Changchun Journal Part Two
5/1/96 ChangChun, P.R. China
Another long update... if this starts to sound like a bad magazine
article, try to humor me or just delete it and go about your business.
Maybe you could print it out and save it for reading in the bathroom,
after you've exhausted more interesting reading material (like the
shampoo bottle...)
On Saturday, I played volleyball with a group of international
students at Jilin Provincial University.
I have to tell you, I wasn't really prepared to play volleyball. I
was out shopping with a couple of other Americans late in the
afternoon. One of them- who teaches English at the University-
suggested we stop by and play since we were in the neighborhood. I was
wearing blue jeans, hiking boots and a sweatshirt (the box with my
tennis shoes and most of my "play" clothes is still waiting for me to
rescue it from Customs in Beijing...) It was warm, about 75 degrees,
and I was already sweaty and dirty from walking around town all day,
so I figured "What the heck..."
When we got there, I was introduced around to the students; they were
from North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Japan, and even
one guy from Iraq- definitely a different ethnic mix than I am used
to in the States. All of them were friendly enough, though.
The volleyball courts were on asphalt, which was uneven and lumpy and
full of pock-marks and holes. We had to take several time-outs to
stop and let someone grab a handful of rocks and leaves and gravel to
mend the surface.
The sweet thing, though, was that since the average height of the
players was probably somewhere around 5' even, the net was only ab out
7' high. At 6'2" plus an inch or so for my clodhoppers, I finally
began to understand the phrase "A giant among men..." I couldn't jump
very high or move very fast, but I could just stand there and block
the net all day long. And they all loved the way I could pick up the
ball in one hand and kind of toss it, baseball-style, across the net
to the server on the other side. I couldn't help but feel like
Michael Jordan- I'm definitely going back next time they play.
****
I had been trying to get in touch with the sales guy from China
Hewlett Packard all week. We had been trading faxes back and forth
without really accomplishing anything. So I had the brainstorm of
arranging a meeting with him in Beijing on Friday, and promptly called
my man Richard to get me a plane ticket.
(Richard is a Chinese guy that works with our host company here. He
is ostensibly an interpreter, but does much more. And he is the
tallest and skinniest Chinese guy I have ever seen- even taller and
skinnier than me, believe it or not. Richard is young and savvy and
street-smart and extremely well connected in Changchun; I can picture
him in some dark alley at night, hustling top-secret microfilm to the
highest bidder...)
Anyway, we got to the ticket office, which was located in yet another
typical Changchun office building; in other words, it looked like a
housing project inside. There were four young Chinese women workin g
there. Producing my plane ticket was an assembly line operation, as
it was passed from one to the other for this or that signature or
stamp or whatever. (This appears to be typical here, as if fulfilling
the need to employee as many of the 1.2 billion people as possibile
with each job.) The last girl took the ticket, turned on her
computer, plugged the telephone handset into a 1970's-era acou stic
modem, and began what eventually turned out to be the half-hour
process of booking my flight.
While we were waiting, two of the clerks produced a book called
something like "English for Business and Travel Professionals." They
asked Richard to read a section to them in English. He started to,
but I interrupted. I mean, Richard's English was good, but I was a
native speaker, so I offered to read the section to them. They were
very happy about this, and one of them pulled out a small cassette
machine and recorded me reading the dialogue. It turned out to be a
fictitious exchange between Mr. Wang and a ticketing clerk about
buying a ticket to Shanghai, something like this...
"Wang: One airplane ticket to Shanghai, if it pleases you to do so,
sir.
Clerk: Do you require a seat in the first class or a seat in the
economic class, thank you sir?
Wang: In the economic class is where I require my seat, sir.
Clerk: We have one economic class seat for you, sir.
Wang: That is very neat. Please accept my deepest thanks... etc."
I'd like to meet the guy that wrote that book. No wonder there is
such a communication barrier.
****
I can't wait to go to Beijing this weekend. Not only will the
sightseeing and shopping be fun, but they have Pizza Hut and Hard Rock
Cafe and KFC and Chili's. I know it sounds awful, but two weeks of
Chinese food twice a day (even great Chinese food) and I am ready for
a hamburger or some nachos or a big Sirloin steak.
Healthy-shmealthy...
This is the second ChangChun Journals. If you have similar experiences
to share, let me know!
To read the next journal, just turn the page
© 1996 Joe Drouin
