In a Chinese Post Office... the 'Comprehensive Postal Service Counter' (which is the designation of 9 of the 10 serving points in my nearest branch - 5 of the 6 in use when I looked in just now) is NOT equipped to sell stamps.
I think it might have been 综合 (zonghe), rather than 全面 (quanmian) [not sure if there's much difference between them, anyway - Weeble??]; but I can't help feeling that the Chinese concept somehow lacks a certain essential element of what we think of in English as 'comprehensiveness'.
4 comments:
They are, however, capable of taking your phone bill money from you - a fact of which I was very grateful, although it doesn't seem to be in any way a "postal service".
The one-and-only stamp counter was besieged by a gaggle of swarthy peasants who were attempting to mail a veritable Silk Road caravan of hefty boxes. It was probably going to take at least another half an hour to deal with them, let alone the half dozen or so other people who had gathered to wait for stamps. I decided to postpone attempting to post my handful of Christmas cards until today... or tomorrow...
I used to get some pretty tacky xmas cards in China, usually from people who were struggling with the concept that I wasn't sending any myself.
Nasty flashback to some appalling "Christmas gatherings for the Laowai"... *shudder*
Ah, Stuart, good to hear from you again. FIC's been in hibernation for a couple of months now; I was getting concerned. I hope you've been profitably and/or pleasantly busy rather than suffering some difficulty.
The likelihood of enforced attendance at drab parties - particularly on foreign holidays when you'd rather be doing something with your friends - is one of the key reasons to avoid teaching in China, at any rate in any kind of large institution. I've only had to suffer a fairly small number of such events. In my last university job, I used the excuse that my girlfriend was Jewish (true, actually - although she'd embraced Buddhism...) to duck out of most of them.
Thanks for your concern, Froog.
Just crazily busy, nothing more. Thus, my ranting against the architects of global disaster in Beijing has been vented through - you may wish to look away at this point - the speedy convenience of Twitter.
If it helps you to accept the inevitable, Twitter has been very useful in spreading the word about Wu Yuren. Can't believe we're approaching 200 days now!
Love the chair pic. Says it all. Wonder if we can get someone to place an empty chair outside LXB's apartment complex - symbolism that is sure to lost on the goons.
Post a Comment