Hardware. Not Software.

This is what happens when I decide to put my stream of consciousness into words... 

One of the classes I am taking is called "Shanghai and Globalization." The main idea of the course is not how globalization is evident (because IT IS) in Shanghai, or even Shanghai's part in globalization, but it is about how if you understand Shanghai's history, past and present, you understand globalization. Shanghai IS globalization and globalization IS Shanghai. Not sure if that makes sense. The professor explained it much more eloquently. 

Anyways, we were introduced to this concept last week during our first day of class and I have been thinking about it everyday since then. The more of Shanghai I am able to see and analyze, the more I agree with the sentiment. The sheer size and dynamism of Shanghai is so HUGE and complicated that it is almost too hard to comprehend. The "uneveness of its sophistication" is something that I don't think you will find anywhere else on this planet. The breakneck pace of development has turned Shanghai into one large construction site. Cranes as far as the eye can see. Streets, neighborhoods, alleys, and malls are demolished and rebuilt as futuristic glass and concrete showpieces. Buildings that you would NEVER see in the US are built here. Some look like landing pads for flying saucers. All in all, the buildings are just completely out of this world. The "uneveness" occurs when you're standing in front of one of these 100+ floor Star Wars-like buildings and you see a rickshaw parked in front selling steamed dumplings for nearly nothing. Or also when you see three Audis, a Mercedes, and a Range Rover parked next to a man peddling his entire family, ancestors, and last season's crop on his bike. Images like these are the ones that really resonate in my mind. I will have to carry my camera around with me from now just to document such instances. Anywayssss, the speed at which all of this occurs is truly astonishing, especially when compared to how slow anything and everything in the US takes. The 101 in Arizona, for example, has been under construction/expanding for months (probably years) and most likely took years to have plans for it solidified and approved. Let me tell ya... shit like that doesn't happen here. Construction happens around the clock. Buildings and freeways sprout out of the ground like weeds.  (Speaking of Weeds you can get all seasons of the show on the streets here for just a few bucks. Bootleg, of course)

There are billboards and ads for the 2010 World Expo all over the city. The slogan of the expo is "Better City, Better Life." Much of the infrastructure work that they are doing in preparation for the big event is the expansion of the subway system. I've heard that the system here is only a few years old and already is one of the most extensive (and clean in comparison to New York's) in the world. The mass expansion that it is undergoing now will leave it with completely new lines once the expo arrives. Truly astonishing. It is hard to describe without seeing it for yourself. 

The slogan, "Better City, Better Life" also relates to the topic of "cities" in my Shanghai and Globalization class. Our professor said that innovation and creativity only happens in cities. However, for that to even occur, cities have to attract that kind of talent. Shanghai was once that city. In the 1930s, Shanghai was known as the "Paris of the East." It was glitzy. It was glamorous. It had everything that a true city could ask for. All that kind of got lost in the whole Communism thing but flash forward to today and Shanghai is in the midst of experiencing its modern-day revival. With the mentality of "if we build it they will come," Shanghai is now able to come off to the naked eye as a pretty highly developed city. However once you look closer you see that the creativity and innovation is just not at the level that a city of its size and "look" would seem to have. This is where the phrase, "Shanghai has state of the art hardware, but lags with its software" (or something like that) comes from. Looking around, no phrase describes Shanghai better. The ("hardware") technology, infrastructure, and everything needed to support a thriving and modern society is here. Sadly, once you look closer you realize that the "software," or the people, innovation, and creativity are still a few years behind in its development and sophistication. That's not to say that there aren't highly sophisticated and innovative people here, because there definitely are, but its just not common or at the level it once was in 1930's Shanghai. 

Shanghai (and China) is urbanizing so quickly that the government has resorted to building entire "satellite cities" outside larger more established cities. Such cities are being built outside of Shanghai and are constructed completely from scratch. Entire cities with housing, streets, schools, hospitals, etc... are built and then the people move in. The way in which this is being done is not something I have ever heard of happening, or at least in the Western world. Crazy, huh? 

In other news: I dropped my shaving cream in the toilet yesterday when I was reaching for my contact solution. So if you see Gandhi walking down the street, it's actually me. Also...KUMQUATS! I'm obsessed with these little exotic fruits!

Okay, that ends my babbling for today. Au revoir! 

Happy Time & Hello Pizza

So I'm being a bad student now and updating my blog instead of making a dent in the monstrous pile of reading that is growing by the minute beside me. Tiffany and Carlos doing homework across from me makes me feel even worse. SICK...both of them.

