Maybe its just me, but I often feel like I am very different from the people I know. Typically, it is probably due to background circumstances, but even my peers that have went to an int'l school in Hong Kong most of their life do not possess traits similar to mine at all. For example, among my circle of close friends, each and everyone of them are very distinct in their own way that none of us are a good representation of our backgrounds. And I say this confirming that neither even everyone of us together would reflect a true representation of our background. Our personalities have already set us too far apart.
Its interesting to meet people from all over the world. Living abroad really gives you a chance to widen your perspective of this world. Ever since I set my foot here at the international cultural exchange dorm, I admit I have always ignored most European countries. Seriously, what was i thinking? Doesn't that seem quite fundamental? 'Too much BME for my own good' I would probably use as an excuse. Europe plays a huge 1/3 part of this world, yet when I read the wall street, I only goto the U.S and Asia section. I'm sure there are plenty of hungry men and women over there that are also planning to take over this world too. I must make a visit to the rest of Europe asap. Backpacking would sound fun.
Erik.
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Friday, February 27, 2004
Still lov'in it. Theres a pretty good chance I'm going to settle here for good. Haha, maybe that statement will help re-emphasize my point about how much i'm lov'in it here. The three main reasons why I want to stay in Shanghai are:
1. Shanghai is not as developed as other metropolitans. Maybe it will be in the next 30 or so years, but wouldn't that be great? To live not only like a king with low living standards to start off with, but also live through the development of what will be one of the major cities in the future? The next New York City, but in China?
2. People here are generally more relaxed and easy going. Social ties and boundaries have not fully conformed yet. Locals and expatriots/foreigners get along a lot better than I've seen so far in my life. There isn't much of that uptite 'I'm higher class so I don't talk to you' thing going on. You don't need to know so and so to get into the door. I just feel that since everything is still going under rapid change, if I keep my head up and feet firmly on the floor, I have the opportunity to define my own world here. Have more things the way I want it to.
3. Huge second tier industry. Many more opportunities for a business man with a background in engineering and interest in developing/marketing high technology. How much easier can it get for me, I understand the Chinese culture yet I have an education overseas. I'm not trying to talk ego with you, but I'm money. As my friends put it, I'm already a chinese walking dollar bill around here.
~~~ Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Neptunes Remix) ~~~
~~~ Duncan Sheik - Barely Breathing ~~~
~~~ Eve6 - Inside Out ~~~
HA. Its Friday night tonite. Maybe I'll go out later, I need a nap. If anything, I would recommend 'Pegasus' across from Times Square Thursday nights. Its my third week here and I've been there every Thursday so far. So yeah, not a bad party at all.
Airik.
'Õâ¸öÐÇÆÚÎÒÔÚѧÓõçÄÔ´òºº×Ö, ÕæµÄºÃ²»ÈÝÒ×.'
1. Shanghai is not as developed as other metropolitans. Maybe it will be in the next 30 or so years, but wouldn't that be great? To live not only like a king with low living standards to start off with, but also live through the development of what will be one of the major cities in the future? The next New York City, but in China?
2. People here are generally more relaxed and easy going. Social ties and boundaries have not fully conformed yet. Locals and expatriots/foreigners get along a lot better than I've seen so far in my life. There isn't much of that uptite 'I'm higher class so I don't talk to you' thing going on. You don't need to know so and so to get into the door. I just feel that since everything is still going under rapid change, if I keep my head up and feet firmly on the floor, I have the opportunity to define my own world here. Have more things the way I want it to.
3. Huge second tier industry. Many more opportunities for a business man with a background in engineering and interest in developing/marketing high technology. How much easier can it get for me, I understand the Chinese culture yet I have an education overseas. I'm not trying to talk ego with you, but I'm money. As my friends put it, I'm already a chinese walking dollar bill around here.
~~~ Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Neptunes Remix) ~~~
~~~ Duncan Sheik - Barely Breathing ~~~
~~~ Eve6 - Inside Out ~~~
HA. Its Friday night tonite. Maybe I'll go out later, I need a nap. If anything, I would recommend 'Pegasus' across from Times Square Thursday nights. Its my third week here and I've been there every Thursday so far. So yeah, not a bad party at all.
Airik.
'Õâ¸öÐÇÆÚÎÒÔÚѧÓõçÄÔ´òºº×Ö, ÕæµÄºÃ²»ÈÝÒ×.'
