(1) The Shanghai Worker's Dictionary. I'm just finishing compiling a long vocabulary list of words and terms I learned while working at MoCA. It's mindboggling to think of all the things not on the list - things I learned but didn't realize I learned. But for whatever it's worth, it is another skeleton outline of this summer, and is available by request.
(2) Though my Chinese is by no means perfect, I have made a college career out of studying it. Maybe it will even become part of my real-life career. But unsurprisingly it was a trial-and-error process, and I made terrible and hilarious mistakes along the way, and it was part of the fun. But like most people, I sometimes wish my now-self could have given my then-self a few pointers. Of course, someone probably did tell me everything I could have told me and I either didn’t listen or couldn’t understand at the time. But for whatever it's worth, these are the things I wish I would have known while starting Chinese:
1. People will tell you “Chinese is a lifelong language; you’re never done studying Chinese. Unless you are rich and plan on simply taking Chinese classes for the next eighty years, this is not true. You will come to a point where you stop studying, and what you have inside your head is what you get going out into the real world. If you still haven’t learned your tones properly or don’t know how to really analyze characters, everything will crystallize and you’re stuck with what you have (and don’t have). I’ve seen this with many foreigners living abroad – they stopped studying in order to start living, assuming their accent would just disappear. But especially in Chinese, the basics are essential.
All this is to say: make the first two years of learning the most studious of all your years of studying. Yale does a good job of forcing this idea, and we spent almost the entire first semester simply learning how to pronounce Chinese tones. At the time I thought it was an absurd overkill, but now I wish we would have spent a year. Clear and precise pronunciation is something you can’t retrieve later – it crystallizes. Make sure when it does you’re on the right side of the tracks.
2. Don’t forget what you’ve learned. It might seems simple, but don’t take this lightly. I was good friends with a brilliant Korean student while studying at Princeton in Beijing, and I asked him while we were sightseeing one day how on earth he could read all of the signs. It was incredible – he recognized almost every character on the historic site signs, and we were both just second-year students. He laughed and said, “The problem with most Chinese students is that they forget. You’ve seen all of these characters before, you just need to work on not forgetting.”
Sure enough, he was right – when he pointed out where we had learned each character, I slowly remembered repeating them mindlessly in class or glimpsing them while sifting through my vocabulary lists late at night. Constant and vigilant review isn’t something I was ever particularly good at, but it’s the key to becoming an outstanding mid- to high-level speaker. Don’t forget to review, and don’t forget to not forget.
3. Get a Chinese girlfriend. I used to think that this was a joke, but whether it’s a friend or girlfriend having someone you can speak with often and trust is important. It allows you to use the language practically and associate Chinese with things you care about. Getting involved with clubs that make you use Chinese (I’m thinking particularly of the newspaper I helped write for while at ICLP) can also help make the Chinese you learn significant and therefore more memorable.
4. Decide what kind of Chinese you want to learn. Whether it’s colloquial or formal or written or verbal, knowing what kind you’re trying to achieve can speed things up more than you’d think.
5. Learn to understand characters. Though most people ignore their teachers, learning stroke orders and how to analyze radicals in characters has given me an advantage ever since my first semester of Chinese.
6. Learning Chinese, you need to not only speak, but also think in a different way. This goes for almost all languages, but the sooner you can think in Chinese (an not just translate from English), the sooner you’ll start feeling fluent in the language.
7. Forget what your teachers told you that Chinese was. You will probably have to adapt your Chinese to the many brands and ways of speaking. Depending on your age, place, etc., the “proper” way is not always what your teacher taught you. My friend Peregrine went to work in the villages of Yunan and, sure enough, her Mandarin was not doing it for her. Even coming from learning “Beijing Mandarin” to “Taiwanese Mandarin” was a bit of a leap. Don’t take it for granted.
8. Take a language pledge or two. They’re really important in the first few years to beginning to think in another language.
9. Be fearless. My Chinese self is much different than my normal self, and it’s become that way because I’m much more successful learning Chinese as an extremely exaggerated, extroverted person. Though it might not be a part of your everyday personality, having a fearless Chinese persona will help your Chinese. Learning Chiense is about expanding your comfort zone, and this is only one of the ways to do it.
10. Know the difference between becoming Chinese and becoming a foreigner in China. It’s not necessary (and actually often not desirable) to try and actually become Chinese. You can add your own flavor to the culture instead.
11. You’re in it for the long haul. If you give up before you’ve spent three to four years (and if you’re like most every Yalie I’ve met), you are going to feel lame.
12. Don’t kid yourself. You are not special for being a Chinese-speaking foreigner, they’re everywhere. If this is why you are starting Chinese, or if you think that Chinese alone is somehow going to magically land you a career, please reconsider.
In the end, most of these boil down to “work hard and learn a lot”. And in some ways there isn’t anything I could have told myself a few years ago that would have helped; learning it on one’s own is most of the fun, and I'm nostalgic enough to say I wouldn't want to change the way I've learned it. But if nothing else, keeping these reflections in mind will make the “ah-ha!” factor of language learning just a little bit bigger.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The world expo and my feelings for America
The last few days in Shanghai will be the exact same as the last few days anywhere, except for once I feel that I’ve crossed off my Shanghai to-do long before now. Living in the city was the most important part of this trip, and all the tourist stops seem somewhat meaningless after that – why would I go to the bund when I run by it every day? Why would I spend a Saturday at People's Park at the heart of the city when I walk through it to get to work? It’s rare that anyone will learn about a city from tourist spots. The daily trips to grocery stores and subways and standing next to people in line at the bank is when you understand a city. Still, there’s one thing left on my tourist list.
Last stop: The World Expo. It’s embarrassing that I still hadn’t been, really, but I collected a good deal of advice about it in the meantime. The Expo is just like making guacamole; everyone wants to tell you his or her opinion on how to do it. Of course, my way was best.
I went in the late afternoon, and spent three or four hours simply walking through the entire Expo and seeing the outside architecture of all of the pavilions. I heard (and found) that the interiors weren’t worth waiting in line for, so I didn’t and instead enjoyed the exteriors and the general atmosphere of the place, featuring an amusement-park-like feel on an international scale. After my walk-through it was nighttime, and the Expo cleared out (Chinese people like being home for dinner) and I was able to walk into 10-20 pavilions without waiting in line. Chile was my favorite for having both a strong thematic feel and clear message (on top of heart-meltingly beautiful design). My feet were throbbing by then, but I was satisfied with the day. I went back to my room and slept for a few hours until I had to get up and get on a plane.
More than any other trip to Asia, this one has made me consider and appreciate the idea of “American culture” more than I ever have. The introspective view was due to not only the Expo (celebrating and necessarily comparing world cultures), but also to the unique Shanghai expat community that contrasted so sharply with local culture. In monitoring which restaurants I liked most, what clubs I found most comfortable, who I enjoyed meeting with at work, and what Will and I decided to stock our pantry with, I started to understand what American culture entails. It’s a curious collection of things, some excessive and some absurd, but wonderful if you can recognize them as such.
After another 14-hour plane ride, 5 more movies and a few intravenous injections of jetlag, I’m finally back in the U.S. On the same calendar day, I woke up in Shanghai for an early morning run past the expo and through the already-busy streets of the city, then at night I ran on trails in a forested park and hilly roads that ran along farms and fields in the U.S. To me, that experience in and of itself worth is living for.
So I’m back and appreciating U.S. culture. It’s an odd way to end a summer abroad experience, and I’m not sure what it tells about how this will fit in with my future. But while basking in generous-to-absurd restaurant portions, oversized trucks with oversized doggies hanging out of them, farm houses, nearly-unoccupied suburbs, green-ness and the weather and everything, I’ve figured out what about myself is significant, and that will help me decide where to go next.
Last stop: The World Expo. It’s embarrassing that I still hadn’t been, really, but I collected a good deal of advice about it in the meantime. The Expo is just like making guacamole; everyone wants to tell you his or her opinion on how to do it. Of course, my way was best.
I went in the late afternoon, and spent three or four hours simply walking through the entire Expo and seeing the outside architecture of all of the pavilions. I heard (and found) that the interiors weren’t worth waiting in line for, so I didn’t and instead enjoyed the exteriors and the general atmosphere of the place, featuring an amusement-park-like feel on an international scale. After my walk-through it was nighttime, and the Expo cleared out (Chinese people like being home for dinner) and I was able to walk into 10-20 pavilions without waiting in line. Chile was my favorite for having both a strong thematic feel and clear message (on top of heart-meltingly beautiful design). My feet were throbbing by then, but I was satisfied with the day. I went back to my room and slept for a few hours until I had to get up and get on a plane.
More than any other trip to Asia, this one has made me consider and appreciate the idea of “American culture” more than I ever have. The introspective view was due to not only the Expo (celebrating and necessarily comparing world cultures), but also to the unique Shanghai expat community that contrasted so sharply with local culture. In monitoring which restaurants I liked most, what clubs I found most comfortable, who I enjoyed meeting with at work, and what Will and I decided to stock our pantry with, I started to understand what American culture entails. It’s a curious collection of things, some excessive and some absurd, but wonderful if you can recognize them as such.
After another 14-hour plane ride, 5 more movies and a few intravenous injections of jetlag, I’m finally back in the U.S. On the same calendar day, I woke up in Shanghai for an early morning run past the expo and through the already-busy streets of the city, then at night I ran on trails in a forested park and hilly roads that ran along farms and fields in the U.S. To me, that experience in and of itself worth is living for.
So I’m back and appreciating U.S. culture. It’s an odd way to end a summer abroad experience, and I’m not sure what it tells about how this will fit in with my future. But while basking in generous-to-absurd restaurant portions, oversized trucks with oversized doggies hanging out of them, farm houses, nearly-unoccupied suburbs, green-ness and the weather and everything, I’ve figured out what about myself is significant, and that will help me decide where to go next.
The end of Shanghai life as we knew it
I cleaned out my desk over the course of an afternoon, not because it took that long but because I wanted to re-read everything I had been holding on to before I got rid of it. Any souvenir or object we keep is essentially kept so we can re-live what it’s associated with sometime in the future, but I figured I’d get it out of the way and re-live it right then and there. Saves me some time.
Thursday we had my going-away lunch and Friday was my final meeting. My boss, Joe, had given me the homework about a month back to evaluate MoCA and present what I liked, disliked, and thought should be changed about it, then present it at this meeting. So I presented and discussed. Here are the bullet points of what we spent time on:
- The Chinese philosophy is not to plan everything to the minute, and there is no timeline like in the West (which was initially very frustrating for me). But still, everyone somehow knows when things will get done, and they always do. Joe described the way things work at MoCA as “like fireman waiting for a fire – when problems arise, we find solutions. That’s the best we can do.”
- The problem of having a “Chairman” who makes all the decisions without understanding the everyday work environment. Everyone agreed this was a problem, but an unavoidable one at such a small company.
- There isn’t much work if you only work within your department. Luckily, MoCA is small enough where I could dabble in all of the departments and stay pretty busy while learning about the entire museum operation.
- MoCA didn’t give me busy work, which I respect immensely considering that’s what most interns do
- Overall, MoCA had a unique family feeling to it, with Joe at the center. He took us out to lunch, allowed us to go see other museums during work, encouraged us to always be working together, and made sure I was learning something every day. This is something I’m not sure I would have found at an American internship.
