Chinese currency, zodiac and ham sandwiches, career choices and being overly introspective
Today's songs were originally going to form part of a post for audiography's theme World Smoothie, but I got lazy and gave up.
The first song is Hong Kong chanteuse Sandy Lam singing a version of Robbie Williams' song Better Man in Mandarin. The second is Treaty by Australian aboriginal band Yothu Yindi. It's got didgeridoo, a message about reconciliation between White Australia and Indigenous Australia, so it fit the World Smoothie theme nicely.
The Karma Fairy and Chinese money
The Karma Fairy visited me with a vengeance today. I was at the local supermarket buying some groceries. The girl asked me if I had one kuai (RMB1). I was too lazy to look through my wallet. She asked me again. I shook my head lazily, so she proceeded to give me my change from RMB 100 in a combination of jiao and bloody fen........!!!
To truly understand the horror of what this entailed, I'll have to give an explanation of Chinese money .....
As at today, RMB1 is approximately USD 0.123410, AUD 0.160554 and CAD 0.145869. Basically, think USD1 to RMB8 and CAD1 to RMB 6.8 and AUD1 to RMB6.2. It's a "soft currency" which means that you can't exchange it with other currencies - except for Hong Kong dollars.
Counterfeit bills are a huge problem in China. Very few Chinese will accept an RMB50 or RMB100 bill without first checking to see whether or not it is a fake. Notes that are old and tattered are also sometimes hard to spend. Chinese money is also often really dirty. There are notes and coins and so many different types and denominations that the head can spin. I use RMB and yuan interchangeably, sorry.
The currency breakdown in China is:
1 yuan is comprised of 10 jiao.
1 jiao is comprised of 10 fen. Fen are EVIL. You will see why.
This is both sides of the RMB 100 note. Consider it the Yuppy Food Stamp. Most times at meals, everyone pulls out one of these much to everybody's dismay. If you pull out an RMB 100 in a cab or in a smaller shop, they'll give you a death glare. This is one of the most frequently counterfeited notes:
This is the RMB 50 note. I come across it less frequently than the RMB100 but it is also frequently rejected by taxi drivers and small shops. When I was in Shanghai, I was passed a fake RMB50 note, much to my irritation. I think I offloaded it at the Hyatt Grand Cafe :P I have no idea where I got it originally otherwise I would have gone back to them to get them to take it back.
This is the RMB 20 note. Not as common as the RMB 10 note, but quite common.
The RMB 10 is probably the most common note around. Useful, it's great for cabs, shopping. You can pretty much use them everywhere. This is the older version of the RMB10 note but it's still seen everywhere.
The newer RMB10 note.
The RMB 5 note:
The RMB 2 note. Not quite as common as the RMB 1 note. Most average bus trips where the bus has air conditioning cost RMB 2.
This is the RMB1 note. There is a newer version which is pale green, but I don't have a photograph. Most bus trips where the bus does not have air conditioning cost RMB 1. It also comes in a coin which you can see below.
This is the 5 jiao note. It is half a yuan. It's pretty annoying, but can be used at public toilets and given that two of them equal a yuan, sometimes you can use them on buses or bunch them together to annoy shop assistants. This also comes in a gold coin which you can see below.
Here are both sides of a 2 jiao note. 2 jiao is 0.2 yuan. You can use them for public toilets and also to pay the parking attendant outside supermarkets like Carrefour and Chaoshifa - the attendants usually charge 2 jiao. They can also be used for bus far or to annoy shop assistants if you use them to add up to a yuan ..... It also comes in a coin.
Here are both sides of a 1 jiao note. They are 0.1 yuan / ten jiao make one yuan and the one jiao note is very, very annoying. Again, parking, toilets, bus fare, annoying shop assistants. It also comes in a coin.
