Work

Work. Yes Work. The project I will be working on will be challenging and interesting. I will have to rely heavily on Tony and others - not least because my Mandarin, although improving in leaps and bounds, is still never going to fool anyone into thinking I'm a local. Also because there are business cultural hurdles to overcome and the fact that everything, but everything is regulated by the Government. In other words your entrepreneurial, go-getting businessman can have the rug pulled from underneath his top-flight money making initiative at any time by the Government departmental official who is invariably looking over his shoulder.

Actually, progress with learning Mandarin words is painfully slow - 2 steps forward, then 3 back. It's so difficult to remember and there are so many different subtle variations to get to grips with. The word "ma" has 5 different meanings, depending on how you pronounce it. The fact that two of those meanings include "mother" and "horse" could have terrible consequences - in a business or social context.

I gave my hosts a break tonight - a break from me, my sloppy chopstick technique, my terrible jokes and my record breaking displays of dumpling eating. This meant that I was free to roam around Shanghai on my own tonight. I went window shopping around the very posh Plaza 66 area. Shanghai has really got to grips with consumerism.

Wandering around on my own revealed to me just how bloody dangerous the traffic is for an idiot / novice like me - DON'T WALK ROUND READING YOUR BLACKBERRY OR YOUR TEXT MESSAGES is my advice. In an earlier post, I flippantly mentioned the redundancy of the flashing green man on the traffic lights due to a ferocious Shanghainese interpretation of the US style "turn right on red" rule. Henceforth, he shall be know as "The Little Green Man of Near Death"...

Another thing about walking round on your own- imagine this; a handful of lovely young ladies actually asked me if I wanted a massage! I was shocked and astounded! How could they have know that my feet were in need of a darn good rub?