I know I haven't been keeping you up to date much, but I find my day-to-day life is no longer interesting, now that the novelty has worn off.
Saturday there was a huge pool party at a Beijing "spa" - whirlpools, swimming pools, massage showers & seats, steam rooms & saunas...plus all-you-could-eat buffet and beer (yes, beer! but being me, I didn't drink a drop). Unfortunately I wasn't hungry and I don't drink beer, but it was a great party. And it was cheap enough that everyone wants to do it next month.
More and more people want to be "my friend", which I don't enjoy at all. Let me explain. Chinese people will say over and over again how much they just want to be your friend - "we'll be best friends!" - but all it really means is, "let me practice my English on you!" My level of Chinese is not good enough for us to be equal language partners. In the future I'll gladly "be friends" with you, but not now, not anytime soon.
Chinese people are fascinated by our eyes. "They're so big!" "They're so beautiful!" It's happened to me at least a couple of times that I'm talking to a student in class and they'll tell me, "My, but your eyes are big!" It is quite distracting. Especially when you're trying to tell them something - trying to teach!
Disorganization is key in China. Don't try to plan anything too much in advance or believe what is said about time and location when setting up an appointment, because most likely, as with everything in developing countries, things change. It's a bit shocking at first, but you shouldn't take it personally. It's simply life in China.
For example, a group of friends were asked to do some work (serving tables, I think it was) for a reception that simply felt it was good PR to have "white people" around. My friends were asked to go to a meeting where they'd be told what they'd have to do. This meeting just happened to be on a Saturday morning (the worst day to hold a morning meeting). We partied Friday night until maybe 5 or 6 AM, and the meeting was scheduled at 9 AM. The modern office building where the meeting was to take place was an hour away by subway. At 9 AM, in their "refreshed" state, my friends arrived at the scheduled place and time. They waited 45 minutes around a large office table before being told that the boss wasn't going to be coming that day, so they could leave. They didn't end up taking the job.
Or some French friends, who recently arrived in Beijing to write a research paper for their studies and don't speak a word of Chinese. They had to renew their visas at a Beijing university. They arrived at 11 AM at the visa office and made enough of a fuss that the visa-lady finally conceded that she did speak some English before telling them that she had to go on her lunch break at 11:30 AM. In half-an-hour they had concluded the visa-lady was capable of speaking English but had decided not to speak in English before so that she wouldn't have to deal with them. They re-scheduled to meet after lunch at 2 PM. Our French friends went, but the visa-lady never did. Oh well.
