Five Months Later in Hong Kong

I jotted down these lines while I was at my grandparent’s apartment.

The grandparents have aged, but all their possessions are exactly as I remember them.  On the left of me is the couch that I used to fight my sister on over ten years ago.  It still looks as new as I remember it.  The ugly green cushions I used to throw at my sister are handling the years better than their owners.

The lines were going to be turned into a blog post, but when I got back to my aunt’s apartment and started writing, I realized that this was not the story to tell.  Instead, my thoughts turned how quickly things have changed since the last time I was in Hong Kong just five months ago. 

Back in November, my grandfather had his second stroke leaving the left side of his body extremely weak.   The lack of strength in his left hand has means he is unable to feed himself.  His weak left leg has required him to use a walker as well as get assistance to go to the bathroom.  The left side of my grandfather’s mouth no longer moves when he talks, reducing his speech to incomprehensible mumbling.   My aunt who has been living at my grandparents’ apartment since the stroke told me that my grandfather has already improved a lot.  I cannot begin to imagine how bad things were back in November. 

As a proud man, my grandfather is not handling his situation very well.  Just a few months ago, he was able to do everything himself but now the maid has to help him with practically everything.  Gone is the spark of life from my grandfather’s eyes.  When I visited this time, he did not even ask me anything about my studies in Shanghai.  In fact, he did not seem to have much interest me or anything at all, leaving me to talk to my grandmother, who barely even remembers me.  The indignities that come with age, have robbed my grandfather of his spirit.  I fear he may not have much time left and I even I do not want to see him live so long if he so unhappy.    

Exacerbating the situation is my third uncle, who is in Hong Kong helping take care of my grandparents.  When I asked my grandfather how he was doing, my uncle interrupted so he could tell me about how weak my grandfather’s hand had become.  However, simply telling me was not enough, my uncle also had to demonstrate it.  My uncle laid out a section of the newspaper in front of my grandfather and dared him to turn the page with his left hand.  The next few minutes were heart breaking as I watched my proud grandfather repeatedly attempt and fail at turning the page.  My uncle on the other hand found my grandfather’s struggle so amusing that he was laughing out loud.  The demonstration stopped before I could put a stop to it, but I could see from my grandfather’s face that the damage had already been done.   

After witnessing such a disgusting display, I would not put it past my uncle to take advantage of my grandfather’s feeble state to solve his financial woes.

-muffinman

Back in Hong Kong

If you did not know already, I am going to be spending the next nine days in Hong Kong, giving Jeanni a well deserved break from me.

 

I keep meeting interesting people on my flights and this one was no exception.  On the bus to the plane, there was a girl that caught my eye and when she picked up her phone she spoke perfect English, leaving me wondering what her story was.  I get on the plane and see this girl unpack a ton of books and take off a layer of pants right in the aisle before taking a seat in my row.  In my mind, I was debating whether or not to start a conversation, but that decision was taken from me when I dropped my lens while attempting to take a picture of the luggage handlers and the girl picked it up.  I know my equipment pretty well, so when I heard the thud of the lens I knew it was fine.  Humorously, she was visibly more concerned than I was about the lens.  And that is how I started talking to Celine and discovered that she was a foreign student studying at Fudan too, living just across the street from me in the foreign student dormitories.  Her friendliness and past got me curious about her, but it was her eccentric personality and belief that she was being stalked by the Chinese government that really captured my attention.  Before we parted ways, we exchanged phone numbers and emails.  I wonder how this is going to play out. 

Unfortunately the pleasantness of the day ended on the plane ride.  Upon arriving at the airport and meeting my aunt, any notion I had of controlling my own fate in Hong Kong ended.  The mothering began when she grabbed my arm to cross the street and it only got worse as the night wore on.  At the bus stop she was explaining to me for twenty minutes which bus to take to get to her house because just telling me “take the A11 bus” was not self explanatory enough.  While at the supermarket, I was asked a million times if I wanted something.  Every item I looked was met with a thousand “do you want that?” questions and when I answered no each and every time, I was lectured about how I needed to speak up if I wanted anything.  I got so fed up that I made my way to the alcohol section for the rest of the supermarket trip, which effectively ended the questions.  The treatment continued when we arrived at the apartment and my aunt was showing me how to hang up my towels in the bathroom.  My desire to have lunch with my godmother alone was quickly squashed when my aunt decided that I was not capable of getting to my godmother’s office by myself.  Not sure where my aunt got the notion that I was still five years old, but it needs to stop because I am already hating my first few hours in Hong Kong.  Hopefully, she will let up with the mothering in the coming days.   

I already miss my life back in Shanghai.

-muffinman

Window Into Next Semester

I'll be the first to admit, I haven't exactly been as devoted to the blog as I should be for a number of reasons I can identify off the top of my head.  First off, my main goal was to fill Muffinman and my other high school friends in on the details in my life, since they always complained that I never told them anything.  However, since we started using Skype more often, I stopped contributing to the blog again and let my laziness get the best of me.  Truth be told, I haven't even logged on to the blog in a while, and only briefly skim through Muffinman's posts through my subscription feed reader.  However, my goal for this semester is to re-motivate myself to post regularly and get that momentum that I had when I first started the blog going again.  Now that this semester looks relatively less time-constrained than it did last semester, I don't think this goal is way out of reach.

Unlike last semester I am sad to say I am no longer a Pledgemaster for BAP.  From what I heard of the long night of negotiations and politics after committee elections, it wasn't an easy decision which consoles me to a degree.  Being a Pledgemaster was a huge time commitment, but after being so heavily involved in BAP last semester, it feels a little weird not having BAP be the focus of my life.  I am happy to say though that I am on the Mentoring Committee this semester where I am responsible for the formation of mentoring families as well as overseeing the mentoring program within our professional honors society.  It still means I get that front-facing role and meet a lot of new people which I believe is the best part about BAP.  I also don't have a part-time internship this semester, so now I have more time to focus on myself.

However, with so much free time on my hands now I don't know what I should be doing.  One of the biggest struggles I had last semester was feeling stretched too thin among my various priorities, whether it was school, work, BAP, or recruiting for summer internships.  I was running till 4AM more nights than I should have, trying to get through classes, work, meetings, and homework.  I drank so much coffee that I can say for certain now that I was addicted to caffeine.  If I didn't have my coffee as soon as I got up in the morning or I didn't drink coffee every 3 hours, I'd become lethargic.  At times I hated myself for letting myself become so dependent on my caffeine fix, whether it was a cup of joe or a bottle of diet coke.  I convinced myself it was a necessary evil, but I didn't feel like I was myself without it.  All throughout last semester, if it wasn't one thing, it was another and I did not get a break until Thanksgiving when BAP started winding down, I dropped my internship, and the only thing I had to look forward to was finals.  Finals was a blissful compared to what I had to deal with in the previous four months -- all I had to do was study.

