China Notes

I’ll admit it. I was cranky last night. That 23-hour plane ride seems to
have soured me just a tad. That and the fact that between my vegetarianism
and half-hearted Passover observance, I basically couldn’t eat anything
except the mints. So, please forgive my lack of graciousness. The hotel is
in fact fabulous. Sumptuous. The people are courteous and seemingly
friendly. (I always assume hotel staffers are in fact highly resentful of
their “guests.”) Yes, it’s faux Western, and hearing Chopin and Mozart in
the lobby still does strike me as just plain weird, but most American
hotels are faux luxurious, imitating a British version of upper class life
as surely as Ralph Lauren clothing does.

This morning I got to walk around Beijing for a couple of hours. I can’t
tell you why I feel so at home here. Now I have to head in to a rehearsal
of my speech tomorrow. I’ve already flagged about five slides that could be
culturally obnoxious – a 9/11 reference, some mocking of kenmore.com, the
casual use of a ying-yang symbol, etc. The real worries are the ones that
you never thought might poke ’em in the eye. And for sure none of the jokes
will work.

Gotta go.

Found Paste

I’m back in the Internet cafe again. By accident, I typed ^V and found
the following bit of text pasted into my text:

Nothing much in mind, a question which part of Eu you are
from, and preferation in the way you wrote, and yes, a question which
course you majored in PHd. I only wrote, because I had these in my
mind.a

By thy copies and pastes shall ye know them. Sort of.

Categories: Uncategorized dw