An "amaliestar is pissed off about China" rant
One thing I will NOT miss when I'm back in Australia is people shoving calculators in my face instead of telling me the price of things. I am so sick of this happening - after we've discussed the complicated stuff in Chinese, they assume I won't understand the easy stuff - the money - and point to it on a calculator/receipt/cash register. I have really had a gutful of this happening. I'm sick of people assuming that because I'm white I must be a completely stupid illiterate two-year old. I've been tempted to say something many times - but I haven't. Now what I want to say is "If you show me the price on a calculator instead of telling me what it is, I will not buy this." I know there are heaps of foreign tourists who can't speak Chinese - but here in Wudaokou, there are a LOT of foreigners who can speak at least basic Mandarin. I can't help thinking that it's damned rude of people to do this instead of talking to me. I know they probably think they are being helpful and doing the right thing - but they're not. They're being insulting. I am thoroughly sick of it. How do the Chinese expect foreigners to learn Mandarin if they can't be bothered talking to them???????
Whenever I get pissed off here, I rebel by either eating Pocky or something Western - tonight I bought a Chocolate Paddle Pop, which looks exactly the same as an Australian one except that it has Chinese characters. I took a photo ;) I could see the moon tonight so that was something. I still have lots of translation to do tonight since it won't do itself so I'd better get cracking - I suspect this will mean lots of LJ entries to avoid translating!!!
I just had an email from the director I'm meeting in Shanghai. She wants to meet on Friday night, which means I'll have to be in Shanghai until Saturday *sigh*. I was going to leave on Tuesday and am now tossing up whether to leave on Wednesday instead - or maybe a late Tuesday afternoon flight if there's one available. I do love Beijing - despite the calculators (which happen in Shanghai too *sigh*). I also just found out about a specialist film bookshop near Qinghua University which is not far from where I am now. I'll wait till Monday to go there though just in case it's been shut for the holiday and is shut on the weekend.
I have been starting to think of what I'll be doing in Shanghai. The #1 most important thing is the interview. #2 is visiting the Shanghai Library to do my research. #3 is to scout out what the local bookshops have in terms of film stuff in case there's anything that I haven't seen in Beijing.
Fun things include: catching up with mfinchina, visiting the *checks guidebook* Duolun Lu Cultural Street, which has a stall run by an old man which last year had lots of old film magazines. I hope he's still there. The Old Film Cafe, where I went with mfinchina, susanjacobson and kuaimao was nice too - they had beautiful rose tea :) If I have time I might drop by the Dongtai Lu Antique Market which is fun - but since I'm planning on going to Panjiayuan tomorrow,which has a lot of the same stuff, I may not need to also go there (which is a good thing because I probably won't have time!).
I'm now thinking a late Tuesday afternoon flight to Shanghai then an early flight to Beijing Saturday morning to give me as much as possible of my last weekend in China in Beijing. Of course it all depends what the ticket agency has available!
Whenever I get pissed off here, I rebel by either eating Pocky or something Western - tonight I bought a Chocolate Paddle Pop, which looks exactly the same as an Australian one except that it has Chinese characters. I took a photo ;) I could see the moon tonight so that was something. I still have lots of translation to do tonight since it won't do itself so I'd better get cracking - I suspect this will mean lots of LJ entries to avoid translating!!!
I just had an email from the director I'm meeting in Shanghai. She wants to meet on Friday night, which means I'll have to be in Shanghai until Saturday *sigh*. I was going to leave on Tuesday and am now tossing up whether to leave on Wednesday instead - or maybe a late Tuesday afternoon flight if there's one available. I do love Beijing - despite the calculators (which happen in Shanghai too *sigh*). I also just found out about a specialist film bookshop near Qinghua University which is not far from where I am now. I'll wait till Monday to go there though just in case it's been shut for the holiday and is shut on the weekend.
I have been starting to think of what I'll be doing in Shanghai. The #1 most important thing is the interview. #2 is visiting the Shanghai Library to do my research. #3 is to scout out what the local bookshops have in terms of film stuff in case there's anything that I haven't seen in Beijing.
Fun things include: catching up with mfinchina, visiting the *checks guidebook* Duolun Lu Cultural Street, which has a stall run by an old man which last year had lots of old film magazines. I hope he's still there. The Old Film Cafe, where I went with mfinchina, susanjacobson and kuaimao was nice too - they had beautiful rose tea :) If I have time I might drop by the Dongtai Lu Antique Market which is fun - but since I'm planning on going to Panjiayuan tomorrow,which has a lot of the same stuff, I may not need to also go there (which is a good thing because I probably won't have time!).
I'm now thinking a late Tuesday afternoon flight to Shanghai then an early flight to Beijing Saturday morning to give me as much as possible of my last weekend in China in Beijing. Of course it all depends what the ticket agency has available!