Exotic, fantastic!

One thing I can't get used to is all the attention we foreigners receive. In Shanghai foreigners are a common sight but here in Ningbo we are more rare. When we arrived here we were chocked about the response from the locals. For example; Simon and I went shopping the first days here. When we entered a Jack and Jones store we thought that the staff had confused us with celebrities. In a flash of a second we were surrounded by each and every girl in the staff, 12 of them. Simon was more popular due to his height and blond hair. The girls were staring at him like being stunned. They bombed us with words we could not understand. Then they tried to rephrase again and again. When this method didn't seem to have any affect they took help from a friend who did the procedure all over again. At that time all our Chinese vocabulary was limited to "Hello" or maybe a few words more. The girls seemed to be so happy and excited to have us in the store that they refused us to leave.

Several times girls have approached us and asked for having our picture taken with them. Now this does not surprise us anymore. Sometimes we can see that they want to ask for it but don't have the courage to do it, so then we offer the service which is always received with joy and excitement. I have noticed that Chinese people, girls as boys, really want to connect with foreigners but are to shy or have no idea how to act. Mostly this is because of the language. They think that all foreigners are rich and speak perfect English. This makes them feel a bit inferior subsequent they don't dare to use the English they really do know. OK, most of them speak extremely poor English and most often none at all, but we are surprised how many  that really know a few words if we just encourage them a bit like asking for direction. Chinese people, at least in Ningbo, loves to help foreigners in need. This is one of the things I love here, and nothing seems impossible. That is another story for another time though.

If I am walking with a friend in the streets people does not express their curiosity that obvious, they just turn  their heads to look whilst passing us. If I am alone they are much more brave, especially if they are in groups. 2 weeks ago I took a walk to a shopping-center not far from here. The walk is about 20-15 minutes. At this time people on mopeds passing by have sounded their horn at me 2 times and shouting "Hello!" a couple of times. That is another thing, they assume that we all are Americans. Maybe this is not so strange. If we see an Asian back home we might assume he/she is Chinese.

Armin I and I went to Wanda Plaza a few weeks ago to shop at Walmart. For some reason 5 girls in their 20:ts followed us where ever we went, giggling and pointing. If they were trying to hide their curiosity they sure failed. Armin had enough after a while, turned around and said "What the f'***!?", subsequent the girls aborted their stalking-tour and disappeared with a distant giggle. It does not bother me that much, I think it's kind of flattering to be honest. Sure, I know that it has nothing to do with my personal skills, only that my appearance is different from a Chinese, but still. Sometimes I gets to much though. When lots of people are pointing and shouting "Hello! Hello!" it can become a bit annoying.

Especially girls looks at us with big eyes while walking the streets. You can almost see the dreams in their eyes about marrying a westerner man. A cute girl and I was entering the same store once, and when she noticed me she looked at my face totally speechless. She had probably never seen a foreigner before. I opened the door for her and made a gesture that indicated "ladies first". She did not really know what to do and her nervousness was obvious. After a few seconds she entered the store with her eyes still attached to my face but now her face had turned red. At this point I was kind of mean and gave her a smile. For a moment I really did think she was going to faint. I think that a western smile at a Chinese girl can be a potential heart-attack.

Almost every day I receive comments about my different looks. People in stores have been pulling my jacket saying "You look cool and handsome". When I bought furnitures for my balcony the sales lady said "He is very beautiful" in Chinese, thinking I wouldn't understand. A new Chinese friend told me last week that "You are the most handsome man I have ever seen". What?! How am I suppose to deal with such comments? I must admit that it is very hard not to get big-headed when hearing such compliments. I guess we appear to be unique because many people here haven't seen many or none foreigners before. But still it does miracles for your self esteem.

When I was moving to China I thought I would to be taught a lesson about how it's like to be a foreigner and being treated as an outsider. But I can assure you that it is hard to feel like an inferior when you get this kind of attention every day.