However, it doesn't mean this semester won't be as stressful.  I'm currently recruiting for investment banking positions, and looking at the timelines for resume drops and interviews is giving me a mild panic attack.  Summer internship applications are due by the end of the week, first-round interviews begin next week and second-round superday interviews the week after that.  Starting with the fall employer presentations, I've felt the pressure of getting an internship building up through last semester, and now everything I've done in my college career is going to culminate in whether or not I get an offer for a summer internship.

-Emoinacloset

Insecurities is the theme of this week

Being relatively alone in Shanghai has given me a lot of time to reflect. I thought I would be able to distract myself by hanging out with Jeanni, but a couple of days ago she told me that I should make new friends. Later, Jeanni revealed to me that she had met a new interest, so what I think she really meant to say was that I should make new friends because she would not have much less time for me in the near future. However, my lack of time with Jeanni is not what this post is about, but how without her I am back to facing the firing squad.

The last few days, I have been waking up in the morning with a great weight on my heart. An empty and numb feeling has taken root in my chest. I have lost my appetite, eating about one meal a day and have not gotten a good night’s sleep the past few days. No longer able to keep my head up, my eyes drift to ground as I walk around town. When left to my own devices, I keep getting lost in cycles of increasingly sad thoughts that always arrive at the fact that I have not grown as much as I would like to believe.

Stuck in an unflattering time is how I would describe my current personal development. For the most part, I believe that I have grown far beyond my own expectations. When I look at my professional development, I see that I have a great network as well, experience that I am proud of and even some noteworthy skills. Socially, I have come a long way from my days in high school. No longer too awkward to approach strangers, I have become adept at making fast friends. In addition, I have an amazing bunch of friends who would do anything to help me. The life that I put together for myself over the last few years, speaks volumes for how much I have grown up. However, there are still some major insecurities that have remained unresolved as long as I can remember and their impact on my confidence grows with age.

Meeting with a senior executive? Not a problem. Talking to a prominent politician and role model? Always done with an unwavering smile. Facing down a flurry of punches from someone twice my size? Just tuck my chin and take it in stride. However, ask me to introduce myself to that beautiful girl over there? And suddenly, you will find me stumbling with my words and quaking in my shoes. Remember Ellie? Chances were that I would have never talked to her had she not talked to me first. As for Jeanni, I sat in my for room for about twenty minutes before gathering enough courage to walk back outside and hopefully run into her. When friends ask me if I would ever do a one night stand, I jokingly tell them that the question does not apply to me because I move much too slowly to hook up. Yes, yours truly is terribly insecure, lacking in confidence and deathly afraid of rejection when it comes to approaching girls, and that is something that has not changed since high school. I am still that awkward boy that would do anything for the girl of his dreams except admit his feelings for her.

The insecurities and lack of confidence with girls, however, points to a larger problem I have. I often try to portray an image of bravado, as evidenced by the many dumb and half thought out risks that I take. For better or for worse, this bravado attitude has worked out for me, but upholding this image to myself and others is proving to be more and more detrimental. The most damning example, is my outright rejection of things that I find embarrassing, namely and singing and dancing. Forget anything you have heard from me about not being able to handle the lights, sounds and crowds of the clubs. The real reason I have never gone is because I never learned to dance and as soon as I step inside a club, I will not be able to hold my already shaky confidence together to try to learn. This fear has led me to miss out on a number of outings with friends. It kills me when I let my insecurity control me and I turn down the UC kids’ invitation to go head out to Phebe’s or more recently Jeanni’s invitation to M1nt. Time and time again, part of me tells me to let go, but a larger part tells me I cannot.

Going forward, I see two very simple choices. I can either keep going along with business as usual, which is the safe and secure route, but guarantees many more moments where I will hate myself. On the flip side, I can face my fears and insecurities head on. Easier said than done, this second choice is fraught with potential embarrassment. Facing one’s deepest fears requires strength of character that I do not think I currently possess. Whichever choice I decide to make, I know I need to grow up enough so that I do find myself holding onto Jeanni’s hand for comfort like a child whenever these insecurities surface. I may not completely conquer these insecurities, but I need to at least bury or solve them enough to feel as I have grown since high school.

-muffinman

696 Weihai Lu

Wednesday night, while reading blogs about Shanghai and wondering what to do with Jeanni, I came upon a Shanghaiist post about one of my favorite places in the city, 696 Weihai lu.  The post gave some depressing news, 696 Weihai lu’s artists were once again under threat of eviction.  As soon as I heard this, I told Jeanni we had to go there again, especially since I realized that I did not have enough pictures to do the place justice.

 Jeanni did not feel too well that day (though still well enough to browse through vintage clothes for half an hour), so I did not get to spend as much time there as I wanted.  However, I did engage with more people this time and that is when I learned that there might be a farewell exhibition of sorts in February before everybody is kicked out.  The artists that I talked to all had a nonchalant and defeated attitude to being evicted.  I wonder happened to the fighting spirit that I had read about?  The spirit that I had read about, which that saved 696 Weihai time and time again.       

I have taken a great many people to this place, even Shari from San Diego and everybody loved it.  However, not all of you are able to make the long trip to Shanghai so I will 696 Weihai through this tour that I wrote up for one of my classes last semester.

The italics are new additions to the project since it was turned in.


696 Weihai Album

-muffinman

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Statement of Purpose:

The purpose of this tour is to give the tour taker a taste of the Chinese art scene, specifically in Shanghai through maximizing their chance in meeting with artists. 

Introduction:

 If M50 is the place to see art in Shanghai, 696 Weihai is the place to see it created.  Away from touristy galleries at Moganshan Lu, lies an old opium storage facility that is now home to over 30 artists and their studios.  Recognized as an incubator of contemporary Chinese art, 696 Weihai Lu is just a block away from the Nanjing Shi Lu station, making this little known art Mecca very accessible.  The studios, photography studios, and galleries are all housed in dark and crumbling British industrial architecture.  Coming to 696 Weihai is just as much about the art as it is about experiencing a piece of old underground Shanghai and the bohemian life of an artist. 

The complex





As of currently, the residents of 696 Weihai have been successful in defending their homes from the government, but interested individuals should make the trip to 696 Weihai sooner rather than later because the site is under constant threat of being torn and developed.  In addition, as artists are not known for keeping regular hours, the chance that all the stops on this tour are open on the same day is extremely small, meaning multiple visits are required.  The best time to go is during the weekday between five and seven, as the darkness will add an element of mysteriousness to the buildings and most of the studios and gallery will be open.     