Here are both sides of a one fen note. One hundred fen makes one yuan. Fen are completely and absolutely useless and most people give them to beggars! Unbelievably, it also comes in a coin. I sometimes use the one fen notes as bookmarks. In supermarkets, because the denomination is so useless, they often fold 10 - 20 together in a tiny origami-like packet which they hand to you....
There are also coins!!! From top to the bottom: 1 yuan, 5 jiao (0.5 yuan), 1 jiao (0.1 yuan):
From top to the bottom: 5 fen (0.05 yuan), 2 fen (0.02 yuan), 1 fen (0.01 yuan):
This was a very long way to tell you that when I received my change in jiao and fen notes, my wallet was bursting and I made up my mind in future to look harder for smaller change when asked ;)
Chinese Zodiac
I notice that this guy has a cute Chinese Zodiac Page. Alas, I hate being an ox:
People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted, and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are mentally and physically alert. Generally easy-going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people.
You are a born leader.
You inspire confidence.
You are demanding.
You are methodical and good with your hands.
You will make a good surgeon, general or hairdresser.
Anyone else have a better zodiac than me? I hope so. I'm also taurus, so as dad says, I'm full of bull - also kind of stupid! Cows aren't renowned for being bright. Hmph.
Secretaries sacked for email argument
Last week I had a post which mentioned the two secretaries who had been sacked for an email brawl over a ham sandwich.
Stephen sent me these funny two screen caps that he managed to take before they were found by the sites concerned and taken down. One of them was at ebay and the other was at an Australian employment site called seek.com. Quite witty and clever.
I still can't believe the fuss the firm made over it.
Being overly frank
I got a phonecall last night from Papa Koala. He had read my "return from Nanjing" LJ post so was reproving me for drinking too much coffee ;)
I'm so lucky mum doesn't have Net access, she would have been even more reproving. Dad was also feigning outrage about my seatbelt excuse to cab drivers. He pointed out that he could hardly have beaten me for not wearing a seat belt given that our first car didn't even have seatbelts ;) Poor, maligned dad.
In other news ....
I have to meet Ori for brunch tomorrow. He wanted to come to my apartment today and I said: "Gack no, no NO", so we're meeting at Sculping in Time Cafe tomorrow.
I am getting a lot of emails lately about what I'm going to do after this year. My former firm is making noises that I should return - whether Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai. There are possibilities with one of the magic circle firms (UK firms) in Beijing or Hong Kong. I could explore inhouse legal counsel positions in Hong Kong or Beijing. I'm more inclined to stay in Beijing another year before heading back to Australia.
Thing is, I've pretty much decided I'm not going to do anything about My Future until November because I want to enjoy the last few months of being a carefree student. So many of my lawyer friends are being clobbered right now, it's not something I intend to rush back to in a hurry.
One partner wrote this, which I know he meant to be funny but I found kind of creepy given that I don't consider the firm to be 'family'. I have a family who I love very much: "Look forward to you rejoining our family (not that you've left the family, but you know what I mean)."
The other partner tried to phone me three times and when I didn't answer, he sent me an SMS and said: "Hi, I want you to call me when you have time. I want you to join the Shanghai office. Don't fall off your chair. Big changes here and you will benefit".
I emailed the second partner and told him my whole "November" plan and he replied and wrote: "That's fine. I think your decision is correct. Enjoy the student life but keep in mind that we want you in Shanghai so if you have any interest let me know when the time is right."
Gack. I wish I could do something else. All my journalist friends all say that the life of a journalist sucks, that it seems a lot more glamorous than it really is - the income is patchy, it's stressful, the work is irregular. Other friends think that the life of a corporate lawyer must be so glamorous and great and in a sense it is, but we all need time to think and just *chill*.
Gack. Gack. Gack. I really didn't want to soulsearch about all this yet, I still have some time before I rejoin the dark side :P Oh no, I should censor this, I'm going to receive a phonecall from a disapproving Papa Koala.... ;) I am lucky, I am grateful, I do count my blessings, I do appreciate my good fortune - I just wish I could create something of beauty, something of utility, something to benefit others and help others.
