One Stop Copy Shop

With all the looming due dates, Jess and I have been parked in the Bridge Cafe all day. She is editing her marketing paper, and I am doing the same. I decided to take a mini break to go off and print all the required readings for my RBE exam tomorrow. It's easier for me to retain the readings if they are printed out instead of reading them online. Jessica had found a copy shop a couple of weeks ago in the area, so we decided to go on a printing mission.

The copy shop turned out to be in someone's apartment in a nearby apartment complex. This family has two copiers in their living room, along with two computers and a binding machine. While we were waiting their pre-teen son was playing video games on the computer and the husband was sitting around in the bedroom, reading. The copiers were in decent shape, although a little slow. The price was definitely right, however. Panos had all the same pages printed out at Kinko's and it cost him 47 yuan, my total was only 36 yuan. That included the price of binding as well. This is China!

Accounting Quiz: I Call Shenanigans!

This morning we were supposed to have an accounting quiz from 9-10am. There was some confusion about where we were supposed to go to take the quiz, as the professor (who is teaching it online from Glendale) told us to go to our classroom on the Beida campus, but we were trying to explain to the professor that about 2/3 of the class has not signed up for internet access in the classroom, as it is through Beida and costs 100 yuan. To further complicate matters, those who did sign up for internet only had the chance to sign up yesterday, and that signup time conflicted with beginners Chinese class so some people weren't able to complete their signup.

Professor Peterson, the accounting professor, seemed to be having a major disconnect--despite the fact that several of us repeatedly explained that we don't have internet in the classroom and don't care to pay extra to sign up for it (especially when we have free internet in the hotel and at a nearby Starbucks), he still kept telling us to go to the classroom. The last posting on the class board from him said that he had worked out with Donny that a Beida representative would be in the classroom to walk us through the internet setup.

Jess and I took a cab to the classroom so that we would have extra time to study in our hotel room. The cab cost 10 yuan. We got to the room and it was packed with students. Our classroom fits everyone, but just barely, and you have to sit right next to someone else at a table. The situation is not optimal for taking a quiz in the slightest. Jessica and I purchased a power strip at an electronics store so that we could both plug in during class and I'm glad we did--there aren't enough power plugs to go around in the classroom for 35 people to all be plugged in and charging.

We sat around for about ten minutes but no Beida proctor showed up. Everyone was talking and complaining, so it was very loud for the few students who had internet and opted to start the quiz. Hunter Kim, one of my classmates, finally called Professor Peterson over Skype and explained the situation. Peterson, who was still operating under the extreme misapprehension that we would 1) have a proctor and 2) have internet access proposed the following ridiculous solution to the problem:

Students currently with internet (9) finish the quiz, students without internet go and wait in the hallway until they are done, and then let those waiting use their computers to finish the quiz.

As you might imagine, there was a near riot when everyone heard this. We eventually talked him into extending the time the quiz would be available online and letting us go home to take the quiz either at the hotel or Starbucks. His rationale for forcing us to be in the classroom was that he wants to cut down on cheating as the quizzes are closed book, closed notes. However, his logic is flawed because with all of us crammed into one room, cheating would be very easy since everyone can see the computer screens of those sitting in front of them. Furthermore, Thunderbird has an honor code that we all signed, so what is the point of having an honor code when we aren't trusted to uphold and enforce it? Our Regional Business Environment: Asia exam is being administered online and is also closed book, closed notes, and yet Professor Goddard trusts us to be able to do this on our own, online, and not crammed into the classroom.

To use accounting language, the cost of the internet is 100 Yuan, and we have three quizzes left. That means the activity cost of each quiz is approximately Y33.33. That's a pretty decent meal at a nice restaurant. If we factor in the indirect overhead costs of transportation and the power cord, it's approximately Y75 per quiz. RIP OFF!

Some students are planning to email Professor Peterson and discuss the issue with him, hopefully he will see reason and let us take the damn quizzes from home. Some are also proposing that he score this quiz as optional (if it helps our grade, leave it in, if it hurts our grade, take it out) since it was such a disaster this morning to administer.

New "This is China" update: I just got a phone call from Mike Logan who went to the police station register himself as a foreigner renting a apartment in Beijing. He had to go with his landlord, who presents a special landlord ID to the police in order to register his tenants. It's very typically bureaucratic. However, it turns out that as an alien renting an apartment, Mike was supposed to register within 24 hours of signing the lease! He wasn't fined (although he could have been fined 500 yuan for ever day he neglected to register) but he did have to sign a form that acknowledges he violated Chinese law, essentially a warning. Yikes! I myself had to register through the hotel, but since I'm not renting it's less of a panic for the local precinct. This is China!