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Haha. A song Will and I wrote then played for Brian on the guitar. Its a rip off of 'Semisonic - Closing Time'. Not bad, considering a couple of us sang it to him in front of a small audience on his Birthday.
Brian's Song - 'Closing time' cover
[Intro]
[Verse]
Its Brian's song,
So put your hands together and give him a birthday cheer
Its Brian's song,
So take off all your tops and let him see your underwear
Its Brian's song,
One last call for alchohol so give him your whiskey or beer
Its Brian's song,
Wish him a happy birthday or get the fuck out of here
[Chorus]
We know who he wants to take home
We know who he wants to take home
We all know who Brians taking home
So take her home.....
[2nd Verse]
Its Brian's song,
Undress her slowly in the dark but don't fuck up the bra strap
Its Brian's song,
Light the candles, set the mood, and make sure to keep it wrapped
So gather up the courage and make sure you don't blow it
I hope you can make her come.
Its Brian's song,
Every kiss will get her body closer to feeling numb.
[Bridge/Solo]
[Chorus again]
Brian's Song - 'Closing time' cover
[Intro]
[Verse]
Its Brian's song,
So put your hands together and give him a birthday cheer
Its Brian's song,
So take off all your tops and let him see your underwear
Its Brian's song,
One last call for alchohol so give him your whiskey or beer
Its Brian's song,
Wish him a happy birthday or get the fuck out of here
[Chorus]
We know who he wants to take home
We know who he wants to take home
We all know who Brians taking home
So take her home.....
[2nd Verse]
Its Brian's song,
Undress her slowly in the dark but don't fuck up the bra strap
Its Brian's song,
Light the candles, set the mood, and make sure to keep it wrapped
So gather up the courage and make sure you don't blow it
I hope you can make her come.
Its Brian's song,
Every kiss will get her body closer to feeling numb.
[Bridge/Solo]
[Chorus again]
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Although I don't make it to my classes as often as I should, I feel incredibly productive here in Shanghai. I'm always out and about doing stuff having a good time. Be it shooting some hoops, biking around campus, out downtown for a stroll, checking out the local restaurants....the days fly by just like that. HAha, I've also been consuming a lot more alcohol than I should be too so far. I've been drinking everyday for the past week, sometimes chill drinking and sometimes out clubbing getting a good dosage of shots, cocktails or whateva...
Speaking of which, I like the clubbing scene here a lot. Over the past year or two, I thought I was done with going to clubs, but having second thoughts now. People here are generally pretty friendly, drinks are cheap, and they have Djs that play a good selection of mainstream to keep people continually bouncing off the walls. So yea, I like it.
My first food poisoning experience was not a good one. HAha, the story goes like this: So earlier this week I decided to grab a quick bite at the cafeteria before my class. I had pork belly ramen, fried rice with chinese sausage and bak choi, and a warm milk tea. I'm guessing it was most probaby the damn milk tea, but yea, I finished my meal real quick and headed straight to class. Probably around 10mins into class, my stomach started to feel like it wanted to turn inside out. My first reaction was like 'god damn, are you for real?'. It was coo though, I mean, I quickly sped to the washroom. But only to find out that behind the washroom doors was only a gutter!!! I mean, it was a gutter around 20cm deep, and that was it!! No drainage no nothing. Basically if you took a dump in there, all your belongings would just sit there in this shallow gutter, and would probably stench up the whole floor in the building. Ahhhhhh, haha...the gutter was bad enough already, but they didn't even have tissue paper either. Its not like they were out or anything, but tissue paper is just non-existent in the washrooms. So yeah, I had no choice but to go back to my class room along with my diarrhea to sit and wait. I was at the point I felt cold and had goose bumps...it was basically the real deal. I just sat there staring at the ceiling trying to think about something else to get my mind off it. Luckily, the teacher gave the class a break at some point, and I just took the opportunity to grab my bag and get the hell out. The bike ride back to my room took like another 20mins. So by the time I was in the elevator going up back to my room, I was jumping at the walls already. So yeah, lesson learned. Bring diarrhea pills and bring tissue WHEREVER YOU GO.
Airik.
Speaking of which, I like the clubbing scene here a lot. Over the past year or two, I thought I was done with going to clubs, but having second thoughts now. People here are generally pretty friendly, drinks are cheap, and they have Djs that play a good selection of mainstream to keep people continually bouncing off the walls. So yea, I like it.
