Yesterday was the most boring, horrible day of work ever. I mean that in that after pulling an all-nighter, we still weren't allowed to not go in to work (since that would be considered a vacation day). Nor could we sleep during work. Nor did we actually have any work to do. So what started out as a hectic morning, turned into a horribly long, drawn out afternoon spent in front of my computer watching movies over and over again that I had no interest in watching. At one point, I passed out on my table for five minutes and woke up with a big red spot where my collar bone met the table. At 6:30 I whisked myself out of the office as quickly as possible and took a horrifically long busride home, finally entering the door at 8:00 pm.
So I found out my uncle is back in town. And he arrived at 6:00 am to find that I wasn't around. My cousin knew I was at the office, but the maids didn't know where I was. I told the maid this morning that I was working all night at the office, but I have a feeling she didn't quite believe me. Wangyue suggested I show her the photos of me sleeping first on the lobby couch and then on the kitchen table. Boy, that should be fun. Kind of annoys me though. Why else would I stay out all night? I doubt I'd like Karaoke enough to spend an entire night (a school night, no less) singing in a frumpy disco-like bar. Whatever. If mom calls to yell at me, I'll just tell her I was being annoyed at the office by my coworkers who have absolutely no model-building skills.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
All-Nighter
Let it be known that I find it tremendously unfair that I'm the only intern in the firm that has to pull an all-nighter. But then again, it's 4:15am over here and I'm feeling might crabby. I went in to work at 11am and started off working on model building. Then I did some photoshopping and then back to model building. I've been working on the stupid model for over 10 hours. I hate brillo trees.
So yes, my first professional all-nighter. Nice to have such a head start on what looks to be my future career. All-nighters twice a month. Sweet...
o yes, and I found out today that the model building skills of people in this firm are atrocious. WangYue makes boxes that don't even come together on the edges. Simple decency, man! And boy did he really annoy me when he dragged up from my desk all the way over to his and I find that the all important reason is that he wants me to translate the English on some stupid Hot Wheels video game he downloaded off the internet. I wonder if he realizes that a large reason why I'm still here at this horrible hour is because he's wasting time downloading stupid video games off the net instead of trying to make a credible box. I think I've remade nearly every one of the buildings he started.
And the dumplings! God, if I have to eat another dumpling, I'm going to hurl. I almost feel like the only strong thing I've gained in China is a strong aversion to dumplings, particularly chive dumplings. Those things make me feel like I just ate a rock.
O yes, and I don't think I get to go home after this o so joyous all nighter either. If I want to get paid for the day (Monday, that is) I have to be there for a full nine hours in a row. That means that if I go home at 6, sleep and come in at noon, I have to stay till 9 pm. And it takes me an hour to get home. It seems that it's not worth it at all, so I'm just going to sleep at the office. And I'm going to buy a toothbrush in the morning when the stores open. And Shelly's bringing her boyfriend in to visit tomorrow. I can just imagine it. "Hello, Scott. So nice to meet you. Why yes, I do have raccoon eyes, thank you for noticing." And then when I get home, my cousin will lecture me yet again for not informing him that I'd been out late. Though I didn't really think I'd still be here at 4:30am (yah, that's what time it is now). And then when I get home tomorrow, I'm sure GuanAh-Yi will be following me around asking me questions in her in-distinguishable dialect and not understanding a thing I say in response.
I'm in a very bad mood. Can you tell?
So yes, my first professional all-nighter. Nice to have such a head start on what looks to be my future career. All-nighters twice a month. Sweet...
o yes, and I found out today that the model building skills of people in this firm are atrocious. WangYue makes boxes that don't even come together on the edges. Simple decency, man! And boy did he really annoy me when he dragged up from my desk all the way over to his and I find that the all important reason is that he wants me to translate the English on some stupid Hot Wheels video game he downloaded off the internet. I wonder if he realizes that a large reason why I'm still here at this horrible hour is because he's wasting time downloading stupid video games off the net instead of trying to make a credible box. I think I've remade nearly every one of the buildings he started.
And the dumplings! God, if I have to eat another dumpling, I'm going to hurl. I almost feel like the only strong thing I've gained in China is a strong aversion to dumplings, particularly chive dumplings. Those things make me feel like I just ate a rock.
O yes, and I don't think I get to go home after this o so joyous all nighter either. If I want to get paid for the day (Monday, that is) I have to be there for a full nine hours in a row. That means that if I go home at 6, sleep and come in at noon, I have to stay till 9 pm. And it takes me an hour to get home. It seems that it's not worth it at all, so I'm just going to sleep at the office. And I'm going to buy a toothbrush in the morning when the stores open. And Shelly's bringing her boyfriend in to visit tomorrow. I can just imagine it. "Hello, Scott. So nice to meet you. Why yes, I do have raccoon eyes, thank you for noticing." And then when I get home, my cousin will lecture me yet again for not informing him that I'd been out late. Though I didn't really think I'd still be here at 4:30am (yah, that's what time it is now). And then when I get home tomorrow, I'm sure GuanAh-Yi will be following me around asking me questions in her in-distinguishable dialect and not understanding a thing I say in response.
I'm in a very bad mood. Can you tell?
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Paranoia
So, as you all know, I had my cell phone - actually, my aunt's really-really-super-duper-expensive-and-not-at-all-worth-the-money cell phone - stolen by a pick pocket the other day. Today, on the bus back from dance class, I started thinking about the evening when it went missing and I realized when it happened, who did it and how he did it. That bastard.
So the events went like this. I keep the cell phone with my bus pass in a pocket on the front of my purse. I get on the bus and open the pocket to pull out my pass and as I'm doing so, a man gets off the bus and jostles me in the process. I'm pretty positive that in that moment, he reached in the open pocket, grabbed the phone and then got off the bus. That bastard.
I got home last night really late because Anita (my supervisor) is leaving the office. We had a big farewell dinner at a Korean barbecue place and then went Karaoke-ing at a tacky place somewhere nearby. It was fun - our coworkers and bosses are super scary and not at all what I expected when they are singing. LiQiang in particular creeped me out. He's normally such a nice boy...
