Lost in Translation: "One for the road"

Hello blog readers.  Firstly, a quick thank you to everyone who has emailed saying you are enjoying the blog.  I wish I could find more time to write, but it's good to know that my semi regular blogs are being enjoyed on the otherside of the world and that you are following my Chinese adventure.  It's been alot of fun so far...

I am writing this entry from my hotel room in Tianjin, after arriving back from a quick 2 day trip to Changchun.  Changchun is about a 90 minute flight north of Tianjin.  It's one of the closest Chinese cities to North Korea.  Probably as close as I want to be to North Korea.

Over the next few weeks, I am trying to get to each of our 7 markets to meet the staff, and also to get my head around the different stations. One thing I learned from my time in Bangkok, and also from talking to Keith Fowler, is that time in each market is critical.  You can only do so much by email/phone/QQ(Chinese instant communicator).

My Changchun story starts with dinner last night.  Doing business in China is all about building strong relationships with the staff, and part of that involves sharing a meal.  If you've read my previous blogs, you'll know that they love to eat, and eat, and eat.  Oh, and they love to drink.

As we sat down last night, I left the ordering of the food to David (the station manager).  After he spent about 20 minutes calling out items from the menu to the nearby waitress, he asked me if I would like to try some "chinese white wine".  At this point, the conversation stopped and all eyes fell on me.  I felt like I was in the Millionaire Hot Seat and was about to lock in my answer to win $1 million.

"Sure", I said, at which point all the girls giggled.  What had I just agreed to?  I asked David exactly what was this chinese white wine.  He explained that it was a clear drink, 42% alcohol, made from rice.  Now, I may not know alot about wine, but I do know two things.  One, it's not made from rice.  And two, it's not 42% alcohol! 

The ceramic bottle arrived, and again the table fell silent as it was opened, and poured into my glass.  I tried to place the smell, and the best I could come up with was it smelled a little like Sambucca.  David made the toast, and I took a sip.

It was strong.  Very strong.  As you would expect a spirit to be.  Today, I googled the name (Baijiu), and read that some people likened it to paint thinner.  Yeah, pretty close. I smiled, and said that it was "OK".

Now Australian's have developed a somewhat legendary status when it comes to drinking, and I wasn't going to let the side down.  So, during the next toast, I drained the glass.  This had an immediate reaction of applause, shock, and even laughter.  I had just showed this team I mean business, and gained a littlsomething else in the eyes of the Chinese - respect.

We ended up drinking 2 bottles of Baijiu (they are small bottles), but it was enough to get me tipsy.  After the second bottle we moved onto beer. After drinking the Baijiu, the beer tasted like water. 

OK, I am waffling a bit.  The point to this blog (as the title suggests) is how things get lost in translation.  After we ate and drank, and shared a few laughs, it was time to go.  I suggested to David that we have "one drink for the road".  This phrase wasn't familar to him, so I explained what it meant.

David then made a toast, and translated "one for the road" into Manadarin.  The shocked looks on the faces of the staff, and the cries of "no, no, no" said it all.  David then explained that his translation ended up being "one drink before you go to heaven".  We all had a laugh, and drank up.  NOw I'm the guy who wants to kill all the staff, and take them to heaven - but not before enjoying a drink together!