Sister Menace

Hey all!

Remember I mentioned that I was going to Mexico... well at the end I will not. I found out that I didn't really had to go out of the country to have my visa extension, therefore, I decided to not go to Mexico. At that point I was still thinking about going out of the country though. I started considering different options like, India, Nepal, Mongolia, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Mongolia, etc. Most of these destinations are pretty cheap places to go to from China. I talk to my family about the possibility of making a trip and by talking to them, I mentioned to my sister at a random moment during our skype call, "Why don't you come to Shanghai for a while? You can spend a few days here and then we could take off for a trip to wherever... Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, whatever, it would be a lot of fun!" She liked the idea and told me that she will mention that to my dad and then she would decide. The day after, she was like, "yeah there seems to be not so expensive tickets, I also have three week vacations so I really think I'm going. I also think I will try to invite a friend to come with me!" It sounded great to me at that time. I thought one more girl it could loose things up and make it more of a party trip. We also started considering different options and it seemed that we were going to Thailand or Singapore. Thailand is a place that I've been dreaming about for a long time already, however is not the kinda place where I ever imagined going with my little sis. Singapore seemed a little more calm and more like a place to visit with mi sis, but at the same time it seemed boring and expensive. So we kinda decided that Thailand was the place to go. She told me she was gonna ask one of her friends if she wanted to come with my sister. She was then gonna give me some news the day after. The day after, I was surfing the internet when I got a skype call from Hermosillo. It was my sister and she said, Ok I bought the tickets to Shanghai for me and THREE more girls that will come with me...

(To be continued...)

I'm back to my blog!

It’s been ages since I wrote a post for this blog. I’ve always kept my eyes open for interesting things that happen in daily life that I could write about, but by now I’ve forgotten most of them. So what I would do now is a little summary of what’s going on with my life.

Last time I wrote it was about how I was happy because I was in Mexico living the good life. Well, I’m about to do that very soon again. I have to go out of the country for my new student visa.

-Wait… student visa? Wait… what?

Well, yeah, I’m going back to school.

-So, are you gonna be doing your MBA that you always wanted?

Nope. I will be going back to Chinese lessons, intensive Chinese lessons at Donghua Univeristy.

–But, didn’t you quit Chinese Lessons to get into the job you have?

Yes, you are right. I kinda regret it right now, but I don’t at the same time.

–I don’t get you!

The thing is that back then I had a job opportunity and I took it. I worked in my current company for almost 2 years now, my first real corporate kind of job and it’s been quite an experience. I’m definitely not the same person I was 2 years ago. I’ve learned so many things from this job and at the end I think it was a good decision.

–So what makes you think now that you should really get into Chinese classes?

Well, it’s about time. I’ve been in China for almost 2 years already and I don’t speak the language. I’ve been investing by living in China. I’ve learned a lot about Chinese culture, history, rituals, manners, etc. and I don’t want to waste all that knowledge. The best way to complement that knowledge is by also getting to speak the language. If I get to speak the language I would be one of the few Mexicans to have all these knowledge about China. All my time invested here would be then worth. I’m also finally getting more into international trading, because this is the kind of business that would be worth doing if I become a polyglot. It’s the kind of business in which I could be dealing with people from different parts of the world. If I learn Chinese I’d be able to speak 4 out of the 5 most spoken languages in the world. As I have said before, I’m extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to travel to many different countries so far and getting to know people from all around the globe. This gives me a competitive advantage that I should use at its maximum potential.

–But I thought you wanted to do something about a restaurant…-

Who said that I couldn’t do both? I think I could easily be involved in the two kind of business. I wouldn’t be the first nor the last person to be involved in more than one business. I really think I could be good at both. So, right now I will be going to Mexico to see the family and friends, do my student visa in Tijuana and maybe go down to Ensenada and the Valle de Guadalupe for the Fiestas de la Vendimia. I will come back right before August 31st when school starts. I’m also applying for a job at a Mexican restaurant called Maya for a Marketing and PR position. I already had one interview with the general manager of the place and it went pretty well. I’m supposed to have another interview with one of the owners of the place when he comes back from his holiday on the firsts days of August, right before I leave to Mexico.

