(Written by a friend in Shanghai)

          Mr. Huang is a funny old man in our office who will retire next year, and we will miss the interesting stories he tells us about his experiences.  Last week he went on a business trip to Helongjiang province and came back on Monday bringing us all little packets of millet as presents.  During lunch, he told us a story about his first experiences with cell phones.  They're not unusual - we all use them nowadays - but Mr. Huang had thought they'd be of no use to him and hadn't bought one - didn't even know how to use one.

          Before he went on the trip, his supervisor asked him for his cell phone number so she could keep in touch with him easily.  As he didn't have one, he debated about what to do, but finally announced that he would buy one as soon as possible. 

          After work that day, he went to a big shop with his wife, purchased one, and spent practically all night studying the instructions of how to use it.

          The next day, he started his business trip with his new cell phone.  On the first two days, everything went smoothly, and Mr. Huang was very happy.  The third day, however, he had a big problem that he hadn't expected.  He found that there was no money on his pre-paid SIM card, and therefore he couldn't call anyone.  The instructions said that he was to dial "Recharge Call", but when he did that, he was requested to enter his cell phone number, and that caused great difficulty, as he couldn't remember what it was.

          He went to the post office and made a long distance call to his wife to ask her for the cell phone number.  She instructed him about recharging, but he still couldn't do it so for four days his cell phone stayed quietly in his baggage.

          Since returning, Mr. Huang has learned how to recharge money on his SIM card and can send messages, but the day before yesterday, I discovered a very interesting thing about him.  He takes his cell phone with him every day but never turns it on.^_^

          If someone wants to have periodic conversations with him by cell phone during the day, it's necessary to dial either his office or his home number to tell him to turn it on.  He's just no attuned to what he calls "these new-fangled things".