The only way that I have been able to survive these past two days in Shanghai is through the kindness of strangers.
On my flight to Shanghai, I sat next to an older Asian woman who spoke English extremely well. I helped her with her bags and proceeded to ask her where she was from. Diana, name of the woman sitting next to me, answered she was from Los Angeles and we began connecting over the city once I told her I had been interning there for the past two months. The rest of the flight was spent learning about her career as a furniture sales woman, the life of her kids and of course China. I genuinely found her life’s story fascinating and after exchanging contact information, I left the plane feeling extremely confident that my Shanghai adventure was off to a great start.
Upon passing through customs, a driver was waiting for me with sign in hand. The driver was sent by a family friend who lived in Shanghai and had heard that I was coming to Fudan from one of my aunts. The driver handed me an envelope with a letter from the family friend’s secretary and a phone card. I was instructed to call the family friend so that he could tell the driver where to take me because the driver only spoke mandarin. This is where I ran into my first language problem. I called the family friend’s number only to have it say that the number I had dialed had been disconnected. The driver tried calling the friend with his own phone but to no avail. Attempting to communicate with me, the driver asked in mandarin if I could understand him. I nodded yes because from my Cantonese I was able to make out what he had said, however, his following sentence made absolutely zero sense to me. Any belief that my Cantonese could get me by in Shanghai evaporated in that moment. Undaunted, I handed the driver a card with the address of the dorm. He nodded and we were off!
I must give thanks for the driver, because he went out of his way to find Tohee, the private dorm I am staying at. He stopped multiple times and got out of the car asking for directions. When we arrived at Tohee, he made every effort to make sure I was able to check in before leaving. His help was extremely appreciated.
At the front desk was where I met Jeanni, a Korea University MBA student who was studying at Fudan for the semester. I was having trouble communicating with the man at the check in because he spoke no English and I had in my typical fashion neglected to read the instructions given to me by my program. So here I was trying to get the man at the front desk to understand that my name was on some list for a room and up walks Jeanni with a question about the cost of the dryer. She notices the communication problem I was having and told me that the man was asking if I had paid my deposit. At that point in time, I had no idea that Jeanni actually spoke no mandarin and that she had simply guessed about what the man had said, in hindsight her attempt in helping me actually made things worse, but at the time I was extremely appreciative of her help. Eventually, I pull out my netbook and point to the room number I was assigned and my name was found on that list I knew existed and I was shown my room.
As I unpacked, I realized that not knowing the language was going to be a much bigger problem than I had initially thought and more importantly I had no idea how and where to get dinner. My thoughts quickly turned to Jeanni and I was wishing I would run into her again so that I could get something to eat. Thankfully, I did manage to run into her again as she was still having problems with the dryer an hour later. After I told her rather meekly that I had no idea where to eat, she offered to take me to dinner. At the end of the night, I just felt incredibly lucky to have met another person who was willing to help me.
The next day, the same desperation for food occurred again and as hard as I wished, there was just no running into Jeanni this time to bail me out. Instead, I just wandered the nearby streets in search of food. There were a lot of food stalls around but time and time again I simply did not have the nerve to approach the vendors and try to gesture out what I wanted. Dejected, I walked into a bookstore hoping to find a map of Shanghai and China, so as to get my mind off food. That is when I ran into Hugo, a Frenchman who had just completed his two semesters at Fudan, doing the same two UC EAP programs as me. Hugo was buying maps and he was doing it in mandarin. I was extremely impressed and I approached him for help in buying a map, which was later followed by “can you help me find a place to eat?” He offered to eat with me and I was relieved that I did not have to figure out how to order. At lunch, Hugo told me all about his experiences in China, answered all my questions and gave me a lot of advice about how to survive. He told sympathized with my plight because he was in the same position when he landed in Shanghai, though he had the company of three other Frenchman. Out of thankfulness, I paid for Hugo’s meal and for the second time in two days, I was saved by the graces of a stranger. In fact, later that day I locked myself out of my apartment and had to call Hugo to ask how to get the front desk to open the door for me. Hugo went so far as to come down from his apartment and accompany me to the front desk to help me. I was very grateful.
If I continue to meet such kind strangers, I believe that I will be able to get by in Shanghai just fine.
-muffinman
Sunday, August 29, 2010
First 48 hours in Shanghai
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Saturday, August 28, 2010
Woke up in the USA and went to sleep in Hong Kong
Continuing the trend of my aunt ruining my week, she drove me to the airport. It was a fairly miserable ride because her car was covered in dog hair and my allergies decided to kick up. I have no idea how my grandma deals with being in that car for 10 hours at a time.
I had forgotten how beautiful the San Francisco airport was and it definitely felt good to be back, there was even an exhibit set up celebrating the city Shanghai. I took it as a sign that Shanghai is where I should be. On the flight I sat next to someone who was wearing an EAP (UC Study abroad program) shirt. I had seen him earlier in line while waiting to board and what a great surprise that I ended up sitting next to him. I introduced myself as an EAP student as well and learned that he was going to study at Hong Kong University for a semester. For the rest of the flight, I told him of the few places I knew in Hong Kong and he taught me some very basic mandarin of which I only remember bits and pieces of. Meeting a fellow EAP student had me feeling quite lucky because I always seem to meet the right people at the right time.