After we finished singing at around 1:30, the office secretary, WangJing, drives me part of the way home and drops me off somewhere nearby where I live. I was standing on the corner hailing for a cab when a red cab approaches with two men in it. It looks like the meter is running so I take a glance inside. Upon looking in I see there's two middle aged men. One's in the cab seat and the other one is in the passanger seat. They both ask me where I'm going and I was polite saying that I'm fine, I'll catch my own cab, but thanks all the same.
Some things wrong with this scenario:
1) Obviously I'm slightly paranoid because there aren't that many good samaritans in the city of Shanghai.
2) From my experience, cab drivers are completely disinterested in their passangers. This one seemed a little too buddy buddy with the passanger, even offering a bit to the conversation (aka Get in the cab, lady).
3) If a cab driver had a passanger who wanted to be nice and help a stranded lady in the middle of the night, he'd probably say no, because that would mean less money for him or one of his fellow coworkers.
Looking back on it, I also noticed a couple of things:
1) A similar thing happened on Wednesday night when I was hailing a cab. Except the taxi didn't stop on the corner, rather the passanger rolled down the window while the car was passing and put his arm out in a follow-me gesture. Yah, like hell I'll follow you.
2) I really wished I bothered to copy down the cab driver's ID number so I could report a possible hobby rapist who spends gas money entertaining his friend and trying to pick up daft foreign girls for god knows what reason instead of doing his job.
So yes, I'm feeling very paranoid in this city right now. I start to wonder if everyone who takes a second glance at me is a pickpocket sizing up my worth or a horny guy thinking about luring me into a back ally. My coworkers told me not to discount children for thieves, so now even little girls in pretty pretty princess dressed are treated with suspicion. Every middle-of-the-night-cab driver is now a possible mugger who might drive me out of the city and put a bag over my head before beating me and taking all my stuff. Bastards, all of them. I wish I had something like pepper-spray or a knife, or something. I get horrible images in my mind about all sorts of things. What if I had gotten close to the car and they had chloroform? What if they had just jumped out and grabbed me? Sometimes I wish mom had let me take those martial art classes in Chinese school...
So the events went like this. I keep the cell phone with my bus pass in a pocket on the front of my purse. I get on the bus and open the pocket to pull out my pass and as I'm doing so, a man gets off the bus and jostles me in the process. I'm pretty positive that in that moment, he reached in the open pocket, grabbed the phone and then got off the bus. That bastard.
I got home last night really late because Anita (my supervisor) is leaving the office. We had a big farewell dinner at a Korean barbecue place and then went Karaoke-ing at a tacky place somewhere nearby. It was fun - our coworkers and bosses are super scary and not at all what I expected when they are singing. LiQiang in particular creeped me out. He's normally such a nice boy...
After we finished singing at around 1:30, the office secretary, WangJing, drives me part of the way home and drops me off somewhere nearby where I live. I was standing on the corner hailing for a cab when a red cab approaches with two men in it. It looks like the meter is running so I take a glance inside. Upon looking in I see there's two middle aged men. One's in the cab seat and the other one is in the passanger seat. They both ask me where I'm going and I was polite saying that I'm fine, I'll catch my own cab, but thanks all the same.
Some things wrong with this scenario:
1) Obviously I'm slightly paranoid because there aren't that many good samaritans in the city of Shanghai.
2) From my experience, cab drivers are completely disinterested in their passangers. This one seemed a little too buddy buddy with the passanger, even offering a bit to the conversation (aka Get in the cab, lady).
3) If a cab driver had a passanger who wanted to be nice and help a stranded lady in the middle of the night, he'd probably say no, because that would mean less money for him or one of his fellow coworkers.
Looking back on it, I also noticed a couple of things:
1) A similar thing happened on Wednesday night when I was hailing a cab. Except the taxi didn't stop on the corner, rather the passanger rolled down the window while the car was passing and put his arm out in a follow-me gesture. Yah, like hell I'll follow you.
2) I really wished I bothered to copy down the cab driver's ID number so I could report a possible hobby rapist who spends gas money entertaining his friend and trying to pick up daft foreign girls for god knows what reason instead of doing his job.
So yes, I'm feeling very paranoid in this city right now. I start to wonder if everyone who takes a second glance at me is a pickpocket sizing up my worth or a horny guy thinking about luring me into a back ally. My coworkers told me not to discount children for thieves, so now even little girls in pretty pretty princess dressed are treated with suspicion. Every middle-of-the-night-cab driver is now a possible mugger who might drive me out of the city and put a bag over my head before beating me and taking all my stuff. Bastards, all of them. I wish I had something like pepper-spray or a knife, or something. I get horrible images in my mind about all sorts of things. What if I had gotten close to the car and they had chloroform? What if they had just jumped out and grabbed me? Sometimes I wish mom had let me take those martial art classes in Chinese school...
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Picked
So you know how when you go abroad, people always warn you to watch your bags, keep them in front of you and things like that? Well, I followed the advice. I had my bag in front of me, kept a hand, if not at least an eye on it, and still, it wasn't enough.
Yes, everyone. I, Angela, have had my purse picked. The nice new, shiny Motorola Razor (or Razr if you have to be "cool" like that) that once belonged to my aunt is now probably somewhere on the Chinese cell phone black market. I can just imagine someone turning the thing on and thinking, "Why the heck are there so many baby pictures on here?"
So I emailed my sister and told her to tell mom, and have mom tell my aunt. Yes, I am, as always, being very indirect so as to avoid as much heat as possible. Though I get to see my uncle in a few days. I hope he isn't going to be too mad with me...
It also wouldn't have been so bad if something else had been taken as well. Then I could have said, "Yes, your phone and my [insert precious and treasured belonging of Angela's here] have both been stolen" instead of saying, "Well all of my stuff is here, thank god for that. Your phone, on the other hand..." Yahhhh, so, crap...
Yes, everyone. I, Angela, have had my purse picked. The nice new, shiny Motorola Razor (or Razr if you have to be "cool" like that) that once belonged to my aunt is now probably somewhere on the Chinese cell phone black market. I can just imagine someone turning the thing on and thinking, "Why the heck are there so many baby pictures on here?"
So I emailed my sister and told her to tell mom, and have mom tell my aunt. Yes, I am, as always, being very indirect so as to avoid as much heat as possible. Though I get to see my uncle in a few days. I hope he isn't going to be too mad with me...
