Spring Festival is Sprung

Chinese Spring Festival: the annual celebration when Chinese people from all corners of the country travel long and far, by railway, highway, or skyway, to reunite with their families and eat, drink, be merry…and set off as many fireworks as possible without going deaf or losing an appendage. It also marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year…goodbye Year of the Pig, hello Year of the Rat!

There are twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. While each year all Chinese people embrace the new and hope for good fortune and safety in the coming year, each year is supposed to bring especially good luck to those born in a year with the same zodiac sign. For example, if you were born in the Year of the Rat, then 2008 should be a good year for you. It turns out I was born in the Year of the Pig, 1983, and looking back, I think there might be something to this notion: 2007 was a pretty satisfying and gratifying year for yours truly. (If you’re interested in more details of Chinese zodiac, see http://www.google.com/)

Spring Festival gives new meaning to the phrase ringing in the New Year “with a bang.” It’s a multi-day holiday that in total spans 15 days. The whole country is off on official holiday for the first 3 days (plus a weekend) but most everyone shuts down for a week (like us), with the exception of big stores and restaurants. Nearly everyone is off on New Year’s Day, February 6 (this year), and from the sounds of things, they all were setting off fireworks and/or firecrackers. New Year’s Eve 2000-Rat was a war zone: constant explosions from every direction as the sky flashed with light for nearly two hours.

On TV, if you could hear it with all the noise outside, performers, in an array of ethnic costumes depicting all of the ethnic groups of China, performed traditional dances while Chinese pop stars sang classic Chinese tunes and wished their countrymen well for the year to come.

Surviving the first few days of fire-crackering probably dramatically increases everyone’s chances for a safe new year. In addition to New Year’s Eve, New Year’s day is also big for blowing stuff up. The traditional purpose of this practice is to frighten away evil spirits and bring good fortune for the coming year. It remains very common today (for businessmen especially), but rather than to frighten away evil spirits, most people just set off “firecracks,” as my students call them, to celebrate the holiday.

Somewhat terrifyingly, this included my neighbors on the floor above us, who had no hesitations about lighting fireworks out of their window, rattling the frame outside of ours as we watched the festivities. For more, see the video below (WARNING: explicit language):

Chinese New Year Pt. I

The other major day for setting off firecrackers is the fourth night of the New Year. After you set off firecrackers to frighten away the evil spirits, you set them off again a few days later to welcome the god of fortune and wealth.

Chinese New Year Pt. IV

As for Nicole and I, when we weren’t being kept awake, woken up, or just terrified by the deafening chorus of explosions outside, we occupied our time exploring the neighborhood, watching movies, and seeing a few of Shanghai’s sights. Much like any big city, every area has its surprises. We finally wandered off the beaten path over the break and found some. On one nearby street we found a number of small shops selling a range of unexpected wares: one place we stumbled across sold very hip, novelty stuffed animals, and another store sold Tibetan jewelry, art, and cultural stuff.


Another nearby street we found was lined on either side by very old…I don’t know…peasanty looking…houses. The route was also decorated with a series of distinct, musically-themed statues, perhaps corresponding with the conservatory at the beginning of the street. This particular strip gave me a strong sense that I was experiencing some of Shanghai’s history and culture, a feeling that is hard to come by in a city that has been developing so mercilessly for the last few decades.

As far as the movies go, we watched a LOT of DVDs over break. We satisfy our appetite for the cinematic with videos from one of two locations: the guy with the bike-wagon in front of the convenient store on Chang Ning Lu (as opposed to the guy with the bike-wagon on the corner of our alley and the guy with the bike-wagon in front of Pizza Hut), and the video store across from the park. Don’t be fooled by the whole “store” thing though, everything inside is 100% pirated. The quality of video in the store is usually pretty good, compared to bike-wagon man’s video-taped theater screenings. The difference in quality results in a difference in price: a lofty 10 to 16 RMB for a DVD from the store, and a more affordable 5 RMB for a bike-wagon disc.

The low prices affect more than just picture quality. Many DVD’s come packaged in cardboard sleeves (imagine a flat DVD case at home) with unrelated credits or plot descriptions on the back. Others feature bizarre or unflattering reviews. The sci-fi zombie flick “I am Legend,” about the last living man in NYC is billed on the packaging as “A big, swinging party with a can’t-miss guest list.” Brad Pitt’s latest, “The Assassination of Jesse James…” features this riveting review: “Stodgy and deathly slow, Jesse James takes the longest route possible to an anticipated resolution.” That one’s still in the plastic wrap…

But as for the ones we did get to, I have a few recommendations for you: The Kingdom, American Gangster, and The Bucket List. The first two are a bit intense, but quite good; the third is a little more laid back.

On Sunday we ventured out to an area of the city called Qi Bao (7 treasures), an old/ancient river town on the outskirts of the city known now mostly for its crowds and snacks. The video below can attest to the crowds, but as for the snacks, Qi Bao can keep its whole baby chicken skewers and the aptly-named “stinky tofu.” The former turns me off at first sight as the small bird’s head is pinned to its body via one wooden skewer through the eye; the latter smells so repugnant it falls somewhere between “Chinese public toilet” and “Chinese garbage dump,”…hell, it might actually rank lower than both.

Qi Bao crowd

The area itself is about an hour commute from where we live, sans any confusion, via subway and bus. At the outskirts of the city, the modern spirit of the downtown still smacks you right in the face. You get off the bus at the front entrance of a huge shopping mall and are greeted by the beaming red and white smile of Colonel Sanders. Signs for the recently-completed Metro Line 8 are posted on every corner. Perhaps the only visual clue that you have arrived at your desired destination is the giant billboard from the local government welcoming you to historic Qi Bao.

It takes a few minutes, but once you walk a few blocks away from the Colonel and friends, using the flowing sea of people as a guide, you escape from the worryingly unremarkable contemporary Qi Bao and soon find yourself surrounding my the smells, sounds, and shops of the historic version.

A small canal splits the historic neighborhood, hence the label “river town.” There are a handful of sights to see, including some museums and a small Catholic church, but none of those come highly recommended. Food, shopping, and a departure from the normal routine were the real draw of Qi Bao, and if you don’t count the sometimes-nauseating snack selection, it delivered on all three. We bought some cool stuff and felt good to have left the house for a while.