My aunt is on the right
At the airport I was picked up by my aunt, who I had not seen for five years and who just barely recognized me. My aunt was going to be my keeper for the next three days, she never let me out of her sight. I only managed to get away with her once for about two hours but that was only because I was meeting Dr. Fung. I swear my aunt must have thought I was five years old because she never let me carry or hold anything while we were walking around Hong Kong. Every bag I had to fight to keep it out of her grasp. I simply felt bad letting my aunt take everything, but many times she did when I was not paying attention. My aunt was a great host, she took me everywhere I needed to go, bought me everything I wanted to eat and planned everything perfectly. The only downside was that she would constantly nag me about the same things over and over again. Who needs a mom if you have an aunt like that? On the last day I was in Hong Kong, my aunt called up her friend who had just moved to Shanghai and introduced me to her. My aunt told me that if I ever needed any help that I could call her friend Rainbow.
With my Godmother
On Wednesday I had dinner with my godmother, who is probably my favorite person in Hong Kong and for good reason too. My godmother is young at heart, which makes being around her a blast. As a general rule, when I visit Hong Kong I pretty much get anything I want, but my godmother takes it to the next level and tonight it was with the alcohol. One of the family friends that was invited half complained and half joked that he had wanted to bring some bottles of wine to dinner but that my godfather had told him to set a good example and not bring them. Well after I told my godmother that I drink in college, she immediately ordered a bottle of wine worth over a thousand Hong Kong dollars, this was in addition to the beer that I already had. The rest of the night was spent taking pictures, discussing how strict and uptight my mom was and how terrible they all thought her gingerbread cookies were when she used to mail them for Christmas. A lot of time was spent on how I should be wary of Shanghai girls because they were very good at seducing men and they would be eyeing my passport. My godmother even told me a horror story of how her friend’s son went to Shanghai fell in love with a woman that was eleven years older than him, which caused his mother a lot of grief. The night ended with goodbyes and more advice on staying safe in Shanghai.
Hopefully not the last picture I take with my grandparents
I visited my grandparents on two separate occasions because the first time that I went, my grandfather was sleeping so I was unable to see him. I had heard from my parents about how much my grandmother’s memory had deteriorated but I was still shocked when I experienced it for myself. In a span of five minutes I must have answered the same question about going to Shanghai, seven to eight times. She could also barely remember who I was, having to ask my aunt repeatedly if I was my mom’s son. Yet despite all of this, she seemed genuinely happy to see me, so much so that I decided to come back the next day. Meeting my grandfather the next day had its share of surprises as well. One of the first things that my grandfather notices about me when I sit down is how thick my arm is. He even squeezed my bicep a little as if to make sure it is muscle, and he was even more impressed when I told him I had started to do martial arts. I was once again warned, this time by my grandparents to be wary of Shanghai girls. Before I left, I took a picture with them, which could quite possibly be the last picture I have of them together.
Dr. John Fung
The last thing on my schedule was a meeting with Dr. Fung, an elementary school friend of my dad. Dr. Fung is the director of the Hong Kong Council of Social Services, an umbrella group of non-profits in Hong Kong. He told me of the various social media projects that he was working on and it all sounded extremely exciting. In my head, I wish he had offered me an opportunity to intern at his office, but that never happened. Before I left, Dr. Fung gave me a letter of introduction and a book to give to a professor of journalism in Fudan. In addition, he gave me an article written by the professor about internet use in China which I found interesting. The only problem was that Dr. Fung was not sure how good the professor’s English was but judging from the article that the professor wrote, which was in English, I think I should be able to communicate.
With a new phone, sunglasses and a handful of new contacts I left Hong Kong on a Friday afternoon for Shanghai.
Additional Pictures of Hong Kong
- muffinman
I had forgotten how beautiful the San Francisco airport was and it definitely felt good to be back, there was even an exhibit set up celebrating the city Shanghai. I took it as a sign that Shanghai is where I should be. On the flight I sat next to someone who was wearing an EAP (UC Study abroad program) shirt. I had seen him earlier in line while waiting to board and what a great surprise that I ended up sitting next to him. I introduced myself as an EAP student as well and learned that he was going to study at Hong Kong University for a semester. For the rest of the flight, I told him of the few places I knew in Hong Kong and he taught me some very basic mandarin of which I only remember bits and pieces of. Meeting a fellow EAP student had me feeling quite lucky because I always seem to meet the right people at the right time.
My aunt is on the right
At the airport I was picked up by my aunt, who I had not seen for five years and who just barely recognized me. My aunt was going to be my keeper for the next three days, she never let me out of her sight. I only managed to get away with her once for about two hours but that was only because I was meeting Dr. Fung. I swear my aunt must have thought I was five years old because she never let me carry or hold anything while we were walking around Hong Kong. Every bag I had to fight to keep it out of her grasp. I simply felt bad letting my aunt take everything, but many times she did when I was not paying attention. My aunt was a great host, she took me everywhere I needed to go, bought me everything I wanted to eat and planned everything perfectly. The only downside was that she would constantly nag me about the same things over and over again. Who needs a mom if you have an aunt like that? On the last day I was in Hong Kong, my aunt called up her friend who had just moved to Shanghai and introduced me to her. My aunt told me that if I ever needed any help that I could call her friend Rainbow.
With my Godmother
On Wednesday I had dinner with my godmother, who is probably my favorite person in Hong Kong and for good reason too. My godmother is young at heart, which makes being around her a blast. As a general rule, when I visit Hong Kong I pretty much get anything I want, but my godmother takes it to the next level and tonight it was with the alcohol. One of the family friends that was invited half complained and half joked that he had wanted to bring some bottles of wine to dinner but that my godfather had told him to set a good example and not bring them. Well after I told my godmother that I drink in college, she immediately ordered a bottle of wine worth over a thousand Hong Kong dollars, this was in addition to the beer that I already had. The rest of the night was spent taking pictures, discussing how strict and uptight my mom was and how terrible they all thought her gingerbread cookies were when she used to mail them for Christmas. A lot of time was spent on how I should be wary of Shanghai girls because they were very good at seducing men and they would be eyeing my passport. My godmother even told me a horror story of how her friend’s son went to Shanghai fell in love with a woman that was eleven years older than him, which caused his mother a lot of grief. The night ended with goodbyes and more advice on staying safe in Shanghai.
