Now that my SO has moved here with me, I've come to realize that teaching English in China is basically a stationary honeymoon. With so little work hours and so few people and things that we're able to interact with, as illiterates, we really are in our own little world. It's definitely a make or break situation for a relationship.
Unless you go to a smaller city though, most places in China wouldn't be good to honeymoon while saving for your future (unless your future is in China), because you really can't save enough non-Asian currency to do grown up things like buy a house for your family or whatever.
So then the tough part becomes, how long to adventure for before buckling down and getting a real job somewhere...
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Club 1801
Being a big city, Xiamen has a decent variety of both bars and clubs (I think of a club as being a place with a dj and, theoretically, dancing and the like). The bars primarily function like western bars, but the clubs are definitely a little different.
Most of them don't have a large dance floor, rather almost all of the space is occupied by tables, both low ones to sit at and tall ones to stand around. The small dance floor they usually have is actually a runway or stage, for they all have some kind of live entertainment that happens at regular intervals every evening. They have fashion shows, singers (western and Chinese) and dancers, and sometimes they have themes.
Guests hang out at the tables and play Rock Paper Scissors (yes, seriously) and Chinese dice for drinks, with small breaks for dancing and watching the shows.
Westerners also prove to be a good attraction for the clubs, so they all have some kind of system of giving foreigners free drinks. And this is how I came to work in a Chinese nightclub.
When I first got to Xiamen, I found I had a lot of free time- MUCH more than in Songyuan. I was out at a club one night and the manager of the International Department (aka the people in charge of bringing foreigners in and keeping them happy with free drinks) asked me if I wanted to work for him. I declined for a while- as a general rule I'm not a fan of clubs; I don't like to dance and, as a non-smoker, I don't like cigarette smoke. Eventually I came around though, the pay wasn't great per hour, but it was an additional half month's teaching salary for just hanging out and drinking with people every other night (oh yes, I got to drink).
I worked every other night from 10:30pm to 3:30am and if foreigners came in, if they knew anyone in the International Department, if they were good looking, if they looked like they weren't going to buy their own drinks, my job was to set them up with a table next to the stage, complete with all the free bottles of vodka or whiskey and mixers they could drink. Oh, and there were always snacks too.
If they were lucky, or more likely if they were friends of mine, I could usually pull off getting them free beer or a bottle of champagne (these being my personal preferences for beverages). The club was pretty particular about the drinks we could give away. Outside of bottles of vodka or whiskey, there was usually a limit to how many beers or bottles of champage we could give out in a night, and those were really our only other options for a table.
If lone foreigners came in, we had cards for single free drinks we could give out for them to redeem at the bar. When I first started, the cards were open, any single mixer drink or even a just Coke or something was game to trade for a card. About halfway through my time there, they switched and had three sets of cards made with a specific drink designated on each one, further limiting the options for free drinks.
The International Department consisted of my boss, myself and up to three other International Consultants (awesome job title, right?!). There were always supposed to be two Consultants working, and my boss was usually there. I really needed another consultant to be working, because outside of us, no one at the club spoke English, so I couldn't order drinks, or key them in to the computer myself. I did manage to communicate enough with the front desk hostesses to be able to tell them when I needed to tables and have them kick out the Chinese for me though.
The club routinely removed Chinese from tables to fill them with westerners drinking free drinks, which made me feel pretty bad at first, until I realized that a LOT of people at the club were paid to be there. They were supposed to act like they were having fun. When the small dance floor was empty, a bunch of them would get a text message telling them to go dance and make it look busy, or whatever the club wanted. Some of them were men, most were women. Some were models. Some were hookers of course. Most of them weren't allowed to drink. Eek.
There was one girl in particular that worked every night. She wore the same silver dress every night, wore the same disco ball Mardi Gras mask, stood at the same corner of the bar and had the same bored expression on her face. Every night. She ignored everyone that talked to her and confused the heck out of me.
Before I accepted the job at the club, I told my boss that I was new to Xiamen, didn't know many people and wouldn't be inviting the few I did out every other night like a club promoter. He said that was fine. Naturally, not long into the gig, he was asking me how many people we had coming every night. I'd mostly just make numbers up. If I hadn't seen a club kid in a while I'd text them, and when new foreigners came in, I'd give them my number and tell them they could text me next time so I'd have their table ready, but I'm neither obnoxious nor a salesperson.
The "having the table ready" line was actually kind of funny, because the foreigners' tables are all sort of interchangeable. Because the drinks are all free, a group never really has "possession" of a table to the point that they can tell other foreigners to leave, foreigners kind of just all mingle around all the foreign tables and drink whatever is on any of them. It can be kind of awkward at first, until you figure out what's going on, when a couple strangers walk up to your table, grab your booze and pour themselves a glass (this happened to me the first time I went as a patron).
