Let's get (kind of) literary

On Saturday afternoon I met up with a few people to go to some events as part of the Literary Festival that's running over the next few weeks.

The first event we saw was a talk by Jen Lin-Liu about her book 'Serve the People'. The topic, covering the range from small private kitchens in Beijing to apprenticing and working in large commercial kitchens in Shanghai, was intriguing, especially since I both enjoy cooking and have had a little bit to do with restaurant and pub kitchens. Unfortunately, she made it seem ordinary, and the way that she spoke about her experiences somehow conveyed no expertise at all, which is not what I want from someone who I want to tell me inside details about an industry I'm already a little familiar with. I think it boils down to her just needing more experience with the public speaking thing. More elaboration about the information in the book, actual answers to the questions (she did field some great questions, but not especially well), and fewer halting readings from the book would be a good start. Oh, and rapport-building skills? I don't know. Anyway, if the book fell into my lap, I might consider reading it, despite the fact that she pronounced the word 'myriad' as 'my-reed'. I am so judgmental.

Thankfully, a glass of wine was included in the ticket price, and we got to go immediately downstairs to get another glass of wine and see James Fallows speak. One of the girls who had come over from Wuhan is a huge fan, and I'm really glad I tagged along to see him. It's an increasing rarity to see a speaker who can form a coherent answer off the cuff, and turn banal questions into opportunities to give insight on something else. Yes, I watched several of the debates leading up to the American election last year. I didn't actually know much about Mr Fallows before I went in, but it turns out he was the youngest ever chief speechwriter for an American president (for Jimmy Carter), although it was recently inaccurately reported that Jon Favreau, White House hottie [personal opinion] and Obama's Director of Speechwriting, was. Fallows made a great crack about how it was much easier for Favreau, because he was writing for someone who could actually speak. James Fallows has authored nine books and for years been a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, as well as many other vaunted publications. His postings in the US, the Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere, and his many personal interests and achievements made this talk much more than just about promoting his latest book 'Postcards from Tomorrow Square'. [I live right behind Tomorrow Square!] He was humble in that he knew many of the people attending would have a closer relationship with China, and so mostly spoke to us about things he could give an expert opinion on. All in all, he came across as a fascinating, down-to-earth, adventurous man who dotes on his family and never hesitates to question the world. An amazing hour or so. My friend even got an autograph, a chat, and a business card afterwards. I've subscribed to his blog.

For another opinion on this afternoon, and weekend in general, check out Packers to Pandas.

Coincidence and confection

Friday night started off with a coworker wishing me a 'happy Women's Day' before she left for the weekend.  I had vaguely heard of it, but had no idea it was coming up.  I have a funny feeling that we were supposed to get a half day off work for it, but as it was on Sunday, I felt a little bit ripped off.  In any case, it's quite cool that China actually recognises March 8th as a holiday, unlike any other country I've ever lived in.  Some restaurants and stores even give special deals to women to celebrate.  Pity I didn't actually go out to support any commercial enterprises on Sunday.

Anyway, back to Friday...I had a friend visiting from Wuhan, and I tried and failed to get in touch with her about dinner.  A major downside of the mobile phone networks in China is that you have to pay for incoming calls, and once you're out of credit, it's very difficult to top up if you're not in your own city.  So, I accepted my second offer for dinner and went out with some coworkers and acquaintances.  They'd pretty much finished by the time I got there, but I did managed to eat something and we sat around chatting for a while before we ordered the delicious frozen desserts that the restaurant is renowned for.  In the meantime, a surprise chair pulled up next to me.  It turned out that, in a city of nearly 20 million people, the friend I was trying to get hold of was sitting at the table right next to me.  She hadn't realised until then because I had my back to them, and was sitting behind a really tall guy.  He moved at some point, and she recognised my hoodie.  How fantastic.  We caught up for a bit, ate dessert, and then parted ways.  I spent the rest of the night playing mahjohng and eating peanuts.  Enough of the training rounds, I want to play for money next time.  Watch me become more Chinese every day!

Speaking of Chinese and desserts, I've just started reading 'angry asian man', and that's where I found what he's deemed 'the most racist dessert ever'.  Prejudice is a dish best served cold.  With an umbrella.