Then it ended, and the next day so did my apartment stay and Shanghai life as we knew it. Will and most everyone else got on planes, and we left behind most of our prized pantry. I went to live in a dormitory near one of my co-workers (I somehow convinced the housekeeper there to let me stay for free for a couple of nights). Despite it being about eight thousand times less expensive, I love it – it’s a big room with a bed, desk, closets, TV, etc. and a bathroom. Just what I need, nothing more. And it's right next to the Expo, the last thing to cross off on my to-do list.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
This is something that happened
Gallery openings are chaotic. They are exactly like theater “tech weeks” in every respect, except I don’t have to worry about actors forgetting their lines. Everyone wears their grittiest clothes, stays up past their bedtimes, and prepares frantically for the opening.
In this frenzy, one of the most important works was late coming through customs and wasn’t going to make it in time for the opening of the Indonesian contemporary art exhibition. While I’m not going to say we smuggled the artwork into China from Indonesia (in case the Chinese government happens to be keeping up with my blog), I will say that it arrived hurriedly in the middle of the night without passing through customs, and was magically set up by dawn. The work is a giant metallic racecar. A few days later, I was assigned to take it apart and send it to myself in the mail so it could go through customs the proper way before the government noticed. So Monday morning I learned how to take apart a car, resulting in an approximate 112% increase in manliness.
Today, it came back in the mail and I unpackaged it and put it all back together. Such is the museum life.
In short: I took apart a car, sent it to myself, and put it back together. I think that needed to be recapped.
The cherry on the cake: while I was finally cleaning/polishing it, a woman crept up out of the crowd (who was busy watching me clean/polish the car) and asked: “Excuse me sir, is this a performance piece?”
“Yes,” I replied, straight-faced, “I’m here until August 2nd”.
Today, it came back in the mail and I unpackaged it and put it all back together. Such is the museum life.
In short: I took apart a car, sent it to myself, and put it back together. I think that needed to be recapped.
The cherry on the cake: while I was finally cleaning/polishing it, a woman crept up out of the crowd (who was busy watching me clean/polish the car) and asked: “Excuse me sir, is this a performance piece?”
“Yes,” I replied, straight-faced, “I’m here until August 2nd”.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Going to work
In China, “going to work”, is just that: going to work to be at work. Whether or not this means doing anything while you’re there or not, the most important thing is that you’re there, at work. In the Western world, “going to work” is largely associated with being engaged in tasks at one’s workplace. Whether or not this means the tasks are meaningful or even helpful, the most important thing is that you’re busy doing something.
I finally understood this when I was discussing the differences between the Western-run internships and Chinese-run internships with Dean Jones from Yale, who came to visit/check up on us in Shanghai. The interns at Western companies have been busy round-the-clock at work, being put to tasks and always being given something to do (I recall one of my friends quoting her boss as saying, “give me a call if you’re being underutilized and I’ll give you something to do”). Their experience is more of a “program”, though the bulk of their work ends up being busy work and is unused in the company’s final product. At the Chinese-run companies (like MoCA), on the other hand, work is all about waiting for (or begging for) jobs until you’re given a task to complete. I have much more free time during the day (usually a few hours in the morning, a couple in the afternoon on a normal day), but the tasks I end up doing actually need to be done, and I’m often the only one who can do them (such as translating and meeting with people, etc.). So on the one hand, Western companies seem more productive because workers are constantly “working”, but on the other hand Chinese ones are more realistic in that they don’t understand the concept of “busy work” (though staying at work with nothing to do is often frustrating. I usually am constantly asking how I can help out so I won’t feel bad when I spend a couple hours reading a book or step out of the office early to go for a run).
This difference is extremely important to understand for any Westerner who plans on working with Chinese companies in the future. Understanding this subtle difference can save you from mounds of frustration (as it could have saved me a month or so ago).
And NOW YOU KNOW.
I finally understood this when I was discussing the differences between the Western-run internships and Chinese-run internships with Dean Jones from Yale, who came to visit/check up on us in Shanghai. The interns at Western companies have been busy round-the-clock at work, being put to tasks and always being given something to do (I recall one of my friends quoting her boss as saying, “give me a call if you’re being underutilized and I’ll give you something to do”). Their experience is more of a “program”, though the bulk of their work ends up being busy work and is unused in the company’s final product. At the Chinese-run companies (like MoCA), on the other hand, work is all about waiting for (or begging for) jobs until you’re given a task to complete. I have much more free time during the day (usually a few hours in the morning, a couple in the afternoon on a normal day), but the tasks I end up doing actually need to be done, and I’m often the only one who can do them (such as translating and meeting with people, etc.). So on the one hand, Western companies seem more productive because workers are constantly “working”, but on the other hand Chinese ones are more realistic in that they don’t understand the concept of “busy work” (though staying at work with nothing to do is often frustrating. I usually am constantly asking how I can help out so I won’t feel bad when I spend a couple hours reading a book or step out of the office early to go for a run).
This difference is extremely important to understand for any Westerner who plans on working with Chinese companies in the future. Understanding this subtle difference can save you from mounds of frustration (as it could have saved me a month or so ago).
And NOW YOU KNOW.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Will and David, the concert series
One of the many places our concert took us.
(I also uploaded it to Youtube in case you couldn't watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0HLA9r4Z-c)
An Uneventful Day
“Today was a normal day.”
Let me explain: I woke up, pulled on my running shorts, and stumbled out the door, just like any other day. I waved to every security guard along my running route, returning the occasional “good morning’s” one by one as I clipped along the riverside. I finished the run and stretched, no surprises, no mishaps. I went to work, and I took the subway. I always take the subway. But this time, just like lots of other times, it was completely and conventionally uneventful. As predicted, the third stop on the route – the only one that opens from the right side, instead of the left like all the others – made the foreigners and newcomers stick out like sore thumbs as they stumbled around, nearly missing their stop. I was one of them a couple months ago, but now the other regulars smirk with me, not at me, as we judge the newcomers. A few minutes later, I nodded and smiled at the guards at MoCA as I strolled into work, barely remembering the first two weeks they spent trying to keep me out (thinking I was a tourist). I went to work, came home, and finished out the un-calamitous day.
Maybe this isn’t what I’m supposed to be blogging about. But these things are what makes the city feel a little more like “home”. It creeps up on you when you spend some time fully acclimated to a city. And now that I’ve gotten here, I’m ready to go back. The days are dwindling down in Shanghaiville; it’s reached that point in the summer where the days finally start flickering by, and the U.S. and Yale and Trumbull and my room all finally re-work their way to the top of “places I want to be”.
Peregrine, one of my favorite people, came to visit last weekend. She took last year off to study and work in China and London and so we caught up on our past years and shared our ridiculous stories. She, Della, and I visited Shanghai two years ago before our first China summer program, so we spent some time re-enacting that trip and being floored by (for once, not how much China has changed, but rather) how much we’d changed. Our language alone made Shanghai a different place, and our newly-gained comfort with the culture made wandering through the city a more comfortable experience than NYC could offer, and a much more introspective one. I guess that’s what you get for a college education.
At MoCA, we’re switching to the last exhibition I’ll see: the Contemporary Art of Indonesia. I was dumbfounded yesterday when the artists put me in charge of installing a couple of their art installations, and found myself atop a ladder putting my basic carpentry skills to work. Most of all, I was surprised how much control the artists were willing to give up in the installation of their art. I had creative power in deciding how exactly to space banners, pin cloth up, etc., and it made me think that art is slightly more collaborative than even the artists themselves realize. And also during work last week, my coworkers took me to buy books that I have since busied myself with. I bought Chinese classics translated from ancient Chinese into modern Chinese (so I can read it). Maybe I’ll read these instead of taking Chinese classes this year.
I hit 121 last week. I’m no longer afraid of mileage.
Let me explain: I woke up, pulled on my running shorts, and stumbled out the door, just like any other day. I waved to every security guard along my running route, returning the occasional “good morning’s” one by one as I clipped along the riverside. I finished the run and stretched, no surprises, no mishaps. I went to work, and I took the subway. I always take the subway. But this time, just like lots of other times, it was completely and conventionally uneventful. As predicted, the third stop on the route – the only one that opens from the right side, instead of the left like all the others – made the foreigners and newcomers stick out like sore thumbs as they stumbled around, nearly missing their stop. I was one of them a couple months ago, but now the other regulars smirk with me, not at me, as we judge the newcomers. A few minutes later, I nodded and smiled at the guards at MoCA as I strolled into work, barely remembering the first two weeks they spent trying to keep me out (thinking I was a tourist). I went to work, came home, and finished out the un-calamitous day.
Maybe this isn’t what I’m supposed to be blogging about. But these things are what makes the city feel a little more like “home”. It creeps up on you when you spend some time fully acclimated to a city. And now that I’ve gotten here, I’m ready to go back. The days are dwindling down in Shanghaiville; it’s reached that point in the summer where the days finally start flickering by, and the U.S. and Yale and Trumbull and my room all finally re-work their way to the top of “places I want to be”.
Peregrine, one of my favorite people, came to visit last weekend. She took last year off to study and work in China and London and so we caught up on our past years and shared our ridiculous stories. She, Della, and I visited Shanghai two years ago before our first China summer program, so we spent some time re-enacting that trip and being floored by (for once, not how much China has changed, but rather) how much we’d changed. Our language alone made Shanghai a different place, and our newly-gained comfort with the culture made wandering through the city a more comfortable experience than NYC could offer, and a much more introspective one. I guess that’s what you get for a college education.
At MoCA, we’re switching to the last exhibition I’ll see: the Contemporary Art of Indonesia. I was dumbfounded yesterday when the artists put me in charge of installing a couple of their art installations, and found myself atop a ladder putting my basic carpentry skills to work. Most of all, I was surprised how much control the artists were willing to give up in the installation of their art. I had creative power in deciding how exactly to space banners, pin cloth up, etc., and it made me think that art is slightly more collaborative than even the artists themselves realize. And also during work last week, my coworkers took me to buy books that I have since busied myself with. I bought Chinese classics translated from ancient Chinese into modern Chinese (so I can read it). Maybe I’ll read these instead of taking Chinese classes this year.
I hit 121 last week. I’m no longer afraid of mileage.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Palidrome Mileage Program
This is the summer of palindromes. My mileage sheet (per week) for the last nine weeks reads: 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 111. It started as a cutesy way to get to where I wanted to be by July, and turned into a mileage program to see if my body could handle high mileage. Ever since I read the running cult book “Once A Runner” my freshman year, I’ve wondered if my body could hold up over 120 miles/week, and this might be the best chance I have at finding out. While it might look like I’m finished at 111, the last step in my Palindrome Mileage Program is 121. If I don’t make it there this week (or even if I do), I’ve got all of August.
What’s it like running the highest mileage of my life in Shanghai? It’s learning to be OK with being gross and disgusting as you hop by thousands of pedestrians every run; it’s like trying to go crazy, running as far as you ever have and consciously deciding “I could go further”; it’s spending your day waiting in between runs; it’s like eating so you can run, making your own food to make sure you’re getting enough protein/calcium, whatever; it’s like this: a curious popping sound started coming from my knee whenever I went too fast without fully warming up and instead of being alarmed, my first thought was that I would be able to better regulate my warm-up this way.
There are several not-so-incredible things about what I’m doing: I’m training in a city with no hills, at sea level, and deciding my own pace day-to-day (though sticking close to a range my coach wants us running at). All this makes hitting high mileage easier and slightly less meaningful. Most serious athletes do their heavy training at high altitude with a team.
There are several incredible things about what I’m doing: I’m putting down lifetime-high mileage from the center of one of the largest, most populated cities in the world, entirely on pavement and without ice baths (to keep my legs from getting injured) during monsoon season in shanghai (heavy pollution + rain = acid rain!). And outside of a monthly e-mail from my coach to the entire team, there’s no one patting my back or cheering me on, though I do get some phenomenal support from the occasional Chinese man on street corners. All this, with a full-time 9-6 job.