Julian told me once: "Let's face it - all we're good for is to make money which we can then donate to charity so that people more skilled and useful than we are can help others". :(
Bugger. This post started out chipper but now I'm pensive. The whole creating something of beauty and utility suddenly reminds me of a poem I like by Jacques Prévert called Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau (To Paint A Portrait Of A Bird). I've put a translation below, my French is a bit rusty, sorry. These days I only have Mandarin in my head.
Peindre d'abord une cage
First, paint a cage
avec une porte ouverte
with an open door
peindre ensuite
quelque chose de joli
then paint something of loveliness
quelque chose de simple
something of simplicity
quelque chose de beau
something of beauty
quelque chose d'utile
pour l'oiseau
something of use to the bird
placer ensuite la toile contre un arbre
Place the painting against a tree
dans un jardin
in a garden
dans un bois
in a wood
ou dans une forêt
or in a forest
se cacher derrière l'arbre
hide yourself behind the tree
sans rien dire
without speaking
sans bouger ...
without moving....
Parfois l'oiseau arrive vite
Sometimes the bird arrives quickly
mais il peut aussi bien mettre de longues années
avant de se décider
but sometimes it takes years before it decides
Ne pas se décourager
Don't be discouraged
attendre
attendre s'il le faut pendant des années
wait
wait for years if necessary
la vitesse ou la lenteur de l'arrivée de l'oiseau
the swiftness or the slowness of the arrival
n'ayant aucun rapport
has no relationship
avec la réussite du tableau
with the success of the painting
Quand l'oiseau arrive
s'il arrive
When the bird comes
if it comes
observer le plus profond silence
observe the deepest of silence
attendre que l'oiseau entre dans la cage
wait until the bird enters the cage
et quand il est entré
and when it has entered
fermer doucement la porte avec le pinceau
Softly close the door with the brush
puis
then
effacer un à un tous les barreaux
remove all of the bars one by one
en ayant soin de ne toucher aucune des plumes de l'oiseau
taking care not to touch any feathers of the bird
Faire ensuite le portrait de l'arbre
Then draw the portrait of the tree
en choisissant la plus belle de ses branches
choosing the most beautiful branch
pour l'oiseau
for the bird
peindre aussi le vert feuillage et la fraîcheur du vent
Also paint the green foliage and the coolness
la poussière du soleil
et le bruit des bêtes de l'herbe dans la chaleur de l'été
of the beasts of the grass in the summer's heat
et puis attendre que l'oiseau se décide à chanter
and then, wait until the bird starts to sing
Si l'oiseau ne chante pas
If the bird doesn't sing
c'est mauvais signe
it's a bad sign
signe que le tableau est mauvais
it means that the picture is wrong
mais s'il chante c'est bon signe
but if it sings it's a good sign
signe que vous pouvez signer
it means that you can write your name
Alors vous arrachez tout doucement
So gently pluck
une des plumes de l'oiseau
a feather from the bird
et vous écrivez votre nom dans un coin du tableau.
and write your name in a corner of the painting.
The other poem that is in my head right now is a poem by Walt Whitman from Leaves of Grass.
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
The last four lines always get me ... just there.
"How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick". It just seems to sum up the feeling of discontent .... 'not quite right', 'something missing' that 'one' can feel. "Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars" is also beautiful, although the irony is that Hong Kong and China aren't really the place to look up in perfect silence at the stars. :) Too much pollution.
I miss the stars. In Canberra at night time, the skies are clear and beautiful. Every where you look - it's like someone has seized handfuls of stars and flung them with random wildness into the blackness but somehow managed to disperse them across the whole sky. Anyway, I'm signing off before I become positively morose and maudlin :)
It's always a bad sign when I start alluding to French poetry :P
Hera, do you remember this article I wrote last year about the House of Flying Daggers. I've seen the Bamboo Sea from the movie but next time you should go with me ;) We can forget all our worries as we look at the bamboo and mountains floating in clouds :) How 'bout it? ;)
The first song is Hong Kong chanteuse Sandy Lam singing a version of Robbie Williams' song Better Man in Mandarin. The second is Treaty by Australian aboriginal band Yothu Yindi. It's got didgeridoo, a message about reconciliation between White Australia and Indigenous Australia, so it fit the World Smoothie theme nicely.