A weird kind of symmetry

My little brother's going home today, after spending six or so months in North America and the Caribbean.  I've really enjoyed reading about his impressions of travelling, and somehow he's managed to capture a lot of my thoughts about the whole schtick, and also North America.  Something about this post really resonated with me, and it's nice to know that some of his thoughts are very similar to mine, and that my thoughts are still somewhat hopeful!  That he managed to gather so much from such a comparatively short time is kind of encouraging.

"I guess the one thing I can take away from this entire journey is to always have faith in people. More often than not, they'll come through for you.

Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has something to offer. And oftentimes, they're willing to help even if you don't ask or even if it means they have to go out of their way.

I've seen a lot of cities but I've come to the realisation that a city is just that - a city. It's the people that make and shape your experiences of it. The people are the beating heart, the breathing lungs and the blood that flows through the veins of a city. They give it charm, soul, character."

More actual stuff from me soon, I promise.

Too much excitement (or general stuff) in January

I can't believe we're nearly 3 weeks into 2009 already.  Things are busy slash exciting, so I'm just going to bullet point the notable events, knowing full well I won't come back to elaborate on them later.

Adding to the (sometimes) fun times:

• 04 January - New flatmate moved in.  Have to work on a Sunday to make up for "three" (really just one) days off for New Year.
  
• Early-mid January - Vague, slack preparation within the department for the dreaded end of year party.  Lots of projects with upcoming deadlines.
• 15 January - Decided to go to Thailand to hang out with a friend of mine (sorry, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, London).  Booked the ticket at 3am.  Finally received some long-awaited items from the UK.
• 16 January - Don't do much at work as we finally throw something together for the costume competition and 'performance'.  Don't get me started on how I feel about the Yankee Swap.  Party was not as abysmal as I expected.  I drew number 1 for the swap, and stubbornly kept my own present (although who couldn't love a pink sheep pillow?).  Party ended promptly at 10pm, at which time 90% of people went home.  I drank too much wine and was not functioning by 2am.
• 17 January - My Chinese birthday.  Spent the weekend watching Firefly and Serenity.
• 19 January - Find out another friend is going to be in Chiang Mai next week.  Very exciting!

And now the future stuff:

• 20 January - The Obama inauguration.  Partying is planned for later.  Did you know that Obama-related words are at the top of the Top Words List for 2008 (according to The Global Language Monitor)?
  
• 24 January - Working on a Saturday to give us time off during the week.
  
• 25 January - Chinese New Year's Eve. 
  
• 26 January - Day 1 of the Year of the Ox (and Australia Day).  Fly to Chiang Mai.
• 27 January - I officially get older.
• 30 January - Leave Chiang Mai, hopefully after good times a-plenty.
  
• 31 January - Get back to Shanghai.
• 01 February - Go to work on a Sunday, to make up for the time off for New Year.  Sense a pattern here?  Auckland gets a 3 day weekend for Anniversary Day.  I ... have to work.
  

Happy New Year!

So I'm sitting in my flat waiting for someone to come and have a look at the spare room.  I was planning to go to the post office today (as I had stayed up until about 5am getting packages ready to send) and then spend the rest of the day doing work that I need to have done for work tomorrow.  The beginning of a 6 day week, no less.  So, I woke up a bit later than expected, to a phone call from a guy who was interested in seeing the room for his friend.  As I had expected to be alone in the flat until the 8th, and partially related to getting five packages ready to post, the place was a bit of a mess (okay, very untidy, but not so much dirty).  So I had to spend a couple of hours getting the place and my room ready.  Imagine my disgust when I realised that there was random crap and dirt in the spare room, and the last flatmate had somehow broken the closet.  I made it all look as passable as possible (I do not want to pay half of that room's rent next month as well), but it still looks pretty bleak in there.  I made the bed to make it look a little bit more liveable.  And now they are late.  Argh.

The new year has started out okay.  I went over to a friend's place for New Year, which I was really happy to get an invitation to.  I hadn't seen her nearly as much as I should have last year (hmm, that's the first time I've called it that), and just managed to catch her online on NYE,  so pretty much invited myself over.  It worked out well.  They had plenty of food and drinks, and also UFC.  That is Ultimate Fighting Championship for those not in the know (like me).  The boys are pretty into it, by all accounts.  I...didn't expect the last thing I'd do in 2008 to be watch guys try to beat the crap out of each other, but hey.  Roll with it.  I had a lot of fun and hope that I'll see more of those guys this year.

