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Update

// March 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // China

Wow it’s been a long time!  I’ve been up to a lot since I posted anything.  I guess it has just been taking me a while to get back in the groove of things in America, especially getting used to taking classes again.  Well, here’s what I’ve done since being back from China:

1. Dec. 26, 2008 – Jan. 1, 2009:  Once again the best week of the year at Lindy Focus in Asheville, NC.  Dancing with my favorite people in the world in the happiest place in the world for 5 incredible days.  If you want to see what the week was like, just take a look at any of these videos.
2. Jan. 2 – 5, 2009:  College Conference at Montreat, NC.  I spent the weekend with the Coopers at the annual college conference.
3. Jan. 10 – 17, 2009:  Service trip with the Coopers working with Appalachia Service Project.  We worked on a wonderful person’s home putting up siding during the coldest week of the year.  It was a challenging week for all of us, but we all had a blast and got to meet some really amazing people.
4. Jan. 20, 2009:  Classes start – first time taking a college course since last May!
5. Mar. 6, 2009:  I found out I have been selected as a recipient of the Critical Language Scholarship for Chinese!  The scholarship is hosted by the U.S. Department of State and will be sending me to China this summer to study Chinese.  I’m pretty amped about the whole thing and can’t wait for the summer.  Another trip to China!
6. Mar. 7 – 15, 2009:  Spring Break.  I went home and helped out around the house since it is now up for sale.  It was nice to take a break from things at VT.  I forgot how busy life can get here.
7. Mar. 13 – 15, 2009:  All Balboa weekend in Washington D.C.  I discovered for the first time how amazing Balboa can be and am now in love with the dance.  One awesome weekend of dancing, with an equally awesome band on the Friday night dance:  The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn.

So that’s about it.  Things have been going by extremely fast, and in about 6 weeks many of my friends will be graduating.  I’ll still have another year to finish.  I have been working on putting together an application for the Fulbright Scholarship for after I graduate in 2010, so we will see how that goes.  Oh, and I built another website – my second ever.  It is for the swing dancing club at Virginia Tech:  Solely Swing.  Check it out some time – I think I did a pretty good job with it .  Much better than the site used to be.  Okay that’s all for now.

人生苦短 – Life is Too Short

// November 10th, 2008 // No Comments » // China, Shanghai

It just hit me the other day that I only have 20 days left in Shanghai. Time is going by incredibly fast now. I thought the last post I made was last week, but I realize now it’s been almost 3 weeks since I wrote something! I guess I’ve just been having too much fun, because time is really flying.

The last few weekends, I’ve spent most of my free time with the swing dancers here, and it’s been awesome. It is difficult to realize how much you really love something until it’s gone, and I realize that now after this summer in Dalian. Although I did get to teach a few dance lessons, there was no swing dance scene in Dalian. When I arrived here in Shanghai, however, I was immediately welcomed into the swing crowd and instantly became part of the family. Every Saturday afternoon we dance for hours then eat dinner together. It is just like the dances back in Blacksburg, where we we all go out to eat together after the Friday night dances. It is remarkable to find such a similar crowd over here in China, especially when comparing our backgrounds. Within the group here, we have dancers from China, America, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. Yet despite our differences, dancing ties us all together. We’re the same bunch of goofy, high-energy, fun kids as back home in Blacksburg.

While I have 3 weekends left, I only have 1 left in Shanghai because I will be traveling for the next two in a row! This coming weekend I will travel to Dalian to visit my friends from this summer. I do not know when I’ll come back to China, so it’ll be great to see them one last time before I head home. The weekend after that, I will be heading to Hong Kong with the swing dancers to participate in the 1st ever Hong Kong Lindy Exchange. It will be an exciting weekend, with dancers coming from all over Asia. AND I will get to DJ while I am there, making it the biggest event I have ever DJed for. That leaves me with just one weekend in Shanghai – the last one in November. It is hard to believe that it is coming to an end, but it will be a good end, and hopefully the beginning of much more to come.

Welcome To Take My Taxi!

// October 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // China, Shanghai

Every Wednesday and Thursday night, I stay late at the office to join in on conference calls with the U.S.  Fortunately, the office has a policy to cover the taxi fare for staying late, so I always take a taxi home.  Taxis are really a way of life in Shanghai.  With a city so huge, even Shanghai’s extensive metro doesn’t cut it sometimes and a taxi is the only option.  I’ve got to say that I LOVE taking taxis in China.  Here’s why.

First, if you’ve ever wanted to just ignore all the laws on the road and drive like a mad man, come to China.  I’ve always liked to go fast, and taxi rides in China are about as close as you can get to riding in a NASCAR race without seeing a checkered flag.  The only difference is while you’re going that fast, you are literally within inches of other cars, buses, bikers, and pedestrians!  I like to think of traffic in China more like a food chain rather than any concept of “right of way.”  It really comes down to size and who’s crazier.

First you have the buses.  Bus drivers are the craziest of all because they know they are king.  They’re huge, loud, and they have the best horns in the world (suitable for a freight train / shipping barge).  They’re also about the only thing on the road with a decent engine.  As such, they don’t stop for anything / anyone.  People don’t walk in front of buses.  Period.  Next you have your taxis and shuttle buses.  These guys aren’t near as big, but what lack in size they make up for in courage, speed, and general disregard for any kind of traffic signal or law.  Below taxis are personal cars.  These generally will slow up and be mildly accommodating for people crossing the road or heavy traffic, but don’t bet on it.  Bringing up the rear you’ve got your motorcycles, followed by mopeds, anything with wheels and a motor, bicycles, rickshaws, anything with wheels, then pedestrians.

