My Journal

My day started by being snubbed by the first 3 cabs in line at the hotel, who did not “know” where the office was when asked by the doorman. I jumped in the back of the 4th cab, handed him the direction card and pointed forcefully straight ahead without waiting for the translation by the doorman – it worked. As he started to turn the wrong way out of the hotel, I utilized my newly learned Mandarin words from a colleague of Left, Right and Straight Ahead. I took the cab driver down one of my favorite short cuts between 2 hutongs that is a one-lane road with 2-way traffic. It is a game of chicken with one car/bicycle/pedestrian veering onto the tiny sidewalk at the last minute as the distance closes between the oncoming traffic. This alleyway is about halfway to the office. The cab driver decided to get even with me by doing the Beijing Weave through traffic (basically, passing everything in sight from all sides, accelerating up to red lights, swerving in front of and around bicycles, etc). We made it to the office in 20 minutes and he only corrected my accent on directions 3 times; I did not require any caffeine for the morning since my adrenalin was already pumping full force. I consider this a success for the start of the day.

The morning work was uneventful. It is easy to tell when it is lunchtime, though. The email traffic slowly dies down as the East Coast goes to bed and by noon, the only messages are from our team to each other. It must be Lunchtime!

We are in a brand new building (the paint is still wet), so the café is temporary. As you get off the elevator, you have 3 choices the 10 RMB ($1.25US), the 15 RMB ($1.88US) or the 25 RMB ($3.13US) cafeteria lines. We have been doing the 15 RMB line; the 25 RMB may have pizza or some other western food choice, but that is the only difference we can discern so far. You pay with a stored value card (getting one is a challenge without a translator), but very easy to use. The scene is straight out of Escape From Alcatraz. You get a compartmented tray/plate, you walk down the line and scoop various dishes onto your tray, grab chopsticks and a drink and head for portable tables and stools in an unpainted, uncarpeted room. The food has been very good, but you need to eat around noon. The trays of food start hot, but are not really warmed. The longer you wait to eat, the colder it gets. Each dish is labeled with a Mandarin and English card. Today was especially memorable; the main entrée was “Pig Trotters”. Now, I am the biggest pork fan that ever lived. I will go out of my way to sample and eat good pork ribs. I had a hard time with the Pig Trotters; I could not find a decent amount of meat on them. I had mostly rice and some beans for lunch.

As the workday ended, I headed to the Jennie Lou’s market to get more breakfast foods (cheese and crackers) and dinner foods (crackers and cheese and Nutella).

The other time that is easy to recognize is 8pm. This is like the scene in Trading Places where Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy are preparing for trading to begin on the floor of the stock exchange by combing their hair in the Men’s Room before the frantic day begins. At 7:45pm, usually as we are finishing dinner, the blackberries become active again as the East Coast wakes up. Now, for most of our day (wee hours of the morning on the East Coast), we have been pumping emails and requests into peoples’ inboxes. Between 8 and 8:10pm, every single person usually replies to our sent emails. So in a matter of minutes we end up with 50 or so messages and our “second shift” now begins. Tonight was no different as I had an “8 o’clock” conference call (8am EDT / 8 pm BJ time). The “second shift” ends after 11pm and I call it a night.