Cloud connected

Yesterday started much better than it ended. We celebrated Viyaleta's birthday at a nightclub located in Lao wai tan. The party was great, but I had way to much to drink, way over my limit. Armin and I drank a few beers at my place before we hit Bass clef for more drinking. We were in a hurry because of the party but managed to sink 3 beers in less than 30 minutes. Was only going to have one beer but the manager insisted and treated me more. Not a very good start, especially since I have not eaten anything since lunch. The evening was fun, but somehow I ended up having a discussion with a dear friend that did not end so well. I did not want to have this discussion but I think I was the one who started it. Mixing alcohol and emotions can be a dangerous combination. The worst thing is I have no memory of what was said during the evening because I was to drunk, but I remember feeling shocked afterwards. Therefore the day today was filled with agony and feeling very bad physically and emotionally. So now I am writing it off me. For some reason I seem to express myself better in written words than spoken ones. I don't know what happened to me yesterday, but I have been storing lots of stress and emotions inside me for the past time and I think the bauble burst. Can't say that I feel better today though. I hope it has not affected my friendship with her. First think, then drink.

As I wrote, the day yesterday started good and the whole afternoon was filled with laughter. Armin and I took a walk towards Wanda Plaza with the cameras, mostly just to have a walk. On the way there we passed a huge hotel building which we photographed like many times before. Armin had the idea that we could enter the building and take some pictures from the top floor, if we could get the permission. We decided to give it a try so we entered the hotel and walk up to the reception after passing an uniformed man who welcomed us. The woman in the reception did not seem to understand our business so she called the hotel manager. The manager arrived within one minute. He was a bit taller than an average Chinese and his appearance was irreproachable with a perfect shave and a dark suite. He introduced himself and he offered escort to the sky restaurant located in the 52:th floor of the building. We could really feel the pressure-difference while we ascended 52 floors in 34 seconds and I was a bit worried about my aching lung. The restaurant wasn't what we expected. It contained several dining rooms for private dining, and not a larger hall. We entered one of the rooms and were first impressed by the decor and then stunned by the amazing view. The sight was very good this day and watching Ningbo from the blue sky was a mighty experience. We felt cloud connected.

A quite tall woman in a traditional red Chinese dress with a slits that reached all the way to her waist entered the room. With a face like a goddess and a body from hell she managed to diverse our attention from the view to what might be the most beautiful Chinese woman I have met so far. She introduced herself as Sabrina and I think she was some kind of boss for the hosting service. The question about our business in the hotel came up, and I felt really silly about the photographing now when more people were involved, so I told her that we are hosting a dinner party and were looking for a suitable facility. She guided us around the floor and we followed with the cameras like Japanese tourists visiting Disneyland. Each room were more beautiful than the other with the crystal chandeliers 7m up in the air. It was interesting to see the table setup with exclusive chopsticks instead of knives and forks.

The tour continued to a function hall. We were escorted by both Sabrina and the manager during the whole tour and we kept the conversation going about the "dinner party". We had to wait for about 5 minutes in the hall until a woman from the staff turned on the lightning for us. The beautiful lights were made of seashells. I can not even guess how much  they cost to be manufactured. Sabrina told us that the hotel is not a 5 star hotel. It is a 5 star deluxe hotel. I believe her. The building was finished 6 years ago but the hotel opened 24 days ago. I am guessing that is a long time for preparing a hotel.
We took a glass elevator down to the lobby. I always wanted to take a ride in a glass elevator in a 5 star 'deluxe' hotel. Down in the lobby they followed us to the entrance where we said good bye, after receiving Sabrinas business card. I accepted the card in the correct Chinese way by the book, just as we have been taught. With both hands, look at the card, memorize the name and repeat it loud to show that you know it. Out in the street we were giggling like schoolgirls, still a bit amazed by what we have just experienced.

Armin with the manager

Sabrina in the function hall

Lighting made of seashells

Glass elevator

Pneumo what?

Pneumo Thorax. I've had it two times before. No, you cant eat it. Basically it is collapsed lung and it is not very pleasant. Yesterday I was studying in the library with Céline, Emilie and Armin when I felt a familiar pain in the right side of my chest. I think I got it because of too much laughing at Armin's jokes.
Céline helped me to see the doctor at our campus. The communication whould be bad but luckily we met a Chinese friend named Kevin who helped us translate. Also a masterpiece of a Thorax with lungs on a piece of paper got the conversation in the right direction and the doctor understood my problem. She advised us to get X-ray of my lungs at the hospital and off we went.

