Life and Travel in China

My Chinese friend told me something about our mutual friend (Alex), also Chinese (they work in the same company). Well, this friend loves speaking English and generally admires America. When a driver from the company goes somewhere with him, they get into the elevator and there are some girls (usually Chinese) there, Alex likes to show off. He pulls out his phone, calls someone (or pretends to) and speaks English for a few minutes. The driver always gets angry and complained to the other friend: "Damn, Alex was talking in English again." Of course, the driver doesn't understand any of this. I don't know if Alex picked up any girls this way, but he sure makes a fool of himself pretending to be such a worldly person.

My wife received an invitation to the wedding from a friend from Hong Kong. There would be nothing strange about it, but this invitation looks like it was sent by Hollywood stars. A wedding photo is printed on the cover: she, her fiancé, and her two beloved dogs. Inside there are two notes, chalk paper, printed address, date, time, and on the back there is a map showing where the church is and where the restaurant is. Everything booked two years in advance. At the end, a small CD-ROM with their wedding and childhood photos, plus a film about them and interviews. Of course, if someone didn't send the CD, they can always visit their wedding website. The address is hernamelastnamewedding.com. Madness! This is what I call a hyped wedding! As you can see, marketing is also important in the case of love.

However, China is a poor country, poor in traditions. Of course, they don't have St. Nicholas Day... How much are they missing out on?! While Christmas has become very commercial here - Christmas trees, decorations everywhere, everything reminds them of America, our tradition of putting gifts under pillows is, of course, completely foreign to them. One friend thought that I bought myself a gift and put it under my pillow, she didn't understand the meaning of this tradition. My wife loves Santa Claus and Christmas in general, not only the gifts, but the whole atmosphere, the confusion and this unique atmosphere.

According to a Japanese statistics agency, Filipino maids (babysitters) earn an average of HKD 3,500 a month (PLN 1,094) in Hong Kong, plus, of course, housing and food costs. However, it turned out that in Shenzhen Filipinas earn about RMB 4,000 (or PLN 1,318). There are still few of them here, much more in Hong Kong, but still - people from mainland China living in Shenzhen are willing to pay more for their servants, they are obviously rich and want to show that they can afford to serve at home.

A new massage salon is about to open. I'm not exaggerating when I say that about a thousand people were employed there: waiters, standmen, porters, towel dispensers, foot masseurs, body masseurs, maintenance workers, etc. Yesterday, everyone gathered on the local stage to prepare a show for the opening of the salon. I managed to get there and took several dozen photos. It was fun, there was a lot going on! There was even a Chinese Michael Jackson and a fan dance. And of course, a whole army of beautiful masseuses. As soon as I deal with the outstanding photos, I will add new ones.