Stops:

Le Rexo Art and Deco: Building 1 #103

One of the few places at 696 Weihai that is purely commercial, Le Rexo: Art and Deco is a store that sells imported European furniture and art.  It is an interesting place to start the tour as it gives the tour taker something to compare Shanghai art to.  This place is boring, terrible and overly commercialized.

Dohjidai Gallery of Art: Building 11 #102

Dohjidai Gallery of Art is Japanese owned and features contemporary artists from Japan and China.  The gallery space is small but the collection switches frequently and the artists on display are usually more famous than those in other galleries at 696 Weihai.  This gallery switches its pieces extremely often and it is not always good. 

Around Space: Building 9 #202 and Building 11 #108

Around Space has two galleries at 696 Weihai , making it the largest  exhibition space at 696 Weihai.  Their mission is to “re-invent traditional Chinese aesthetics; cultivate ‘art without borders,’ and [show] the interaction and co-existence of the two.”  Around Space features

Artist studio #1: Building 11 #201

In room #201, there is an artist who paints self portraits of himself, with various objects growing out of his body, which critique Chinese society.  All you have to do is ask nicely at the door and he will invite you into his studio.  This artist is one of the more regular ones at 696 Weihai.  He is my favorite artist and it kills me that I cannot talk to him.  Jeanni finds his art too violent and actually could not stay in the studio for more than a few minutes

Artist studio #2: Building 11 #312

Room #312 is a massive studio that features an artist who has many of his works hanging off the walls, as well as a few sculptures.   Despite being one of the larger spaces in building 11, this studio is rarely open.  I have only been in this studio twice and both time there was an abundance of wine bottles.  The first time I went there, the artist was dead asleep and the second time he was nowhere to be found. 

Not sure what this is supposed to represent


Notice the bottles


The artist is sleeping soundly

Stage Back: Building 11 #310

Started in 2008 by German artist Susanne Junker, Stage Back features foreign artists’ perspective on Shanghai.  Every two months or so, Stage Back hosts events where visitors can meet and talk to the artists.  These people are really nice and always open, so I every time I visit I always drop by.

Tangshu Art: Building 11 #308

Tang Shu is a local Shanghai artist who teaches at the Shanghai Institute of Technology.  He has been featured in many exhibitions and his current paintings comment heavily on Chinese society today.  This stop on the tour is his studio, which also doubles as his gallery.  I have never been in this artist’s studio though from his bio that I found online he has some interesting art.

Urbanity Project: Building 11 #303

The Urbanity Project was set up by a group called the Shanghai Arts Community, which sought to show the human component of cities.  The gallery features works in all mediums and artists from all across the world, with a concentration on ones living in China.  Various creators of the works on display drop by and linger in this gallery.   The man who runs the gallery is from Virginia and the last time I went with Jeanni, I actually talked to him.  He asked for my flickr account so hopefully he likes what he sees.  Unfortunately, I do not like any of the pieces in this gallery.

Their logo

Christina Shmigel: Building 11 #409

An American artist who has been living in Shanghai since 2004, Christina Shmigel’s sculptures are often made out of everyday items.  Her work has been featured in galleries across the world and since moving to Shanghai, her work has had a strong Chinese flavor.   I talked to this artist when I took Shari here and Christina was extremely nice and welcoming. When I visited her, she had just shipped the majority of her pieces to St. Louis for an exhibition so I was not able to see much, however, what I did see was pretty interesting.  I am looking forward to visiting her again. 

My completed SWIVEL

During the summer, while doing my internship I met Mr. John Kobara, who was the Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer for the California Community Foundation (CCF), a large nonprofit with over $1 billion US dollars in assets. Mr. Kobara gave me and the other interns an inspiring presentation about how to pursue your dreams. In the presentation, he handed out his S.W.I.V.E.L. worksheet which stands for "strengthening what I value, enjoy, and love." I never got around to finishing that worksheet and for six months I forgot about it.

Fast forward to new years week, where I see that Mr. Kobara had written a blog post about new years resolutions and in the blog post he had a download link to an updated SWIVEL. I downloaded it for the third time and promised myself I would complete it this time. In addition, I wrote on his Facebook wall that I had downloaded the SWIVEL worksheet and was going to do it. The amazing thing was that he actually responded and told me to send him my completed SWIVEL. With Mr. Kobara looking over it, I knew that this time, I needed to walk the walk.

I want to share my completed SWIVEL not just with Mr. Kobara but all of you as well, so that you can remind me when I am straying from my goals this coming year.  Also, I encourage all of you to download the worksheet and fill it out for yourself.  The worksheet a lot more difficult than it sounds.

-muffinman

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1. Personal Mission Statement—What do I want to do with my life next year? What will I stand for and how will I make a difference? (100 words or less)

This coming year I will strengthen my existing professional connections as well as continue to expand my network in order to improve my chances of employment upon graduation.  I want to once again pursue all those hobbies that last year, I was always too tired to get out of bed for.  I will stand with labor and minorities, whose interests are underrepresented and at times neglected.  I will make a difference by giving my time and skills to organizations that I believe are helping the interests of the underrepresented.   

       

2. Right now,  my longer term and ideal professional goal is (12 words or less)

Design and run an advertising campaign that lifts a company from obscurity

3. What are the three most important personal goals for this year?
1. Reconnect with my family especially my sister
2. Hold on to the friends that I have made studying abroad
3. Find and pursue that significant other

4. What are the three most important professional goals for this year?
1. Expand professional network while strengthening existing relationships
2. Get work experience in the private sector
3. Branch out of social media marketing

5. What three things do I have to change in my life? Things I have to improve or work on?
1. Overcome the awkwardness of approaching strangers and asking for help from connections
2. Take my studies more seriously
3. Learn to forgive and forget

6. What three issues, causes, or things am I passionate about? Being more engaged with these things would increase my sense of fulfillment.
1. Local politics
2. Martial arts
3. US – China relations

7. What am I curious about? I would really appreciate some help exploring/learning about these subjects.

I have a long running personal curiosity over coffee and tea, especially since I aspire to open my own coffee shop one day.  Having somebody teach me about these two drinks would be a dream come true.  Venture capital is a career curiosity of mine that came out this year when I realized that I was constantly getting excited by the startups that were in my own backyard of Silicon Valley. 

8. How will I expand and diversify my network of friends, confidantes, and mentors?

I will expand my network on campus by attending my professors’ office hours and joining of student organizations.  Diversification of my network will occur in off campus activities, such as employment and the joining of political as well as professional organizations such as the Chinese American Citizens Alliance and Asian Professional Exchange.

