Doug's boss and his family are going back to the United States, as he has a new position there.  They have lived here for about 2 and a half years.  Everyone at the company wanted to say good bye to him properly.  So a time and night were chosen to give him and his wife a proper send off.  We started the evening at a restaurant that was larger than any restaurant I had ever seen in my entire life.  As we drove up to the front entrance, we were met by neon palm trees.  Because the restaurant was so large, one of the drivers was at the front entrance, ready to greet everyone as they entered, and direct them to the proper room.  We then were ushered to our own private room, where I saw a wooden table that functioned as the largest lazy Susan (I really hate that term) I had ever seen.  As the meal progressed through the evening, I was fascinated to watch how the large lazy Susan table never seemed to stop moving.  So if you had a favorite dish, you had to grab some of it quick with your chopsticks, because it was going to take about 5 minutes before you saw that dish again.  Probably 30 dishes were placed on the table for us to choose from as they idled lazily by.  A night out with Chinese co-workers isn't complete if there aren't drinking games of some sort.  Many pitchers of a strong, spicy, dark beer were ordered.  The first game was explained to us.  We played it in English first.  It was a numbers game.  We were lucky for awhile that we didn't have to partake in the strong brew.  But then the tables were turned, and we had to play the game in Chinese.  I had to drink a glass of the swill once.  It didn't go down very easy.  We then introduced them to the popular U.S. college drinking game called "quarters."  Amazingly, two of the drivers that were at the dinner were really good at that game.  Either they once went to a U.S. college, or now we know what they're doing in the driver's shack on their downtime.  Then it was off for a fun night of karaoke.  The karaoke bars here are called KTV.  I had never been to one before.  They're all over the city.  I just assumed that there wouldn't be many English songs for us to choose from.  In the very large KTV building that we went to, we were ushered into a private room with 3 large couches facing a large tv screen, and a gaming table to the side.  Of course, it was very hot in there.  It's hot in every building right now.  The heat just got turned on in Tianjin, and the Chinese people here are always cold.  So they fire it up everywhere.  Doug's Chinese co-workers asked me to help find good English songs that would keep the western men happy and singing.  I had been listening to the westerners talk about what songs they'd like to sing.  Boy, did I find some gems that had all of the westerners laughing and singing in chorus.  Some of the best song choices I made were The Banana Boat Song (Day-O), Sundown (by Gordon Lightfoot).....special request for Brian.....I couldn't find it, but one of the secretaries eventually found it, The Things We Do for Love (like walking in the rain and the snow and there's nowhere to go, a part of you feels like you are dying), Tie a Yellow Ribbon, On Top of the World (The Carpenters), Crocodile Rock, some Neil Diamond tunes, and These Boots are Made for Walking.  Some of my choices were just unfortunate, because they are sung in higher keys.  So when we attempted them, people were covering their ears (Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees is a big no-no at karaoke).  I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life.  Sometimes the English songs didn't provide the lyrics on the tv screen in time, so we'd end up messing up some of our songs.  I never realized what a good voice my hubbie had.  He pulled off many difficult songs with great confidence.  When we went to leave our karaoke room (there are probably about 50 private rooms full of about 20 people each), I think many other people had just left their rooms.  For some reason, there were about 100 people standing in the lobby.....all Chinese.  They looked up at us as we descended the grand staircase.  Of course, they stare because we are from somewhere else.  So Doug broke into song in the biggest, boomiest voice I've ever heard come out of his lips, "Daaaaaaaay-O, daaaaaay-o.  Daylight come and we want to go home."  Of course, we're all laughing hysterically, but the locals didn't skip a beat or change their expression.  Doug did talk to a couple of the guys in the lobby and got them laughing a bit (see photo).  Then we were off to the Rainbow Room, where they have a live Philippino band that performs good dance singles.  Of course, Doug got to know them too (see photos).  A lot of fun was had by all. 

Thomas brought a note home a couple of weeks ago from school, explaining that our child had been selected to attend a Science Day at another international school in our area.  He said he wanted to go, so I signed the permission form.  When I started to talk to other children at the school to see who else was going, I learned that only one child was selected from each class.  I told Thomas what a great honor that was for him to be selected.  At the end of the Science Day, I spoke to the chaperoning teacher, who was Thomas' teacher last year.  She explained that it involved 4 international schools, and was a small, intimate group of 32 students.  Thomas was in the Einstein group.  He did many experiments during the day, and learned quite a bit.  He even got to touch a sheep's heart! 

I don't even have to write anything on my blog anymore....I can just browse the internet stories about China, or pick up the daily newspaper to read wacky stories.  Ayi told me about this one today, then I spotted it in the paper afterwards.  So I just had to find it on the net so that I could cut and paste it here.  I guess you have to live here to understand how important cooking oil is to the Chinese.  Supermarkets have entire aisles devoted to cooking oil.  In fact, it's sold in such large bottles, that it's hard to find a small bottle of cooking oil.  Why is so much oil used when the families are so small?  Another one of my "why" questions that may never be answered.   Stampede leaves 3 dead, 31 injured

08:40, November 12, 2007 Three people died and 31 others were injured in a stampede triggered by cheap cooking oil prices at an outlet of hypermarket chain Carrefour on Saturday. The three-day sales promotion in the municipality's Shapingba District was part of the French retail giant's 10th anniversary celebrations to mark its presence in the area and came amid rising edible oil prices. The outlet was offering a discount of 11.5 yuan ($1.55) from the usual price of 51.4 yuan ($7) for a 5-liter bottle of cooking oil. The promotion saw bargain-hunters waiting in line at the entrance around 4 am on Saturday, said Shapingba District spokesman Gao Chang. The crowds rushed into the outlet and caused a stampede when its doors opened at about 8:40 am. He Yu, one of the shoppers battling for bottles of the cooking oil, received bruises on his hands and face during the ensuing panic. "I rushed to the oil shelf with others and grabbed four bottles," he said. "Suddenly I was tripped onto the floor. Luckily, I got hold of another person and escaped from being crushed." Those injured from the stampede are being treated at four hospitals in the city. One of the seven severely injured people is reportedly in critical condition while three were discharged by yesterday evening. "The outlet has been ordered to suspend operation and an investigation is ongoing," said Gao. The outlet has also been told to compensate the victims. District officials issued a notice later that day stating that all departments and organizations must take effective precautionary measures to prevent such incidents from happening again. Carrefour has opened 103 of its hypermarkets in 37 cities since it entered the Chinese market in 1995. The latest outlet opened its doors on November 1 in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province. It opened its first Chongqing store in 1998 and now operates four in the municipality. The Shapingba outlet that saw the stampede is the chain's newest outlet in Chongqing. It opened last May and occupies 7,000 sq m. Source: China Daily/Xinhua

 

Doug recently brought home a pamphlet from a work-related family day event called, "Small Matters of Environment Protection."  It said on the pamphlet, "Environment Protection.  Do From Me."  My curiosity peaked, so I opened it up to read it.  It is full of pictures and tips on how to protect the environment.  I thought it pertinent that I share it with as many people as possible.  Some tips make sense, and other tips are just unfortunate wording.

 

I was just surfing on the net and came across the funniest classified internet posting I've ever seen at http://www.chinese-tools.com - I can't believe that someone posted this!  I had to share it here, it's just so crazy!  I have cut and pasted it as it appears on the site.