The following day, we needed to recover from all the activity, but we headed out again on Tuesday to nearby Yu Yuan, or Yu Gardens. I had been there when I first arrived in Shanghai, but was definitely glad to see it a second time. Although, it was not as green as it was in October, the gardens were still beautiful. We got to spend a little more time looking around than I had back in the fall, exploring the shops within the garden, and enjoying the translated signs. I especially like this one (brilliant floor plan for this place).



I also had a chance encounter with an IU alumn: an Austrian student who studied business in Bloomington, gotten a job in Texas, went to work in Lan Zhou, China for this company, and happened to be on holiday on Shanghai for the New Year. He noticed the IU logo on my hat…

After a chilly walk around the gardens we warmed ourselves up with a Shanghai speciality: Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings). There’s a very popular restaurant at Yu Yuan where you can enjoy this steamed treat. Nicole first alerted me to this place when it came up on a travel show she was watching last fall. She finally got the chance to experience the famed dumplings for herself, and with full stomachs, we then called it a day, and a holiday.

I've posted pics from the week on Shutterfly, including our wanderings through the neighborhood, a festively decorated Zhong Shan Park, highlights of my historic playoff beard, and shots of Yu Yuan and Qi Bao.

We finally got out of Shanghai last weekend to a nearby city called Su Zhou in Jiangsu province. I'll have pics and a blog on that excursion in the near future. Also included will be pics of my first ever haircut in China (WHOA!)...stay tuned.

MEGA BOOTH: One Round Table and a Microphone...

I’m at work on a Friday again to make up for the “extra” days off I received over the Chinese New Year. I hope it will be the last time I have to work on my weekend for a while. The DOS isn’t in today so with few exceptions, I’ve been here at my desk reading, e-mailing, and blogging (see, getting better at it J ). My only real professional responsibility today has been to man the “mega booth” down by the front entrance of the mall for two half-hour blocks.

Mega booth is an advertising tool designed to attract new customers by allowing them to talk with a real live lao wai (foreigner) and participate in a “demo class” (talking with a foreigner in front of a white board). I stand around looking native Englishy while mall-goers talk with our sales representatives, sometimes to inquire about studying English, but usually just to ask for directions.

Like much of my day at the office, my time in the mega booth was not particularly eventful, though I did have a few interesting conversations. The first was with a pair middle-school students on their way to lunch at KFC, and the second with a new hire, a older woman named Helen who is training to be a center manager for our company. My first conversation was not noteworthy for content. However, it was striking because these two 15-year-old girls were actually capable of having a simple, functional conversation with me in a language other that their mother tongue. I don’t think these two were exceptional in this regard either. What was most exceptional is that many Chinese middle-schoolers could have performed comparably in a similar situation.

English is a mandatory part of children’s education in China. Some students start studying as early as Kindergarten, and then continue from primary school through high school. From what I’ve gathered, students must pass an English proficiency exam in order to attend university (you’ll have to excuse me, no one outside of the U.S. uses “college” to describe their institute of higher learning, so I’ve adopted the more cosmopolitan and more annoying “university”). Then if they’re English majors, or if they want to pursue post graduate studies, they have to take another proficiency exam. I picked this up from my conversation with Helen, where we discussed the personality of the typical Chinese English student.

Not that this state education produces a crop of competent English speakers at the disposal of the Chinese economic machine, but I think it embodies a good idea in principle. In a globalized world, language builds bridges and puts up walls. Generally speaking, if a person can speak a foreign language, it creates more opportunities for that person to improve their life and the lives of those around them; if you don’t speak any foreign languages, it does not condemn you to a life of poverty or unhappiness, it simply means that you will have fewer opportunities to improve your lot (not few, just fewer).

In a world long-dominated economically, politically, and culturally by the West, exposing a society to the most powerful language in the world makes good clean business sense. In a world soon-to-be-dominated, if not by the Eastern giants of China and India then at least by a globalized economy, does it not also make sense to do the same in Western countries?

If American students had to reach a certain level of proficiency in a foreign language in order to graduate from “university” it could do wonders for preparing America’s work force to compete in a global economy, and perhaps temper the country’s comparative economic decline. That’s not to say that America can imitate the Chinese model (a politically and culturally impossible task), or that students be forced into studying a foreign language in school. I’m just thinking that there should be a shift in educational focus nation-wide to acknowledge the shifting demands placed on the American economy in a globalized world.

To accompany a change in national attitude, universities (and colleges), both private and state-funded, could adopt or expand their foreign language proficiency requirements not universally per se, but certainly in relevant majors and programs. Students could then make their choice of school and major with these requirements in mind, so nobody would feel coerced into anything.

I’m sure plenty of schools have foreign language requirements, and I don’t have any statistics. I’m just suggesting that things need to be kicked up a notch…

Anyhow, I’ve rambled on for a little longer than I’d hoped, but this topic ties into one other point from my conversation with Helen. She and I were talking about the personalities of my students. Chinese students don’t exactly come out of high school sounding like Henry Higgins, and Helen asked me if I thought my students’ language ability suffered from shyness in the class room. She offered a number of possible explanations for this: maybe it’s a result of Confucian culture, or their “teacher talk-student listen” education, or perhaps the product of a tumultuous political past where sharing your opinion got you sent off to labor camp for some reeducating (I’ll go for the safe “all of the above”).

I think that while shyness may play a factor, and it certainly would inhibit language learning, it’s not the biggest impediment on a student’s progress. You can throw material in a student’s face all day, if they don’t have the motivation or the passion to grab that material by the Charlie Browns and know it, and use it, they’re not going to get very far…

Anyhow my train of thought has derailed and I’ve drifted too far from my original point…whatever that was, perhaps a tirade against the laziness of some demographic or another, but I’ll spare you the sermon.