9. With whom will I reconnect and/or strengthen my relationship? Who can I help?

I will strengthen my relationships with the people that I have met while studying abroad in Shanghai.  This is extremely important, because I do not know when I will see them again and they all live thousands of miles away in Asia.  Another priority is to reconnect with old colleagues and work acquaintances, many of whom I have not talked to in months.  Most importantly, I need to reconnect with my sister, who I know I can help because I have survived through high school and my parents’ house.      

Jeanni’s surprise birthday dinner

While waiting for my Chinese tutor to hand me back my textbook, I decided to check my mail. I was expecting a very special package from my mom. Nearly a month ago I had told my mom to go to Hicklebee’s, the local children’s bookstore, and get a book for Jeanni’s birthday. After checking for the package, which had not come yet, it suddenly dawned on me that Jeanni’s birthday was just two days away! Suddenly it made sense as to why Jeanni was organizing a dinner for that Friday.

I felt like a terrible brother for forgetting Jeanni’s birthday. Guiltily I thought “she threw you your first surprise party and you could not even remember the date to return the favor?” In addition, Jeanni was going to hold the dinner at a sports bar. There was no way that any sister of mine was going to be celebrating her birthday in such a classless fashion. At that point, I decided that I needed to plan a surprise birthday dinner.

This birthday dinner was especially important because Jeanni had been feeling a little down recently due to all her friends leaving. I saw the dinner as a way to get her to smile again, so it was crucial that things went according to plan. However, from the onset there were problems. While walking back to my apartment, I had thought up the idea of asking the Asia MBA students to send in video birthday wishes for Jeanni. I thought it would be a touching gesture for Jeanni to see her friends wish her a happy birthday. Unfortunately, after sending out the email to all the Asia MBA students requesting videos; Varun, who I had bounced the gift idea off of before sending out the email, talked to Gift and they collectively decided it would be too awkward for Jeanni. Consequently, they were not going to partake in the idea, effectively killing it. This forced me to send out another email, asking people to do the next best thing, which was to call in the birthday wishes during the surprise dinner.

Thankfully, the logistics for the dinner started off more smoothly. I reached out to Akhil and John, to help me plan the dinner since they were both good friends with Jeanni. Finding the restaurant was a breeze once I decided on Italian food. I settled on Bella Napoli, a charming restaurant by the look of the pictures and reviews I found online. Figuring out where to get the cake was a little more difficult and after a little searching on an expat forum, I ended up choosing Mon Reve. I came very close to ordering a cake from Mon Reve online, but at the last minute decided that I wanted to try a slice first before investing in a whole cake. Not to mention, I had not even reserved a table at Bella Napoli yet, so where was I going to have the cake delivered?

The next day, I woke up bright and early at 10am with only two things on my mind; getting a reservation and ordering a cake. Getting off at the Shaanxi Nan Lu subway station, I made my way to 1250 Huahai Lu and to my surprise found that it was the address of Whisk, another cake shop I had read about. Realizing that I had mixed up my addresses, I decided to walk into Whisk anyway because I had made the hour long commute. Initially, my plan was to try out a piece of cake before buying it, but after seeing that one slice was 50RMB, I cheaped out and decided to take the risk of ordering a whole cake. Whisk only makes chocolate cakes, and not the light and fluffy mousse kinds, but the heavy, fudgy, dark chocolate kind that I was not too crazy about. However, I remembered that Jeanni loved dark chocolate and decided to just run with it. Expecting nine people to show up, I ordered their huge 10 inch dark chocolate cake. As a joke, I requested that “Happy 28 25th Birthday Jeanni” be written on the cake, which took a bit of effort because the waiter’s English was a bit lacking. After ordering the cake, I called in a reservation for nine at the Bella Napoli and got it without a hassle. Cake check! Reservation check! It looked like everything was falling into place.

Throughout the entire planning process, I kept John and Akhil informed about my progress, believing that communication was the key in maintaining the element of surprise. I repeatedly stressed that this was a surprise dinner in my texts to them. Everything was going according to plan, I had Jeanni believing that I had made reservations at the Camel at seven o’clock, but then suddenly I get a strange text from her about a venue change to an Italian restaurant and that I should check my email. However, before I received Jeanni’s email, I saw that John had sent me something. John’s email contained a chat log between him and Jeanni, where he told her to change the venue to Bella Napoli! Sure enough, that is exactly what Jeanni did. Incensed, I picked up the phone, called Crystal and ranted about this recent development in very colorful language. When I texted John about why he just ruined the surprise he said that he thought the surprise was the occasion not location. I would like to point out that the “occasion” was Jeanni’s own birthday.

A little table banging and loud cursing later, I went into damage control mode. First, I tried to tell Jeanni to change the venue back to Camel, saying that I had been looking forward to go there. That failed miserably when Jeanni assured me that we would go there after dinner. Next, I called Bella Napoli and told them to cancel Jeanni’s reservation, but the curious thing was that they told me I was the only reservation for that night. Some back and forth questions about cancelling reservations got me the owner’s number because the wait staff could barely speak English. That’s when I called owner and explained to him my situation, where he agreed that if Jeanni were to call in he would tell her that the restaurant was fully booked. I also tried to get him to waive the corkage fee, but he would not budge on that. Excitedly I text John about this new development and unexpectedly he in turn tells Jeanni that the restaurant is fully booked. It was a huge relief when Jeanni sent out another mass text switching the venue back to Camel. My plan was back on track.

On Jeanni’s birthday, I nervously waited for things to unfold. I took the subway back to Whisk, pick up the cake, then realize that I probably wanted to get flowers without dragging a huge cake around. I rush to get flowers, hail a cab back to Whisk, grab the cake and arrive at Bella Napoli a good twenty minutes before the dinner is supposed to begin. I had told everybody to meet up at 6:30pm and instructed John to get Jeanni to the restaurant at 6:45pm, allowing time for the inevitable late people. Crystal had already cancelled earlier in the day so the dinner was down to eight people. Akhil was supposed to be coming with Jeanni’s Chinese tutor and the tutor’s boyfriend, except Akhil arrived late and alone. Turns out the tutor had cancelled at that morning. In his texts, John told me Jeanni would immediately realize the surprise as soon as he told the cab driver what intersection to go to, but I knew better and I told John to just keep telling Jeanni that they were going to Camel. When Jeanni finally arrived, she was shocked to see me and Akhil at the restaurant, the surprise had worked!


I had everything nicely laid out...


...but then I had to move once I realized only six people were coming


The cake came out nicely...


