YES! I finally got off my duff and fixed the "attack of the Muslim extremists hackers" Don’t even get me started on that one.
Seems several sites on the server that hosts this one got hacked by some clown, I won’t even dignify his presence by typing his name out, lest it become Google-able (is google-able a real word?)
As it was, this carbuncle on the arse of the human race only replace several "index" files with his own, so no major damage that I can tell to databases, etc.
One thing that does speak to the resiliency of comment spammers though, was that all during the time the site was shut down, I managed to ge over 3700 comments. Mostly advertisements for such nonsense as various prescription pharmacies, sexual aids, etc. One particular entertaining spammer did leave sort of a dumb joke of the day though. I should have saved them, as some were pretty bad and good for annoying others.
So, back to semi-regular postings.
As they say “Stay tuned” for some new ramblings and some hopefully interesting photos of our new life “in exile” from Dongguan.
Yep, once again I’ve not updated this thing for months. And a lot has happened in the meantime. Actually, one of the reasons I hadn’t been updating was,, well nothing all that exciting was going on. When you’re unemployed, the main concern (other than money and the usual job hunt stuff) is how to keep yourself occupied, where you’re going for coffee, a beer etc.
All that changed last month, when I received an e-mail from a company I had interviewed with back in January while in the US. Am I still available, and can I start work the middle of June. Uh, that meant packing renting out the apartment, finding movers, etc in about a weeks time.
Did I mention the job would be in Puerto Rico for 3-4 months, then off to Tennessee? Friends were telling me that I could probably sell the job when I decided to quit or retire.
Sure, no problem. Things were kind of rushed, or I would have done the usual “expat leaving China after a long stay” sort of thing. The poignant stories about final dinners, saying farewell to friends, etc. Actually barely little time for that also, sort of “hey, I’m bailing, catch you on Facebook type of thing.”
So, here we are in Sunny Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. About as far from Dongguan, China as you can get, not only geographically, but also surroundings. I mean, instead of dodging crazed cantonese women on motor scooters on the way to work, I’m dodging the neighborhood horses that got out of their fields and decided to graze on the side of the one lane road that goes to where we call home.
I won’t even mention the factory, lets just say we’re not in China anymore with that one too.
So, time to write about this adventure. Once the internet comes back up and I can post online, I might start doing that regularly. Apparently, the internet connection, which in this apartment is wi-fi through the upstairs neighbor, is sort of spotty. To many clouds, too much rain, and no connection. As expats we like to complain about China, but it’s not so bad compared to other places.
While CCTV was busy burning down it’s own hotel, the recession raged on and numerous articles appeared in worldwide media writing about the rising unemployment rate of Dongguan, we were out traveling around trying to find employment of our own.
First stop, Quanzhou. Got to meet with an old friend who I haven’t seen in like 15 years it seems. Oddly enough she hasn’t seemed to have aged at all, while I on the other hand have gotten more wrinkly, greyer, and in general more creaky. A couple of good dinners and breakfasts and some good chats. Oddly enough, at one dinner I know most of the people there, as I had worked with them at other companies.
The fun part, was the drive to Quanzhou from Dongguan. Considering we had more time than money, we decided to make a little road trip out of it and drove. This isn’t all as difficult or death defying as it may sound, as the highways from Dongguan to Quanzhou are all tollway/expressway, and for the most parts in good shape. There are some nice rest areas every 40 to 50km, a couple with McDonalds none the less.
One rest area we always stop at has a large tea museum, and coffee shop, and others usually have shops, restaurants, and fuel stations.
Quanzhou itself is a smaller city in comparison to many in China, but is the home to a large international community of Arabs, Persians, Indians and other nationalities.
Quanzhou is also home to Quingjing Mosque. Imitating a mosque in Damascus, Syria, it was initially built in 1009 and today is the oldest Arab-style mosque in China. This magnificent mosque covers an area of 2,500 square meters (0.62 acre) and features a gate, the Fengtian Hall, and the Mingshan Hall. Next to the Quinjing Mosque is a Taoist temple, and in between the temple and the mosque is a market area selling traditional Chinese decorations, artifacts, etc.
All in all it was a great trip, a chance to get out of Dongguan for a few days and experience some of the other areas of China, at our own pace. Also a good chance to catch up with some old friends, and make some new ones. As far as employment, made some new contacts, and we’ll see how that pans out in the future.