My first food poisoning experience was not a good one. HAha, the story goes like this: So earlier this week I decided to grab a quick bite at the cafeteria before my class. I had pork belly ramen, fried rice with chinese sausage and bak choi, and a warm milk tea. I'm guessing it was most probaby the damn milk tea, but yea, I finished my meal real quick and headed straight to class. Probably around 10mins into class, my stomach started to feel like it wanted to turn inside out. My first reaction was like 'god damn, are you for real?'. It was coo though, I mean, I quickly sped to the washroom. But only to find out that behind the washroom doors was only a gutter!!! I mean, it was a gutter around 20cm deep, and that was it!! No drainage no nothing. Basically if you took a dump in there, all your belongings would just sit there in this shallow gutter, and would probably stench up the whole floor in the building. Ahhhhhh, haha...the gutter was bad enough already, but they didn't even have tissue paper either. Its not like they were out or anything, but tissue paper is just non-existent in the washrooms. So yeah, I had no choice but to go back to my class room along with my diarrhea to sit and wait. I was at the point I felt cold and had goose bumps...it was basically the real deal. I just sat there staring at the ceiling trying to think about something else to get my mind off it. Luckily, the teacher gave the class a break at some point, and I just took the opportunity to grab my bag and get the hell out. The bike ride back to my room took like another 20mins. So by the time I was in the elevator going up back to my room, I was jumping at the walls already. So yeah, lesson learned. Bring diarrhea pills and bring tissue WHEREVER YOU GO.
Airik.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Been somewhat busy these days. Juggling all sorts of issues. Dealing with my class schedule, apps, job search, my busted head, and all sorts of shit. On the whole, I'm still having a blast and making the hell out of my time here. Theres always a lot to do and explore when given a new fresh surrounding. This place has been my heaven so far.
My mandarin is coming along very well. I've improved significantly already over the past week. I don't doubt I shall be fluent within the next 2 months or so. Although I've been sleeping in throughout most of my classes so far, I'm making an effort to talk to pretty much anybody I see around here. Be it the locals or the students at my dorm, I'm getting a good dose of practice everyday outside of the class room.
~~~ Outlandish - Aicha ~~~ Heard it and loved it. Theres a whole bunch of european kids in my dorm around here that are very friendly. I really shall get them to recommend me more stuff like this.
Speaking about music. Zero 7 is coming out with a new album in 2-3 weeks. Where the hell am I gonna get it around here?
I should really make it to one class today.
Erik Chan.
My mandarin is coming along very well. I've improved significantly already over the past week. I don't doubt I shall be fluent within the next 2 months or so. Although I've been sleeping in throughout most of my classes so far, I'm making an effort to talk to pretty much anybody I see around here. Be it the locals or the students at my dorm, I'm getting a good dose of practice everyday outside of the class room.
~~~ Outlandish - Aicha ~~~ Heard it and loved it. Theres a whole bunch of european kids in my dorm around here that are very friendly. I really shall get them to recommend me more stuff like this.
Speaking about music. Zero 7 is coming out with a new album in 2-3 weeks. Where the hell am I gonna get it around here?
I should really make it to one class today.
Erik Chan.
Saturday, February 14, 2004
2/13/04
I'm lovin' it. My study abroad in Shanghai so far has been more like a vacation to me than anything else....maybe this is what I needed. School here is nothing like it is compared to my much less throbbing 6 years in America. I'm now in the metropolitan of China...definitely not a bad city to been at when the country holds two billion+ people. Yes, there are many options here that are willing to give you their number. Haha.
The only slight concern, if any, would probably be that there is not much of a music scene around here. Americans definitely appreciate music a lot more. I guess it isn't much of an influence around here. That pretty much leaves me only with amazon.com and kazaa for me to keep up about whats going on.
I got a new pair of green air max 95's for $150 yuan. Its ridiculous how much nike profits from its customers. Here in Shanghai, theres this market where you can get the cheapest sport shoes ever. The selection you can find here is also pretty incredible. I didn't believe it at first when my friend told me, but I was in awe for the rest of the day after it was confirmed with my own eyes. Haha, I told myself I will never ever buy sport shoes elsewhere around the world anymore. Oh yeah...one last thing....those shoes they sell are smuggled from the factories.
