破釜SINK THE BOATS沉舟

I need a smart phone

2009-03-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

With a commute of about an hour to and from work 5 days a week, I'm starting to wish I had an iPhone or an Android. I defintiely want to start getting flashcards in and messing around with a dictionary while I'm spending all that time on the road. I am, however, a bit too broke at the moment and that'll have to wait. The nice thing about waiting for smart phones is that the hardware, and just as importantly the apps, get better and better as time goes on.

I'm actually not all that familiar with smart phone apps and what's out there right now, but I'll just go ahead and describe my dream situation:

An ebook application with dictionary and flashcard functionality built-in (or synced from other services.) Looking up words simply by touching them and then importing them into a flashcard program like Anki would be incredible.

I'll settle for less, but something along those lines can't be too far away.

Brothers / 兄弟

2009-03-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

The following is a quick translation I did of the first 3 paragraphs of 'Brothers'. The book is bit above my level, but I've enjoyed reading it and as a part of my study/reading/enjoyment I like to translate little pieces. Have a look.

Liu Zheng's super rich, bald Mr. Lee had his head in the clouds thinking about spending his 20 million U.S. Dollars on a trip. He would board the Russian Alliance space shuttle and see outer space. Sitting on his world-renowned gold-plated toilet, bald Mr. Lee closed his eyes and imagined he was already through the atmosphere. Alone in the unfathomable emptiness, he was truly a floater. Bald Mr. Lee looked down at the world slowly spreading out before him and couldn't help shed a few tears as he realized that on earth, he was already a stranger in a strange land.

One upon a time, Mr. Lee had a friend he could depend on for his life. His name was Song Gang. He was one year older and a head taller than Mr. Lee. The loyal and sincere Song Gang had died three years before, turned into a pile of ashes and placed inside a small wooden box. Bald Mr. Lee thought about Song Gang's little box of ashes and sighed to himself. The ashes of only one small tree would amount to more than the ashes in Song Gang's little wooden box.

When bald Mr. Lee's mother was alive, she liked to say: “Like father, like son”, referring to Song Gang. She said Song Gang was honest and good. He was just like his father in that way and the two of them were like melons grown on the same vine. When she talked about bald Mr. Lee she wouldn't talk like that. She would just shake her head and say that Lee and his father were completely unalike. Two different people on two different paths. That was until he was fourteen, however, when one day he was caught in the act of sneaking looks of 5 girl's asses in a public bathroom. It was then that his mother's opinion was totally changed. She finally understood that, actually, bald Mr. Lee was just like his father; two melons grown on the same vine. He could clearly remember his mother, terrified, holding back her tears, sadly saying to him:
“Like father, like son.”

random notes on the way out the door

2009-03-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

-many 6:30 am mornings these days. don't mind it much at all. (not yet...)

-picked up 'Brothers/兄弟' 上部 and enjoying it. There are paragraphs here and there that put me in front of the dictionary/cpu every 5 words, but so far so good. I like the direct, blunt style. Now lets see if I can actually finish it. 慢慢来

-Korean kids aren't that bad. At least not any worse than most HS kids would be in their situation. In fact, some are a joy.

-still looking for a good Hunan joint near the house. Been to a pretty good one on 金沙江路, but the closer the better.

-用上海话说玩是'bih xiang'? Where the hell does that come from?

-still loving the apt

-time for some home cooked food and beers at a friend's. (now if only he was from 湖南)

back at the coffee shops

2009-03-07T19:06:00.001-08:00

Been busy with the new job and getting adjusted to the new place.

Very much enjoying Shanghai.

Looking forward to starting with a new tutor. I think I may simply choose an interesting novel (Brothers, maybe?) and push through it with the help of a teacher. This of course can be done alone, but with a tutor it's almost like doing a book club. I think it'd be a good way to understand the literature and learn a bunch as I go along.

Still no internet and I'll probably wait on that actually. Haven't really missed it all that much.

The sun is out today and considering everyday the last two weeks has been grey and rainy, this is huge. Time to go enjoy it.

apt hunting (cont)

2009-02-25T01:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm moved in and very happy with how things turned out. I'm living in a location I absolutely love and an apt that I'm also quite fond of. I'm quite sure that I'm paying a few hundred more than I have to be, but I don't think it's such a bad thing. I got the initial price down quite far, but even tho it could have gone farther, I think the little extra actually contributes to the landlord's sense of responsibility to the place. Almost every demand/request I've made has been met and exceeded. So far the relationship w/ the landlords (a couple) couldn't be better and that's important. (horror stories...horror stories)

The whole experience has gotten me thinking about how I go about doing things in China. Most people will swear that bringing a Chinese friend is absolutely necessary, but it occurred to me that even from the beginning (when my Chinese sucked) I've mostly done these kinds of things alone. Also, it's not that my gf doesn't want to help me out, but our relationship just hasn't developed that way. I do think that a friend (esp a local) can make a difference and certainly clear/speed things up, but I really don't mind going it alone. You can have more control that way and you also learn a lot more about the processes. Most importantly, I think it's more personal and the police, landlord, agent, etc don't feel like they're dealing with someone they may have problems communicating with in the future.

