Things locals do that drive you insane.

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gonzo

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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #30 on: April 15, 2012, 08:40:07 PM »
Do some research on Individualist v Collectivist societies. You come from the former, but you live in the latter. Of course they're going to annoy the living shit out of you, and me when I'm there.
But it's life, it's China. Love it or leave it, because you're not going to change it!
Venting with similar minded individualists may help, however.
RIP Phil Stephens.
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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #31 on: April 16, 2012, 02:06:07 AM »

Closing the pool from 11am to 4pm during the summer since it is too hot to swim at those times.

Complaining about outdoor BBQs make too much smoke so should not be allowed then they cook some nasty crap and foul the entire building.

The first one hits home. My first apartment in China has a swimming pool and I learned quickly what the rules were. I used to come home from my crappy training school grind job (Shane's), grab a beer and get into the water myself. Technically, I did not "swim" but more or less floating and relaxing in the water not making noise. Invariably, a security guard would kick me out which would piss me off.

The only time that one was allowed to use the pool was after 4 PM, and the charge was 5 RMB. Didn't bother me, but there is a lot of people and kids running around then.

September 1st, the pool was closed. If you know Hangzhou, summer lasts more or less until October. I even went swimming one night at a now closed patio bar with a pool on October 2nd.
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I don't know who this person is, but one of my neighbors cooks most afternoons and it almost always smells heavenly. I have always wanted to find this person and make her my cook. The only real nasty cooking smell I encounter is the infamous chou dofu. That sh*t should be illegal.


Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #32 on: April 16, 2012, 02:23:41 AM »
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« Last Edit: September 01, 2016, 06:29:58 AM by Isidnar »

Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #33 on: April 16, 2012, 03:02:15 AM »


To Newbies, or even veterans, be careful with your ATM card. Getting a replacement ATM card is super annoying. In 10 years, I have lost two.

The ATM card must be reissued at the bank where the account originated. If you lose a Bank of China card, you have to go to the particular Bank of China branch where the card was lost. Just any bank branch will not under any circumstances.

The first card I lost, I moved far away from the bank branch who issued the card, almost as far away as one can go in Hangzhou proper. I explained to the bank nearest my home that I don't want to travel 1 hour by bus in a far off neighborhood, with the solution being that the bank would more or less vacate the other account and then give me a new account with a new card. This took about thirty minutes. 30 longass minutes of signing numerous slips of paper, pressing in my secret cold several times, staring at a skinny yellow girl tap away at her computer and other addin' machines, with me wondering why can't the same bank company just issue a card at any branch?

Lost my card the second time on the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. Took a pee and while stretched, took out my wallet to see something with the ATM card doing a swan dive straight into the toilet hole and gone in a flash.

OH bqbqbqbqbq, not this again!

My second card was issued in a small BOC branch in the middle of the city, a busy road called Qingchun Lu, since I lived in an apartment nearby there. This is a dinky bank branch and since it is in the middle of town, it is very busy. I have a BOC branch literally across the street from me that is rarely busy. Nope, I gotta go to town!

Of course, there are people freaking everywhere and I had to wait about an hour to talk to someone. I did have to fill out a form and I had my passport in hand for identification. Go up, talk to the lady, give her the passport and all that. We almost came to blows on my passport. Since the time I lost the first card, my passport expired and I got a new one from my tyrannical government in Shanghai. One thing tyrannical government did that annoyed me was to give me a new passport number. I would have thought that they would want each person to have their own passport number like social security, but that was not the case. I was a bit annoyed that I would have to memorize a new nine digit code and throw the one I have memorized as high importance from my brain.

The teller woman was going to turn me away since the passport numbers were different, even though she had a copy of my old passport with my face and know it was me. I stood my ground (wasn't a dick but firm) that this was my face, my ID and I have the old passport at the house and will give it to you for inspection the next week when I picked up the card. She was cool about it, because I was going to be livid and would be a dick if she turned me away.

No big drama the next week when I had to make the 30 minute bus journey to that location, wait another thirty minutes in line a closet sized bank (banks are the most boring places on Earth, unless you have a 12 guage to the manager's head demanding the vault be opened) I did have to produce the old passport.

Don't lose the ATM card. Sage advice.

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zero

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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #34 on: April 16, 2012, 03:19:27 AM »
Venting with similar minded individualists may help, however.
Yes, until one of the supposedly like-minded individuals tells you "it's China, love it or leave it" and sends you to the library to research collectivist cultures. bibibibibi
« Last Edit: April 16, 2012, 08:53:22 AM by zero »

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Monkey King

Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #35 on: April 16, 2012, 03:43:36 AM »
Come on now, we've ONLY JUST been told to play nice!

Quote from: This Thread
Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.

Quote from: Isidnar
2. The hooker-chic look many of the young ladies around here find so fashionable.

'LOL'  Yep, that'll do it.  Why do you think so many of us have been here for so long?

