Gold Member and Mr. Miyagi

Friday was a good day in Dalian. We're all set at work to launch the program. I feel pretty good about the local team I'm working with. I think they are buying in to the plan. It feels good to see it coming together. Now I just have to see how it goes. It's going to take a little time to judge the results and if everyone is working together.

We had a conference call with the China Rockwell team. I had Jerry give a presentation for it. He really has no experience making presentations or public speaking. We had to start from scratch. I've been working with him on it since I arrived. I worked with him on developing his presentation and delivery. So on Friday he gave the local team the update on our progress. He really did a great job! I was really proud of him. I can definitely see him changing...it's fun to see the work paying off. This coming week we start day to day activities, we'll see how it goes!

Friday was also Greg's last night in Dalian, so we went back to Alice Bar. I didn't notice this on Thursday night, but Greg (The Merovingian) also walks just like Morpheus in The Matrix. He wears a long dark over coat and puts his hands behind his back as he walks...Hilarious! Must be a French thing.

So we go back to Alice bar around 9:30. The place is packed and every girl there is wearing a bikini for Hawaii night. We finally got a seat and had some drinks. We moved three times for what reason I don't know, the hostess kept shuffling us around.

So we settle in for an enjoyable show of people watching. We get the obligatory checks from the women of the night. We are now going by the names John and Brad. (Just more fun)

The Philippine girls are all wearing little gold outfits...very little outfits. We see them walking around and notice a Philippine guy who is with them. He is dressed in the same outfit as Gold Member in the Austin Power movie! It's hilarious! And he isn't wearing it to be funny, it's his dancing gear. He's as gay as the day is long. I told Greg he looked like Gold Member and that became his name from there on. Whenever the girls danced during band breaks, he was up there with them making the same moves. It was hilarious! I wished I had my camera so bad! But, who knew Gold Member resided in Dalian?

The bar had all kinds of Hawaiian things going on. They had a flame juggler...grass skirt dancing...all that stuff. Whenever they would have one of these events start, a Chinese woman with a piercingly high pitched voice would scream into a microphone. It was ear shattering! We'll one time she says something, then we hear Beyonce. So we look at the stage and a rather big looking girl comes out in a white dress with a black belt. It looked familiar, like Beyonce might have worn it in a video. The big Chinese girl starts lip syncing a mix of Beyonce songs. (white dress and black hair)

I say to Greg that she is awful big for a Chinese girl...Greg says, "I believe that is Gold Member in disguise." (Really funny hearing him say it with the French accent) Sure enough! Gold Member is dressed like Beyonce singing...dancing like her....badly. We were laughing so hard we were crying! Gold Member ruled!

For the rest of the night, we would just look to see what Gold Member was up to. He would dance on the bar (Like a girl), then he would dance on stage...he was everywhere! Gold Member was GREAT!!!

Later in the evening there were a couple Chinese guys sitting at the table next to us. They had been there quite a while...longer than us. They were drinking Chivas Regal Scotch. Greg and I pretty much kept to ourselves. We didn't try to talk to anyone. All of the sudden one of the Chinese guys stumbles over to our table...He's really drunk! He starts talking to me...of course in Mandarin. The only word I understand is China. He keeps yelling that really loud. Greg and I are looking at each other like, what the hell?

I felt like Luke Skywalker when he walks into the Catina in the first Star Wars movie. "You should be careful!"

"I'll do that."

"You'll be dead!"

So the Chinese guy gets the waiter and starts pointing at us and holding up three fingers...Greg and I have no idea what's going on. Then he turns to us and says his same sentence..then CHINA really loud.

We nod our heads and say yes in Chinese...he shakes his head no. So the waiter comes back with three beers and three empty cocktail glasses. The guy puts his hands up like a boxer and says his sentence and China again. He always says China really loud...which we have no idea why. We shrug our shoulders and say we don't understand...he's wobbling now.

So he gets really close to my face and says it in Mandarin slowly....then CHINA!!....um, still don't know. So I ask the waiter what is going on...he speaks English.

He says the guy is really drunk...I say I was able to pick that part up. I ask him what he is saying. The waiter says he wants to buy you drinks because he likes you....and he wants us to know China is powerful!

I tell the waiter to let him know that we agree China is powerful. The waiter tells him this and he is happy as a pig in slop. He stumbles back to his table and brings over the bottle of scotch. He has the waiter start pouring. We assume he wants to give us a taste. He has the waiter fill the glasses to the top! With scotch! I stop him on the ones for Greg and I. We tell him we want sprite to water it down. So he puts some Sprite in...the Chinese guys starts laughing.

The waiter tells us he thinks we don't know how to drink. I tell the waiter to tell him we are not good drinkers...he, he, he! So the drinks are ready, I keep the waiter near the table while the guy is there to make sure we know what his next plan is.

So then we are told he wants to do a "Bottoms Up" on the Scotch! (The Chinese love to do "Bottoms Up", it's annoying, like your constantly on Spring break) Whoa, whoa, whoa! We tell the waiter that we will sip it...we're not good drinkers. The waiter tells the Chinese guy, he starts laughing and agrees. He takes a full glass of Scotch and slams it. Then he immediately falls over backwards. HILARIOUS!!! It was like in The Karate Kid when Mr. Miyagi has the bender one night! His friend helps him up, but he is now GONE!

We have a half bottle of scotch sitting on our table. Also, at this point Gold Member is dancing on top of the bar near us....that is so funny, words just don't do it justice. I try to give the Scotch bottle back to the guy's friend. The waiter says that it is ours now, to give it back would be insulting. OK....I'm not much of a Scotch drinker but it was good. We enjoyed it!

They had to get several guys to help walk the Chinese guy out of the bar....very funny!

After that the rest of the night was pretty tame. We watched Gold Member shake his groove thing. Greg made a great reference. He said if Gold Member lost his job for being gay, they could have Streets of Dalian, instead of Streets of Philadelphia.

Then we left, I said bye to Greg. He's on his way back to France. I'm going to miss him. He was a nice guy and fun to hang out with. Hopefully we can keep in touch.

Note: At no time did the Chinese guy seem menacing. He was very friendly, just drunk. So no one should worry about danger there. It was very innocent.

So far, everyone I've met in China loves Americans. They go out of there way to be nice and helpful.