The Evils of Cheese

I've been working pretty hard lately (as evidenced by my recent posts) and I was due for a break. Ever perceptive, Helene convinced me to step out of Shanghai and take a day off on Friday - and a little day trip to Suzhou.

My, what a difference a day off makes. We spent the day strolling around Suzhou, and Helene managed to squeeze in some shopping as well. By 10 PM, we were back home, refreshed and ready for a good night's sleep.

As with every trip we ever took together, Helene brought along on the train enough snacks to feed a small army. And as the train rolled out of Shanghai, we were already doing the very Chinese thing of snacking on the train.

Things took a turn for the decidedly un-Chinese, however, when Helene pulled out a block of Edam (Cheddar-like) cheese from her bag. Now, if you've ever wondered what the Chinese, who like to eat stinky tofu, find disgusting, look no further than your typical block of Cheddar. Many Chinese find the smell simply repulsive.

Well, true enough, as soon as we took a bite of our cheese, the lady in front of me curled up her lip and prickled her nose in a perfect expression of disgust. She kept said expression until I quickly wolfed down the cheese with a mix of amusement and embarrassment. To the right of Helene, a mother gave us evil glances, but seemed otherwise intent on trying to ignore us. Keep in mind this was only a small block of fresh Edam... God forbid that we would have taken out a piece of blue cheese!

So, for those of you in Montreal or elsewhere in America and Europe, there's your trick. If you ever feel the need to complain if a Chinese person takes out shredded squid or shrimp crackers on the bus, stay nice... and munch on a good piece of aged Camembert!

The Taxi Scam

You live in a country for more than two years, you think you've figured out all the scams. Hah!

Sunday night, at 1h30 AM, I took a taxi home from work. One street corner down, I opened my wallet to realize I had no money left, so I asked the driver if he could pull over in front of a bank while I ran to the ATM.

When we arrived in front of my place, I gave the taxi driver 100 RMB (roughly $14 CAN) and he gave me change. He spent a long time examining my 100 RMB bill to make sure it was geniune. As I stepped out of the taxi, he called me back and asked if I were sure I had gotten this 100 RMB bill at the bank. He seemed to think it was a fake.

It was late, I was tired and I knew the bills I got were genuine because I got them from an ATM, so I simply shrugged and switched the 100 RMB bill for another one, which he accepted.

Of course, the next day, I discovered that the bill he had given back to me was indeed a very good fake. Of course, he simply switched the geniune 100 RMB I gave him for a fake one, then acted like I had given him a fake bill.

Ah well! Live and learn, as they say...

The Perils of Coolness

It's currently 9 AM Shanghai time, and I've been in the office 1 hour. Good thing is, I'm going to bed very shortly. You see, I've been here until 1 AM Sunday night, after a 20-hour work weekend. I was sound asleep when a phonecall from LA woke me up with important stuff.

The reason? We're preparing final retakes for voice recordings for the game... And as usual, that's a frenetic period. It doesn't help that I have to coordinate with people in 3 time zones different from my own (LA, Montreal & Paris.)

I can't decide if that's really cool or really pathetic.

I think it's a little bit of both.

SF Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

It's been a while since I last posted a review on Future Shock... Part of the reason is that I'm super-busy. But part of it is that I've been reading the enormous and fantastic Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. I highly recommend it... Details in the review!

The Scheduling of Showers

Hélène and I (and 西施!) continue to love our new apartment. It's so much bigger than the previous one, it almost feels like too much space. All in all, we are very happy with the move, and we can't wait for friends from Montréal to come visit us (hint, hint!)

But you know, regardless of how clean and modern our building is, there's always something to remind us we are still in China. Case in point: the hot water.

When I moved to China, I was amazed at the simple efficiency of gas water heaters. Contrary to the hot water tanks we get in Canada, they never run out of hot water, and they don't waste any energy maintaining water hot just in case you need it.

Well, it turns out that our new building is seemingly the only one in Shanghai that has... a hot water tank. Worse: it's a common water tank for the whole building. One second of pondering this will reveal how absolutely idiotic this idea is... I am amazed that they actually went through and not only abandonned a concept that works perfectly well in China, but actually took the American idea and made it worse. There's a tragic allegory for the westernization of China in there that I will leave to people with less of a sense of decorum.

Anyway, the building management, in their infinite wisdom, came up with a solution to hot water shortages: they decided to turn up the heat, but in order to balance the costs (carefully disguised under the argument that they don't "want to inconvenience the homeowners" since they would pass the cost to them), they have now decided to turn on the hot water... only between selected hours.

Yep, you read this correctly. If you are a tenant in the same complex as I, you can only take a shower between the hours of 6 AM and 10 AM, and between 5 PM and 10 PM. The building's administration was kind enough to extend these hours to 2 AM on Saturdays and Sunday. You know, in case you're a drunk white guy getting home at 1h30 and what you really want is a hot shower.

And if you do, make sure you end by 2 AM... Cause after that, you'll sober up much quicker than you hoped for!