I woke up a little earlier today than yesterday (11am as opposed to 2pm). Tiffany came to our room and we decided to go out and walk down the street to find something to eat. Usually, and by usually I mean every single waking minute, there is food EVERYWHERE in China. Hidden in corners. Coming out of sewers. Flowing from the faucets. Jumping out of rickshaws. Leaping off skyscrapers. Everywhere! But this one time when we were actually looking for food, there was none to be found. The Horror!

Halfway through our escapades, we walked past a pizza place that some other NYU kids have gone to. It's called "Hello Pizza." (Hello is also what the natives say to any white people they see on the street) Prices weren't too bad, about 6USD for a pizza that's a little bigger than a personal pizza back in the states. The stuff on the menu was a little hilarious though. Like Americanized Chinese food back home (i.e. Panda Express), this is what I guess is Chinese-ified American food. Among the many delicious choices were: "Super HP: Thousand island sauce, pepperoni, bacon, tomato, pineapple, sesame" and "Color Pizza: salad sauce, chicken, corn, carrot, and beans." And for appetizers they have an array of balls: Shrimp Balls, Pork Stuffed Fish Balls, Beef Balls, and the list goes on... Anyways, we decided we weren't ready for these eccentric Chinese dishes and decided to keep looking. After a fruitless search we decided to go to a bakery we saw near the beginning of our journey. It wasn't as busy and the choices weren't as good as 85, the bakery across the street from our apartment, but we were hungry and the sesame covered croissant with a hot dog stuffed in for giggles sufficed.

On our way back we stopped at a bubble tea joint called "Happy Time." It was okay. I got a papaya smoothie. Tiffany's red bean milk tea was better. I will get that next time.

Yesterday, Vicki, Carlos and I went to a place called Xintiandi. I think it translates into heaven on Earth. It used to be an old neighborhood filled with the traditional Shanghai style townhouses. Shukamen??? Most neighborhoods like this have been bulldozed by the government already to make way for more glass and cement monstrosities but I guess this one was somehow saved and converted into an upscale shopping center. It was really REALLY nice. It kind of reminded me of Kierland Commons back home in Scottsdale, but with a lot more culture and on a much larger scale. The stores were better too. Starbucks and Coffee Bean were right next to each other. Heaven if I ever saw one! :)

On to the pictures!

The entire shopping center is in what used to be an old Shanghainese neighborhood, just fancied up a little. Okay maybe ALOT. Filled with trendy restaurants and bars. Everything was VERY expensive, even by American or international standards. 

They kept all the narrow alleyways and filled them with little boutiques. 

Restaurants galore! All of these were way out of our price range. 

We found a nice Italian restaurant called Pizza Marzano. Prices were pretty comparable to the US. My salad was 100 RMB, about 15 USD. 

Carlos, Vicki and I waiting for our food. Waiters here hate me. I always ask them to take pictures. A bad habit I guess I have my mom to thank for. (Hi Mom!)

Vicki and I shared the salad. It was SOO good! The little round things on the bottom are bread. Still warm from the oven! Made with fresh avocado and some sort of really good cheese! Such a nice escape from all that Chinese food. Carlos got the dish with two tomatoes as his appetizer. Those were really good too. 

Our entrees! 

The Cold Stone had Red Bean and Sesame flavored ice cream! They also had a special for students, buy one get one free. Carlos and I both got the red bean flavor. 

Can't find these flavors in America!

Strolling around. Vicki decided she was too good for Cold Stone and got Haagen-Dazs instead. No student special for her! And like the Starbucks and Coffee Bean right next to eachother, these were too. 

More boutiques in more alleys. All in all a very cute place. 

Some mansion turned museum sort of thing. Carlos is practicing to become a serf. Vicki is still on a high horse from all that overpriced Haagen-Dazs. 

A Chinese Budweiser ad. 

On our way home and trying not to get the taxi dirty. I will definitely be getting more red bean ice cream! 

MENINGITIS MENINGITIS MENINGITIS!!!!! (and some pictures)

Care to take a guess at what is on my mind at the moment???? Ha. Anyways, I am now in Shanghai and completely defenseless against Meningitis. Why? Because once upon a time I was deathly afraid of needles (a few months ago) and decided to not get the Meningitis vaccine even though it was "required" by NYU to be enrolled. I signed a thing and waived it. Oops. So here I am on the other side of the world and in need of a Meningitis vaccine. Thankfully, NYU got us "top notch" international insurance (coverage excludes abortions, plastic surgery, and flat feet) and I just gave them a call, talked to a "lovely" English woman on the telly (phone?), and it should be sorted out soon. Once they tell me I'm covered (cross your fingers) I can have an international clinic here order it for me from the UK and VOILA! No more Meningitis! This would not even have been on my mind if NYU hadn't had a doctor come talk to us about health and diseases in China. From what I gathered from the presentation, I should be safe from pretty much most of the evil stuff out there when I am in Shanghai, but once I step out of my pretty little bubble, all hell breaks loose. Also, I am thinking of going with a group of NYU students to Sichuan during one of our two week long "study breaks" to visit the areas worst hit by the earthquake a few months ago. From what I'm told, these areas are extremely rural and just plain dirty. But I kinda really want to go! We'll see how that pans out...

