| | So this time around, it's an email from Ben that's bringing me back to
updating my xanga site. Apparently according to Ben the school
administration has decided to put up some "man-height, red colored
arches big enough for two people to squeeze through carrying the slogan
open doors open minds" on campus. I'd love to see a picture of those
edifices. From the way Ben described them they should make quite an unsightly scene.
So I'm back in HK after 2 weeks of training in Beijing. Colleagues are
pretty chill, but one thing i've realized is that my Mandarin
definitely needs some brushing up. A couple times I cracked up the
whole gang when trying to say something in Mandarin but ended up
mispronouncing the words making it sound like a totally different
thing. And on the first few days I even had trouble tellling the
cab drivers where to go. Apparently it was either my accent or
the driver had some hearing problem, with the latter case being highly
unlikely cuz it happened every time I was taking a cab back to the
first hotel that I stayed at, that after I told the driver the name of
the hotel, he'd stare at me blankly as if i were speaking an alien
tongue, not knowing how to respond until I showed him the hotel address
in words, then he'd appear almost to be like "Oh, THAT place" then with
a slight grin in the face and mumbling a few words that I couldn't
comprehend and which was probably something along the lines of "this
dude must be a honkie", embark on a ruthless, reckless Formula-One like
dash down the highway, zigzagging its way in between Mercedes, Audis,
BMs and "Hongqi (red flag)s" and within seconds arriving at the hotel
with me sweating all over, clutching firmly to the door handle in one
hand and the seatbelt if there were one at all in the other. I'm
doubtful if I'll ever dare to drive in Beijing unless if I'm driving a
tank.
To that end, I'm glad to be back in HK.
In consultants' speak, i was "on the beach" in HK the whole past week,
ie not having been staffed on any projects yet (or "engagements", or
"studies") For one, consultants love using lingo that people from
outside can hardly understand. Our first week of training was called
BCR, standing for Basic Consulting Readiness. The second week was
called NAT, or New Analyst Training. Each of us is assigned a mentor,
or whom we refer to as a DGL, developrment group leader. People leading
up engagements are called EDs or DCS, and consultants in general are
called CSS, while there are CSSA and some other codenames for other
staff. Maybe some day I'll be writing my xanga entries in acronyms that
only consultants will understand.
Happy mid autumn festival to those folks in the US. I miss you all.
Heard that some 16 of you ate dinner at a new Chinese restaurant in
East Hill Plaza Ling Ling to celebrate mid autumn fest. Amongst
all the things that I miss about Ithaca, I think I'm even starting to
miss the Americanized Chinese food at HK restaurant. Kung pao
Chicken, Pork fried rice, the miserable General Tso who's more
well-known for his namesake sauce than his very own person, and Hunan
Chicken which i once misread as "Human chicken" and never dared
to try after that... food back in HK is great, but my philosophy of
dining is, however delicious the food is, at the end of the day it's
the people one is eating with that matters the most.
Anywayz, i hope to get staffed on something that'll take me somewhere
outside HK. Taiwan would be nice for a first project, and I'll be able
to meet up with Johnny Fong there (!!!)
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| | Posted 9/19/2005 1:25 PM - 6 comments
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