I'm Now Fully Invested in Arsenal

Yesterday's class transitioned from talking about China to discussing Japan and Korea. Goddard emphasized the isolationist nature of Japan, which was pretty much old hat to me, being an East Asian Studies major and all. For lunch we tried "Franklin's House of Dumplings" as Panos calls it, which is basically the dumpling-themed cafeteria. In typical confusing style, they have a lovely menu on the wall with many delicious sounding jiaozi listed, but only serve a fraction of the available dumplings every day. Tragically they did not have the "pork and pumpkin" flavored ones I wanted to try, so I made do with pork and cabbage (which were still good, and at 4 Yuan for a large plate, a steal!).

After class Ben Malki and I went to the electronics superstore to buy him a new charger for his computer. I was blathering on in Chinese about how "this object does not work and he would like to buy a new one" and then the salesman busted out with perfect English, saying "Yes, your charger is not functioning and you would like to purchase a new one!" Oh well! We chatted with him for a while and it turns out he is from Urumqi, which is in far western China, Xinjiang Province. Ben and I also swung by the Off Price Mart (doesn't it just sound full of bargains?) which appears to be a sort of super ghetto department store, which is full of racks of clothes, shoes, appliances, etc., all on sale. Some group members had purchased some fly football [soccer] jackets at Off Price and we wanted to scope out the selection. The authentic Adidas section was somewhat paltry, only having one Bahamas jacket, which Panos already owned, and a Rio de Janeiro one that Ben rejected on account of it having a silkscreen of Jesus. Ben being a Jew but one inherently suspicious of all religions (including his own), he did not feel comfortable wearing Jesus around. Apparently he is not a Jew for Jesus.

We decided to try the fake Adidas section, and found two options that intrigued us, a bright orange jacket with the name Robben on the back and a mysterious man's face on the front. We called Panos and learned that Robben is a Dutch player who is currently on Real Madrid. I rejected it on the basis of Robben's Dutch-ness and checked out the other option, a white and red number mimicking a retro jacket from the Egyptian soccer team Zamalek. Ben rejected it on account of funny construction ("Your shoulder pads look like Star Trek" was his reasoning). I finally found a jacket I liked in the Arsenal section (English premier league fans will be intrigued to know that there was no Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur, just Arsenal) and got it for 180 Yuan. I have no idea if it's real or fake, but it's sharp looking and appears well constructed. Finally I have bought something in China!!! (yay) Ben was joking that now I'm fully invested as a (long suffering) Arsenal fan and I'd better get cracking on their statistics. Looks like their next match is today (Saturday) vs. Newcastle United, but due to the magic of China being ahead of Europe, it will take place at like 1am Beijing time.



After shopping we met up for a dinner/lecture at the hotel restaurant so that Goddard could give us a breakdown of how to behave at a fancy Chinese banquet. It was an interesting and informative lecture, some of the more useful tips were to just push things around on your plate if you don't like it, no one will notice, and to claim you are on medication if you don't want to drink. There is much importance given to the retention and potential loss of face, and how the guest must ensure that the host does not lose face in front of his/her peers. We have a fair number of Mormons at Thunderbird, most of which are cool, but some insist on rubbing in EVERY TIME that they can't drink and it gets very tiresome. Hopefully Goddard's little lecture will make some impact on them. The food was pretty good, too, not too oily and fresh vegetables. I found this surprising, especially given the fact that this was a hotel restaurant.

Today was the last class of RBE: Asia, hallelujah! The focus shifted to India, which was interesting as I know a lot less about the country than I probably should. Some of our Indian students (who not surprisingly are all from the top echelons of Indian society both caste-wise and income wise; we have all Brahmins except one Sikh) got quite argumentative about some topics, such as the issues with poverty in India. One student tried to claim that the poor people are happy in their situation, which sounded rather fishy. I kept thinking of my friend Christy's work rescuing prostitutes in Calcutta, where they had some girls whose villages were so poor that the life of a prostitute was preferable than living in the village--the girls had 3 full meals a day, new clothes, their own room and didn't have to work. If there are people in your country who would rather sell themselves than live in their hometowns, there is a serious problem with poverty! Compared to China, India has a much lower GDP per capital and a higher percentage of people living below the poverty line. Additionally, even though very high quality education is available to those who can pay for it, the literacy rate is not that high (60% compared to China's 90%). India still has a lot of growth potential in the world economy. The government's protectionist policies and perceived corruption have been retarding the countries growth, so Goddard emphasized those factors as a reason why India has not grown as quickly as China.

We finished up class FINALLY and broke for the weekend (what's left of it). Tonight I plan to hit up the Wudaokou area with Mike Logan and maybe some karaoke later. Tomorrow we have an arranged tour of the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. I figure since they are providing transportation and I paid for it, I will be going. More updates to come later!

Here are some photos to tide you over:



The crepe master outside my hotel.



Beijing biker gang! Nikhil and I show off our student bikes. Dig my pink Chuck Taylors!

