Container central

I went out to Dongjiang Port Artificial Island last week with a couple people from the office. We were on a fact finding mission to understand exactly what the 30 square km island which was literally being built around us would house. Come to find out, it will be a logistics center and 10 square km will be dedicated to an eco-city, which has been designed by Scott Wilson Architects. On the way, I was amazed to see so many containers waiting to be used. It probably was 200m long and at least as deep.

Cash Flows

One oddity of development in China is the lack of pre-construction market research by many developers/investors and the inability for pre-lease or pre-sale opportunities. The manager (a finance graduate) saw a need to be filled in his office, so one of the tasks I have been assigned for my intern duties is to propose some problems to the staff which cover some basic finance principles. Because of such great instruction, I had no problem with the task. We are using one of our customers as an example and calculating vacancy rates, monthly and annual income, property management fees, and taxes so that the staff can understand some of the financial requirements of their customers and how the picture really looks. Next week, we will discount the cash flows to present value figures and arrive at NPV for the project and calculate the IRR and perhaps some other calculations. Figuring required rate of return on the retail podium of a 35 storey office building which has not been completed yet may be a bit of a challenge. I may calculate it based on the price of pork.

First win from a drawing...

I just got back from a reception for The Executive Center, a serviced office provider in our sister building. They had a drawing of name cards, which I was in the running. They had various gifts and started with flash drives, but the prizes got better as they went along. Natalie (a coworker) won a gift set of Salvatore Ferragamo perfume. I, for the first time in my life, won a prize from a drawing. I was the last name called, which was the grand prize, a ticket to the Olympics!

Holster that curler, mister sister!

If it's time for a haircut in Tianjin, you may want to think about stopping by the Attractive Saloon, but they have a bonus, you can get you hair done, too. I laugh everyday at some of the linguistic blunders of the area, but I appreciate the attempt. This salon is just a few blocks away from the Tianjin Foreign Studies University and across the street from Nankai University, where most students have studied English their whole lives. I revel in the irony.

FOO YUAR!!!

In Chinese restaurants, it is customary to scream at the top of your lungs "Fu wu yuan" （服务员）which literally means "server" if you want anything from the menu to the bill and everything in between. The northerners have a bit of an "R" sound to their speech, so restaurants normally have a charming ambient noise of something that sounds like "foo yuar" which really adds that special something to a dining experience. Not to stop there, I was sitting at a restaurant a few weeks ago and a guy actually snorted back a glob of snot and hocked a huge luggie on the floor of the restaurant, which he later ashed on with is cigarette. I looked around the restaurant to gauge peoples' reactions to discover that I was the only one who thought it may have been a bit out of place. By the way, did I mention that I'm organizing an etiquette dinner for the office staff here as a professional development opportunity?

Traffic camera

After passing the open manhole, I came to the corner of Binshui Rd （滨水道） and Zijinshan Rd （紫金山路）, which are not major arteries, but fairly well-traveled roads. Judging from the photo, you can probably tell that the intersection is to the right of the photo and where is the traffic camera pointed? That's correct, left. Why would a traffic camera be pointed in that direction one must ask themselves. Of course, to video the nearby trees and stream. By the way, the building in the background houses a fabulous Taiwanese restaurant called Din Tai Feng. It's a little spendy, but there are absolutely no people screaming for the server, which I will explain in another post.

Be careful walking in the dark

I was walking on Binshui Rd. （宾水道） the other day and came across this manhole just chilling on the side of the road. I mentally pictured someone not seeing it and falling five feet into the gas pipe which lay below. My shock and disbelief disappeared on Tuesday when I was riding my bike to work and noticed yet another open manhole, but at least there was a warning for passers-by, a brick about one foot in front of it. One, if you have an open manhole, why wouldn't you post a gate around it or something and second, if it's open, why is it not being used?

From Mao's revenge to Maobing

I got through the first week with only a few instances of the Chinese "culture" clash with my normal flora, but this week, I was introduced to a Chinese cold or 毛病 (maobing). I didn't realize how conditioned I am to look for labels until I went to the pharmacy to purchase some medicine. Two of the medications in the photo are commonly used in the US and one should be relatively easy to recognize; the Robitussin in the middle. The stuff on the left is Tylenol Cold and the stuff on the right is some herbal expectorant, apparently. The round tube is the Chinese equivalent of Alka-seltzer cold and flu formula. The real trick is to find a pharmacy which carries American drugs and to know exactly what you're looking for. I was after some guaifenesin as I feel like I have soup in my chest and an expectorant would take care of that problem, but I got the box with a green leaf and water on it. No fear, though. If the soup turns into bronchitis, I can just run down to the pharmacy and pick up any variety of antibiotics without a prescription.
That's right, you can get just about anything sans prescription here in China, from thousand year old plant fungus to western medicines.

Chucks

It has come to my attention that Converse brand Chuck Taylors are quite popular in the states. They seem to be popular here as well. This wall contains myriad styles and colours of the shoe all for about RMB255, which boils down to about USD36. This post is mainly for my friend Mandy, who I immediately thought of when I came upon the display.

Sidewalk

The word sidewalk has two operative parts; side and walk. This concept is somewhat foreign to some Chinese as depicted in this photo. It was taken in front of Hotel Nikko in downtown Tianjin. On the other side of the dark van which is parked on the sidewalk sits four large plants that obstruct pedestrians from using the sidewalk. This forces all pedestrian traffic to use the road, which slows down vehicular traffic and causes a back-up every morning during rush hour.

Rolling phat

I bought this here bike at Carrefour last week, kind of the Wal-mart of France for RMB320. I did the cash analysis and the bike will more than pay for itself in the next two months compared with taking a taxi, plus I will get to see the city. Even if the bike is stolen, I can replace it with another and still come out ahead! It took me an hour to ride to work the first day because I got lost. It now takes me about 15-20 minutes. I may even be able to find some short cuts.

Work day

I am settling into the scheme of things as work goes. My normal day starts at about 7 when I wake up, get to work by 9, work until about 7-8pm, go directly to a restaurant/bar or multiple bars until about midnight to 1am, go home, crash and repeat. This is apparently the way most people do it. Weekends are totally different, though. I have met some fellow expats and no matter the age, the general plan is to stay out and dance until about 3-4am, rinse and repeat if necessary. This is a major reason why I haven't posted much lately...I'm never home!

My greatest fear in China

You know when you go to Mexico and you may have some "Montezuma's Revenge," my greatest fear while in China is to have "Mao's Revenge" and will have to figure out how to use a Chinese toilet in five seconds in five seconds flat.