Hopefully not the last picture I take with my grandparents
I visited my grandparents on two separate occasions because the first time that I went, my grandfather was sleeping so I was unable to see him. I had heard from my parents about how much my grandmother’s memory had deteriorated but I was still shocked when I experienced it for myself. In a span of five minutes I must have answered the same question about going to Shanghai, seven to eight times. She could also barely remember who I was, having to ask my aunt repeatedly if I was my mom’s son. Yet despite all of this, she seemed genuinely happy to see me, so much so that I decided to come back the next day. Meeting my grandfather the next day had its share of surprises as well. One of the first things that my grandfather notices about me when I sit down is how thick my arm is. He even squeezed my bicep a little as if to make sure it is muscle, and he was even more impressed when I told him I had started to do martial arts. I was once again warned, this time by my grandparents to be wary of Shanghai girls. Before I left, I took a picture with them, which could quite possibly be the last picture I have of them together.
Dr. John Fung
The last thing on my schedule was a meeting with Dr. Fung, an elementary school friend of my dad. Dr. Fung is the director of the Hong Kong Council of Social Services, an umbrella group of non-profits in Hong Kong. He told me of the various social media projects that he was working on and it all sounded extremely exciting. In my head, I wish he had offered me an opportunity to intern at his office, but that never happened. Before I left, Dr. Fung gave me a letter of introduction and a book to give to a professor of journalism in Fudan. In addition, he gave me an article written by the professor about internet use in China which I found interesting. The only problem was that Dr. Fung was not sure how good the professor’s English was but judging from the article that the professor wrote, which was in English, I think I should be able to communicate.
With a new phone, sunglasses and a handful of new contacts I left Hong Kong on a Friday afternoon for Shanghai.
Additional Pictures of Hong Kong
- muffinman
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Interning in Los Angeles (Part 4)
The most enjoyable part of the internship are not the events I attend, nor the rich, famous and powerful figures that I meet at them, but rather the chance to work with and befriend such an amazing group of people. This is by far the best team that I have ever worked with and it is my pleasure to introduce some of the people that I work with on this blog.
Christian
Simply stated, Christian is the heart of the team. His bouncing off the wall personality combined with his off the cuff remarks can cheer anyone up in a split second. Always the one to cut the tension in the room, frequently puts himself out there with no fear of embarrassment. Throughout the internship, he repeatedly assured me that he had my back and stayed true to his word. While others faltered and shirked their responsibilities, Christian could be counted on to pick up the ball. I would often joke to the other interns that all Christian had was heart, because some of the things he did were just plain ridiculous. However, I would always follow that joke up by saying that heart is sometimes all you need and that you cannot teach it.
With Christian’s big heart come big dreams of one day becoming a congressman and being able to serve the community. Usually I am highly skeptical of people who claim to want to serve the community because often times it is nothing but lies. When I talked to Christian about his dreams, I saw in his eyes and heard in his voice a very real and strong conviction to help the community. Witnessing Christian’s compassion for the homeless convinced me of his willingness to help his fellow man. At the first event I went to, I found myself with Christian and his girlfriend talking to homeless people. Christian and his girlfriend actively reached out to these two homeless persons, going as far as offering to buy them food. I really admired him for that because in all honesty I would not have given those a passing glance much less talk to them.
I believe in Christian so much that if he were to ever run for public office, I would be the first one to join his campaign because I know he will always have the interests of the community at heart.
Monica
Christian extraordinaire, excessively frail, incredibly lame, ridiculously cutesy and a great friend are just some of the things that come to mind about the intern that I became closest to at the end of the program. Monica’s picture is deceivingly reserved, but under the layers of calm lies a strong willed personality. By far the most overworked and abused intern in terms of her office assignment, Monica handled it all with grace, only complaining about her situation after I repeatedly pointed out how terrible it was. Working on the project, she was one of the interns that I counted on the most due to her journalism experience and work ethic. Even now, I am not quite sure how she managed to accomplish all the things I assigned her.
More than being a great worker, Monica was an even better friend. I always felt comfortable talking to her and more importantly, she seemed to genuinely care about my well being. She was constantly concerned about how obsessed I was getting with the project and work; and gave me a hard time about being a workaholic. A mother at heart, Monica would roll her eyes and sigh every time I swore or did something immature. Often times, she was the voice of reason and compassion to my irrational and harsh outbursts.
Monica’s large capacity to care and great understanding of me (oddly enough) leads me to believe that she will be a close friend for the foreseeable future.
Kristina
I spent by far the most time with Kristina during my eight weeks in Los Angeles. She was the only intern with whom I would spend late nights at the office with. Kristina has the uncanny ability to work with absolutely no sleep and not look tired the next day. There was no question of her dedication and skill, in fact, most of the handbook design was done by her. Kristina’s handbook design surpassed my expectations and I cannot fathom how terrible the handbook would have looked without her.
Even though she dressed the most professional out of all the interns, Kristina has quite the wild side. Her stories of almost getting into fights and being extremely possessive of her boyfriend were extremely surprising given the fact that she does not drink and for the most part walks the line. In addition to being wild, Kristina is one of the most generous people I know. Her constant need to pay and unwillingness to let me repay her, however, admirable, bordered on the annoying. Talking to Kristina always made me feel appreciated. She gave me confidence throughout the internship without even realizing it.