It also wouldn't have been so bad if something else had been taken as well. Then I could have said, "Yes, your phone and my [insert precious and treasured belonging of Angela's here] have both been stolen" instead of saying, "Well all of my stuff is here, thank god for that. Your phone, on the other hand..." Yahhhh, so, crap...
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
PMS
I don't know if it's PMS, but I was feeling most annoyed with everyone. One woman in the office I find particularly annoying because she's very loud and crass. LOUD. and CRASS. Right now she's shouting in the kitchen which is on the otherside of our not so small office, and I can hear everything clearly. I think I might murder her soon, it's getting so annoying.
On a brighter note, I went to a Jazz class last night, taught by none other than a Mr. Strever look-a-like. Except whereas I remember Mr. Strever being cadaverously thin (no offense Strevie), this guy, as Jamie the contemporary dancer from LA says, is CUT. So if you want to imagine my dance teacher, imagine Strevie with wiry muscles and a flamboyant flounce to his movement. O yes, and imagine him a little shorter too. Jamie also told me I ought to go to his hip hop class on Tuesdays. If they're anything like the Jazz class, I think I will. I think I'm getting fat. Actually, no. I am getting fat. Stupid dumplings. I think I should go on that watermelon lunch diet everyone here seems to love so much.
Jamie is a premed student at Berkeley who is currently sitting in on surgeries at some reknowned hospital in Shanghai. Yesterday, right before dance class, she was busy probing a live human being's brain. Just the thought of probing a person's brain already grosses me out, but then adding that it's a live human being...ick... Poor brain. I asked her if the person is ok now. I also think that it would be a bad idea to get sick in this country because I might have a 19 year old premed student performing surgery on me.
On another note, my hip doesn't feel right. I think I must have sprained it or something. Is it possible to sprain a hip?
On a brighter note, I went to a Jazz class last night, taught by none other than a Mr. Strever look-a-like. Except whereas I remember Mr. Strever being cadaverously thin (no offense Strevie), this guy, as Jamie the contemporary dancer from LA says, is CUT. So if you want to imagine my dance teacher, imagine Strevie with wiry muscles and a flamboyant flounce to his movement. O yes, and imagine him a little shorter too. Jamie also told me I ought to go to his hip hop class on Tuesdays. If they're anything like the Jazz class, I think I will. I think I'm getting fat. Actually, no. I am getting fat. Stupid dumplings. I think I should go on that watermelon lunch diet everyone here seems to love so much.
Jamie is a premed student at Berkeley who is currently sitting in on surgeries at some reknowned hospital in Shanghai. Yesterday, right before dance class, she was busy probing a live human being's brain. Just the thought of probing a person's brain already grosses me out, but then adding that it's a live human being...ick... Poor brain. I asked her if the person is ok now. I also think that it would be a bad idea to get sick in this country because I might have a 19 year old premed student performing surgery on me.
On another note, my hip doesn't feel right. I think I must have sprained it or something. Is it possible to sprain a hip?
Monday, July 03, 2006
Not So Bad After All?
It's fascinating. During the school year, I always feel like the dunce in studio. I always feel like teachers look at my work and think, "This is exactly what I teach students not to do." I feel like most people in studio think that in general my architectural design skills are poor to Wal-mart quality. And yet, here I find at LWMA that the architect and my supervisor actually seem to like my work. My coworkers actually seem to like it too. Not my school work, mind you. I'll just continue hiding that trash I do during the school year.
Right now the office is working on a new project in QingDao where we are revamping some old factory buildings for office and retail. I chose to do a geometric analyzation a la first year. For once, the person in charge liked what I did, and assigned two people to work with me on my idea. Not that I'm in charge. XiaoGuan and ZhangYu spent the better part of an hour interrogating me in a language I find I barely understand, trying to understand how I came up with what I did, so we can all figure it out and make something nice. I do think I'll keep this project for my portfolio. It's slightly Koolhaas like.
So maybe I'm actually not a bad architect. Maybe I just need to take less classes so I can focus more on studio... I think I just have to restructure my priority list during the year.
Right now the office is working on a new project in QingDao where we are revamping some old factory buildings for office and retail. I chose to do a geometric analyzation a la first year. For once, the person in charge liked what I did, and assigned two people to work with me on my idea. Not that I'm in charge. XiaoGuan and ZhangYu spent the better part of an hour interrogating me in a language I find I barely understand, trying to understand how I came up with what I did, so we can all figure it out and make something nice. I do think I'll keep this project for my portfolio. It's slightly Koolhaas like.
So maybe I'm actually not a bad architect. Maybe I just need to take less classes so I can focus more on studio... I think I just have to restructure my priority list during the year.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Dance!
I found a dance school in Shanghai, finally. Well, I knew about it for a while, but never had the time to go take any classes until now. It's only been a month of not taking any classes, but I am completely out of shape now. Right now, I feel as if I've been run over by a truck.
The nice thing is that I haven't lost too much of my flexibility and I did a triple priouette that could have gone into a quadruple if it hadn't surprised me so much I dropped out of the turn. I surprise myself too much.
I took a contemporary dance class on Saturday. It involved a lot of contractions and push/sit-ups the like I've never done before, and boy were they tiring. I had trouble doing the dances that the teacher made up mostly because I was so sweaty I stuck to the floor. Sunday I took a lyrical class taught by exactly the kind of girl I avoid in normal everyday life. Still, it was fun. I've never taken a lyrical class before and it wasn't what I expected. I also tried to start off the class in jazz sneakers. Bad idea. Foot cramps. I think maybe the teacher started to hate me because I stopped in the middle of class to take off my shoes. I think Ken Leigh's class has ruined me for non-barefoot warmups.
O and I made a new friend, though I don't remember her name. Little Chinese girl who's going to be a sophomore premed student at UCBerkeley. I told her I was an archie and got the usual response. "O I have a bunch of archie friends. You guys are always in studio!" Yes, yes, we know, our lives revolve around studio. I think I'm starting to get tired of hearing that...
The nice thing is that I haven't lost too much of my flexibility and I did a triple priouette that could have gone into a quadruple if it hadn't surprised me so much I dropped out of the turn. I surprise myself too much.
