Engrish: when you what?

I've been in China for about ten days now and things are good to me for the most part. In this post I will recap the things that have happened to me over the past week in my travel, and some of my thoughts regarding the rapid changing city of Taishan (the Chinese city I am at right now).

The trip itself didn't start out very well. When I was waiting for my flight in Chicago I found out that the guy who checked me in at the Columbus airport somehow managed to screwed up my ticket and gave me one that goes to Beijing instead of my chosen destination - Hong Kong. Good thing I found out about this mistake early, I went to United Airline's customer service and talked to a customer service representative to have my ticket fixed. After waiting there for over 10 minutes, he handed me a new and corrected ticket to Hong Kong, and assured me that I will be able to pick up my luggage in Hong Kong.

Despite his assurance, the fiasco didn't end here. When I went to get my luggage at the Hong Kong International Airport, I waited and waited, but my luggage never came, so I approached United Airline personnel for assistance. He checked his list of luggage tag numbers against mine but of course, my luggage's tag number is not on there. Well, there's obviously nothing I can do since my luggage is probably somewhere in Beijing, so I gave my contact information to the person and he said UA will deliver to me when they find it.

With 15 minutes left until the last bus leaving for Taishan (I checked online before going to Hong Kong), I quickly rush to the ticket counter to purchase my ticket. I asked two bus companies to see if they have bus to Taishan but neither has them. Fortunately, the very helpful lady asked another lady at another bus company and she said that they have one that's leaving in about 10 minutes, so I quickly paid for my HK$250 (~$35) bus ticket. I for sure don't want to stay the night at the airport after being strained in the airplane for over 14 hours!

On the bus to Taishan there was a businessman from Taiwan, a businessman from Hong Kong, and a college student from Northeast China. The trip was pretty quiet at first but somehow I became the center of attention. The conversation itself is not worth mentioning but the businessman from Taiwan commented that my Mandarin Chinese is not up to par and the Hong Kong businessman said that my Cantonese is pretty good. The student defended me saying that for someone from Guangdong and has been oversea for six years to speak Mandarin Chinese as well as I am is very good. :)

The bus ride was long and boring so I took a little nap. Once the bus entered the Taicheng (Taishan's downtown area), I was awed by the city's night scene, unable to recognize a single building. After getting off the bus at the Taishan Bus Terminal, a (motorcycle-cab) motorist offered to take me to my grandparents' condo for RMB$15 (~$2.2) but I bargained it down the RMB$10 (~$1.5). About ten minutes later I was outside my grandparents' condo.

I knocked on the door and my grandmother was already awaiting me. The first reaction my grandma had must have been "Who is this guy standing outside?" because the first thing she said is how different I look in person now compare to the Haochi six years ago and the photos of me she has seen over the years. I walked inside as my grandfather was walking out of his room; I quickly walked up to him and gave him a BIG hug. My grandparents, of course, asked the whereabouts of my luggage and I told them my side of the story. My grandfather also said that my appearance changed so much that he wouldn't have recognized me had I walked pass him on the street. Once everything's settled, my grandfather called my aunt who lives a few minutes away to take me out to get something to eat since I haven't had a meal since the last meal I had on the airplane.

My aunt and I walked down to the street eatery and I ordered two servings of La-chiang-foon (literally means stretched intestine rice noodles but it does not contain any animal intestines; its name derives from its supposedly resemblance of stretched intestine after the water-powder mixture being stemmed to a noodle-y state and rolled together). After that we walked back to my grandparents' condo where I showed them videos I recorded for them and random photos I have taken. After that, being almost 1am, I retired to my room to get some much needed rest.

My first day in China started with going to Yum-cha (literally means drink tea, but it's more like going to breakfast, usually with a group of people) with my aunt and her daughter. On our way there I noticed that people do spit on the ground as well as spitting on the floor inside buildings. It's practiced by men and women, and old and young alike, which I find rather disturbing. Anyway, the breakfast itself was satisfying and cost us about RMB$60 (~$9). After that, we went to shop clothes for me since United Airline was holding my luggage hostage. We went to several dozen clothing stores but most of the clothes they sell aren't of my liking, being very fancy, unlike my minimalistic approach toward cloths. I had a hard time looking for a pair of jeans as well since the clothing stores pretty much only carry skinny jeans while I prefer looser ones. Ugh. I finally found two pairs of jeans and two t-shirts.

I wore one pair of the jeans the next day and later that day I found a hole in the jean pocket - fantastic.

During the first dinner with my grandparents we planned some of my activities for the week, basically having dinner with relatives. I was probably having jetlag in the first week that I usually get sleepy around 7 o'lock. This concludes my first day in Taishan, China.

On the second day I went to visit my elementary school. The school didn't change much besides a little renovation here and there. I guess I've finally out-grown my elementary days because when I saw the little kids screaming and running in the hallway I found them rather annoying. I guess they are just kids being kids. I also found two of my teachers back in the days in the teacher's lounge. The good thing is that they were both once my favorite teachers, but the bad thing is that we didn't get to talk much since they appear to be busy grading homework so I excused myself and continue wandering the school like an obnoxious tourist (a teacher kept eyeballing me).

I believe that on the third day the weather drastically changed from warm to cold, so I stayed at home for the whole day, watched T.V. and hung out with my grandparents. Most other days I spent most of my time wandering the city, mostly about Bu Xing Street (Pedestrian Street; phonetically it sounds like Incapable Street or About-to-Die Street). One of the days I walked up to the Hong-Dai Tower, a 30-something story tower on a mountain opened for tourist sight-seeing for a small fee of RMB$5 (~$0.80). On the top of the tower, one of the most noticeable things is the dozen large real estate projects being developed all over the city. There is a huge contrast between the overcrowded old parts of the city compare to the new condo-buildings and houses. All over the city there are many street artists, beggars, street vendors selling all kinds of delicacies and accessories.

The booming economy in China and the building of two power plants in Taishan attracted more foreigners here than ever. While still uncommon, but occasionally one can still see a foreigner here. I was walking down the Pedestrian Street yesterday when I saw two tourist looking foreigners and I approached them because I really had nothing else better to do than filming random things. In our conversation the two strangers revealed that they are engineers from France, currently working on the nuclear power plant in the city. I guess I should have asked them for contact information but on a second thought I don't want to appear as a weirdo. Plus, I like having one-time-serving friends as much as regular friends.

In the last two days I went to see my relatives and had lunch/dinner with them. They were all nice to me and I am glad to see them after so long. Yesterday a group of about 15 friends from my elementary class gathered together and had dinner. I had a great time and it was a pleasure seeing them. It would have been better if more could have made it but realizing that a lot of them are preparing for Gao Kao (the college entrance exam in May) I am glad to have 15 of them show up.

Something that upset me is the decline of Hoisan Wa (Taishanese language) in business setting in Taicheng. While it still dominates but I feel like it's losing grounds to Mandarin Chinese. Not that it's a bad thing but as someone who was born and raised in Taishan I feel that the decline of Taishanese in Taishan itself is somewhat a bad sign signifying the beginning of an end of the language. I feel like that the language will vanish within a few generations but then again, I am no linguist.

With ten more days left, I will value the rest of my time here and spend time with my grandparents. I will continue to explore the city and journal my travel here. I have many photos and videos that need to be edited but I will upload them once I get back to the States.

Early Happy Holidays!