Friday, September 10, 2010

Hello from Bob

China's interesting. On the one hand, the people I have met so far have been very warm and welcoming. On the other, as I walk down the street in Yingkou, a small Chinese city in the north east and my current city of residence, everybody stares at me. It's uncomfortable, but I'm not perturbed. I'm working for the real estate development company of Mr. Xu (an acquaintance of Dad's). It's pretty fun. Essentially, its my job to critique their business methods from a western perspective. They want to know how we do things in America so that they can better appeal to modern Chinese consumers. It's fun.

I believe that I am the only westerner in Yingkou, though it has a population of 1.2 million. I can't really do anything by myself as menus in restaurants are written exclusively in Chinese and the number of English speakers in the city can be counted on one hand. Having a personal translator, as the company has provided me, is of little consolation. He knows about as much English as I know Chinese. His name is Meng Di and he is 23 like myself. However, both of his parents died when he was 17 and now he lives in government housing. Before acquiring his job as my translator, he was an unemployed college graduate and had no idea of what he wanted to do in life. He wears the same clothes every day and is reluctant to spend any amount of money. I'm pretty sure he's under fed. Even worse, he told me that without parents, he has no chance of gainful employment, as everyone in Yingkou gets their job through their parents connections. I've decided that I am going to do my best to help him learn our language so that he can find a job as a Chinese/English translator and make a decent living. I spoke with him about my idea and he seems genuinely excited about the prospects. He's a very nice kid and works hard to study English in his free time. Coming from a economically stable and loving family, I feel it's the least that I can do to help him. Larry Li and Mr. Xu have given me several thousand Chinese Yuan for my own expenses, but I think I will buy him another pair of clothes first. I have also been given a bike to travel to and from work. Meng Di has a pretty crappy bike from the 80's. It's rusted to shit and the pedals are falling off. When I leave Yingkou in a little more than two months from now, I'll give the bike to him if I have the option.
I will write again when I have pictures and more to say.

Best,
Bob

Friday, September 3, 2010

Greeting from Tucson AZ



Hello all,
I just wanted to update everyone on how U of A has been for me so far. The weather is perfect everyday (I think we only get a few days of rain every year) and winter time is going to be like autumn in Milwaukee. I'm really enjoying all of my classes, especially Programming and Psychology. My professors are all very nice and I've been getting to know them all.

Taylor has been a pretty good room mate. He does have his moments though.

And I'm happy to announce that I won't be gaining the "freshman 15". I run just about every other day. So don't worry.

I've attached a couple pictures of my desk and dorm.

Bye for now.