A note about the movie industry in China

I think this is absolutely fascinating regarding China. (Whether or not I ever end up working in the industry, I will always have a weakness for movies):

The movies here cost a whopping 60 yuan - 120+ yuan depending on what cities you go to. Essentially, there is no mass-viewing that you see in the states. You pay 120 yuan - 150 yuan in the major cities to see a movie with a dozen or so other people in a very luxurious setting. I find this absolutely incredible. Could you imagine paying $40+ US for a movie in the US to see it in this setting? Absolutely not. We'll take the cheap, crowded theaters any day.

This is so fascinating to see an entire industry in China that has yet to be completely revolutionized.

Movie theaters here are too expensive; end of story. More citizens would be frequenting the theaters if it was cheaper and more accessible, like it is in the US. Additionally, it wouldn't hurt if the Chinese government didn't restrict the foreign movies imported to China. I believe this will change over time, anyway - I think it's the movie theaters that will be harder to change than the government's view.

Avatar made $182 million USD in China - most people I've talked to here have seen it. They love it. They absolutely love it here. Some of my students even equate me to the tall blue people in the movie...

It's absolutely fascinating to see an entire industry like this just waiting to be completely revolutionized in a country of 1.2 billion people...

The Metro and the Asian Games, 2010

Super nice interior of a brand new metro train.

The metro is interesting: it goes all over town, yet takes forever to get to places (the city is huge). The trains are VERY nice, and they have these video screens that play advertisements and random shows with subtitles in Chinese.

The weirdest part?

You get cell phone reception in all the subways, all the time.

It makes sense that they should make sure of this, but it's just not there in LA...what if there is an emergency? Revert to yelling?

I thought this was the funniest Engrish I have ever seen - this little guy saying "Please don't touch me!" just killed Zac and me. The people around us must have thought we were nuts but I just couldn't stop laughing. He's referring to the door, in case you were wondering...well, I think.

They have these little etiquette signs at various locations, mostly due to the Asian Games coming in October 2010. As a result, the city is basically trying to pull a Beijing before the Olympics in 2008. Yeah, good luck with that.

My Neighbor, Frank

I've decided to devote an independent post to my neighbor, Frank, as I think he merits it.

I met Frank because the company rep that accompanied me to my apartment couldn't figure out, well, anything in the apartment (I couldn't stop laughing when she asked me if I could figure something out; I thought: "the buttons are all in Chinese, lady - if you can't figure it out then how in the hell am I going to? I'm not any better at pushing random buttons than you are.") This actually turned out to be a good thing, because she had to ask Frank, the neighbor, for help.

Frank is a 40-something construction manager. He lives in Shanghai, but works here (been here for about a year already), and he works for a French firm that operates in China. He is here without his family and without friends, but he speaks English very well; however, he wishes to learn much more.

Essentially: we are lucky to actually have each other here.

Sunday night was the Lantern Festival (google it for more info). This was entertaining to me, as there were fireworks everywhere, and even these flat-bed trucks full of young males standing on the back driving around tossing out firecrackers in the street. We ended up getting dinner at a local Cantonese restaurant (I don't quite think I was ready for it, however, as I was trying to recover from the shock of this whole ordeal, first of all).

In this photo: some kind of soup (was so-so) and pig-intestine (not bad but too chewy).

In this photo: Salmon sashimi (left - they call it something veeery different here...I am still trying to get that one down. Anyway, it wasn't that flavorful...), chicken (top right - veeeery tender and delicious, but a lot of bone), and some rendition of steak (bottom right - I think there was more oil than steak - oof).

And of course, Frank! I think I caught him mid-chewing with this one...whoops.

On Tuesday we ate at another local restaurant (he was super generous! I try to repay him by teaching him relevant western culture and, more importantly, relevant business-English words and phrases - he is very appreciative).

Some kind of shrimp (you eat everything between the head and the tail after you dip in in sauce), chicken (or duck...maybe even dove...either way - super delicious and tender again), and vegetables. Also, that may or may not be Gin (I guess it was his birthday on the lunar calendar! I was beginning to think he might be an alcoholic but I was actually just catching him on a ton of special occasions!)

Steamed fish - absolutely fantastic.

The left part of the pic is for Dana. The right side includes the fish tanks - talk about fresh!

More to come...

The hotel + Moving to the apartment

Here are the photos of the hotel that I think was like 200 yuan / night (~$31):

 The bed was hard as hell, but huge. There was bottled water provided in the room (left).

Now this was interesting: the electricity would be cut to the room if your card was not in this slot.

Pretty decent shower, if I do say so myself.