Erik
2/14/04
Its valentines day today. Not the best day I've had so far. I busted my head playing basketball in the afternoon..might need a stitch or two...argh. My bike was also taken away from me (stupid chinese guards) while I was at the gym.... Damn it. My date is asleep too.
Erik
I'm lovin' it. My study abroad in Shanghai so far has been more like a vacation to me than anything else....maybe this is what I needed. School here is nothing like it is compared to my much less throbbing 6 years in America. I'm now in the metropolitan of China...definitely not a bad city to been at when the country holds two billion+ people. Yes, there are many options here that are willing to give you their number. Haha.
The only slight concern, if any, would probably be that there is not much of a music scene around here. Americans definitely appreciate music a lot more. I guess it isn't much of an influence around here. That pretty much leaves me only with amazon.com and kazaa for me to keep up about whats going on.
I got a new pair of green air max 95's for $150 yuan. Its ridiculous how much nike profits from its customers. Here in Shanghai, theres this market where you can get the cheapest sport shoes ever. The selection you can find here is also pretty incredible. I didn't believe it at first when my friend told me, but I was in awe for the rest of the day after it was confirmed with my own eyes. Haha, I told myself I will never ever buy sport shoes elsewhere around the world anymore. Oh yeah...one last thing....those shoes they sell are smuggled from the factories.
Erik
2/14/04
Its valentines day today. Not the best day I've had so far. I busted my head playing basketball in the afternoon..might need a stitch or two...argh. My bike was also taken away from me (stupid chinese guards) while I was at the gym.... Damn it. My date is asleep too.
Erik
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Ok....2nd day at Shanghai.
HAha...still new and refreshing.....I took my chinese placement test today....I think I'm definitely in this very awkward position....I can read chinese, and so probably got all the multiple choice questions correct....I did really well on my oral (just happenned to know what to say).....but flunked all writing whatsoever.......I think if there were 20 fill in the blank questions....I probably filled in one. Not bad eh?! HAha. Man, I'm such a yank over here its unbelievable. There was this question I didn't even know how to do until I asked the examiner (I had to fill in the accent thingy on top of the pingyin)....
The dining hall here is definitely a change too. Hehe, they serve in those steel trays just like they do in prisons. Its pretty decent food tho, they have a huge variety of all these random chinese dishes...a small dish would cost 2-3yuan/2-3HK$/0.25US$....definitely cheap as hell from where I'm coming from. Not bad at all. Haha, the taxi meters here don't like to budge here either. A ride to the incredibly clean awesome looking downtown is only around 25 yuan or so. I can definitely get used to this lower standard of living.
Played bball today. Some of the ppl here are incredibly nice. I was asking this guy from the soviet union (yes, he can speak very good mandarin) where I can play bball...and he was just like 'You want to go play now?'. Yep. So i met him back right after we got changed and went to play. Simple as that. The level of basketball here is definitely pretty weak tho I must say. Theres no much hustle around here...and the china men here generally don't take the game seriously enough. They don't play mark their man, they just play continous scrimmage games. All in all, it was fun though.
Good enough for now. Hopefully I will take the time to keep up the blog.
Erik.
HAha...still new and refreshing.....I took my chinese placement test today....I think I'm definitely in this very awkward position....I can read chinese, and so probably got all the multiple choice questions correct....I did really well on my oral (just happenned to know what to say).....but flunked all writing whatsoever.......I think if there were 20 fill in the blank questions....I probably filled in one. Not bad eh?! HAha. Man, I'm such a yank over here its unbelievable. There was this question I didn't even know how to do until I asked the examiner (I had to fill in the accent thingy on top of the pingyin)....
The dining hall here is definitely a change too. Hehe, they serve in those steel trays just like they do in prisons. Its pretty decent food tho, they have a huge variety of all these random chinese dishes...a small dish would cost 2-3yuan/2-3HK$/0.25US$....definitely cheap as hell from where I'm coming from. Not bad at all. Haha, the taxi meters here don't like to budge here either. A ride to the incredibly clean awesome looking downtown is only around 25 yuan or so. I can definitely get used to this lower standard of living.
Played bball today. Some of the ppl here are incredibly nice. I was asking this guy from the soviet union (yes, he can speak very good mandarin) where I can play bball...and he was just like 'You want to go play now?'. Yep. So i met him back right after we got changed and went to play. Simple as that. The level of basketball here is definitely pretty weak tho I must say. Theres no much hustle around here...and the china men here generally don't take the game seriously enough. They don't play mark their man, they just play continous scrimmage games. All in all, it was fun though.
