If you hear a whistle

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The Angel of Peanut Butter arrived this evening (also known as Chris, my lovely friend from Texas) and delivered a jar of all-natural chunky peanut butter direct to my hotel door, all the way from Target (said with a French accent, of course). How happy am I?

More good news, Beijing's traffic control plan went into effect today: the Games-time mandate that drivers alternate which days they can be on the road, in a effort to cut down on pollution and traffic. Today, only cars with license plates ending in odd numbers were permitted within the city center; tomorrow will be for the even numbered-drivers. I cannot imagine this ever working in New York City! Seriously, New York drivers would probably tell the NYC government officials to go %$(@ themselves! Thus I am wholly impressed by (and grateful for) how dutiful the locals here seem to be, all following the rules -- and making our commute a little less painful.

Today was spent in a "Neverending Meeting" at the Beijing headquarters of my client company, with about 20+ people in attendance - which may explain why it lasted more than 9 hours. It was, um, an interesting day. Mostly just long. Fantastic and odd that all the Chinese had their cell phones prominently displayed on the table throughout the entire day. And, many were using their phones not only to check emails and send text messages during the meeting, but also to make and receive calls - right there at the table! Would this ever happen in the States?

Also, the business card exchange is all the rage here. It is considered rude not to present a business card when being introduced in a business context, and the other person immediately returns the favor by handing over their own card. The cards are always presented with two hands, with the print facing toward the recipient. The cards should remain on the table until the meeting has ended, at which point they can be tucked away. Or maybe this last detail relates to meetings held in restaurants... not too sure about that.

Another important cultural observation: The Chinese never seem to get an attack of the giggles like Americans tend to while sitting through long, excruciatingly boring and extremely unproductive meetings (or as I always do while sitting in a synagogue or church). There were a few special moments today in which some of my colleagues completely lost all control of themselves for various reasons - mostly out of sheer loopiness and exhaustion - and broke down into barely-suppressed hysteria. It got so bad that at one point, one member of my team could be seen bent over in her chair with her head under the table, trying to gain control of herself while lost in hysterics, as the rest of us turned red in the face, eyes tearing, trying to suppress our own outbursts of laughter. Completely unprofessional, ill-mannered and downright awful, yes. But it was certainly comical! I am dumbfounded as to how the Chinese maintained their composure so beautifully during these crazy moments while we all seemed to lose ours...

Update on the diaper situation for those of you who are interested: From what I have learned, babies do wear diapers in the early stages of life, but their potty training involves learning how to whistle as an indication to whoever is listening that they have to go. So once they get this little trick down, they graduate from diapers to split-up-the-middle pants, and whistle to mom or dad when it's time to let loose.

So the lesson of the day is..... if you hear a whistle, RUN!

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