Despite all of this, the most memorable thing about Kristina was the fact that she gave me the best goodbye hug I have ever received!
Christian
Simply stated, Christian is the heart of the team. His bouncing off the wall personality combined with his off the cuff remarks can cheer anyone up in a split second. Always the one to cut the tension in the room, frequently puts himself out there with no fear of embarrassment. Throughout the internship, he repeatedly assured me that he had my back and stayed true to his word. While others faltered and shirked their responsibilities, Christian could be counted on to pick up the ball. I would often joke to the other interns that all Christian had was heart, because some of the things he did were just plain ridiculous. However, I would always follow that joke up by saying that heart is sometimes all you need and that you cannot teach it.
With Christian’s big heart come big dreams of one day becoming a congressman and being able to serve the community. Usually I am highly skeptical of people who claim to want to serve the community because often times it is nothing but lies. When I talked to Christian about his dreams, I saw in his eyes and heard in his voice a very real and strong conviction to help the community. Witnessing Christian’s compassion for the homeless convinced me of his willingness to help his fellow man. At the first event I went to, I found myself with Christian and his girlfriend talking to homeless people. Christian and his girlfriend actively reached out to these two homeless persons, going as far as offering to buy them food. I really admired him for that because in all honesty I would not have given those a passing glance much less talk to them.
I believe in Christian so much that if he were to ever run for public office, I would be the first one to join his campaign because I know he will always have the interests of the community at heart.
Monica
Christian extraordinaire, excessively frail, incredibly lame, ridiculously cutesy and a great friend are just some of the things that come to mind about the intern that I became closest to at the end of the program. Monica’s picture is deceivingly reserved, but under the layers of calm lies a strong willed personality. By far the most overworked and abused intern in terms of her office assignment, Monica handled it all with grace, only complaining about her situation after I repeatedly pointed out how terrible it was. Working on the project, she was one of the interns that I counted on the most due to her journalism experience and work ethic. Even now, I am not quite sure how she managed to accomplish all the things I assigned her.
More than being a great worker, Monica was an even better friend. I always felt comfortable talking to her and more importantly, she seemed to genuinely care about my well being. She was constantly concerned about how obsessed I was getting with the project and work; and gave me a hard time about being a workaholic. A mother at heart, Monica would roll her eyes and sigh every time I swore or did something immature. Often times, she was the voice of reason and compassion to my irrational and harsh outbursts.
Monica’s large capacity to care and great understanding of me (oddly enough) leads me to believe that she will be a close friend for the foreseeable future.
Kristina
I spent by far the most time with Kristina during my eight weeks in Los Angeles. She was the only intern with whom I would spend late nights at the office with. Kristina has the uncanny ability to work with absolutely no sleep and not look tired the next day. There was no question of her dedication and skill, in fact, most of the handbook design was done by her. Kristina’s handbook design surpassed my expectations and I cannot fathom how terrible the handbook would have looked without her.
Even though she dressed the most professional out of all the interns, Kristina has quite the wild side. Her stories of almost getting into fights and being extremely possessive of her boyfriend were extremely surprising given the fact that she does not drink and for the most part walks the line. In addition to being wild, Kristina is one of the most generous people I know. Her constant need to pay and unwillingness to let me repay her, however, admirable, bordered on the annoying. Talking to Kristina always made me feel appreciated. She gave me confidence throughout the internship without even realizing it.
Despite all of this, the most memorable thing about Kristina was the fact that she gave me the best goodbye hug I have ever received!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Interning in Los Angeles (Part 3)
The greatest irony for me this summer was the fact that this research project was done on social media. After leaving UCSD and working on social media marketing projects for the better half of the year, I was ready to move on and experiment with something else. When my idea for doing the project on examining the relationship between the LAPD and Asian communities received little fanfare from the other interns, I threw my weight behind Kristina’s idea of social media. I gave a direction to the social media project idea by suggesting we make a handbook that taught the basics of social media to small non-profits and politicians. Surprisingly, I was nominated to be leader of the project Kristina and even more surprisingly nobody opposed it. Suddenly, I found myself leading a project on something I had wanted to get away from.
Thankfully, I had a very talented group of people supporting me. I had the vision of the project, but without the help of the other interns, that vision would have never become reality. For the most part everybody worked well together and the team dynamics of the CASIC class were great. Everybody contributed to the project in some way, and some even gave more than was asked or expected of them. To date, I have never worked with a better team.
All the things I learned during my time in CASIC pales in comparison to the friends that I have made. I really bonded with Monica, Kristina and Christian and I think we will be lifelong friends. Christian already tells me that he has my back and to never hesitate to call him if I need help. Even though it has only been eight weeks, graduating from CASIC is a heart breaking experience.
Thankfully, I had a very talented group of people supporting me. I had the vision of the project, but without the help of the other interns, that vision would have never become reality. For the most part everybody worked well together and the team dynamics of the CASIC class were great. Everybody contributed to the project in some way, and some even gave more than was asked or expected of them. To date, I have never worked with a better team.
All the things I learned during my time in CASIC pales in comparison to the friends that I have made. I really bonded with Monica, Kristina and Christian and I think we will be lifelong friends. Christian already tells me that he has my back and to never hesitate to call him if I need help. Even though it has only been eight weeks, graduating from CASIC is a heart breaking experience.
How my last week at home went down the drain
For a while I was actually glad that I was coming back to San Jose. After five months away from home, I was ready to just kick back and enjoy my mom's cooking. I also saw this as a last chance to strengthen my connection with my family before leaving for Shanghai for a year. And since my dad ditched having lunch with me after my internship graduation because he needed to fix his fishing reel, I felt that there was a definite need to do some reconnecting before I left. Except now, I realized that all my hopes of grabbing coffee with my sister or eating dinner with the family have been completely dashed.
