Ni Hao, 2011!

My first blog post of 2011!

A kind of boring one at that. :p

I had a great New Year's in Shanghai just chilling -- didn't do anything spectacular like go out dancing or drinking... just stayed home with the big boy and watched like 4 movies in a row and ate really awesome food with his family. It seems like the cool-people flock all migrated to Taipei for NYE2010, I would have loved to join the crowd but this thing called "budget" is putting a total sprain on my game!

Final stretch, baby -- today I took my International Trade final and gave my Game Theory presentation. I think I did all right for Trade, considering that I had to type it all in Chinese. As for Game Theory... well let's just say that I still need to work on my Chinese public speaking skills. I seriously barely understood MYSELF while I was up there... like I was up there emitting what probably seemed to be random gutteral noises as I thought to myself, "I have no clue what I'm trying get across... how fast can I get to the last slide? What is the meaning of life? I'm totally getting a C on this. Is it time for lunch?" Oh well, a brain can only process so much... unless you're Jack Bauer, Chuck Norris, or IBM's Big Blue. So one more Chinese Foreign Policy paper left and then I'm done! BOOM.

On the top of Purple Mountain, Nanjing.

I was thinking about what picture could best accompany this first post of 2011, and immediately this one popped into my head. Gene and I were showing his friends Marshall and Sue-lin around Nanjing (which didn't impress them much) and we somehow ended up on top of Purple Mountain (紫金山) after a cable-car ride that was literally 40 minutes long. Half-way through as we were sitting on this rusty ski-lift I seriously started contemplating jumping (and timing it so I could land on some thick brush, and then roll away like a ninja). When we finally got to the top, we were able to see the whole of Nanjing... covered in a thick haze and thus a very orange sunset. And then there was this tree at the end of the trail, bound with colorful strips of the plastic you find wrapped around soda and water bottles, garbage really, but still beautiful... an appropriate China-type of wishing tree.

If I had some garbage on hand I would have totally tied it up there too! Hahaha.

I told myself at the end of 2009 that I wanted to end up in China, and miraculously here I am. There are many times that this place makes me absolutely frustrated, frantic, furious... like when I got pickpocketed on the bus last week when my bag was actually zipped up, or when the company I'm interning for decides that it's appropriate to call me in the middle of class (or during my finals today, WTF!), or when it seems like all pedestrians have a death wish while crossing the street. But there are redeeming points in China, like how people here are so warm and personable once they consider you a friend (this is what they call guanxi 关系, and yes it really matters), how rules don't actually apply here and hacking the system is common, how your paltry American savings still goes a long way for a high standard of life. All in all, China is a really messy place. It's a place that hasn't made up its mind what it really wants to be yet. And that's okay by me, at least while I still have the patience for this type of BS. :)

Oh and what the hell about China declaring Skype illegal now?!!!

It's just another one of those moments, here in China. :p

Blerghhhhhh...........