ChangChun Journal Part Five
The reality is that I have been incredibly busy; in the last 6 weeks,
we have moved into a new factory here and I have been doing everything
from setting up PC's to mopping floors to moving furniture to going up
a 40-foot cherry-picker to string telephone wires across the factory
floor. So, I have only just been able to slow down long enough to
break radio-silence.
Yeah, I know, a real sob story. Just read, if you want...
****************************
When I returned to Changchun in June, I had a note waiting for me at
the factory that a large computer I had ordered from Shanghai had been
delivered via China Northern airlines. I was a little distressed, as
the machine was not supposed to have been shipped until the day I
returned, because I didn't want it sitting in a airport for two weeks
while I was in the States. When I looked at the air waybill, I
noticed it had been shipped the day I left for the US, so I rushed to
the airport in a slight panic (this was a $20,000 computer, after all)
in the company minivan.
By the way, when I say minivan, don't even think that this is some Ford
Windstar or Chrysler Town and Country; this thing makes a 1960's
Volkswagen bus look like a Cadillac. It has no suspension to speak of,
no A/C, and a horribly slipping clutch; plus, the driver chain-smoked
his ginseng cigarettes with the windows rolled up all the way to the
airport. It was really a nice way to go, let me tell you.
Anyway, when I arrived at the cargo area of the thoroughly decrepit
Changchun International Airport ("International" because they have one
flight a week to Vladivostok), I presented the airbill to the clerk.
She read it and told me I needed my passport to obtain the items.
Stupid me; I thought this document would be enough. So, the driver
took me back to my Villa (a half-hour trip) and I got my passport and
we went back.
Of course, when I presented my passport and the airbill, the clerk
told me I also needed a letter from my company saying I actually was
Joe Drouin and that I actually did represent FAW / Kelsey-Hayes, and
that the letter had to be officially stamped by the company.
Let me say now that it was also hotter than hell on this particular
day and that airconditioning in general is non-existent in this city.
So, I was really starting to boil. But, I swallowed my anger and
exhibited complete control over my temper. Okay, almost complete
control; I did let loose with one loud expletive- you guess which one.
(By the way, I have found his is a beneift of being in a country where
no one speaks English. You can pretty much curse at will; no one
knows what you're saying, and sometimes it really helps you to vent.)
So, we left again for the office to write the letter and have it
stamped.
I should explain this stamp at this point, I guess. Our Joint Venture
company has an official blue-ink rubber stamp that says "FAW
Kelsey-Hayes Joint Venture Ltd.". That's all. No serial number or
official emblem. Nothing magical. But, all official documents have
to have this stamp on them. And Chinese law requires that there be
only one such stamp, that it be kept under lock and key, and that only
one person has access to the key.
So, as you have probably guessed, the girl with the key to the stamp
was not in the office. In fact, she was downtown at the bank. By
now, I was fit to be tied, but I was not about to give up. So, off we
went, the driver and I, in search of the girl with the key to the
stamp.
Amazingly, we found her at the bank and she not only had the key, but
she actually had the stamp in her possession! She stamped my letter
and once again, we returned to the airport. So, it seemed my luck was
starting to turn around. Little did I know...
Back at the cargo place, the clerk accepted my credentials and a 50RMB
note, and then said "OK La." Okay. So I stood there waiting for the
boxes. "OK La!" she said again, and then pointed to the door behind
her. The driver punched my arm, motioned to me and then to himself, and
then pointed to the door. "OK!" I said! I got it! There must be a
second office where we had to go and wait for the boxes to be brought
up.
So through the door we walked, and I literally stopped in my tracks.
Do you remember the very last scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?
Where the government man says the Ark of the Covenant is in good hand s
and they show a huge warehouse stacked to the rafters with crates, and
they wheel the Ark into the middle of it? This was that warehouse.
And can you guess the real kicker? We had to find the boxes
ourselves. So we searched for about three hours through a maze of
what had to be a thousand boxes and crates in a blisteringly hot
warehouse. I found the first box in relatively short order; of
course, the second and smaller box was nowhere near the first one
(wouldn't that make too much sense?)
When I finally found the second box, it was about 4 in the afternoon.
There were some Chinese guys in the warehouse, and they were having a
good laugh. I was cursing out loud at no one in particular in
language to make a sailor blush. I was hot, sweaty, tired, and abov e
all, furious. I had spent an entire day doing something that should
have taken less than an hour.
I have since come to grips with the fact that this is the rule rather
than the exception when doing business in China. I now base all of my
time estimates on this axiom:
What takes an hour to do in the States takes a day in China;
What takes a day to do in the States takes a week in China;
What takes a week to do in the States don't even bother trying...
As a beautiful finishing note, finally, I got the computer home,
plugged it in, turned it on, and...
...it didn't work.
*************************
A couple of the other guys and I went to Beijing for the weekend for
some much needed R&R. This was in July; I had been here for 3 months
and stll hadn't done any real sightseeing. So we set off to visit the
Forbidden City.