As a person I have problems when people are concerned about me. It is the same when I get a compliment from some one. Don't really know how to handle it so I use jokes to ease it up a bit. I know that my condition is some what serious, but it is not that painful so I look totally OK on the outside. Also I try to have a positive state of mind which makes me less worried. Unfortunately, when people around you are concerned and you act like you feel like a million bucks even if you aren't, it can have an undesirable effect. I now understand that it can be confusing and my behavior did hurt someone who was worried about me. Not my intention.

There seemed to be no structured system at the hospital. The people at the information-desk showed us to a reception where I signed in and received a journal and payed the fee for doctors consultation, 5.5 Yuan. There were no queue to the reception so we applied Chinese methods. Next stop was the doctors office. No queue here either. It seemed like the patient who got the doctors attention first got to talk. Once again Kevin described my symptoms and we were redirected to another location with a CT-scanner. First we need to sign in at the CT-reception, we were told. The staff at the CT-reception told us to go back to the first reception to pay for the treatment. So we did, 249 Yuan, which is amazingly cheap. Back at the CT-reception the nurse asked me to report in the room where the scan would take place.
The equipment in the room looked quite advanced but very dirty. I noticed blood stains on the CT-scanner, quite large ones. The hygiene was beyond criticism. I lay down on a stretcher and were prepared for being sent into the tunnel shaped machine. I don't know why, but I had the feeling that they would to a scan of my head so I asked the nurse about it. She pointed to the head and said "X-ray". I pointed at my chest and she looked surprise. Long story a bit shorter, I had the scan and we waited an hour for the result. At this time I was dull and more worried about the impact of my behavior earlier rather than my health.

I received a plastic bag with the sheets and a message to a doctor. Kevin had a look at it and told me that it said something about serious and a spot on my right lung. An ugly feeling rushed through my body and I could picture myself staying in the terrible hospital for a long time being treated for something that might be fatal. This was a totally new feeling to me and I felt very much awake and alive. At this moment Céline calls me to check up on me. I did not know what to say but asked to call her back later and wondered how I sounded over the phone. We went to see a doctor for instructions. Kevin and the doctor had a chat for I don't know how long and I did not understand much. Mostly because my mind was elsewhere. Kevin woke me up and told me not to worry. I did not have a spot on my lung, it is an air-bauble, and not that urgent. See what damage miscommunication can do. The doctor instructed me to be very carefully or the situation might be dangerous. I could have a surgery to remove it but it will probably heal itself. If I chose the first option I will most probably do it in Shanghai and not at "The second people's hospital". my condition means I cannot continue with Kung fu or practice tennis that I wanted to do for some time now. But that is all in the shadow of the fact that I do not need to stay in the hospital or have a surgery. The situation could be much worse and I know it.

This post became a bit longer than intended and contains too many "I:s" and "me:s", but I guess I just had to write it off me. Still feel kind of weird after the shock.

I got a bit worse today and realized that I need to take the doctor's advice seriously, so I went home to do nothing more than laying in bed. It is a bit boring though.
About the job offer I wrote about in the last post; I accepted it and was suppose to work this weekend. This will not happen. I will relax and take care of myself. It was hard to turn it down, the money is too good and I really need it, but it is just money and money can be replaced.

Hi, my name is Kerry

Right now I have to much to do. More than I can handle really, and that is why I have no time to update the blog. I am doing it now because I find it relaxing and I've noticed that my blog has some readers. Thanks for reading by the way! I really do appreciate it. Near loved ones got a bit worried that I have been away for a couple of days now. Sorry for making you worried, but I have been and am still very stressed and busy. But, I am also having the time of my life!

We meet many interesting people here almost every day and I have received many business cards. I have understood that these cards are quite important to have here for a foreigner, even if you don't do any business. Armin and I decided to print a bunch of cards. Even if I like a clean card I wanted some symbol on it. Ruru picked bamboo for me because in China it symbolizes honesty and rightness. When I told my friend Jonas about this he said "two attributes that suites you well!". Thanks Jonas, it really made me happy! Here is a pic of the result:

The name on the card says Han Kai Rui, which is my Chinese name, and is pronounced Han Kerry. Han is the surname and refers to my Swedish surname Hansson. I changed it from Lee to Han recently.

