Mr. Mao

I passed up an article on Yahoo today about winter driving for two reasons: 1 - there isn't really winter here, and 2 - I don't drive. That's because as an expat for a large company in China, a minivan and driver are provided to us. It's pretty strange, I have to say. We started out with a pretty crummy van. It had 170k+ kilometers on it and was worn inside and out, not to mention a small transmission problem. In a less-than-hilarious twist, when we asked for a replacement van because M has to transport high-level visitors from the states (and the transmission problem), our "new" van had 230k kilometers and smelled like smoke. YUCK! Thankfully, M used his negotiating skills (no small feat in this country) to secure us an actual new van. The new van is very nice - maybe even nicer than our Buick Enclave (anyone looking for a used Enclave to lease?).

Our driver is also very nice. His name is Mr. Mao. Funny, right? Mr. Mao is about 30 years old, wears a suit every day, has spikey hair, a wife, and a 6-year-old daughter. He lives on his family's farm and drives about an hour each way to work for us 6 days a week. He doesn't know Shanghai like the back of his hand, but he always makes sure he can get us where we need to go.

The downside to having a driver is that we don't have a car at our disposal all the time like we did at home. I have to coordinate with M when I have errands and he needs to visit a supplier. Sometimes this means a taxi for one of us, which is a different post. It also means no running to the store after the kids go to bed. We've got to get our errands done during the day. We can keep our driver out late for dinners & dates, but it's recommended to give him some money for dinner and not do it too frequently.

There are also upsides to having a driver, or maybe I should say to having Mr. Mao. Mr. Mao is just a happy person. He doesn't smoke, he is always smiling, he loves our kids and our dog, he has lent me money on more than one occasion when I am short (or forgot my wallet!), and maybe the strangest upside: he brings us food from his farm! We have had fresh edamame, oranges, and a fish. The fish story is too funny not to share:

Mr. Mao: Do you like fish?
Me: Yes!
Mr. Mao: I will bring you a fish.
Me: Ok :)
Mr. Mao: Can you kill a fish?
Me: (pause) No.
Mr. Mao: Ok, I will kill it for you.
Me: Great.

A week or so later, he showed up in the morning with a large fish in a grocery bag. It was a very nice-looking fish! He told us his father caught it from one of the 4 rivers on their farm. We had it for dinner that night along with some traditional Chinese fish-head soup. I did not cook these things (also another post). It was delicious! The fish at least. The soup was interesting and not bad, but I wouldn't put it in the delicious category :).

Perhaps the best thing about Mr. Mao is that he speaks English! His English isn't great, but it's good enough for us. He is also very patient with my attempts at speaking Chinese (which is usually a word or phrase at this point). I am grateful for that, because it's a difficult language.

I leave you with a picture of the fish, grocery bag and all, and wishes for safe winter driving!