Speaking of acid rain I just remembered and looked up an E-mail I sent in 2008 to then-Captain Jake Gallagher:
“I've been in Beijing for a few weeks, but now I'm spending some time backpacking around China. I just got into Shanghai from Qingdao... Between you and me, I'm afraid that with the blinding smog and all-encompassing pavement in Beijing something in my body is going to give up. I'm safe from lung cancer for another week and a half until I return to Beijing, but I still only get about 100 meters of soft surface running a week. Then there’s the acid-rain-ensuing monsoon season. The fiya has got to blaze somehow, eh?”
It’s now Tsunami season again in Shanghai and I’m plugging along all the same. I’m still unclear whether the fact that I hold the same attitude as in 2008 makes me extremely proud of my perseverance or scared of my ignorance and stupidity. Either way, this might be the only chance I have to do this sort of training, and I’m taking life up on the offer.
What’s it like running the highest mileage of my life in Shanghai? It’s learning to be OK with being gross and disgusting as you hop by thousands of pedestrians every run; it’s like trying to go crazy, running as far as you ever have and consciously deciding “I could go further”; it’s spending your day waiting in between runs; it’s like eating so you can run, making your own food to make sure you’re getting enough protein/calcium, whatever; it’s like this: a curious popping sound started coming from my knee whenever I went too fast without fully warming up and instead of being alarmed, my first thought was that I would be able to better regulate my warm-up this way.
There are several not-so-incredible things about what I’m doing: I’m training in a city with no hills, at sea level, and deciding my own pace day-to-day (though sticking close to a range my coach wants us running at). All this makes hitting high mileage easier and slightly less meaningful. Most serious athletes do their heavy training at high altitude with a team.
There are several incredible things about what I’m doing: I’m putting down lifetime-high mileage from the center of one of the largest, most populated cities in the world, entirely on pavement and without ice baths (to keep my legs from getting injured) during monsoon season in shanghai (heavy pollution + rain = acid rain!). And outside of a monthly e-mail from my coach to the entire team, there’s no one patting my back or cheering me on, though I do get some phenomenal support from the occasional Chinese man on street corners. All this, with a full-time 9-6 job.
Speaking of acid rain I just remembered and looked up an E-mail I sent in 2008 to then-Captain Jake Gallagher:
“I've been in Beijing for a few weeks, but now I'm spending some time backpacking around China. I just got into Shanghai from Qingdao... Between you and me, I'm afraid that with the blinding smog and all-encompassing pavement in Beijing something in my body is going to give up. I'm safe from lung cancer for another week and a half until I return to Beijing, but I still only get about 100 meters of soft surface running a week. Then there’s the acid-rain-ensuing monsoon season. The fiya has got to blaze somehow, eh?”
It’s now Tsunami season again in Shanghai and I’m plugging along all the same. I’m still unclear whether the fact that I hold the same attitude as in 2008 makes me extremely proud of my perseverance or scared of my ignorance and stupidity. Either way, this might be the only chance I have to do this sort of training, and I’m taking life up on the offer.
Friday, July 9, 2010
New Faces in Old Patterns (bonus marathon post!)
“What’s wrong?"
“I feel like I’ve been here before,” I said.
“You live here. Or is this like deja-vu?”
“No, not like that –like I’ve been here in time before.”
“Where?”
“The Fourth of July.”
Even though this summer is incomparable to the last two (the people, the day job, the apartment, the food), the summers are blending together. As in, I felt the distinct pattern of “Independence Day in China” like, “Oh. I’ve been here before”. Maybe this is what happens when I’m ready to graduate and move on to something less formulaic (semester-home-semester-China-semester-home-semester China...), or maybe that’s just what happens when you get older and have more things to remember. Either way, I’m starting to see the same old patterns in this summer, but with new faces and places and snacks. Either way, it’s been completely worth it; at the end of the day, each lap of the pattern lets me learn more about the world.
For example: I learned for the hundredth time what the Chinese mean when they say to me (for the thousandth time): “If you want to learn Chinese, you need to get a Chinese girlfriend.” At first I thought they were joking, but it turns out that whether it be girlfriends or a friends you see often (in all my cases, friends), being around them can magically make your Chinese better. But even after I realized that “get a Chinese girlfriend” meant “practice Chinese all the time,” I didn’t fully realize until now that it actually means “make Chinese relevant to yourself”. That is, in discussing the little and Very Big things in life that matter to you, in listening to someone else critique and extend your own opinions, to revise and create new ideas in Chinese is to make it relevant to yourself. The things you learn in those conversations you remember forever.
But that’s not what I sat down to type about.
I finally have my suit! It’s just about exactly what I’d wanted, for whatever that’s worth. I also got custom-made ties and am having fitted shirts made, and maybe a vest (if I can manage to bargain successfully unlike the last two times). The fabric market here makes me feel like a designer. I gave an absurd amount of specifications and style and fabric demands to the tailor. It’s like having a Demres fashion label! “Maybe THAT’S what I’ll do after I graduate” (that thought pops in my head about every other moderately interesting thing I do these days).
Friday I adventured with Becca, going to a few galleries and interviews. The interviews are giving me a good feel for what the art community is like in Shanghai. One of the most fascinating things we’re finding is art galleries’ reluctance to initiate “art community events” to stimulate the art culture in Shanghai. In fact, they often don’t understand the concept of holding art events and festivals to get the entire community excited about art. “In China,” one person answered, “everybody does their own thing... if we encourage people to see more of the art in Shanghai, we lose our own customers.”
As it turns out, the Shanghai art gallery community is a dog-eat-dog business. Interestingly, this goes directly against the standard “socialist” form of thinking, where everyone contributes to the community in order to create a better common good. Under this thinking, the art community would want to work together and pool their customers, not horde them away for themselves. I have two guesses for why this is: One is Western influence: the Shanghai art community has been “mainly written by Western people in the end,” as one person claimed. But although this does have some truth to it, it seems a little Western-centric and arrogant, especially considering there are many Chinese-run galleries in Shanghai. Also, galleries in the West often hold art community events, despite being embedded in a ruthless capitalist system. Two is that (surprise) it’s a cultural adaptation. Chinese history has been wrought with change on political and economic terms; in the last century, this change became more rapid than ever, seeing the fall of the dynasty system that had been in place for some thousands of years in 1911, the quick rise and fall of Nationalist parties in the next twenty years, the shift to communism by 1949, a total upheaval of cultural norms in the 1960’s during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, as well as the rapid opening to the West in more recent years. All of this is to say: the Chinese have necessarily adapted to a volatile government and economy, and in doing so have become accustomed to holding on to what they have, be it family traditions, small plots of land, or their native dialect and heritage. In this case, art gallery owners need to hold on to their customers, lest tomorrow a foreign gallery opens up next store and takes away customers, or the government suddenly turns against art. I think this explanation resonates best with the current situation in China, and also reveals that Chinese people aren’t just products of their government. They are not, despite Western opinion, necessarily “communist” by nature, but rather part of the generational development they are embedded in. When the Western literature can better recognize this, a better understanding of culture will form.
After adventuring that Friday, Becca’s landlord took her, her roommate, and myself out to a long, busy street that sold only crawfish. Crowded into clusters of tiny restaurants, Shanghainese flocked to this street at night; I didn’t spot a single foreigner there. (That’s when you know you’re in for a good time.) We ate pounds of crawfish and I learned how to tear through them. Both Becca and her roommate (who are from the southern US) talked about how crawfish are a “local” specialty, and their landlord (from Shanghai) talked about how they were a local specialty here, and they ended up bonding over childhood experiences of netting crawfish on hot summer days. That they could relate so closely to their experiences with the near-identical “local” on opposite sides of the world was fascinating. What an outrageously globalized world.
I’m translating lots at work, and it’s become a joke that I’m the “translation department” of MoCA. Whenever someone needs something translated, they’re pointed to the translation department, located at my desk. I’m getting good at it, except for: a few days ago, I translated a foreword to a MoCA book being published next month. In the opening sentence, I misread å²› (island) as 鸟 (bird) (what an idiot, right?), and ended up going on about the birds that make up the famous, sprawling Indonesian landscape. It wasn’t until I saw a Tsingdao beer ad the next day (the second character of Tsingdao is å²›) that I went “oh no” and ran back to my boss. He already had seen it, and laughed and asked me how birds managed to find their way into the foreword. Best of all, the MoCA book for the current exhibition, which I translated, was just published! It is my first published translation, so although I had to spend six hours with the publishers, painstakingly copy-editing last week, it was an exciting process.
I also met casually with the Chairman of the museum and he gave me some outstanding recommendations for my senior thesis pertaining to art in Hong Kong. He’s originally a very wealthy jade investor from there, so he knows the place well. Equally exciting is that I got to check out the layout of the next exhibition with him. He was complaining about the cost of the walls for it and how he didn’t like the look/feel of how the layout was going to be, and on a whim I made a suggestion to get rid of a couple walls, and drastically shorten another one both lengthwise and widthwise. It would open up the museum, allow people to see through the exhibition from the long stairway (and from outside), and save money! He and my co-worker thought it was a good idea and he said he’ll speak to the curator about this. My floor design idea might be incorporated into an exhibition, fun fun. Layouts are just like theater sets, except with more space and money.
Yummy things I have made lately:
- Meatballs. I used what I could find, which was ground pork and lamb. Experimenting with meats for texture, flavor and juiciness is highly recommended.
- Stovetop pizza. One of my best inventions yet. The dough is tricky (I’ve been making more of a pita dough), but it’s really hard to mess this one up.
- Tuna Bisque. Why make soup when you can make Bisque?
- Fried stuff. For 4th of July we had a fryfest and deep-fried onion rings in a beer batter, along with anything else in our refrigerator. There’s an excellent picture on the photoblog. This is not to be confused with Will’s and my quest to make French fries for breakfast. It’s safe to say we’ve been using corn oil like water and frying potatoes nearly every morning in our apartment.
- Creamed spinach with an olive oil béchamel. Because spinach has protein, and Davids eat protein.
Here’s a story about a conflict at work: there is a girl in the marketing department who is stuck up and nobody likes (I feel like there is one of these in every office). She doesn’t really do any work (instead does her make-up and leaves to go for shopping walks). Anyway, she somehow convinced the Chairman here that the Marketing department only needs one person, and to send the other one to another department. We were all confused as to how she was planning on getting the work done, until I figured out she planned on pinning all to me and taking credit for it (this is not my job). Long story short, I ended up calling her out in front of the entire office, to enthusiastic approval. I’ve never chewed out someone so hard in Chinese before – definitely a landmark. I should probably not make a habit of this, though for now the rest of the office is happy with me and (after getting license to do so from my boss) I get to just say “I’m busy doing Education department things” whenever she asks for help, as I go back to reading books.
On that note, I’ve made it a mission to read as many of the books as I can in the office. There are hundreds of art history books and magazines (both in English and Chinese) for the grabbing. I’ve always wanted a personal library, and this is about as close as I’m going to get.
Overall, my boss has been great. After finding out we both like photography, he’s always calling me over to his computer to check out his latest batch of pictures from around the city. He’s got a disgustingly nice Nikon camera, and takes some really great still life pictures. Now every few mornings as soon as I get into work he says, “David! Grab your camera!” and runs out of the room and I follow him to the park or wherever and we take pictures. The Lotus Flowers in People’s Park are breathtaking this time of year, and so we snap our cameras at them for a half hour or so before heading back in. Yesterday he told me to get my camera out in the middle of the day, and we went down into the kitchen and took pictures of the new menu items as the chefs were making them. Can I claim I’ve done professional food photography now? Yes? I can? Good, I’m glad you agree.