"Excuse me, can I have a photo taken with you?" is a common question

This Friday Armin, Emilie, Vincent, Helen, Charles and I went to a school to hold a presentation due to a request from James, our student coordinator. The school is teaching English to Chinese businessmen, students and others. As always we were informed with a very short notice so it was very stressful to assemble information and create presentations about European economy and culture. Celine, Emilie and Vincent did a great job doing this. I was part of it but can't say I provided much, my head was to slow that afternoon and felt useless and I hate doing a bad job. Anyway, we were picked up by a guy named Echo and he drove us to the school in a brand new Jeep. Vincent and I held the presentations for the audience of about 25 Chinese people with different backgrounds. Vincent did a great job as always. He presented 90% of the information himself. I got a bit stressed when I noticed that the audience did not pay much attention to us so I thought it seemed like a waste of time. During the talk afterwards I understood that it was because of their poor knowledge of the English language. They simply did not understand what we were talking about. I really did enjoy the discussions afterwards and a girl even offered me a part time job. Will find out more about it tomorrow but it seems interesting and the pay is extremely good. I really need the money because I am probably going to Greece this summer and the plan is to visit Tibet before that.

When we finished the job James drove us down town to what he said was going to be a party. He assured us that he had no idea what was going on, but in fact he planned the whole evening him self. The cars rolled up in front a huge karaoke-bar and we were shown into a nice room. On a table inside the room we found lots of beer, wine, snacks and many different types of fruit. This was mostly welcome because we had no food since lunch and the time was about 20:00. It was so nice to enjoy the flavors of dragon fruit, litchi and watermelon along with a glass of red wine mixed with sprite. Yes I know, it sounds awful but it was not to bad, in fact it was kind of refreshing. The night went on and we played games, drank, ate and had a good time. A few hours later we started so sing karaoke. I just had to participate in a few Abba songs, and "Somebody told me" by The Killers will never sound the same again. After loosing a round in a dice game I had to taste duck tongue as punishment. I know, it sounds terrible but it was OK. The taste was not too bad but the consistence was not inviting at all. After a few hours we were served typical Chinese food such as dumplings and a soup. Oh I love the dumplings! We had a great time until about 02:00 AM when it was time to head home. It is not that late to be China. Most parties starts around 23-00,  but we were exhausted because of the intensive day and partying the night before.

Need to run. We are having a cooking session in 15 minutes. I have been whining about learning Chinese cooking since I arrived here, and now Helen and Linh fixed a cook who teaches us a new dish every week. This will be the second time today. I don't really have the time for it but my stay in China should not be all about work and study. Will probably brief you about the sessions in a post further on.

Tomorrow I will have a meeting to check out the job offer I got this weekend. Update will follow when I know more.

Waiter! A who** to go, please

The Chinese language is a very complex language and it takes lots of effort to learn it. For me, the most tricky part is the tones. A single word can mean many things depending on how you pronounce it. Mandarin is spoken based upon 4 different tones and something they call "toneless". Because of this it is very hard to make a sentence that the local habitants understand. Even if you know the words and pronounce them in a not so bad way, it is not for certain that the taxi driver has a clue of what you are talking about. It can be even worse than that, you might say something that means totally different. If unlucky, it can go very wrong. For example, the words for saying "Excuse me, I have a question" are "qing wen". A quite common mistake is to pronounce the last word with a slightly different tone, and the result can be "Excuse me, can I have a kiss?". Not a normal kiss, a French kiss.

My dear friend Armin wanted to buy lunch a week ago. He is, like I am, very much into dumplings. A sort of round dumpling is called "baozi" in Chinese. He knew that a very much similar word, "biaozi", is to be avoided when you order the dish. It means prostitute. So when he is standing in line, ready to order, he cannot figure out which word is for the dumplings and which is the bad one. He approached the waiter and sad his line to order the lunch, hoping he would say the correct words. When the people around him in the restaurant bursted out in laughter, he got the answer.

Guests of honor

There is one thing in this country I can not get used to, and that is all the attention we foreigners receive. I will write a special post just about that subject so  I will not go any further into it at the moment, but here is an example.