Here are a few random musings:

I will never cut my hair during football season again, and I will not shave my face during a playoff run. My “playoff beard” theory proved correct as my GGGGGGGGGGGG-Men pulled off the upset of the century and defeated the now 18-1 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII! (Not sure about the quotations there, I could just as easily have put “beard” in quotations because whatever sprouts from my face after a few razor-less days does not meet conventional definitions of the word) Thrilled for my team, thrilled for the veterans, and pumped up for next season…

I think the wheat bread here is actually white bread dyed brown.

Teaching a current events class about Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Everest, produced repeated, hilarious mispronunciations of the country name Nepal. (I’ll let you use your imagination)

Olympic gold medalist and New Rochelle High School alumnus Christina Teuscher works for my company…at least according to a poster of her near the reception desk at the office. She’s teaching swimming lessons to students and apparently is a “program manager” for EF.

I’ve concluded that musically inclined people have an easier time with Chinese pronunciation…

Speaking of music, for my first music club, I put together a class on the Temptations’ “My Girl.” It seems Smokey Robinson’s writing not only leads to success on the charts but also in the classroom. The students liked the theme (luuuuuuv) and the simple brilliance of the lyrics. Getting to rock out to a good tune in the middle of the day also always lifts my spirits J.

Speaking of which, it’s been a bit of a shock getting back into the work rhythm after the New Year’s holiday. I’m not really sure where the whole week went…but I’ll save that for the next post in the interest of getting something up. I will have some videos and such from my week off to lend some visual and audio aid to the ol’ blog. It won’t be too long before the next post.

‘Til then…

Finally, the Buck has come back...to the blogosphere.

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Spring Festival to one and all! Four holidays later, I’m back in the blogosphere, ready to awaken this beast from hibernation.

I’ve been keeping busy with work, to say the least. My company, EF, is in a constant state of flux with new policies, new directives, new goals, and new plans every week; my school is constantly expanding, with new teachers, new students, and new schedules all the time. We’re teaching more classes every week to more students every week. For a couple weeks, some of us (including me) were also working 6 days a week to cover for a teacher on leave.

This perpetual state of change and well-sized workload makes it difficult to settle into a rhythm and manage everything. For a Renaissance man and creature of habit such as myself, that makes it especially hard to keep on top of it all. I’m hoping to begin the healing process now though, with a much-needed blog entry…

As some of you may recall, this post was supposed to be part three in my epic trilogy: a three-parter aimed at providing a comprehensive summary of everything I’d been doing up to now. Once that was out of the way, I could then begin to keep up with the blog in real time. Of course “now” by this point has become “then” and I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to talk about. I guess I’ll try to start with an update.

A lot has changed here over the last couple of months. For one thing, it’s gotten a lot colder, and there’s even been a little snow. The past few days have been especially wintry, dumping Shanghai with a messy mixture of snow, sleet, and rain. Shanghai is not alone in this regard. As some of you may have seen, China's experiencing a winter the likes of which it has not seen in 50 years. I don’t think the locals know what to make of it. “It’s global colding!” my students like to joke. Derp!

Conveniently, I haven’t gotten a haircut since I arrived here, taking my hair to a level of shagginess unseen since possibly high school, but keeping the ol’ noggin a little bit warmer. There are barber shops on every corner, and if there aren’t barber shops, you still might find a barber. There’s a guy with a couple of stools and a pair of shears at the end of my alley who gives haircuts and shaves to any willing passerby. I’ll settle for a daily gel-down of the old ‘fro for now…

My landlord tells me I’ve gotten a little skinny. Part of this is a diet dominated by cornflakes, apples, and soup noodles. Another part is that I go to the gym only slightly more frequently than I blog. The cage fighter within will have to wait his turn…

I’m also currently in the midst of one of my semi-annual experimentations in facial hair, perhaps catering to the hippy within, perhaps subconsciously growing a “playoff beard,” or perhaps quietly rebelling against my “sweater and slacks, speak articulately, and be friendly all the time” job. (Oh sure, I’ll be nice to these people, but I won’t care enough to groom myself for them!)

Now, don’t get me wrong. I like work. My colleagues are great, the office is great (there are pictures up from Christmas on my Shutterfly page), the students are mostly all very nice, and classes can be fun. But, as with any job I suppose, sooner or later it gets in the way of life. I came to China to teach English, but I really came to China to study the language, travel, network, and continue to improve upon the skills I built in grad school. Having to commit 50 hrs a week to a job that can bring more stress than satisfaction and has little significance as far as long-term plans are concerned, really steams my rice sometimes!

It all comes down to time management though and trying to keep a cool head. I’m in China, I tell myself, and that in of itself is huge. Plus, most of the time, if I make the effort, I can do many of the non-work things I want to do. It’s just tough.

Everyday I work from approximately 12:30 to 9:30 pm. I get out at 8:30 on Saturdays and Sundays and have my “weekends” on Thursday and Friday. The students at the center are mostly working professionals or recently graduated university students. Some are doing post-grad work; some are still in high school. Others are housewives or arm-candy just looking for something to do. The bottom line is that peak hours are after work and on the weekends.

Every week, I teach approximately 25 classes, each an hour long. Classes vary in size and topic. “Workshops” hold up to 25 students and have 3 main focuses: academic, cultural, and professional. In addition to Workshops, there are small discussion sessions called “Face-to-face” with 1 to 4 students. The topics of both F2F’s and Workshops for the week usually center around one broad theme, for example, “Halloween” or “The Future.”

In addition to these, teachers also can organize their own classes that target topics or language skills. During my first few weeks of work for example, a trial by fire in which I had to cover for a colleague on leave after just 4 days of observation, I ran the pronunciation and writing skills classes. As I’ve gotten settled and established my own schedule in the months since, I’ve taken on “life clubs” of my own. I’ve been teaching Current Events Club for about two weeks, where I help students dissect and discuss recent news articles of my choosing. Beginning next week, I will start teaching Music Club with my fellow teacher Chris, where we listen to and talk about an English song with students. Both suit me quite well I think.

The schedule certainly keeps me busy. Class preparation is very heavy at the beginning of the week and then lightens up by the end, leaving some time to read or study at work. Usually though, I’ll just elect to relax and browse NFL.com’s video index.