On New Year's Day I woke up to a text from James, which was nice.  About 30 seconds later, I got a phone call which wasn't so nice.  The CEO was calling to ask me if I had internet access at home.  Just before I left on NYE, I had run into him and he asked me if I was able to check my email "tonight...or tomorrow".  Come on!  It's New Year's Eve.  So imagine my dismay waking up to that on New Year's Day.  He wanted me to proof an email that he was sending out to the whole company.  He wanted it done that day, but we're not back until the 4th (a Sunday, which I'm not pleased about either).  The only good part of that phone call was that I got to hear Dave's ringtone.  Anyway, I did it, so as to start the year off with minimal procrastination (I even cooked myself a frittata for breakfast), and as at the 3rd, I haven't had any reply from him.  To further add to my NY rage, the maid came, ran the washing machine, emptied the bins, but didn't appear to do anything else.  She didn't do any of my ironing or my laundry, and I have no idea what she washed, because it wasn't anything in the flat. 

The rest of my day was spent shopping.  I went for a wander to try to find a 'cute shop' that my sister had found on the other side of People's Square.  Either I didn't remember her instructions properly, or she had told me the wrong way, but it took me ages before I found it.  In the meantime, I bought some street food, spilled some delicious meat juice on one of my mittens, found the biggest bookstore I've seen thus far (seven floors, totally packed with people, and probably a good thing that I couldn't read most of the books), marvelled at how many people could queue up in a cafe, bought some snacks at a supermarket, saw some disturbing carcasses in crates outside a butcher, and saw a kid about to poo on the street (who deals with the results of these sorts of things?!).  I ended up buying all manner of vaguely pointless cute things, and somehow justified it all.  Then a trip to another cute shop to repeat the process.  By that time I was ready to eat again so I went home via a bubble tea stand and the food place where I can just point at the stuff that I want.  Then for some reason I had a Will Smith night and watched I Am Legend and The Pursuit of Happyness.  I mostly enjoyed them both, but the latter made me kind of sad.  Sometimes I think Will Smith is a bit overrated, but sometimes I really quite like him.

Yesterday was spent sleeping in and then going to Tesco, which was very exciting.  I resisted the temptation to buy a massive padded men's dressing gown with Chinese print, but did buy some long underwear and yet another pair of slippers (I will have one for each day of the week soon, I'm sure), plus quite a bit of other stuff.  Tesco in China is not quite the same as it is in the UK (understatement), but they do have Tesco Value branded stuff, and a meat floss counter.  For the uninitiated, pork floss is really popular here, and as far as I know it's concocted from dry-frying very small bits of pork.  I think.  It's quite good, but is found on a disturbingly high number of bakery products.  Anyway, the counter had a whole bunch of different kinds of floss, but I only know this because all the prices were different.  I have no idea what the types were.  I didn't find the two things I wanted to buy, but never mind.  I now have long johns.  Bonus.  Also, on the way home, my taxi driver blatantly lied and told me that I speak Chinese really well.  Still, it made me smile.  And maybe I do pronounce my handful of words really well, who knows?

Oh, an update: the guy who came to see the flat today (with his dad and mentor) will be moving in this week.  I hope.  I don't really want to be paying extra rent for January too.  He is from Atlanta, and seems pretty acceptable upon the first meeting.  Although I have decided not to live in Asia with any more old American men (yes, never again), I think the younger ones tend to be okay.  Fingers crossed, anyway!

You can't argue with numbers...

...they tell me I am a total slacker.

What the hell. I'm bumping it up to 17 before it becomes 2009.

I may have actually been a 'blogger' in 2006. How bizarre.

Stretchy

In the grand tradition of not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I've changed the layout of my blog so that it makes better use of the space in your browser. No more annoyingly blank left sidebar for you!

I've also updated some blog links in my sidebar, and they will appear in order of whoever bothered to update the most recently. Good for them, they deserve the glory.

New Year's Resolutions

Usually at this time of year I will at least have attempted a Christmas post or copied and pasted some of my Christmas email in a thin attempt to update the world on my goings on.  I at the least managed to get that email out, even if it was extremely last-minute (my usual style, so at least I'm being consistent). 

If I am to sum up the year succinctly, I would have to say that it's been interesting, challenging, lonely, strangely rewarding, and always Asian.  As usual, I've met some great people, although not as many as most years (and in some cases I haven't actually met them), and I've taken the plunge with a full time job.  I like the place where I live and the people I work with, but there's definitely room for improvement in several areas of my life.  All of these involve me trying to find some self-motivation, so let's hope there's some floating around here somewhere. 

