The mice are taking over

It’s quite apparent when going anywhere in Beijing that the Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is coming up soon. The basic decoration strategy seems to be to leave up the Christmas decorations and add Chinese symbols into the mix. So Santa and the reindeer and the sparkly trees are still hanging around, and the good luck characters and mice have been added. The upcoming year is generally called the Year of the Rat, but as it happens, Mandarin doesn’t really distinguish between rats and mice (laoshu or haozi for both), and mice are cuter, so from the looks of things, it will be the Year of the Mouse.

Last night we had our company New Year’s party. I’ve looked back through last year’s blog posts, and it seems I didn’t really say much about that party. Well, we were a much smaller company then, and it was a pretty minimal affair. We took an afternoon off and walked to a nearby party facility, where we had a meal and some karaoke.

This year’s party was bigger in all respects. I think the planning committee had some difficulties, because the event was rescheduled twice from other days due to the unavailability of any decent facilities. So we ended up on a Sunday late afternoon at The Sixth Club. It’s one of thousands of party venues around town. And remember that in a city this big, saying “thousands” is not an exaggeration. It’s a whole industry that hardly exists in American cities.

TG, SJ, and I ended up being the last ones to arrive, and everyone else was already eating and drinking when we walked in. We found some seats and hit the buffet. It was decent if not outstanding, with the roast duck being the standout. No surprise, this being Beijing and all.
Each table was labeled with a famous mouse character.
I’ve been trying to get over a nasty cold for a couple weeks now, so I only had a few sips of beer, but some of my coworkers were having a great time with their beverages. No embarrassing breaches of etiquette I’m happy to report.
People were encouraged to participate in the festivities, and somehow TG and I got talked into take part. RR was supposed to join us, but he was stuck back at the office all evening and didn’t make it. There were several karaoke performances, one of which was preceded by some sort of skit that I didn’t understand at all, but got lots of laughs.
And we had a dance routine, complete with costumes.
There were a number of games, including this one that I never caught the rules to. The men sat in the chairs with baby bibs, and the women bonked them on the heads from time to time. I think it was part “Simon Says” with some strange domestic overtones. There was a second part where the women gave the men baby bottles full of beer and the winner was the one to suck it down fastest.
There was also a round of Musical Chairs and a Three-People-Four-Legs race that nearly resulted in serious injuries.
I am seriously out of order here, but what the heck. TG and I took the stage for a painful take on “Hotel California” with lyrics I rewrote to fit our company, full of in-jokes and Olympic references. I called it “Hotel 2008” (“Hotel Er-Ling-Ling-Ba”). It got off to kind of a slow start, but once someone stuck a mic in JW’s face and got him to sing, it improved a lot.

There were some very nice prize drawings, including a Wii and a digital camera and a bunch of portable game systems and iPods. I didn’t win anything.

At least not in the drawings. TG and I got an award for The Best Courage for our performance. Which translates as being really bad but sticking it out to the end, I suppose. There were also two other trophies, one for the dancers and one for the IT department for the skit and song. And everyone got a big stuffed mouse to take home.
Now, I suppose all of this might sound kind of silly. It’s definitely different from any office parties I’ve been to over the last ten years in the US. I hope I’m not inadvertently echoing some kind of stereotype, but what it comes down to is the fact that my colleagues here are not as cynical and jaded as most Americans. Most of us hate to participate in silly games, hate to risk looking foolish, and would rather stay home than play Musical Chairs. But as far as I could tell, everyone had a great time. Perhaps the lure of prizes and the free-flowing beer helped, but for each game, there were people eager to play. Our modern “sophistication” seems to come with a price: we can’t relax and act like kids for a few hours with our coworkers.