Speaking of which, how bout them GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG-Men?! I’ve been sure to disrupt my sleep schedule every week to get up and listen to Big Blue’s games on internet radio. We got out to a bar for a few rounds of the playoffs too, including for last week’s fracas on the “frozen tundra.” The area of the bar we sat in was packed with chain-smoking cheese heads, who, despite losing, were significantly less profane and offensive than many New York sports fans I’ve encountered. My head-turning “Woooooo!”s every time Michael Strahan came on screen or my lone “YEAH!” when the final field goal went through set the dynamic for the morning. We went home hoarse but happy. It appears the football gods decided to grant is one more day…

Now to clarify, I have not just been using the royal “we.” Nicole, my lady, arrived here in Shanghai the day after Christmas! We’ve been getting up for or getting out to the Giants’ games every week together. She argues that her arrival has brought the G-men good luck…I’m sticking to my playoff beard theory…either way, I’ll take it!

She and I have been settling in over the past month, she to her new country, and me to my new roommate :). She’s quite the pro at living abroad, though this is her first time in Asia. As with any big change, it’s difficult, but she’s doing quite well, I think. She has a couple of part-time jobs/internships in her field (speech pathology) and those are both slowly getting off the ground. She’s going to begin Chinese classes this week, and she’s found a good group of friends to go out with on the weekends and explore the city while I’m stuck teaching “bio-material engineers” and “logistics coordinators" about “Christmas around the World.”

Things have been hectic, but now that my schedule’s starting to settle back down again, hopefully she and I will have some time to travel and explore together. We’ve explored the city a little bit and checked out a few restaurants and such, but there’s quite a bit to do outside the city walls. I’ve got a week off for Spring Festival/Chinese New Year coming up, and I think we’ll venture out of town and explore somewhere interesting for a day or three…

I guess that about does it. Finally, something like a foundation upon which to build. I think now that I’ve got a basic update down in the books, I can begin to get a little more focused and insightful with my blog posts. That’s means shorter, more interesting entries, more often. Haha.

As I alluded to above, there’s some traveling to be done in the near future, so keep an eye out for updates on that. I’ll also fill you in on some other select aspects of my life here…the commute to work, studying Chinese, and China vs. technology, will make some interesting topics for the coming weeks. I’ll get back on the music/vocabulary bandwagon with the next post…which will be soon, I promise. Also, I'll be adding some pics and vids to this post in the coming days.

Until then...

Be well. Go Giants.

-Will

Learning to Swim, Part 2 of 3: SPLASH!

Before I begin, I’d like to acknowledge the birthday of the woman who gave me life, and also swimming lessons, my wonderful mama. Happy Birthday Mom! I hope it’s a great day and send you my love. Whether it was in the swimming pool as a young kid or in life as an old kid, you’ve always helped me stay afloat.

Now let’s get to the post and driving this swimming analogy into the ground…

You can’t start swimming unless you get in the water, and with the keys to my apartment in hand, that weekend I dove head first into the pool. Late Saturday morning I took a cab with the bulk of my luggage from the hotel to my new pad. I called Zhao Jun, my landlord, earlier that morning and she agreed to meet me at my apartment at 1 o’clock to take me to sign up for internet access and such. She had offered to accompany me on this errand the day before when I signed my contract, a kind gesture that only confirmed my first impressions of her.

The cab ride was easy enough up until the end. In my limited experience with the area I only knew of one route to my apartment. Of course, it turns out there are multiple options, but at the time, all I could remember was “go down the alleyway with the giant construction hole in the middle of it, near the side road with the big white sign.”

After passing the big white sign in the cab, I informed the driver that we were close. Forgetting that the particular alleyway was not accessible by car from Chang Ning Lu (Lu means “road”), we quickly passed it and I asked the driver to pull over into a nearby parking lot and let me out. “Cash or card?” he asked in Chinese. “Cash,” I said as I pulled out money to pay him. I had been pleased enough this trip with my ability to understand the cabby. Earlier I had confirmed his planned route to my apartment. “Should I take Jiangsu Road?” he had asked. “Yeah! Yes, yes, yes.” I eloquently replied.

After another coherent exchange – “Do you want me wait?” “No want.” – I carried my bags the last few hundred yards down the alleyway, past the giant crater, around a few corners, through the courtyard, and finally up the stairs to my apartment. I dropped my stuff on the living room floor with a thud and took a moment to take it all in. Home!

Shortly thereafter, Zhao Jun and her husband, Wu Zhiming, who she affectionately called “Ming Ming,”[1] arrived at my door with smiles on their faces and bike helmets in their hands. Like many Chinese – not able to afford a car but too prosperous (or maybe too old) for just a plain ol’ bicycle – Zhao Jun and “Ming Ming” got around on a scooter. “William!” was my greeting as I opened the door. Zhao Jun had successfully read the foreign name on the contract. I welcomed them inside and did my best to be friendly, despite being a bit tired from my mini beast-out carrying the suitcases.

They were both eager to show off more of the apartment they had recently invested a lot in refurbishing, but we didn’t linger long. Wu Zhiming went off to ride his scooter, probably have a cigarette or three, and do whatever else he could do in my neighborhood. Zhao Jun escorted me on the mile and a half walk down Jiangsu Road to the local China Telecom branch.

As we weaved our way through typical Shanghai scenery along the main roadway – small shops, construction, etc. – Zhao Jun provided me with ample opportunity to practice my Chinese. The most common phrases I used were “I don’t understand,” and “I don’t know how to say it,” but I wasn’t completely inept, and I got the chance to learn a little bit more about my land lord. From what I gathered she and her husband and their 17 year old son used to live in my apartment. She used to be a teacher, but now, I’m not sure, but I think one or both of them had been recently laid off and are struggling with China’s poor unemployment support structure.

She asked me about the unemployment rate in America, and highlighting the gross inconsistencies in my Chinese, I was able to reply rather quickly and coherently (I think). For example, I can say that the unemployment rate is around 4.5% but I can’t say “The folder is purple” or “vanilla ice cream.” For the time being, I can get by, but this year it’s a major goal to get this beast of a language under control.