So today was the internship fair and a whole bunch of local and international companies had booths up. It was pretty well done and also nice that so many companies came just to recruit us NYU students for just a semester. Last night they e-mailed us a list of the companies that would be recruiting and I highlighted all the ones that I wanted to talk to and believe it or not I was able to talk to all of them. (I steered clear of the one and only finance related internship. that booth was SWAMPED) Usually events like this at Stern are usually finance focused but this time it was mostly marketing and media related internships. YAY! Now to the good news...

I got a job/internship! Or at least I think I did. It is with a Chinese film company in Shanghai called "She & Jul Films." The executive producer/director graduated from NYU Tisch. I talked to them for a while and they are looking for someone who has a business "background" and is also creative. I would be helping them secure rights for screenplays, financing new projects, product placement planning, and preparing presentations for clients. They asked me to meet with them sometime next week. I'm not sure if that means if I'm actually hired or not... :( They should be more definite. A nice big ol' "HIRED" stamp wouldn't hurt anyone. Basically, I REALLY REALLY HOPE I GOT IT! Keep your fingers crossed! Knock on wood! Cross your heart and hope to die! (carlos)

So this past week of classes have been crazy. We were told that we could "shop around" for classes and sit in on classes that we weren't really registered for. Classes in Shanghai are on a "block scheduling" so that each class only meets once a week but for THREE (3) hours. I was originally signed up for an advertising class and a photography class. However the advertising class is too much like the marketing class I took last semester and the photography class wants us to buy a $50o camera that I will most likely never use again. So "shop around" I did. I was on campus everyday from 10am to 8pm and sat in on basically any class that sounded remotely interesting. Good thing I did that too because I think I finally have a schedule that I am pleased with. I dropped advertising and photography for a "Shanghai and Globalization" class and a "Cultural Currencies" class. The currencies class is about the different ideologies of the West and China and how its changed over the years. The teacher is also kind of hilarious. She's a Jew from New York who doesn't mess. She also says "shit" a lot. That makes me happy. 

On a completely different note, I was jogging on a treadmill at my gym here a few nights ago when the song "Back In Your Head" by Tegan and Sarah started playing on my iPod. I bring this up because the same song started playing last year when I was writing the final paper for my "Writing the Essay" class. The lyrics of the song helped me get over the NASty case of writer's block I was having at the time and I actually also quoted the song in my final paper. Anyways, when this song started playing it reminded me of how far I am from home and also how much has changed since then. Not just me but also everything and everyone around me. I was overlooking Washington Square Park the first time and now I'm overlooking Zhong Shang Park in Shanghai. Oi Vey! 

Speaking of my gym, its pretty cool. The equipment is nice and its decent sized and in a really great location. Its on the twelfth floor of this awesome building thats 100+ floors and has these blindingly bright blue neon lights that run up and down its sides at night. The first ten(ish) floors is a mall. Its got H&M, Starbucks, Cold Stone, Calvin Klein, the usual. But it also has some stores that I think are either Chinese or maybe European that has some neat stuff. Prices are the same as America though. The couple of floors underground is Carrefour (where I buy just about anything and everything. its where that GIANT wall of Pocky was). The floors above the mall is a really nice hotel called "Renaissance." It's where I will be living when I when the lottery. 

On to the pictures! First are the ones I promised of my apartment and the rest are just from going out...

"OPEN SESAME!!!!" (Because they are obsessed with them here)

This is our door. We use a card to get in instead of a key. You wave it in front of the handle and it unlocks. Magic!

Laundry. Chinese style. 

Dining table. Also where I am writing this blog. The jeans on the chair are Carlos'. I folded them for him and he yelled at me. Unappreciative. 

This is our living room. Carlos' room is to the right and my bathroom is the door with the window. 

THIS IS THE BIG RED BUTTON THAT IS NEXT TO THE PHONE THAT HAS NO BUTTONS. I HAVE TO RESTRAIN  MYSELF FROM PRESSING IT EVERY TIME I AM NEAR IT. Me thinks its a direct line to Mao. You press the big red button (red for communism) and Mao picks up. Maybe I will press it on my last day here. 

