which I came back with from a business trip to India last year. As usual Hong is a woman with impulsive behaviour. She could suddenly change from one topic to another. Sometimes I find it difficult to understand her. At times I ask myself whether it is not the age difference? She is about twenty years younger than me. For example, when watching the DVD movie, she suddenly asked me what simple gifts do Chinese men donate to their loved ones? Not much concerned about the question, I replied, wine, books, and tea.
“No, you are wrong; it is flowers, wrist-watches, and wine”, she replied. I did not know that I learned it from her.
As the Chinese proverb goes, "don't listen to what they say, go see", we continued watching the movie; it was called "The Devil Wears Prada", its theme fittingly connected us to yet a short discussion about money and wealth. “I prefer to stay rich and healthy instead being poor and sick”, summarized Hong her ingenious opinion.
By the time we finished watching the movie, it was late in the night. Before I retired to bed, I grabbed my laptop to browse through my emails. As if driven by intuition, what caught my eyes straight away, was an email from my bank about an investment company that had suffered severe losses in value. I remembered another email from an Australian administrator sometime back alerting me of a company that had filed for bankruptcy, and that he had been asked to start the process. On reading this one, I immediately contacted my two British financial advisers Alan and Michael from Shanghai; they advised that my company was not affected. Amidst many thoughts, Hong came to the door, trying to distract me with a conversation. I took that opportunity to ask for legal advice on this since she is a lawyer.
I explained to her how I had been alerted that my Australian finances had plummeted to the bottom. But my financial advisers assured me that the investment in question was protected against losses in value. I got information that if I did not generate money, I would at least get my capital investment back. I was still confident since Deutsche Bank managed the funds and because it is commissioned by one of Australia's oldest financial companies.
Hong advised me that if the company was to go bust in Australia, I could at least sue the financial advisers In Shanghai. She suggested that it was vital for me to get another adviser to manage my funds.
She explained that private individuals were not allowed to do business directly with financial institutions. "Organise all relevant documents so that I can advise you further," she said.
Hong had a somewhat similar experience. In Germany, she was surprised one day to find that her bank statement with Deutsche Bank, showed "no funds available". She knew she had not emptied her account to the last penny. Inquisitive as a detective, she vowed to find out how this could have happened. "No funds available, yet I know I had not withdrawn all the money!", she wondered. She privately carried out her investigations. Eventually she found out that the day money was withdrawn from her account; she was in Bonn writing entrance examinations to obtain university qualifications. She further discovered that when she was still sharing a flat with two Arabs and a Chinese woman, her bank details were secretly copied.
Evidence indicated that it was the Chinese woman their roommate who did it. She faked Hong's signature and presented it at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. Because many Asians have similarities in features, it was easy for the Chinese woman to forge Hong's signature. Hong was determined to finish it all. After a long, arduous task, efforts paid off. The bank finally refunded her stolen money.
Every night before I retire to bed, I check on the share price index, at least before the end the day. Today it is not all good news; prices have gone into minus. Amidst thoughts, the small voice in me is referring to what my financial advisers have always said, that it is normal for share prices to go into minus. I must be patient and wait for them to rise again.
I am about to go to the bedroom, but still feeling a bit troubled by the share price news. As if to revenge for my coming back home late, when we went to bed, Hong turned her back towards me, I had no choice but to coil my left palm around her breast. It perfectly fitted inside. I consoled myself by saying after all " A breast in the morning dispels all worries".
In a speech after church wedding in Germany, I mentioned that as far as I am concerned, I care less about whether Chinese women have small breasts. Her breasts fit in well into my palm, and I am comfortable with it, I don't need anything more, end of the story.
Whenever I hold my wife's breast in my palm, I contemplate about many different things between China in the East, and German in the West.
• In China, when I turn the garden lock around on the left, it closes, when I turn it on the right, it goes up.
• If I wanted to have a shower, I turn the blue tap on, for hot water, and a red tap, for cold water.
• On Christmas day, churches in China are mostly decorated yellow and red, while in Germany, they are decorated white. In a Chinese church, there is no collection box during ceremony. In Germany, you need to be prepared to give during and at the end of worship. Indeed, travelling is an adventure.
• At conferences, Chinese officials and company representatives are more flattering, while in Germany they talk more about figures, data, facts.
• In the West, they use Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and others, while Chinese have WeChat and Weibo.
• In China, when stock markets blink red, it means prices are going up, green means prices are going downhill.
• Magnetic compass needle in China shows to South, whereas Western compass points to North.
I am looking at my watch; it is six o'clock in the morning. I hear sounds of the morning birds chirping. I can only imagine what they are saying. The temperature outside is about 10 degrees Celcius. It is cold inside the house, because of the single glazing thin walls.
Hong is feeling a bit chilly, and maybe it is the reason why she kept on coughing throughout the night. The kitchen and bathroom are colder than the rest of the house. I asked her why she wants to keep
the house cold all the time. She replied that in her childhood days, there was hardly any heating in her parent's house.
"Living and working in the cold and sitting on the couch wrapped in a winter coat, were quite normal for us as kids", she replied.
Hong studied the German language entirely. She even knows the insulting and gossip words. We communicate more using German rather than English or Chinese languages. I need time to practice the Chinese language, but Hong is impatient with me. I asked her how she came to learn all these colloquial words in Geman language; she replied that she used to read Bildzeitung daily. I could not hold my laughter back on hearing her talking about reading Bildzeitung. I asked whether there is an equivalent of a German Bildzeitung in China, I got no response we left it at that. My busy working schedule prevents me from concentrating on learning the Chinese language.
Away from work, when I am with Hong, we commonly use German language, in that case, I have no pressures of leaning complicated Chinese language.
When we talk about busy working schedules, at times, I sit back to reflect on the strenuous work during the past week. I remember one time I was sitting with my American Boss in his office in Shanghai. We were to meet to discuss how to improve the headcount in the company. His budget had been cut and instead money was allocated elsewhere. He looked so worried, saying that he did not even know how he was going to pay wages to his employees, not to mention the cost of headhunters and bringing old and experienced people on board. He was worried about what would happen to scholarships of those gifted Chinese students.
“Yes, that was the situation. I think we need to tighten our belts”. My boss said resignedly.
The day before, I was at the Global Sourcing Board for a conference call with the head office in Germany. Unfortunately, they did not inform me early enough. I then had to organise the essentials quickly and do all the calculations at night in the hotel. I was lucky, I finished in time. Delivery notes were written in Chinese.
Knowing the language, saved me.
Shortly afterwards, I received an email from