While some of the “kids” at work can speak English fairly well there are many that don’t speak it all. But, that doesn’t always mean they don’t understand some English. They call me Matta and most of them have chosen to have English names at work. There’s Vicky, Katrina, Tom, Ken and John then some have chosen English words for names like Dragon, Ocean, Peak and Camero to name a few. Several of them are students at a local textile college so really they probably know more about the technical aspect of the job than I do. So I have to be careful and appear to know what I am doing at all times even though the machinery here has much newer technology than I am used to.
Last week I was told that I am harder to understand than some of the other Americans in the plant. The only thing I can figure is it is my southern accent as most of the other foreigners are from Canada or up North. So some people tell me to slow down when I speak which is funny to me because I thought southerners spoke slowly already. But, the more I talk with them the more they understand the best accent the U.S. has to offer. Someone from Boston would not stand a chance here.
Anyway here’s a funny story that caused me to write about work. On many cars I’ve noticed they have little green and red pieces of cloth tied under their rear bumpers. I’ve wondered what it meant since I got here so today I TRIED to ask Vicky what this meant. I tried my best to ask her what the green and red meant on the cars and at first she just told me the Chinese words for green and red. Green is Lu Se and red is Hong Se. Then she told me “green means go, red means stop”. She was talking about the traffic lights. I laughed and told her I knew that and tried to explain again what I was talking about, “the cloth people tied under their cars”. She then told me she doesn’t understand cars so she would ask Rain because he knows about cars. After a couple of minutes of heavy, serious conversation with Rain Vicky came back to me and said “the lights in the front of the car are very bright and the lights in the back of the car turn red meaning you will stop”. So at that point I told her it was not important and I would take a picture and show her what I was talking about. (Funny thing is when I have my camera I never seen them, when I don’t have my camera their everywhere) I now know from asking my boss that the red and green things are to keep evil spirits of a car crash away. Makes sense huh? Seems to work most of the time the majority of accidents I’ve seen involve bikes, which I have not seen many of the red and green things tied on yet, I guess there is not a good place to tie them.
So, this is China. Where some people don’t know that cars and traffic lights are international things that basically work the same everywhere, green means go and red means stop. I think a lot of people here in Suzhou came from rural parts of China where there are no cars, they came here to work. Now that’s not to say they are all so naive, some are very smart. I mean for them to be able to speak, read and write English as well as some do still blows me away. I’m just glad “most” of the time I can finally tell a taxi driver where to take me without him laughing at me and saying huh? But I still keep my card that says” 请送我到城堡和乔丽晶酒店公寓” “Please take me to Chateau Regency” When they don’t understand “Who Chow Lee Gin” (spelled wrong but the way it sounds) It can be a lifesaver especially on the weekends.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
East Bound And Down
Alright, now I have to go in to a little more detail about the roads and driving conditions.
First of all there are six million people living in Suzhou most of them are packed into busses while the rest drive cars or ride bikes. When I use the term bikes I mean electric scooters or bicycles. Most of the people here seem to be going to work at the same time every morning although, I know most of the companies around here run twenty four seven operations so that means I’m probably seeing only one third of the traffic that could happen every morning but, that’s enough to make me cringe every morning and afternoon when we almost push someone on a bike into a tree or even worse, an old lady sweeping the road. The traffic lights here have digital countdown displays similar to the ones the N.B.A. uses. They count down the seconds in red when the light is red getting everybody ready to race. Opposite of that when they are green they count down in green the seconds the light will stay green. Most people know they actually have a couple of more seconds to run the light before getting smashed. Just like everything else here the traffic light system is backwards from those in the states. First you get your green light to go straight then you get your left turn signal. Let me tell you that most people don’t obey the lights at all, especially cement trucks and construction worker’s trucks. Everyone knows that they are not going to stop and they are always moving at the speed of light. When there is one lane to make a left turn, three lanes of traffic make the left turn. I don’t know how they manage to do it but, somehow it works out, usually with only an inch or two between side mirrors. Just honk your horn.
Then there are the people on bikes carrying things. I’ve seen a guy on a bike with four sheets of 4’x 8’ plywood. I’ve also seen a guy with a ladder standing straight up with his head in one of the rungs. Did you know three people can fit on a bike? Three adults or two adults with an infant, it doesn’t matter everything goes here. There are some three wheel bikes that are powered by a generator with a belt hooked up to a pulley on the wheel. I don’t know how they control their speed but like most people on bikes usually feet make good brakes. YaBaDaBaDo! Modern day Fred Flintstone. The bikes have their own separate lane but, sometimes they choose to take the road anyways. That doesn’t really matter too much though because we all come together in the intersections anyways.
As dangerous as riding a bike here seems. I have to say when our bus broke down on the way home from work the first Friday I was here, the guys cruising by us on bikes looked like the way to go. They all kind of had a smile on their faces, I think they enjoyed seeing a group of westerners on the side of the road. All the while our driver, who wears a suit, was wading in the marsh with a twenty ounce bottle collecting water to pour in the radiator. I guess he enjoyed seeing it spray back out under the engine. At least the horn still worked.
