Week 1 – Brian’s First Entry 11/11/07

When we arrived in China, I realized that almost everything I owned was arriving home. My clothes, my electronics, books and even my shoes were made in China. This made me feel like it was a family sort of a family trip and it was warming my heart. It was nice to think that my shirt may have relatives here and perhaps we could visit. Of course, this was delirium speaking. We arrived at 5:15am the morning after a 13-hour flight. This alone will shape your opinion of a place, no matter where you have been or are going. This experience had left us tired, weak and on the verge of being so excited I could have puked. It was dark and the terminal was empty except for the souls who arrived with us. I thought that all the reports of being Beijing being a bustling metropolis might have been exaggerated. The terminal itself was beautiful and the architecture was very blue, silver and modern. Like a set from the movie “Logan’s Run.” The first thing I noticed was that the workers were all in uniforms. Very formal uniforms with badges, patches and trim. Even the cleaning crews were smartly dressed in a nice grey uniform, almost like something one might have imagined in a vision from a Brave New World.

We got through customs with no trouble and our baggage arrived right on time. Everything was easy so far, the flight was good, baggage was here and we were tired but things were looking up. This was the start of a new career, new life, and new sights, smells, people, traffic jams all in the shiny new wrapper of an exotic land, with great food and loads of stuff beyond my imagination.

Eddie Izzard once described Europe as the place they “do” History. I understood being from Los Angeles, since “old” in LA was from the 60’s and “antique” as from the 40’s. Let me tell you from what I was reading Europe has nothing on China. For me, LA was getting too familiar with me after the first 41 years of my life. LA was like a horny date after a few too may drinks. It grabs you a lot but after a while you can be board if you’re not that into it.

I was ready to see the world. I am not sure if Los Angeles shrunk, or I was growing. Either way, I will always love LA, as the song says, but I was ready for a new affair. I flirted with New York in 2005, London in 1991 and Seattle in 2003 but none of them was sticking to me. My life was all about change, as you know, Jen and I will have been married for 2 years come this December, and with all the other changes afoot in my life of massive weight loss, the closure of Brooks College, my sister’s never-ending illness as well as everything else. I guess I was thinking that this was the start of a mid-life crisis and I was applying lifestyle CPR before it hit too hard. Life will leave bruises, the only thing you can do is either dig in for the haul and take your lumps or you can realize that we were all born to run.

We have signed to work with a company called “English First” which is pretty big in the world of private international language schools. They report over 300 learning sites world wide with over 26,000 teachers working to spread the good word. The company arrange for us to be picked up at the airport and thus a young Chinese woman named “Rose”, who worked for English First, warmly greeted us at 5:45am after getting our baggage. She was warm and inviting and welcomed us in some rough but clear English. It made us feel very good to have a connection at the airport. With all that was swimming in my head, realizing that I was literally halfway around he world from my home was setting in and the thought was dizzying. Regardless, she and her driver loaded us into a van along with our 435lbs of luggage spread over 10 large suitcases.

By the way, if you have never done this before, and I suspect some of you have, I have now learned that it is not so easy to pack for one year of your life to live halfway around the world. It is not as easy as one may think. I was rather naive on this, as I waited till the day of our departure to pack. Our friend Natalie, I was told, packs months in advance for her trips. I thought this was odd when Jennifer told me this, but now I realize that Natalie has wisdom far beyond my own. The act of packing out and worrying about forgetting something important (which is inevitable) is stressful. Especially, when you research the cost of shipping things to China runs about $150 for 30lbs with USPS. So, with fear as my guide I over packed anything and everything I could think of that would fit into my three 50lb bags. We resigned to pay the additional luggage fees to AirChina and just bring about everything we could think of.

We have been told things are less expensive in China and not to bring too much. I was sure Jennifer (5’1” with a normal build) could find clothes fine. Myself on the other hand, being 6’5” 350lbs was not so sure that George Forman (owner of Casual MaleXL) was going to have a Big Man’s clothing store in Beijing. Panic set in and I took everything I could – I even bought 2 new Hawaiian Shirts just in case. Silly I know, but it set my mind to ease.

Safe and sound we arrived in the hotel and got to our room. Now, in America we tip people who help us in the service sector. We tip waiters, car washers, and just about anyone who asks. When two young men with a combined weight of 120lbs, took our luggage up to our room I wanted to tip them. We had Chinese Money – RMB – but only 100RMB bills. I am a generous person, but 100RMB? I decided American Money was the thing – in Mexico they love it – Ensenada merchants prefer it – so why not Beijing? I did not want to start off being the “Ugly American” throwing cash around, but I didn’t want to be the cheap ass Yankee in room 311 either. The rule of thumb in America was $1 per bag so I recall being told by my fellow working class protocol philosophers. So there it was – I handed them the greenbacks and you would have thought I handed them a turd. Their faces took the look of confusion, curiosity and wide eye wonder. It was clear that I screwed the pooch on this, but I had already stepped in it. They left the room and I was left confused. Later, I came to learn that their daily wage was about 52 RMB. I handed them $5USD each which translates to about 38RMB. It took a few days, but they smile at me now, and the door opens when I walk up. Little did I know that in China tipping is not common, nor is it allowed in some places. I took it as normal, but it is not. It seems to be catching on but it is just part of the first step of my awareness that we carry our culture around like a tattoo. We forget it is there sometimes, but people notice it and it shows. Sometimes, people love it, and others just do not get it. Like a tattoo, it is not easily erased, and if it is removed it leaves a scar.

That’s enough for now. The beginning of our trip has been an eye opening experience. Beijing, China exceeds whatever you could imagine it to be.