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gonzo

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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #36 on: April 16, 2012, 06:09:08 PM »
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[/quote]Yes, until one of the supposedly like-minded individuals tells you "it's China, love it or leave it" and sends you to the library to research collectivist cultures. bibibibibi
[/quote]
Isn't that standard advice anywhere in the world when you criticise the homies whilst living amongst them? Anyway, I've found life in China for a foreigner is far easier now than it was 15 years ago. Smell the roses. bgbgbgbgbg
RIP Phil Stephens.
No static at all.

Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #37 on: April 16, 2012, 07:38:24 PM »
Maybe it's just me and my British ways, but I HATE that people wait until the bus stops, and the doors open before they get up from their seat. They inevitably hold the bus up for a couple of seconds and shout "有下!!” just as the doors close. Why?! Get up a couple of seconds earlier and save everybody (including yourself) the hassle!

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Escaped Lunatic

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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #38 on: April 16, 2012, 08:05:37 PM »
Dear bus driver, the bus has a maximum capacity.  When I get on the bus and I cannot move past the door, don't sit there and scream at me to pack it in.  This is why I sat in your seat with you yesterday and pretended to not understand a word you were saying! bfbfbfbfbf

We need to give out medals for things like this! agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
I'm pro-cloning and we vote!               Why isn't this card colored green?
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Ruth

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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #39 on: April 16, 2012, 11:26:15 PM »
The children are taught to YELL in school. Well, maybe it's not on the curriculum, but they're learning it. I have private students. The room I teach them in, in my home, is tiny. There are three of us in the room. I'm RIGHT HERE, across the table from you. If I ask them individual questions, they can answer in what I was taught to call my 'inside voice' when I was a child. If I read something and they are to repeat it, up goes the volume to ear-splitting levels and their little voices echo off the walls. I know why they do it. In a class of 40 or 50 kids, all reciting, it's the only way they can be heard  kkkkkkkkkk

I'm working on teaching them to use inside voices. So far, the little munchkins (that are due to arrive in about 5 minutes BTW) go from shouting to whispering, but the idea is slowly getting across. Meanwhile I've put up panels of foam on the walls to absorb the sounds.
If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.

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NATO

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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #40 on: April 17, 2012, 12:23:54 AM »

To Newbies, or even veterans, be careful with your ATM card. Getting a replacement ATM card is super annoying. In 10 years, I have lost two.


You lucky bastard. In 2 years I've lost 10 (or more). And yes it is a bit of a pain in the arse what ith taking an hour to reapply and then a week to wait for a new one.


Oh and:

Quote
(wasn't a dick but firm)

Haha.

Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #41 on: April 17, 2012, 02:14:08 AM »
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« Last Edit: September 01, 2016, 03:41:46 PM by Isidnar »

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opiate

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Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #42 on: April 17, 2012, 02:53:12 AM »
Maybe it's just me and my British ways, but I HATE that people wait until the bus stops, and the doors open before they get up from their seat. They inevitably hold the bus up for a couple of seconds and shout "有下!!” just as the doors close. Why?! Get up a couple of seconds earlier and save everybody (including yourself) the hassle!

I was kind of surprised to read this, Tom. Here in Dalian, people get up and leave the bus they way they're supposed to.

On the busier buses in Qingdao if you are not near the door and ready to leap/push/shove/kick/bite your way out the door you will never get off. The number of folks doing the same to get *on* the bus can push you back like a foul smelling human tsunami.




Re: Things locals do that drive you insane.
« Reply #43 on: April 17, 2012, 05:26:23 AM »
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I was kind of surprised to read this, Tom. Here in Dalian, people get up and leave the bus they way they're supposed to.
You and I obviously frequent different bus routes. <shrug> I wan't particularly surprised by Tom's comment.
What gets me about people's behaviour on crowded, over-crowded and you've-got-to-be-kidding,-no-I'm-not crowded busses is the habit some people here have of staking out personal turf right in front of the door and standing there for better than half the duration of the bus route. And of taking offense every time someone pushes past (or, heaven forbid, steps on their toes!) as they try to reach the door being blocked. Hey folks, didn't your fathers teach you how to use a door?

BTW, I have a lot of respect for bus drivers. No, not all of them deserve it, but if you watch the road, they have to put up with a lot of crap. It's a stressful job, not one that I could do myself.

My name isn't fking ANDREW.
« Reply #44 on: April 17, 2012, 07:11:16 PM »

This is the time of the year that I am looking for another school position. By visa expires in about 75 days and I want something to fall back on in case my employer does not want to renew my contract.

With my e-mail, I submit my name in a cover letter and my name is on my resume or CV. My name is G. L. Andrews (the letter has my full first name G****). For the past ten years, countless people eithe in person or correspondence have called me ANDREW. People who call me Andrew speak English, have hired and worked with foreigners and should know that the first name is my name and the last name is the family name. Today (which is the inspiration of this post), I got a reply with Dear Andrew.....

I can accept if only one dumb person does this, but almost everyone does this.