I’m considering that I have 50% chances of getting the job. That means that if I get it, I would be so f’busy going to school in the mornings and working on the afternoon-evenings. This means though, that I will be earning money and not living a mediocre student life. I would be learning some more about the restaurant industry in Shanghai and expanding my contact list, which is great for my restaurant plans. If I don’t get it, I would have a lot of free time. I would be looking for part time jobs to get some income and hopefully some experience in the international trading business or the restaurant business. Also, I would be more involved working with MEXCHAM (Mexican Chamber of Commerce), which I am already and it is putting my name out there in the Mexican community in Shanghai. There could be some good opportunities coming out of this and I would be learning more about the Mexico-China business practices. Also, I would have time to start studying for the GMAT and I would be maybe taking the test in February to start in September 2010 at CEIBS. I would also be trying to do some trading deals. This is something I’m already studying about on my own and that I would like to master. In the future I would be registering a company to do this in a formal way. I know I make it sound a little easy, but it is not. I would need to work a lot on that. I’m sure thought that it could be a business that if I get it running well, it could stay as my legacy here, so when I go back to the western world I could keep running it from where I’ll be and just come back here to China once in a while to check on it and keep things running. Ok, this is going to far. Step by step.

-What about girls? Anything going on?

As you can see I’m not very stable and I have no money at the moment. At my age is hard to be with a girl if you have no money. So, I will be organizing my shit and making something out of me before I get to worry about having a girlfriend or whatsoever.

-Ohhh, now I see. It seems that you have your things sorted it out.

Yeah… I just have to follow my plans and work hard. I think I’m on the right track I’m just going through a difficult stage right now. But I see a brighter future coming. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy life at this moment. Remember the movie “Click”? Well, I learned something from that movie: Enjoy and live everyday of your life as if it was the last. Well, you cannot really live everyday as if it was the last, but you get what I mean. So, I would leave you now after this philosophy moment and please cheer up everybody cuz we are alive!!!! Yeaaah!!!

Bienvenido a Mexico Paisano

I just got back to Mexico yesterday night after 10 months in F China. I landed at San Diego and they sent a chauffeur to pick me up (So cool!!!!). What a way to begin my journey in Mexico. No more buses, metro, chifus (taxi drivers in China). He brought me down to Mexico and since the moment I crossed the border, I had a sigh and that feeling of being back home. The weather here is amazingly good. Not hot not cold, just perfect.

This morning cuz of the jet lag I woke up at 6:00 am I went to run to the City's Sport Center, a perfect sunny day. Now I came back to the hotel where I'm staying with my parents. They came up to Tijuana to spend the weekend around the area. I took a shower (Yes, I take showers once in a while!) and now I'm having breakfast at the hotel restaurant, there is a buffet with all the Mexican breakfast dishes that you can imagine, chilaquiles, pozole, menudo, machaca, quesadillas, chorizo, rajitas, etc, etc, etc. There is a family right beside me and is the grandpa's birthday and they just sung Las Mañanitas to him and here is a picture of the view outside from the restaurant to this perfect sunny day!

Becoming Famous

It seems I'm becoming world famous. hehehe. Well... not really. What happens is that we are celebrating our 100th lesson published at SpanishPod. For this we made some promotional videos about it. I invite you to take a look, they are quite funny. Enjoy!

Spanish Fever in China


SpanishPod: Milestones


SpanishPod: Old Photos

My parents are coming to China

My parents are coming to China for 10 days. They'll get here this Friday 14th. I can already listen to my mom complaining about how dirty is everything in China. I'll try to record her the first time she gets in a taxi. The way they drive here is freaking crazy, hahaha I can't wait to see her, she gets so nervous when people drives a little risky, she is gonna die here. Hopefully "daddy" will buy his little kid a camera. Then I will make this blog a little more interesting with pictures and videos. I'm so excited (btw, never try to translate "I'm very excited" to "estoy muy exitado" it doesn't mean the same thing in Spanish, in Spanish that means "I'm so horney", so you better say, "Estoy muy emocionado"), I'll get to see the whole family in just a few days. The Guerrero family in China, it's going to be amazing.

Cheers lads! (Since I live with an Irish I'm trying to learn some Irish expresions, isn't that brilliant mates?)

Bienvenido a China!

Cuando recién llegué a China, noté un tipo de negocio muy particular. Estos consistían de pequeños locales con finta de peluquería. Con un aspecto bastante raro para una peluqueria o salon estético, estos lugares siempre tenían mujeres bastantes sexys esperando clientes. Después de observar con atención me di cuenta que no era precisamente una peluqueria sino una casa de citas. Entre los otros estudiantes de chino les denominamos las "peluqueras sexosas".