We reached the office and Zhao Jun helped me sign up for a deal that suited me. Somebody would be coming Monday morning to install everything, welcome news to a person that can barely survive without internet in his native country, let alone a country where he has no other forms of entertainment. We took care of the necessary paperwork and I returned home, now thoroughly exhausted.

After some much needed rest and a few hours of Chinese television, it was time to prepare for Sunday night – my first night in my new apartment. Though it seemed like the day was already over, it was only 4 o’clock or so, and I made my way to Carrefour, the chain superstore in the basement of the same mall that houses my office.

Long Zhi Meng, translated as “Dragon’s Dream” in Chinese, but known also by its English name, the Cloud Nine Shopping Center, is home to many struggling shops, all high-end fashion stores without a high-end consumer base to justify there presence. No matter what day of the week, or what time of day, many of the shops in Long Zhi Men are empty. Carrefour (“Jia Le Fu” in Chinese), like my office, thankfully, does not have to deal with this problem. Almost like a small version of Target connected to a huge super market, it’s always crowded and provides its many customers with goods ranging from Chinese toaster ovens to imported toaster strudel. There is a butcher (which sells EVERY part of the animal), a Chinese deli (like ones in America, except without anything good), a fish monger (pretty unremarkable, actually), and a place where you can get freshly made snacks (they have actual Indian people there making Indian Roti!). Basically, anything you need in your daily life, you can find at Carrefour.

Overwhelmed by all the purdy things, and eager to kick my settling in up a notch, I bought a ton of stuff. By the time I realized the size of the load in my cart, it was too late; the thing was overflowing with sheets, towels, pillows, a blanket, laundry detergent, and whatever other things I considered “essential” for my first night in the apartment. How many bags were they going to try to give me this time?

I checked out and began the haul back home. My wrists and hands started to hurt before I even got out of the mall. A twenty minute walk later and I had had my second beasting of the day. The good news was, I was back home. I threw the sheets and towels in the wash so that I could let them dry overnight while I was back at the hotel. As I broke in the washing machine, I resumed the unpacking process: hanging this, folding that, stacking this, storing that. By about 7:30, I had gotten most everything put away, and hung up. It was time to head back across town to enjoy one more night of internet at the hotel.

… …

I am startled out of bed around 8 am by the shrill chime of the hotel room doorbell (You can’t flush your toilet paper down the toilet, but the room has a doorbell). I look through the peep hole to see Zhang Zhiming (Ken) outside it is street clothes. I had told him I was going to be checking out early Sunday and that I would take him to see my apartment so he could find it at a later date. I had failed to clarify that early for me was before noon, not before nine.

I open the door, in a foul mood. His insistence on following me around in recent days, however innocent, had been beginning to get on my nerves. Cultural differences prevented him from knowing any better, and at that particular moment, also prevented him from knowing that it was rude for him to try to come in to my room at this particular time. Thoroughly pissed off, I sent him down to the lobby to wait for me for a few hours.

I checked out of the hotel around 11 and took a cab with Ken to my new place. I showed him the lay of the land and then sent him on his way so I could get ready for work. I took my first shower in the new apartment, which I’m pleased to say featured hot water AND good water pressure, got dressed with clothes taken from a closet, not a suitcase, and headed out for my first full day at Long Zhi Meng.

… …

NOTE: I’ll leave off here. The settling in saga has been a month-long process with lots of little stories along the way, but at this point, it becomes so intertwined with working that I will try to incorporate both into my next post. After that, I will try to get a little more focused with my postings.

Until next time…


Vocabulary: 生日快乐， shengri kuai le, “shung ruh kwigh luh”, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Happy b-day to my mama! Everyone wish her a happy birthday…or else! >:o

Music to move you: “Two” by Ryan Adams



[1] Chinese names put the surname first, followed by the first name. First names are most often one or two characters/syllables. My name for example, Bai Weilin (白威林), has a two-character first name. It’s a phonetic transcription of my English name. Other famous examples include Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Notice the surname first. That’s why people say “Chairman Mao” and not Chairman Zedong or Chairman Dong (haha). Zhao Jun provides an example of a one syllable first name.

A common way to nickname someone is two double the only syllable or the last syllable of their first name, hence Wu Zhiming becomes “Ming Ming.” This is not a constant rule. Nicknames are also subject to other conditions, such as whether they sound gender appropriate. I think it’s unlikely that people would call me “Lin Lin” because it sounds feminine…and I’m a terrifying foreigner. It's also unlikely that anyone called Mao "Dong Dong," though that would've been hilarious. Anyhow, there’s a little lesson for you.

Learning to Swim, Part 1 of 3: Give a man a home!

So as it turns out I’m not as good at updating this thing as I thought I’d be. Rather than update the blog regularly with short anecdotes and passing observations, I’m forced to scramble every few weeks to put together a super-sized Thanksgiving feast of a post. For those of you with short attention span…or an insatiable appetite for whatever it is I have say…I apologize. Nonetheless, it’s time to pull up a chair, put on your bib, and sound the Feasting Horn! There’s a lot to get you caught up on…

First of all, an explanation for my hiatus: quite simply, moving in, settling in, work, and recovering from the first three. When trying to set up shop on the other side of the world, the list of things to do seems endless. When you can check one thing off, you have to add another item to the list. I often think of learning to swim as a little kid, when your parent stands a short distance away from you, arms outstretched, encouraging you to swim to them. As you paddle and kick your way over, the parent backs up and backs up, and you keep swimming and swimming, flustered that the already challenging task has become even more so. (I often find myself using this analogy…maybe I’ve blocked out some traumatizing swimming lesson from my youth) Anyhow, “learning to swim” in China has been a non-stop mission to find a rhythm and get settled, and a month into it, I’m pleased to say, life is finally starting to show faint signs of settling down.

A major step – finding my apartment – was an interesting mini-adventure. After meeting with the real-estate agent Anson on my first day of work, I was told to expect a call from him the following day to set up a time to go apartment hunting. Tuesday morning came and went without word from Anson, so I took it upon myself after lunch to give him a call. He hadn’t been able to prepare any places to look, so he said one of his colleagues (“colleges,” as many Chinese pronounce it) would call me Wednesday.