In the lead up to Christmas I got really busy at work (even more so because we don't get a holiday for it in China), and a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to find reasonable plans with which to ensure people that I was occupied with.  One of my sisters came to visit for a while, which was wonderful, and thankfully I was able to impose upon a lovely almost-stranger and had a fantastic Christmas break in Wuhan in central China.  Now I have no plans for New Year's Eve, but a wander around town and a night in sounds kind of nice.  I have my apartment to myself a the moment (even though the empty room is costing me), and I'm enjoying it a fair bit.  I'm promising myself that I'll stop listening to the Christmas music soon, though. 

I am currently typing on the AlphaSmart 3000 that arrived in the mail today (along with a spare dryer part that means I can dry my clothes quickly, and some oh-so-slightly belated Christmas presents that I love), and I hope that it will somehow help me with this motivation/distraction problem that plagues me on a regular basis.  What is an AlphaSmart 3000, you may ask.  Well, it's what I like to call a '90s retrofuturistic word-processing keyboard.  It's also made of green-blue semi-transparent plastic, so it really doesn't get much better.  In a nutshell, I can type almost as much as I want without having to worry about power cords, boot-up time, or the deadly distraction of the internet.  I'm in bed right now, and when I'm ready to go to sleep, I just have to hit the on/off button (no save necessary), or just let it switch itself off in ten minutes.  I hope that it will help me with a lot of the writing that I've been telling myself I need to do (paid and unpaid), and at the least might help me keep up with my correspondence.  I may be laying an awful lot of pressure on less than a kilo's worth of glorified calculator, but every little bit helps, surely?  I'm also going to take it in to the ridiculously-long, somewhat-pointless meetings I have to attend, and annoy people with my incessant clickity-click as I do other work but pretend to take notes.  Awesome plan, if I do say so myself.  And if none of that works, it makes a handy peripheral keyboard for my laptop.

So, my resolutions involve somehow improving my social life, work habits, and language education, but I think it all boils down to being brave and just getting stuff done.  I can do stuff.  Right?

Soup and starfish songs

Well, I'm quite busy today at work but yet, through the magic of the Wong Procrastination Transfer Method (WPTM), here I am trotting out a blog post instead.

I'm having issues with communication at work, but I've decided that it's a general problem in Asia, so hopefully I can get around it. The project manager on one of my projects is kind of pissed with me. The main thing is that my boss knows that the root of the communication problem is not me. Hooray.

Anyway, I've been spending the majority of my spare time lately watching movies on DVD, crocheting new stuff for me and certain lucky individuals, and discovering that I have a talent for making soup. Cold weather is good for something. So far I've made spicy lentil, potato and eggplant; curried sweet potato; and pumpkin and coriander. I like the blender. And the fresh vegetable market up the road from my flat.

The main reason I wanted to get this post out into the world (besides seriously dreading writing the document I'm supposed to be doing) is that I wanted to share something really special. Now, in the past, I have inspired people to travel, write poetry, draw posters, become extremely jealous, get the hell away from me, etc., but this is the first time (that I know of) that anyone's written a song. It's also fantastic, which is a total bonus. If you'd like to see it through the magic of YouTube, then please feel free. Then leave a comment to tell him how wonderful it/he is, as I'm sure I can't tell him enough. Oh, and it's a work in progress. Just in case you think it can't possibly get better, apparently it can. [It's called Starfish because my Chinese name means 'sea star'. Get it?]

Yes we can

The fourth of November was historical, not just for the USA, but for large parts of the world. Many outsiders sat with crossed fingers, willing the message of hope and change to get through to the American voting public. For far too long, a Republican administration had destroyed international relations and ensured travelling Americans a frosty welcome in many places around the globe.

Barack Obama's call to action was composed of three of the simplest words in the English language, but somehow conveyed optimism, positivity, community, and hope for the future.

Yes we can.

I have no doubt that his words will go down in history, like those of Kennedy and Lincoln. I'm not usually one to get political (and it won't become a habit), but I continue to be fascinated by the fact that three little syllables managed to move millions, spark imagination, and spur action that has already changed the future. I hope that it continues.

From the Language Trainers blog. I wrote it, don't worry. Now go watch the video.