En uno de mis viajes al interior de China, decidimos viajar a pueblitos que nadie conoce y simplemente ver la China profunda. Sin hablar Chino ni al 5% nos aventuramos un amigo Suizo y yo a una prueba de supervivencia.

La gente es muy diferente en los "pueblos" (pueblo en china: dicese de una ciudad muy grande en cualquier país de occidente, estos tienen poblaciones de entre 1.5 millones y 4 millones de habitantes). La gente de la ciudad, especialmente en Shanghai, son extremademente capitalistas e individualistas, sus vidas, sus actos y decisiones giran totalmente alrededor del dinero. En cambio, en los "pueblos" la gente es mucho más sencilla y le dan mucho menos importancia al dinero. En cada uno de los pueblos a los que llegamos, el hecho de tan solo intentar preguntar por información sobre dónde podiamos encontrar un hotel o cómo llegar a alguna parte de la ciudad, la persona a la que le preguntabamos nos encontraba un hotel decente y barato, nos llevaban a algun restaurant local, en el cual normalmente no nos dejaban pagar por la comida, nos invitaron borracheras completas, otros chinos nos llevaron en un tour a un lago en una montaña, etc. etc. etc. Increible de verdad!

De la gente que conociamos en los diferentes lugares todos tenian un comun denominador, algo muy especial y poco común para la gente de occidente. Esto consistía en lo siguiente:

a) Los chinos nos preguntaban, quieren conocer chicas? a lo cual nosotros no podiamos negarnos.
b) Todos se contentaban de que aceptaramos y tomabamos un taxi.
c) Surprise! Nos llevaban a un lugar de "peluqueras sexosas".

Jajajaja, para ellos, llevarte a estos lugares es como para nosotros llevar a alguien que esta de visita en tu ciudad a comer a un restaurant (Para los hermosillenses, es como llevar a un wacho al xochimilco), totalmente normal!

En una ocasión le dijimos al chinito que con todo y esposa nos llevo a un lugar de estos, "no! no! muchas gracias pero no es lo nuestro, pero podriamos ir a ver!" (nosotros pensabamos en un table dance, nos preguntabamos si es cierto que aqui tienen el asunto horizontal o vertical? jajaja) Pues el chino nos lleva a un lugar que parecia un antro de lujo. Entramos y era un lugar con varios cuartos privados , era un lugar de karaoke al mero estilo chino. Pss ya nos dieron una salita para nosotros, nos trajeron unas cuantas cervezas y un plato de frutas. En eso llega un ejercito de chinas, muy guapas todas, y nos dicen no que escojan... y nosotros totalmente sacados de onda, le preguntamos al chino que si de que se trataba el asunto, y medio entendimos a señas que nomas nos iba a acompañar. Pues dicho y hecho la china se sento con nosotros y la inocente nos trataba de sacar platica en chino, también se puso a cantar con el karaoke canciones en chino. 15 minutos después estabamos aburridísimos, bueno pues vamonos, pedimos la cuenta y sorpresa numero dos! US$100 de cuenta, por 30 min de karaoke y 5 cervezas, que para un pueblo en china es muchisimo dinero! Despues de pelearnos dimos como $60 y nos fuimos con un dolor que no podiamos ni caminar bien. Resulta ser que estas son semi-prostitutas, y estos lugares son para ejecutivos que les encontan a los Chinos de negocios. Y parece ser que los chinos negocían despues con las chinas para llevartelas a un hotel.

Ahora ya saben, si vienen a china y les ofrecen conocer mujeres, no van a ir precisamente a una fiesta o a cenar con amigas de los chinos. Para esto, después nos enteramos, no existen los table dance en China. Estan prohibidos por la ley, y si hay son super clandestinos. Eso si, encuentras peluqueras sexosas en casi cada cuadra ya se con finta de peluquería o lugar de "masajes".

Cheers!

Nota: Trat'e de buscar una foto en internet para ponerla aqui en el post, pero por si no estaban enterados, China tiene filtros para controlar la información a la que se puede accesar en intenet. Por ejemplo, busqué "china prostitution" en el buscador de imágenes de google, aparecieron solo dos imagenes e inmediatamente después se bloquió todo el contenido relacionado, cuestion de 3 segundos. Asi es de que no pude adquirir una buena foto de estos lugares.