I took a contemporary dance class on Saturday. It involved a lot of contractions and push/sit-ups the like I've never done before, and boy were they tiring. I had trouble doing the dances that the teacher made up mostly because I was so sweaty I stuck to the floor. Sunday I took a lyrical class taught by exactly the kind of girl I avoid in normal everyday life. Still, it was fun. I've never taken a lyrical class before and it wasn't what I expected. I also tried to start off the class in jazz sneakers. Bad idea. Foot cramps. I think maybe the teacher started to hate me because I stopped in the middle of class to take off my shoes. I think Ken Leigh's class has ruined me for non-barefoot warmups.
O and I made a new friend, though I don't remember her name. Little Chinese girl who's going to be a sophomore premed student at UCBerkeley. I told her I was an archie and got the usual response. "O I have a bunch of archie friends. You guys are always in studio!" Yes, yes, we know, our lives revolve around studio. I think I'm starting to get tired of hearing that...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
F*$%
Great. Just great.
So, it's been going on a while. Ben would call, talk about his separation anxiety and then get mad at me for leaving him. I thought it would be fine. Only two months to go, I said at one point. And then it progressed to, only 50 more days to go. Today it's 48. But his anxiety is quite a bit worse, now that it's been over a month and I'm on the other side of the world.
Today he asked me to go back to Pittsburgh sooner so that we can be together longer. I understand that he wants to see me as soon as possible and I would like to oblige. However there's also the fact that I get home from China on August 3, and if I were to go back any earlier, I'll have barely spent any time with my parents at all. I can't just go home, say hello and be off. If I go back to Pittsburgh when he wants me to, I'll be too tired to even say hello because I haven't even recovered from jetlag yet.
We were in a pretty heated argument today. He seems to think I won't go back simply because my parents don't want me dating him and I think it will tip them off. He doesn't even consider the fact that I see my family for less than two months a year and it would be nice to spend some time with them when I can.
The argument descended to a point where Ben demanded my home phone number so he could call my mother, tell her what the deal is and declare that he'll never give me up, he loves me so much. As flattered as I am by his attentions, it's not going to help our situation. If anything, it could quite possibly make things horribly worse. Besides, meeting my parents over the phone is not the best introduction, even if it was a conference call. I told him that, and he doesn't understand. But then, he doesn't have Chinese parents, and so it would be difficult for him to understand.
So our conversation ended with something along the lines of Ben saying that "this" is all ridiculous, he gives up, my parents hate him, good bye. So what exactly does that mean? I'm horribly upset over the fact that he might have dumped me because of my parents.
I'm not going to let it get to me at work. I'm not.
So, it's been going on a while. Ben would call, talk about his separation anxiety and then get mad at me for leaving him. I thought it would be fine. Only two months to go, I said at one point. And then it progressed to, only 50 more days to go. Today it's 48. But his anxiety is quite a bit worse, now that it's been over a month and I'm on the other side of the world.
Today he asked me to go back to Pittsburgh sooner so that we can be together longer. I understand that he wants to see me as soon as possible and I would like to oblige. However there's also the fact that I get home from China on August 3, and if I were to go back any earlier, I'll have barely spent any time with my parents at all. I can't just go home, say hello and be off. If I go back to Pittsburgh when he wants me to, I'll be too tired to even say hello because I haven't even recovered from jetlag yet.
We were in a pretty heated argument today. He seems to think I won't go back simply because my parents don't want me dating him and I think it will tip them off. He doesn't even consider the fact that I see my family for less than two months a year and it would be nice to spend some time with them when I can.
The argument descended to a point where Ben demanded my home phone number so he could call my mother, tell her what the deal is and declare that he'll never give me up, he loves me so much. As flattered as I am by his attentions, it's not going to help our situation. If anything, it could quite possibly make things horribly worse. Besides, meeting my parents over the phone is not the best introduction, even if it was a conference call. I told him that, and he doesn't understand. But then, he doesn't have Chinese parents, and so it would be difficult for him to understand.
So our conversation ended with something along the lines of Ben saying that "this" is all ridiculous, he gives up, my parents hate him, good bye. So what exactly does that mean? I'm horribly upset over the fact that he might have dumped me because of my parents.
I'm not going to let it get to me at work. I'm not.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Nothing much has been happening lately at work. There's been a lot of torrential downpours with sudden onsets. I started out for work yesterday with sunglasses thinking it was going to be an overly bright and sunny day, and halfway to work, the clouds come in and by the time I'm at my stop, the rain is coming down in sheets. I went into work completely soaked. Fortunately, someone had a hair dryer and an extra shirt for me to borrow.
But other than that, nothing much has been happening. I had a fun lunchtime conversation with Shelly and Kathleen about vanity in asia. It seems that in China, only girls actually give a crap about how they look and too often it consists of pounds of makeup, see through white dresses and cheesy side ponytails. We talked a little about girls in Korea. Apparently it's quite common for girls there to receive plastic surgery for their 16th birthday. We likened it to parents saying, "O honey, we're so sorry you were born ugly. But now that you're old enough, you can go under the knife and make it all better!" Yay! They told me that the process involves lopping off a chunk of eyelid, and even afterwards, there's a definite scar so it's still obvious that the double eyelids that people are looking at aren't natural. I don't know if it's worth it... Does having an extra crease to your eyelids make you that much prettier?
But other than that, there hasn't been anything happening. The dogs have somehow got a hold of WangYue's shoe so we must go and get it back from them now. Fun!
O and I think Ken Lau and company are in Shanghai but have forgotten I'm here. Which sucks because I am hanging out with a bunch of Shel's friends, and wanted to see if they could come, too. The more the merrier after all. Silly Ken.
But other than that, nothing much has been happening. I had a fun lunchtime conversation with Shelly and Kathleen about vanity in asia. It seems that in China, only girls actually give a crap about how they look and too often it consists of pounds of makeup, see through white dresses and cheesy side ponytails. We talked a little about girls in Korea. Apparently it's quite common for girls there to receive plastic surgery for their 16th birthday. We likened it to parents saying, "O honey, we're so sorry you were born ugly. But now that you're old enough, you can go under the knife and make it all better!" Yay! They told me that the process involves lopping off a chunk of eyelid, and even afterwards, there's a definite scar so it's still obvious that the double eyelids that people are looking at aren't natural. I don't know if it's worth it... Does having an extra crease to your eyelids make you that much prettier?