Ok, you know you’ve been out the the U.S. for too long when you start forgetting what NFL Football ( as opposed to British Football, or what we call soccer in the U.S.) teams are in what locations. For the most part here in China, sports news is gathered from Internet sites. Streaming video of NFL games are non-existent, and for that matter, news coverage scarce. The NFL hasn’t caught on in China, although they are big fans of the NBA.
As it was, the movement of NFL teams was difficult to keep track of on a good memory day. For example ChinaFubar was born and raised in St. Louis, which used to be home to the St. Louis Cardinals NFL franchise, before them moved to Arizona and became the Arizona Cardinals. Then finally the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis, and all was well, until the officials would make a mistake and call a penalty against “Los Angeles” during a home game in St. Louis.
Then, after the Rams were in St. Louis for only one season, I moved to Los Angeles. Sold my Ram’s PSL’s, and was again, with no NFL team to cheer. Still cheered the Rams, especially to their 1999 Super Bowl Championship with Kurt Warner at QB! Great stuff, unfortunately, I was traveling in China at the time and of course didn’t see the game. Does the NFL really know how many viewers it looses because of their rules?
Now I call Arizona my U.S. home, at least that’s what it says on my driver’s license, and I’m again calling the Cardinals my home team, except now they play in Tempe. And once again, they seem to be playoff bound in no small part due to the efforts of the very capable Kurt Warner. Does anyone see a pattern here? Is Warner Canton bound? Should be, and not Canton, China either.
But I digress.
All this movement and lack of regular exposure to the NFL was brought home last night while watching NFL on Bensports satellite at the local British pub here in Dongguan, One for the Road. Not quite the same as in U.S., lots of British accents, and the game was only on one TV, with British football (soccer) on the other, larger screens. Plus the game, being on delay, was time compressed, and that just screws up the normal rhythm of watching an NFL game, as they cut out all the goings on between the end of a play and the snap for next play. Kind of like watching an hour and a half of a highlight reel.
So I’m watching the game, and through the Chinese subtitles I can see that the Balti—oops, Indiana Colts are playing…some team from SD with what looks like a yellow feather as a logo. At least that’s what it looked like on the bottom of the screen where they show the scores. So I’m thinking SD….South Dakota?? When did they get a team? And what is it, the Yellow Feathers? That’s what the logo looked like. After all, teams aren’t named after the cities they play in now, but the states they play in. Tennessee Titans, Indiana Colts, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, etc.
Then, they finally show a close up of the team,and I realize “Duh, San Diego!!! CHARGERS! Doh!! That’s not a feather, that’s a bad drawing of a spark.
That’s when it hit me, the old limited memory bug. The theory that the human brain can only hold so much information, and as you get older, at a certain point your brain becomes saturated, and for every new bit of information you learn, you forget something. So, I suspect that some bit of the vast amount of knowledge I’ve picked up in the last few months caused me to forget the San Diego Chargers actually existed, and were not in actuality a team called the South Dakota Yellow Feathers.
Problem solved. Except now there’s another problem.
What bit of information did I now forget because I’ve “re-learned” about the San Diego Chargers.
It’s never a good day when you look at obituaries, and see someone you know, but it’s really a strange day when you look at the home town obituary and see that your father passed away. And that’s the only way you knew, because you happened to look at the obits that day.
So it seems that my father, whom I haven’t seen or heard from since, Uh, maybe 1958 or 1959, passed away last Friday, ad the ripe old age of 78 or maybe 79. At least longevity runs in my family, which is good to know.
I don’t know much about the guy, just what I’ve heard through limited stories. Served in the military in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s, MOS projectionist/photographer. At one time I had a copy of his honorable discharge papers, not sure what happened to those documents. What little I do remember of him revolves around him running a hobby shop and playing with gas model airplanes. I don’t remember much interaction other than that.
After he and my mother divorced, he bailed, started a new life and broke contact with us. Apparently he didn’t want to be bothered with “old baggage” we were told by his parents to stay away from his live and we weren’t welcome.
So, how to process all this. Feel sad, sort of angry at what I missed. My wife told me I should try and find him to establish contact, but I felt that he was the one that was continually hiding. Not hard to get in contact with me, bankers from Nigeria can seem to manage.