Wednesday morning was oddly similar to Tuesday (no phone call), so, beginning to get a little bothered that my already slow acclimation process was approaching “watching paint dry” status, I had Lucy Lu put the whip to them. The uncertainty of why they hadn’t called me when they said they would bothered me greatly. I needed a place soon and the idea that the people expected to assist me in that process weren’t doing their jobs worried me. I only had a few days before EF stopped covering my hotel bill and these factors all made me even more anxious to lock down an apartment.

As it turns out, from what I’ve seen so far, that’s just how things go here. One needs to be patient but also proactive and persistent when trying to get things done. The sooner money’s involved, the better. And while most professional transactions aren’t conducted how they are in the states, if you get a business card from your peer, you’re probably safe from getting scammed.

Finally, that evening, Anson’s “college” Anne gave me a call and we agreed to meet the following morning to look at a few properties near Zhong Shan Park, where my office is located. On the phone, Anne’s timid English was the icing on the incompetence cake as far as I was concerned. Not only had these guys twice failed to follow-up with me when they said they would, but the woman handling my apartment hunt couldn’t even communicate with me? I was not feeling confident about the following morning, at all.

But with the new day came a new attitude and I wasn’t nearly so skeptical about the morning’s outing as I was the night before. I woke up to catch the bus/subway to meet Anne. After a few exchanged text messages I met up with her outside the Zhong Shan Park metro station. She had arranged two properties for us to look at on short notice. One was in my price range; the other was slightly higher than what I wanted. Anne’s English was better in person than on the phone, but I decided to drop the bombshell that I could speak Chinese (kaboosh!) As we made the fifteen minute walk from the station to the first appointment, that seemed to ease things a little bit.

The walk was a straight shot along Chang Ning Lu, a main road in the area. We arrived at a white sign with gold lettering that matched the address of the first stop on our itinerary. The sign hung outside of a nice looking apartment building and we waited there underneath it for the landlord to arrive. After a few minutes, a short woman in her mid-40s with short hair and a gentle, motherly face came to meet us. I missed the Chinese lesson on “Meeting the Landlord” so I just said “ni hao” (hello) and smiled while Anne did most of the talking.

Much to my distress, the woman led us away from the nice apartment building and down a small side road, lined with small shops and speckled with small construction projects. The narrow road served as the main artery for a number of alleyways which each housed a handful of short, concrete apartment buildings. A majority of traditional residential neighborhoods in Shanghai are built in this “long tang,” or alley-way style, which now contrasts quite noticeably with the new high rise apartment complexes shooting up all over town.

After weaving our way through an indistinguishable maze of concrete, construction, drying clothes, and iron gates we arrived at our destination. We walked through a quiet courtyard and into an unremarkable concrete apartment building. The landlord led us up to the second floor, past an abandoned couch and an abandoned bicycle, and welcomed us to our destination. Inside the apartment, the TV was on as the landlord’s husband shuffled around sweeping the floor with a short broom and long-handled dust pan. He, like his wife, also had a friendly face, but his appearance was more aged and his teeth were stained from the common Chinese past-time of smoking.

After seeing the neighborhood, I was very skeptical that this first place was going to be any good. This also concerned me because it was right in the price range I wanted and if this was all I could get for that amount, I would have to make a sacrifice on one end or the other –accommodation or price. Upon entering the apartment however, all of these doubts quickly disappeared. Anne’s exclamation of “Waaaaaah…” (Chinese for “wow”) pretty much summed the place up. Nestled in this old alleyway apartment building was a one bedroom apartment, newly renovated with brand new appliances in every room. A big bed, great natural light, two TV’s, a full bathroom, a sofa bed, a washing machine, a sit-down toilet…and all for a price that couldn’t be beat! The landlords gave us a full tour of the little apartment, and I was certainly impressed. It seemed to have everything I needed.

Excited by this surprising discovery, Anne and I bid farewell to the landlords and went to make a courtesy stop at the other location on the itinerary. It was a located on one of the upper floors of a new hotel right across the street from my office, but it was very small, and too expensive. Anne and I quickly concluded that I should sign a contract for the first place, especially because it was in rather high demand. It was extremely unlikely that I would find another place like that for that price, so close to my office. I told Anne to go ahead and inform the landlords that I wanted the apartment.

Now as much as I could complain about the first few days of dealing with these realtors, I was very impressed by how well they handled things from this point forward. The property was in high demand, but since the landlords liked me, Anne and Anson were able to drop the hammer and lock up a contract signing. Furthermore, they talked the landlords down from their listed rental price and got me the terms of the contract that I wanted. We signed Friday morning and by 1 pm I had the keys in hand. Now I could get the ball rolling!


Vocabulary: 家， jia, "jah," home. Check out the character. The upper radical represents a roof; the lower radical is a pig. Home is where the hog is :)

Music to move you: "Keys to your Love," Rolling Stones, The...

First day on the job...

The weather on Monday morning as I woke up for my first day was ridiculous. The remnants of Typhoon Krosa, which absolutely annihilated Taiwan by all accounts, hit Shanghai the night before and stuck around for all of Monday, adding a little bit of adventure to an otherwise unspectacular day.

After some serious debate in my hotel room as to whether it was safe to go outside (it was), I put on my boots and rain jacket and trudged out the door, intent on actually doing something work-like for the first time since I arrived. I pulled my pastel blue EF umbrella out of my slightly darker blue EF man tote as I exited the hotel. Within about 2 minutes it was clear that the flimsy plastic umbrella would be useless against the relentless down pour and rushing wind. Umbrellas, bent inside-out, littered the sidewalks wherever I went for the rest of the day.

I walked the 3-minute walk around the corner to the bus stop, hood up, head down against the elements. My bus ran half as often as the other line that stopped near my hotel, enhancing the remoteness of the area and prolonging my time in the rain. Finally, the bus arrived, and I, along with a larger-than-usual crowd of commuters crammed our way onto the bus.

