instance, I watched the 4th round of the AT&T National this weekend! You may not know this, but Justin Rose won! It only happened 6 weeks ago - and it was telecast on TV last weekend!

Well, apparently, China gets shows 5-10 years after they are popular in the US.

Janice had an off-site work conference for two days. She was wearing a name tag when someone in her department (but does not work for her) came up to her.

"Hi! How do you prononunce your name?"
Uh....Janice. Jan-is.

"Oh, like friends".

Janice first thought he said "French", so she asked what he meant.

"You know, Janice - like friends".

No, she said. What do you mean?

"You know, Friends. Chandler's girlfriend - Janice? The same name?"

So she is slightly mortified that people now associate her name with that character on Friends with the annoying laugh.

Seinfeld

Just a couple of quick notes...

- It seems like everything and anything gets done here through friends - very much how Kramer survives in Seinfeld. I asked my driver to figure out how to unlock my iPhone in order to get it to work over here.

"No Problem. I will do it today while you are at work".
Do you need me to go to a store with you?
"No. I have a friend who does it."

I expected him to say that his name was Bob Sacamano.

But it got unlocked easily (although the warrenty is now voided. Big whoop.). Now, how do I get a SIM card and a China number?

"No problem. You come with me and you can buy that from my friend."
Really? So off we go - into a Guangzhou neighborhood. We stop at a random building and enter a McDonald's. We go up a flight of stairs (most fast food restaurants are multiple floors), and then exit the McDonald's go up another flight.
THere we enter a electronics market, where it's clear I am the oldest there by more than 10 years.

We go to the apple desk. I am presented with a printout of all the China mobile #'s that are available.

"Go ahead - pick what number you want".
OK....hmm...how about this one?
"Fine!"
10 seconds later.... "oh, sorry, that's taken. Pick another?"
OK....how about this one?
"Great!........oh, sorry, that's taken...try this list!"
I am handed another piece of paper.
This one?
"Let's see....... no"

I said in my best Kramer accent: "Why don't you just tell me the number you want me to have?

So - 65 yuan later (about $9), I have unlocked my phone and have a working SIMcard that can now accept calls. No signatures, no documentation. It's nice. Much, much better than the crap we put up with in the US.

By the way - on the trip, I saw my first NFL jersey in Guangzhou. It was a caucasian (he was across the street; don't know if he was American or European)...

.... and he was wearing a Terrell Owens #81 jersey for Buffalo.



(Yesterday, on the street, I saw a 50-something Chinese man wearing a Sacramento Kings shirt with the logo from the late 90s. I am expecting to see a Montreal Expo jersey any day now - or possibly an Akili Smith jersey)

Hello!

Well, we are here in China. I found a way (temporarily) to get into blogspot - as most conventional means of connecting do not let me access blogspot, twitter, facebook, youtube, and others....

It's been a long road with some ups and some downs - and some things still unsettled. The apartment search is still not finalized. I feel like the main character on "Quantum Leap" - maybe this day will finally be the day we gt our permanent residence all finalized. Right now, we do not have a real place to live yet because negotiations between the landlord and P&G are stuck --- regarding insurance, of course. So, as of Sept 2nd, we have no where to live.

Maybe today will be the day with good news......

Anyway, things are going fairly well. School has started already; the boys seem to like it. Our driver is working out well; I understand now why we can't drive here. Multiple times per trip I close my eyes thinking we will get into an accident; and yet, there is no crash.

On the Vegas gambling scale, where "Eric" would be the most conservative driver around, and "Wiz Drunk" is a careening, no-hold-barred driver, I think our driver would be like Don. Sensible, yet I swear he says "be, be aggressive" when called for. THe best move he has made so far is going the wrong way in a traffic circle to get to the other side.

I'll have more later - but wanted everyone to know we are doing fine (as fine as expected). Now the fun begins as we settled down!