One of the highlights of last week occurred on Wednesday evening when I took a bus after work. Although all buses are equipped for payment with an electronic card, most buses still have a conductor on board to collect money from those without cards, or to generally be helpful by pointing out names of different stations, getting people to move down the bus, or sticking their arms out of the window to help buses change lanes. On this particular bus the conductor was about 18 and was super keen and smiley. But what marked him out was that before and after every stop when he read out the stop name, and something along the lines of being prepared to get off, he would repeat it in English, in full, before and after every stop.
I think he was doing it even before I got on the bus (I was the only foreigner on the bus), and even though I told him which stop I was getting off at, he continued to say everything in both languages at every single stop. All the other bus passengers seemed to look at him in a weird way but he continued, and he was good –practice does help, of course. I started talking to him in Chinese, and switched to English since it seemed he wanted practice, and he did know more than just the lines he continually repeated. He said he self-studied and did not think English was that hard. I was fairly impressed. I have to say he must be quite keen, but speaking decent English will probably help him in his career somewhere down the line.
As the scaffolding comes off of the new school next to our apartment, ready for the new academic year starting at the end of August; the construction site next door is also getting finished, ready for its first residents to move in around the same time. As they finish up, I wonder if the temporary accommodation, complete with migrant workers, will be taken down or whether they will stay and start work on another project next door (still more land available to the south). I also wonder if the two tents just by the exit to the complex will remain or not. They are home to a few people who collect everything that can be recycled, from bottles to paper to electronics and they pay for it too. It is helpful having them there, although our complex has not been one of the 50 or so selected for trials in Beijing to be more environmentally friendly with more choice of bins for organic matter, recyclable and non-recyclable goods. It would be nice if the pilot gets expanded though as, although I am sure most of our recyclable goods are taken out of the bins or sorted at the garbage disposal place, all the organic matter is just wasted –instead of being used to improve the soil, grass, and shrubs around our complex.
Today we are organizing an event with about 25 Chinese agriculture companies to discuss about their environmental impact. It should be interesting; tonight I am off to Hong Kong for a few days of meetings and back in time to watch the World Cup.
