Zao! (short for good morning!)
I am slowly learning a bit of Mandarin as we go along. I’ve become quite proficient at “thank-you” which is “cheah cheah.” After I say that they go on to something I’m assuming is ‘you’re welcome’ but I haven’t gotten that far. I just smile, nod, and walk away at that point. Mama ho ho is ‘so-so.’ I cant remember good/ poor so when someone asks me how I am the response is always so-so. Ha.
Today’s events weren’t very good. We had a double feature lecture at Renmin University about the Chinese consumer. The professor was VERY hard to understand and strayed off topic VERY often.
Lunch was much improved over yesterday. Same setup with the lazy susan but the rice was actually flavored, we had sweet and sour pork, chicken in vegetables and quite a few other dishes. I did not try the fish, which was presented whole, or the sliced pig ears, which I was told were real gross. Good call me.
The afternoon entailed a meeting which lasted two hours with one of the top commercial law firms in Beijing. We learned of the 170,000 licensed attorneys in China only about 3,000 of them are competent. Awesome China. We also learned more about the judicial system of China which really is lacking, to put it lightly. Apparently even if you end up winning a case, it goes to an enforcing part of the judicial system, and they may be so corrupt that your verdict may not even end up being enforced. Made me appreciate what we have in the U.S, which not be perfect but it sure is better than a lot of alternatives.
We were supposed to see the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube from the Olympics but traffic and the delay at the law firm caused us to move right to the evenings events, which was a reception and dinner held with UB alumni. There were some impressively successful people to network with including the past CEO of Microsoft China, a Samsung executive, Cisco exec, head of Bayer China, head of Volkswagon China and a few others, all UB alumni. Lots of good food including PASTA (Italian style) aand CHEESECAKE! Very exciting, believe me. A calligrapher was brought in to make our professor a painting or whatever you call a finished work of calligraphy. Professor Thomas has been involved in UB-China relations for quite a while and apparently was the Dean of the school of management back in the day. They also gave him a sweet plaque. We got flip calendars. Everybody won.
The humidifier last night worked wonders. I was actually able to breathe for half the day today. Definitely running it again currently for tonight.
Good night and Happy New Years Eve!
Great Wall tomorrow, many pictures to follow!
-R-
Pictured are:
Sidewalk parking only! What I was talking about the other day…cars literally drive onto the sidewalk in order to get to their parking spaces, and the pedestrians are just like, “whatever”
Three wheel flintstone carts
Lunch!
Some sweet Beijing buildings, Beijing skyline from the law firm’s window, and as far as the smog will allow you to see. Its all the city.
A “pharmayc”
Calligrapher man
I am slowly learning a bit of Mandarin as we go along. I’ve become quite proficient at “thank-you” which is “cheah cheah.” After I say that they go on to something I’m assuming is ‘you’re welcome’ but I haven’t gotten that far. I just smile, nod, and walk away at that point. Mama ho ho is ‘so-so.’ I cant remember good/ poor so when someone asks me how I am the response is always so-so. Ha.
Today’s events weren’t very good. We had a double feature lecture at Renmin University about the Chinese consumer. The professor was VERY hard to understand and strayed off topic VERY often.
Lunch was much improved over yesterday. Same setup with the lazy susan but the rice was actually flavored, we had sweet and sour pork, chicken in vegetables and quite a few other dishes. I did not try the fish, which was presented whole, or the sliced pig ears, which I was told were real gross. Good call me.
The afternoon entailed a meeting which lasted two hours with one of the top commercial law firms in Beijing. We learned of the 170,000 licensed attorneys in China only about 3,000 of them are competent. Awesome China. We also learned more about the judicial system of China which really is lacking, to put it lightly. Apparently even if you end up winning a case, it goes to an enforcing part of the judicial system, and they may be so corrupt that your verdict may not even end up being enforced. Made me appreciate what we have in the U.S, which not be perfect but it sure is better than a lot of alternatives.
We were supposed to see the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube from the Olympics but traffic and the delay at the law firm caused us to move right to the evenings events, which was a reception and dinner held with UB alumni. There were some impressively successful people to network with including the past CEO of Microsoft China, a Samsung executive, Cisco exec, head of Bayer China, head of Volkswagon China and a few others, all UB alumni. Lots of good food including PASTA (Italian style) aand CHEESECAKE! Very exciting, believe me. A calligrapher was brought in to make our professor a painting or whatever you call a finished work of calligraphy. Professor Thomas has been involved in UB-China relations for quite a while and apparently was the Dean of the school of management back in the day. They also gave him a sweet plaque. We got flip calendars. Everybody won.
The humidifier last night worked wonders. I was actually able to breathe for half the day today. Definitely running it again currently for tonight.
Good night and Happy New Years Eve!
Great Wall tomorrow, many pictures to follow!
-R-
Pictured are:
Sidewalk parking only! What I was talking about the other day…cars literally drive onto the sidewalk in order to get to their parking spaces, and the pedestrians are just like, “whatever”
Three wheel flintstone carts
Lunch!
Some sweet Beijing buildings, Beijing skyline from the law firm’s window, and as far as the smog will allow you to see. Its all the city.
A “pharmayc”
Calligrapher man
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