...but much to my chagrin Jeanni had to cut it her way

Dinner ended up being only the four of us, as John’s girlfriend got off work late and a person thought that the dinner was next Friday. The food itself was great, the bottle of wine that Jeanni chose was a good pick and when the cake came out she was absolutely delighted. Everybody loved the cake, especially Jeanni. The owner even gave us four shots of some amazing schnapps on the house! After dinner, we went to Camel where our group doubled in size. It was a lot of fun taking turns buying each other rounds while playing pool and foosball. When we left Camel, things had worked out so well that I even forgave John a little bit.


More friends joined the party at the Camel

We ended up at the tutor’s apartment, drinking and playing silly little category games. Jeanni fell asleep on the couch and we finally decided to call it a night at 3am. I walked Jeanni back to her apartment and she thanked me warmly for everything. Her genuine smile, which I had missed these last few days, told me that despite all that went wrong, I had succeeded in making her birthday special. And that is really all that I was aiming for.


And Jeanni ended the night laughing

-muffinman

National Week: Jingdezhen

The conclusion of my National Week series.  After this I will finally get back to writing about Shanghai!

The bus dropped us off at the outskirts of Jingdezhen and immediately it was apparent that this was a city centered around porcelain.  Stepping off the bus, we saw a few china shops and I figured that it was probably to lull tourists into buying last minute souvenirs.  Little did I know that this was the first of many china shops that I would see in my short stay in the city.

Having had multiple issues with transportation, we were not taking any chances with getting tickets back to Shanghai.  After getting off the bus, we immediately took a taxi to the bus station, which brought us to the heart of downtown Jingdezhen.  What struck me the most about the downtown area was not the overwhelming amount of china shops but how bad the air quality was.  For a city that was much smaller than Shanghai in both size and population, the smog in Jingdezhen was on a whole other level of terrible. 

We successfully acquired our bus tickets home bringing some peace of mind, if everything went wrong for the next two days, at least we were getting home.  With that in mind, problems did come up, it turns out that the phone number for the hotel we had booked was wrong.  Normally this would not be a problem, but the site where I had booked our hotel only provided the English name of the hotel, which would be incomprehensible to the taxi driver that was going to take us there.  Luckily, the Chinese name of the hotel turned out to be the direct translation of the English name.  The taxi driver was surprised once he realized where he was taking us because apparently very few people knew about this hotel, which gave me some qualms about my hotel choice.  Once we reached the hotel, however, all my fears of picking the wrong hotel went away.  The Jingdezhen Joint Venture hotel looked like it had seen better days, but seemed to be holding on to its charm and elegance.  The rooms that we received far exceeded my expectations for the price and the only downside was the lack of wifi. 


Our gem of a hotel


With quite the front yard

The next day, we woke up early to find a pottery workshop that Brendan had heard about from his aunt.  We arrived at the area where it was supposed to be, but simply could not find it.  However, while being lost, we found a porcelain factory that shattered my image of how porcelain was made.  In my mind, there were still noble artisans hand making fine China, however, what I saw was a very ordinary looking man unglamorously spray painting huge vases with glaze.  Outside the factories broken pottery fragments littered the ground and large deformed vases were everywhere.  The whole pottery factory scene was a sobering sight, a reminder that times had really changed.  When we left the factory area, I suddenly did not want to get any porcelain.  What is the point of buying a massed produced porcelain tea set that you could get anywhere? Jingdezhen suddenly lost its mysticism.


Entrance to the porcelain factory site


Spray glazing


Defective and shattered porcelain everywhere

We ended up finding the pottery workshop after much asking around, only to discover that it was fully booked for months.  The workshop suggested we try another workshop in the area, but when we went there we were told that we could not make anything in just one day.  So instead of making pottery, we ended up touring the ancient looking building nearby.  We wandered into a building that was still being built (so much for actually being ancient), I was pretty sure that we were not supposed to be there but the security guard was asleep, which is a fairly common sight in China.  In addition to being under construction, the place was also being decorated for a wedding adding a little bit of color to everything. 


Impressive looking workshop, too bad it was fully booked


I wonder who was getting married

Once we left the area, we decided to make our way through the museums.  The first museum, we went to was called the Jingdezhen Museum of Porcelain was a huge disappointment.  I would say that ninety percent of the pieces that they had on display were wholly unimpressive, and they had an extremely small collection too.  The most fascinating part of the museum was the gift shop.  Earlier Brendon had said that he had read the best porcelain was found in museum gift shops.  I did not believe him, but after looking at the pieces at the museum gift shop for myself, I had to concede that he was right.  The museum gift shop had the thinnest and best painted porcelain by far, with a price that was comparable to the shops outside that were selling inferior goods.  As we left the museum, we asked the woman at the ticket counter where another museum was.  She told us that there was another museum nearby but that there was no point in going since it was much inferior to the one that we had just visited.  When we pressed her for the location she finally relented.  Though in the end, we probably should have listened to her because the museum was terrible, but it did give us a great view of the city when we reached the top. 


Best place to get porcelain


The museum with the view and not much else


Not much of a skyline compared to Shanghai

The last museum we visited that day was the most impressive by far.  I would even say that it is the best museum that I have gone to in China.  This museum was a long cab ride away and was a living museum.  Artisans were employed to show how the porcelain was made from start to finish.  It was quite the sight to see rows upon rows of vases lined up to dry and artisans painstakingly drawing in minute details.  I found my vision of Jingdezhen in a museum suggesting that I may just be a little behind the times. 


Rows upon rows of vases


The artisans I thought would be everywhere in Jingdezhen

When the sun went down, the city seemed to come alive once more.  We went to a very sad looking carnival, where I went on my first Ferris wheel ride ever. The view was not very impressive but it was fun nonetheless. The street corners were filled with people singing karaoke.  Under a bridge, we found a group playing pool and mahjong.  The older crowd tended to gather together to play Chinese instruments and sing Chinese opera.  There were some children playing jianzi (Chinese hacky sack) and I wanted to join in but Crystal would not let me. This was probably for the best because I would have schooled all those kids anyway. While soaking in all these sights, I thought to myself this is probably how most of China lives and wow is it different from Shanghai.


The view from the top of the ferris wheel


Karaoke on the street corner


Pool and Mahjong under a bridge

On our last day in Jingdezhen, we had completely exhausted everything we wanted to do.  After just two days, we were sick of porcelain.  To give you an idea how deep pottery runs in the city, you only have to look at the light poles along the street.  The poles are either painted to resemble porcelain or actually encased in porcelain. I could not decide which one of my theories were true though I was leaning towards the painting one.  In Jingdezhen, it is easier to find a porcelain shop than a restaurant. Even more mind boggling is how all the shops sell the same exact thing and yet still manage to survive. Pottery is so plentiful that while wandering around in a back alley I noticed that the residents had used it to repair their walls of their house. 


