What's there to love about China?

Disclaimer: This post involves time zones that may not coincide with your own.

Week one has passed in China, and I'm only here til next Friday, so it feels more like a casual fling than a committed relationship. I can't really get settled, always thinking about the next cuntry to enter around the corner. Oops. I mean country. See what I did there? That's rather coarse of me.

Can't say I love the air here. Or the water. Or the traffic. Or most of the food (I prefer my Chinese in moderation). Or the lack of reliable places to shop, lack of friends (and the remote location of the ones who are here), cold apartment and slow internet. That's about enough to get my point across.

However, there is one thing that does make being in China worth the while...brace yourself...the work. Isn't that just wrong?

To illustrate, let me explain my average day in Japan and China respectively. If you get bored, go check out...this song. Then find and marry SebastiAn. Because he's French and quite simply too amazing for you not to want him.

The Average Day At Work in Osaka

- Wake at 7am, out the door by 7.30
- Work from 8.45 (after morning aerobics/meeting)
- Reply to emails from curious US customers
- Meeting regarding current status of developing projects (usually kills an hour)
Lunch (12-1pm) Eat from local convenience store, play Halo 3 with coworkers, win comfortably
- Ask Chinese staff about production issues, schedules
- Chat with design team about work they're doing for US projects
- Kill an hour on facebook or blogspot
- Hurriedly write emails I forgot in the morning
- Decide to leave making invoices til tomorrow
- Leave work at 7pm

Average Day at Work in China

- Wake at 7am, out the door by 7.30
- Coffee at McDs, work (at factory) at 8am
- Look at emails, realise I don't have time to reply, call senders to explain
- Drive to outsourcing factory
- Complain to outsourcers about current status of products, solve production problems, request new changes, argue over deadlines and costs
Lunch (whenever)
During lunch eat at greasy Chinese restaurant or get takeaway KFC if we can't stop
- Drive to molding factory
- Discuss changes to molds, solve about 3 problems with design of new molds, receive coffee
- Turn down offer to go to dinner
- Return to HQ factory, check production line, scare Chinese staff, solve production hiccups
- Check emails, decide to receive replies til I get home
- Leave work any time between 7pm and 10pm
- Follow-up emails at home leisurely until around 2am

What's the difference? Well, its not obvious on cyber-paper. But I never left the office on the day in Japan. And I ran out of stuff to do. Getting paid to browse facebook might sound nice, but it gets old.
In China its about going everywhere, work in hand, and dealing with the nitty gritty of making stuff people might someday hopefully buy. Its finding solutions to problems that would decide if we get paid or end up losing money on late shipments. Its the hands on the mutha-funking big rig wheel. Ha - ironically I saw one of those rolled on its side on a highway yesterday. Hopefully I drive better than that. Knock on fake Chinese wood.

I don't like this country. But I do love the work here.

I realise this post looks a little dull without a picture, so allow me to include some shots of the place we ate at on Friday. It's the only Hu Nan restaurant I'm willing to eat at - not because I'm prejudiced, But because Hu Nan-ese tend to like their food really fucking hot. I mean, god damn. Think about taking a chicken, feeding it chilli for a year, then serving it in a bath of peppers. I'm serious. Well, about the peppers.
This place is more mild, and I love the decor. Especially the Mao bust.