A friend sent me an email in which she contributed to the school magazine (Blurt! or Vie) a list of items about the usual suspects/observations in a typical chinese office. In the list, some were funny and some weird (but still funny). For example, I've been wondering for the past week why the pregnant woman in my office keeps wearing an apron in the office. I was pleasantly enlightened after reading the email. The apron was to shield the foetus from the radiation of the computer. I wonder how come pregnant woman in Singapore don't wear that in offices. Maybe Singapore women are not restricted to just one child per lifetime (chinese can have one child only - must protect at all cost)... Or it's just not fashionable to wear that. Maybe? (Shrugs)

That's not all. The chinese usually bring their own lunch boxes to work. Almost everyone in the office bring their lunch boxes. It only makes sense to take the trouble to cook food in the morning (or - yikes - the night before) and bring to the office to eat when the food sold in PRC is both oily and salty. I just had the worst dinner yet in PRC since I've arrived just a moment ago at a food court near my place. I ordered beef hor fun. When the food was ready, it looked fairly tasty, except for the layer of glistering oil on the hor fun. The hor fun tasted liked it was cooked in oil, salt and MSG only. I swear I could feel a layer of oil gloss on my lips after dinner. Moving on to the beef, my first bite felt like I was biting on the joint in the beef slice. As I masticated the meat in my mouth, I felt like I was chewing on rubber. I took a closer look at the beef slices and noticed that some still had red blood stains on them. So half-cooked. Another 2 PRC nationals seated opposite us (I had dinner with my friend) also could be heard complaining about the saltiness of the food. One of them kept grumbling and gumbling and muttering... Obviously I couldn't finish my food in the end. I am considering bringing my own lunch box too. It's the "IN" thing to do anyway. The most important thing is, I don't want to drop anymore hair. (P.S. My friend thought that the beef tasted fine...)

Another gross observation that I absolutely must bitch about is the way people dispose of their toilet paper after wiping their bums. It started when I first used the office communal toilet at the end of the corridor to pass motion. As I squated there (no sitting ones, tsk) I noticed a small basket bin in the cubicle. I had no idea why it was there or what its purpose was. It wasn't until I asked someone (can't remember now) and again I was enlightened, albeit an unpleasant one, as to the bin's purpose. The people here are very considerate. After passing motion, they do not dispose of the toilet paper (after wiping their ass) into the WC like I do; they just drop them conveniently into the bin. I was flabbergasted. This, I was told, was to prevent the sewage from being choked by the toilet paper. I think it's utterly illogical unless I'm using sand paper to clean my bum. Then I suddenly remembered that the bin in my apartment's toilet was also filled with toilet paper, sometimes with yellowish-brow stains on them. Now I know where they come from. The toilet is used by only my PRC friend and I... Then my friend also informed me that Koreans practice that too... Sigh.

I think I've written enough to make myself lose appetite for one meal. Funnily, I was actually telling all of what I've written above on MSN to my friend while I was having lunch (also oily and salty, but better texture than the indigestible beef hor fun) today.

Last thing! Today, the Olympics torch came to SZ. How exciting it was. My colleagues and I made our way to the starting point (or somewhere there) to catch a glimpse of the torch. Apparently, the venue was teeming with people when we arrived. People were shouting and cheering. The weather was strangely sunny today, as opposed to the hazy and gloomy skys when I first came here. In any case, after all the pushing and shoving and running I only caught a glimpse of the torch and the man/woman/I-don't-know-what running off with people trailing behind...

It's amazing how enthusiastic and patriotic the chinese are. As thousands thronged and overcrowded the road curbs, there were many who climbed up trees just to see the torch bearer. There was a policeman who was demanding a man to get off a tree when that man was 5 meters up there. Standing there motionless and expressionless, the policeman shouted in vain as the man refused to get off that tree. I walked away as my interest waned. I can't imagine a Singaporean climbing up a tree just so he can watch the Chingay. Then again, it's Chingay... Maybe for F1 we may see something interesting.

So much for my experience in PRC thus far. The toilet paper thing is the most traumatising fact I've learnt of so far. I cring thinking about it.