Riding the bus in Shanghai is one of the more ridiculous activities I’ve partaken in so far. Yes, it’s nice to know how to get where you want to go on a bus, but like many things in China, the buses are too small for their purpose and inefficiently-operated. Another thing that comes to mind is grocery bags. They only come in two sizes – small and extra small – and they try to bag everything you buy, which is both wasteful and annoying. I don’t need a bag for my bottle of water. It’s a bottle of water; I’m going to drink it; now. I don’t need a bag for my garbage can. It’s huge, so your fun-size bag will be useless anyway, and I want to carry stuff home in that garbage can, and I know that if you put it in a grocery bag you’re just going to set it aside and waste that prime carrying space… It’s this kind of thinking at the grocery store cash register that might explain why the buses can be so awful.

First, unless you get a seat on the bus (which you won’t during rush hour unless you get on at the beginning of the line), you are damned to be jammed into the cabin of this vehicle in such a way that the term “fire hazard” becomes a gross understatement. People are wedged shoulder-to-shoulder; the yellow caution zones of the bus have nearly as many people in them as there are in the seats. Second, many buses have two employees on them, one to drive and the other to collect fare and pass out receipts. It’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen – these people trying to collect fares from the endless horde of passengers. It’s like trying to swim through sea of drying cement. Eventually, you get the baseball game concession effect, where people pass the fare card or money along to the fare collector like a box of Cracker Jacks trying to make its way to the center of the row.

Such was the scene as I rode the bus on Monday. The roads outside were just as crowded as the bus inside. You couldn’t tell by the view – the windows were completely fogged up – but the fact that the bus didn’t move at all for ten minutes at one point was a pretty good clue. That made the already unpleasant ride all the more awesome!

Anyhow, what would otherwise have been a 20 minute trip turned out to be about 35 minutes, and I arrived at the office a few minutes late. Great start to my first day! Well, as it turns out it didn’t matter much. After a 15 minute tour of “Mega Center” I killed the rest of the morning at a computer, which by this point was not as exciting as it had been on Friday during my crisis. A tasty lunch on the company dime carried me into the afternoon.

The PM hours were a little bit more productive. Lucy Lu from HR arranged for me to meet with Anson, a real estate agent who does a lot of house-hunting for EF employees. We talked for a half an hour or so. I gave him my specs and price range for an apartment. Ideally, I wanted something near my branch office on the west side of town, over at Zhongshan Park. Anson said he’d get back to me on Tuesday…he didn’t.

And thus would begin my made adventure for the week: house-hunting.


Vocabularly: 上班，"shang ban," to go to work.

Music to move you: "Blame it on the Rain" by Milli Vanilli

Week 1: It was the Best of Times; it was the Worst of Times… (WARNING: LONG POST)

Well, mostly it was the worst of times. Had I known that all of China would be shut down for the week on national holiday, I would not have elected to arrive on the eve of the annual celebration of the Chinese nation. On the week of October 1st, many businesses shut down, including my own, and Chinese from all corners of the Middle Kingdom take advantage of the time off to travel and explore the sights of their own country. That leaves places like Shanghai even more congested than usual.

If only my schedule were as busy. Being new to the city, without any contacts save one or two, and struggling to get a handle on my neglected Chinese skills and adjust to my surroundings, I was counting on some job-related responsibilities to ease me into my new environment and distract me from the emotional difficulties of my move. The holiday week all but eliminated this possibility, not because my office had closed for the holiday (there were still people around), but because it was undergoing renovations that left the whole place covered in tarps and drop clothes and filled with noxious paint fumes, (smell that lead!). Thus, on consecutive days, my orientation process was postponed and I was left to explore Shanghai on my own…and wallow in my loneliness. Waaah waaah, I know.

I occupied my time wandering around the periphery of my hotel and going for slightly longer walks in my remote part of the city. My hotel was a good 20 to 30 minute ride removed from any popular or relevant area of town so my sight-seeing was somewhat limited for the first few days. As it turns out, the hotel where new EF employees usually stay upon their arrival was booked solid – because of the holiday. I did break away from the monotony on Wednesday night though, checking out a famous dumpling restaurant with a friend from the States and walking along the Bund, a historic strip along the Huangpu River (through which European imperialist dogs infiltrated China during the 19th century).

But just when things were starting to look up…disaster! Wednesday night, my main line of entertainment and communication went down for the count. My computer overloaded itself and basically became so slow that it was non-functional, leaving me with little to do besides watch HBO Asia and Cinemax on the hotel TV, channels that seem to rotate the same line-up of low-budget horror films, low-budget kick boxing movies, and a collection of Baldwin brother movies starring every one but Alec. Sometimes I wonder if some of these films might have been released exclusively for HBO Asia.

Anyhow, I like to think that there’s a positive side to everything, and indeed my computer catastrophe turned out to be a blessing in disguise, especially since I was able to fix the problem rather easily. For the roughly 48 hour span in which I did not have a computer, I had no way to contact anyone, and as such, I spent the bulk of that time looking for alternative means to contact the outside world: my family, my girlfriend, my company etc. I was deterred from this pursuit briefly on Thursday morning with an orientation event that did come to fruition – a tour of the city – but upon my return I sought out an internet bar.

This seemingly simple errand turned out to be more of an epic pilgrimage. I asked at the front desk where to find a “Wang Ba” (literally, net bar) and the concierge told me where to go, a place quite close by. Having become well versed in the surrounding blocks, I made my way over there with ease, but wouldn’t you know, not a wang ba to be found. I looked for signs and asked a few people, but to no avail. After traipsing around for about a half hour, I go back to the hotel and ask the concierge once again where I’m supposed to go. I ask him to draw me a map thinking I may have misunderstood his directions, which he does, but it mysteriously directs me to the same place. I go to the same area once again, ask around more, and get pointed in a number of directions only to have the same result…nada.

I return to the hotel for a third time, this time to find the concierge out front chatting with the bell boy who had picked me up some dumplings on my first night in town. I say hello and tell the concierge that there tisn’t a wang ba to be found in this desert of a district…at least not where he said. Baffled, he sends the bell boy with me to find the place. Unlike the concierge, the bell boy doesn’t speak any English, so it forces me to use my Chinese. We retrace my steps and then beyond, going down a few random alleyways, chatting in elementary Chinese along the way. His name is Zhang Zhiming, or “Ken” for the western guests, he’s 20, he lives in Pudong with his parents, he’s worked at the hotel for a few months, etc. As we chat it becomes clear that the kid things I’m pretty okay for a foreigner.

