Back from Beijing

Well I just arrived home (Shanghai) from one of the greatest trips in my life. Myself, Henrik, and Thierno went to Beijing last Thursday by train. Train is a little bit cheaper, and for some reason I feel much safer close to the ground over here. We road first class on the train, or what they call "soft bed". Well to the Chinese a "soft bed" is equivalent to laying your sleeping bag over a bench on 17th. But we were able to get some sleep as we knew we were going to be busy over the first few days. When we arrived we were upset to learn that the rumors are true, Beijing taxi drivers do not like to pick people up in their cars. I figure that it has to do with the fact that they are very caring about the environment and do not want to pollute. These cabbies would pick up  Chinese people either two feet in front of us, or two feet behind. It was obvious that we  (and all the other tourists) just didn't know where to stand. The first place we went to was our hotel. It was a nice little three star place right near the Forbidden City. After cleaning ourselves up we decided to venture into the Forbidden City, I was surprised to find out is isn't forbidden, they actually want you to go there. They might want to think about a name change. The place was absolutely massive, and from what our English translating devices told us, most of the rooms were used for keeping the Emperor's concubines. These guys must of had so much fun, one of them had 30,000 concubines, he must have been very tired. Imagine trying to remember all of their birthdays and keeping them a secret! As you exit the forbidden city you end up in Tianamen Square, which is just massive, I have never been in such an open area covered in concrete. It made you feel really small, which is hard when you are always close to a head taller than everyone around you. The one thing we could not get over is how there are souvenirs for sale everywhere, even in the forbidden city. 

The next morning we began very early by hiring a cab for the day. This costed us 600 rmb, or about $110 Cdn. This might sound like a lot, but we hired the guy to take us to the great wall which was 140 km away. We went to one of the less touristy places, and arrived there around 8:30 am. There we began the long walk up to get to the cable car. This cable car is very famous as it was the first cable car in this part of the wall. One thing I have found in China is that every thing is very famous, or the most important, but all for their own reason. But the cable car was clean, and seemed safe enough. Thierno made a friend on the ride up with an Indian PhD who thought it would be nice if Thierno would take his picture every six steps. After about two minutes Thierno and I decided we were better as a threesome, so we tried to give the nice Indian Doctor the slip, but Henrik in his infinite wisdom decided to keep telling the gentleman where we were headed. See Henrik was not required to take photos of this man standing in front of every rock, so he enjoyed the company. We finally convinced Henrik that our new "friend" was slowing us down, so we made a sneaky turn inside one of the guard towers. This is where I saw one of the craziest things ever, there was a Chinese lady probably close to her 90's marching up a seriously steep set of stairs, and when I say set I mean close to 1oo. She was not even out of breath, unlike the young German guys who she was passing. The views were absolutely amazing and just to be on something tat must have taken so long to build really showed you what man is actually capable of. This is the first day and a half of the trip, tomorrow I will talk about the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace,and the Olympic venues.

You can have it in any colour you want, as long as it is black,

Derek

Another Final Exam

Well tonight is my study night, as tomorrow I will write the worst test in the history of the world. That is right I am being tested on my knowledge and understanding of the Chinese language. I think I have come a long way, as I know how to tell cabbies where I want to go, or negotiate a better price for a massage! But I do not think massage parlor etiquette will be on the exam unfortunately. I have been busy learning my numbers and how to write them, which is actually quite difficult, learned all the body parts, well all that they would teach in class, and I know my fruits and vegetables. So if anyone knows of any openings in a Chinese vegetable market back home let me know! After this exam I will only have one class left in my educational era of my life, which is really quite scary as I am an old man with grey hair. So in the next year I need to find my dream job, the perfect women, and a really awesome dog. This might sound like a difficult task, but soon I will be an MBA which means I should be able to accomplish this by 9:30 on a Monday morning. 

Nothing really new here to report other than I will not chug beer anymore, I realized that on Friday night after about the third 12 ounce glass of beer went down in less than four seconds. After that I decided it would be good to switch to a more adult drink (redbull and vodka). We got into an argument on where the djs were from, and I said Canada. So I asked and the guy did his undergrad at UVic, same time as me, it is a really small world!