Most exciting: he wants to do dinner at my place with everyone at the office, where he cooks Chinese food and I cook Western food and we make a meal. Everyone in the office is holding their breath, I can’t wait.
Also, my boss decided that my homework for the rest of the month is to think about MoCA, analyze the good things and the bad things, and give them an honest “company evaluation” (over dinner) at the end. I’ll make sure to include that here.
Finally, Will and I are preparing for our Shanghai concert series. Stay tuned for more details (and maybe a video). And god bless whoever read this far down.
“I feel like I’ve been here before,” I said.
“You live here. Or is this like deja-vu?”
“No, not like that –like I’ve been here in time before.”
“Where?”
“The Fourth of July.”
Even though this summer is incomparable to the last two (the people, the day job, the apartment, the food), the summers are blending together. As in, I felt the distinct pattern of “Independence Day in China” like, “Oh. I’ve been here before”. Maybe this is what happens when I’m ready to graduate and move on to something less formulaic (semester-home-semester-China-semester-home-semester China...), or maybe that’s just what happens when you get older and have more things to remember. Either way, I’m starting to see the same old patterns in this summer, but with new faces and places and snacks. Either way, it’s been completely worth it; at the end of the day, each lap of the pattern lets me learn more about the world.
For example: I learned for the hundredth time what the Chinese mean when they say to me (for the thousandth time): “If you want to learn Chinese, you need to get a Chinese girlfriend.” At first I thought they were joking, but it turns out that whether it be girlfriends or a friends you see often (in all my cases, friends), being around them can magically make your Chinese better. But even after I realized that “get a Chinese girlfriend” meant “practice Chinese all the time,” I didn’t fully realize until now that it actually means “make Chinese relevant to yourself”. That is, in discussing the little and Very Big things in life that matter to you, in listening to someone else critique and extend your own opinions, to revise and create new ideas in Chinese is to make it relevant to yourself. The things you learn in those conversations you remember forever.
But that’s not what I sat down to type about.
I finally have my suit! It’s just about exactly what I’d wanted, for whatever that’s worth. I also got custom-made ties and am having fitted shirts made, and maybe a vest (if I can manage to bargain successfully unlike the last two times). The fabric market here makes me feel like a designer. I gave an absurd amount of specifications and style and fabric demands to the tailor. It’s like having a Demres fashion label! “Maybe THAT’S what I’ll do after I graduate” (that thought pops in my head about every other moderately interesting thing I do these days).
Friday I adventured with Becca, going to a few galleries and interviews. The interviews are giving me a good feel for what the art community is like in Shanghai. One of the most fascinating things we’re finding is art galleries’ reluctance to initiate “art community events” to stimulate the art culture in Shanghai. In fact, they often don’t understand the concept of holding art events and festivals to get the entire community excited about art. “In China,” one person answered, “everybody does their own thing... if we encourage people to see more of the art in Shanghai, we lose our own customers.”
As it turns out, the Shanghai art gallery community is a dog-eat-dog business. Interestingly, this goes directly against the standard “socialist” form of thinking, where everyone contributes to the community in order to create a better common good. Under this thinking, the art community would want to work together and pool their customers, not horde them away for themselves. I have two guesses for why this is: One is Western influence: the Shanghai art community has been “mainly written by Western people in the end,” as one person claimed. But although this does have some truth to it, it seems a little Western-centric and arrogant, especially considering there are many Chinese-run galleries in Shanghai. Also, galleries in the West often hold art community events, despite being embedded in a ruthless capitalist system. Two is that (surprise) it’s a cultural adaptation. Chinese history has been wrought with change on political and economic terms; in the last century, this change became more rapid than ever, seeing the fall of the dynasty system that had been in place for some thousands of years in 1911, the quick rise and fall of Nationalist parties in the next twenty years, the shift to communism by 1949, a total upheaval of cultural norms in the 1960’s during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, as well as the rapid opening to the West in more recent years. All of this is to say: the Chinese have necessarily adapted to a volatile government and economy, and in doing so have become accustomed to holding on to what they have, be it family traditions, small plots of land, or their native dialect and heritage. In this case, art gallery owners need to hold on to their customers, lest tomorrow a foreign gallery opens up next store and takes away customers, or the government suddenly turns against art. I think this explanation resonates best with the current situation in China, and also reveals that Chinese people aren’t just products of their government. They are not, despite Western opinion, necessarily “communist” by nature, but rather part of the generational development they are embedded in. When the Western literature can better recognize this, a better understanding of culture will form.
After adventuring that Friday, Becca’s landlord took her, her roommate, and myself out to a long, busy street that sold only crawfish. Crowded into clusters of tiny restaurants, Shanghainese flocked to this street at night; I didn’t spot a single foreigner there. (That’s when you know you’re in for a good time.) We ate pounds of crawfish and I learned how to tear through them. Both Becca and her roommate (who are from the southern US) talked about how crawfish are a “local” specialty, and their landlord (from Shanghai) talked about how they were a local specialty here, and they ended up bonding over childhood experiences of netting crawfish on hot summer days. That they could relate so closely to their experiences with the near-identical “local” on opposite sides of the world was fascinating. What an outrageously globalized world.
I’m translating lots at work, and it’s become a joke that I’m the “translation department” of MoCA. Whenever someone needs something translated, they’re pointed to the translation department, located at my desk. I’m getting good at it, except for: a few days ago, I translated a foreword to a MoCA book being published next month. In the opening sentence, I misread å²› (island) as 鸟 (bird) (what an idiot, right?), and ended up going on about the birds that make up the famous, sprawling Indonesian landscape. It wasn’t until I saw a Tsingdao beer ad the next day (the second character of Tsingdao is å²›) that I went “oh no” and ran back to my boss. He already had seen it, and laughed and asked me how birds managed to find their way into the foreword. Best of all, the MoCA book for the current exhibition, which I translated, was just published! It is my first published translation, so although I had to spend six hours with the publishers, painstakingly copy-editing last week, it was an exciting process.
I also met casually with the Chairman of the museum and he gave me some outstanding recommendations for my senior thesis pertaining to art in Hong Kong. He’s originally a very wealthy jade investor from there, so he knows the place well. Equally exciting is that I got to check out the layout of the next exhibition with him. He was complaining about the cost of the walls for it and how he didn’t like the look/feel of how the layout was going to be, and on a whim I made a suggestion to get rid of a couple walls, and drastically shorten another one both lengthwise and widthwise. It would open up the museum, allow people to see through the exhibition from the long stairway (and from outside), and save money! He and my co-worker thought it was a good idea and he said he’ll speak to the curator about this. My floor design idea might be incorporated into an exhibition, fun fun. Layouts are just like theater sets, except with more space and money.
Yummy things I have made lately:
- Meatballs. I used what I could find, which was ground pork and lamb. Experimenting with meats for texture, flavor and juiciness is highly recommended.
- Stovetop pizza. One of my best inventions yet. The dough is tricky (I’ve been making more of a pita dough), but it’s really hard to mess this one up.
- Tuna Bisque. Why make soup when you can make Bisque?
- Fried stuff. For 4th of July we had a fryfest and deep-fried onion rings in a beer batter, along with anything else in our refrigerator. There’s an excellent picture on the photoblog. This is not to be confused with Will’s and my quest to make French fries for breakfast. It’s safe to say we’ve been using corn oil like water and frying potatoes nearly every morning in our apartment.
- Creamed spinach with an olive oil béchamel. Because spinach has protein, and Davids eat protein.
Here’s a story about a conflict at work: there is a girl in the marketing department who is stuck up and nobody likes (I feel like there is one of these in every office). She doesn’t really do any work (instead does her make-up and leaves to go for shopping walks). Anyway, she somehow convinced the Chairman here that the Marketing department only needs one person, and to send the other one to another department. We were all confused as to how she was planning on getting the work done, until I figured out she planned on pinning all to me and taking credit for it (this is not my job). Long story short, I ended up calling her out in front of the entire office, to enthusiastic approval. I’ve never chewed out someone so hard in Chinese before – definitely a landmark. I should probably not make a habit of this, though for now the rest of the office is happy with me and (after getting license to do so from my boss) I get to just say “I’m busy doing Education department things” whenever she asks for help, as I go back to reading books.
On that note, I’ve made it a mission to read as many of the books as I can in the office. There are hundreds of art history books and magazines (both in English and Chinese) for the grabbing. I’ve always wanted a personal library, and this is about as close as I’m going to get.
Overall, my boss has been great. After finding out we both like photography, he’s always calling me over to his computer to check out his latest batch of pictures from around the city. He’s got a disgustingly nice Nikon camera, and takes some really great still life pictures. Now every few mornings as soon as I get into work he says, “David! Grab your camera!” and runs out of the room and I follow him to the park or wherever and we take pictures. The Lotus Flowers in People’s Park are breathtaking this time of year, and so we snap our cameras at them for a half hour or so before heading back in. Yesterday he told me to get my camera out in the middle of the day, and we went down into the kitchen and took pictures of the new menu items as the chefs were making them. Can I claim I’ve done professional food photography now? Yes? I can? Good, I’m glad you agree.
Most exciting: he wants to do dinner at my place with everyone at the office, where he cooks Chinese food and I cook Western food and we make a meal. Everyone in the office is holding their breath, I can’t wait.
Also, my boss decided that my homework for the rest of the month is to think about MoCA, analyze the good things and the bad things, and give them an honest “company evaluation” (over dinner) at the end. I’ll make sure to include that here.
Finally, Will and I are preparing for our Shanghai concert series. Stay tuned for more details (and maybe a video). And god bless whoever read this far down.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Initiative, go!
Last week I met a grad student from Arkansas! She's doing public policy research in China, and interviewing lots of art galleries. She mentioned that her translator recently bailed on her, and so on a whim a few days later I shot her an e-mail offering to translation for her interviews. This way I could practice translating, get exposure to her research, ask some questions of my own, and make a friend! It worked well. She was really glad to have someone to go with (she doesn't speak any Chinese), so on Thursday we went exploring. We found a charming, isolated district hidden in the middle of the city, with grassy hills and implausibly large sculptures. We interviewed and interviewed and got into some juicy topics that I hope to use in my senior thesis, like differences between China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan on issues of art and globalization. Then we had a jolly time touring galleries (including one interior design gallery with only kitchens on display). It'll be fun to see what else we'll get ourselves into next week. It amazes me, though, how many awesome opportunities are just waiting out there to be grabbed, with an e-mail or a phone call. Initiative, go!
In other news: Will, Andi and I finally went to the fabric market, and it was as good as could be expected. I got fitted for a suit (for a nice square 50 USD!), and am having a couple of linen ties custom-made. I get to pick them up in a week. Like always, barganing was a crazy, acting-heavy game. Will, Andi and I are all Psych/CogSci majors, so we enjoyed analyzing the emotional games the professional-grade shopkeepers will put you through to get you to pay more. One even took fifteen minutes to explain the process of how ties were made, from the way the fabric is cut, to the taylor specifications and everything. Overall, an experience worth paying money for in and of itself.
All that, and starting to run far.
In other news: Will, Andi and I finally went to the fabric market, and it was as good as could be expected. I got fitted for a suit (for a nice square 50 USD!), and am having a couple of linen ties custom-made. I get to pick them up in a week. Like always, barganing was a crazy, acting-heavy game. Will, Andi and I are all Psych/CogSci majors, so we enjoyed analyzing the emotional games the professional-grade shopkeepers will put you through to get you to pay more. One even took fifteen minutes to explain the process of how ties were made, from the way the fabric is cut, to the taylor specifications and everything. Overall, an experience worth paying money for in and of itself.
