Well I started my first, full-time, non-temporary job today. For the first time in my life, I have to go to work 5 days per week for 8 hours per day and it’s not limited to a 3 month summer vacation. Today is really a momentous day in my life. Unfortunately, this means I’m going […]
On Saturday, my roommate and I went to the Shanghai Foxtown Outlets in the Songjiang District, the first by the Swiss group outside of Europe. After about an hour’s drive plus RMB25 in tolls we arrived at a rather stark, featureless white building. For all the advertising that’s been done, it was rather empty. She […]
It’s very curious to look around Shanghai and marvel at the fact the cars are all old. Well to be accurate, the cars themselves aren’t actually very old. Since there weren’t many passenger cars in China before the 1970s or 1980s, there aren’t (m)any truly old cars. It’s just that the body styles are very […]
Tonight as I was walking home, I was noticing how bright the sky was and I couldn’t help but wonder, why… Since it was cloudy enough to be lightly raining, I knew it couldn’t be the brightness of the moon. And since it was already 9:30pm, I knew it couldn’t be sunlight (in eastern China). […]
As the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and most of the US (except HI, AZ, & parts of IN) prepare to set their clocks back 1 hour this Sunday, I’m wondering why China doesn’t. The sun rises here in Shanghai around 6am, which is fine. However, it is already dark by the time […]
Today I was reading my email and received a ‘FW:…’ Normally when I receive those emails I just ignore them because its usually something I don’t have time for and neither do my friends when it says ‘Forward this to 7 friends for good luck’ or something like that. The other risk is, sometimes viruses […]
Yesterday I was reading my friend Stephanie Cheng’s blog and she talked about a friend of hers having a goal to visit a country that started with each letter of the alphabet. My goal has always been to go to every continent, but why not also check the alphabet and see how I’m doing. She […]
Today I decided to go shopping. No, not ‘research,’ actually shopping. And I’m not sure why I decide to cause myself frustration as I go to the same place to look for shoes in my size when multiple times previously they haven’t had my size. I kinda feel like the ugly, gangly step-sisters in Cinderella […]
This is the third set of my pictures from Shanghai. This set ranges from September to October 2006 and includes many dinners with friends, specifically Derya’s farewell dinner, Mid-Autumn festival dinner with colleagues, and many others. During this period, I also went to Yu Yuan Garden for the first time and to Qibao watertown. There […]
Today I interviewed with a Chinese company, and not just any Chinese company, a government-owned, Chinese run, 4* hotel. As you might expect, it was not like any everyday, American-style interview. First, a guy came found me when I was standing outside, trying to tame my hair after the rain messed it up (oops, that’s […]
This article about shopping malls and luxury retailers in China both confirms and counters some of the statements I made in my post entitled Business in Shenzhen. This article from the International Council of Shopping Centers, titled THE HIGH-END ROAD TO CHINA: Western luxury retailers are finding a fertile market in China’s wealthy consumers asserts […]
As a follow-up to my blog about the Chinese people’s serious lack of interest in international relations, I’d like discuss an exception to that: Chinese people always have a very definite response to and opinion for questions about Taiwan or Japan. Once I casually suggested my Taiwanese friend as coming from a different country than […]
As the situation with North Korea gets murkier, you have to wonder, what is China really doing? China’s usual response is, ‘China hopes for a good resolution to the matter.’ But when their own neighbor is supposedly testing nuclear weapons, can China really stick by such a non-committal answer? When asking the average inhabitant of […]
When I was looking up a new mutual fund on Morningstar yesterday, I saw this article headlined: The World’s Biggest Investment Opportunity? A quick take on the Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen. Although the author makes it clear that he was only there for a week and therefore is no expert, he makes some very accurate […]