Anyway, I'm tired as crap from all of the running around these last few days, but now it's on to the unpacking.

apt hunting

2009-02-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

I'm currently in the process of running around Shanghai apartment hunting. In 3 days I've been to about 6中介s and I've seen almost 20 apts. The first day was easily the most hectic as I was pretty clueless about prices and I wasn't familiar with any apt complexes near the subway stops I want live by. I've pretty much narrowed it down to wanting one on the east side of Zhongshan park, near the actual park and the new Best Buy, etc. I've found a couple good buildings over there and I like the location. I have a preposterous commute (esp by Nanjing standards) so I want to live within at most 10-15 minutes from the west side of line 2.

Anyway, the fight goes on. Getting a place involves a lot of savy and if you don't know what you're doing, you could get a bad deal. Here's my advice:

Bring a Shanghainese friend if you can. The older and more aggressive the better.

If you can't, have good enough Chinese and also be good at bargaining. No Chinese friend with you almost always means a higher price. By good bargaining I mean tell them how crappy the apt is and say you've seen the same for less. (even if it isn't and you haven't.)

Get a good landlord. Even if you like the place, a bad landlord=no fun. Those 'promised' fixes and additions to the apt before you move in may never happen...

Don't let the agent and landlord speak Shanghainese. (Unless you speak it I suppose...) I think some people might be uncomfortable asking them not to, but it's youre gonna be living there. They will talk about money and things they don't want you understand. Tell em to quit it.

Remember you can leave. Just like any old 老街, saying you're not happy with the price and walking out is a good way to see if they truly won't go any lower, or are pushing your bargaining abilities.

Finally...bring up the almighty 'economic crisis'. This has worked at almost every place I've been to. (and likely for good reason, I suppose.)

Anyway, although I'd love to get into a place immediately, it may take a few more days. I do have a few lined up for this afternoon so lets hope one of them is the one.

Clever Philips Ad

2009-02-18T03:02:00.000-08:00

Via hecaitou @ 槽边往事.

I actually didn't get this until I looked up the word 'depilation'. My Argentinian friend got it right away, but that's because the Spanish word, depilacion, is still used on shop signs and in conversation. Unlike in America where we've taken to simply saying: 'hair removal'.

am I screwed?

2009-02-16T06:16:00.001-08:00

I'm about to start teaching Korean high school students. The only experience I have teaching is with Japanese adults and all age levels of Chinese students. So, I'll be dealing with a new cultural divide and most likely some unfamiliar differences. What I've been noticing though, is that whenever I bring this up with expat teachers here in China, I get pretty much the same reaction. In so many words: "Oh, man. You're screwed".

In all I think I've talked to only about 6 people, but 5 of them had such a reaction, granted with varying degrees of 'screwed-ness'. What I've heard has included such wonderful things as, 'xenophobic', 'arrogant', 'rude' and mostly just, 'hard to teach'. However to be clear, All 5 of these people were speaking from experience teaching in Korea, not China. The only totally positive reaction I've received has been from a teacher at the Shanghai International High School who proclaimed her Korean students as her favorite. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about all of this, but I know it's not as simple as the whole student body sucking because 5 out of 6 teachers told me so.

Admittedly, I'm a pretty optimistic guy, but I also think it's smart not to buy into generalizations, especially negative ones. Why? Well, because that's what people tend to do when they have a bad experience. Which doesn't directly say anything about why. Culture definitely can create problems, however it's not always the root cause, but many times just a way to take blame off of an individual, whether it be the teacher or a student.

I have an advantage in the fact that I truly like teaching and I have a personality fit for it. I'm not the only one, but there are plenty of teachers who either a) aren't cut out for the job, or b) don't really want to be there. I'm also not saying I think there's nothing to it and there won't be any challenges at all. Simply that I'm going to remain skeptical and see for myself with as open of a mind as I possibly can.

In the famed words of many people who have often regretted them, "it can't be that bad...can it"? ;)

going on horseback

2009-02-16T01:35:00.000-08:00

Time flies. Mondays almost over and that means I've got just a few more days here in Nanjing before I move to Shanghai. It's gonna be a big change, but I'm excited. I'm going to be broke as hell at first, but that's nothing new. The main reason being that in China (generally) you have pay 3 months rent upfront, plus a 1 month security deposit and any agency fee (usually .5 to 1 months rent as well) you may have incurred. So in the end, I may end up dropping about 5 months rent in one day. Rent is also a hell of a lot more expensive in SH than NJ. Well, there goes every penny (mao) of my savings. That's okay though, I've never cared much for them anyway.