But other than that, there hasn't been anything happening. The dogs have somehow got a hold of WangYue's shoe so we must go and get it back from them now. Fun!
O and I think Ken Lau and company are in Shanghai but have forgotten I'm here. Which sucks because I am hanging out with a bunch of Shel's friends, and wanted to see if they could come, too. The more the merrier after all. Silly Ken.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Annoyed
Why is it that my new roomie can find all the time in the world to go climbing all over her hometown and hanging out, and yet she can't find time to reply to an email of mine that requires one simple date for an answer? For that matter, why can't she read my emails clearly enough to write the correct zip code on an envelope. My mom seems to be very dubious about her. I hope I can prove mom wrong eventually...
Friday, June 23, 2006
The Aftermath
It's been quite a while since I started work at LWMA, and I thought that things were starting to fall into a predictable pattern. Go to work, makes cheesecake, go home, play with baby and fall asleep at 10:30. However, something amazing always seems to happen when I least expect it. Yesterday, it suddenly got very dark around 4:30 and the wind started blowing. We all knew there was a thunderstorm on the way, so we didn't pay any attention to it. And then, the rain came pouring down. The first big commotion happened when we heard people shouting in the printing room, far back corner or the office. We walked over to see what the fuss was about and apparently the windows weren't well sealed adn there was water leaking around the glass and dripping right onto our Best Plotter. So all the secretaries were flipping out adn stuffing towels into all the cracks they could find.
After a few minutes, the office manager ran by shouting something about the kitchen, so I went over to see what was happening. The water from our flat roof was coming into the kitchen through the light fixtures. It wasn't a trickle, it was definitely two very big showers of water. Yellow water. We blamed it on a clogged gutter whcih is being fixed today. Then we heard more commotion going on upstairs and found that the roof was also leaking right above all of our servers. All in all, no one did anything but gawk or bail water for the next hour and a half. In the end, the server room and the printer room stopped leaking and someone rigged up a fancy way of geting the water out of the kitchen.
It didn't help that someone let the dogs in and they were running around like maniacs. I suppose the indoors is better than the outdoors in the event of a thunderstorm, but since the storm kept them from going out doors, and the poor puppies had to go, they ended up peeing and pooping in the office...again.... Kathleen has a wonderful photo of her absolute delight at finding a piece of dog poo in the lobby.
Around 6, everything was pretty much back to normal, so we all went back to work. I left after work to go to the busstop only to find that the extra lane for bicycles and mopeds had turned into a crick more than anything. I walked quite a ways till I find a good place to ford the river so to speak. I briefly considered taking my shoes off and walking through the water, but there was so much dirt and debris in it that I wasn't sure I wouldn't step on something gross. Or sharp.
So I made it home, early by my usual standards. I sat around and ate some dinner, read a book adn then Yuko came in with Mumu-chan. A naked Mumu-chan. "He has daiper rash," she said as she dumped him in my arms while she went to make some tea. I just looked down and him and said, "You had better not pee or poop on me." He just looked and me adn started gnawing on the tv remote control. I must say, it's a little akward holding a naked baby, particularly a naked baby boy...
Today I came into work and found the internet out for a time. Ben Finally acepted my gmail invite, but now he needs to get GTalk so we can chat online.But now it's time for lunch! Dumplings!
After a few minutes, the office manager ran by shouting something about the kitchen, so I went over to see what was happening. The water from our flat roof was coming into the kitchen through the light fixtures. It wasn't a trickle, it was definitely two very big showers of water. Yellow water. We blamed it on a clogged gutter whcih is being fixed today. Then we heard more commotion going on upstairs and found that the roof was also leaking right above all of our servers. All in all, no one did anything but gawk or bail water for the next hour and a half. In the end, the server room and the printer room stopped leaking and someone rigged up a fancy way of geting the water out of the kitchen.
It didn't help that someone let the dogs in and they were running around like maniacs. I suppose the indoors is better than the outdoors in the event of a thunderstorm, but since the storm kept them from going out doors, and the poor puppies had to go, they ended up peeing and pooping in the office...again.... Kathleen has a wonderful photo of her absolute delight at finding a piece of dog poo in the lobby.
Around 6, everything was pretty much back to normal, so we all went back to work. I left after work to go to the busstop only to find that the extra lane for bicycles and mopeds had turned into a crick more than anything. I walked quite a ways till I find a good place to ford the river so to speak. I briefly considered taking my shoes off and walking through the water, but there was so much dirt and debris in it that I wasn't sure I wouldn't step on something gross. Or sharp.
So I made it home, early by my usual standards. I sat around and ate some dinner, read a book adn then Yuko came in with Mumu-chan. A naked Mumu-chan. "He has daiper rash," she said as she dumped him in my arms while she went to make some tea. I just looked down and him and said, "You had better not pee or poop on me." He just looked and me adn started gnawing on the tv remote control. I must say, it's a little akward holding a naked baby, particularly a naked baby boy...
Today I came into work and found the internet out for a time. Ben Finally acepted my gmail invite, but now he needs to get GTalk so we can chat online.But now it's time for lunch! Dumplings!
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Flooding!
The great flood of '06. This once lovely and quite moderne, sunlit kitchen is now the site of two new, very one of the kind, two in one shower light! Witness the superiority of Chinese construction techniques.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Morning News Shanghai
Newsflash! As of yesterday morning, I have been dubbed the ChiJiaoDaXian which means the "Barefoot Immortal" because I go everywhere in the office (other than the bathroom) barefoot. My statement that everyone does this in studio is met with shock and awe, as well as the idea that people Want to be tan.
Newsflash! Hot news of the morning is that a truck overturned just down the road, crushing some poor pedestrian to death. Word is it happened around 8 or 9 last night. Witnesses state that a definite crowd was forming to gawk at the victim fortunately hidden beneath a 7 meter long tank of oil. Shel said that this morning, a crane was at the site, trying to right the truck. Shel also hopes that it's not an open casket burial.