Back to the taxis.  As taxis are members of the second to top level of traffic superiority, taking a taxi in China is really not for the faint at heart.  I have yet to have one “normal” ride in a taxi, where we don’t at least once nearly side-swipe a car, run down a pedestrian, massively run a red light, or drive inside any kind of form of a lane.  The excitement is high, and the danger higher, but the cab drivers know what they’re doing.

The last thing I like about taxis is chatting with the drivers.  If you want to put your Chinese to the test, strike up a conversation with the driver and prepare for some serious ??? (listening skills class).  It truly is a great way to work on some rather basic conversation skills in a way that you’ll definitely never get in a classroom.  After taking a taxi home two nights every week, my taxi driver lingo is getting much, much better.

Work and Life

// September 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // China, Shanghai

I have now been officially working for 4 days, although Monday was orientation and it took the entire day, so it does not really count.  Monday was also the only day that I was able to leave the office before 9 pm because of conference calls in America.  As of now, I will have to spend every Wednesday and Thursday night at the office so I can participate in team meetings.  Working on an international team requires some sacrifices, but I feel it is worth it because the work is pretty awesome and the experience is invaluable.  I cannot disclose what I am working on, but I can say that I am on GE’s Wind Turbine Conceptual Design Advanced Technology Operations (Wind ATO) team and that I am working with some really smart people.  I am pretty excited about it and also pretty anxious to see how I can help and what I can learn.

On the life side of things, my body is finally settling down and adjusting to the time zone swap.  This time it was a little bit rougher than before when I went to Dalian.  I think this is partially due to the fact that I was only home for 3 weeks before I came back to China, and also due to the fact that I had to spend my first 4 nights here on a rock-hard bed in a cheap hotel until I found my house.  For one of these reasons or others, I did develop a small fever and was plagued with headaches for the first 4 or 5 days, making the entire house searching process previously described particularly uncomfortable to endure.  Now that I am in my apartment and finally sleeping well, everything is back to normal and I feel much better.  GE has a huge cafeteria, so for the most part I have been eating there 3 meals a day.  This weekend I am going to go shopping and exploring though, so maybe I can find some variety out in the city.  So far I have actually been living alone.  My housemates move in tomorrow, so I am pretty excited to get to know them better.  Once I get some time, I will take some pictures and post them up so everyone can see where and how I am living.  It is a little strange living here because it feels like I am just down the block from Time Square in New York City.  All the famous skyscrapers that are in all the pictures of Shanghai are literally just a few blocks down the road.  The only differences are outside everyone is speaking Chinese and my rent is a fraction of what it would cost to live in downtown NYC.  Well, I suppose that is all for now.  Next Monday is the Mid-Autumn Festival, so I get the day off.  Yay for 3-day weekends!

Finding a Home

// September 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // China, Shanghai

This past Saturday, I finally found a house.  I spent all day Friday and Saturday walking for hours with a few coworkers as we scoured the Shanghai apartment market.  Friday we searched near the University region of Shanghai in hopes that living near the Universities might give me more opportunities to make friends with local students.  Unfortunately, the University district is about a 1.5 hour (if not more) commute to the GE office, and the only places we found were extraordinarily poorly made apartments for students.  By the end of the day, we visited 4 different places, none of which I would deem livable, and none of which were anywhere near conveniently located.  The better ones actually had a bed with a concrete-hard mattress while the cheaper ones only had a mat on the floor.  After returning empty-handed and disappointed, we searched the web for apartment ads in a place more closely located to the office.  After a few calls, we were set to go for the next day.

Saturday morning we headed out again with 4 appointments set up.  After the first one, I was sold.  We found a young student who had an empty room he shared in a very nice, clean, and convenient apartment.  Everything was going great until we mentioned that I only needed to stay for 3 months.  After that it was an immediate “No,” and we were back to square one.  Hours of walking later, we were 2 more “No’s” closer to nothing.  It seemed that 3 months was just too short a time period – everyone wanted at least 6 month contracts.  Finally, hope came in a young couple at the bottom of the list.  They were both only a few years out of college and were looking for a place to stay in Shanghai.  The wife really wanted to practice her English, so when she found out I was American she got extremely excited.  We found a small, 2-bedroom apartment near downtown Shanghai just down the road from all the famous skyscrapers.  The place turned out to be the nicest one we had seen yet, and one of the least expensive.  It’s only a 20 minute walk from the subway and the shuttle bus to the office.  Finally, the search was over.  Sunday was move in day.  All we had to do was sign the contract, pay some money, and move in my luggage.  Unfortunately, this was not accomplished until 6 pm, because like all business in China, we couldn’t sign the contract without at least a few hours of literally screaming in Chinese only to come to a happy agreement where we first began.  It’s just part of Chinese culture to argue over everythihng when doing business, so between the homeowner, the realtor, and us, it seemed the contract would never get signed.  Finally, by the end of the night, I had successfully moved in my things and unpacked.  It was a long, long, headache-filled weekend, but I was unbelievably glad to finally have a home.