What I have learned so far......

Well I have now been in China for over two months.  have had the opportunity to see many unusual, wonderful, and interesting things. Over the last week I started thinking about how to sum up my experiences so far. First I would like to say that many of the Chinese people I have had contact with are very considerate and friendly. I have also found that I am willing to eat a lot of things now that I would not have eaten before (I am still looking for that rat on a stick for you Jasper, I promise I will try it). Probably the biggest thing I have learned is how quickly you can develop strong friendships with new people, when everyone is in an environment that is quite foreign to them.

I want to give a little background on last week here, as there were several unique events, unfortunately I was not there for them, but they are now famous amongst my crew of friends here. Last Tuesday we all went to a Martini bar on the Bund, it is quite expensive for a drink at 50 rmb each so we decided to drink some before we got there. While at the bar I got into a heated discussion with a group of Swedes who felt Canada had not given a quality alcohol to the world. They believe that their Absolut Vodka was the greatest liquid ever produced. Although I had to tell them that Absolut is a nice vodka, it in no way compared to Canadian rye. I was able to get my hands on a bottle of CC in the bar, and ordered a drink. The Swedes I were not too impressed I think, but that might because our booze has a bit of a kick to it. As we were drinking I was being informed  by the Swedes that fighting is not apart of hockey, and the only reason we fight is that we are not skilled enough. I know this argument was all in good fun, as they know any Canadian could jersey a Swede at any time (just kidding to all my Swedish friends). This argument did get heated and I wore myself out huffin and puffin about the greatness of OUR game, so I decided to head home. This unfortunately is when the night got interesting for some of my friends, as they decided they were hungry after the next bar. They went to People's Square as one of the girls knew where they could get meat on a stick for quite cheap from street vendors (I know, you are all going ew at this point. I just want to state that I have not, and will not eat street meat until I find that rat on a stick for my nephew). Well the usual price for one skewer is usually between 1 and 3 rmb, and that is what they paid for the first few. Then my friend grabbed one more and ate it, but instead of the guy wanting 1-3 rmb he decided the value of that exact same skewer had increased to a cost of 75 rmb. Well the people in the group thought that that was outrageous (which it was) and refused to pay. The skewer guy decided it was worth calling the police over, and somehow the cops appeared almost instantaneously. Well they took my buddy into the back of a cop van (which is where I would have started crying and peeing myself, along with the skewer guy. Well the rest of the group did not like losing one of their friends to a cop van so they were able to convince the cop that they were in the right, but so the skewer guy would not lose face they agreed to pay 20 rmb, which is still way too much. Well I  guess when the van door was open our friend jumped out of the back like someone lit his ass on fire, but I would have done the exact same thing. So the moral of the story is to always make sure you negotiate before you eat the street meat.

I have also decided that when this trip is over and I am finished my MBA, that I will be done with education for awhile. I guess I know it is time for me to start working (yes I know Jill, I should have been doing this years ago), so if anyone knows of any sweet openings in Cowtown please throw this dog a bone.

But I have been rambling on here for way too long as I need to get some sleep soon. So I hope everyone is able to give someone they love a big hug and kiss today, and until next time.

Dyno-Mite