A Brian Regan Moment

Ok, so I thought that I'd give you a little glimpse into life here in our wacky country. Today, our foreign affairs officer asked me to come help her with translation. Apparently, she had been asked to do English translations of all of the offices, classrooms, and the new library on campus. Quite a task! Needless to say, since there are billions of people in this country, there can be people for every single little job--no multi-tasking! Translation was a little difficult as I couldn't think of different job descriptions for all of the different people. However, the funniest experience of the day was the last room in the new library that we had to name. As she began to describe the room, it sounded a bit like a security room. There will be big screens that show the camera angles all over the building. However, it was not a security room. Guess what else it might be? No idea...it is for the "fire watcher." Yes, his only job is to sit there and watch the screen in case a fire might break out. The foreign affairs officer was diligent in pointing out that it is not a fire prevention room. Rather, he just looks for fires and if there is one, I guess he calls the emergency services. I mean, what kind of training do you have to have to watch for fires? What are the qualifications? And what do you name a room where this goes on? We decided on "Fire Observation Room." I tell you, this is a wacky country!