My aunt and grandma decided to come visit, ruining all possibility of doing the things I had mentioned previously. Now, I am stuck listening to my grandma drone on and on about completely irrelevant and irrational things. From my aunt, I have to repeatedly hear her talk about God and how God's love saved her from being bitter over how my grandma treated her when she was a child. The irony of the whole situation is that my aunt is still very much obsessed over how she was mistreated as a child. Conversations with my aunt, no matter what the topic always end up on Christianity or how terrible of a person my grandma is. Monica's blog post are a great example of how anything can be traced back to God. In addition, I really like my grandma, despite how she can talk endlessly for hours without giving you a chance to slip in a word; so when my aunt continually talks shit to me about her, I have a serious problem about it. I swear if this happens again, I am going to have to tell my aunt off.
So what is the plan now? Well I am going to spend Saturday with my Ashley because she has so graciously invited me to her sister's birthday party/family gathering. I am going to ignore my mom's pleas and just spend time with Ashley's family. Why can I not have a nice welcoming family like Ashley's?
My aunt and grandma decided to come visit, ruining all possibility of doing the things I had mentioned previously. Now, I am stuck listening to my grandma drone on and on about completely irrelevant and irrational things. From my aunt, I have to repeatedly hear her talk about God and how God's love saved her from being bitter over how my grandma treated her when she was a child. The irony of the whole situation is that my aunt is still very much obsessed over how she was mistreated as a child. Conversations with my aunt, no matter what the topic always end up on Christianity or how terrible of a person my grandma is. Monica's blog post are a great example of how anything can be traced back to God. In addition, I really like my grandma, despite how she can talk endlessly for hours without giving you a chance to slip in a word; so when my aunt continually talks shit to me about her, I have a serious problem about it. I swear if this happens again, I am going to have to tell my aunt off.
So what is the plan now? Well I am going to spend Saturday with my Ashley because she has so graciously invited me to her sister's birthday party/family gathering. I am going to ignore my mom's pleas and just spend time with Ashley's family. Why can I not have a nice welcoming family like Ashley's?
Friday, August 20, 2010
Interning in Los Angeles (Part 2)
The Monday weekly meetings with various famous persons was icing on the cake. In the all star line-up that we met with, John Kobara and Judge Ronald Lew were the standouts. Mr. Kobara’s engaging and high energy speaking style made the whole experience memorable. I took his witty life advice to heart and it was very reassuring to know that some of the advice that he was dishing out, I was already following, especially the part about not listening to your parents. The self help S.W.I.V.E.L. worksheet that he had handed out during his presentation is incredibly helpful, so much so that I have shared it with multiple friends. On the other hand, the meeting with Judge Lew went completely differently. Judge Lew spoke softly and slowly but his words had so much weight that they just stuck to my mind. The judge would often pause before answering a question and during that moment of silence, I could not help but hold my breath. When Judge Lew paused the world stopped and it only resumed once he had found the perfect words to express his thoughts. To me Judge Lew is a real life sage from one of those myths of old. I can imagine him giving advice to a young hero, advice that the hero ignores at his own peril. A large part of what makes the internship program so amazing is the fact that we are connected to such amazing people. I doubt I would have been able to meet any of these individuals by myself.
Every week I found myself going to at least one event, often times at the last minute because I would forget that there was even an event that day. The first event I went to was the Lilian Kawasaki fundraiser, which was terribly awkward. It was a very small fundraiser consisting of maybe ten people and all of them were familiar with each other. This made it extremely difficult to strike up a conversation and it did not help that many of them were old white men. However, Lilian tried her best to introduce us to people and facilitate conversation, so all in all it was not a terrible first experience. As I attended more and more events, I became better at networking and so the events became less awkward and more fun. The highlight of all these events occurred at the last event that I attended, at the APALP fundraiser where I found myself having a give and take conversation with LAFD Fire Chief Emile Mack. I ended that night standing next to State Controller John Chiang and just joking with him, completely relaxed and enjoying the moment.
I really appreciated the events because it allowed me to see a part of society that I had not seen before. At events, I was finding myself surrounded by the elite of our society. These men and women were the ones who made or broke candidates before the election even started. I stood in awe of their mannerisms and poise, things that I had only seen in fictional television programs.
-muffinman
Every week I found myself going to at least one event, often times at the last minute because I would forget that there was even an event that day. The first event I went to was the Lilian Kawasaki fundraiser, which was terribly awkward. It was a very small fundraiser consisting of maybe ten people and all of them were familiar with each other. This made it extremely difficult to strike up a conversation and it did not help that many of them were old white men. However, Lilian tried her best to introduce us to people and facilitate conversation, so all in all it was not a terrible first experience. As I attended more and more events, I became better at networking and so the events became less awkward and more fun. The highlight of all these events occurred at the last event that I attended, at the APALP fundraiser where I found myself having a give and take conversation with LAFD Fire Chief Emile Mack. I ended that night standing next to State Controller John Chiang and just joking with him, completely relaxed and enjoying the moment.
I really appreciated the events because it allowed me to see a part of society that I had not seen before. At events, I was finding myself surrounded by the elite of our society. These men and women were the ones who made or broke candidates before the election even started. I stood in awe of their mannerisms and poise, things that I had only seen in fictional television programs.
-muffinman
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Interning in Los Angeles (Part 1)
Taking on this internship has been the perfect way to complete my transformative year. I applied for the internship program on a whim for the express purpose of having something to do for the summer. There was not much investment on my part in getting the internship, I was perfectly happy with wasting time at home until I flew off to Shanghai, though in hindsight, I am glad that I was given this opportunity. Being an intern has been eye opening and rewarding experience. I cannot imagine having a more life changing eight weeks.