The Karma Fairy and Chinese money
The Karma Fairy visited me with a vengeance today. I was at the local supermarket buying some groceries. The girl asked me if I had one kuai (RMB1). I was too lazy to look through my wallet. She asked me again. I shook my head lazily, so she proceeded to give me my change from RMB 100 in a combination of jiao and bloody fen........!!!
To truly understand the horror of what this entailed, I'll have to give an explanation of Chinese money .....
As at today, RMB1 is approximately USD 0.123410, AUD 0.160554 and CAD 0.145869. Basically, think USD1 to RMB8 and CAD1 to RMB 6.8 and AUD1 to RMB6.2. It's a "soft currency" which means that you can't exchange it with other currencies - except for Hong Kong dollars.
Counterfeit bills are a huge problem in China. Very few Chinese will accept an RMB50 or RMB100 bill without first checking to see whether or not it is a fake. Notes that are old and tattered are also sometimes hard to spend. Chinese money is also often really dirty. There are notes and coins and so many different types and denominations that the head can spin. I use RMB and yuan interchangeably, sorry.
The currency breakdown in China is:
1 yuan is comprised of 10 jiao.
1 jiao is comprised of 10 fen. Fen are EVIL. You will see why.
This is both sides of the RMB 100 note. Consider it the Yuppy Food Stamp. Most times at meals, everyone pulls out one of these much to everybody's dismay. If you pull out an RMB 100 in a cab or in a smaller shop, they'll give you a death glare. This is one of the most frequently counterfeited notes:
This is the RMB 50 note. I come across it less frequently than the RMB100 but it is also frequently rejected by taxi drivers and small shops. When I was in Shanghai, I was passed a fake RMB50 note, much to my irritation. I think I offloaded it at the Hyatt Grand Cafe :P I have no idea where I got it originally otherwise I would have gone back to them to get them to take it back.
This is the RMB 20 note. Not as common as the RMB 10 note, but quite common.
The RMB 10 is probably the most common note around. Useful, it's great for cabs, shopping. You can pretty much use them everywhere. This is the older version of the RMB10 note but it's still seen everywhere.
The newer RMB10 note.
The RMB 5 note:
The RMB 2 note. Not quite as common as the RMB 1 note. Most average bus trips where the bus has air conditioning cost RMB 2.
This is the RMB1 note. There is a newer version which is pale green, but I don't have a photograph. Most bus trips where the bus does not have air conditioning cost RMB 1. It also comes in a coin which you can see below.
This is the 5 jiao note. It is half a yuan. It's pretty annoying, but can be used at public toilets and given that two of them equal a yuan, sometimes you can use them on buses or bunch them together to annoy shop assistants. This also comes in a gold coin which you can see below.
Here are both sides of a 2 jiao note. 2 jiao is 0.2 yuan. You can use them for public toilets and also to pay the parking attendant outside supermarkets like Carrefour and Chaoshifa - the attendants usually charge 2 jiao. They can also be used for bus far or to annoy shop assistants if you use them to add up to a yuan ..... It also comes in a coin.
Here are both sides of a 1 jiao note. They are 0.1 yuan / ten jiao make one yuan and the one jiao note is very, very annoying. Again, parking, toilets, bus fare, annoying shop assistants. It also comes in a coin.
Here are both sides of a one fen note. One hundred fen makes one yuan. Fen are completely and absolutely useless and most people give them to beggars! Unbelievably, it also comes in a coin. I sometimes use the one fen notes as bookmarks. In supermarkets, because the denomination is so useless, they often fold 10 - 20 together in a tiny origami-like packet which they hand to you....
