Back but still more

Now I am back in UAE and AUS started which is keeping me busy.

Interestingly I am daydreaming a lot about China. I am imagining every single day and moment that I passed through. It is just so spectacular how exposure to things, people and places affects our lives. The first day I landed in China it felt so strange and new that I though I would never get attached to it by any means. Just before leaving China, it felt so familiar that until now I remember everything, especially Yantai, street by street and building by building. I remember all the people whom I met, but of course not all their names! And now back in UAE I can actually voluntarily visualize myself walking wherever I have been in China.

It has been long since I have published a post. I still have a few more things to share and will try my best to post them as soon as I can. Beijing was incredible especially that my family joined me there as well as Saeed. I want to also write about Beijing, about FOOOD and some other minor posts then end the blog with a conclusive final post about the overall outcome of going to China.

Let's see how long will AUS keep me on hold!
Best wishes!

My Presentation

I gave my presentation few days ago, last Monday 22nd August. It went really well and I enjoyed it especially because I was speaking of both Lebanon and UAE as they both are major in my life.

Lebanon and UAE - Youssef in China 2011

(click to download the presentation directly - 12.3MB)

Four new members joined my team which makes us 10 (including myself). My team members are relatively younger (21-28 years) than Saeed's teammates and their curiosity in asking questions was clearly different.  My teammates asked more about touristic places and costs of visiting Burj Khalifa or Burj al Arab and so forth. When I told them it would cost around 400 Dhs (approx. 700Yuans) to get into Burj Khalifa they had wide-open eyes and said "Youssef give us this presentation and it is more than enough to enjoy looking at the pictures!!" This is because 700 Yuans in China is a big deal of money. We actually as foreign interns earn 1860Yuans a month, and the entree level Chinese employees earn about 3000-4000 Yuan. So you could imagine their response. They loved the nature of Lebanon and that we can go around the whole country in less than 5 hours! They also asked questions like:

• Shouldn't women also cover their face in UAE?
• How can we live in the extremely grilling weather!

When I was presenting, the electricity in the room got cut off and the charger of my laptop stopped working. Luckily we are in China; the next day we went with Saeed's team, who are always helping us in everything especially Ms. Li, and I got the same charger for 40Yuans (around 22 Dhs)!! Of course its Chinese and of low quality but it would serve for some time! Getting 10 of these chargers is still cheaper than getting an original one for more than 200 Dhs.

Saeed did not have the chance to present his powerpoint presentation because the projector was not working so he got the chance of improvising on the whiteboard! It was really good and the team was so big and so interested that they asked for more than an hour.

Saeed's team asked more serious questions like:

• Are men and women paid equally
• How are weddings celebrated
• What is the average income in UAE
• What ages do couples get married

Overall, although we had to show most of the presentation on the laptop screen since the electricity in the room was getting cut, giving the presentation was delightful and was a perfect chance for practicing in front of a distinct new audience.

Personal Automobiles

The traffic and transportation system in China is worth sharing. I will talk about: 

• Kinds of personal automobiles (this post) 
• Modes of public transport 
• Traffic rules 

Here in China, there are kinds of personal automobiles that I have never saw before, or probably have just heard of. There are different ranges of automobiles around China which show how China tries to offer all ranges of options for the different classes of society according to their financial affording power. Let's see,

The Hybrid Bike: it is between an electric motorbike and a bicycle. It has a rechargeable battery as well as pedals. If it runs low on battery you can start pedaling to recharge it, or simply start using it as a bicycle. The average price of a new one is around 3000 to 3500 Yuans (approx. 500 US$). It is slow, it cannot go above 60km/hr probably but so it is convenient and economical in commuting for short distances as well as environmentally friendly and gives an extra cause for doing exercise.  So popular.

The Wheeled Generator: The ‘ weirdest’ invention of a vehicle form. It is actually a mere generator..with wheels attached to it :S !!! And it has a stick to steer the wheels and a small truck attached behind. Farmers love it. Maybe it also serves them as a generator when needed! 

The 3-Wheelers: I though it is only exclusive to Mr. Bean's show. Maybe it is but the Chinese ‘copied’ it! There are 3-wheeler cars and 3-wheeler mini-trucks. They are actually more like tweaked motorcycles, not cars. They use motorcycle engines and most of them have the motorcycle front body with morotcycle steering handle, but the rest is installed separately to form the car or truck. They are very noisy, very slow, very polluting. I wonder why they are used but probably because they are cheap and do not consume much petrol. It just feels that they would fall when taking a turn or if you push them from the side.

German cars: Here German cars are the most popular, especially VolksWagen and Audi. China does not like Japanese cars because of economical/political competitions; still people acknowledge that Japanese cars are superb. So, they tend to lean to German cars as a substitute. Another reason behind the popularity of German cars is the major role Germany had in recent Chinese history as it was controlling some land and had formed some colonies, along with other European countries like France and the UK. The huge number of Audi’s and VW’s we saw here made us at some point view them as low-class cars! But everybody knows German cars along with the Japanese are the best of all. 

Chinese Cars: well, even the Chinese hate them. They know they cannot trust their own cars! Chinese cars are much less popular than German or any other car brand. Still they are an available option for lower-income people. The most popular Chinese car company is 'Chery'

Bicycles and Tricycles: they are so common and almost all Chinese have one. The weather is appropriate for riding bikes, and the cities are prepared for that with separate lanes for bikers, parking places in public and traffic light signals. Most importantly, people like using them and do not nag and pamper themselves with a bus or a car ride when they can reach easily by a bike with some exercise. Tricycles are preferred for work issues and loading stuff not for every-person use.

Shades for bikers at a traffic light - Hangzhou, China

Chinglish

“Wet floor, slip carefully!!!” This is what you see at restaurants when they are wiping the floor instead of “Wet floor, be careful not to slip!” This is just one of the hundreds of mistranslations from Chinese to English that you would see anywhere around China. It is referred to as ‘Chinglish’, a language between Chinese and English! Sometimes you really cannot understand any tiny bit of what the signs are trying to say. Sometimes it is really funny and we crack laughing in public. It is really fun! As if they are just using Google Translator randomly.

'Passengers no entry'. And where are the flowers!

Get out through the tunnel!

Understand anything?

Bear is a famous drink in China!

This actually shows how the Chinese try their best to reach foreigners and welcome them in their country. Although China tries its best to protect its language, the globalization of English has been able to penetrate. Tourists coming to China need some guidance and China does not want to lose its tourists just because of protecting the Chinese language. Also, without creating Pinyin (Latinization of the Chinese language) China wouldn’t have been able to cope with technology and science. Actually China is coping with internationalism by opening up to foreigners. We as ‘rare’ foreign trainees are one example.

These are just a few that I remembered to take pictures of, you can go to 'Google Images' search and type Chinglish and you won’t stop laughing for hours!!