Newflash! Hot news of last evening was that around 11, WangYue (aka Wayne - we named him) text messaged me asking how to write "Fart" which he pronounces "fert." So I messaged him back saying that he ought to work on the pronunciation lest it be mistaken for "Flirt." A very important distinction between the two meanings was emphasized upon seeing him this morning.
Newsflash! Hot news of the morning is that a truck overturned just down the road, crushing some poor pedestrian to death. Word is it happened around 8 or 9 last night. Witnesses state that a definite crowd was forming to gawk at the victim fortunately hidden beneath a 7 meter long tank of oil. Shel said that this morning, a crane was at the site, trying to right the truck. Shel also hopes that it's not an open casket burial.
Newflash! Hot news of last evening was that around 11, WangYue (aka Wayne - we named him) text messaged me asking how to write "Fart" which he pronounces "fert." So I messaged him back saying that he ought to work on the pronunciation lest it be mistaken for "Flirt." A very important distinction between the two meanings was emphasized upon seeing him this morning.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Random Musings
I told Shelly yesterday that with a woman as clueless as my supervisor for a boss, I worry about the future of my career. I continue worrying beign that I'm sitting here, over an hour into work and my supervisor has still not showed up yet, nor left me anythin to do. I keep looking up at the sound of clicking heels, hoping its her, but no, it's usually the office manager glaring at me through his emo glasses. Yes, I'm not doing anything. No, there's nothing I can do about it. So shove it.
Yuko and Grandpa Duh's nurse have been in a silent battle over my breakfast rolls. Whenever there's no more regular rolls that Grandpa Duh eats, the nurse gives him one of the ones I buy. She's asked me before if I could, to which I said that it's not a problem. He's a nice old guy - he gave me a bracelet when I was 10. However, Yuko doesn't know that I have given permission for Grandpa Duh to eat my breakfast rolls and now it has escalated into a heated argument that took up 15 minutes of my morning. I don't think it's even a matter of the rolls anymore to Yuko. I think I'll just try not to get involved and hand the rolls over to Grandpa myself.
Speaking of rolls, I was buying some at Carrefour (China's equivalent to KMart, but horrifically Much happier) some weeks ago when I noticed something at the checkout counter. Those tall boxes that I thought were many colorful forms of cigarettes are actually boxes of condoms. How could I miss the happy banana-like condom man with sunglasses on? I should really be more observant. In a nation where only one baby is allowed per family, condoms Would be located where the boxes of candy aisle should be.
WangYue and I were looking at photos Victor took of all of us on our great Shanghai Weekend adventure and we deduced two things. 1) The camera definitely adds 10 pounds on me (great, as if the maid wasn't already telling me I'm too fat and should eat less) and 2) I don't look very Chinese. I keep hearing that. Though here they tell my I look a little Vietnamese rather than asking if one of my parents is caucasian...
Yuko and Grandpa Duh's nurse have been in a silent battle over my breakfast rolls. Whenever there's no more regular rolls that Grandpa Duh eats, the nurse gives him one of the ones I buy. She's asked me before if I could, to which I said that it's not a problem. He's a nice old guy - he gave me a bracelet when I was 10. However, Yuko doesn't know that I have given permission for Grandpa Duh to eat my breakfast rolls and now it has escalated into a heated argument that took up 15 minutes of my morning. I don't think it's even a matter of the rolls anymore to Yuko. I think I'll just try not to get involved and hand the rolls over to Grandpa myself.
Speaking of rolls, I was buying some at Carrefour (China's equivalent to KMart, but horrifically Much happier) some weeks ago when I noticed something at the checkout counter. Those tall boxes that I thought were many colorful forms of cigarettes are actually boxes of condoms. How could I miss the happy banana-like condom man with sunglasses on? I should really be more observant. In a nation where only one baby is allowed per family, condoms Would be located where the boxes of candy aisle should be.
WangYue and I were looking at photos Victor took of all of us on our great Shanghai Weekend adventure and we deduced two things. 1) The camera definitely adds 10 pounds on me (great, as if the maid wasn't already telling me I'm too fat and should eat less) and 2) I don't look very Chinese. I keep hearing that. Though here they tell my I look a little Vietnamese rather than asking if one of my parents is caucasian...
Sunday, June 18, 2006
An Exciting Shanghai Weekend
This weekend, I went out on a grand tour of the city with the new girl, Kathleen, and Claire, pretty Shanghai lady, WangYue, Jenny from the office, and Kathleen's distant cousin, Victor. I must admit, I was a little apprehensive at first because it would be going out with total strangers, however, I think in the end, we all had a lot of fun.
Day one we all met up at noon at Kathleen's uncle's office. Being it was the weekend, the building wasn't air-conditioned so we sat in a tiny little office waiting for Kathleen to get there while we chatted with Claire. Then we all went out to lunch with Kathleen's uncle to a Shabushabu place. Shabushabu is basically hotpot. The strangest part of the meal was the appetizer/"sushi." What made it odd was that the sushi was actually thinly sliced beef that we're normally accustomed to putting into the shabushabu soup to cook. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, I ate raw meat. And liked it.
After that, I went - again - to XiangYang. I bought a nifty purse for my sister (I think you'll like it May) but other than that, there wasn't anything interesting there. We made a stop at Mister Donut, where I introduced everyone to the wonder that is the chocolate pon de ring (chewy donuts, yum!).
Next, we went to XinTianDi which I already went to as an office fieldtrip. Same as last time, very nice but all in all too expensive to enjoy. Next we went to a bar called Face which was located in some sort of gated community place. It was horribly expensive like XinTianDi and was also filled with foreigners. The the interior was very interesting. Apparently Face is a Thai styled bar. We lounged there for over an hour and Kathleen picked up a monster mosquito bite kind of the like the ones I got when I first arrived.
Afterwards it started to get a lot more fun. Claire took us to a really nifty store that took factory leftovers from brands like Diesel and Yohji Yamamoto. I am now the proud owner of a really awesome Yamamoto jacket. Yippee! Next was dinner at a horrifically ugly looking restaurant that nevertheless cooked good food. Claire brought her boyfriend for us to meet - an extremely tall Dutch man charmingly named Bob. Bob was very polite.