This is our kitchen. Its cavernous. 

Chock full with all-American staples. OH except the bread is sweet, the milk is OVERPRICED, the American cheese is not in English and thus NOT american, and the yogurt is like water. oh China. 

At least the peanut butter tastes the same. Salmonella anyone?

Mah cabinet. I got the ramen from the RAMEN AISLE at Carrefour. There was actually an endless aisle FULL of ramen. Top to bottom. 

My bed. Good thing I don't know how to count. Those pictures on the wall were extras from the frame that I brought. I overprinted. In the end it turned out perfectly. I was two short so I put in postcards from Arizona instead. 

Part of my HUGE closet. Even with all of my clothes hung up it is only a third full. Guess I just have to buy more clothes. 

My desk. For some reason everyone in the building seemed to get a different desk. Mines one of the bigger ones I think. (that thing hanging to the left is the frame I brought from home)

Chinese Pepsi! and some sort of tea. they are crazy about tea here. Who knew?

The stone that Trina from my internship over winter break gave me. It is supposed to protect me from all sorts of evil if placed facing the door. Hopefully it works. (Hi Trina!)

Cucumber Lays. Chicken Cheetos. Tomato Lays. Blueberry Lays. Only in China. 

This is now my gym bag. 

More laundry. 

My bathroom. I havn't quite figured out the water here yet. It is either BOILING hot or ICY cold. 

Sink. 

These are the switches in the bathroom. Like my shower, I have no idea what any of these buttons do. I still switch them back and forth everyday though. Maybe one day something will happen. 

Can't be in China if you don't wear slippers! (Bought at Carrefour where they sell everything)

Best thing about China: the school supplies. More specifically, the English written on them. The left one says "Kevin is a cute boy who has an active heart. Peggy is a sweet girl, she looks forward with a joyous heart. Come on! Let's go to the sky. We would play with you together. Enjoy the happiness." The right one says "Everyone needs friendship. no one can sail the ocean of life single handed. The term, friend, covers a wide range of raeanings (i think they meant MEAnings). it can be a nodding acquaintance, a comrade (nod to Communism), a confident, a partner, a playmate, a brother, an intimate etc." 

Nanjing Road. A famous shopping street. 

Wendy, Vicki, Tiffany, and Carlos. 

We were all missing American food so we went to Hooters. Yes, there is a Hooters in China. Several actually. Burgers were delicious!

Tiff with the boys. 

Our waitress. Carlos thinks she looks like an Asian Blair Waldorf. 

It was Karthick's Bday. Too bad they can't make the "th" sound. They ended up just singing "Happy BirSSSday CarSSSick" Hehe

Instead of apple pies at McDonalds they have Taro Pies! So Good! 

My American meal made with not so American ingredients. I do what I can. 

Hope that didn't put anyone to sleep. Cheers! 

p.s. we are making pasta tonight! Hopefully it doesn't give me Meningitis!

Back from the dead...

Hey Y'ALLLLL. I'm actually still alive. Just been really slacking on my blog posting. Sorryyyyyy! But not really because Shanghai is a blast! :)

Anyways, my first week in Shanghai was spent going around the city for NYU's orientation. We went to pretty much all the places any tourist would go to and then some. About 120 students are studying abroad in Shanghai with NYU this semester and it's pretty evenly split when it comes to housing. Half are staying on-campus (ECNU...East China Normal University, where NYU in Shanghai is located) and half are staying off-campus in these REALLY REALLY NICE apartments. Needless to say, Justin (MOI) is staying off-campus. Hardwood floors, marble bathrooms, living room, dining room, my own bedroom and bathroom. DIVINE!

I will post pictures of my apartment soon. My computer is being slightly incompetent at the moment. OHH! and the internet here is soooo SLOW! I ACTUALLY almost die every time I try to do anything online, including updating this blog. Which is weird because I hear the internet in other parts of China is blazing. So, best apreesh.

These are the pictures I have as of now, and of course they are all out of order because it would just make too much for sense for them not to be...

They sold this candy at Xitong, a water town that we went to. It's kind of like Venice except Chinese. I really liked the candy. Didn't taste as good as it was fun to play with though, shame...

Walking through the water town. It was a nice escape from the glass and concrete of modern Shanghai. 

RawwWWWwwwwW MEAT! Yummmmmmmmmmmm. Chinese people like to hang their laundry out to dry. Same with their dinners to i guess...

