The week that went by…

No, I'm not a big fan of commercials... but I like banners, especially in China!

…was too busy and not enough exciting. But there are still some things to share.

Not getting off the bus despite feeling ill

I almost had a fit the other day when I was on the morning bus to school. For some reason I turned around and saw fluid all over the floor. “What on earth is that?” I thought to myself, until I saw a young girl holding a plastic bag with fluid coming out of it. “Oh, has she dropped something? Is the carrying some drink in her bag?” I thought, until I realized that oh no.. this girl was throwing up on the bus floor (I guess she tried to aim at the bag but she wasn’t too good at hitting it). Once she was done she sat like normal with her feet on a floor full of her puke. D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G! I simply don’t get why she didn’t get off the bus if she felt so ill. There are new buses coming every 5-10 minutes, so it’s not like this was the only one she could take.

I guess I don’t need to mention that I am quite relieved that my days as a bus passenger in Suzhou are coming to an end.


My first fan

On Monday I worked as a fitting model in Shanghai. There was a new Chinese girl helping out with the fitting: a lovely girl from Chongqing. As soon as she realized I could speak Chinese we started chatting and hit it off like a house on fire. At times I found her staring at me adoringly, and after a while I asked: “What’s up? Why are you looking at me like that?”

-Your hair… I wish I had your hair. I have always wanted to be blonde!

-Well I think your hair is lovely.

-Well it is not only your hair. I also wish I had your nose… it is so big and perfect (BIG and perfect? Man! Beauty is different over here!). And your eyes…

-Eh… OK.

Five minutes of silence followed before she asked:

-How tall are you?

-1.75

-Wow! I wish I was that tall! I envy you!

-Well at least you can wear heels, I cannot.

-How much do you weight?

-Ehhhh…. I reluctantly revealed my holy number.

-Oh! That’s perfect! Not too much!

And then, a bit later:

-Oh, I love your bum! It is so cute! It is so round. Mine is so flat. I wish I had your bum. And your curves!

At this point I was lost for words. Fortunately one of the girl’s colleagues stepped in:

-Hey, enough! You are scaring our fitting model!

I have to say I felt a little bit freaked out. I am not used to someone gushing over me. In fact, I am so used to listening to other people gushing over my bf that it felt completely awkward to suddenly find myself in that position. Having experienced it, however, I don’t think I’ll ever complain again about how much attention western males get over here. They can have it all. As long as no stranger tells me she likes my bum.


Advertisement lovers

During one of my lesson, my teacher asked me:

-What do you think of Chinese advertisements?

-Terrible. Fake. Cliché.

-Eh… all of them?

-Most of them.

-Eh… yeah, me too. But I like Mc Donald’s commercial. It makes me feel happy.

-Eh…I thought you said you didn’t like Mc Donalds?

-I don’t. But their commercial is really good! “I am loving it!” haha!

(Hands up for Maccas, they have done a good job here in China!)

This reminds me of studying Mandarin level 4 at Suzhou University. My listening teacher over there also loved commercials. She used to start each lesson by playing us her favourite commercial video clip, the most memorable being some car brand (I forgotten which one) having a 3-minute long commercial with Hanson’s “I Will Come To You” as a loud set-the-mood-background-music.

-Isn’t this great! She chanted, once we finished watching.

Some A-students enthusiastically agreed.

-OK, let’s watch it then once more…….!