Tiresome TJians

The mystery is unravelled. Tianjin is really not as good as Beijing. Nor is the office branch here half as comparable as the one back at homeland. Initially I'd imagined BJ folks to be warm and friendly but alas, they turn out like the omelettes I had for lunch today. Nice on the surfaced, overdone and burnt underneath it.

Speaking of lunch, mine today's positively sucked. Well erm...how can I describe the food? Let's just say the spread and quality was like what grandma makes on her ever-worst days (plus ever-worse market grabs). Lunch ambience? Prison-like. We were eating food from metal trays with separators for each "dish" (very prison-style) and on top of that, it was handed out to us by mean-looking women (female cooks) behind cream (supposedly) tiled cookhouses cut in the middle by tables overlooking a kitchen; oily, run-down and unkempt. They dished food using not ladles but bowls, not the rice-sized ones but 2x that circumference so you can imagine the portion. The lady ahead of me in the queue (which btw was made of 5 rows of 2s) was handed out a full bowl of rice and she asked for another scoop, much to my horror! Is there some kind of hunger plague going on in the factory's I'm not aware of? I'd have given her my rice had she not seemed in such a hurry.

I bought my share (share as in the portion is so much we can all share!) using the company-issued Foodcard and although it totalled just 5.50 RMB, I realised that I'd already paid the most among my lunchmates. The rest puchased minimal cafeteria fare and supplemented those bought with what they'd packed from home. I thought it was weird that they bothered being embarrassed when I told them to take my dishes freely since it was one of them who got the card for me in the first place. It's paid for by OUR company so why act all weird??? OR maybe because it was prepaid they feel constrained. I have to remind myself I can't explain their logic half of most the time.

Been here for 3 days now, and aside from the nice cosy hotel they're putting me up at, this work-travel has had no redeeming quality for me. Mandy told me to be thankful for this planner position and opportunity to travel out here for training. But I think I have little I need be thankful for.

The TJians around are mostly a self absorbed abd ignorant bunch, save for a minority younger group, who then are still self absorbed but less ignorant. The traffic scene here most mirrors the average TJ-Chinese's mentality when dealing with Life; DON'T stop going where you want or give way even if the traffic lights say you should. Keep honking other cars when you are on the roads. Whoever has a louder horn wins and gets to hog the lane. Else, be BIG, cos if you are, you don't even have to haggle with the tedious logic; just have your way or your lane, NATURALLY. One Chinese told me it is impossible being polite and giving way here, since there can be no end to Giving once you start (there is just too many cars and people). And when you bother with coutesy, you end up just stalling your own agenda and never seem to get anywhere. So his logic was, just don't give way.

OK. Well, if you follow this logic right through, Chinese never get married, nor do they ever bother with jobs. Cos for the former, there is just too many people and jobs, you never get it right anyway so why bother?? O.K. That's your problem really. Don't give way, don't marry, don't work for all I care. When I do meet with folks like that, I just go out my way to irritate them. Cross the road SLOWLY when I finally get the green guy, IGNORE car honks and when necessary, raise "some" finger (be sure you are close to your hotel though, in case you need to run). The Chinese in TJ seem soullessly caught up in their warped mindsets and beliefs. They need to find out that the world is larger than their office's cafeteria.

Fine. Let's just say that not all Tjians are poker faces, some of them are actually nice and polite. They happen to be a group that more conservatively keep to themselves and seldom bother with other people. There are people like that in my office and they are a couth, if not young bunch. Maybe that's how they stay untainted; by themselves and on their own.

So counting down to the day I get to go home.