Hefei - First impressions

In Beijing I found most of my colleagues, that came with different airlines, we all picked the fight to Hefei where a Bus from the hotel was waiting for us.
In that bus ride, there were about 30 people, coming from different places in the world to attend the same conference.
The ride from the airport was quite enlightening.

The bus driver was using the klaxon at every move from other cars, and other drivers  were doing the same. For some moment it reminded me "Little Miss Sunshine" movie.
The three-lane street was comfortably large for cars to get some speed. There were scooters  on the side with 2, 3 people on it. no one wears helmet.

The landscape was populated by tall new buildings, 90% of the cases still under construction. here it seems that the construction waste is burnt directly on site.
In some more open areas there are small buildings and people walking. There are repair shops,small markets or other small business I don't know what they do. The air looks  heavy and it threatens to rain.

We arrive at the Hotel, a new modern building with triangular shape. Tired, I check-in  and go up to my new room.
It has all the comfort, big bed, big screen tv, big bathroom  with shower and bathtub. the bathroom is separated from the room with a big glass window, one  can have a bath having a view over the city.
Since I wanted to have a shower, i tried to let the water run...and...big water leak!!

After my shower i go to the reception and ask for help to 2 girls with very poor english.
I try to explain myself by saying in simple language: "Big problem, my room, shower,  water everywhere".

They look confused, but nod their heads affirmatively, and dont react.
I say "I show you", and one of them comes with me.. at some point she starts leading the  way and takes me to see the swimming pool. she says "here, shower".

I think "oh sh#t"
I say: " You come, I show you Big Problem, my shower"
i managed to convince her to follow me, and finally show her the new fountain in my  room. She says: "Ooooohhhhh", and calls someone, then leaves.

A few minutes later, I have 3 people turning the bathtub around trying to fix the  problem..

Tired and jetlaged, seeing the mess, I decided to call the reception, saying i want a new  room. "No problem, me sends key". And a few minutes later was relaxing in my new room.
When I say 'new', I mean new. The hotel seems to have been finished a few weeks ago, and  everything is shining and ...with some leaks.

At 7pm i go down to the reception dinner, great food, lots of it, I stuffed my self. Had 1 glass of  wine too much, to help me sleep.

Wake up at 6h30am for breakfast, conference starts at 8am.
On the way to the conference site, all buildings look new and somehow  inhabited.
The sun is shining, one can see the blue sky by looking up, but at the horizon level there is pollution.

Departure towards China

The journey begun with a taxi ride to the airport, I managed to convince the gallician driver that i was really late, and i was, this resulted in a crazy driving reaching for every red light in town.
But it helped, because although i was the last to board, i didn't miss the flight.

The flight to Frankfurt was semi full, and i choose an empty space in the aisle with an empty space separating me from the next person, i like to have space in airplanes..
But my effort was in vain, a few minutes after take off, my neighbor an Indian young man, moves closer to me.
He was clearly nervous, holding his hands together in front of his face, almost like in a prayer.
He started the conversation with the excuse that that would keep him calm through the flight. he talked most of the time, but sometimes i couldn't hear him because of the noise from the engines, but i continued nodding my head like if I did.
He is a representative of Gucci watches in India, Imram was his name and in the end of the flight gave my his business card, in case i decide one day to go and visit mombai.

The next flight to Beijing was normal, was operated by air china and lasted 9 hours, my neighbor this time was a German man, but we only talked about the casual bumps due to the confined space, and the performance of the pilot during the landing. The dinner was chicken and the breakfast was pork. The time during the flight was spent trying to sleep in order to trick the jet-lag, but didn't managed.
Arrived at 6am local time, and in front of me another 6 hours before my next flight to hefei.

Tired and sleepy i spent most of the time from lounge to lounge, listening to music, and seeing the amazing performance of the Chinese officials. They look so proud with those uniforms. Here no matter which job you do you get an uniform.

China

Tomorrow I will be traveling there. For business and leisure, over a period of two weeks.
About 10 years ago i visited Macau at that time still under Portuguese administration and Hong Kong that had just been converted into a special administrative region of China.

My memories are very good, great traditions and superstitions, vivid colors and dense smells, a different culture, on the other side of the globe.

During this time, a lot have changed, China is growing at an impressive pace, and I expect to see a big contrast.

Some might argue that 2 weeks is not enough to sense the real china, 1 month can be not even sufficient, and one year might be still little...

The population of China grows more that 10 Million people per year, that's more than the whole population of Portugal. Its difficult to conceive that every year a new country grows inside a country...

China is changing, with its goods and bads, and i am going to get the feel of it.

keep tuned.

i am sure its going to be a great year


34

FAININAUEI - *finding a way?*

yesterday I posted this message elsewhere:
Num momento tão dificil com este para o mundo (Guerra, doença, miséria, o costume), artistas de renome portugueses juntaram-se para criar uma obra prima da música de esperança e união.

Apesar de não ser cantado em portugues, talvez para chegar a um público mais abrangente, não tenho duvidas de que se virá a tornar um mito musical

Deixem-se contagiar "FAININAUEI":

The truth is that although its a comic crazy song without meaning, it makes me feel good
:)

who messed up? Pull/Push

the life of a person with ambidexterity is not easy..

I think my ambidexterity comes from the fact that i was left-handed at birth, but by some reason i decided to try using my right hand as well.

I remember finding it easier in primary school, to write on the left page with my left hand, and on the right side with the right hand.
Also because, at that time i was using mostly pencils and one of my problems was that, when writing with the left-hand on the right side, i would usually mess up all the righting of the left page with my arm..and by having this 'anomaly', sometimes i loose a few microseconds to process which hand should i use in certain situations to make it safer/stronger/etc..

But the problem today is a different one:
I am sure that someone messed up while translating languages.
the word
PULL (ENG) - has its equivalent in portuguese as PUXE (POR)
and
PUSH (ENG) - has its equivalent in portuguese as EMPURRE (POR)

you see the problem? these words are phonetically similar but with the complete opposite meaning!

and the problem continues in the french language as well
POUSSER (FRA) - EMPURRAR (POR)
TIRER (FRA) - PUXAR (POR)

since i work in an environment with two official languages.... a few times i found my self bumping against doors.
Do you think it is already too late to correct this?

its time! business time.

i have to appologise 'cos this post should have been entered a long time ago.

They are the Flight of the Conchords' and they are just amazing.
i let you make your own judgment:



I also recommend:
'humans are dead'
'Jenny'
'Issues-Think about it'
and a lot more...