In Jingdezhen it is easier to find a porcelain shop than a restaurant


All shops look something like this and carry the exact same wares


Porcelain in the walls!

I went back to the Jingdezhen Museum of Porcelain, where I had seen the most beautiful set and spent the next forty-five minutes picking out the pieces.  The cups that I wanted were only a set of cups, they did not include a teapot or a tea gong.  So I had to spend a lot of time trying to find the right teapot and tea gong that matched the set of cups.  In the end, I thought I was pretty successful.  However, the steal buy of the day came from Brendan, when he decided after much internal debate to buy the bowl that he had been eyeing the entire time I was selecting my pieces.  The bowl was a beautiful piece, paper thin and gleaming white.  After he paid for the bowl, the shopkeeper reveled that it was made in the eighties and the last of its kind.  Quite a steal for a little over twenty US dollars.


My pride and joy

Packed with porcelain that we were a little afraid might break, we boarded the bus back to Shanghai. I have to admit that as much as I liked Jingdezhen, when the bus pulled up at the Shanghai bus station, I was really happy to be back home.

-muffinman

Jingdezhen Album
Tea Set Album

National Week: Huangshan

On the bus ride to Huangshan, we were uncertain about what would happen when we arrived.  Someone from the hostel we were staying at had called us the day before and told us that there would be someone who would pick us up at the bus stop.  What was suspicious about it, was that the person on the phone had asked us which hostel we were staying at.  At the bus stop, there was indeed a pair of people who were waiting to take us to the hostel.  Being taken to the wrong hostel turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because the hostel we ended up at actually had a three bed room and only for a little more than what we would have paid for the original hostel.

The next morning, I looked out the window and was mesmerized by the city I saw.  Ancient looking buildings looked to be just arm’s reach away and in my mind I thought “this was the China I was looking for!”  Once I got outside, however, I realized it was just another tourist restoration, which was disappointing, but at least it was tastefully done.  We got lunch at a nearby wonton place that was by far the largest restaurant on the street.  Inside the restaurant there were televisions detailing the humble street food origins of the owner, which made the whole dining experience even more interesting.  It seemed the success got to the owner’s head a little as the walls of the restaurant were adorned with numerous caricatures of himself.  Though when we saw the owner working in the open kitchen, he did not look that different from the humble man on the television screens, I wonder what consultant told him to cover up the restaurant with his face.

Probably not as old as it looks


Little girl selling balloons in the corner while the policeman watches, so much for child labor laws

After lunch, we took a cab to the bus station and got our tickets to Jingdezhen, which was a great relief after our reoccurring transportation debacles.  Immediately after acquiring tickets, we hailed a cab to Huangshan, I picked the newest looking taxi out of the batch and this led to a story within itself.  To clarify, Huangshan shi (city) is about an a two hour drive away from the actual mountain itself and a cab ride costs about 120 RMB (20 USD).  On the cab ride, we began talking to driver, or rather I asked questions and Crystal translated the question and answer.  As it went on, Crystal started to get into it and began asking her own questions.  It turns out the cab driver had quite the interesting life.  Originally from a coal mining town, our cab driver came out to Huangshan Shi in search of a better life.  He bought a car and began driving foreigners then made enough to open his own internet café.  The cab driver claimed that the value of his cab business has skyrocketed, increasing the value of his car by a multiple of four.  Now he has brought his son over, who also drives a cab, and earns enough to take a day a off every week.  Have I met someone who achieved the Chinese dream?

Our Taxi Driver, he was not angry despite how this picture may look

The drive to the mountain was a breath taking by itself.  Field after field of chrysanthemum flowers broke up the seas of green grass.  The air was crystal clear and best of all fresh, something I had been missing during my stay in Shanghai.  It all reminded of those Swiss alps that I had driven through when I was young but this time, there was a Chinese flair to it all. 

Chinese flair

Arriving at the mountain, we received some disappointing news from the cab driver.  Turns out it takes five hours to get to the top of the mountain via hiking and the park closed at 6pm, meaning that when we reached the top we would have maybe fifteen minutes.  He dropped us off in front of a hotel and advised us to book a tour of the attractions at the base of the mountain instead.  We listened to his advice and booked a tour that provided us tickets to four sights and also a driver to get us there.  The first sight we visited had us hike along a stream, stopping at various points to observe the beautiful flowing water.  This was great the first time, but when we went to the second sight and did the exact same thing, and again at the third sight, it started to get really old.  To be honest, the most exciting part of the tour was the drive from sight to sight because the reckless skill displayed by our driver was something of beauty.  At the end of the third sight, we were all so tired of flowing water and rocks that we skipped the last sight and just went home. 

Waterfalls make good backdrops for pictures but how many can you see before you get bored?

We ended the day eating at another famous restaurant that the taxi driver recommended.  The restaurant was certainly very nice and there was a huge line, but the food was just mediocre at best.  What was happening outside our window as we ate dinner was more interesting than the food.  There was an old man painting fans and then handwriting poems on the back of them.  These fans were for sale and after dinner I immediately wanted to get one.  However, I mistakenly picked a fan that was printed rather than drawn.  All signs pointed to the fan being printed but I wanted so strongly to believe that the old man painted it that I just went with it.  I was happy because I thought I had found a unique souvenir for Jeanni but when I walked along the other stalls I saw the same damn fan design again and again.  There were also multiple old men painting the same scenes and writing the same poems around the market.  As disappointed as I was, I held off from throwing away my new fans.  

Classy looking restaurant


The non-unique fans


Sweet looking old man though

On our last day in Huangshan, we went tea shopping before getting on our bus.  Tea shopping was an experience within itself.  Sitting around sipping small quantities of tea, trying different grades ranging from 300RMB to over 1000RMB was a lot of fun.  Tea tasting has a way to make you feel much more sophisticated than you are and I took it for all it was worth.  Learning about how to make tea, for instance not letting the tea leaves sit in the water for more than a minute, made me feel like a connoisseur.  The tea shop looked pretty famous, having news footage and pictures of a time when former President Jiang Zenmin visited their tea plantations.  We ended buying over 1000RMB worth of tea between the three of us, where I ended up buying the most.  Just as we were about to leave, I asked the salesperson through Crystal, if it would be possible to see the picking of tea.  The salesperson replied that during April and May, not only could you come to see the tea being harvested but you could participate in it as well.  I marked the date on my mental calendar. 

As we boarded the bus, we vowed to come back soon to actually climb the mountain and just like that we left Huangshan without having really been to Huangshan.  

-muffinman

Huangshan Album

National Week: Nanjing

Remember that national week series that I started months ago?  Well it is sort of done, I am still working on the third and final part.  These events that took place in this blog post happened over three months ago.  Hope you will still enjoy reading it.

