Baseball and Beijing

[El Dingo]

So my company flies in one of our system admins from Beijing and one from Ismanning. They are completely clueless about entertaining foreign visitors. They take them out for dinner the first night of their week-long stay and then leave them floundering.

I say "Hey, let's go to a Giants game!". My bosses say, "Sounds great! You take them to a Giants game!"

NOTE: I have no expense account or entertainment budget. I just fix computers.
ggh
The admin from Ismanning hates socializing (German) so declines the offer. The admin from Beijing is very nervous (his English is spotty) but agrees.

I have a new mantra BTW. I read it on a forum somewhere and it touched me deeply and changed my life profoundly: "Make awkward your bitch"

I got tickets from StubHub, called DM for advice on avoiding cultural fox paws and dragged the Chinese envoy to San Francisco.

We had a blast. We BARTed to Embarcadero, walked the 1.8 miles to the park, indulged in garlic fries and a hot dog (for him) and basically had a night of baseball. He insisted on staying the whole 3 hours even though he was freezing (apparently Beijing is 100 degrees most of the time). He cheered the (few) Giants hits, booed the Mets and gasped when fly balls headed our way.

It was awesome.

I bought him a Giants hat and food, lying about how Wind River was paying for everything. I feel when you play host to a foreign guest you are representing your country and want them to take the best of you back to their home.

He did say one of the most depressing things I have ever heard another human being say. When we first arrived at our View-Level seats (no - I'm not cheap, I honestly think the View Level is the best place to watch the game), he looked up and said "Blue sky! We do not see blue sky very much in Beijing. Maybe one or two days in summer."

Yes, he was referring to pollution. He does not like Beijing (no one does) but that is where the jobs are. I will always remember this when I hear people complaining about environmental regulations.

He was shivering cold by 9:00 and I kept saying "we can leave anytime", he kept saying "No! I'm fine, I'm fine" and cheering on the Giants.

After the game I drove him to his hotel in Alameda. He made me wait and came back from his room with a gift; a very heavy and elaborate wooden bobble-head of a female Chinese opera singer (giant headdress heavier than her body!).

I had a great time and thought of DM having to entertain Eastern visitors on a regular basis.

EPILOGUE:

It was Jerry Garcia birthday night at ATT Park. A Grateful Dead tribute band played, Jerry shirts and hippies were everywhere and the park was alive with non-stop "Jer-ry, Jer-ry, Jer-ry" chanting.

Our Chinese admin's English name was "Jerry". He was very amused.

Eplilogue 2:

I told him I was going to the Bruce Lee tribute night game. He looked confused so he looked up (on his iPhone) "Bruce Lee" on the Chinese internet. He said " Ahh, Lee Jun-Fan, he is popular with people 10 years older than me". So I punched him in the face.