chinachad

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/business/economy/11expats.html

My buddy Brian sent me this article about the wave of Americans coming to China to find jobs. Thought it was interesting, have a look…

I’ve been in a steady of routine going to classes and having quite weekends, so in order to spice things up a little I took a trip to Beijing last weekend to visit a friend of mine. Adam, David, Dong Jun – I’ll just call him his Chinese name, he doesn’t like any of the English names I pick for him. Dong Jun is the old bassist from our band and at the beginning of the summer moved to Beijing in search of a job. Although he still has his senior year left in college, there aren’t any classes to attend and pretty much just have to write a thesis paper (we have to write thesis’ to graduate from college over here!). Anyways, he’s temporarily living at his brother’s place who shares an apartment with two other Chinese guys. Friday night we all headed out to LA Club, supposedly one of the hot night clubs in Beijing. And, I guess they proved it because Timberland (a famous American rap artist) was DJing that night. He announced he turned down Jay-Z invitation to DJ at his party so he could come to Beijing. He didn’t do a bad job and I thought it was cool he “busted out” some middle school classics like “Mo money, mo problems” and “California Love.” Other than the music, I wasn’t too impressed with the place. It was way too crowded and there were soo many foreigners there, I could have sworn I wasn’t in a foreign country. I guess nothing can compare with Sitong, a bar here in Tianjin. They have a Philipino band that rocks out everynight and there is a at least 50% Chinese there.

The second day we just walked around one of Beijing’s 1000 shopping malls. This particular one was 5 stories tall and included every western store you could think of Quicksilver, Adidas, Levis, Guess, blah blah blah, they also of course had a Starbucks, but was totally shocked when I saw a Burger King was being built! I’m going to go back to Beijing sometime soon just for a Burger King Whopper, and the taste better be the same! So, that night Dong Jun’s brother made dinner and we spent the night chit chatting and playing drinking games.

Sunday came around and we made our way to another shopping center, a very ritzy (by chinese standards) place. Everything there reminded me of the US layout, design, stores. They even had a fountain that at night would spurt water in sync with Michael Jackson’s music (RIP). Afterwards, I decided to call it and part ways with my friend. But, not before I went to the infamous Silk Street Market and harassed the shop keepers there…

The Silk Street Market is a tourist trap where foreigners are eager to buy counterfeit goods at a “cheap” price. Not exactly every foreigner pays too much for these goods, but if they knew how to bargain Chinese style they could definitely get it for a lot cheaper. Every time I go to Beijing I make it a point to there, it’s a fun experience for me, I can not only practice my Chinese, but my bargaining skills as well. And, there is always something interesting that happens there. Two times ago there was a scuffle between an Middle Eastern woman and a shoe store owner, which resulted in a bloody noise, the lady getting escorted away by security, and all of the chinese people yelling “get out of China!” The second to last time I went there I made one of the store workers cry. I swear I didn’t do anything! We were bargaining over the price of a T-shirt. I said 30 RMB, she said 35RMB, then pulled the tag off the shirt and handed it to me. I said I wasn’t going to pay 35 RMB for it, she started crying and screaming because she already pulled the tag off it and couldn’t resell it. People started starring, I gave in to her great performance and paid the $7USD(35RMB) for a $20 T-shirt. The store owners there talk to every foreigner that walks by “you want to buy pants, shoes, underwear?” “Hey, I remember you from last time, come into my shop” blah blah blah. In order not to waste anytime I kept my mouth shut as they spoke to me and I quietly browsed the goods in each stall. I walked by a group of store owners who were all saying “hello, hello, do you want to buy this/that/etc.” I politely smiled and as I passed heard one of them call me an idiot. I turned my head and starred at her, her eyes shocked wide open and in a panic said the only thing that could come to her mind “hello!” As I silently turned back around and continued on my way I could hear one of the store owners say “Did he understand you?” Haha, I wasn’t offended by it, more amused than anything. Afterwards I made my way to my favorite stall which sells Volcom, Hurley, Billabong shirts. I asked the guy if he remembered me from last time, referring to the last time his coworker said she wanted to kill me (for bargaining to low). He didn’t remember, but nevertheless I made the same impression on him with his coworker before. They originally wanted 120RMB for each shirt. I told them I give them 80 for 2. The laughed and said no. I walked away. They yelled for me to come back. They said I must be more fair. I walked away again. They yelled for me to come back. I turned around and did a hand gesture for 80. Guess who had the last laugh? Haha, the owner of the shop expressed her displeasure to her coworker. I smiled and said I’d be back in the winter to buy some sweatshirts =)

Okay, it’s dinner time. I’m going to go eat. Stay tuned for more stories…

I was surfing my friend’s chinese blog and noticed a funny video posted from the chinese youtube-like site www.youku.com. I really liked british-pop music in the the background and there weren’t and credits at the end stating the name of the song. We’ll I listened closely to the lyrics, recognized four words, typed them into my google search bar, and bam there was the name of the song and band. I mean I’ve done this in the past, but for some reason I’m just overly satisfied this time around. I think it’s because not only do I know the name of the song and band, but here in China I can open up my music player “Cool Music Box” pull up the song, and not only listen to it for free as it streams across the internet, but can download it completey legal and free. Anyways, that’s all the time I have for this rant, the bands got practice now… oh, and for your entertainment I posted the video below…

Treadmill dance