 Cats in the Cradle

Derek

Needing new Sneakers

Well my leg is officially healed, well it is in my mind at least, so it is time to get in shape. I have been focusing on school for so long, I let myself become a tub of lard. Well this is going to change, but I have encountered a problem. In China the men have very small feet compared to the West, so therefor they wear smaller shoes. Every store we have gone to the biggest size that they carry is a 44 which is about a 10.5 back home. Well as you all know I got my feet from my father so although I may be the shortest one of the group back home, I have the largest feet with around a 12. This is the whole dilemma, I am finally in the right mind place, and have the time, but I have no shoes, this sucks so much!

Nothing too exciting going on right now, I am a little homesick, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have decided to make this the greatest Stampede ever, I think I will even buy wranglers when I get back home. So if anyone needs to find me during stampede check either the grandstand, NN, or wherever there may be free pancakes. 

WWFSMD

Derek

Hangin with the Swedes

I know many of you might think I am hangin with the Canucks in Vancouver by my post's name, but I am not, as these Swedes are actually not afraid drop the gloves (or at least that is my belief). Yesterday I went out with Chris and Henrik (the two Lars') and Henrik's parents, who are here to make sure there little boy is surviving in this crazy place. We started off by going to where all visitors want to go first, the fake market. The one we go to is massive, and the amount of vendors is just mind blowing. If it is new and designer, they will have a copy there within two weeks of it making its debut. The only thing that has ever caught my eye really is jeans, mostly because I have dropped over three inches from my waist since I got here. But just the walking through the place you could easily lose yourself for a day or two.

We have discovered a great little hamburger place not too far from the Swedes place, it is called Munchies, and is owned by a young American guy and his Chinese wife. Let's just say these burgers are frickin awesome, better than anything in Saint John or Victoria, and equal to Boogies burgers in Calgary. If you haven't tried Boogies, it is on Edmonton Trail, at around 7th Ave. The service at Munchies is like the West, this means there is only two waitresses for about 12 tables, unlike normal restaurants in Shanghai where there is five times more staff than a restaurant back home, with a quarter of the service. The burger though......mmmmmm.......burger, was absolutely delightful, and would have a good running against a Malone's burger here in Shanghai. They are a completely different fair though, as well, Munchies is over 50% cheaper than Malone's.

Not much else is new here, still trying to figure out when I will be able to come home, I am hoping for early June, so someone, anyone, please give me a lead on a job for a dashingly handsome MBA. Until next time.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!

Derek

What I have learned so far......

Well I have now been in China for over two months.  have had the opportunity to see many unusual, wonderful, and interesting things. Over the last week I started thinking about how to sum up my experiences so far. First I would like to say that many of the Chinese people I have had contact with are very considerate and friendly. I have also found that I am willing to eat a lot of things now that I would not have eaten before (I am still looking for that rat on a stick for you Jasper, I promise I will try it). Probably the biggest thing I have learned is how quickly you can develop strong friendships with new people, when everyone is in an environment that is quite foreign to them.