(English Version)

When I first got to China, I noticed some peculiar kind of store that you could find all over the place. These are kind of barber shops but not really. I noticed there are very sexy girls waiting for customers all the time, which is not very normal on a barber shop. Well after a few days I noticed that these weren't barber shops, these are massage places, but not any kind of massage, these are massage with happy ending.

A few weeks after I got here me and a guy from Switzerland, dicided to do a trip t0 the interior of China. We wanted to go to those little towns that no body knows and get to know the real China. We didn't speak Chinese at all. We only knew like 10 words each, but that didn't stop us so we bought a dictionary and a Lonely Planet guide and we went out to discover China. BTW, we lost the Lonely Planet guide on the second day.

The people in the little towns (a little town in China is what we know in the occidental world as big city of about 2 million people) are very different from the people that lives in big cities. People in Shanghai for example, all they care about is money, they are extremely capitalists and individualist. On the other hand, people on "little towns", they are way more simple and they don't care about money that much, they find happiness on other things. These people were extremely welcoming with us. Whenever we got to a new town we asked somebody for directions or for hotels on the area and they would walk with us to show us, invite us to eat to a restaurant, where they wouldn't let us pay at all. They even invite us to go out with a bunch of chinese were we got so drunk and they didn't let us pay for a single beer. There was a Chinese guy that took us on a tour to a lake that was the tourist attraction of the town. Also, a bus driver took us in his big bus on a tour around the city, it was hilarious!

From all these people we met, they all had something in common beside the fact that they all had chinese eyes, what I'm talking about is something very special and very uncommon for westerners. This is explained on the following points:

1) The chinese would ask us, "Would you like to meet some girls?", how can you say no to that? So of course we answered with a big smile to say YES.
2) Every one was so happy that we have agreed and we would take a taxi cab together.
3) Surprise! The would always take us to one of the happy ending massage places.

So funny! To these people is totally normal to take you to this kind of places. Is like when you receive guests from another city and you take them out to eat to a good restaurant typical from your city, just normal! Each time we thought we were really going to meet some "real" girls, and each time was the same, we were like, "oh no, no thank you, we just want to see girls!", well they took us to a karaoke place where there is girls that come and sing with you for so expensive, it's crazy just because there is a pretty girl singing for you the beer gets like 5 times more expensive than in a normal bar. Well, we finally learned that those kinds of karaoke places are nothing but a rip off, but it seems that local Chinese business people like this kind of places. Supposedly they negociate with the girls to take them somewhere else after the singing session.

Now you know guys! If you ever come to China and they invite you to go and meet girls, they wont take you to a party or to have dinner with their girl friends. Naah ahh, They will take you to the hookers!

Cheers!

Relax… there is no rush

The importance that we give to time in Latin America is definitely not the same as they do in USA, Canada or Europe. This is linked to why Latinos tend to be late and why things run a little smoother in warm countries generally speaking.

People have different perspectives of time depending on their cultural background, and the importance they give to it could vary enormously. I think everybody knows the Mexican reputation for being late. Well it’s not just a rumor. Really, it’s amazing! Now I get to notice it from an outside perspective. Before, I just thought it was completely normal to be late and I didn’t even notice it. Here are some classic examples in Spanish with it respective translation about the different perspectives on time between Latinos and the rest of the world:

1) Dame 2 segunditos – Give me 5 minutes
2) Dame 1 minuto – Give me 15 minutes.
3) Nomas me voy a tardar 15 minutitos – It only will take me about an hour.
4) Nos vemos en la entrada del restaurant a las 2:00 en punto. – Let’s meet in inside the restaurant at about 2:40
5) La fiesta empieza a las 8:00pm – The party starts at 11:30.
6) Te llamo mas tarde – I’ll call you in a few days.
7) Vamos mañana – We’ll never go.

Seems funny, but it’s true! When I used to make appointments with my friends back in Quebec they would always ask me: “Mexican time or Quebec time? Just to be sure…”. They never ever got to trust me completely with time measures, even when I did my best to be on time, maybe by the end, after 5 years, I got to learn to be in time. Now when I go back to Mexico I get so frustrated. Now I really think it’s important to be in time, it shows respect for the other person’s time. In the other hand, the way it works in Mexico is that when you have an appointment you know in advance that the other person is going to be late, so just need to be late too and you both will be alright. It depends on the formality of the appointment though. This is something you get to master in a lifetime.

So be patient with Latinos… it’s not our fault!