Yesterday after a horrible morning of coordinating, I managed to get everyone to meet up at 12:30 and we proceeded to ChenHuangMiao - yet another super touristy place. The featured attraction is a villa complex once belonging to a very rich man. We wandered around there for over two hours, sweating like crazy. Then we went to Pudong where we walekd by the water and went to a restaurant that specialized in delicious mango deserts. Mango pudding...yummmm. Next was an o so exciting but very short ferry ride across the water to Puxi where we walked for half an hour into the Bund just to climb up onto a people filled platform to get a few people filled shots of the Pearl Tower. Then there was dinner at an alley that specialized in street food. Mmm, street food. We ended up only eating five ShenJianBao apiece. And everyone was too polite to say they were still hungry. Next we went to a snazzy bar in the middle of some park and ended up spending over 200RNB on yucky drinks. I ordered a pina colada and asked for no alcohol, but there was definitely some when I got it. Yuck, alcohol. At drinks we met Bud the art director from Cleveland who seems to strongly dislike the Japanese (all the while I was thinking about my cute little nephew - how can you possibly hate him?) and his prettily dressed up, extremely young companion for the evening and Claire's friend, Kelly. At around 11, I pointed out that tomorrow there was still work and we had to try to catch some form of public transportation. Yah, all the subways were closed, and none of the buses went where we needed to go, so we ended up splitting an expensive cabride, but not before we ran into various convenience stores to buy some food because we were Starving!
This morning, I finally saw Yuko and Kaigen after not seeing them all weekend. Kaigen called me a few times to yell at me for not telling them where I went, and then Yuko sent me a very polite text message saying that I can stay out as long as I want, but please call every so often to let them know I'm alive. Yuko said this morning that Kaigen is afraid that if I get lost or something my parents will kill him. I guess he still lives in fear of my daddy. ^_^
All in all, though, a great weekend. I made a lot of new friends. Yay!
Day one we all met up at noon at Kathleen's uncle's office. Being it was the weekend, the building wasn't air-conditioned so we sat in a tiny little office waiting for Kathleen to get there while we chatted with Claire. Then we all went out to lunch with Kathleen's uncle to a Shabushabu place. Shabushabu is basically hotpot. The strangest part of the meal was the appetizer/"sushi." What made it odd was that the sushi was actually thinly sliced beef that we're normally accustomed to putting into the shabushabu soup to cook. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, I ate raw meat. And liked it.
After that, I went - again - to XiangYang. I bought a nifty purse for my sister (I think you'll like it May) but other than that, there wasn't anything interesting there. We made a stop at Mister Donut, where I introduced everyone to the wonder that is the chocolate pon de ring (chewy donuts, yum!).
Next, we went to XinTianDi which I already went to as an office fieldtrip. Same as last time, very nice but all in all too expensive to enjoy. Next we went to a bar called Face which was located in some sort of gated community place. It was horribly expensive like XinTianDi and was also filled with foreigners. The the interior was very interesting. Apparently Face is a Thai styled bar. We lounged there for over an hour and Kathleen picked up a monster mosquito bite kind of the like the ones I got when I first arrived.
Afterwards it started to get a lot more fun. Claire took us to a really nifty store that took factory leftovers from brands like Diesel and Yohji Yamamoto. I am now the proud owner of a really awesome Yamamoto jacket. Yippee! Next was dinner at a horrifically ugly looking restaurant that nevertheless cooked good food. Claire brought her boyfriend for us to meet - an extremely tall Dutch man charmingly named Bob. Bob was very polite.
Yesterday after a horrible morning of coordinating, I managed to get everyone to meet up at 12:30 and we proceeded to ChenHuangMiao - yet another super touristy place. The featured attraction is a villa complex once belonging to a very rich man. We wandered around there for over two hours, sweating like crazy. Then we went to Pudong where we walekd by the water and went to a restaurant that specialized in delicious mango deserts. Mango pudding...yummmm. Next was an o so exciting but very short ferry ride across the water to Puxi where we walked for half an hour into the Bund just to climb up onto a people filled platform to get a few people filled shots of the Pearl Tower. Then there was dinner at an alley that specialized in street food. Mmm, street food. We ended up only eating five ShenJianBao apiece. And everyone was too polite to say they were still hungry. Next we went to a snazzy bar in the middle of some park and ended up spending over 200RNB on yucky drinks. I ordered a pina colada and asked for no alcohol, but there was definitely some when I got it. Yuck, alcohol. At drinks we met Bud the art director from Cleveland who seems to strongly dislike the Japanese (all the while I was thinking about my cute little nephew - how can you possibly hate him?) and his prettily dressed up, extremely young companion for the evening and Claire's friend, Kelly. At around 11, I pointed out that tomorrow there was still work and we had to try to catch some form of public transportation. Yah, all the subways were closed, and none of the buses went where we needed to go, so we ended up splitting an expensive cabride, but not before we ran into various convenience stores to buy some food because we were Starving!
This morning, I finally saw Yuko and Kaigen after not seeing them all weekend. Kaigen called me a few times to yell at me for not telling them where I went, and then Yuko sent me a very polite text message saying that I can stay out as long as I want, but please call every so often to let them know I'm alive. Yuko said this morning that Kaigen is afraid that if I get lost or something my parents will kill him. I guess he still lives in fear of my daddy. ^_^
All in all, though, a great weekend. I made a lot of new friends. Yay!
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Stupid Web
I realized a while back and just thought I would share. I now know why asian people don't use AIM or Blogger. The reason is because neither are easily accessible. In the case of AIM, not only can I not get onto the network, I can't even get to a website that will download the program. I couldn't even download gaim. I was able to get Terraserver, but that's how I found out the network is inaccessible. And because of this, I have resorted to just talking on the gmail chat network. If you feel like talking to me, get gmail (if you need an invite, let me know). O and my "screenname" is my gmail address - Irenia321@gmail.com. Do feel free to chat, it's quite lonely here and I crave being able to talk to people in English.
As for Blogger, while I can post, I can't actually access anyone's (not even my own) blog. How messed up is that?
As for Blogger, while I can post, I can't actually access anyone's (not even my own) blog. How messed up is that?
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Did it Work?
Here's my schewed Barragon. Too much chocolate cake, not enough cheesecake.