Working at the club would have been a great job... if I was like 22. I found that most of the same people came in every night, and most of them were nice enough, fun to party with, if a bit young. In this way, going to work was more like going to hang out with my club friends every other night. But on the random nights when no one came in, it was oh so very boring. Add that to the aforementioned reasons for turning the job down initially, and the fact that staying up till 3:30am every other night is pretty challenging, and you have me quitting after a month.
I also had some issues with my coworkers. I've got a pretty strong work ethic (tip of my hat to my Midwestern parents), so I was always at work at 10:30pm on the dot and I stayed at work, in the building, until I was off at 3:30am. It took me a few weeks to figure out, but when my Chinese coworkers (that I relied on to get our guests drinks) were "at work", they'd often put in an appearance and then leave. Even though the bartenders knew me, they still wouldn't help me when the other girls weren't there, because none of the departments really work together or stick their necks out for each other.
And then, even for the initial appearance, the other girls were usually at least 45 minutes late, stranding me with no way to do my job. One in particular was usually hours late, if she showed up at all. We didn't have a time clock or anyone to check in with, so no one knew and it was pretty frustrating.
A few weeks in they bought a fingerprint time clock. My boss told me it wouldn't matter to me because I was on time, but the other girls would get docked 50RMB every time they were late. Now, a 50RMB deduction for being hours late is nothing really, but it's better than no consequences I suppose.
At first the time clock worried me a bit, because as a foreigner on a work visa with a Foreign Expert Certificate for teaching, the only job I can legally do in China is teach, and only for my school, so any record of me at all at the club was no bueno. I got paid cash under the table, naturally.
I certainly didn't look like I worked there, I just looked like a club kid that knew the system. I could wear whatever I wanted to work, there were patrons that came in more than me and I couldn't talk to anyone else that worked there.
All in all it was a good experience, I made some easy cash and met a couple of people I actually still talk to, but I'm definitely happy to only be going to the club about once a month, instead of every other night!
Most of them don't have a large dance floor, rather almost all of the space is occupied by tables, both low ones to sit at and tall ones to stand around. The small dance floor they usually have is actually a runway or stage, for they all have some kind of live entertainment that happens at regular intervals every evening. They have fashion shows, singers (western and Chinese) and dancers, and sometimes they have themes.
Guests hang out at the tables and play Rock Paper Scissors (yes, seriously) and Chinese dice for drinks, with small breaks for dancing and watching the shows.
Westerners also prove to be a good attraction for the clubs, so they all have some kind of system of giving foreigners free drinks. And this is how I came to work in a Chinese nightclub.
 |
| One of the floor shows at my club, a singer and models. |
 |
| The clubs all have some pretty decent screens to play whatever on all night. |
I worked every other night from 10:30pm to 3:30am and if foreigners came in, if they knew anyone in the International Department, if they were good looking, if they looked like they weren't going to buy their own drinks, my job was to set them up with a table next to the stage, complete with all the free bottles of vodka or whiskey and mixers they could drink. Oh, and there were always snacks too.
If they were lucky, or more likely if they were friends of mine, I could usually pull off getting them free beer or a bottle of champagne (these being my personal preferences for beverages). The club was pretty particular about the drinks we could give away. Outside of bottles of vodka or whiskey, there was usually a limit to how many beers or bottles of champage we could give out in a night, and those were really our only other options for a table.
If lone foreigners came in, we had cards for single free drinks we could give out for them to redeem at the bar. When I first started, the cards were open, any single mixer drink or even a just Coke or something was game to trade for a card. About halfway through my time there, they switched and had three sets of cards made with a specific drink designated on each one, further limiting the options for free drinks.
The International Department consisted of my boss, myself and up to three other International Consultants (awesome job title, right?!). There were always supposed to be two Consultants working, and my boss was usually there. I really needed another consultant to be working, because outside of us, no one at the club spoke English, so I couldn't order drinks, or key them in to the computer myself. I did manage to communicate enough with the front desk hostesses to be able to tell them when I needed to tables and have them kick out the Chinese for me though.
The club routinely removed Chinese from tables to fill them with westerners drinking free drinks, which made me feel pretty bad at first, until I realized that a LOT of people at the club were paid to be there. They were supposed to act like they were having fun. When the small dance floor was empty, a bunch of them would get a text message telling them to go dance and make it look busy, or whatever the club wanted. Some of them were men, most were women. Some were models. Some were hookers of course. Most of them weren't allowed to drink. Eek.