If Changchun was an oven in July, Beijing was a furnace. It was
hotter than blazes and humid, to boot. When we arrived at Tiananmen
Square, which is directly in fron of the Forbidden City, the three of
us went looking for the public WC to, uh, freshen up.
I had just read a snippet in the "Beijing Today" magazine about how
the city had installed some new, state-of-the-art public bathrooms
downtown, complete with flushing toilets and ventilation fans. I am
not lying; this was a new thing and something they were quite proud
of.
Luckily for us, the WC we found was indeed one of the new ones. Mike
(my roommate) and I walked in and headed for the urinals along one
wall. Only one stall was occupied, and that was by a guy who was kind
of hunched down over the wall-mounted pot. So Mike and I took our
positions, flanking the guy in the adjoining stalls. I only spared
him a quick look; in the back of my mind, I assumed that the kid was a
janitor or something, and that he was cleaning the john.
Well, as I was standing there doing my thing, I suddenly felt water
splashing all over my leg and I could hear sloshing sounds from the
next trough. I took a step back to look around the little partition,
ready to give this guy some grief about his lack of care. Evidently,
Mike had the same thought, as he had stepped back, as well.
As we both stood back, our jaws both dropped to the floor. This kid
wasn't cleaning the toilet. He had his sleeves rolled up past his
elbows and his shirt partly unbuttoned. He had his face down in his
hands, which were cupped full of water. Let me tell you, he was
really giving himself a good washing. Obviously, the guy had never
seen a urinal before, and he thought it was a sink!
Needless to say, I was kind of stunned and just stood there for a
second, as did Mike. Remember, both of us were basically still in
standard operating position. As the kid shook the water from his face
and blinked his eyes a few times, he glanced my way. He looked
confused at first, and then turned his head and saw Mike. Then he
kind of peeked around the divider to see what I was doing. I saw his
eyes kind of bulge as comprehension dawned on him and chagrin replaced
his puzzled look. He turned and boy, did he sprint out of there!
Well, I finished my business, and walked outside, still kind of
startled. When Mike came out, we looked at each other a couple of
minutes and then started laughing ourselves into tears.
Looking back, I know it wasn't nice to laugh; but I am pretty sure
that we had at least done a good deed. I mean, I don't imagine this
kid will wash his face in a public toilet ever again...
*************************
Some of our co-workers from the States came in to visit the
operations. Among them were some big shots at Kelsey, including the
Human Resource director.
Now, all of the Keley Hayes guys wanted these folks to see how
miserable life was in Changchun and what a burden it was to live here
.
They especially wanted the HR person to see what sacrifices they were
making by being here. So we decided to go eat dinner at a place clear
across town, as a cab ride in Changchun is always good for a little
excitement. And boy, we were not disappointed...
There were ten of us, so we had to split up into three cabs.
Evidently, there must have been some face at stake among the t hree cab
drivers, because as soon as we were on the street it became obvious
that we were in a race. And I don't mean some laughing, joking,
good-times kind of race; these guys were seriously determined to be
there first.
So, we were flying down the main street towards a big intersection,
with our cab in last place. As we came up to the crowded street, our
driver figured that he could get around the mass of cars and through
the optional red light by driving on the curb. So on we went, just
like in a movie. People were jumping out of our way, and we almost
hit countless bicyclists and several horses and donkeys.
Once through the crossing, I guess the guy wanted to secure his lead,
so we turned down an alley to cut through to another road. There was
a bus in the road that was moving slow, so we went up with two wheels
on the road and two on the sidewalk to go around the bus at about 40
mph.
As we cleared the front of the bus, though, another cab on a cross
street made a tentative move to turn left in front of us. I guess all
of us, including our driver, figured there was no way the guy was
going to pull out. So, of course, we didn't slow down.
Well, the guy DID come out. Our driver hit the breaks, and locked the
wheels up. We screeched sideways and at the last minute, the driver
turned the wheel and cut around the other car. To this day, I still
don't know we missed each other.
With both cars stopped in the middle of the road, we all just sat
there. As I pried my fingers out of the dashboard, our enraged driver
rolled down his window and screamed what had to be a grave insult at
the other cab driver. The other guy responded with a flippant little
comment that only served to infuriate our guy even more. So, he got
out of the car, walked over to the other cab driver, and started
punching him in the face through the open window, screaming the whole
time.
After three or four good, solid whacks to the head and shoulders, Our
guy finally got a hold of himself and got back in the cab. We were
all too shocked to say anything, so we rode in dead silence the rest
of the way to the restaurant. And I let him keep the change from the
fare. And honest to goodness, we still got there first.
*************************
Well, I know that that's only three stories, but it's all I can manage
for now. I am leaving Changchun this weekend, and will do some
travelling in China for about a week before returning to the US for 8
days. So, I wanted to get at least on of these off before I leave.
So, that's all for now. More to come (I'm just not sure when...)
This was the last of the ChangChun Journals. Any feedback or similar stories are gladly accepted.
© 1996 Joe Drouin