Let me know if the screenshot uploaded or not.
Photo and Other Things
It's blurry, I know. However, Ben brought it to my attention today that he has no idea who my friends are, or for that matter, what their genders are. So here are Shelly and LiQiang (a boy, as you can see). We were at a really nifty place that sells XiaoLongTangBao - Soup Dumplings.
Other than that, yesterday has been filled with the most interesting things. I'll start with work. Yesterday was the Architect's birthday. We celebrated with a humongous cake that makes me never want chocolate cake ever again. However, I believe that the party has put the Architect in a very good mood. Later on in the day, when my supervisor, Anita, and I went to see him and go over our designs, he was most amusing. What I'm doing is creating exteriors to pre-existing, unfortunately malformed and overcomplicated interiors. The end result looks somewhat like Casa Barragon, but very skewed. I had a scheme going on about solids and voids intersecting one another. If I can figure out how to get a rendering out of SketchUp I will post a picture. In any case, the Architect said he really liked what I had going on. However there was one problem. "You see," he said, and I translate, "These clients are very conservative. What they want is something more traditional. It's like they want cheesecake, but what you've given them is fancy chocolate cake. The fancy chocolate cake is very nice, but in the end, if we present them with no cheesecake, they'll walk away feeling like they didn't get what they want - namely cheesecake. What we could do is offer them some cheesecake with some fancy filling (he suggested something which I interpret as foie gras - in cheesecake?)." So he told me to hold on to the chocolate cake - he likes it enough that he's willing to present it as a final, very optional option, but he told us that we must work on making cheesecake. Anita later complained that she doesn't like cheesecake, and that she's not very good at making cheesecake. The senior designer, a fellow named Hung Ming, chimed in and said that she's just going to have to figure out how to make cheesecake even if it's really bad cheese or something along those lines. The whole experience has made me very averse to cake of any sort. I doubt I'll be eating any for some time.
Later, I went home. One of my other uncles stopped by to pick up a package my aunt left for him. While he was over, he needed to borrow a bottle opener for something he brought. Since neither of us knew much about the place, we looked everywhere for one. He was in the kitchen and I looked at the sideboard thingy where all the hard liquor is kept. At one point, I saw the shiny metal of a bottle opener and thought, "Oo! Bottle opener." Imagine my horrified consternation when I picked up the shiny piece of metal and found attached to it a very detailed wooden phallus. Yes, the "down there" of a man. I can only assume someone presented it in poor taste to my uncle as a gag gift. And, needless to say, I found a different bottle opener for my other uncle to use.
What's also wonderfully amusing is that the starter conversation of the day in our row at the office was about working women. By working women, we mean hookers. There are a lot of them in Shanghai, and though it is technically illegal, none of the ladies are ever arrested. We asked the boys in our row whether or not the ladies are in a legal business and they said that the policemen here don't arrest them. We asked why. They said because the police here need their services too. Then they asked us how to ask a hooker for her services in the states. Then we told them that it's illegal, but according to movies, the proper approach is "How much?" Then they asked us the usual price. Being that neither of us have ever needed such services, we had no idea. Adn that's a fascinating start to my day.
Today I went to lunch around here. Isn't it nifty? Shelly and I stopped to buy a Chinese yoyo (for her brother) and some pumice stones (for our feet). Since purchasing our rocks, Shelly has fallen madly in love with hers and is planning on buying one for practically everyone she knows. Also, while we were here, we had some cheap and delicious XiaoLongBao (Soup Dumplings). MMMMM.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Shanghai Some More
Last night, I went to a spa! A real one! I went with my aunt and uncle, soaked in a hot tub and got a foot massage. And the foot massage cost only a whopping $6. I love this country.
Today I went with my aunt to a street market that sells fake Gucci, Prada, Fendi and the like. I didn't really see anything that really caught my interest. The only thing I ended up buying was a purse in this random store in the market that was completely original. Mmm, purses. While we were in there, the store crowded up with English speaking people who couldn't fathom that some Chinese people can actually speak English, so that was pretty amusing. I was also at another store where a woman bought something at 10 times the price that I could have gotten it for simply because she was 1) caucasian and 2) could speak no Chinese.
Speaking of caucasians that speak Chinese, I heard a wonderful tale from my coworker, Shelly, about her unfortunate friend. He's in Shanghai working over the summer too. He's a nice American boy who doesn't know a single word of Chinese. The firm he works for set him up with a place to live, but the bed had to linens. So he went out and bought some pillows and blankets and sheets. On the way home he saw a place that sells really cheap beer. Awesome, he thinks and heads on in. The proprieter sees him holding his pillows and blankets and starts pointing and laughing. The poor guy stands there confused. Then, quite a few scantily clad young ladies walk downstairs and also starts pointing and laughing. Then, the young ladies go up and start touching him inappropriately. I suppose at that moment he realized he'd walked into a brothel and they were laughing because they thought he had brought his own equipment.
Gotta' love China...
Today I went with my aunt to a street market that sells fake Gucci, Prada, Fendi and the like. I didn't really see anything that really caught my interest. The only thing I ended up buying was a purse in this random store in the market that was completely original. Mmm, purses. While we were in there, the store crowded up with English speaking people who couldn't fathom that some Chinese people can actually speak English, so that was pretty amusing. I was also at another store where a woman bought something at 10 times the price that I could have gotten it for simply because she was 1) caucasian and 2) could speak no Chinese.
Speaking of caucasians that speak Chinese, I heard a wonderful tale from my coworker, Shelly, about her unfortunate friend. He's in Shanghai working over the summer too. He's a nice American boy who doesn't know a single word of Chinese. The firm he works for set him up with a place to live, but the bed had to linens. So he went out and bought some pillows and blankets and sheets. On the way home he saw a place that sells really cheap beer. Awesome, he thinks and heads on in. The proprieter sees him holding his pillows and blankets and starts pointing and laughing. The poor guy stands there confused. Then, quite a few scantily clad young ladies walk downstairs and also starts pointing and laughing. Then, the young ladies go up and start touching him inappropriately. I suppose at that moment he realized he'd walked into a brothel and they were laughing because they thought he had brought his own equipment.
Gotta' love China...