There was one girl in particular that worked every night. She wore the same silver dress every night, wore the same disco ball Mardi Gras mask, stood at the same corner of the bar and had the same bored expression on her face. Every night. She ignored everyone that talked to her and confused the heck out of me.
Before I accepted the job at the club, I told my boss that I was new to Xiamen, didn't know many people and wouldn't be inviting the few I did out every other night like a club promoter. He said that was fine. Naturally, not long into the gig, he was asking me how many people we had coming every night. I'd mostly just make numbers up. If I hadn't seen a club kid in a while I'd text them, and when new foreigners came in, I'd give them my number and tell them they could text me next time so I'd have their table ready, but I'm neither obnoxious nor a salesperson.
The "having the table ready" line was actually kind of funny, because the foreigners' tables are all sort of interchangeable. Because the drinks are all free, a group never really has "possession" of a table to the point that they can tell other foreigners to leave, foreigners kind of just all mingle around all the foreign tables and drink whatever is on any of them. It can be kind of awkward at first, until you figure out what's going on, when a couple strangers walk up to your table, grab your booze and pour themselves a glass (this happened to me the first time I went as a patron).
Working at the club would have been a great job... if I was like 22. I found that most of the same people came in every night, and most of them were nice enough, fun to party with, if a bit young. In this way, going to work was more like going to hang out with my club friends every other night. But on the random nights when no one came in, it was oh so very boring. Add that to the aforementioned reasons for turning the job down initially, and the fact that staying up till 3:30am every other night is pretty challenging, and you have me quitting after a month.
I also had some issues with my coworkers. I've got a pretty strong work ethic (tip of my hat to my Midwestern parents), so I was always at work at 10:30pm on the dot and I stayed at work, in the building, until I was off at 3:30am. It took me a few weeks to figure out, but when my Chinese coworkers (that I relied on to get our guests drinks) were "at work", they'd often put in an appearance and then leave. Even though the bartenders knew me, they still wouldn't help me when the other girls weren't there, because none of the departments really work together or stick their necks out for each other.
And then, even for the initial appearance, the other girls were usually at least 45 minutes late, stranding me with no way to do my job. One in particular was usually hours late, if she showed up at all. We didn't have a time clock or anyone to check in with, so no one knew and it was pretty frustrating.
A few weeks in they bought a fingerprint time clock. My boss told me it wouldn't matter to me because I was on time, but the other girls would get docked 50RMB every time they were late. Now, a 50RMB deduction for being hours late is nothing really, but it's better than no consequences I suppose.
At first the time clock worried me a bit, because as a foreigner on a work visa with a Foreign Expert Certificate for teaching, the only job I can legally do in China is teach, and only for my school, so any record of me at all at the club was no bueno. I got paid cash under the table, naturally.
I certainly didn't look like I worked there, I just looked like a club kid that knew the system. I could wear whatever I wanted to work, there were patrons that came in more than me and I couldn't talk to anyone else that worked there.
All in all it was a good experience, I made some easy cash and met a couple of people I actually still talk to, but I'm definitely happy to only be going to the club about once a month, instead of every other night!
more on hair dye & vinegar & salon torture
Over the past summer, I did figure out the key to the whole not-washing-your-hair-and-using-apple-cider-vinegar-instead thing if anyone was curious. I started doing that back in June of last year and was definitely having some grease issues. Then in July, I met a girl traveling who was doing the same thing, except she had the missing piece- when your hair gets greasy you need to use baking soda to wash it.
This has its pros and cons. It killed the grease factor, which was awesome, but it also killed the softness and texture of my hair, which obviously sucks.
I haven't been able to find baking soda in Xiamen, even at the western grocery stores, and it took me six months to find a place to buy apple cider vinegar, so I've converted back into a regular hair washer. I just use apple cider vinegar to "set" my color the first wash after I get it done now. I still don't need to wash as often though (except my bangs) and use much less product than I used to, so I'm happy about that.
I've had some other interesting hair experiences since moving to Xiamen. I dyed my hair purple in November, as in Crayola purple, and it was absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, two weeks after that, I gave the digital-torture-perm-machine a try and they completely washed out all my color. I always see Chinese girls with straight hair and gorgeous, perfectly curled spirals at the ends. I discovered that they all have digital perms that just begin about halfway, or lower, down their hair; I decided to give it a shot.
It's been quite a while since I had a regular perm (probably almost ten years), but if memory serves, I think digital didn't smell as bad for nearly as long. They put some chemicals on your hair, rinse after a while and then roll it with a little tissue paper in each curl, plug the curlers into the torture machine and then let you sit for about 30 to 45 minutes and voila. Seems simple, but somehow that simple process still took me about five hours.
