Last night was great, Joe's group of co-workers hosted a "Welcome to Shanghai BBQ". That's what it was called, but it was actually an all-you-can-eat buffet at O'Malley's Irish Pub. :) We found it funny that they didn't take us to traditional Chinese, but it turned out great. The food was actually pretty good, and there was a bounce house, a sandbox and a playstructure, and no one cared if the kids ran wild.
Unfortunately for Joe, it was a traditional Chinese banquet in one way. One of Joe's co-workers gave the traditional "bottoms up" toast which means that the guest of honor needs to empty their glass. Joe had a full glass of Guinness, and was in his third day of a severe case of the "Shanghai Express"! There was no way that his stomach could tolerate throwing back the whole Guinness, but he wasn't going to admit to the runs, so he took a drink and pretended not to understand what he was supposed to do. Luckily he was saved by some other folks in the group who said that not ALL Chinese view that as the traditional toast for the guest of honor. Phew! They did do some more traditional toasting for success in their programs and projects at work, and Joe survived those adequately.
It was a fun dinner and we got lots of advice from everybody on where we should go in China. Everyone said "Shanghai is not really China!" and proceeded to suggest trips to everywhere from local water towns to Mongolia to Tibet. While I want to see lots of China, I think even I'm not adventurous enough to take 2 small children to Tibet. And they also unanimously said that on the Chinese holidays, get out of China because there are so many Chinese people everywhere. :) Our first Chinese holiday is the first week of October. Someone told us you need to plan 3 months in advance because everything books up, but we'll give it a shot anyway. Now, how do I find a travel agent???
On the way home from the pub we told Daniel (our driver) what a good driver he was. He told us that he trained to be a driver by driving a taxi around the city and we said "you are much better than the crazy taxi drivers!" and he laughed and said "Americans always say that about the taxis." Then Joe asked if being a driver was a good job in Shanghai. Daniel said he didn't know, that 3-4 years ago it was, but not now. He told us 4 years ago he made 30-40 RMB/hour, which equates to $4-5 USD/hour. Today he makes 10 RMB/hour, which equates to about $1.30 USD. And he only gets overtime if he works before 6AM or after 8PM, or on the weekends. This is apparently an economic story playing out all over China where one business/industry is successful and in the blink of an eye there are 10 other businesses, all working longer hours for cheaper rates and stealing each other's employees. Before last night I was worried about how much Daniel was driving for us, even though all the other ex-pats assured me the drivers want as much work as possible. But given the economic reality of his job, I now believe it when Daniel says he likes to work the weekends. But it just feels so weird to have this person drive you places and sit there waiting for you, sometimes for hours on end. And I wonder what thoughts go through his head as he waits for me to come out of yet another store loaded down with all the stuff I "need" to set up our household in China.
Even in Shanghai, even within the expat community, I think it's possible to start to see some of the "real" China if we look and ask and listen.
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