Day 10
Sent 1/20/11
This morning Larry, Raymond and I drove early to another hotel on the
other side of Shanghai. I was scheduled to give a presentation this
morning to 700 people who do not understand English. This is truly as
ludicrous as it sounds. At the last minute, my customer, a large
maker of machinery in China asked that I not do so on account of
some quality problems they were having on their machines which the
audience might think were caused by my products. I was a bit
disappointed as this presentation was one of the primary reasons for
this trip but to be honest I was more relieved than anything. I don't
mind speaking to large groups, but talking through a translator is
most awkward and I don't enjoy it. Instead, I sat in the audience and
listened to four hours of presentations in Chinese, which of course I
don't understand either. The morning felt less than productive.
We had lunch with the customer's VP of Engineering, a Chinese native
with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering who splits his time between China
and Seattle where his family resides. Every two weeks he flies to the
US, works from home for two weeks then returns to China. He lived
full time in the US for many years and spent most of the meal
describing how difficult it is to work with Chinese people as compared
to their American counterparts. The Chinese, he claimed, will not
admit if they do not understand an instruction. By admitting so, it
would be assumed the instructions were not clear which could cause you
to lose face, a big deal in China. Instead they will say "No
problem". So "No problem" really translates to "Big problem". I have
experienced this first hand. In addition, at least in business, the
Chinese will not say "no" to your face. Yes pretty much means yes,
but "perhaps", "probably", "maybe", and "I think possibly" definitely
mean no! This takes some getting used to and leads to many
misunderstandings if you don't understand this cultural difference. I
must admit I still miss these cues frequently.
For dinner, Raymond took us to a Hot Pot restaurant near our hotel.
Hot Pot is a style of cooking native to Manchuria and Mongolia. It is
similar to fondue but the pot is filled with broth instead of oil so
the food is much lighter. This food is designed to warm people living
in a cold climate, and after a cold and damp day in shanghai it tasted
wonderful. We each ordered our own pot of broth, curry for me, which
was placed on the large round table in front of us. Raymond ordered
trays of different foods which we shared, taking a few pieces of
whichever and placing them in our own pots to cook. Raymond made sure
to order some fish lips for me - he is convinced that I like these
now. That will teach me I suppose. The other items were mostly tame;
fish balls, meatballs made with chicken ( I think), tofu, straw
mushrooms, bok Choy, etc... Anyone who has read these emails probably
understands by now that I will eat pretty much anything, which in
China covers a lot of ground. However, tonight I was offered
something that I actually turned down. I had spotted this dish when
it was placed on the table and I could not make out what it was. It
looked like bite-sized cubes of red jello, only less transparent and
more slimy looking. A few minutes into the meal, Raymond passed this
plate to me and asked "Would you care for some blood"? Holy $#[¥ - it
was friggin' duck blood, but not liquid, a cube of bright red slime!
I thought about this for a quick second and replied " Um, no thanks",
and passed the plate. No one seemed surprised or offended,
thankfully. I am not opposed to eating foods containing blood, mind
you. I enjoy blood sausage, coq au vin, and have had many soups here
flavored with duck blood. There was just something about the way this
this nasty looking glowing red mass wobbled when the plate was passed
to me that made me think, perhaps not today. Interestingly, I watched
Raymond place a slime cube in his pot and two minutes later, he removed
it in tact. It did not dissolve in the simmering pot. This scares
me.
Day 12 preview - Take the worst driver in China and add snow and a
mountain road...
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