I got myself a cold when coming back to Shanghai. Nice move. The culprit was probably a freezer-like air conditioned cinema on my last day in the Philippines.
What the HELL is wrong with those people, that they always have to run their A/C on full steam, until one cannot see the movie screen anymore, because ones own breath condensates in midair?!
Anyway,
I had planned to spend all Saturday really studying for Statistics and Financial Accounting. Instead I'm now lying in bed with 38.5 fever, lazily dreaming away - not to say halluzinating ;-)
I'm not complaining, though, as this gives me another great excuse to procrastinate studying a little longer...
This morning we had to give our presentation for Business Writing and Presentation Skills class, which was videotaped, since it represents the final exam for this subject. I hope to catch a glimpse of myself later this week, performing in front of a totally bored must-be-there-audience with feverishly glazy, red eyeballs and a sore nose.
Showing posts with label RBD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RBD. Show all posts
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Sad Conversations
Some snippets of my conversations. Might not be the exact wording, but true to the sense of what was said.
First Girl
me: Do you like what you're doing?
her: (thinks, hesitates)... No.
me: Why do you do it then?
her: I need the money.
me: Why's that?
her: I have a kid.
me: what? You mean here?
her: He stays with my parents. I need the money to support him.
me: What about the father?
her: The father is not interested. He doesn't care.
me: He doesn't give you any money?
her: No, he's from Belgium. He won't return any of my emails or phone calls.
me: This is sick! Do you know that Belgium law would require him to pay for his child?
her: No.
Second Girl
me: Do you like your job?
her: (without hesitation) No.
me: How long have you been doing it?
her: For about two years. I ran away from my family.
me: Why's that?
her: They tried to force me to marry a muslim boy. But I didn't like him.
me: And then you ended up here?
her: Yeah, I needed a job.
me: And you go out with guests and sleep with them?
her: Yes.
me: So you didn't like the guy you were supposed to marry and now you sleep with a stranger every night.
her: (remains silent, with a contemplative look on her face)
Third Girl
me: (to a 16 year old looking girl, jokingly) Are you for sale?
her: Yes. (half-jokingly) I'm a virgin. I can come with you.
me: Don't be silly! I could be your father. How old are you?
her: I'm twenty.
me: Don't make me laugh!
(I buy her a fruit juice and we do some small talk)
me: So if I pay the barfine, will you come with me to my room?
her: Sure.
me: And then you'll sleep with me?
her: Yes.
me: And if I want to sleep with you without a condom? Would that be okay for you?
her: If you want me to... yes.
me: This is crazy. You've got all your life before you! You shouldn't throw it away that easily...
her: Most tourists want to use a condom anyway.
me: Why are you doing this?
her: I have to support my family.
me: Do they know what you do?
her: No. I tell them I work as a bar waitress...
Fourth Girl
me: What have you done before you came here?
her: I worked in a Mall. But I can make much more money here. I'm not going to do this forever. I want to study afterwards.
me: Your family doesn't pay for your studies?
her: No, I have to support my family financially. And I support my big sister, too.
me: Do they know that you work here?
her: No... You think I should tell them?
me: What does your family do?
her: My father used to be a painter, but now I gave them money so they can have a small business.
me: What kind of business?
her: They sell sandals on the market.
me: And how is it working out?
her: I don't know... I hope OK... I gave them 40'000 Pesos (note: equals two full months of work) for it. If it doesn't work out I cannot give them any more. I already gave them 20'000 earlier, but my father gambled it on a cockfight and lost it all.
me: Maybe you should call them and check with them monthly on how the business is doing...
First Girl
me: Do you like what you're doing?
her: (thinks, hesitates)... No.
me: Why do you do it then?
her: I need the money.
me: Why's that?
her: I have a kid.
me: what? You mean here?
her: He stays with my parents. I need the money to support him.
me: What about the father?
her: The father is not interested. He doesn't care.
me: He doesn't give you any money?
her: No, he's from Belgium. He won't return any of my emails or phone calls.
me: This is sick! Do you know that Belgium law would require him to pay for his child?
her: No.
