Uriel Yak 尤里专线 (2)

Uriel Yak 1  尤里专线 (2)

Uriel: Crazy English-Land, welcome to Uriel Yak. This is Uriel, and with me in the studio, I have Alex....

Alex: Hi Uriel.

Uriel: Alex, a foreigner, a British person, who's living in China. Welcome, Alex!

A: Uh, hi Uriel!

U: Hi!

A: Thanks for having me on your show.

U: Ah, it's a pleasure. I understand that you like cellphones, however.

A: Ummm, yes.... And I understand that you don't.

U: Well, I am one of the last people in China not to have a cellphone.... And that does...

A: I think....

U: ... give a clue to my attitude about them....

A: In China, isn't a cellphone an actual status symbol?

U: Is it a status symbol?

A: Along with a car, yes.

U: How can.... I mean, that's like saying that having two arms and eyes is a status symbol. I mean, everybody seems to have a cellphone here. You were saying that you used to make thousands of cellphones every day....

A: Yes, I used to have links with the mobile 2 phone industry.

U: Yeah....

A: Ummm.... But now they've been cut, I do still tend to look at mobile phones and I used to spend maybe two thousand yuan a day on mobile phones in my industry. And now I get worried when I spend over ten yuan.

U: What do you mean, you used to spend two thousand a day?

A: Ummm, I used to do testing for around the world... so it would put me on a plane... I'd go to somewhere like South Africa... I would phone up Finland and ask them, "Does this work?"

U: Making all those long distance phone calls, you were... you were using two thousand yuan a day of air time, is that right?

A: Easily.

U: Ok, ah.

A: Yeah, they loved me at the people who took the money, I can say.

U: You were actually travelling to a lot of places on behalf 3 of these testing agencies 4?

A: Uh yeah, travelling all around the world... I was based in Paris, and before that I was based in England, going around just testing bits here and there. Suddenly a mobile phone that was new would not work in the middle of Russia. So, they get to send poor me out to the middle of Russia, in the middle of the snow, to make a phone call.

U: Well, you were talking about your first arrival in China.

A: Oh, my first arrival in China! That was an experience. I think that first few hours in China is what China is for me. I basically 5 came from Hong Kong straight in to the East train station. And I arrive into the station, I've got a huge back.... This is like....

U: Guangzhou station.

A: Guangzhou East Train Station.

U: Yup.

A: ... a huge backpack on, two huge suitcases.... I'm pretty big guy and carry a lot, but I been carrying this all day and it was a boiling hot day.... The sun was shining, the temperatures were soaring 6, and I was meant to be meeting this Chinese person in the train station.

U: Who was it? Who had you connected with before you arrived?

A: Ummm.... Somebody who was gonna offer me a job. I'd organized and applied 7 for and received, uh, a job when I arrived....

U: A teaching 8 job?

A: A teaching job, yes.

U: Yeah, yeah....

A: And when I arrived at the train station... like... there was nobody....

U: Nobody there. You're on your own, and your Chinese language skills are....

A: Zip ... absolutely zip.

U: Nil 9.

A: Nothing. Nada. And I'm, like, "OK, what do I do? What do I do?"

U: Panic.

A: Panic sets in. I run around the station. I'm running out of the station, I'm running into the station, and with this much luggage, you can see, in this heat, I'm starting to really get tired.

U: Surely a helpful policeman could save you?

A: Uh, that was my first option, yes. I ran to the policeman, I say: "Phone." He looks at me. I do a hand signal phone. He goes, "Ahhh...." You know, the usual phone hand gesture....

U: Yeah.

A: And he points behind me and goes: "Neuhhh neuhhh neuhhh neuhhh neuhhh." Something I can't understand. And I go.... I look behind. He turns around and he runs out of the exit, try not to speak to me.

U: Let me ask, with all this cellphone background, why didntcha have a cellphone just when you needed it most.... This is when you needed a cellphone.

A: I did have a cellphone, but unfortunately I didn't have a Chinese SIM which is one of those little cards that you put into a cellphone.

U: Ahhh.... OK, I see.

A: So I was stuck. In the end I just sat down on my suitcases in the corner feeling very sorry for myself, thinking, maybe I'm in the wrong city, maybe I'm in the wrong country.

U: What did you do for fun besides, in your free time, after work?

A: Talking to people, and getting day to day life stuff 10, was pretty fun for me. Imagine walking into a restaurant, nobody understands you, you don't even know what the menu is, you look at something.... You can't identify it. Things crawl 11 around. In England when you say, "I want a burger," it comes out cooked. In China when you say, "I want something to eat," they kill it in front of you, take out, point to the part you want, cook it, and then hand it to you. It was a new experience.

U: Alex, do you have any other final words for our listeners?

A: I have final words for listeners? Ummm ... yes. When you're shopping, could you refrain 12 from hitting me... anybody... please?

U: Alright... please everybody, don't hit Alex when he's shopping.

A: And please, actually, stop looking at my shopping stuff.

U: Listeners, thank you for listening to Uriel Yak. So long.

A: Bye bye, Uriel.

U: Alex, thanks for joining us!

A: Thanks for having me!