Then, after about an hr of walking and directions-asking, and the umpteenth random alleyway, we see it, an oasis in the desert, an internet bar! We go in and I tell the girl at the front desk I want to “shang wang” or “go on the net.” She gasps, and with an angry expression throws her cup of water in my face. Zhang Zhiming, somewhat stunned, explains to me that in my bad pronunciation, I’ve just solicited the poor girl for intercourse, not internet…okay, I just made that last part up…but the outcome was essentially the same. For whatever reason, probably because they didn’t have the equipment to document my passport, I couldn’t get access to a computer. Part of the problem, Zhang Zhiming tells me, is that they need to confirm I am over 18. Children younger than 18 should not be wasting time on the wed; they should be studying.

So, probably not unexpectedly, my frustrating search ends in frustration. We walk back to the hotel and I buy the kid a coke on the way. I also concede to teaching him English at some uncertain point in the future. He’s happy to help me with my Chinese. That’s all well and good, but after this ordeal I need a rest.

A few hours later, after catching my breath and washing off the “essence of Shanghai,” I commence Plan B and venture downstairs to go looking for an international calling card. The concierge recruits my new-found friend “Ken” to go hunt one down for me. I give him the money, and wait patiently. An hour or so later he returns (“I’ve got a golden tiiicket…"). I’m eager to hear a friendly voice. But not so fast. After some trouble using the card on my hotel phone, Zhang Zhiming suggests that I might need a cell phone to use the card. I wasn’t planning on getting a shou ji (sounds like “show gee,” literally, “hand machine”) for another week or so, but that would have to change. I would have to go to the bank in the morning to exchange more funds.

The next day I head out to the nearest bank to get some RMB and lo and behold, the branch is closed. I return to the hotel beginning to grow very frustrated with this recent trend. In the lobby, I run into a guy named Kellen as he’s getting off the elevator. Kellen is another new employee at EF. He’s from Georgia and has been in Shanghai a few weeks longer than me. I had met him originally at breakfast the morning before, but this second meeting yielded another positive outcome of my 48 hour computer-less isolation.

Kellen tells me he’s heading over to the mega center (the main EF office in the city) in a bit and invites me to come along. Desperate for a computer, some contact, and some assurance that my company actually exists, I happily agree. We meet a little while later and take a bus to People’s Square, the center of town where the main office is located. I’m pleased to discover a bus line that can take me where I need to go. Not only is it cheaper than a cab, but I find I’m a lot more settled in a new place once I learn its public transportation systems. This was a step in the right direction...

We stop at Kellen’s apartment to drop some things off as he’s just begun the moving process. I try to get a gauge for how price, location, and accommodation come together in this city as I know I’ll have to figure it out for my own apartment hunt soon enough. With my mind on my money and my money on my mind I find an open bank and get some RMB. Now on to business…

The giant blue EF signs on the neighboring buildings are reassuring, but I’m still skeptical I actually have an employer until we finally get to the office. Save for one room of computers the place is undergoing a complete overhaul. As I had been told on the phone earlier in the week, it would have indeed been pointless for me to come in earlier in the week. I met Katie and Jean, the two recruitment staffers I had been in contact with throughout, figured out when I could actually start showing up to work (Monday) and finally got on a computer (e-mail, g-mail, chat, Facebook, giants.com…phewwwww, much better).

Recharged, I consult with Kellen and the office crew and head over to China Mobile to get a cell phone and a sim card. I whip out the Mandarin once more, elementary but effective, and purchase a “hand machine” and select a number. After the fact, I recalled that many Chinese stay away from phone numbers with “4” in them because the word for four, “si,” sounds very much like the word for death. My number only had one “4.” That was safe enough for me. After an encouraging and productive morning/early afternoon, I hop back on the bus and return to my hotel.

Within a couple hours of returning to my room, I am able to bring my computer back from the dead. A seemingly catastrophic situation turns out to create some positive gains: I make a Chinese friend, I make an American friend, I meet confirm the existence of my office and the specifics of my schedule, I discover the bus, and get a cell phone. Not bad at all.

I spend the rest of Friday and most of the weekend enjoying my newly resuscitated computer and resting up from the loneliness, stress, and cardiovascular workouts of my first week in Shanghai. Saturday I venture all the way across town, by bus and subway, to hunt down my branch office in Zhongshan Park. It’s located in the Cloud Nine Shopping Mall, a 9 – story shopping center on the west end of town. As expected, it’s closed, but it was useful to locate my eventual place of employment. Sunday, I treat Zhang Zhiming to dinner at restaurant near the hotel. He’s surprisingly helpful with my Chinese. I pick up one or two new vocabulary words each time we chat, and get a little more comfortable with my language and my new environment.

The remnants of a typhoon from Taiwan began to hit the city as we sat at dinner. I hope that the heavy wind and rains can wash away the stresses of Week 1. As I look ahead to the following day, as the rest of the country goes back to work after the holiday, I will be going with them. I hope the upward trend of my first week will continue.

Vocabularly:
网巴, Wang Ba, Internet Bar; roughly pronounced “wong bah”;
手机， Shou Ji, Cell phone; roughly pronounced “show gee”

(Vocab Notes: Remember the literal translation “net bar”? Notice how the first character of Wang Ba, “wang,” resembles a net. The second character “ba” is a phonetic translation of the English word “bar,” I believe. For example, 酒巴，jiu ba, literally “alcohol bar” refers the conventional Western notion of a bar.)

Music to move you: “Radio Nowhere” by Bruce Springsteen


Notes: Sorry for the long post, but I’m trying to get the blog caught up on my goings on here. When I’m not busy, I’ve been exhausted, so getting things in order has been hard. I hope to be up-to-date soon though, so stay tuned. Week 2 has been hectic but busy. I got an apartment on Friday! I’ll be sure to write all about it in the next post.

Also, I have resurrected my Shutterfly site and uploaded some pics to that. You can start checking that regularly for updates as well. 'Til next time, take care!