THE DREAM IN ACTION

I’ll probably end up posting a cumulative version of this list at the end of my trip but I wanted to share a few of the crazier things I’ve experienced here in Shanghai over the first week. Some are just cultural and some are just weird…some are both.

-massages while urinating – You know that guy that every hates tipping just to give you some soap…well, in China when using the urinal in a mens restroom in most bars or clubs there is a guy to massage your back. I’m not a fan. Special messagy?

-employees watching window washer (silently) – I was grabbing a snack the other day and I walked by a conference room and there were 15 hotel employees standing at the window watching the window washer in silence. Upon my return about 15 minutes later, they still stood there. Awkward.

-rumpled table cloths – I’ve not seen a table cloth just normally drapped over a table. Almost every single one is ruffled or folded in some artistic fashion.

-pigeon soup – The other night I had a soup that taste similar to chicken noodle soup, except without noodles. It turned out the soup was pigeon…and by the way, there was an entire pigeon in the soup…head and all. Yum!

-waitress got slapped from dropping glass – (I did not see this) The other morning my friend watched a waitress drop a plate at breakfast. About 30 seconds later the manager of the service people (of which there are many) come up to the waitress and slap her. I thought that was a not an equal punishment for her error.

-doorbell ditching from room service personnel – I was taking a nap during my lunch today my room doorbell range. I got up to answer the door and when I opened it I saw a lady (hotel staff) hiding across the hall behing the corner. Once she knew she got caught she said, “sorry”, in terribly pronounced english and ran off the other direction. I check for a flaming bag of shit but couldn’t find one.

So, I’m sure there will be many more experiences to come but these are just a few of the crazy and culturally different experiences I’ve had thus far.