Tom Doan
04-16-2007, 05:13 PM
It's Time For The Regional China News
or
The ShangHai Blab April 2006
The pre-ramble
Dear Gang,
I'm back in the Middle Kingdom for a month this time and will be
back soon. The weather is nice and it was warm over the week end but
still inside the buildings are cold so everyone is still in Long
Johns. The buildings have no insulation only walls a foot thick of
masonry and the the nights are still cold and the buildings are too.
It's going to take allot more warm weather till the inside and out
side temperatures are pleasant. Johns Manville has got an opening
here.
Spring Fashion Trends
Here are the spring fashion trends coming your way; for men,
rectangle shaped eye glasses are the new style from Paris and
Germany,maybe not new but a new style here, I asked why when I got a
new pair of glasses made and the answer was "we all have moon faces
and the rectangle shape makes our face look thinner". Lots of suckers
for this line, makes all lot nerdy. For the women, stretch jeans, no
zippers. How you get them on or off I haven't a clue, looks like you
need a chisel.
The Honeymoons over
or
Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine
We must be out of our apt. on the 9th. I do not know where I am
staying. Lucy and Ma are married and have a new apt. for 250.00 a
month, It's brand new so It's clean but only 450 sft. so only a
kitchen that leads into the bedroom, if you want to watch TV you sit
on the bed. I spent hours testing everything and telling the landlord
whats wrong. Nice but shoddy workmanship abounds.
The Bad Part
Poor Tang is a different story, he is getting married next month
and can only pay 162.00 per month and is moving into a 15 year old
slum pit that is 200 sft.,the kitchen is 2.square meters and is not
the smallest I've seen at 1 square meter. It is a filthy pit and they
want me to sleep on the floor in the hallway for my last week, I may
have to protest, I told Tang that I would flip a coin everyday to see
who gets the bed. It will be an hour walk to work each way, and I walk
fast. Tang has a bike he calls a Chinese BMW, we saw a Chinese
Mercedes yesterday, it had a CD player mounted on the handle bars.
The place we live now is 900 sft. and is a three bedroom, two bath
that costs 450.00 per month. It has beautiful granite floors and wood
working and is 10 minute walk.I will try to attach pictures of my "two
slave" kitchen I'm in now and the 2m and 1m kitchens.
The Good Part
The Black Hole of ShangHai will have It's down side, but on the up
side NO WOMEN, I will not miss Lucy eating too many hot peppers every
dinner and having the hiccups all night or her nightly arguments with
Ma that seem to require slamming doors till 2AM.
This weeks house guest is ChiLing from Lucy's village, who came to
find a job (It took only 1 hour to land one) but seems to spend all
her time on the Internet crying because she is home sick. What a mess.
I think my next time here I will find my own hole to live in, hire
the 3 Stooges to pressure wash the place with a steam cleaner, lock
the door, prop a chair under the door knob and listen to Rachmaninov
all night while bothering the neighbors with a Hibachi full of Water
Buffalo, ALONE. I know grilling indoors is dangerous but my uncleaned
BBQ grill at home is cleaner than these places.
People ask when am I bringing the wife and kids over for a visit? I
tell them when I can rent an operating room for a week to stay in,
It's cheaper than the hotels. People don't care about living space
because you can't own land here, so just wreck the place, leave all
your junk and move on to some thing better. There is some reform in
home ownership and banking mortgages now so I was surprised at one
employees home I went to for dinner, crap hole on the outside and
stunning on the inside.
or
The ShangHai Blab April 2006
The pre-ramble
Dear Gang,
I'm back in the Middle Kingdom for a month this time and will be
back soon. The weather is nice and it was warm over the week end but
still inside the buildings are cold so everyone is still in Long
Johns. The buildings have no insulation only walls a foot thick of
masonry and the the nights are still cold and the buildings are too.
It's going to take allot more warm weather till the inside and out
side temperatures are pleasant. Johns Manville has got an opening
here.
Spring Fashion Trends
Here are the spring fashion trends coming your way; for men,
rectangle shaped eye glasses are the new style from Paris and
Germany,maybe not new but a new style here, I asked why when I got a
new pair of glasses made and the answer was "we all have moon faces
and the rectangle shape makes our face look thinner". Lots of suckers
for this line, makes all lot nerdy. For the women, stretch jeans, no
zippers. How you get them on or off I haven't a clue, looks like you
need a chisel.
The Honeymoons over
or
Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine
We must be out of our apt. on the 9th. I do not know where I am
staying. Lucy and Ma are married and have a new apt. for 250.00 a
month, It's brand new so It's clean but only 450 sft. so only a
kitchen that leads into the bedroom, if you want to watch TV you sit
on the bed. I spent hours testing everything and telling the landlord
whats wrong. Nice but shoddy workmanship abounds.
The Bad Part
Poor Tang is a different story, he is getting married next month
and can only pay 162.00 per month and is moving into a 15 year old
slum pit that is 200 sft.,the kitchen is 2.square meters and is not
the smallest I've seen at 1 square meter. It is a filthy pit and they
want me to sleep on the floor in the hallway for my last week, I may
have to protest, I told Tang that I would flip a coin everyday to see
who gets the bed. It will be an hour walk to work each way, and I walk
fast. Tang has a bike he calls a Chinese BMW, we saw a Chinese
Mercedes yesterday, it had a CD player mounted on the handle bars.
The place we live now is 900 sft. and is a three bedroom, two bath
that costs 450.00 per month. It has beautiful granite floors and wood
working and is 10 minute walk.I will try to attach pictures of my "two
slave" kitchen I'm in now and the 2m and 1m kitchens.
The Good Part
The Black Hole of ShangHai will have It's down side, but on the up
side NO WOMEN, I will not miss Lucy eating too many hot peppers every
dinner and having the hiccups all night or her nightly arguments with
Ma that seem to require slamming doors till 2AM.
This weeks house guest is ChiLing from Lucy's village, who came to
find a job (It took only 1 hour to land one) but seems to spend all
her time on the Internet crying because she is home sick. What a mess.
I think my next time here I will find my own hole to live in, hire
the 3 Stooges to pressure wash the place with a steam cleaner, lock
the door, prop a chair under the door knob and listen to Rachmaninov
all night while bothering the neighbors with a Hibachi full of Water
Buffalo, ALONE. I know grilling indoors is dangerous but my uncleaned
BBQ grill at home is cleaner than these places.
People ask when am I bringing the wife and kids over for a visit? I
tell them when I can rent an operating room for a week to stay in,
It's cheaper than the hotels. People don't care about living space
because you can't own land here, so just wreck the place, leave all
your junk and move on to some thing better. There is some reform in
home ownership and banking mortgages now so I was surprised at one
employees home I went to for dinner, crap hole on the outside and
stunning on the inside.