View to the left out the window.

And the view to the right.

Kinda like seeing an old friend...

A really cool little restaurant that was right outside the hotel. This location was directly under the overpass for the expressway, so it was sheltered; I found this fascinating for some reason but didn't get to eat there yet.

On Sunday, Feb 28th, I moved to the apartment. This was a particularly horrifying experience only because everything was so sudden.

11:30 AM: "You move to apartment today" - company
12:00 PM: This was the hotel checkout time...so that gave me 30 minutes to run back, grab my stuff and check out (way to go, guys).

Some time later we get my Chinese cell phone for 198 yuan (including 100 yuan of prepaid service over the next 5 months - not bad, I must say), and then hop in a cab to head to...somewhere. The company rep I was with had no idea where the apartment was nor seemed to really know anything about anything, for that matter; but *luckily* she had a drawn map to show the driver. By about 30 minutes later, I was really truly freaking out. Here we are suddenly leaving the only 2 people that I've gotten to hang out with to go to some unknown apartment location with some unknown apartment...etc etc...plus, the taxi cost (that I had to pay, of course) kept rising and rising and I had no idea when it would stop (nor did the rep...shocker). It ended up being 67 yuan, so like $10...so that could have been worse.

Byebye city! See you...uh...not really sure at the time of this photo! (I was literally expecting the worst case scenario of apartment, so in the back of my mind I was half-expecting to be heading back this way soon to get the hell out of here, quick)

The outside of the building - I think I started to breathe again when I saw it. I ended up being on the 16th floor in the middle of the building (the tower is 33 stories tall).

The view to the right when you walk in. Note the giant teddy bear (like you didn't notice it...). This is not mine...and nobody seemed to quite understand why it was there either. I have to admit that the word "bugged" definitely popped in my head, haha. Also, pay no attention to the ethernet cable hanging over it...I was messing around with it to see what was up with the internet...or lack thereof...

The bed; a lot softer than the hotel's mattress (or whatever it was) and also a decent size. And no, I don't sleep like you see in the picture - I was in "unpack mode" at this time! Also, you can't see it in this picture (out of frame) but there is a motion detector to the left above the art on the wall. No one seems to be able to tell me why...hmm.

The TV, the random electronic crap that was there with it, and my little American power station...

A/C unit. Not very useful when it is 40 degrees F outside...

Oh you know this was on your mind...the bathroom. The toilet is in the shower. I repeat: the toilet is in the shower. I'm not gonna comment on that. The device to the right is so you can see video of someone calling for entry downstairs. I also think the thought-police observe you through it, as well...ha.

A better view of shower-toilet. Showlet. Toiwer. Whatever. Also, the entire bathroom was wet when I got here. I thought someone took a long, hot shower right before I arrived but they told me it was the humidity...holy cow.

I didn't know inanimate objects could be assholes until I met this water heater.

The view to the North. Ignore the dirty window, but pay attention to the random crap piled up at various locations outside; they love doing that here it seems: making neat little piles of debris at random locations. I figured out later exactly what the deal was with construction sites here: they don't have dumpsters / trucks picking up these dumpsters.

The view to the South; that is the Pearl River, part of the Pear River delta, that you see. Also ignore the dirty window...

There were also a couple of other things I did not get pictures of. For example, the apartments seem to have valet and bell-hops (I say "seem to" because I'm not entirely sure what to make of it). Additionally, there were/are mosquitoes - this is another thing that would have been nice to have been warned about. Furthermore, these mosquitoes are somehow genetically engineered to harass you - I'm talking about 2 am fly-by's of your ear...over and over...I ended up just getting up, turning on all the lights, and hunting the little bastard down because of it.

A brief word on exchange rates

I'll post the events of last week later after I am back from teaching and have all night to write...

I have a ton of pictures to sort out for here!

But right now I just want to touch on the subject of exchanging money.

It's a pain.

The first exchange I made was at LAX and cost $5.99 US, with exchange rates of about 6.05 USD : 1 yuan. I don't know why the rates were so bad (or good if you're coming back from China), because the actual rates for right now are closer to 6.8. Additionally, the $5.99 fee didn't help.

The 2nd exchange was when I opened my local bank account here. I got a much better rate (this was less than 24 hours from the exchange at LAX), and the fee was minimal (maybe 20 yuan). The rate I received was 6.75 USD : 1 yuan, and this fee comes out to roughly $3 US.

However, the best deal I've gotten so far is actually with my Bank of America account bank home, which does indeed have a partnership with China Construction Bank here. Basically, you can bring your ATM card from the US, withdraw cash from your US bank account and instantly get the best exchange rate possible. Best of all, there is no ATM fee. None.

