Motorcycles, lost in translation and AIESEC conference!
Did you ever think what is the craziest thing you can do in 12 hours?! This weekend in Guangzhou took place the AIESEC in China South Regional Induction Conference (LTS), where our favorite moldo-nese was the chair- Jonathan. Of course, I decided to join the conference in the last day- the Party NIGHT:)But before i write about the conference you should know how much i went through to be present at it, and more exactly: 40 minutes in the bus, 1hour 40 minutes in the subway and 1 hour on a motorcycle.The city I live in is 20 km away from Guangzhou, so in order to get to Guangzhou i had to take a bus. I left Foshan after work about 7 pm and it took me about 40 minutes to get to the nearest subway station in Guangzhou. The hotel where the conference took place is on the other side of the city and I had to change 3 subway lines. About the time I changed to the second line I realized I really really REALLY needed to pee so 1 hour of my journey was more of succumbing the physiological needs and not thinking about water, pee, ocean, sea and other liquids.When I got to the final subway station(and relieved myself) it was already 9 pm and i still needed to take a bus to the hotel, but i decided it will be better to take a taxi because it's dark outside. Unfortunately for me, no taxis were around just motorbikes, which in China are another version of taxi.So I approach the first motorbike available and ask him....actually not ask....i need to be precise- pointing with my finger in a text message where the name of the hotel is written, if he knows where the Hai Gang Hotel is. He says yes and my thoughts"Oh Cool! Lucky me!", but of course the story doesn't end here. So I hop on the bike and pray not to die in an accident.We drove for about 30 minutes, ignoring red color. We drove for so long I didn't even see buildings anymore, and thats when the thought of avoiding accidents transformed in the thought of avoiding being raped, robbed, chopped into pieces and thrown in a canalization. After 30 minutes, he stops in front of the hotel, but turns out it's the wrong hotel. That's when the thought of "being raped, robbed, chopped into pieces and thrown in a canalization" resurfaced. I tried to explain that this was not Hai Gang Hotel and that may be he got it wrong, but I could have been speaking "monkey" language it would have had the same result. His Chinese and my English didn't find a common language. In this situations, because I did get lost in China already, I call my co-worker Jamie.Thanks to Jamie, the driver figured out his way... sort-of. So after spending 1 hour on the motorcycle I arrived at the hotel, alive.10:15 pm. 4 star hotel. AIESEC. 400 delegates. more than 4 LCs present. MC China members. International people teaching chinese to dance: me, Ryan from USA and Yao from Ghana.Hanging out AIESEC style till 6 am. 3 cups of coffee.6:30 am. Bus.7:15 am Subway- changed 3 lines.8:30 am Bus back to Foshan.10:00 am at work.