What's also rad is that my girlfriend, Jess, is also moving to SH. She just graduated and is going to start working for a medical supply company (or something like that. I still haven't figured out exactly what the company does). We're stoked we were able to get to SH together. She'll be working and living WAY out past Pudong, but still, we're both there and making the move at almost the same time. Should be great.

I'm excited to a) have a new place, b) be surrounded by amenities that NJ doesn't have c) hang out with my old friends Beau, Tony and his beard, and d) getting up early in the morning. D might seem like the ravings of a mad man, but I've been working evenings for the past year and half and I'm actually looking forward to a daytime schedule. I'll finally have evenings off to get dinner and chill out.

Oh, and e) buying a Wii. I haven't been able to justify it with my current salary, (the 360 was an easy decision however) but with the new job I won't feel a single ounce of buyer's remorse. Ah...so many games to catch up on. (more like buyer's rejoice!....yeah...that's right)

Nanjing: Modern Art

2009-02-15T02:43:00.000-08:00

A while back I went to a modern art exhibition in the Nanjing museum. It's something they do every 2 years, but I'm at a loss for the name right now. Most of the artists were Chinese, with a few Korean and Japanese as well. Overall, I was impressed. There wasn't only a lot of good pieces, but some installations as well.

The installation on the bottom right was particularly interesting. Basically, a group of guys traveled to a bunch of random locations around world and beat the crap out of each other while documenting the whole scenario. If I remember correctly they battled on every continent. Fight clubbing it up at places from a normal Chinese apartment complex, to a mall in the west and yes, even on Antarctica. They then displayed all the results via photos and roughly edited video. Definitely got a lot of people's attention.

自学得啊

2009-02-14T12:53:00.000-08:00

A long time ago I wrote a post entitled 'The Infamous 自学 Part 1' and never got around to writing a part 2. Well, here it is. (Essentially I'm just going to ramble about self-study)

The thing about studying 'alone' is that the title is pretty misleading. If by 'alone' you mean I didn't go to university for Chinese, then yes, it's all self-taught. However, in actuality, self-taught means essentially the opposite of learning alone.

Certainly I've put in a lot of effort and yeah, I've sat down and studied quite a bit in the last few years, but the vast majority of my learning came from just going out there and talking to people. All the time with pretty much anyone. (Taxi drivers are great, but If you ever want to move beyond that same damn conversation, it's all about the security guards [保安]) I also made an effort to actually hang out with Chinese people. It's easy not to, but that's just lame. One of my best friends is Chinese and so is my girlfriend. At the end of the day, it's hard to call that 'alone'.

On top of all of that, I've done so much of my learning online: instant messaging, reading articles, listening to podcasts, etc. All that good stuff is communal in nature and definitely not becoming of the description: 'self'. Technology seems to be attempting to eliminate that particle of speech and we learners are the benefactors. Thoreau is likely turning over in his grave. (or changing is facebook status to something ironic.)

The large element of 'selfness' that I will admit to is a concerted effort on behalf of the learner to remember the things you encounter and also to go home and reinforce them. That part is all up to you. It's for this reason that the idea of 'picking up a language' is so misconstrued. We forget that we actually have to pick it up. It doesn't just jump in your lap. (Well, maybe at KTV.)

I guess in the end it is about your personal exertion, but most everything else is sitting there provided for you as long as you actually pay attention.

I had dinner with some friends the other day and I was talking to a Canadian guy who had lived in Thailand for some years previous to coming to China. I think he summed up the topic of language acquisition quite well saying: "Well, you either learn it or you don't." It's that simple.

Touché, Canadian guy...touché.

Break the Woks

2009-02-14T04:44:00.000-08:00

I've started a new blog here because I'm sick of dealing with wordpress being blocked in China. All my previous posts will stay up at 'Over and Out' so go check them out if you want to read any older stuff. I've also changed the name of the blog to 'Sink the Boats'. The title comes from the Chinese idiom '破釜沉舟' or, 'pò fǔ chén zhōu' which literally means 'break the woks (or pots) and sink the boats' and comes from a story about a General named Xiang Yu who ordered his troops to destroy all the cooking utensils and sink all the boats after crossing into enemy territory. It's used along the same lines as 'don't look back', 'burning ones bridges', and usually in desparate situations, etc. I wouldn't say the expression is my philosophy on everything in life, but certainly some things. I also just like the sound of it. :)

Well, the new blog will likely follow along the same lines as the previous one. I blog because it's nice to get things out. It's not always prolific, nor is it meant to be, and more than often it's about my life here in China and the processes of learning Chinese.

I'm looking forward to being able to blog without using a proxy.