Today Armin told me about a photo-competition that was taking place in our campus. Since I am also interested in photographic I decided to join. A Chinese man named Kevin met us up and escorted us to the assembly room that facilitated the event. We were a bit late and the room was crowded. We could immediately feel that all eyes went from the present participant to us, even if we kept a low profile while entering the room. Kevin did not know that I was coming so he only reserved a chair for Armin, so I settled with a spot in a stair. Within a few seconds I was offered chairs from the other observers and I knew that I could not turn it down. That would be rude and would make them feel awkward. Chinese people, at least in Ningbo, values hospitality high and are extremely helpful, especially when it comes to foreigners. I took a seat between Armin and Kevin. 

The event was fully in spoken Chinese and it was difficult for us to understand, but the pictures were lovely. The photographers were very skilled, even if most of them were normal students and amateurs in the subject. We enjoyed the event and after an hour one of the arrangers approached us. He told Kevin that he is glad that we were there. They were honored and our presence was a highlight of the evening. Kevin told us that we were asked to say a few words to the audience. This gesture would complete the event, they have said. Of course, we could not deny this request, even if I felt the adrenaline flowing. I was nervous. 

In the end of the competition the hostess said something and looked in our direction. I only understand a few words, "...our friends...", and the audience suddenly bursts out in massive applauds. It was a bit embarrassing because we got more applauds than any of the competitors. Armin stood up and told them that we are honored to be there and gave his thanks to the people in the room, followed by a new wave of applauds. Now the microphone was passed over to me. I prepared a few words a earlier before and I think it sounded something like this:

"My Chinese is poor so I will take this in English. I have not understood many words that were said here tonight, but I did understand the photographs. I want to thank the photographers for the lovely art. You are an inspiration to us. Thank you!"

I do not remember if I received any applauds due to nervousness, but I was kind of satisfied with the words. I do not think many persons in the hall understood what we said. It does not matter, they were happy any way. Afterwards we could feel many people seeking eye-contact with us to show a gesture of appreciativeness.

Even though we showed up unexpectedly, we understand that we were the evenings special guests of honor.

Last night

Last evening began at my place with Ruru, Armin and a couple of beers. The goal was to go out and have fun but we had no plan for it. After a few phonecalls we found out that some friends were at KTV singing karaoke, so we decided to join them. Once at KTV we had some problems with finding the others. They were hiding in room 232. Yes, the place is huge. KTV is a place where you can go for singing karaoke, drink and have fun. You and your company books a room that contains a large screen, karaoke machine, tables and a sofa. Then you simply pick the songs you want to sing and get the party started. Once in a while a guy in a suite enters the room and offers refreshments. We decided to enter the drink-store by our selves and that was an experience. The store looked like a small tax free shop with a large staff in suites. A man carried our basket while we picked out the bottles we wanted. They really tried to sell us as much as possible. Then we were escorted back to the room where the drinks were served.

Armin and I decided to open up with "Girls just wanna have fun" which we managed to wreck totally. The plan was to set a low standard for the evening. Unfortunately we had a Chinese elite singer amongst us and we sounded like frogs compare to her. Wow, her amazing voice gave me goosebumps.

My outfit for tonight

At about 21:00 we took a taxi down town for further partying. A Chinese guy, Benson, showed us his favorite place. It looked like a British pub with mostly Chinese guests but there were some foreigners as well excluding us. We were really in the mood for dancing so we planned to have one beer and then leave for a club. The plans were changed as soon as the live band started to play. Two Chinese men and one woman sang and played cover songs and they were really good! I think the woman was half American, because she sang and looked like a genuine singer from New Orleans. 

Anyone could grab a microphone and join them for some singing. That was incredibly fun! It did not take long until we traded the table for the dancefloor. There must have been something wrong with my wrist watch, because suddenly it showed 04:00 and it was time to find a taxi and head for home.

It was a long time ago since I had so much fun as we had last night. My knees are paying today for all the dancing. They better recover quickly, because the time is almost 20:00 and we are heading out tonight again, but just Armin and I this time. We will start slowly at some bar but will probably end up in one of the crazy clubs around Lai wai tan-district. Cheers!