All that, and starting to run far.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Fair
Traffic in China is all about being fair. It's a perculiar type of communal driving, almost precisely what you'd expect "Socialist" traffic to look like. Unlike in the States, in China, the goal of traffic seems to be that no one ever has to stop, even if that means going four miles an hour all the way to work. Merging, turning, and crossing intersections all have a give-and-take. You're expected to budge a little when the crazy taxi next to you is trying to jump into your lane, and the next morning when you're late to work, a few buses and cars will break momentarily for you so you can zip through the intersection on a red light. It's a fair system, and everyone gets their share of law-breaking.
Every time I go back to the US, I think our "fair" traffic system is a little silly. Regardless of who is in a hurry, where traffic is heaviest, or what construction is on the roads, we all agree to stop at lights for seconds or minutes at a time, just so we can expect that others will do the same down the road. I guess Americans are more fixated on life's little comforts and reassurances than the Chinese ever are.
(Coincidentally, traffic in China always reminds me of a game I had when I was a kid called Rush Hour, where you move the cars around to try to get the red car out. Unfortunately, finding the link just now is going to result in me playing several more hours of this than I ever needed to.)
(Coincidentally, traffic in China always reminds me of a game I had when I was a kid called Rush Hour, where you move the cars around to try to get the red car out. Unfortunately, finding the link just now is going to result in me playing several more hours of this than I ever needed to.)
Monday, June 21, 2010
A few good things that have happened in recent days.
1. Last Sunday, Piaggio, the Italian motorbike company, held a launch party for their new three-wheel M3 Hybrid bike. It featured test rides of the motorbike, gross amounts of food (including a Tiramisu cake larger than the average seven-year-old), and me engaging in a two-hour conversation with the pioneer of hybrid technologies in Europe while eating said cake.
2. Monday I sang one 15-second note that is now in my roommate's new song.
3. Tuesday Will and I bought two watermelons.
4. Wednesday Watermelon Day! Wednesday morning Will and I ate an entire watermelon each on our balcony.
While my body was busy figuring that out, I attended a Chinese cooking class. I decided that I would like to go to culinary school and become a brilliant chef. I was also informed that this would make me a more attractive individual. I'll let the apron be the judge.
5. Thursday my boss decided I could translate English into Chinese. This was only good when I finished.
6. Friday I translated the CV for a famous Asian rockstar, Ashin. I guess this means I have the official translations for his song titles, books, etc.? Then I met up with one of my coworkers and a slew of Chinese and Serbians to watch the Serbia vs. Germany soccer game. We stayed at the BBQ restaurant for about four hours, ordering up countless skewers of often unidentifiable but delicious food. I feel 100% OK with making "going out with Chinese people" a hobby because I can always throw it into the "learning Chinese" and "cultural experience" categories.
7. Saturday morning was the top of the week. I gave a media tour and interview to a handful of American reporters, including the New York Times. It went very very well, and it made me remember why I love academia, because we were thinking on the same level. They were all professors on the East coast as well as columnists, and were very familiar with Yale, which made a good starter for our twenty-minute conversation after the tour. The NYU professor gave me his business card and invited me to attend his class anytime I'm in NY. I am determined to take him up on that.
Saturday night I had co-workers over for dinner, and we traded recipies.
8. Sunday was a charity event that Lisa organized at K5, followed by exploring food and the Shanghai Museum, which is full of artifacts (bronze and jade works, ancient calligraphy, seals, and coinage, etc.). After studying contemporary art, old stuff is boring.
9. Today we held a Smurfs press conference for their new movie release. With giant smurfs dancing around and kids acting out Smurfythings, it was unbearably cute and the perfect way to start off the week. That, and it was bubble tea day in the office.
2. Monday I sang one 15-second note that is now in my roommate's new song.
3. Tuesday Will and I bought two watermelons.
4. Wednesday Watermelon Day! Wednesday morning Will and I ate an entire watermelon each on our balcony.
While my body was busy figuring that out, I attended a Chinese cooking class. I decided that I would like to go to culinary school and become a brilliant chef. I was also informed that this would make me a more attractive individual. I'll let the apron be the judge.
5. Thursday my boss decided I could translate English into Chinese. This was only good when I finished.
6. Friday I translated the CV for a famous Asian rockstar, Ashin. I guess this means I have the official translations for his song titles, books, etc.? Then I met up with one of my coworkers and a slew of Chinese and Serbians to watch the Serbia vs. Germany soccer game. We stayed at the BBQ restaurant for about four hours, ordering up countless skewers of often unidentifiable but delicious food. I feel 100% OK with making "going out with Chinese people" a hobby because I can always throw it into the "learning Chinese" and "cultural experience" categories.
7. Saturday morning was the top of the week. I gave a media tour and interview to a handful of American reporters, including the New York Times. It went very very well, and it made me remember why I love academia, because we were thinking on the same level. They were all professors on the East coast as well as columnists, and were very familiar with Yale, which made a good starter for our twenty-minute conversation after the tour. The NYU professor gave me his business card and invited me to attend his class anytime I'm in NY. I am determined to take him up on that.
Saturday night I had co-workers over for dinner, and we traded recipies.
8. Sunday was a charity event that Lisa organized at K5, followed by exploring food and the Shanghai Museum, which is full of artifacts (bronze and jade works, ancient calligraphy, seals, and coinage, etc.). After studying contemporary art, old stuff is boring.
9. Today we held a Smurfs press conference for their new movie release. With giant smurfs dancing around and kids acting out Smurfythings, it was unbearably cute and the perfect way to start off the week. That, and it was bubble tea day in the office.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
David Dresses Shanghai, One Dot at a Time
It's unclear whether Brian Hyland's “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" (1960) or Walt Disney's choice to dress Mickey Mouse in a red polka dot dress (1961) ignitied the '60's comeback. What isn't unclear is that the sexyness of polka dots, displayed by the innovator to the left, is tragically overlooked. I'm determined to bring large polka dots back into men's fashion, even if I have to put them back there myself, dot-by-dot.
Some claim its been done before. Beau Brummell, named by Esquire Magazine as one of the Top 75 Best Dressed Men of All Time, is said to have donned polka dots in his re-invention of men's fashion. But, as the timeless mantra goes, "Pics or it didn't happen". I could not find a single picture of Mr. Brummell (pictured here) in said attire, so the fashion remains unclaimed.
If anywhere, Shanghai is the place where this under-rated fashion will resurface. If this 60-something pioneer of all clothing great, found at the marriage market, has anything to say about the matter, the time is ripe.
Shanghai is famous for its low-priced tayloring at its marriage markets, and I've been planning for months to have a Bespoke suit done in the style of Ralph Lauren. But for the sake of establishing the polka dot as the new face of hot fashion, I'm hoping to strongarm the taylors at the Shanghai fashion market into making me a polka dot dress shirt, with a pattern inverse to the dress the girl above is wearing. That, pizzazz, and a black tie will take any man to great places not seen since 18th century Britain.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
DON'T TOUCH THE ART. RAWR.
Occasionally I get roped into the least relaxing job of all time: guard duty at the museum. The current exhibition features a room full of enormous playthings, and we need to make sure that absolutely no one touches them.
This is inexplicably difficult. Grown men and women leap over the "do not touch" signs and lines on the ground in attempts to topple the art in a ferocious embrace. Little children are obviously worse, and I'm averaging about two brain aneurysms for every time one walks in the room, though I'm prepared to tackle them mercilessly to the ground at any moment if they get too close. I now understand why policemen are so bitter: constantly stopping people from doing stupid things makes me hate everyone in the room almost as much as I hate everyone in over-crowded dining halls, or tofu.
So all I can do is growl at them to take a step back. I will admit to having resorted to using a loudspeaker to get my way.
This is inexplicably difficult. Grown men and women leap over the "do not touch" signs and lines on the ground in attempts to topple the art in a ferocious embrace. Little children are obviously worse, and I'm averaging about two brain aneurysms for every time one walks in the room, though I'm prepared to tackle them mercilessly to the ground at any moment if they get too close. I now understand why policemen are so bitter: constantly stopping people from doing stupid things makes me hate everyone in the room almost as much as I hate everyone in over-crowded dining halls, or tofu.
So all I can do is growl at them to take a step back. I will admit to having resorted to using a loudspeaker to get my way.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Snorting Art History on the Sidewalks of Shanghai
Art History is highly addictive. Following the emotional abstraction of Monet and Matisse, the "pop" of Warhol and Lichtenstein, and the plain, bold colors of Reinhardt and Klein is like an adventure video game.
Art History is more addictive than ever before because it is immediately gratifying. Websites like Wikipedia and ARTstor (an art image database) have revolutionized the Art History world. With these electronic libraries at my disposal, I can synthesize masses of information and ideas far faster than any life-long art historian could fifty years ago. I can compare images from museums around the world, read critiques, and even access online journals in a few clicks of my laptop pad while still in my bed. In just a few days of studying, I feel on par with any 1950's art historian who spent his days traveling to and from museums and libraries. Now more than ever, the gratifying nature of art history puts it on par with any sort of drug I know.
Of course, downsides exist - repetitive, formulaic research, the ever-changing art world, and the improbable nature of coming up with any truly "unique" ideas (at my local library alone, I saw over a dozen large textbooks named, "Art History", "The History of Art", "Historical Perspectives on Art", "Art, in a History", "Art: A New History", and several other permutations of the same words). But I will continue to ignore these because learning about Art History buys one a fresh perspective on culture. And addictions are kind of fun. This is one drug, however, that is sold only in this century. But we'll use it to rush ahead and unveil what hasn't been by traditional scholars.
This is the promise of the new generation: to learn faster and make more on-the-fly connections about the world to maybe make it a better place. The depth of knowledge might be sacrificed, but it's a small price to pay.
Art History is more addictive than ever before because it is immediately gratifying. Websites like Wikipedia and ARTstor (an art image database) have revolutionized the Art History world. With these electronic libraries at my disposal, I can synthesize masses of information and ideas far faster than any life-long art historian could fifty years ago. I can compare images from museums around the world, read critiques, and even access online journals in a few clicks of my laptop pad while still in my bed. In just a few days of studying, I feel on par with any 1950's art historian who spent his days traveling to and from museums and libraries. Now more than ever, the gratifying nature of art history puts it on par with any sort of drug I know.Of course, downsides exist - repetitive, formulaic research, the ever-changing art world, and the improbable nature of coming up with any truly "unique" ideas (at my local library alone, I saw over a dozen large textbooks named, "Art History", "The History of Art", "Historical Perspectives on Art", "Art, in a History", "Art: A New History", and several other permutations of the same words). But I will continue to ignore these because learning about Art History buys one a fresh perspective on culture. And addictions are kind of fun. This is one drug, however, that is sold only in this century. But we'll use it to rush ahead and unveil what hasn't been by traditional scholars.
