(Fake) Beauty

Quotes

Never mistake someone’s level of education as their level of intelligence.

Being a great leader means that you aren’t afraid to piss off other people. It’s not a popularity contest.

Celeb Look-A-Likes

I think it’s worth noting that Brad Pitt was my closest match at 68%. Damn, I’m sexy. Haha! (Kidding…. well…. kinda….)

On a different note, I voted for Sanjaya tonight. It’s the first time I’ve ever voted on American Idol, and it was hilarious.

Chinese Impressions

I thought I would have gotten to this by now, but I guess not. My travels in China were very interesting, here are some of the things I observed:

1. As in Peru, the pollution is a problem. It had just rained when we got to Beijing, so it didn’t look so bad, but the last day were were there, you couldn’t see buildings just down the street. It didn’t noticeably affect my breathing, but it did some of the others.

2. You think rush hour in Atlanta is bad? In Beijing and Shanghai traffic was in gridlock 24-7. In Beijing we were told that 1,000 new cars were coming on the road for the first time every day.

3. I was amused when someone from our group asked if things were open on Sunday. Why not? It’s not like they go to church…

4. There is a “Silk Market” down the street from the hotel we stayed at in Beijing. It was about four stories tall, and was filled top to bottom with any kind of clothing you can imagine (all fake though), and miscellaneous cheap plastic tourist crap. It was filled so densely that you really couldn’t see the infrastructure of the building.. you just saw jackets, shoes, and handbags etc…

5. Inside the Silk Market the salesperson to customer ratio is about 2:1. There are twice as many of them as there are of us, and they know we have money. Walking through the silk market I got a glimpse into what it would be like to be a movie star and to have people and paparazzi around you all the time trying to get something from you. Walking down the narrow isles, everyone was shouting to get your attention… sometimes putting their hands on your arm. While I would never excuse a celebrity for fighting back, I can at least understand why they sometimes snap.

6. The salespeople all spoke English. Maybe not the best English, but communicating was pretty easy. And these people (95% women) were master negotiators. If you wanted to buy a “Northface” jacket, they would start out with a price that you might pay if it were an authentic one. They type their price into a calculator, and then they let you hold the calculator and type in your price.

7. These Chinese master negotiators had tricks. They were all the same. One of the guys in our group saw what they were doing and starting fighting back. He would shop around, and do all the same things they did – making ridiculous statements about the product he was negotiating for, argued over 5 yuan (less than $1.), and just gave them the kind of hell they gave us. They hated him for it, and eventually usually refused to sell things to him. He got good prices though!

8. China has a very collectivist culture. They do everything together. Eating is a big example. I don’t think I ordered anything specifically for myself more than maybe once at Chinese restaurants. Every time we sat down, they just started bringing food. Generally 8-10 different dishes, some things that looked familiar, and some things that didn’t. After those courses were finished, they brought out the fried rice to fill whatever room was left in your stomach. If you’re ever in China, and are offered dessert, I’ll go ahead and help you out. Just say no. Dessert is a foreign concept to them. Trust me, their idea of dessert is no where near what your idea of it is. They also used the “Lazy Susan” style of tables that you sometimes see in the south for family style meals.

9. In Shanghai, we visited the Jade Buddha Temple. There were plenty of people there, but the whole place just felt empty. I think it was the first time I stepped inside a place of worship that wasn’t Christian or Jewish. This was also my first trip outside the US where I did not step inside a Church. That was also a strange feeling. You can throw a rock and hit 15 churches in Europe, but they’re just not there in China.

10. I was shocked by how easy it was to communicate with the Chinese. There was practically no language barrier at all. I went to Russia about a year and a half ago because I was too scared to go to China by myself thinking it would be too difficult to get around. Turns out I was wrong. Really wrong. Coincidentally, no one in Russia speaks English. Not a single person.

11. In Shanghai specifically, the buildings went on for miles, and miles. It’s really hard to get a sense of the 1.3 billion people in China. But it was easier when I would see groups of five, forty story residential complexes everywhere. They pack ‘em in over there. In New York City, there are many tall buildings, but it’s in a fairly confined area. In China there are buildings everywhere… but they aren’t really in a confined area, and you can’t really see the end of it.

12. In China, there is a saying: One country, two systems. This refers to the fact that Hong Kong and Macau are treated a little differently, but they’re all one big happy family. To me, it seemed more like: one country, 1.3 billion systems.

13. One night we went to a Cirque du Solei kind of show. It was pretty cool by itself, but what took it over the top was the fact that about five of the male performers had Chinese mullets. That’s right my friend, the mullet is world-wide!

14. High rises in China have windows that open. I was on the 21st floor in Shanghai, and our hotel window opened. Not enough that you could really climb, or fall out of it… but enough to do what any guy would do with an opened window that high off the ground =)

15. Living in America, we really forget how diverse the people are here. It truly is a “melting pot”. Well in China, there are only Chinese. 1.3 billion of them. So when some blond haired, blue eyed, white kid got on the subway by himself – they starred. A lot. It was a little uncomfortable. Not in a threatening way, but just in a what are you looking at? kind of way. I’d try to look back at them so they’d look away, but they just kept starring.

16. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention enough, but I never felt unsafe the entire time I was there. I did some wandering about by myself at night from time to time, but I always felt really safe.

That’s all for now… I’m sure I’ll remember other things later =)

No longer using Yahoo email

I will no longer be using my Yahoo email account, please make sure you use Sg@stewartgrace.com to reach me via email.

I will now be managing all of my email accounts (stewartgrace.com and uga.edu) through Gmail.

Thanks!

American Idol

What was up with Crying Girl on American Idol last night, and why were they showing her more than the people on stage?

The fact that Chris Sligh gave a shout out to Vote For The Worst.com while they were on air easily puts him on my list of people that are awesome. Probably not a smart move, but awesome still.

This is still all Mark’s fault…. dang American Idol… It’s like a train wreck… I want to look away… but I just can’t!

Pictures From Shanghai

Click the picture for the photo album



Pictures From Beijing

Click the picture to get to the album.


Back from China

After spending a week in China and hearing Chinese spoken everywhere, I am glad to be home. Finally, I am in a county where I speak the language. In a country where I understand what people are saying. In a country where I don’t have any problems communicating. In a country where I can go to Burger King at the San Francisco Airport and be greeted by hard working Americans……… speaking Spanish?

Went to bed at midnight last night, got out of bed today at 3pm – only because I’m trying to re-adjust to the time difference. I still feel so tired that I want to die. I should have pictures up soon. More on my observations in China when I feel more like myself =)

Ｓｔｉｌｌ　ｉｎ　Ｃｈｉｎａ

Monday we visited Tianimen Square (I’m not that worried about spelling, and it won’tbe right..), and then the Forbidden City. Very cool. Later we went out to the great wall, and man is that thing steep. I’ve got some great pictures though that I’ll have to post when I get back.

Yesterday we met with the American Business somethign or other (I can’t remember off the top of my head and it’s like $5 a minute to use the internet at the hotel)… it is an advocacy group for american business, and the guy was very interesting.. Then I took a tour of the older residential homes area. interesting to see how real beijingers live every day. Got to ride in a rickshaw.

Yesterday afternoon we met with Cisco, and heard from the President of Cicso China. Very impressive guy. We also got a demonstration for Telepresence Conferencing.. look it up, it makes video conferencing look like crap.

Last night I wandered around the Silk market and bought some paintings.. people are trying to sell us stuff constantly… guess they can tell we’re not from heｒｅ．

Ｔａｌｋ　ｓｏｏｎ，　ｈａｖｉｎｇ　ｆｕｎ！

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