This in no way means that the internship went perfectly. On the onset there was the problem of my less than ideal office assignment and later there were some problems of team dynamics. I realize now that a big part for the success of this internship was because I went out of my way to make it my own.
My assignment at the assemblymember's was the biggest disappointment of the internship. For the first two weeks I was stuck doing calls for inviting people to an intern reception. My only escape from calls came from a staffer who wanted to get away from the office and took pity on me. Melissa, who was the intern coordinator for the office, had very little to offer besides a nice personality. She did not have much experience with politics, since this was her first full time job out of college. I am at a loss at how the assemblymember's office was so highly praised by chair of the non-profit. It had probably something to do with the fact that the Assembly member was terming out, and everyone in the office was looking for a job.
Being allowed to work at the non-profit office really salvaged this summer for me. I am glad I stepped up and complained as loudly and ardently as I did, because throughout my time at the non-profit, the director was a great mentor. His eagerness to share his experiences in politics has been nothing short of enlightening. The director is chockfull of stories and sage advice that I would have never heard, had I simply stayed at the assemblymember's office. In addition, he always took the time to answer my questions, no matter how simple, and because of this, I was able to know the backgrounds I of the elected officials that I met, making it easier for me to talk to them. Most importantly, however, the director let me have my own projects in the office and asked for input on many of the things that he was working on. In fact, at times it was a bit overwhelming because he would ask for my opinions on things that I felt were far too important for me. Almost every day at the office was an experience to be remembered. I am not sure whether it was his union background or just his personality but things in office were always very open. Many times, office behavior from both of us deviated far from professionalism, but that was what made it so great to work with the director. I could always be honest in my opinion around him and if we disagreed, we simply agreed to disagree. There were never any hard feelings. I did not realize the full extent of how much of a mentor the director was for me until a week before the end of the program, and now that I have, I have come to value my time at the non-profit office all the more.
This in no way means that the internship went perfectly. On the onset there was the problem of my less than ideal office assignment and later there were some problems of team dynamics. I realize now that a big part for the success of this internship was because I went out of my way to make it my own.
My assignment at the assemblymember's was the biggest disappointment of the internship. For the first two weeks I was stuck doing calls for inviting people to an intern reception. My only escape from calls came from a staffer who wanted to get away from the office and took pity on me. Melissa, who was the intern coordinator for the office, had very little to offer besides a nice personality. She did not have much experience with politics, since this was her first full time job out of college. I am at a loss at how the assemblymember's office was so highly praised by chair of the non-profit. It had probably something to do with the fact that the Assembly member was terming out, and everyone in the office was looking for a job.
Being allowed to work at the non-profit office really salvaged this summer for me. I am glad I stepped up and complained as loudly and ardently as I did, because throughout my time at the non-profit, the director was a great mentor. His eagerness to share his experiences in politics has been nothing short of enlightening. The director is chockfull of stories and sage advice that I would have never heard, had I simply stayed at the assemblymember's office. In addition, he always took the time to answer my questions, no matter how simple, and because of this, I was able to know the backgrounds I of the elected officials that I met, making it easier for me to talk to them. Most importantly, however, the director let me have my own projects in the office and asked for input on many of the things that he was working on. In fact, at times it was a bit overwhelming because he would ask for my opinions on things that I felt were far too important for me. Almost every day at the office was an experience to be remembered. I am not sure whether it was his union background or just his personality but things in office were always very open. Many times, office behavior from both of us deviated far from professionalism, but that was what made it so great to work with the director. I could always be honest in my opinion around him and if we disagreed, we simply agreed to disagree. There were never any hard feelings. I did not realize the full extent of how much of a mentor the director was for me until a week before the end of the program, and now that I have, I have come to value my time at the non-profit office all the more.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Sorry Monica but I just had to!
After graduation from my internship program, one of the interns Monica gave me the sweetest card ever.
I am going to miss all the interns.
- muffinman
I am going to miss all the interns.
- muffinman
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Homeless
View of New York Skyline at Night
Photo by: ajagendorf25, Creative Commons
I never thought I'd have the opportunity to get to intimately know the homeless people of New York City, but here I am faced with the prospect of sleeping on the streets.
Ever since I started college, I had always imagined I would move out of my school's on-campus housing by Junior year. Juniors have last priority in choosing dorms, so faced with the prospect of having to live in a crappy place far away from campus I figured I could find an equivalent or better place closer to school. Also, my school rips people off in terms of rent and on top of that crams two people to a tiny room; by getting an apartment, I figured I could save some money and get my own room. In my mind so many benefits lay in store for me, and I was excited at the prospect of having my own place. Little did I know how difficult it would be to find an apartment!
My initial plan was to live with some floormate friends from Freshman year with whom I had already lived. Since they lived on the east coast and were relatively close to NYC (closer than me anyways), I had hoped things would work out relatively easily. However, last spring I was studying abroad in London, they were in Florence, and everyone else was back in NYC so it was difficult to keep in touch. While I was travelling Europe during spring break, I had the chance to meet up with them and asked them if I could join their apartment search, but they already had a group of three; they said they would try to look for a four-person apartment, but seeing as how New York apartment searches are notoriously difficult, suggested I have a backup plan. Unfortunately, I am not living with them next semester, but seeing as how they warned me and the fact that we did not maintain regular contact, I cannot say I am surprised things worked out the way they did.