This is the promise of the new generation: to learn faster and make more on-the-fly connections about the world to maybe make it a better place. The depth of knowledge might be sacrificed, but it's a small price to pay.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Fear
Traffic in China is all about fear. If you show fear, you get run over. If you don't, you can somehow plow through rush hour traffic untouched. Its like the taxi drivers and businessmen on bikes and clunky busmoblies can smell fear, and expect you to get out the way as soon as they pick up on it. I've resorted to making eye contact, pointing at drivers, and wearing sunglasses all good ways to make cars stop. The only way to run in the city is fearless, else you'll never get anywhere. Maybe the same applies to racing.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
A working man
Working hard but having fun. We changed out exhibitions this week, taking out the old and putting in the new. This is exciting. The artists arrived Monday night and we unpacked and set up their art straight out of the boxes. It is fascinating how quickly this all takes place. In just a few days, all the walls in the museum were deconstructed, new walls and platforms were built, plastered, painted, and such so the artists could immediately set up their work, shipped in fresh from Taiwan (or where-in-the-world-have-you... the exhibition we just sealed up was sent back to Rome). Having produced my fair of theater shows and dealt with sets, I know this costs money. Lots and lots of money and manpower are thrown around, and it is all very impressive. What I love about theater is exactly these types of operations.
That said, let’s revisit the term “manpower, i.e. me & my coworkers. I worked over 17 hours on Tuesday, and similar hours in the days surrounding it. I’m also scheduled to work seven days a week, until who knows when. I never know when I’m actually needed or when I’m getting off work, and though I get along with my boss, I can never tell if he’s disappointed when I leave. This is frustrating, but it's just a cultural difference. By now, I know I'll get over it.
I’m starting to realize that the idea of a “job” in China, at least, is as more about your lifestyle than what you do during the day – occupation bleeds over into weekends, small hours of the night, and dinner plans with friends.
The exhibition opening made the days before it worthwhile. It was marked with press conferences and photo shoots. The artists opening the current exhibition are well known, especially one, Ashin, who is an Asian rock star who sells out stadiums for concerts. My boss knows that I like to take pictures, so he deemed me the “official photographer” for the museum. This ended up being comical, because I got ushered to the front of all the conferences with my more “leisure-oriented” Canon Rebel, while scores of professional journalists and film crews had to stand behind me with their $8000 cameras and $2000 lenses. I guess since I photographed for my job that makes me a professional photographer, no? I spent this entire morning photo editing, and it at least feels like it.
In the evening was a fancy gallery opening, which was invite-only, meaning you had to know someone at the museum or one of the artists. I invited Lisa, Madison, and Sandy, three of the other Yale interns in Shanghai, and it was fun ushering them out of the crowds of people being held away from the museum by security (they were all waiting outside to catch a glimpse of the rockstar Ashin). Wine, canapes, and the like were had, and I spent a lot of the time talking with Lisa and her boss (who runs a high-class restaurant next door), and my bosses were somewhat surprised and somewhat pleased to see that I somehow knew him. Hopefully I can eventually go hang out at Kathleen’s 5 (the restaurant) with Lisa, and further our dream of holding an event together.
I am introducing Sangria to the East. Here’s how: A French wedding is being held at the museum tomorrow, and they requested Sangria. The bar did not know what it was, so they came to me (remembering my Western Canon of Alcohol). Consequentially, tomorrow morning I am going to teach a handful of bartenders and chefs how to make Sangria for a wedding of over a hundred people. Cheers!
My translations are appearing on billboards, signs, and walls, meters high and long. I’ve never been more tempted to mis- (or “Freely”) translate.
Running running running. Is happening. I’ve even found some appropriate paths. But a mileage challenge/bet was just issued to the team, and I’ve got my eye on it. All this translates to a good deal of mileage in the near future. Let’s see how far away I can get from Shanghai.
My tour got switched to early Saturday morning. Wonderful. At least the 40+ little kids will wake me up?
Finally, it looks like Will and I will have a new roommate joining us, Alan Jiang, Yale ‘11. He’ll take over the spare room for partial rent, and it will be awesome to have a new person in the apartment as well as a slight cushion on the housing price. I haven’t met him yet, but what’s the worst that could happen?
That said, let’s revisit the term “manpower, i.e. me & my coworkers. I worked over 17 hours on Tuesday, and similar hours in the days surrounding it. I’m also scheduled to work seven days a week, until who knows when. I never know when I’m actually needed or when I’m getting off work, and though I get along with my boss, I can never tell if he’s disappointed when I leave. This is frustrating, but it's just a cultural difference. By now, I know I'll get over it.I’m starting to realize that the idea of a “job” in China, at least, is as more about your lifestyle than what you do during the day – occupation bleeds over into weekends, small hours of the night, and dinner plans with friends.
The exhibition opening made the days before it worthwhile. It was marked with press conferences and photo shoots. The artists opening the current exhibition are well known, especially one, Ashin, who is an Asian rock star who sells out stadiums for concerts. My boss knows that I like to take pictures, so he deemed me the “official photographer” for the museum. This ended up being comical, because I got ushered to the front of all the conferences with my more “leisure-oriented” Canon Rebel, while scores of professional journalists and film crews had to stand behind me with their $8000 cameras and $2000 lenses. I guess since I photographed for my job that makes me a professional photographer, no? I spent this entire morning photo editing, and it at least feels like it.
In the evening was a fancy gallery opening, which was invite-only, meaning you had to know someone at the museum or one of the artists. I invited Lisa, Madison, and Sandy, three of the other Yale interns in Shanghai, and it was fun ushering them out of the crowds of people being held away from the museum by security (they were all waiting outside to catch a glimpse of the rockstar Ashin). Wine, canapes, and the like were had, and I spent a lot of the time talking with Lisa and her boss (who runs a high-class restaurant next door), and my bosses were somewhat surprised and somewhat pleased to see that I somehow knew him. Hopefully I can eventually go hang out at Kathleen’s 5 (the restaurant) with Lisa, and further our dream of holding an event together.I am introducing Sangria to the East. Here’s how: A French wedding is being held at the museum tomorrow, and they requested Sangria. The bar did not know what it was, so they came to me (remembering my Western Canon of Alcohol). Consequentially, tomorrow morning I am going to teach a handful of bartenders and chefs how to make Sangria for a wedding of over a hundred people. Cheers!
My translations are appearing on billboards, signs, and walls, meters high and long. I’ve never been more tempted to mis- (or “Freely”) translate.
Running running running. Is happening. I’ve even found some appropriate paths. But a mileage challenge/bet was just issued to the team, and I’ve got my eye on it. All this translates to a good deal of mileage in the near future. Let’s see how far away I can get from Shanghai.
My tour got switched to early Saturday morning. Wonderful. At least the 40+ little kids will wake me up?
Finally, it looks like Will and I will have a new roommate joining us, Alan Jiang, Yale ‘11. He’ll take over the spare room for partial rent, and it will be awesome to have a new person in the apartment as well as a slight cushion on the housing price. I haven’t met him yet, but what’s the worst that could happen?
Monday, June 7, 2010
Getting Rolling
Great things are afoot. Let me tell you about a few of them.
This past Friday we struck the outgoing exhibition for the new one that opens in a few days. It was just like a theater strike, except with art. I took apart a display of several hundred bright orange life vests, and almost created a catostrophic pillow fight with them. I ended up working a 13-hour something day, returning home to watch Chinese soap operas while eating Subway (apparently one has the option of adding raw bacon to any sub? I gladly accepted this offer), and going to sleep. It's the working life, and it's real.
The weekend was marvelous. Will and I romped around Carrefour and bought up an unreasonable amount of food. It was used to cook brunches and a terribly tasty dinner last night, where Will, Lisa, Madison and I cooked up chicken beurre blanc, roasted potatoes, mandarin orange salad, and garlic bread with some white wine. It's fun to create a little bit of the West in our kitchen. It makes me appreciate cultural houses and groups and the way they love to cook up their native foods and create a little bit of Home wherever they are. Food seems the surest way to visit another culture. Today we visited our own.
Speaking of food, Saturday night was the best meal I've had yet this trip. A Yale alumni took us out to an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant. Now let's talk about the concept of "All-You-Can-Eat". It's a Nobel Prize-worthy idea. But the ambiguity in "can" has haunted me since I first discovered the renowned Pizza Hut lunch buffet in 2005. I mean, I "can" eat a lot, but I will also eat until I'm physically and mentally sick. Perhaps it should be renamed "All-You-Want-To-Eat" for those of us who are less intelligent. But then again, I would always prefer to eat more than less, and I usually do. This one was actually all-you-can-eat-and-drink, which ended in several tastings of sake, Japanese beer, and plum wine - all highly recommended. Until they find a way to idiot-proof the system, I'll be going back for unexplainable amounts of food soon.
Speaking of unexplainable amounts of food, Will and I have plans for a pig roast in the future. Anyone with experience roasting pigs in un-ideal places is asked to please advise.
My friend Ethan came by for a couple of days, on the first stage of his year-long stay in China. God bless him. His adventures and mishaps are on his blog: http://thatstrovewithgods.blogspot.com/
Ethan, Lisa, Will and I had a nice day of tourism Saturday, one point of interest being the "Marriage Market" in People's Square. It's a healthy bit of culture. (Mostly) Parents put up pictures and resumes of their kids in hopes of attracting a husband/wife. The men's resumes typically include height, occupation, and whether or not they have a car. Women's resumes include a picture, height, weight, and whether or not they have a complicated relationship history.
Sunday I got a manicure and pedicure, and (because?) Yale paid. I would explain more, but it would become less of a good story.
I found a track!
Back at work today, busy getting the exhibition ready to open on Wednesday. I'm giving my first guided tour on Friday! Can't wait.
This past Friday we struck the outgoing exhibition for the new one that opens in a few days. It was just like a theater strike, except with art. I took apart a display of several hundred bright orange life vests, and almost created a catostrophic pillow fight with them. I ended up working a 13-hour something day, returning home to watch Chinese soap operas while eating Subway (apparently one has the option of adding raw bacon to any sub? I gladly accepted this offer), and going to sleep. It's the working life, and it's real.
The weekend was marvelous. Will and I romped around Carrefour and bought up an unreasonable amount of food. It was used to cook brunches and a terribly tasty dinner last night, where Will, Lisa, Madison and I cooked up chicken beurre blanc, roasted potatoes, mandarin orange salad, and garlic bread with some white wine. It's fun to create a little bit of the West in our kitchen. It makes me appreciate cultural houses and groups and the way they love to cook up their native foods and create a little bit of Home wherever they are. Food seems the surest way to visit another culture. Today we visited our own.
Speaking of food, Saturday night was the best meal I've had yet this trip. A Yale alumni took us out to an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant. Now let's talk about the concept of "All-You-Can-Eat". It's a Nobel Prize-worthy idea. But the ambiguity in "can" has haunted me since I first discovered the renowned Pizza Hut lunch buffet in 2005. I mean, I "can" eat a lot, but I will also eat until I'm physically and mentally sick. Perhaps it should be renamed "All-You-Want-To-Eat" for those of us who are less intelligent. But then again, I would always prefer to eat more than less, and I usually do. This one was actually all-you-can-eat-and-drink, which ended in several tastings of sake, Japanese beer, and plum wine - all highly recommended. Until they find a way to idiot-proof the system, I'll be going back for unexplainable amounts of food soon.
Speaking of unexplainable amounts of food, Will and I have plans for a pig roast in the future. Anyone with experience roasting pigs in un-ideal places is asked to please advise.
My friend Ethan came by for a couple of days, on the first stage of his year-long stay in China. God bless him. His adventures and mishaps are on his blog: http://thatstrovewithgods.blogspot.com/
Ethan, Lisa, Will and I had a nice day of tourism Saturday, one point of interest being the "Marriage Market" in People's Square. It's a healthy bit of culture. (Mostly) Parents put up pictures and resumes of their kids in hopes of attracting a husband/wife. The men's resumes typically include height, occupation, and whether or not they have a car. Women's resumes include a picture, height, weight, and whether or not they have a complicated relationship history.