Mexicano Carlos being all touristy. (Carlos is also documenting this trip for his blog. He is attempting to beat me at my own game. Fool.)

THE CUTEST KITTEN IN THE WORLD!!!!!!

*Meow*

Getting on our boats at the water town. This town is where a part of Mission Impossible 3 was filmed! We found a large poster of Tom Cruise. 

Carlos, Me, Wendy, and Tiffany on our boat. Chooo CHOOOO!

NYU also took us to a native Shanghai family's home where they taught us how to play mahjong. Their home is in one of the ancient neighborhoods that the government has been ruthlessly tearing down to replace with shiny new skyscrapers. It's sad to see so many years of culture be torn apart. :( Their home was scheduled to be demolished last year but has since been delayed. 

Don't let the smile fool you. I am actually as bad at mahjong as I am at keeping this blog updated. The table we are playing on was quite the crowd pleaser. It was this super high-tech thing that would open up in the middle so we could push all the used pieces in and new pieces would pop out in front of each player in holes that would magically appear and then disappear. Seeing such a table in such an old house was pretty reminiscent of the rest of Shanghai. Hundred-floor glass and concrete buildings as far as the eye can see built in styles only imaginable in Star Wars (stole that from Carlos) but then the occasional rickshaw piled high with bamboo or boxes sitting on random street corners. It's hard to describe. You have to see it for yourself. 

On the way to our homestay in the ancient neighborhood. I can't speak for the other families but the one we visited actually had a very nice house. The outside was old like the rest of the neighborhood, but the inside was completely redone. Pretty neat. 

Their subways are infinitely cleaner than New York's. 

And because the dryer they supplied us merely throws our clothes around and blows cold air on them when it feels like it, we bought this thing. ITS A DRYING RACK. You would never be able to find something like this in the states. Looks more like the monkey bars I had in kindergarden than something you hang clothes on. Oh well. Oh and that's Steven on the left. He is our roommate from China (Him, Carlos and I share the apartment). He is actually a student at a Chinese university on a scholarship from a Spanish bank to study at NYU's campus in Shanghai. He's been a good resource for solving the mysteries of living in China. Also, notice the MASSIVE space our drying rack is sitting in. That's the random nook that we were originally going to put our new white grand piano in, Steinway of course ;). So weird having TOO much space to live in. Now that's something that has never happened to me before, especially in New York! 

Walking through Zhong Shan Park, a nice little park near our apartment. We saw this old man writing calligraphy on the ground using water and a brush. 

Shanghai is FILLED with buildings that look like this. I guess you need to give those 20 million (give or take a few million...but probably give) somewhere to live huh?

The ENTIRE WALL of Pocky at Carrefour!!! Every flavor imaginable from blueberry to mushroom!

More of Zhong Shan Park. It even has a theme park and a dim sum restaurant inside! We were told that the park is usually filled with kids flying their kites but it was too cold and foggy that day. I will have to go back when it is sunny to see them!

Since our plane got in last week around four AM, we were all hungry from some Chinese breakfast! Steven took us to a nice breakfast place across the street from our apartment. See the fried bread stick in the middle? You dip that in the peanut soy milk in the bowl on the right. The things on the left are pork buns. MMmmm!

Carlos and Tiffany on the plane! Carlos prepping his Chinese picture posin!

Starbucks on every corner, I AM HOME! Oh and they speak English at all the Starbucks here! 

This was one of the meals they served us on the plane. We had the choice of Chinese or "Western." This is Chinese. It wasn't bad. 

So, thats it for the pictures. Today was my first day of class. First was Advertising and Public Relations. A little boring and also too similar to my Intro to Marketing class I took last semester. I think I will switch into a class about Shanghai and Globalization instead. Sounds more interesting to me. I also met with my Chinese tutor for the first time today. Her name is Norah and she started to teach me pinyin (spelling Chinese phonetically). 

Now, I'm just sitting at my desk taking a quick break from my trip to the gym. The gym here is really nice! Its on the twelfth floor in a neighborhood mall called Cloud 9 (Hi to everyone back home at Cloud Nine Marketing! haha) Anyways, the gym has this awesome view of the really big street that I walk up and down everyday and if you look hard enough you can even see the Best Buy on the other end. Guess I can't really say I miss America when I am constantly reminded of it by all the McDonalds, Starbucks, Best Buys, and every other American brand you can think of here in Shanghai. 

Ok, well that's it for now. I need to get ready for bed and for class tomorrow. Good night!

THE END!

p.s. Sorry about the ten years that passed since my last post, I will try to update more frequently from now on. Also, I will get those pictures of my apartment up soon too!