My problem, aside from them washing out my beautiful purple color, is that I asked for the biggest sized rollers because I wanted big spiral curls at the ends. Also, that way, it would be easier to wear my hair straight. When the guy finished my perm though, he was kind of upset and tried to tell me that it didn't take very well so my hair wouldn't be very curly and he wanted to redo it. I didn't want it very curly, so I told him it was fine, I'd come back if I had a problem. He didn't speak English and my Chinese is still crap, so communicating wasn't exactly easy. He texted me later that night though and said he talked to some other people, he had an idea and he wanted me to come back in. I did the next day and he went right to work without even talking to me. He redid my perm with the smaller curlers and naturally I don't like it. That's my fault for not stopping him though.
The same guy did my color and my perm. He was at a salon down the street from my apartment that looks nice enough, but I didn't know anyone that had been there before or anything.
The next time I wanted color done, I told a Chinese friend of mine I'd go somewhere near her apartment if she'd take me and talk to them for me. She had planned to take me to a salon she'd been to once, but it closed, so she ended up taking me to one her boyfriend had gotten a haircut at, once. Not exactly the most promising beginning to a hair experience.
It was TINY, four chairs, all full, with four people waiting in other chairs and rotating in. It wasn't nearly as nice or clean, but it cost half as much as the one by my apartment and I was much happier with the result.
I asked for orange, bright orange, and ended up with an ombre orange to pink effect, due to whatever old dye was still in my hair, and it's pretty awesome (the lady offered to even it out but I said no).
That salon was also the first I've gotten my hair dyed at in China that didn't offer me different brands of dyes at different price points. That part I'm ambivalent about, but I'm definitely going back to the smaller, not as nice but significantly more awesome place next time.
This has its pros and cons. It killed the grease factor, which was awesome, but it also killed the softness and texture of my hair, which obviously sucks.
I haven't been able to find baking soda in Xiamen, even at the western grocery stores, and it took me six months to find a place to buy apple cider vinegar, so I've converted back into a regular hair washer. I just use apple cider vinegar to "set" my color the first wash after I get it done now. I still don't need to wash as often though (except my bangs) and use much less product than I used to, so I'm happy about that.
I've had some other interesting hair experiences since moving to Xiamen. I dyed my hair purple in November, as in Crayola purple, and it was absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, two weeks after that, I gave the digital-torture-perm-machine a try and they completely washed out all my color. I always see Chinese girls with straight hair and gorgeous, perfectly curled spirals at the ends. I discovered that they all have digital perms that just begin about halfway, or lower, down their hair; I decided to give it a shot.
It's been quite a while since I had a regular perm (probably almost ten years), but if memory serves, I think digital didn't smell as bad for nearly as long. They put some chemicals on your hair, rinse after a while and then roll it with a little tissue paper in each curl, plug the curlers into the torture machine and then let you sit for about 30 to 45 minutes and voila. Seems simple, but somehow that simple process still took me about five hours.
My problem, aside from them washing out my beautiful purple color, is that I asked for the biggest sized rollers because I wanted big spiral curls at the ends. Also, that way, it would be easier to wear my hair straight. When the guy finished my perm though, he was kind of upset and tried to tell me that it didn't take very well so my hair wouldn't be very curly and he wanted to redo it. I didn't want it very curly, so I told him it was fine, I'd come back if I had a problem. He didn't speak English and my Chinese is still crap, so communicating wasn't exactly easy. He texted me later that night though and said he talked to some other people, he had an idea and he wanted me to come back in. I did the next day and he went right to work without even talking to me. He redid my perm with the smaller curlers and naturally I don't like it. That's my fault for not stopping him though.
The same guy did my color and my perm. He was at a salon down the street from my apartment that looks nice enough, but I didn't know anyone that had been there before or anything.
The next time I wanted color done, I told a Chinese friend of mine I'd go somewhere near her apartment if she'd take me and talk to them for me. She had planned to take me to a salon she'd been to once, but it closed, so she ended up taking me to one her boyfriend had gotten a haircut at, once. Not exactly the most promising beginning to a hair experience.
It was TINY, four chairs, all full, with four people waiting in other chairs and rotating in. It wasn't nearly as nice or clean, but it cost half as much as the one by my apartment and I was much happier with the result.
I asked for orange, bright orange, and ended up with an ombre orange to pink effect, due to whatever old dye was still in my hair, and it's pretty awesome (the lady offered to even it out but I said no).
That salon was also the first I've gotten my hair dyed at in China that didn't offer me different brands of dyes at different price points. That part I'm ambivalent about, but I'm definitely going back to the smaller, not as nice but significantly more awesome place next time.
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