Stepping off the train in Nanjing, we were all extremely exhausted and desperately clamoring for a hotel.  Having no idea where to go and possessing no map, we asked the taxi driver to take us to the nearest hotel.  The driver took us to a street full of hotels and we picked the one with the cleanest lobby, thinking that it would be representative of how clean the rooms would be.  This turned out to be a completely incorrect assumption and the hotel we chose was absolutely disgusting.  Adding salt to the wound was the fact that we paid full price for the hotel without realizing that we could have haggled it down at least a 100RMB.  However, the night we were all glad just to have somewhere to sleep.

Disgusting hotel room but we made due

The next day began bright and early with the buying of our Huangshan bus tickets and a search for a better hotel.  The night before, I had hoped that the line at the bus stop would be shorter because it was the first day of national day and I thought that perhaps everybody had gotten their tickets early.  Sadly, I was extremely mistaken, because at the bus station was the largest mob of Chinese people I have ever seen.  They were all pushing and jostling, as Chinese people do, for bus tickets.  Being inside the mob was quite the experience, never one to shy away from close physical contact (I do jiujitsu after all) Crystal and I pushed and squished our way in line.  This is not to say that we were cutting the queue, in fact, all the pushing was just to try to keep our place in line. Acquiring the Huangshan bus tickets was a huge relief and a turning point for things finally starting to go our way on this trip.  

After spending a few hours searching for a better hotel, we realized that not every hotel is able to take foreign guests.  At one hotel we even managed to check in and move into the room, before they realized that they could not accept us!  In the end we settled on a four star hotel that had rejected us earlier because we could not have a mixed gender room.  We got around this mixed gender problem by having just Brendan and I check in and then “sneaking” Crystal into the room.  For about the same price that we paid for our first hotel, we got a four star hotel room. 

At the conclusion of the long hotel search, we decided to check out a place that a woman on the train had mentioned as one of the few places worth seeing in Nanjing.  Crystal did some guesswork as to what the name of the place was because it was hard to understand the woman’s accent and discovered that it was a Confucius temple.  If Confucius was around, however, I doubt that he would have liked what he saw happen to his temple.  The whole place was covered in neon lights and the temple complex was filled with commercial shops.  Perhaps I am mixing up the Confucian values with the Buddhist values of a chaste life, but there was just something demeaning about putting up dragon neon lights on the side of a couple hundred year old temple.  When I complained about the Yuyuan Gardens in Shanghai as being a tourist trap and having sold itself out, I had no idea that it could worse.  This Confucian temple was completely redefining selling out for me. 

Selling out


You pay for each hit of the drum at the temple

On our second day in Nanjing, we decided to head this mountain where Sun Yatsen’s mausoleum was located.  We never got to the mausoleum because we kept getting sidetracked by the ancient Chinese buildings and tombs that dotted the mountain.  These historical attractions maintained their character and were a nice break from commercialism at the Confucius temple.  However, I was once again shocked by how damage was being done attractions, particularly the sculptures.  Tourists were climbing and leaning on these extremely old statues of animals and mythical creatures.  The wear on these sculptures was obvious, with some areas of the sculptures being completely worn smooth.  This of course did not stop us from attempting to scale one of the larger sculptures, with the intent of one upping the other tourists. 

Quiet and graceful just how ancient buildings should feel


A huge amount of effort was put into climbing this camel

The second day ended with the ridiculous decision of hiking up to the top of the mountain.  We thought that the hike would be short due to the fact that the tourist map that we had was not drawn to scale, except for the path up the mountain.  The hike took us a grueling forty minutes and we made it harder on ourselves by choosing the steeper and rockier paths.  When we reached the top it was extremely foggy, meaning there was absolutely no view, but the relief from reaching the top meant that none of us cared.  All ended well as we took the longest cable car trip I have ever taken in my life, back down the mountain. 

On the route of our biggest mistake in Nanjing ...


... that led us to our biggest reward

Exhausted, we gathered our things from the hotel and boarded the bus to Huangshan.  

-muffinman

Nanjing Album

Tough Decisions

With half of my study abroad experience over, I need to reflect about what I want to do for the next half.  My first four months in Shanghai have been filled with nothing but fun and shirking of responsibilities.  I have not added anything new to my resume and academically I do not think that I have grown much.  In addition, I did not backpack around China on the weekends like I had planned to.  This was because I did not speak the language, which turned out to be a greater obstacle than I thought.   This break is a crossroads of sorts because I have to decide what to do with my remaining time in Shanghai. 

I can take the professional route and buckle down on those internships.  Already, I have applied to an internship that seems promising.  The beginning of the semester is going to bring a lot of internship opportunities as well, though most of these are just bitch work.  Another plus is that I will be able to spend more time in Shanghai, further integrating myself into the city.  Maybe I will actually pick up some more martial arts training like I have been saying I would.  However, the consequence of this route is that I will be unable to traveling around China and I might end up leaving China without having seen much of anything outside of Shanghai.    

On the other hand, I can stay the course and keep enjoying life like I have been, only to expand my travels outside of Shanghai.  Things to do and see are starting to dry up in Shanghai and I feel I would really regret it if I came back to the states without having been to Xi’an, Beijing or Tibet.  The problem with this option is that it requires a lot of money that I do not have right now.  Not to mention that my family is in a tight spot financially right now. 

What to do, what to do?

-muffinman

2011 Resolutions

Similar to the yearend reflection post, no blog would be complete without one that talks about New Year’s resolutions.  Last year, I accomplished all my safety resolutions, which were to stay alive and clean.  In addition, I managed to make quite a few new friends and do marketing at more than one job meaning that I kept all my target resolutions except the one about getting a 4.0 for two quarters, but I got pretty close.  The reach resolutions were of course more of a joke than anything else, except maybe for the one about the girlfriend, so no use in even going over them.  However, despite the overwhelming success there was one big flaw in the resolutions that I had set.  Simply stated, they were all accomplished much too quickly, leaving me with no real goals or direction for the rest of the year. 

This year I am going to make resolutions that require more of a long term commitment. 

Here is this year’s list:    

Start and maintain that professional blog

Some of you may know that I have been talking about starting a professional blog since summer.  I got the idea from Joy Chen, a headhunter who also writes a professional blog about finding employment in China.  Now I have been working on the blog during the abundant amount of down time that I have had in Shanghai, but so far all I have is an introduction and post outlines that are no more than a few words long. I resolve to get my blog launched within the month of January with five posts written.  In addition, I resolve to update this professional blog at least once a week. 

