Gearing Up For The Holiday

Friday, February 12, 2010

The kitchen is like a refrigerator. Really. It’s not more than 40 degrees in here.

The glass-enclosed kitchen and the glass-enclosed balcony are on opposite sides of the apartment and are “bump-outs” –they protrude from the sides of the building.

All that glass five stories up doesn’t provide much insulation. Makes washing dishes out here uncomfortable sometimes. If I leave the dishes to air dry in the rack, I have to bring them into the dining room and let them warm up before putting them away. Otherwise water would condense on them.

Fortunately, the kitchen contains only the sink, stove, some counter space and storage. It’s about 5’ wide by 10’ long. The microwave, convection oven and refrigerator are in the dining room.

Aiye is here cleaning. I get out of her way by staying here in the office, writing. When she comes close to the door with the vacuum or mop, I know to move to another spot.

Bernie goes out to buy another pair of dress pants. He bought a pair two days ago. All men’s pants here come unhemmed. He tried to get them hemmed but something was lost in translation. The woman at the tailoring station hemmed up a quarter-inch on the raw edge, but that was all. I watched Lost and hemmed them, though it was a pretty deep hem. Good job, though, even if I do say so myself.

Today, he’s hoping to communicate well enough to get them hemmed to length. A man on a mission.

I write with determination because I want to get Far East Fishers up and running today.

I hear the door close indicating that Aiye is leaving. I don’t make it into the living room in time to say goodbye in my clumsy way. In a few seconds though I hear Bernie coming up the stairs.

He’s succeeded and is now the proud owner of a pair of black dress slacks of the right length. He models for me-we always do that. They look great.

The pants came in a nice chocolate brown shopping bag embossed with gold. On it is printed the following:

Man contain own character
Man
Belongs to the society, the company, the meetings and other occasions except himself.
To be successful sometimes
Means losing yourself.
So man needs an environment of his own to enjoy.

I love it. The meaning comes across very well. This kind of translation is what real Chinglish is, like the signs in the park. Autumn’s is her own brand.

The shopping center is packed. All 1.5 billion Chinese are in Kaifaqu today, he claims. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. Taxi fares are up.

He tells me a story about the taxi driver who took him downtown. They passed a horse-drawn cart. Bernie pointed to the horse and said the word for horse, ma. Then he said to Bernie “Pegasus-ma.”

Bernie’s gone out again, this time to buy the chocolates for our friends and find red and gold wrapping paper for the gifts, because those colors are appropriate for New Year.

There are still 1.5 billion people downtown, but he thinks the stores are closing.

I’m about to find out.