Just a quick snake for me, thanks

It seems to be the solemn duty of all native English speakers who spend any time in China to compile a list of Horrid Examples. Well, maybe not so solemn, as it’s usually pretty amusing, and really, we just can’t help ourselves. And I promise my purpose is not to ridicule those who come up with these bizarre linguistic oddities. Given the goofy pseudo-Chinese that comes out of my mouth, I’m sure that native Chinese speakers who know me can compile their own lists of Horrid Examples in the opposite direction.
I believe I’ve mentioned the fact that some restaurants have opened in our building. The most popular one is Dongfangjinghu Chacanting on the first floor. I’m pretty sure chacanting just means café (the first syllable cha means tea), and I’ll have to find out what the first word means. I am absolutely sure that they got the pinyin wrong when they printed the menu. The third character is very clearly listed as jing (not jin) in the character lists and online dictionaries I’ve checked.
I’ve eaten there quite a few times, and most of what I had was pretty decent. However, the menu is a wonderful source of Horrid Examples. I had a chocolate milk shark one day, and it was very tasty. It had no teeth, fins or other fishy features whatsoever.
There’s a lot of snake on the menu – two whole sections, in fact.
I’ve had the “four treasures” balls with seaweed, and it’s actually about the best dish I’ve had there: little wonton wrappers stuffed with shrimp and ground pork in a bowl of broth.

Yes, you’ve probably caught on: snake = snack, spelled in some strange near-phonetic system.
They have an interesting selection of desserts. Sago is almost identical to tapioca, but I’m not sure what to make of the mythic fungus cream.
And moving on to a different establishment… This one is located here in the Seasons Park compound. I am curious to know how they make signboards edible.
And speaking of Seasons Park, this is the plaque at the main gate. I’ll type it in so you know what you’re reading:

Seasons park is a private resience
Any unauthorized person don’t enter
Visitors please regiser in the guard house

I feel so secure.

Meandering. Pointless? You make the call

Procedural note: I’ve added one photo to a previous post. Nifty, huh?

Soundtrack music for writing: Sun Ra – Disco 3000

Today’s post will have neither theme nor coherent narrative. I’ve just got a few pictures I feel like posting.

Here’s one from a long time ago that I never got around to finding a place for. I’ve been in Starbucks stores in at least four countries. Can you guess which country has this one?
It should come as no surprise to me that construction happens all the time here, but when I saw this the other day, I was stunned.
To give you an idea why I was surprised, here’s what it looked like a while ago, in a shot from an old post:

I’ve eaten at this place quite a few times, and like it a lot. It’s Xinjiang food, from the far west of China, and it’s quite popular. I hope they’re just remodeling and don’t feel the need to mess with the menu too much.
Last weekend I was feeling a little bored, so I hopped on the subway and got off at a stop I’d never visited just to wander around. Jishuitan is three stops directly west of my office. The canal follows the same path, though it ends just up ahead there. It’s safe to say this stretch is non-navigable. Yes, the upper part is frozen over – the temperature has been consistently below freezing for a couple weeks. Not solid enough for skating, however.
I guess the guy who took this bird out for a walk was having a rest somewhere.
This was taken a little further along looking towards the end of the water.

Here’s something I came across on the way to work this morning.
It’s recycling, Chinese style. They pull the garbage truck into our street (that’s our building behind them) and go through the trash to find recyclable items. If you think this is a worse system than having tidy color-coded bins like many American cities, you’re forgetting that in China, labor is cheaper than goods; it’s more cost-efficient to have people sort through the trash than to distribute containers. And people would throw recyclables into the trash anyway, either through inattention or lack of concern. So this gets the job done and provides employment, a win-win situation. Aside from the smell, that is.

Our building, Gehua Tower, is run by the media conglomerate called Gehua, and as befits their artsy focus, the lobby is often host to works of art or design.
There’s also an art museum up on the 13th floor which I have not visited.

After lunch today, I went out to a local store to buy some groceries (lately I’ve been leaving the office too late to make it to the store), and when I passed a newsstand, something caught my eye.
It’s a Chinese science fiction magazine. Back when I was getting ready to go to the Worldcon I had read about its existence, but every time I checked at a stand or store, they didn’t have it. It’s only ¥5 (less than a dollar), so even if I can’t read it, it’s worth the price.
Part of the inside is glossy, and this seems to be an article about cutting edge neuroscience.
And I’m pretty sure this is a translation of a story by David Brin – there’s a picture of him at the end of it.

And that’s enough for now. Catch you later!

Soundtrack for finishing: Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 – “Adventure Rocket Ship” (really!)