There are also coins!!! From top to the bottom: 1 yuan, 5 jiao (0.5 yuan), 1 jiao (0.1 yuan):
From top to the bottom: 5 fen (0.05 yuan), 2 fen (0.02 yuan), 1 fen (0.01 yuan):
This was a very long way to tell you that when I received my change in jiao and fen notes, my wallet was bursting and I made up my mind in future to look harder for smaller change when asked ;)
Chinese Zodiac
I notice that this guy has a cute Chinese Zodiac Page. Alas, I hate being an ox:
People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted, and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are mentally and physically alert. Generally easy-going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people.
You are a born leader.
You inspire confidence.
You are demanding.
You are methodical and good with your hands.
You will make a good surgeon, general or hairdresser.
Anyone else have a better zodiac than me? I hope so. I'm also taurus, so as dad says, I'm full of bull - also kind of stupid! Cows aren't renowned for being bright. Hmph.
Secretaries sacked for email argument
Last week I had a post which mentioned the two secretaries who had been sacked for an email brawl over a ham sandwich.
Stephen sent me these funny two screen caps that he managed to take before they were found by the sites concerned and taken down. One of them was at ebay and the other was at an Australian employment site called seek.com. Quite witty and clever.
I still can't believe the fuss the firm made over it.
Being overly frank
I got a phonecall last night from Papa Koala. He had read my "return from Nanjing" LJ post so was reproving me for drinking too much coffee ;)
I'm so lucky mum doesn't have Net access, she would have been even more reproving. Dad was also feigning outrage about my seatbelt excuse to cab drivers. He pointed out that he could hardly have beaten me for not wearing a seat belt given that our first car didn't even have seatbelts ;) Poor, maligned dad.
In other news ....
I have to meet Ori for brunch tomorrow. He wanted to come to my apartment today and I said: "Gack no, no NO", so we're meeting at Sculping in Time Cafe tomorrow.
I am getting a lot of emails lately about what I'm going to do after this year. My former firm is making noises that I should return - whether Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai. There are possibilities with one of the magic circle firms (UK firms) in Beijing or Hong Kong. I could explore inhouse legal counsel positions in Hong Kong or Beijing. I'm more inclined to stay in Beijing another year before heading back to Australia.
Thing is, I've pretty much decided I'm not going to do anything about My Future until November because I want to enjoy the last few months of being a carefree student. So many of my lawyer friends are being clobbered right now, it's not something I intend to rush back to in a hurry.
One partner wrote this, which I know he meant to be funny but I found kind of creepy given that I don't consider the firm to be 'family'. I have a family who I love very much: "Look forward to you rejoining our family (not that you've left the family, but you know what I mean)."
The other partner tried to phone me three times and when I didn't answer, he sent me an SMS and said: "Hi, I want you to call me when you have time. I want you to join the Shanghai office. Don't fall off your chair. Big changes here and you will benefit".
I emailed the second partner and told him my whole "November" plan and he replied and wrote: "That's fine. I think your decision is correct. Enjoy the student life but keep in mind that we want you in Shanghai so if you have any interest let me know when the time is right."
Gack. I wish I could do something else. All my journalist friends all say that the life of a journalist sucks, that it seems a lot more glamorous than it really is - the income is patchy, it's stressful, the work is irregular. Other friends think that the life of a corporate lawyer must be so glamorous and great and in a sense it is, but we all need time to think and just *chill*.
Gack. Gack. Gack. I really didn't want to soulsearch about all this yet, I still have some time before I rejoin the dark side :P Oh no, I should censor this, I'm going to receive a phonecall from a disapproving Papa Koala.... ;) I am lucky, I am grateful, I do count my blessings, I do appreciate my good fortune - I just wish I could create something of beauty, something of utility, something to benefit others and help others.