So far the obituary reads, “Szabolcsky, Robert A. Fri., Jan. 2, 2009. Visitation XXX., 3-8 p.m. Funeral XXX., 12 noon at xxxx So. County. Interment National Cemetery
No mention of family, relatives, survivors, etc. Somehow I wonder if that’s how he wanted it.
Already it’s January 1st, 2009, geez, where did the millennium go? For ChinaFubar it was a quiet New Year’s Eve, spent snuggling with Mrs. ChinaFubar and watching the festivities on Hong Kong TV.
Currently sitting at the local pub having a post new year’s lunch, and catching up with the New Year’s Eve happenings. Apparently there was the usual antics, foolishness in the bathrooms, people drinking mass quantities, etc. Seems, as in the U.S. New Year’s Eve is “amateur night” here in China also. But, some expats tend to be professional drinkers, so those dedicated souls consumed much more than usual apparently.
The pub itself is still showing the affects of the party, bits of silver confetti on the floor, chairs, and cracks in the bar. Currently the barmaid is trying to get the confetti from on top of the flat screen TV behind the bar using a pool cue.
For ChinaFubar, this year has held a strange mix of events. New jobs, no jobs, and moving around the country. Looks like next year will bring more of the same.
It’s said that an optimist looks to the new year ahead, and from the sounds of things in the news, it’s going to be an interesting year.
Just reading an article from New York Times, “Chinese Savings Helped Inflate American Bubble” which attempts to make the convoluted argument the reason for the current recession, which was basically based on the party of binge borrowing coming to a halt, is not because Americans borrowed so much, but because Chinese saved so much. Thus, there was an excess of Chinese capital that was made available to banks and lending institutions and was used underwrite American consumption.
The article goes on to talk about how the trade deficit gave China so much U.S. capital it had to plow it back into the U.S. economy in the form of purchasing debt such as Treasury bills and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt.
While the article has the basics of the picture painted pretty well, I’m not sure the conclusion is correct.
Well, it’s Christmas Day in Dongguan, and rather than presents under the tree and a scene from the movie “A Christmas Story,” I’m typing away on the computer, the wife’s sleeping on the couch, where she was when I woke up this morning, (no reason why so far) and the construction workers are banging away downstairs on yet another apartment redecorating project.
To be fair, apparently there was a bit of holiday spirit, dare I say CHRISTMAS spirit in the air last night around town. Concerts, recitals, the local expat school had their Christmas Pageant, and the mall next door had a show of some sort. Actually the show was put on by a local auto dealer trying to drum up sales for Geelys, Suzukis, Great Wall, Chevrolet, and some other brand with a Mini knock-off.
The show also included dancers, who while we were watching were doing some sort of dance routine that I think was supposed to be “sultry” but instead they just had a look of general unhappiness to be there.
The whole display was capped off by a giant Christmas tree made of Snow beer cans.
At least the PA system wasn’t blaring out what is apparently the one Christmas music CD that is available locally. Cutsey-sounding kids singing Christmas carols. First 100 times it was cute, and put one in the holiday mood. Second thousand times,… you get the picture. This one has been playing everyplace from the Carrefour, Dongcheng Walking Street, Trust Mart, and the Japanese Noodle shop. Sales must have been in the 100’s for this CD.
Of course, not a lot of the local population really understands what Christmas is all about, mostly an excuse for a party and maybe exchanging of gifts, and an excuse for the vendors to run around to the customers giving day planners for next year. I’ve also gotten a ton of e-mails from executive recruiters wishing me a Merry Christmas, and if I know of anyone looking for a new job to refer them and I’ll be entered in a chance to win a 3000HKD gift certificate to some high end department store or another. About as much chance of that happening as one of said recruiters actually placing someone in a job.
To be fair, seems this year there is an attempt by some folks here that actually understand the true meaning of Christmas to try and get the word out, Even the local government sponsored English language news website “Dongguan Today” had an article about the story behind Christmas. I’d link to it but it’s been taken down already.
I know this all sounds cynical on my part, but for some reason the Christmas spirit has yet to descend on your able writer. Had a brief encounter with it sitting in Starbuck’s a couple of weeks ago, but still waiting. Maybe the sub tropical weather, palm trees and beer can Christmas trees has something to do with it.