Sunday I got a manicure and pedicure, and (because?) Yale paid. I would explain more, but it would become less of a good story.
I found a track!
Back at work today, busy getting the exhibition ready to open on Wednesday. I'm giving my first guided tour on Friday! Can't wait.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Dear Diary,
Yesterday morning continued the conglomeration of goodness. I got to open the museum in the morning and "turn on the gallery". I also had to update a blueprint of the gallery, which involved rolling around on the floor and taking measurements. Some tourists were watching me sprawled out on the floor and one of them asked me, "Are you the artist?", to which I replied, "What do you think?" and walked away. It was worth it.
In the afternoon, my co-worker Emily and I hunted down a fashion designer. We wanted him to give a lecture at our museum, but his secretary kept telling us he was busy and he wasn't responding to e-mails. So we figured out where his office was and told them we had an appointment (untrue). On the car ride over, Emily explained that we were going to convince him to come give a talk. So we (she) talked (and I sat pretty) and he eventually agreed to come! Stalking success.
On our way back we walked past the "dating market". Parents bring pictures and "resumes" of their kids and try to find them dates. Any young person can go and get swarmed by over-eager Chinese parents. Terrifying. Emily wanted to take me on Saturday (it runs on the weekend). "I'm not sure I'm on that market," I said.
Then! MoCA has a nice restaurant on its top floor, and holds fancy events. This is important. My co-workers insisted I meet the head chef, Michael. He is a chill dude. When I told him I like to cook, he said I should cook Western food for him some time. I told him I don't have the right ingredients to make anything good enough, and he offered to get them for me! He said he has access to practically everything, and if I get him a list of ingredients ahead of time, we can cook together and him and my co-workers will judge the food. Now the race is on to construct an impressive-but-not-obnoxious menu.
After work I went home, cooked breakfast, and went straight to bed. I am amazed at how exhausting a workday is. I've getting to bed around 10 and waking up at 6. The working life, I suppose?
Today I came in and got started translating an urgent press release. I wish I had more practice translating (there isn't a translation class at Yale), because it's an peculiar thing. It's often not about what the original text actually says or how they said it and more about what the author felt. This dissolves into a game of "what can you get away with" in creatively translating this feeling, and I'm still finding that fine line.
My boss is great. Around noon today, he threw a bunch of bags of candy on the table in the middle of the office and told us to stop working and come eat candy. A little later, I was writing up a document with him at his desk, and as I was making suggestions he kept taking out delicious crackers and feeding me as we worked. I imagined I was the boy in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe being fed Turkish Delight. Mmm.
I’ve been weaseling my way into the marketing section of the office (about three meters away) and had my first event planning meeting, with the owner of Kathleen’s5 (where Lisa works), and one of his clients that wants to hold an event at MoCA. I loved it; it was exactly like a production meeting in theater, except with more talk of food and alcohol and money. Lisa and I are furthering our hopes to plan an event together.
This meeting! Led to us talking with the bartenders. The client was worried we didn’t have Western bartenders/drinks, so they asked me to check out the inventory. I hung out with the bartender and checked out the bar and talked about drinks, and they decided I should make a list of drinks that “white people like” (which made me think of the site “Things White People Like”, but that’s beside the point). I spent over four hours on it, resulting in what I like to refer to as the Western Canon of Alcohol, drawing from lists from several alcohol associations. Best job ever.
I also offered to look into redesigning their light design in their club area. They were receptive.
11am and 4pm are lunch and dinner in the office. The kitchen downstairs cooks us up a simple meal, and all the girls run around yelling, “let’s go eat!” and so we do. Anyone who says American Chinese food is nothing like real Chinese food was proved wrong by today’s meal. We had a delicious rendition of Orange Chicken, and some Egg Drop soup to top it off. I felt right at home, second only to perhaps Ivy Noodle’s Teriyaki Chicken bowl. And then actual home. We usually spend at least a half hour eating and talking, which is a totally unnecessary amount of time. Just the way I like to eat: drawn-out and unnecessarily.
Tonight Team Yale is going out. Tomorrow I have to be up extra early to go greet the Italian Ambassador who is coming to our exhibition tomorrow. All this means a tired David in the near future.
In the afternoon, my co-worker Emily and I hunted down a fashion designer. We wanted him to give a lecture at our museum, but his secretary kept telling us he was busy and he wasn't responding to e-mails. So we figured out where his office was and told them we had an appointment (untrue). On the car ride over, Emily explained that we were going to convince him to come give a talk. So we (she) talked (and I sat pretty) and he eventually agreed to come! Stalking success.
On our way back we walked past the "dating market". Parents bring pictures and "resumes" of their kids and try to find them dates. Any young person can go and get swarmed by over-eager Chinese parents. Terrifying. Emily wanted to take me on Saturday (it runs on the weekend). "I'm not sure I'm on that market," I said.
Then! MoCA has a nice restaurant on its top floor, and holds fancy events. This is important. My co-workers insisted I meet the head chef, Michael. He is a chill dude. When I told him I like to cook, he said I should cook Western food for him some time. I told him I don't have the right ingredients to make anything good enough, and he offered to get them for me! He said he has access to practically everything, and if I get him a list of ingredients ahead of time, we can cook together and him and my co-workers will judge the food. Now the race is on to construct an impressive-but-not-obnoxious menu.
After work I went home, cooked breakfast, and went straight to bed. I am amazed at how exhausting a workday is. I've getting to bed around 10 and waking up at 6. The working life, I suppose?
My boss is great. Around noon today, he threw a bunch of bags of candy on the table in the middle of the office and told us to stop working and come eat candy. A little later, I was writing up a document with him at his desk, and as I was making suggestions he kept taking out delicious crackers and feeding me as we worked. I imagined I was the boy in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe being fed Turkish Delight. Mmm.
I’ve been weaseling my way into the marketing section of the office (about three meters away) and had my first event planning meeting, with the owner of Kathleen’s5 (where Lisa works), and one of his clients that wants to hold an event at MoCA. I loved it; it was exactly like a production meeting in theater, except with more talk of food and alcohol and money. Lisa and I are furthering our hopes to plan an event together.
This meeting! Led to us talking with the bartenders. The client was worried we didn’t have Western bartenders/drinks, so they asked me to check out the inventory. I hung out with the bartender and checked out the bar and talked about drinks, and they decided I should make a list of drinks that “white people like” (which made me think of the site “Things White People Like”, but that’s beside the point). I spent over four hours on it, resulting in what I like to refer to as the Western Canon of Alcohol, drawing from lists from several alcohol associations. Best job ever.
I also offered to look into redesigning their light design in their club area. They were receptive.
Tonight Team Yale is going out. Tomorrow I have to be up extra early to go greet the Italian Ambassador who is coming to our exhibition tomorrow. All this means a tired David in the near future.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Day One
Awesome awesome awesome.
Today was promising. I got to MoCA just on time, and my boss gave me a desk and a computer and told me to start working, and then left. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be doing (which I later realized was the joke), but instead walked around meeting people. There are about seven women who work in my office, all in their twenties (besides the bosses, who are much older and much more male), and they all get along well. As we went through the day, gossip was flying around the room, the boss would stop and joke around every time he came past, and everyone was furiously using MSN messenger to talk to each other. It felt a lot like the office. At one point, someone yelled, "let's get bubble tea" to a hum of enthusiasm, and then we ordered bubble tea and hung out with the boss.
I translated today that was "for immediate release". I don't know when I became qualified to translate important information, but it felt great. I worked like a madman to get it done quickly (one was almost five pages of mostly text), and finished three short projects. This, and because no one spoke English to me, caused my Chinese to improve around 8 billion percent over one work day.
Lisa (who is working at an upscale restaurant next door) and I have been scheming to plan an event together, along the lines of "Wine and Cheese and Art" party. I finally got to pitch it and they arranged a meeting tomorrow. I can't wait to create an event.
I might get to bartend. There's a nice restaurant area and bar at the top of my museum, and I asked (as a joke) if I could and/or bartend with the workers, and all they said was, "sure, of course".
Overall, fun coworkers, fun boss, fun tasks, and some responsibility. What else could I ask for?
Today was promising. I got to MoCA just on time, and my boss gave me a desk and a computer and told me to start working, and then left. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be doing (which I later realized was the joke), but instead walked around meeting people. There are about seven women who work in my office, all in their twenties (besides the bosses, who are much older and much more male), and they all get along well. As we went through the day, gossip was flying around the room, the boss would stop and joke around every time he came past, and everyone was furiously using MSN messenger to talk to each other. It felt a lot like the office. At one point, someone yelled, "let's get bubble tea" to a hum of enthusiasm, and then we ordered bubble tea and hung out with the boss.
I translated today that was "for immediate release". I don't know when I became qualified to translate important information, but it felt great. I worked like a madman to get it done quickly (one was almost five pages of mostly text), and finished three short projects. This, and because no one spoke English to me, caused my Chinese to improve around 8 billion percent over one work day.
Lisa (who is working at an upscale restaurant next door) and I have been scheming to plan an event together, along the lines of "Wine and Cheese and Art" party. I finally got to pitch it and they arranged a meeting tomorrow. I can't wait to create an event.
I might get to bartend. There's a nice restaurant area and bar at the top of my museum, and I asked (as a joke) if I could and/or bartend with the workers, and all they said was, "sure, of course".
Overall, fun coworkers, fun boss, fun tasks, and some responsibility. What else could I ask for?
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The day before the first
Friends made today:
1. Police at the Lupu bridge. I ran there this morning and ended up asking a young officer how to cross to the south of the city by foot. He said I couldn't, and we got into a discussion about the incompetence of bridge architects these days. He wasn't sure if there were any places around to cross over, so he told me to go with him and we jogged over to a police post on the dock to confer with his collegues. They basically laughed and told me it was impossible. Eventually I felt out of place and thanked them and ran away, but in the mean time it was not a bad visit.
2. People at the Yale Club of Shanghai. Many of them are wonderful. I met some older alumni, including one British art seller who was highly critical things in general, but amusing. When I told him I was working at MoCA, he immediately commented, "I don't like that very much", disapproving of the owner and the location of the gallery. Snappy British men can get away with it. A handful of recent alumni were also there. A good group of people to know.
I learned how to poach eggs today! And made a tasty brunch of banana-stuffed french toast, eggs, watermelon and the like. All a product of Will's and my early-morning food exploration.
Other fun things:
1. I now possess a dozen gift certificates each to McDonalds and Starbucks in a meeting to get us "oriented" to Shanghai. Ironic. It was made better by a gift certificate to Element Fresh (arguably the tastiest thing since Swedish Fish) and a pass to the Expo.
2. Given the outrageous numbers of mattresses held between all of us living here, I have vowed to hold a "Bring Your Own Matress" (BYoM) party to celebrate excess and glut. Only bacon and alcohol will be available.
Tomorrow is day one. Let's give this one a go.
1. Police at the Lupu bridge. I ran there this morning and ended up asking a young officer how to cross to the south of the city by foot. He said I couldn't, and we got into a discussion about the incompetence of bridge architects these days. He wasn't sure if there were any places around to cross over, so he told me to go with him and we jogged over to a police post on the dock to confer with his collegues. They basically laughed and told me it was impossible. Eventually I felt out of place and thanked them and ran away, but in the mean time it was not a bad visit.
2. People at the Yale Club of Shanghai. Many of them are wonderful. I met some older alumni, including one British art seller who was highly critical things in general, but amusing. When I told him I was working at MoCA, he immediately commented, "I don't like that very much", disapproving of the owner and the location of the gallery. Snappy British men can get away with it. A handful of recent alumni were also there. A good group of people to know.