Second Girl
me: Do you like your job?
her: (without hesitation) No.
me: How long have you been doing it?
her: For about two years. I ran away from my family.
me: Why's that?
her: They tried to force me to marry a muslim boy. But I didn't like him.
me: And then you ended up here?
her: Yeah, I needed a job.
me: And you go out with guests and sleep with them?
her: Yes.
me: So you didn't like the guy you were supposed to marry and now you sleep with a stranger every night.
her: (remains silent, with a contemplative look on her face)
Third Girl
me: (to a 16 year old looking girl, jokingly) Are you for sale?
her: Yes. (half-jokingly) I'm a virgin. I can come with you.
me: Don't be silly! I could be your father. How old are you?
her: I'm twenty.
me: Don't make me laugh!
(I buy her a fruit juice and we do some small talk)
me: So if I pay the barfine, will you come with me to my room?
her: Sure.
me: And then you'll sleep with me?
her: Yes.
me: And if I want to sleep with you without a condom? Would that be okay for you?
her: If you want me to... yes.
me: This is crazy. You've got all your life before you! You shouldn't throw it away that easily...
her: Most tourists want to use a condom anyway.
me: Why are you doing this?
her: I have to support my family.
me: Do they know what you do?
her: No. I tell them I work as a bar waitress...
Fourth Girl
me: What have you done before you came here?
her: I worked in a Mall. But I can make much more money here. I'm not going to do this forever. I want to study afterwards.
me: Your family doesn't pay for your studies?
her: No, I have to support my family financially. And I support my big sister, too.
me: Do they know that you work here?
her: No... You think I should tell them?
me: What does your family do?
her: My father used to be a painter, but now I gave them money so they can have a small business.
me: What kind of business?
her: They sell sandals on the market.
me: And how is it working out?
her: I don't know... I hope OK... I gave them 40'000 Pesos (note: equals two full months of work) for it. If it doesn't work out I cannot give them any more. I already gave them 20'000 earlier, but my father gambled it on a cockfight and lost it all.
me: Maybe you should call them and check with them monthly on how the business is doing...
I've hit a real Low Point
This Tuesday we went to Sabang (near Puerto Galera) for scuba diving and we stayed there until today.
I really don't know what to say about the place. My mind is completely blank! I'm afraid I might just have hit the low point of my vacation here in the Philippines or maybe of my entire stay in Asia...
Why? The hotel was nice, the food was great, the scuba diving superb...
But the nightlife really makes you wanna throw up. There are about 6 girlie bars in town and we went to check them all out during the first night.
Now I consider myself very open minded and most people would agree that I'm not easily shocked by anything. My office in Zurich was located in the red light district for several years and I was used to look at prostitution merely as a demand/supply function.
But here you go into one of these places, and you're immediately surrounded by children. Most of them will tell you they're 18, 19, 20 years old, and admittedly I'm no expert at judging Asian's women's age. But I'm absolutely convinced that at least some of these girls were underage. Even then, I doubt that 18, 19, 20 is the age where a girl conciously and willingly decides for such a career move and its associated long-term risks and consequences. Especially considering that a considerable proportion of the male guests in these places are 40+, 50+.
The girls are more or less held like slaves. They have no fixed salary. They get locked into the staffhouse after work because they're not supposed to go out and enjoy themselves.
Their job is to convince guests to buy them drinks and then they'll get part of the drinks costs as comission, thereby slowly turning themselves into alcoholics. If a guest likes a girl, he pays the barfine (CHF 60.-) and the girl is his for the rest of the night. Since the girl will get half of this money, this might look like a fair deal at first. However, if a girl does not want to leave with a (30 years older) guest, she will have to pay the bar's share of the barfine herself, thereby making up for the bar's profit loss, essentially losing all her previous day's earnings. Not exactly free choice.
I really don't know what to say about the place. My mind is completely blank! I'm afraid I might just have hit the low point of my vacation here in the Philippines or maybe of my entire stay in Asia...
Why? The hotel was nice, the food was great, the scuba diving superb...
But the nightlife really makes you wanna throw up. There are about 6 girlie bars in town and we went to check them all out during the first night.
