I found the best sign ever on my first day at work. The driver dropped me off and with hand signals and smiles I managed to determine which of the 6 buildings I was supposed to go into and what floor I needed to locate in order to get to work. As I stepped out of the car I saw this sign that looked like it had a trumpet on it, but the trumpet was placed behind one of the red “forbidden” circles with a slash which is the universal sign for “no.” I spent a few moments as I walked up to my building to ponder why anyone would be so against trumpets before putting the sign out of my mind.
It was only a few days later as I was in the car on my way to Jixian that the mystery of the sign resolved itself. Careening up into the mountains in a glorious pea soup fog, our driver kept using his horn like the gas pedal. Every curve, car, and person deserved a short blast of sound. As I gazed hopelessly out of the window hoping for a glimpse of the scenery we were passing I noticed a sign for falling rocks and the same anti-trumpet marking. As we passed this area the horn was blissfully silent. For some unknown reason, the trumpet was supposed to represent a car horn. I was very relieved that China is not an anti-brass instrument place because that would just be sad.
Now the horn sign is only one of the many signs that I love here. There is also the “drunk driving” sign where a car is sloshing around inside a martini glass with a broken stem or the “no eating with chopsticks while driving” sign which you will only find in an Asian country. I won’t even begin on the amazingly wrong translations that can always bring a smile.
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2 comments:
hi mandi,
i love your blog. please add more stories. i can just see you on your bike in the middle of half a million chinese, all staring at you. i'm sure the whole thing will be an experience you will never forget.
i am surprised to hear there's no water and soap to wash your hands after going to the potty (sounds like i'm talking to my 4-year old niece). so i guess people pat each other less on the back and on the cheek than in spain :-)
in thailand and even in india there was water for your bumwash, mostly provided in buckets but sometimes there was even running water, and in some cases there was soap for the hands; an unnecessary luxury you might say though. who needs clean hands anyways. we took some liquid desinfectant from spain because we're such terrible snobs. the sort they use in banks when they count money and i think some doctors use it too. that could be useful. so you can use it after the potty and before you have your plate of fingerlickin' roast cat :-)
gotta go. take care.
joachim
oh, and for funny translations check out www.chinglish.com and www.engrish.com
take care
joachim
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