With that option gone, I reached out to Sam and Ricky -- we had all studied abroad in London together and I had gotten close to them over the semester. Thankfully, they accepted me which was fortunate because Ricky was on his way to NYC at that moment to find an apartment. At that point I thought I was saved and would have a place to live next year, especially because Ricky had the help of Li, a friend of ours who is currently working as a broker. But I must have underestimated the New York housing market because after two weeks of hard searching nothing came up, and Ricky had to leave the City because he had something important to attend to back home.
So here we are now without a place to live. We are currently trying to come up with some kind of game plan to tackle this issue before the semester starts, but I am not sure what is going to happen next.
The City is a harsh and cruel mistress.
-Emoinacloset
These last two days have been crazy...
The social media handbook I have been working on for my internship is finally done! This whole project has been personal to me, I placed all my hopes and aspirations for this internship on this one handbook so it had to come out great. I think I have sacrificed enough of my well being to say that I bled over this project.
It all started on Wednesday where I went to work at 11am and then stayed at the office till 6am on Thursday. There was a two to three hour break to attend a fundraiser at a law firm where I managed to joke around with the State controller. Thankfully that all nighter was done with Kristina, an intern, who after pulling the all nighter went to work and even had a phone interview with a congressman. She amazes me with what she is able to do without sleep. I on the other hand drove home and just went to sleep till 1pm. We started with 65% done and managed to get up to 85% in the morning.
After I woke up, I just went straight back to work, coming in at around 1:30 which is really late considering that I am supposed to be at work at 10:30am though I usually come in at 11am. The exec. director knew what I was doing so he did not say anything, plus there really was nothing to do since we just had an event last week. I work on the handbook until 5:30 where there was another event, a sort of mixer for the non-profit boardmembers, internship alumni and current interns. The main attraction was the free food and since I had not eaten anything the whole day I just had to go. After the mixer, I went back to the office where I was joined by Monica, another intern, over gchat. The two of us, or rather, she figured out a workflow using her journalism expertise and we started getting work done quickly. Kristina calls me around 11pm and asks me what she should be doing, at the time she was out with her friends (on no sleep). I tell Kristina that there were a couple of pages that were still not done and that she should call me again when she got home. At around 2:30am I call Kristina, who at this point just got up from a nap and we start working again. Monica during this time had fallen silent and I feared that she had simply passed out from exhaustion as she had done so earlier for about twenty minutes. I frantically call Monica repeatedly but with no result. Carrie, the intern coordinator who was staying up with us emailed me Monica's address just in case I needed to go to her house and wake her up. I passed on that idea and Kristina and I redivided up the work and picked up the dropped ball. I was so pissed at Monica.
At around 3am, I try to sleep on the floor of the office simply out of sheer exhaustion. The office was way too cold so I gave up and after lying on the floor for twenty minutes and got back to work. Kristina had just finished up our biography page and now we were back to placing and editing pages, picking up where Monica had left off. Maybe around 5am or so, Monica wakes up and rejoins the work effort. We start making good time and finish up all the pages at around 10am. Keep in mind our deadline from the printer was 9am, however, Carrie did not say anything about this 9am deadline, so I assume it was not too big of a deal. After all the pages were done, the FINAL edits had to be made and WOW were there a lot. Between Monica and Carrie there seemed to be an endless supply of edits. Only I could do the edits because Carrie did not have Indesign and Monica was using Indesign CS3 which was incompatible with the CS5 file formats that I was saving to for the final versions.
Two hours later, at noon, I thought all the edits were done so I packed up and left the office. I was dozing off on the road and the road from Pasadena was a fairly dangerous one. The 110 highway is LA's equivalent to highway 17 in San Jose, but in some ways worse. To keep myself awake I was hitting myself, blasting music and yelling at traffic. My methods barely worked and a couple of times I caught myself zoning out and getting dangerously close to the sidewall. Enroute home, I get a text from Monica telling me that Carrie had sent over even more edits.
Once I got back to the apartment, I set up my workstation again and finish up all the edits. By the time 12:30pm rolled around, I had finished up the last edits and I promptly fell asleep exhausted. I get woken up by my roommate at around 2:30pm and I check my email and find one last edit! This was the fifth version of Carrie's word document of edits, but the last version was only a sentence so it was alright. After sending in the final draft, Carrie texts back with bad news. Apparently the format we were using of two page spreads would not work and we would have to make each page in the handbook equivalent to one page in the pdf. So I spent the next thirty minutes cutting our two page spreads in half to satisfy the printers. 4pm rolled by when I submitted my truly final draft. I stayed up for an additional hour, making something to eat, I had not eaten all day, and to make sure that there were no more additional edits to be done. After waiting an hour and hearing nothing, I figured everything worked out and breathed a sigh of relief.
I told Monica over gchat I was going to drink a lot to celebrate, but in reality, I ended up sleeping at 6pm and waking up at 8am the following morning. In retrospect that was probably the wiser thing to do anyway albeit it being much more boring.
-muffinman
It all started on Wednesday where I went to work at 11am and then stayed at the office till 6am on Thursday. There was a two to three hour break to attend a fundraiser at a law firm where I managed to joke around with the State controller. Thankfully that all nighter was done with Kristina, an intern, who after pulling the all nighter went to work and even had a phone interview with a congressman. She amazes me with what she is able to do without sleep. I on the other hand drove home and just went to sleep till 1pm. We started with 65% done and managed to get up to 85% in the morning.