Now I consider myself very open minded and most people would agree that I'm not easily shocked by anything. My office in Zurich was located in the red light district for several years and I was used to look at prostitution merely as a demand/supply function.
But here you go into one of these places, and you're immediately surrounded by children. Most of them will tell you they're 18, 19, 20 years old, and admittedly I'm no expert at judging Asian's women's age. But I'm absolutely convinced that at least some of these girls were underage. Even then, I doubt that 18, 19, 20 is the age where a girl conciously and willingly decides for such a career move and its associated long-term risks and consequences. Especially considering that a considerable proportion of the male guests in these places are 40+, 50+.
The girls are more or less held like slaves. They have no fixed salary. They get locked into the staffhouse after work because they're not supposed to go out and enjoy themselves.
Their job is to convince guests to buy them drinks and then they'll get part of the drinks costs as comission, thereby slowly turning themselves into alcoholics. If a guest likes a girl, he pays the barfine (CHF 60.-) and the girl is his for the rest of the night. Since the girl will get half of this money, this might look like a fair deal at first. However, if a girl does not want to leave with a (30 years older) guest, she will have to pay the bar's share of the barfine herself, thereby making up for the bar's profit loss, essentially losing all her previous day's earnings. Not exactly free choice.
Monday, October 15, 2007
My Hand is killing me
Hell, does my hand hurt! I'm just no longer used to writing stuff by hand. The reason is, that we have to turn in the &@*% Financial Accounting homework handwritten.
CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?
I've been using computers since childhood and now they actually expect me to emulate a spreadsheet on paper?! Of course I did the whole thing in Excel, with the effect that I now just spent 5 absolutely unproductive hours copying numbers from my computer screen to 22 doublesided pages of A4. Not exactly what I imagined my learning experience to be...
CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?
I've been using computers since childhood and now they actually expect me to emulate a spreadsheet on paper?! Of course I did the whole thing in Excel, with the effect that I now just spent 5 absolutely unproductive hours copying numbers from my computer screen to 22 doublesided pages of A4. Not exactly what I imagined my learning experience to be...
Saturday, September 15, 2007
A Really Bad Day(tm)
On one of the first days here we were warned about life in China that initial euphorism would soon evaporate and that our mood would reach an all-time low after two to three months before recovering back to normal.
This alone not being enough, one of the long-time expats at our school said, that even after having lived years in China, he would still feel like killing everybody around him once every few months.
Now guess what, yesterday I found out why: I went to Carrefour to buy a clothes drying rack. Lucky me, it was on sale for only RMB 159 instead of 249! Unfortunately at the cash register, I realized that they had charged me the full price, i.e. 90 RMB too much. As a responsible customer, I complained and asked for the situation to be rectified.
Well, to make a long story short: It took roughly 6 people and 1.5 hours of waiting time to refund me the 90 RMB (15 CHF).
This not enough, some time earlier at the bank: In order to change CHF (which were already sitting on my bank account) to RMB (which would continue to sit on my bank account) it took me 1.25 hours of waiting in line at the local branch.
No wonder I had almost killed the guy at the campus cafeteria when he figured I'd have to wait for 30 minuts until the kitchen would be able to prepare my food...
This alone not being enough, one of the long-time expats at our school said, that even after having lived years in China, he would still feel like killing everybody around him once every few months.
Now guess what, yesterday I found out why: I went to Carrefour to buy a clothes drying rack. Lucky me, it was on sale for only RMB 159 instead of 249! Unfortunately at the cash register, I realized that they had charged me the full price, i.e. 90 RMB too much. As a responsible customer, I complained and asked for the situation to be rectified.
Well, to make a long story short: It took roughly 6 people and 1.5 hours of waiting time to refund me the 90 RMB (15 CHF).
This not enough, some time earlier at the bank: In order to change CHF (which were already sitting on my bank account) to RMB (which would continue to sit on my bank account) it took me 1.25 hours of waiting in line at the local branch.
No wonder I had almost killed the guy at the campus cafeteria when he figured I'd have to wait for 30 minuts until the kitchen would be able to prepare my food...
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