Good enough for now. Hopefully I will take the time to keep up the blog.
Erik.
Hehe....My new laptop! Not bad not bad...US$1200 for a 14.1" lcd 1.4Ghz Intel Centrino, 512mb ram, 60gb Harddrive, Dvd + CDR, wireless lan....
So under very reasonable circumstances (free coupon from Bro) I went to one of those expensive (US$120+) facials on the day before I left to Shanghai. HAha... the whole process felt slightly awkward although the place was for men only (yes, and don't start thinking 'gay'...was actually one of those classy places wealthy men that worked/lived in Central went)....But yeah, anywayz, it might seem normal to females...but that was a weird touchy feminine experience for the man...
Shanghai
My first day has been quite a bit of a culture shock. You know something is wrong when even the foreign looking girls and the black guy cannot speak english....I think I need to re-emphasize that point...even the black guy wearing a philadelphia seventy sixers cap CANNOT speak english!! Whoa. That really is something. How crazy is that?! The chinese kid that cannot speak mandarin is trying to speak english to the black guy that can only speak mandarin....
So yeah...I went to check the gym out in search of some recreational activites to burn my time....haha...I really really need a digital camera to capture what I saw... I saw 40+ table tennis tables!! And more than half of them were being occupied....crazy man.....hopefully they play basketball sometime too...but yea...it was all table tennis
and badminton...
To say the least, however, my room is pretty nice. They didn't have any more doubles left, so I got a single...which has my own bathroom, balcony, AC, and all the other necessities... its pretty big...bigger than a lot of the rooms I've seen in college in America I must say.
Aite. Time to move. I think I can get used to place.
ERik
So under very reasonable circumstances (free coupon from Bro) I went to one of those expensive (US$120+) facials on the day before I left to Shanghai. HAha... the whole process felt slightly awkward although the place was for men only (yes, and don't start thinking 'gay'...was actually one of those classy places wealthy men that worked/lived in Central went)....But yeah, anywayz, it might seem normal to females...but that was a weird touchy feminine experience for the man...
Shanghai
My first day has been quite a bit of a culture shock. You know something is wrong when even the foreign looking girls and the black guy cannot speak english....I think I need to re-emphasize that point...even the black guy wearing a philadelphia seventy sixers cap CANNOT speak english!! Whoa. That really is something. How crazy is that?! The chinese kid that cannot speak mandarin is trying to speak english to the black guy that can only speak mandarin....
So yeah...I went to check the gym out in search of some recreational activites to burn my time....haha...I really really need a digital camera to capture what I saw... I saw 40+ table tennis tables!! And more than half of them were being occupied....crazy man.....hopefully they play basketball sometime too...but yea...it was all table tennis
and badminton...
To say the least, however, my room is pretty nice. They didn't have any more doubles left, so I got a single...which has my own bathroom, balcony, AC, and all the other necessities... its pretty big...bigger than a lot of the rooms I've seen in college in America I must say.
Aite. Time to move. I think I can get used to place.
ERik
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Back.
And guess where??...haha...HOME!!!
Yeah, so I spent some more time away from my blogspot over the past couple weeks. I was all over the place....Vancouver, New York City, Baltimore, Long Island, San Francisco, Stanford, Hong kong....and then Shanghai in a couple days. A pretty intense break, pack, and visit I must say.
~~~ The Postal Service - Nothing Better ~~~
~~~ Britney Spears - Toxic ~~~ No bias comments. This is an awesome song.
I have no idea what i'll be doing in a week. Thats defiinitely a scary thought.
....
..
.
Whateva man....i'm bored.
Erik
And guess where??...haha...HOME!!!
Yeah, so I spent some more time away from my blogspot over the past couple weeks. I was all over the place....Vancouver, New York City, Baltimore, Long Island, San Francisco, Stanford, Hong kong....and then Shanghai in a couple days. A pretty intense break, pack, and visit I must say.
~~~ The Postal Service - Nothing Better ~~~
~~~ Britney Spears - Toxic ~~~ No bias comments. This is an awesome song.
I have no idea what i'll be doing in a week. Thats defiinitely a scary thought.
....
..
.
Whateva man....i'm bored.
Erik
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