melancholy

I feel more and more useless everyday. I don't know why, but I feel lonely inhabiting in a population over 17 million. Everyone I usually spend time with all have things to do, all have started their lives. I have yet to do that. Where they are beginning their lives, there I am resting at an impasse. Everyone is moving around me, and I am standing still. I observe those who connect and live around me, and I am envious. I visited Pudong again today, and I was the only person who was trekking around alone. Everyone else either had fellow workers (同士), fellow students (同学), or significant others to be with them and enjoying the scenery. I immediately regretted leaving the home. All I could do was watch them develop deep feelings for those they care for, and I am here, without even direction to go to find my own.

Hopefully I'll be starting work soon, and that can take my mind off things.

Since it's the new month, I can make another flickr slideshow. Be on the lookout for that in a coupla days.

design in shanghai

I get very mixed views on the stake design has here in China. Some say that it's something not yet spread, and some say it's not something that will. I guess it's all based on their lack of knowledge on this subject, and they're simply stating how they feel about the subject. Nevertheless, whenever people ask me my major (专业), they restate it with confusion. "Industrial Design? What's that?" (工业设计？是什么？) And I painstakingly attempt to describe what design is about in my words. It's pretty damn hard, especially since I have to explain in Chinese. And even after I explain, they still really don't know what it is.

However, through my observations of everyday life here, I find that Shanghai has yet to be assimilated into a lifestyle where design makes life beautiful. I mean design holistically. Of course everything here still has an aspect of design, but the old is still the new, which makes things look the same here as it was 10 years ago. I'm not saying that Shanghai looks the same as 10 years before (far from it), but it feels the same. Way of life, things like that, it's still pretty static. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just saying that it could be way better. I have hope that I may have a future in design in China, and that I can make a difference. But that's just fantasy talking.

looks like i'll be seeing you sooner

just got an email this morning. HKPU has expressed that they cannot accommodate us for the fall semester. Which means that after my stint in Shanghai, I will have to return to tech for one semester. I don't think simply noting down my frustration will be enough to exemplify it, so I will simply say nothing at all.

sometimes, i should feel lucky

Being here in Shanghai has made me realize a lot about life, in general. Like I said before, I have seen people of all classes cross paths here. The low, the high, and everything in between. I see the people who share the pavement I walk, and I imagine all the paths they follow and create for themselves. They each have problems, aspirations, lifestyles equal to the weight of mine. It's staggering to consider the depth of such a thought. Picture your life that you've lived up to this far, times 18 million. That's how big I see life here. Shanghai is full of life. Happy lives, full lives, sad lives, all co-exist. No one really stops to think about it here either. They see it as a reality. No pity for the weak, and no shame to ogle at the extraordinary. People live realistic lives here. I am beginning to see these clear differences between people who live here and those who live in the US. I am beginning to see that a lot of my friends in the States have their heads way up in the clouds, and can't see the practical side of life. Here, it's completely different. Let me utilize females around my age for an example. I believe that girls here look for qualities in a man that would create a suitable relationship. They are willing to accept the practical traits of a man as the most important. And American girls, through what I have seen, are generally looking for something that is more abstract, more of a feeling-based attraction process. This is the difference between practicality and fantasy. The important values within a typical Shanghai dweller is:

as a child:

-get good grades

as a teen:

-get in a good college through entrance exams

as a young adult:

-find a good job after graduation

as an adult:

-find a suitable spouse

-maintain a normal life

-raise a kid

as a senior:

-hope the kid you raised can take care of you after you have lost the ability to take care of yourself

-see your grandchildren grow up

-die a fulfilled death

....

Perhaps that was too comprehensive of a chart, but my point is that people want to live lives that fulfill a lifestyle that emphasizes stability, not some sort of fairytale, picture-perfect in one's own selfish minds.

So yesterday some friends and I went to a karaoke bar. This is the second time I went KTV-ing. We went at around 11:30 PM, and finished around 5:00 AM. We had a full bottle of whiskey, and it was finished around halfway. Yeah, I'd say it was a pretty crazy night, but it was really fun. The first time I had fun while drinking. I guess around suitable people, anything can be fun.

expo! expo!

So yesterday I was invited by a friend to attend the world expo with some people. There were 4 of us in total, which was a good number to keep movement as one unit without the constant worry of shepherding people and such. It was a rather sudden development, as he called me at 10 PM the night before to confirm. Thankfully I don't really have plans, so naturally I was excited to go.

The world expo is a crowded place. Having it held in Shanghai makes that a very glaring problem. Anywhere worth going there is a waiting line of at least 1-2 hours. So inconvenient. It makes everything else a problem. It's extremely hard to find the medium of minimum waiting time + interesting content, as usually the only ones without much waiting time are pretty boring. Let's see if I remember all of the pavilions I visited (I assure you, this won't be the last time I'll be going): first was the Chinese Oil Pavilion and Japanese Corporations in the morning, Netherlands, Greece, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, Italy, before dinner, Turkey, Denmark, Belarus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand before we had had enough of sweating and walking for 13 hours. In total we hit 17 pavilions. I think that's pretty impressive, considering the sheer number of people and the size of the world expo. The total physical size of the expo takes about 3 metro stations to cover. That's pretty damn big, if you ask me. I took over 500 photos in the span of the 13 hours, and I got lazy too. You know, I'm pretty damn proud to see my home town so successfully pulling off this gargantuan feat, hosting a world expo. All eyes are on us at the moment, and China has risen to the occasion again.