I also thought I should have waited to exchange money until I got here, but the fee was actually greater at the airport here than at LAX!

I also don't understand why I've experienced such variabilities in the exchange rates...but oh well.

So, just an FYI, when you see me converting amounts on this blog in the future, I will probably just use a rough 6:1 estimate, as it ensures I save the most money considering this will be the worst exchange rate I have received so far. When I go back however, it's kind of funny how the worst exchange rates become the best...

Hao Jiu Bu Jian

Finally have internet...it's late though...so I'll post plenty of updates later. To say it has been an eventful week would probably be an understatement...

Sang Karaoke with some young guys from the Chinese Navy and the headmaster of one of my schools (that was a weird night...rice wine might or might not have been involved)...ate pig's blood (meat flavored jello...is the closest thing I can describe it as)...went to an Irish pub ran by a woman from Canada (???)...

Eh, you'll get it all later today...I'll try to break it up by topics and dates as needed...otherwise it's just gonna be a huge post...

More general observations:

- I think I can believe the figures from the Chinese government regarding the average Chinese salary. Why? They use averages. Something you learn in statistics is that there are times when you should use averages and there are times when you should use medians...this is a time when they need to use medians and not averages.
- To elaborate on this, I am noticing a trend in this city: there is an obvious discrepancy between incomes. I don't mean expensive things and cheap things. I mean incredibly expensive things and incredibly cheap things. This is due to the combination of people with western salaries living among eastern salaries...this is an interesting thing to see (e.g. movie ticket prices seem to be 80-120 yuan, yet you can get a good lunch at a local place for 10 yuan. Or another example is coffee at nice places, including a Starbucks: usually 25+ yuan for a cup. Compare this to 3 yuan for a bottle of water or Coca Cola at the local 7-11). Some of these prices are possibly due to the high cost of supplies, so I'll try to find some really good, concrete examples in the future.
- Traffic lights are more of a guideline than a rule...
- People stare at tall white guys walking down the street. I mean like, they sometimes flat-out stop walking and stare. It's almost like they can somehow instantly tell that I am not from around here *cough*.
- Guangzhou is trying to pull a Beijing before the Olympics in 2008, only this is before the Asian Games in October, 2010. There are tons of PSAs on TV trying to get people to change their behavior, driving styles, etc. It's hilarious. This is hilarious because it's just not going to happen.
- Traffic engineers here must have degrees in philosophy or communication or something equally useless, assuming they have any education at all.

-T

'kay I'm here

Well that was...difficult.

Here's the rundown:

11:00 PM PST - take bus to middle of nowhere LAX to board plane
11:40 PM PST - depart on plane
7:45 AM China time (3:45 PM PST) - ~16 hours later - finally off the plane, breeze through customs etc (yeah it was really quick) - it took a long time because we hit a ton of headwinds I guess (~130-145 mph) and I watched our ground-speed drop from ~525 mph to ~399 mph...ugh.

Roomy!!!

 

Ignore the frosty window but pay attention to the color of the sun from the pollution; reminds me of fire season in LA...

8:30 AM - ~40 minute bus ride from the airport to downtown (really interesting expressway through the city that had this incredibly well maintained garden, I'd say, throughout the center median for the first part out of the airport).

You can kind of see it in the center of the picture.

Additionally, there were 2 other teachers that turned out to be on the same plane as me...who knew? One is 22 and from Toronto, the other is 21 and from Ohio (I might have gotten the ages switched up). Anyway, after taking a terrifying (and fun!) brief taxi ride to the office (the company is basically a staffing agency for ESL teachers), we ended up there for a loooong time. I was originally told that training was going to be all next week, but I guess they want us teaching starting Monday, so they are cramming the training into these three days (Friday-Sunday). I suppose that's a good thing, since we do not get paid for training anyway. However, I was still rather surprised to have to basically work immediately upon arrival...

It also just plain sucked that I couldn't get online so I could update everyone back home...I basically had to wait the whole day for that.

Some general observations:

• The internet at this hotel is awful. I had a hard time loading up Gmail and it's overall just spotty...BUT at least I have it! I'll take what I can get.
• There are McDonalds everywhere. I mean, everywhere. Yes, there are KFC and Pizza Hut, too, but you can't find one on almost every city block!
• The pollution is about as bad as you've heard; I'm interested to see what they can do before next October with the Asian Games coming to Guangzhou.
• Drivers are insane. The "cars before pedestrians" rule definitely applies.

Anyway, more to come.

-Tim