I Want to Hug China

Everyone here has been so nice to me. The people are courteous and kind and patient and I am the bad guy auditor who is here to scold them and still they take me in stride. So far I have been more well received here than New Zealand. And I have seen some amazing things. From the truly astonishing, such as the landscape and the parks, to the bizarre, such as the taxi motorcycles who take up to two passengers...that I have seen. I have seen what I believe to be bicycle taxis as well, with a little flat grate on back like kids in the fifties used to strap their school books to. Crazy. And there is a devil may care attitude about driving that will haunt me for years to come.

So far the food has been amazing. I like Chinese food in the states, but this stuff is fabulous. We had dinner on the floor at this Japanese restaurant where we had a room to ourselves (four of us) and they brought in dishes of all sorts, both Japanese and Chinese, and I grabbed my chopsticks and dug in. (Ignoring, I might add, the knife and fork that were specifically brought in for the white girl.) I was commended for my "strong will" by our host. I was eating everything they put in front of me, even if only for a bite to try, and was enjoying everything, even AFTER I saw that the chicken they brought out still had its head. Deep fried, but there it was, staring into my plate with a crispy solemnity.

The hotels just keep getting better. Last night was HEAVEN in the middle of a muddy, overcrowded town. We arrived in the night and I thought we were on an isolated resort, only to learn with first light that we were surrounded with high rise dormitories, office buildings, and factories. Honestly, you wouldn't know if you didn't look up. And I met my first lotus flower. She was beautiful. I may try and figure out how to post the picture from here. That would be very modern of me. Tonight the hotel is beautiful, though I am not sure I love it as much as the Panyu hotel from last night, thought the furniture is out of this world. Actually, I take that back, the furniture is from about two hundred years ago and the stuff of kings. At least, that is what it represents. And it has internet, which is another bonus.

The audit went well, for those of you concerned about my focus. One down, eight to go.

Oh, and, on the bright side, apparently my Mandarin is perfect. When I told Goodman that I was learning he demanded that I speak to him and so I sheepishly said (phonetic appealing here) "Ni whey shoa ying guen ma?" Our host, who was having a conversation of his own on the other side of the table, stopped everything, reeled, and said "Oh my God!!" I'm assuming he was imagining that I had been understanding everything from the beginning, which I promptly reassured him I hadn't. It didn't help that a few minutes later he said "me guaryen" and I said "AH! Wa sur me guaryen!" because I understood that he was talking about my Americanism. He tried only English from then on and prompted me to speak Mandarin to anyone new to arrive. I became quite the attraction speaking in perfect Mandarin (or so I am told) and only asking "Do you speak English?" Chinese humor is easy.

Besides that my feet are sore, my back aches (I haven't yet mentioned the boxes that pass for mattresses, have I?) and my shoulder, ironically cured by Chinese Red Flower super potion prior to my departure, has gone back to its broken state.

All in all, so far an excellent adventure. Oh, and I had fifty year old egg...not bad, considering.