Julian told me once: "Let's face it - all we're good for is to make money which we can then donate to charity so that people more skilled and useful than we are can help others". :(
Bugger. This post started out chipper but now I'm pensive. The whole creating something of beauty and utility suddenly reminds me of a poem I like by Jacques Prévert called Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau (To Paint A Portrait Of A Bird). I've put a translation below, my French is a bit rusty, sorry. These days I only have Mandarin in my head.
Peindre d'abord une cage
First, paint a cage
avec une porte ouverte
with an open door
peindre ensuite
quelque chose de joli
then paint something of loveliness
quelque chose de simple
something of simplicity
quelque chose de beau
something of beauty
quelque chose d'utile
pour l'oiseau
something of use to the bird
placer ensuite la toile contre un arbre
Place the painting against a tree
dans un jardin
in a garden
dans un bois
in a wood
ou dans une forêt
or in a forest
se cacher derrière l'arbre
hide yourself behind the tree
sans rien dire
without speaking
sans bouger ...
without moving....
Parfois l'oiseau arrive vite
Sometimes the bird arrives quickly
mais il peut aussi bien mettre de longues années
avant de se décider
but sometimes it takes years before it decides
Ne pas se décourager
Don't be discouraged
attendre
attendre s'il le faut pendant des années
wait
wait for years if necessary
la vitesse ou la lenteur de l'arrivée de l'oiseau
the swiftness or the slowness of the arrival
n'ayant aucun rapport
has no relationship
avec la réussite du tableau
with the success of the painting
Quand l'oiseau arrive
s'il arrive
When the bird comes
if it comes
observer le plus profond silence
observe the deepest of silence
attendre que l'oiseau entre dans la cage
wait until the bird enters the cage
et quand il est entré
and when it has entered
fermer doucement la porte avec le pinceau
Softly close the door with the brush
puis
then
effacer un à un tous les barreaux
remove all of the bars one by one
en ayant soin de ne toucher aucune des plumes de l'oiseau
taking care not to touch any feathers of the bird
Faire ensuite le portrait de l'arbre
Then draw the portrait of the tree
en choisissant la plus belle de ses branches
choosing the most beautiful branch
pour l'oiseau
for the bird
peindre aussi le vert feuillage et la fraîcheur du vent
Also paint the green foliage and the coolness
la poussière du soleil
et le bruit des bêtes de l'herbe dans la chaleur de l'été
of the beasts of the grass in the summer's heat
et puis attendre que l'oiseau se décide à chanter
and then, wait until the bird starts to sing
Si l'oiseau ne chante pas
If the bird doesn't sing
c'est mauvais signe
it's a bad sign
signe que le tableau est mauvais
it means that the picture is wrong
mais s'il chante c'est bon signe
but if it sings it's a good sign
signe que vous pouvez signer
it means that you can write your name
Alors vous arrachez tout doucement
So gently pluck
une des plumes de l'oiseau
a feather from the bird
et vous écrivez votre nom dans un coin du tableau.
and write your name in a corner of the painting.
The other poem that is in my head right now is a poem by Walt Whitman from Leaves of Grass.
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
The last four lines always get me ... just there.
"How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick". It just seems to sum up the feeling of discontent .... 'not quite right', 'something missing' that 'one' can feel. "Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars" is also beautiful, although the irony is that Hong Kong and China aren't really the place to look up in perfect silence at the stars. :) Too much pollution.
I miss the stars. In Canberra at night time, the skies are clear and beautiful. Every where you look - it's like someone has seized handfuls of stars and flung them with random wildness into the blackness but somehow managed to disperse them across the whole sky. Anyway, I'm signing off before I become positively morose and maudlin :)
It's always a bad sign when I start alluding to French poetry :P
Hera, do you remember this article I wrote last year about the House of Flying Daggers. I've seen the Bamboo Sea from the movie but next time you should go with me ;) We can forget all our worries as we look at the bamboo and mountains floating in clouds :) How 'bout it? ;)