5/15/14

Last Day in Guangzhou

So my Japanese class went on “hiatus” for over a month coz they had a break from school and their families all went back to Japan.  When they came back, poor little Suzuma was NOT wanting to be separated from mommy and was sobbing big time just outside the gate to the Disney clubhouse where I was doing “pre-class” stuff with the other kids.  When they finally coaxed him in and to my table I waved at him and said, “Hello Suzuma, how are you?”  Still sobbing, he hiccupped at me, “I’m great.”  Bless his little heart.

So I forgot to talk about the interesting custom on Chinese New Year where people give “hongbao” (literally “red envelope”) to each other.  These red envelopes have money in them and is a more common tradition here in the south.  While it is most expected of older, married people, single people will give hongbao to work subordinates, or as a wedding gift, etc.  Around CNY, all the Center Managers in Guangzhou, as well as various regional managers, went to each center and gave all employees hongbao.  Even though the amount was not very much, with a couple dozen employees, on average, at each center, you can imagine how this adds up.  I got about 7-8 hongbao, with anywhere from 5 to 10 quai in each (in other words, just over $1 U.S.), but I ended up with enough for a nice meal, so that was cool.  When my LP Amy just recently married, the other LPs were teasing her about how she’d have to give them all hongbao next year!  J

A LinHeDong Legend is gone.  Kai Kai – the bizarre little monster in one of my classes - did not renew his contract and has left the building.  We actually toasted this during one of our D.E. get-togethers at McCawley’s.  There are some kids that become famous throughout the center, no matter whose class they are in, and Kai Kai was definitely, as mentioned, a Legend.  Firstly, let me say he is a smart little boy (he had only recently turned 5 when he left).  But, too, he has issues.  Serious issues.  I am not one of those persons in favor of medicating children, but if ever there were a textbook case of ADD, possible ODD, and just downright weirdness, this boy had them all in spades.  It’s hard to describe fully so you get all the “flavor.”  Yes, he pulled his pants down once in class and started twirling his pecker like a little “Magic Mike.”  Yeah, he would out of the blue kiss my leg, arm, Amy’s leg, and on some occasions, literally kiss her ass in class.  He would pitch random fits, chant and/or yodel during class, run around touching everything, try to run screaming from the room in terror if we showed a Mickey cartoon that had even vaguely “scary” (in his mind) music, spout bizarre and random things in Chinese that I never understood but could tell from the look on Amy’s face that they were weird.  The other kids in the class were, I think, torn between complete and utter revulsion and yet also a sort of “wow, look at this train wreck” fascination.  If Kai Kai was absent from class for any reason, we’d always tease the other kids about how they missed him and would get THE most extreme/vehement denials.  I have to say I’m curious as to what will happen with him – he’s one of those boys who will either be a brilliant nerd/geek or a misunderstood loner who shoots up the school (fortunately, the latter simply does not happen in China – Hey, I finally found something that China rules at over the U.S.!)

I also forgot to mention my long ago visit to check out the GZ library.  Definitely one of the coolest ones I’ve seen.  I posted a pic of it on Facebook, but google image it if you didn’t see it.  It is very cool from an architectural standpoint, very new and modern, and was quite large.  Definitely a GZ gem.

NOT a gem was my pathetic wino night.  I bought this bottle of wine for something like 6 quai one day, figuring, “Hey, even if it’s crap, I’m only spending a dollar on it – that even beats Trader Joe’s two buck chuck!”  Anyway, when I finally tried to open it one night, of course the cheap ass corkscrew I had in my apt, broke off in the cork.  I was able to dig out about half the cork, but the remaining half was still lodged in tight.  But I was determined to try this wine!  I used pretty much every knife in the house trying to cut/dig the effing cork out!  I couldn’t believe how firmly it was in there – for 6 quai!  At one point, I ended up chipping the top of the bottle, tried hammering/forcing it in, etc.  At the end of the day, I don’t know HOW long I worked on that fucking cork, but when I finally succeeded in pushing it in, the resulting cork-filled glass of wine was, of course, absolute shit.  Pathetic.

I also “finally” took a trip to Shenzhen – about an hour or so by train south of us and borders Hong Kong to the north.  This is literally a new city – it was built from scratch about 35 years ago, so I am older than the city.  Weird.  We only spent a couple days and spent both at gigantic amusement parks: one was Window of the World and consisted of various scale-level (some full scale) of major monuments from around the world, including the Taj Mahal, the Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, etc.  It was a trip.  The place was huge.  There were a few random rides (including a below zero alps building with skiing, snow tubing, and the like that we all got a tremendous kick out of), but mostly it was these monuments.  Definitely one of the more interesting places I’ve ever been.  The next day we did the nearby China Folk Cultural Village which was like WoW except for China.  It showcased the various culture, architecture, etc. from all the different regions/peoples of China and it was almost as diverse and interesting as WoW.  Of course, were the U.S. to do a similar thing with the vast array of Native American cultures that peopled the N. American continent before we wiped them out, that would be pretty cool, too.  Shenzhen is a very Chinese place.  Sprung up overnight, still leery and goggle-eyed at tourists (Bex and Nicky were asked numerous times to pose with locals for pics), and yet very modern.  Truly interesting. 
Trip to U.S. Consulate

After my fourth trip to Hong Kong, I am leaving China with well over double the amount of Disney pins I had when I arrived.  I still usually only get villain pins, but have bought a handful of “limited” or “special” edition pins as well.  It’s kind of disturbing how into it I get when I’m in the Park.  When I was collecting back in the states, I refused to engage in the whole “pin trading” thing with Disney cast members, thinking it beneath me and preferring to just buy whichever ones I liked.  But for some reason, in HK, I started noticing the ones the cast members had and realized that most all of theirs were pins you could not buy in the park.  Grrrr!  So I would use my cast member discount, buy a set of “bleh” pins that were cheap and then use them to trade for more funky/unique pins.  I have also “manipulated” a few “anti-pin” folks who have come with me to HKDL into getting their own or at least think  about starting to collect.  I’m such a good Disney “ambassador.”


And that is the thing I will miss most about leaving China: the fact that I no longer work for the Walt Disney Company.  Yes, I know Walt was no saint, and that Disney has some strange policies and history, but on the whole I honestly believe – for a corporation of its size and scope – that Disney is a far scale “better” than other behemoths like, say, Wal-Mart, Nestle, various oil companies, Dow Chemical, etc.  So I’ll cherish the fact that, at least for a year, I got to work for a company I grew up loving and still love to this day!  J

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