I learned how to poach eggs today! And made a tasty brunch of banana-stuffed french toast, eggs, watermelon and the like. All a product of Will's and my early-morning food exploration.
Other fun things:
1. I now possess a dozen gift certificates each to McDonalds and Starbucks in a meeting to get us "oriented" to Shanghai. Ironic. It was made better by a gift certificate to Element Fresh (arguably the tastiest thing since Swedish Fish) and a pass to the Expo.
2. Given the outrageous numbers of mattresses held between all of us living here, I have vowed to hold a "Bring Your Own Matress" (BYoM) party to celebrate excess and glut. Only bacon and alcohol will be available.
Tomorrow is day one. Let's give this one a go.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The Comfy Life
I have essentially just spent the last two days in transit, starting with boarding a plane on Thursday afternoon. Fifteen hours, two catnaps and half a dozen romantic comedies later, I skipped through customs and into the arms of my chauffeur who greeted me with a bottle of champagne before whisking me away into the swirling, romantic Shanghai night.
Not actually. But the Yale Club of Shanghai did set up a private driver. And he did greet me with a bottle of water. But it was raining and I was sleepy, so I clumsily plopped down into the back of the car and all of the sudden I was at my hostel, where I crashed.
As usual, my jetlag woke me up at 4:30 am, and at 5:30 I jumped out of bed, grabbed my bags, and searched for my apartment.
My apartment has entered the land of excess. Not only is it beautiful, but it has three bedrooms (for two people), four beds, and three balconies. I soaked it in for a few minutes, then hopped into the street for my first run in Shanghai, followed by a look at the (not bad) gym in the apartment complex.
Friends I made today:
1. Jamie, a Singapore woman in her twenties who went to Berkeley and works for the company that owns my apartment. She's been here for over four months, and knows her way around. We went to Carrefour together! And I stocked up on all the cooking basics.
2. Yi and her collegues from Munich that run the German Expo pavilion. We met while getting cell phones (I had to buy a cheap one to use here, so the pink machine is on lay-away), and went out for brunch. Now I have V.I.P. access to the German pavillion, and invitations to go out and have them "show me a good time" in Shanghai. I'm excited for friends.
So far, the Shanghai experience is far less taxing than last summer in Taiwan. Instead of beating my way through the foreign forest, Shanghai has been more-or-less cut out. Although a wise Lady once said, "if it's not rough it isn't fun", I'll take what I can get. Will just got and the Yale contingent minus Lisa and Madison are going out to eat. Good things to come.
Not actually. But the Yale Club of Shanghai did set up a private driver. And he did greet me with a bottle of water. But it was raining and I was sleepy, so I clumsily plopped down into the back of the car and all of the sudden I was at my hostel, where I crashed.
As usual, my jetlag woke me up at 4:30 am, and at 5:30 I jumped out of bed, grabbed my bags, and searched for my apartment.
My apartment has entered the land of excess. Not only is it beautiful, but it has three bedrooms (for two people), four beds, and three balconies. I soaked it in for a few minutes, then hopped into the street for my first run in Shanghai, followed by a look at the (not bad) gym in the apartment complex.
Friends I made today:
1. Jamie, a Singapore woman in her twenties who went to Berkeley and works for the company that owns my apartment. She's been here for over four months, and knows her way around. We went to Carrefour together! And I stocked up on all the cooking basics.
2. Yi and her collegues from Munich that run the German Expo pavilion. We met while getting cell phones (I had to buy a cheap one to use here, so the pink machine is on lay-away), and went out for brunch. Now I have V.I.P. access to the German pavillion, and invitations to go out and have them "show me a good time" in Shanghai. I'm excited for friends.
So far, the Shanghai experience is far less taxing than last summer in Taiwan. Instead of beating my way through the foreign forest, Shanghai has been more-or-less cut out. Although a wise Lady once said, "if it's not rough it isn't fun", I'll take what I can get. Will just got and the Yale contingent minus Lisa and Madison are going out to eat. Good things to come.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Daily Dose of Photography
A.P. Photo Challenge
Monday, May 24, 2010
Putting In Contacts
Worrying about forming bad impressions with "the boss" has always seemed like a silly, distant, grown-up worry. It's like in the sitcoms - the male B character is always finding himself caught in some farfetched situation that contantly lands him on the bad side of the boss. Skipping work for a baseball game? The boss sees him on T.V. The employee wipes off spilled coffee on a woman as the boss walks in? It's probably the boss' wife. I have no reason to worry yet, but I learned in my first interaction that it can sneak up on you and be surprisingly unforgiving.
Calling my boss last week was messy but entertaining. Let's start with the basics: my boss' name is Joe Zhou. For non-Mandarin speakers, that's pronounced "Joe Joe". At the very least, the guy has a sense of humor. So I readied my online dictionary, counted one through ten aloud in Chinese, and called MoCA using Skype. It took me a few calls, but I got my boss' cell phone number and gave him a ring. I explained who I was. He remembered my name! But he seemed busy. I awkwardly told him I'd send him an e-mail with some questions instead. My friend Helen from Yale, a native of Beijing, has been monumentally helpful in helping write good business letters, and I ended up sending a well-written e-mail to my boss. The end result: answers! Directions to MoCA; work hours are 9:30-18:00; "easy and casual" dress code; and a list of jobs:
1. Guided tours of the exhibition
2. Art lectures, organizing the lecturer and audience
3. Kids' corner, organizing the kids and art interactive activities
4. Membership activities
Less than a week before my first day, and that's what I'm doing: whittling down my to-do list and getting in touch with friends and contacts.
I had several friends-of-friends contact me in the past week, and I'm excited to meet people who work in China. One is a woman who runs the Ritz Carlton in Hainan with her husband (I find the high-end hotel industry fascinating). Another is a Yale grad, Brian, who works in the Education/College recruiting industry in Shanghai.
The Yale Club of Shanghai is incredibly present. Not only are they picking me (and all other Yalies working in the city) up from they airport, they've got an orientation and welcome dinner planned for this Sunday, alongside a slew of activities for the summer. Hearing from them makes life-after-Yale seem less daunting.
Finally, my apartment with Will this summer will be hoppin'. I've invited a few friends who need a place to crash in Shanghai, and so has he. Ethan and Nick, who were in Taiwan with me last summer, will both be coming (maybe at the same time?), along with Ling Yu, my best friend from the Sichuan earthquake trip last spring, and a few others. Hopefully we can get people and food flowing like wine (and maybe some wine, too), making for an excellent place to stay.
Until then, it's tying up loose ends, studying enough Art History to pass, putting together my contacts, and worrying about embarrassing myself in front of my boss.
1. Guided tours of the exhibition
2. Art lectures, organizing the lecturer and audience
3. Kids' corner, organizing the kids and art interactive activities
4. Membership activities
Less than a week before my first day, and that's what I'm doing: whittling down my to-do list and getting in touch with friends and contacts.
I had several friends-of-friends contact me in the past week, and I'm excited to meet people who work in China. One is a woman who runs the Ritz Carlton in Hainan with her husband (I find the high-end hotel industry fascinating). Another is a Yale grad, Brian, who works in the Education/College recruiting industry in Shanghai.
The Yale Club of Shanghai is incredibly present. Not only are they picking me (and all other Yalies working in the city) up from they airport, they've got an orientation and welcome dinner planned for this Sunday, alongside a slew of activities for the summer. Hearing from them makes life-after-Yale seem less daunting.
Finally, my apartment with Will this summer will be hoppin'. I've invited a few friends who need a place to crash in Shanghai, and so has he. Ethan and Nick, who were in Taiwan with me last summer, will both be coming (maybe at the same time?), along with Ling Yu, my best friend from the Sichuan earthquake trip last spring, and a few others. Hopefully we can get people and food flowing like wine (and maybe some wine, too), making for an excellent place to stay.
Until then, it's tying up loose ends, studying enough Art History to pass, putting together my contacts, and worrying about embarrassing myself in front of my boss.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
David Runs, Take III
Hello! Hello. This is between you and I.
Summertime is Chinatime in my undergraduate career. As a Richard U. Light Fellow, I spent the last two summers studying in Beijing, China, and Taipei, Taiwan. True to form, this blog is dedicated to photographs and thoughts from running around (literally and metaphorically) abroad.
Onward! To Shanghai, China. Home of the 2010 World Expo and David Demres & Co., summer 2010. Shanghai is the dessert on the menu of Chinese cities: tasty, a little sexy, and worth anticipation; I've been eyeing it all meal long, and now is time to strike. Not with studying, but with a job.
I have an employment visa for the first time and I feel important.
My job is at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA). I will create workshops for kids and adults, give tours, help set up galleries, write booklets and museum information, and hopefully plan an array of events during the World Expo. My goals for the trip are to (1) get experience working in China, (2) learn whether Shanghai is worth the calories, (3) gather contacts and friends, (4) develop ideas for my senior essay in East Asian Studies, and (5) do Great Things. All will be elaborated on this summer.
I'm living with seven other Yale students who are working at different jobs in Shanghai. Here are the important characters: Will, my apartment-mate, is new to China and working at Lucid360 with Andi. All they know is that it will be "innovative". Madison is working at Eno, doing fashion design. I also recently found out she is a stellar artist, so we'll be doing cartwheels through the Shanghai art scene. Lisa is working at a hip upscale restaurant at the Shanghai Museum called Kathleen's5, right next to MoCA. We will be commuting-to-work buddies. Sandy and Adam are working at eChinaChem, Inc., doing important business marketing. Finally, Kai will work at Magic Beans Media as a Media Assistant. He knows all about Shanghai and will be our go-to guide to the city. With all of us in one place, food will be cooked and adventures will be had.
Eleven days to go! Please shout-out, encourage, criticize, or otherwise comment below if you have thirty seconds or more. I appreciate you.
Summertime is Chinatime in my undergraduate career. As a Richard U. Light Fellow, I spent the last two summers studying in Beijing, China, and Taipei, Taiwan. True to form, this blog is dedicated to photographs and thoughts from running around (literally and metaphorically) abroad.
Onward! To Shanghai, China. Home of the 2010 World Expo and David Demres & Co., summer 2010. Shanghai is the dessert on the menu of Chinese cities: tasty, a little sexy, and worth anticipation; I've been eyeing it all meal long, and now is time to strike. Not with studying, but with a job.
I have an employment visa for the first time and I feel important.
My job is at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA). I will create workshops for kids and adults, give tours, help set up galleries, write booklets and museum information, and hopefully plan an array of events during the World Expo. My goals for the trip are to (1) get experience working in China, (2) learn whether Shanghai is worth the calories, (3) gather contacts and friends, (4) develop ideas for my senior essay in East Asian Studies, and (5) do Great Things. All will be elaborated on this summer.
I'm living with seven other Yale students who are working at different jobs in Shanghai. Here are the important characters: Will, my apartment-mate, is new to China and working at Lucid360 with Andi. All they know is that it will be "innovative". Madison is working at Eno, doing fashion design. I also recently found out she is a stellar artist, so we'll be doing cartwheels through the Shanghai art scene. Lisa is working at a hip upscale restaurant at the Shanghai Museum called Kathleen's5, right next to MoCA. We will be commuting-to-work buddies. Sandy and Adam are working at eChinaChem, Inc., doing important business marketing. Finally, Kai will work at Magic Beans Media as a Media Assistant. He knows all about Shanghai and will be our go-to guide to the city. With all of us in one place, food will be cooked and adventures will be had.
Eleven days to go! Please shout-out, encourage, criticize, or otherwise comment below if you have thirty seconds or more. I appreciate you.
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