First of all there are six million people living in Suzhou most of them are packed into busses while the rest drive cars or ride bikes. When I use the term bikes I mean electric scooters or bicycles. Most of the people here seem to be going to work at the same time every morning although, I know most of the companies around here run twenty four seven operations so that means I’m probably seeing only one third of the traffic that could happen every morning but, that’s enough to make me cringe every morning and afternoon when we almost push someone on a bike into a tree or even worse, an old lady sweeping the road. The traffic lights here have digital countdown displays similar to the ones the N.B.A. uses. They count down the seconds in red when the light is red getting everybody ready to race. Opposite of that when they are green they count down in green the seconds the light will stay green. Most people know they actually have a couple of more seconds to run the light before getting smashed. Just like everything else here the traffic light system is backwards from those in the states. First you get your green light to go straight then you get your left turn signal. Let me tell you that most people don’t obey the lights at all, especially cement trucks and construction worker’s trucks. Everyone knows that they are not going to stop and they are always moving at the speed of light. When there is one lane to make a left turn, three lanes of traffic make the left turn. I don’t know how they manage to do it but, somehow it works out, usually with only an inch or two between side mirrors. Just honk your horn.
Then there are the people on bikes carrying things. I’ve seen a guy on a bike with four sheets of 4’x 8’ plywood. I’ve also seen a guy with a ladder standing straight up with his head in one of the rungs. Did you know three people can fit on a bike? Three adults or two adults with an infant, it doesn’t matter everything goes here. There are some three wheel bikes that are powered by a generator with a belt hooked up to a pulley on the wheel. I don’t know how they control their speed but like most people on bikes usually feet make good brakes. YaBaDaBaDo! Modern day Fred Flintstone. The bikes have their own separate lane but, sometimes they choose to take the road anyways. That doesn’t really matter too much though because we all come together in the intersections anyways.
As dangerous as riding a bike here seems. I have to say when our bus broke down on the way home from work the first Friday I was here, the guys cruising by us on bikes looked like the way to go. They all kind of had a smile on their faces, I think they enjoyed seeing a group of westerners on the side of the road. All the while our driver, who wears a suit, was wading in the marsh with a twenty ounce bottle collecting water to pour in the radiator. I guess he enjoyed seeing it spray back out under the engine. At least the horn still worked.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Big Empty
It’s been almost two weeks now since I’ve been in Suzhou and I have to say Suzhou is a beautiful place. It’s hard to believe that mostly everything around here where I live and work (Suzhou Industrial Park, S.I.P.) was farmland probably less than fifteen years ago. Everything has been placed here to create an urban feel, I mean everything including all the trees. This area was marshy rice fields before China and Singapore got together on this huge joint venture to bring just about any kind of manufacturing plants you can think of to produce here. Every day on the bus to work I see huge buildings that house companies like mine to mass produce whatever product they make. Bosch, Samsung, fuji film and tons of others that I couldn’t begin to tell you the names of.
Every morning the streets are overflowing with cars, busses, bicycles, scooters (e-bikes) and people all on their way to work. Three lane roads quickly funnel into intersections of madness with most people not concerned with the color of the traffic lights, even the ones on bikes. Horns seem to be the most important part of a vehicle and a flash of headlights means this is my lane, here I come. Amongst all of that there are people sweeping leaves off the roads with their twig brooms. All of the hedges are kept immaculately trimmed all by hand held hedge clippers. Trucks with water tanks watering all of the flowers are not an uncommon sight or I have also seen people with gas powered sump pumps taking water out of the canals to water the trees.
There is a huge lake called JinJi lake that is the center piece of the area and of course it’s man made. Every night all of the bridges are lit up with neon lights and from the side I live on I can see a ferris wheel that I believe is claimed to be the biggest in the world. I haven’t been there yet but is in a park aptly named ferris wheel park. On certain nights they project a lazer show on to the ferris wheel, it’s quite a sight. The odd thing is many nights around the lake the restaurants and outlet stores are nearly empty. It’s like a grand show for a few people. There are countless high rise hotels which I hear are mostly empty while new ones are still going up. It’s build it and they will come I guess. But, that’s not always a bad thing. It’s nice to have dinner in a quiet empty restaurant after a long day at work and the noisy commute.
Every morning the streets are overflowing with cars, busses, bicycles, scooters (e-bikes) and people all on their way to work. Three lane roads quickly funnel into intersections of madness with most people not concerned with the color of the traffic lights, even the ones on bikes. Horns seem to be the most important part of a vehicle and a flash of headlights means this is my lane, here I come. Amongst all of that there are people sweeping leaves off the roads with their twig brooms. All of the hedges are kept immaculately trimmed all by hand held hedge clippers. Trucks with water tanks watering all of the flowers are not an uncommon sight or I have also seen people with gas powered sump pumps taking water out of the canals to water the trees.
There is a huge lake called JinJi lake that is the center piece of the area and of course it’s man made. Every night all of the bridges are lit up with neon lights and from the side I live on I can see a ferris wheel that I believe is claimed to be the biggest in the world. I haven’t been there yet but is in a park aptly named ferris wheel park. On certain nights they project a lazer show on to the ferris wheel, it’s quite a sight. The odd thing is many nights around the lake the restaurants and outlet stores are nearly empty. It’s like a grand show for a few people. There are countless high rise hotels which I hear are mostly empty while new ones are still going up. It’s build it and they will come I guess. But, that’s not always a bad thing. It’s nice to have dinner in a quiet empty restaurant after a long day at work and the noisy commute.
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