Get fluent in Chinese

My Chinese has progressed a great deal since landing in Shanghai but after four months I am not even close to fluent.  The best I have been able to do is manage broken conversations with the people I meet, where the conversation never gets past my name and where I come from. I wish I had put more effort into learning Chinese during Chinese class but the truth is that I blew off all my academics this semester.  I am lucky to have even passed Chinese given how badly I failed the final.  It was only with the ridiculous Fudan curve that I was able to get a B.  With this in mind, I resolve to get proficient in Chinese by the time I leave in Shanghai and fluent by the end of the year.  I have already taken the first steps by setting up a meeting with a private Chinese teacher.      

Build that family

Even though I told my mom back in Spring quarter that I was going to try to improve relations with my family, that did not really happen.  I got side tracked by all the exciting things happening in life and when I arrived in Shanghai and found family among the MBA students, it lessened my enthusiasm for reconnecting with my own.  The level of communication that I have with my mom has improved since Spring quarter and I even talk to my sister every once in awhile on chat, however, it is nowhere near the level that I want it to be.  For 2011, I resolve to build that family I had always wanted by getting more involved in the lives of family members, especially my sister.

     

Find that girlfriend

The only resolution to carry over from last year is also the one that is the least in my control.  A lot of things have changed since last year and I believe that I have a better chance than I ever did before.  Looking back, I have matured a lot, coming a long way from teasing Ashley to get her attention because I was too scared to tell her outright.  Of course, all my growing up will not mean a thing without a little help from lady luck in meeting the right person.  I have a good feeling about 2011, so for another year, I resolving to find that girlfriend.  Things are off to a good start, Jeanni read me my horoscope for this month and I am destined to form a new relationship.  Now if only I had been sober enough to remember to get that number from that pretty girl at the New Year’s party.     

-muffinman

Reflecting on 2010

No blog would be complete without a new year’s post and besides it would be a shame to not look back on such an exciting and transformative year.

Around the same time last year, I remember that life was anything but fun.  Winter quarter 2010 was filled with a lot self pity and loneliness . A huge distance had grown between many of my friends from freshman year; at the same time feelings of betrayal stemming from my friends telling Ashley that I liked her were still present.  The result was that I began burying myself in my work and had an overwhelming desire to leave for Shanghai as soon as possible. 

However, not everything gloomy during that quarter.  With a lack of friends, I committed myself to the Undergraduate Investment Society (UIS) where I found a sense of family.  Of course no family would be complete without a mother figure and that part was played by June, who helped me out more times than I can remember.  In addition, Michael the president of the club thought the world of me at the time and because of him that I started to gain confidence in my work.  The finance knowledge that I picked up that quarter continues to serve me well, and has been letting me impress those who look down on my major. 

Despite, my growing involvement in finance, winter quarter saw me fly the white flag and surrender against economics.  The day before my economics midterm, I realized that I passionately hated studying economics and I promptly dropped all my economics courses that quarter.  I now declare myself as a an economics major in name only, just because having it on my transcript as a second major looks so much more impressive.

Spring quarter was spent trying to keep my heart from running away with the amazing Ellie, a girl who seemed to be more dream than reality by the way she would disappear and reappear without warning.  It was the first time I had been swept off my feet and I tried my best to hold on to that feeling.  The more I learned about Ellie, the more I wanted to be like her.  As you can see from my unchanged relationship status, that things were simply not meant to be.  However, till this day I am still trying to be more like Ellie, and I find myself asking what would Ellie do in situations where I am unsure about how to treat people.        

Meeting Ellie, colored my spring quarter pink and it showed through my relationships with friends.  I finally made up with Ashley and started rebuilding our friendship after I had abruptly burned the bridge.  After breaking my mother’s heart by telling her that I did not feel like part of the family, I tried to connect with my family, particularly my sister.  I started to reach out to new UIS members and strengthening relationships with old ones, all the while playing an increasingly larger role in the club.  Unfortunately, work at the TV station started to stagnate and the workplace was no longer a fun place to be.  Spring quarter was also when I got my first SLR and over the course of the year it would suck large amounts of money from my bank account.  Despite the rose colored glasses, my sophomore year ended on a bittersweet note, as I saw Ellie and my UIS friends graduate. 

Summer was the start of a new life with a two month internship in Los Angeles that saw me rubbing elbows the city and state’s elite.  I was a leader for the first time in my life and the nerve wracking challenge crystallized to me how a leader should act.  I fell in love with a city that I hated without ever really knowing why and picked up the pieces of my heart after Ellie dropped off the face of the earth for the billionth time.  After two months, I left LA with a new network, a much more impressive resume and lifelong friends.

Arriving in Shanghai, I once again found myself falling head over heels for an impossible girl.  Jeanni was bold and beautiful but seven years older than me, meaning she saw me as nothing more than a little brother.  When I finally accepted I was chasing an impossible dream, I did something I had never done before and confessed my feelings to her.  Jeanni took everything in stride and comforted me while I contented myself to be her little brother.  Thankfully, Crystal and Varun were there to help me pick up the pieces.  Shanghai gave me a new family in the form of the Asia MBA students.   I always felt more welcomed by these students who ranged from seven years older to over twice my age than with the UC students who were my age.  In addition to family and friends, Shanghai gave me a whole host of new adventures and life changing experiences. 

The city has been exceptionally kind to me with the easiest academic workload I have had in college.  

However, professionally my stay in the city has been a disaster as I rejected one internship in hopes of finding a better one, only to have that better internship fall through.  Four months of bliss ended all too quickly with the departure of most of the Asia MBA students and UC students.  Only Crystal and Jeanni are left from the old guard and they will be leaving in two months.  It is both exciting and heartbreaking to think about making new friends come February.           

In one year, I lived in four cities, got swept off my feet twice, added an uncountable number of new family members across the world and created a host of life changing memories.  2010 brought a whole new level of excitement to my life’s story and I am going to have to try exceptionally hard to make 2011 as dramatic or else readers might get bored of my blog.                     

    

-muffinman

Zaijian my MBA friends

Having sent off Varun and Gift today, and with most of the Asia MBA students gone now, I figure this is the appropriate time to write my farewell to them. 

The Asia MBA crowd has been my family away from family.  I knew their schedules, the drama and inside jokes so much so that I would often be referred to as the partial Asia MBA student.  These older students took me under their wing and fed me their stories and advice, all the while giving me all I could drink.    

By the end of this semester I gained:

A father who drinks so well,

A brother who is so wise,

A sister who cares so much,

And of course so many aunts and uncles!

Thank you for making the first half of my study abroad experience so memorable because without you, these four months would not have been anywhere near as life changing.

Hopefully in the future, we will be able to cross paths again.

-muffinman