I do have to say, as cynical as it sounds, from what I’m hearing back in the states there is more Christmas Sprit in our little atheistic city of Dongguan than there is in most of U.S. Of course the current economy is playing a part in the reduction of holiday cheer in the states, but I’m hearing that political correctness has about wiped out the whole celebration of Christmas. I was in the states last year for Christmas, and I do have to say, more holiday spirit and “Merry Christmas” – NOT “Happy Holidays” here in DG land.
There used to be an old China Expat Urban Legend about the expat wife shopping in the fresh markets in Guangzhou. She comes across a vendor selling live cats destined to be someone’s dinner later in the day. This particular vendor’s practice was to pick out the cat, break it’s neck and plunge into boiling water to remove the hair.
Expat wife is horrified at the process, and takes it upon herself to at least save a couple of the cute little kittens from their inevitable culinary destiny. She offers to purchase 2 of the more “cute’” kittens, but requested the stall owner to not boil them.
Stall owner complies and pulls the cats out of the cage, wrings their little necks and holds the now dead cats out to the expat wife. Rumor has it she fainted.
Courtesy of Danwei, we received news that cats have now again become a popular dining staple, Seems that stray cats from Nanjing province are rounded up by “cat fishermen” and shipped to a market in Dongguan, where they are sold to smaller vendors, and eventually wind up in Cantonese restaurants in the area:
Of course the Netizens in China are responding, with no small amount of anger, as China.org reports. In part:
Many people have condemned the eating of cats, claiming they are human beings’ friends.
According to an online survey conducted by the website of Southern Metropolis Daily yesterday, 661 out of the 886 netizens who voted considered dining on cats “ruthless”, while 207 said it was okay.
Almost 400 said they have never eaten cats, while 170 said they have or want to try.
The article goes on to mention:
An official with the animal hygiene supervision institute under the provincial health department, who preferred not to be named, told China Daily yesterday that his institution supervises chickens, geese, ducks, horses, cattle, sheep, donkeys, mules, pigs and dogs, but not cats.
“Unless they (the cats) are suspected to have caused an epidemic, I don’t think we are in a good position to interrupt the business,” he said.
Donkeys? Mules? What exactly does donkey or mule taste like? I’ve eaten ostrich, reindeer (sorry Santa) but not donkeys, horses or mules.
Now before you send me a bunch of nasty comments, China Fubar is pretty neither a cat hater nor particularly condones the eating of said creatures. Actually, I’ve heard cat tastes similar to rabbit, and although I’ve had rabbit, I’m not particularly fond of the taste, even when prepared using my mother’s tried and true recipe of marinating it in wine overnight.
I’m basing the rabbit comparison based on an experience from one of my first after school jobs in high school, busing tables at a neighborhood Italian restaurant. The owner called cats “roof rabbits” and mentioned one night that they were pretty tasty. Later that night he drove me home, and during the drive observed that “there were sure a lot of cats in my neighborhood” as the old lady down the street tended to feed all the neighborhood strays.
A couple of days later, I noticed no cats, and a new daily special on the restaurant menu.
Also, judging from the cat population at our apartment complex, I have a feeling there’s not much meat on the animals being sold. To tell the truth, neighborhood cats vs neighborhood rats would be a fair fight, even money.
As it is, ChinaFubar wonders, with the lack of hygiene supervision of cats as food, will we be subject to the same sort of disease outbreak similar to SARS, which, if you remember, was caused by infected Civet Cats out of Guangzhou.
China Fubar can’t also help but recall the parody of Harry Chapin’s tune, “Cat’s in the Cradle”
I’m watching out for any new daily specials in the local restaurants.
During this morning’s perusal of the news, a multimedia article from New York Times, “Fashion on the Street – Some Imagination”. It’s a multimedia slide show, so may take some time to load all the photos, you may see blank screen while the narrator/author Bill Cunningham describes what he sees.
While everyone’s expecting a down year in the footwear industry, it’s interesting to note that some companies are experiencing record sales or up years. Again, the key is to produce something that people want. Fashion shoes are by and large an emotional purchase, and how those shoes are designed and marketed plays a big part in a brands success. Read the rest of this entry »