"Well Versed in the Art of the Squat"

Apparently not only do my mixed genes give me superior resistance to icky bugs (have been eating street food for breakfast with no ill effects so far plus sat next to Mike Logan for 12 hours and did not catch his cold) but I appear to be immune to the effects of jet lag. I was tired when I landed, but not inordinately so and not such that my functions were impaired. I have gone to bed between 11pm-12am every night and risen at 7am easily. The only signs I can see are more mental--I get distracted easily and have to make sure I'm not spacing out in class in an obvious way. If only I could patent and bottle my ability to resist jet lag and sell it--there's an entrepreneurial idea for you!

Yesterday was a busy day; we had a company visit in the afternoon with the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment, which is a non-governmental organization that tries to assist existing companies with foreign investment, and attract foreign companies to invest in Chinese companies. Their office is by the Dong'an market, which is famous for it's "everything under the sun that is remotely edible on a stick" shtick. The area is also famous for the GIANT pedestrian shopping mall area that was erected for the Olympics. One can buy all the luxury brands here, from Gucci to Cartier and back again. We had a little time to wander around before our meeting with CAEFI, so we checked out the market area plus did some people watching. I didn't look at the stores because I didn't come to Beijing to buy Gucci. I came to buy dirt cheap knockoff clothes in the markets! Soon, you will be mine. Oh yes, you will be mine.





The meeting with CAEFI was interesting, although tedious because the chairman spoke in Chinese. I understood most of the operative words he used, but I did not know the economic and other technical words he used so I had to rely on Donny, who was translating. Interestingly, the chairman actually spoke very good English, which he lapsed into occasionally. His sentence structure was excellent, and he had very little accent. I don't know why he bothered with a translator, probably to maintain face. He talked about the measures they use to try to help companies with foreign investment, mostly in the form of a print publication and a website. He talked about how exports have gone done because of the financial crisis, so it's harder to attract foreign investment right now.



After the talk we had to go back to campus, where a gentleman who works for the UN I believe gave a talk on Chinese Intellectual Property rights, at least, that is what it was billed as. Instead he talked about counterfeiting instead. He said he thinks that the penalties for counterfeiting should be much more strict (i.e. death!!!) so as to act as a disincentive. He said the counterfeiters have gotten very crafty, even sewing the handbags on a truck that moves around the city so they can't get caught. He was quite candid about the state of China's government, and how they face a big potential problem in that the inland provinces are poorer than the coastal areas, and the residents are getting unhappy about the increasing income gap. It was nice to hear from someone who wasn't giving the party line all the way.

Today we had another 12 hour day, Goddard during the daylight hours and then Donny gave a talk about Chinese cultural differences. I was in my element in class because we 1) had a geography quiz in the morning which I of course rocked (Goddard made it purposefully ambiguous for a few questions, so I put as many options as possible--it was a map quiz) and then 2) talked about Chinese history and culture all day, which of course was my college major so I had a lot of insights. He also showed a picture of Shenzhen from 1975, which featured dirt roads, 1 story buildings and cows on the street. I piped up and said "This is like Mitchell/Chu family Christmas every year, when we have a slide show featuring photos from when my Dad went to China in the late 1970's and everyone laughs about how no one had running water or shoes back then." Goddard got a good laugh out of it.

I have continued to sample delicious street food--one of our Taiwanese students found a Taiwanese bakery and picked up this sort of rice bun thing for breakfast for me, plus the most delicious and creamy dou jiang (soy milk)... I will say it's tastier than my breakfast cart, although at 8 kuai it's not as cheap as the 3 kuai milk and crepe thing I normally get. Tonight I had 3 xiaolongbao from a campus vendor, I think they were made with lamb because they were good, in a slightly gamey sort of way. I also had a steamed sticky rice thing with roast pork sausage wrapped in bamboo leaf. Getting out of lecture at 8:30 is kind of a pain because all the restaurants are just getting ready to close at 9pm. I don't care to eat at McDonalds while I am here. There's a really sketchy cart down by the electronics store that sells the fried white steamed breads, so I might venture there sometime to get just the bread, but I won't be eating meat from them! I may have iron stomach, but I don't want to push it, especially so early in the game.

I have started parking my bike on campus right by the gate that is close to the hotel (just under the 4th ring road) so as to avoid parking it essentially on the street by the hotel. I figure it blends in perfectly with the 10's of thousands of student bikes parked there, so it is a good compromise to bringing it in the hotel.

Had a funny run in with one of my fellow students today in the classroom bathrooms today; the stalls are all squat johns except for one Western style toilet, which caused some consternation amongst the ladies in the group (wimps). I of course had no qualms using the squat john since I have squatted in many a john around the world, plus these are nicely maintained and clean. I had just come out of the stall and this woman (who is incredibly annoying and appears to be a terrible traveler, which I can't stand) tells me, "I just wanted to let you know that there's a real toilet here." Several very rude and cutting remarks ran through my head (uncharitable as they were) but I just smiled and said, "Thanks, but my mom's family is from China, so I'm well versed in the art of the squat."