After I woke up, I just went straight back to work, coming in at around 1:30 which is really late considering that I am supposed to be at work at 10:30am though I usually come in at 11am. The exec. director knew what I was doing so he did not say anything, plus there really was nothing to do since we just had an event last week. I work on the handbook until 5:30 where there was another event, a sort of mixer for the non-profit boardmembers, internship alumni and current interns. The main attraction was the free food and since I had not eaten anything the whole day I just had to go. After the mixer, I went back to the office where I was joined by Monica, another intern, over gchat. The two of us, or rather, she figured out a workflow using her journalism expertise and we started getting work done quickly. Kristina calls me around 11pm and asks me what she should be doing, at the time she was out with her friends (on no sleep). I tell Kristina that there were a couple of pages that were still not done and that she should call me again when she got home. At around 2:30am I call Kristina, who at this point just got up from a nap and we start working again. Monica during this time had fallen silent and I feared that she had simply passed out from exhaustion as she had done so earlier for about twenty minutes. I frantically call Monica repeatedly but with no result. Carrie, the intern coordinator who was staying up with us emailed me Monica's address just in case I needed to go to her house and wake her up. I passed on that idea and Kristina and I redivided up the work and picked up the dropped ball. I was so pissed at Monica.
At around 3am, I try to sleep on the floor of the office simply out of sheer exhaustion. The office was way too cold so I gave up and after lying on the floor for twenty minutes and got back to work. Kristina had just finished up our biography page and now we were back to placing and editing pages, picking up where Monica had left off. Maybe around 5am or so, Monica wakes up and rejoins the work effort. We start making good time and finish up all the pages at around 10am. Keep in mind our deadline from the printer was 9am, however, Carrie did not say anything about this 9am deadline, so I assume it was not too big of a deal. After all the pages were done, the FINAL edits had to be made and WOW were there a lot. Between Monica and Carrie there seemed to be an endless supply of edits. Only I could do the edits because Carrie did not have Indesign and Monica was using Indesign CS3 which was incompatible with the CS5 file formats that I was saving to for the final versions.
Two hours later, at noon, I thought all the edits were done so I packed up and left the office. I was dozing off on the road and the road from Pasadena was a fairly dangerous one. The 110 highway is LA's equivalent to highway 17 in San Jose, but in some ways worse. To keep myself awake I was hitting myself, blasting music and yelling at traffic. My methods barely worked and a couple of times I caught myself zoning out and getting dangerously close to the sidewall. Enroute home, I get a text from Monica telling me that Carrie had sent over even more edits.
Once I got back to the apartment, I set up my workstation again and finish up all the edits. By the time 12:30pm rolled around, I had finished up the last edits and I promptly fell asleep exhausted. I get woken up by my roommate at around 2:30pm and I check my email and find one last edit! This was the fifth version of Carrie's word document of edits, but the last version was only a sentence so it was alright. After sending in the final draft, Carrie texts back with bad news. Apparently the format we were using of two page spreads would not work and we would have to make each page in the handbook equivalent to one page in the pdf. So I spent the next thirty minutes cutting our two page spreads in half to satisfy the printers. 4pm rolled by when I submitted my truly final draft. I stayed up for an additional hour, making something to eat, I had not eaten all day, and to make sure that there were no more additional edits to be done. After waiting an hour and hearing nothing, I figured everything worked out and breathed a sigh of relief.
I told Monica over gchat I was going to drink a lot to celebrate, but in reality, I ended up sleeping at 6pm and waking up at 8am the following morning. In retrospect that was probably the wiser thing to do anyway albeit it being much more boring.
-muffinman
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A Deep Conversation
Last week, I had dinner and drinks with Rene, a friend from NYU who I met last semester in London. Although she is a rising senior, we got to know each other while we traveled together during Spring Break and have since become good friends. We were in HongDae -- the college town/party district -- but because it was a Tuesday nothing crazy was going on.
We went to a nice and quiet cafe/bar where we had a couple of drinks and were having a good time when the conversation shifted to our fates -- predicted by a Korean fortune-teller we ran into on the way to the cafe -- and eventually on life. We ended up having a rather deep conversation and I feel like I gained a new perspective on living life.
What would you do if you knew...
We went to a nice and quiet cafe/bar where we had a couple of drinks and were having a good time when the conversation shifted to our fates -- predicted by a Korean fortune-teller we ran into on the way to the cafe -- and eventually on life. We ended up having a rather deep conversation and I feel like I gained a new perspective on living life.
What would you do if you knew...
- You only had one hour left to live?
- If you only had one day left?
- If you only had one week?
- How about one month?
- A year?
I told Rene that I'd scream or shout out loud with one hour left; with one day, I'd punch someone in the face. I said this last one with a sheepish grin (definitely influenced by my love of Fight Club, the movie and the book) while Rene was shocked that I would spend my last moments doing something so harmful (she was raised as a Buddhist), but honestly it was the first thing that came to mind. Reflecting back, I probably said this because I would have been frustrated -- about what, I'm not exactly sure -- but screaming out loud or punching someone in the face feels like something I could do in that short period of time to relieve some of that frustration.
With a week left I would try to meet anyone who has ever mattered to me face-to-face so that I could see each of them one last time and to tell them thanks for everything; for being there with me and for having an impact on my life.
I don't remember what I said if I had a month, but with a year I said I wanted to travel -- specifically somewhere in South America, Africa, or Southeast Asia. Either that or it would be cool if I got to climb Mt. Everest.
The reason to ask yourself these questions is to discover where your priorities lie. The things you want to do during the shortest amount of time are the things most important to you, and as the time you have left increases you have the flexibility to include more and more of your lower priorities. Rene pointed out that there are a lot of people who procrastinate on these priorities and make excuses, saying 'Oh yeah I'll get to it eventually;' but time flies and before they know it they have missed all these opportunities. The point is, why do people put off their priorities if they really are that important?
How would you answer the above questions? Discuss.
-Emoinacloset
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