On another note, China, the more I observe, the more I see its socialist side. The first pavilion I entered, the Oil Pavilion, had a 4-D movie. It promoted industry and the progress of mankind, and made the subject of industrialization something nationalistic and positive. It echoed those high school history classes which taught of Lenin's and Mao's many acts of industrialization, and how similar in idea it is. As well, one of my friends who went on the trip mentioned that everyone must take classes which taught Marxist and Mao idealism. I guess when you look closely, China really is still very Communist. Thankfully I have seen things from another spectrum, which makes me wary of the large gap of societal thinking which makes eastern and western culture so different still.

Well, I hope I can update you guys on the expo again. I really can't describe the expo other than using photos, and I can only upload so much here. Enjoy for now :)

from here, we can only look up

aI have been pretty busy as of late, that's why I haven't posted in a while, even though I promised that I would post often. I apologize for that. Let me describe Shanghai a bit for you. I have experienced a little of what the city is like, and I can tell you it's a very crowded place. Everywhere I go people are there. There isn't a time when the metro is empty; it's always transporting citizens of all sizes to places they need to be. I saw a 9 year old girl get on the metro by herself. I wonder how she can possibly be comfortable being out in the world by herself, and how her parents even let her do that. 真不可思议 (inconceivable). Despite the fact that Shanghai holds many surprises with who rides the metro, it's also a city with lots of character. No doubt it's a dirty city, but with a population exceeding 18 million it's hard to keep it perfectly sanitary. Let me tell you this: being in Atlanta ain't got nothing on being here. Atlanta has what, little five points? Shanghai probably has 100 times that excitement. It's a city brimmed with shops, restaurants, bus stops, high-rise apartments, low-rise apartments, department stores, and most notable of all, skyscrapers. Since Shanghai is the urban center of China, everyone flocks to it, hoping to make it big. With that many people, and not enough space, the only solution is to build UP. Exactly the opposite of the US. What the Americans do is build horizontally. You have money? You get MORE space. More acres. More land. That's the luxury of Americans, and perhaps a critical difference of what makes people in China Chinese and people in US American. I believe that this difference plays largely in how modern culture and society is formed. You know I can probably write an MLA style essay with this as my thesis. "Modern living: living space and culture: China and USA."

Currently I am watching a taped broadcast of Champions League final match: Inter vs. Bayern Munich. Yes, China also has tivo. Just not the exact brand. It's pretty much Inter's win, I'm afraid.

I've realized that living here for me is not easy. I'm trying to fit in as a local, but at the same time I'm trying to learn the ropes to become a local. I've been exclusively using public transportation to get to places. Both times I've gone to the Bund, I've used the metro. I've realized how important and convenien transportation truly is. Not having a car has its downsides, however being here, without a car, I (a) don't have to worry about parking (and worrying about parking is a bitch), and (b) don't have to worry about driving in China in general. This should be obvious, but if you don't know already, driving in China, ESPECIALLY Shanghai, is a living nightmare. If you think you had a bad day sitting traffic today, consider yourself lucky that you didn't have to fend off other drivers cutting in, unruly pedestrians, and the countless bikers and moped-ers who constantly cross your path. It's everyday life in Shanghai, and drivers here have accepted that, however it would be truly a mistake if drivers out west would think they can survive here.

Being here in Shanghai, one can truly grasp the scale of human advancement. How far and how large civilizations get, one can see it in its true form here. Buildings as far as the eye can see, roads and highways lead to anywhere and everywhere. A well, people of all classes appear here. High, middle, low, and even lower. One look you'll see a high-roller driving a foreign import, and another look you'll see an elderly man reaching into trash cans and looking for anything remotely salvageable. It's everyday here also, see, because of the number of people who live here, you'll be able to see just about anything.

I'd like to end on a list.

-badminton is still a popular sport among all ages

-world expo propaganda is eminent in all types of media (television, posters, radio, billboards)

-an average meal is approximately 10-20 RMB (~1.5-3 USD [unless you count fast food like KFC--which equates to about the same price])

-so far, I've seen about 20 minutes of blue sky here TOTAL

-card games is a popular pastime here among young adults my age

-everybody worships Yao Ming (basketball star), Lin Dan (badminton star), Liu Xiang (broke hurdles world record in 2008), and Bruce Lee (no explanation needed here)

-Jay Chou is pretty popular here too

-no matter what you do or where you go, at the end of the day, you'll need a shower

-it would seem that every time I return to China, something big is going on (2008 olympics, 2010 world expo)

Photo set 1

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31432666@N03/sets/72157623959969621/show/with/4617735558/

enjoy!