I want to give a little background on last week here, as there were several unique events, unfortunately I was not there for them, but they are now famous amongst my crew of friends here. Last Tuesday we all went to a Martini bar on the Bund, it is quite expensive for a drink at 50 rmb each so we decided to drink some before we got there. While at the bar I got into a heated discussion with a group of Swedes who felt Canada had not given a quality alcohol to the world. They believe that their Absolut Vodka was the greatest liquid ever produced. Although I had to tell them that Absolut is a nice vodka, it in no way compared to Canadian rye. I was able to get my hands on a bottle of CC in the bar, and ordered a drink. The Swedes I were not too impressed I think, but that might because our booze has a bit of a kick to it. As we were drinking I was being informed  by the Swedes that fighting is not apart of hockey, and the only reason we fight is that we are not skilled enough. I know this argument was all in good fun, as they know any Canadian could jersey a Swede at any time (just kidding to all my Swedish friends). This argument did get heated and I wore myself out huffin and puffin about the greatness of OUR game, so I decided to head home. This unfortunately is when the night got interesting for some of my friends, as they decided they were hungry after the next bar. They went to People's Square as one of the girls knew where they could get meat on a stick for quite cheap from street vendors (I know, you are all going ew at this point. I just want to state that I have not, and will not eat street meat until I find that rat on a stick for my nephew). Well the usual price for one skewer is usually between 1 and 3 rmb, and that is what they paid for the first few. Then my friend grabbed one more and ate it, but instead of the guy wanting 1-3 rmb he decided the value of that exact same skewer had increased to a cost of 75 rmb. Well the people in the group thought that that was outrageous (which it was) and refused to pay. The skewer guy decided it was worth calling the police over, and somehow the cops appeared almost instantaneously. Well they took my buddy into the back of a cop van (which is where I would have started crying and peeing myself, along with the skewer guy. Well the rest of the group did not like losing one of their friends to a cop van so they were able to convince the cop that they were in the right, but so the skewer guy would not lose face they agreed to pay 20 rmb, which is still way too much. Well I  guess when the van door was open our friend jumped out of the back like someone lit his ass on fire, but I would have done the exact same thing. So the moral of the story is to always make sure you negotiate before you eat the street meat.

I have also decided that when this trip is over and I am finished my MBA, that I will be done with education for awhile. I guess I know it is time for me to start working (yes I know Jill, I should have been doing this years ago), so if anyone knows of any sweet openings in Cowtown please throw this dog a bone.

But I have been rambling on here for way too long as I need to get some sleep soon. So I hope everyone is able to give someone they love a big hug and kiss today, and until next time.

Dyno-Mite

Sick in Bed

Well it finally happened, I am officially sick in Shanghai. It is probably just a 24 hour thing as that is usually what happens to me, so keep your fingers crossed. Last night myself, one of the Lars's, and Vanessa (a Frenchie) went to a bar on the Bund. Well I guess I should start at the beginning of the evening, we started out at Lars's place, with a ten dollar bottle of vodka. Vanessa doesn't drink vodka (which Lars and myself find odd), so she stuck with her bottle of Chinese wine. Myself and the Swede put a really good dent in the bottle as we kept listening to awesome music from our home countries. Eventually Henrik (the Lars) played something that I recognized, and I was wishing Pete and Laura could have been here to hear it. The artist's name is Gunther, and I think he might be the President of Sweden, if you have never heard of him before, some of my friends started a fan club for him on Facebook years ago www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=223109839 . He has to be the most talented singer I have heard from Sweden since Ace of Base, no seriously give it a listen, it is AWESOME. After we got to the bar I realized that all drinks were 50 rmb, or about $9 Cdn, this price was so crazy expensive, but after a couple I realized why. Im a double size glass they filled it with opposite proportions to bars back home. Here it was 95% booze and 5% mix. They were fabulous, it was a great night of conversation. I finally headed home because I was realizing that my stomach was upset, and it wasn't from the booze. Well this basically gets you caught up in the life of me, so until next time.

Tie Domi still Sucks,

Derek

Introducing Skinny Derek

I thought that title might get some attention. Ok, the truth I am still a little above average, but since I have been in China I have dropped almost 7 kg. It is so much that the two pairs of jeans I brought here with me now look silly, so I had to go out and buy some new ones. When I left Canada I was a big 36 in the waist, but now I am a very slim 34, and hoping to get down a couple more inches. I know I will never be skinny like the good ol' days, but I can dream. The reason I have lost all this weight is probably to do with the amount of walking we do here. As I stated in the last blog, long walks are not uncommon, and this country is made of stairs as well. When I was living in Saint John last year, I believed I was being punished for some past misdeed by living in a fourth floor walk up. Now I realize that apartment was only training for me to get used to living in a fifth floor walk up in residence here. It is not very fun when you come home at 4 am after a night out on the town. I was thinking about making a suggestion that the put rest beds at each floor, so the tired could take breaks. I am sure there is some Chinese saying about how walking many stairs each day is good for your health.

On that note I have come to the realization that the Chinese have a famous saying for almost every situation. Most centre around living a good life, or being healthy, but my Chinese friend starts almost every sentence in a conversation by stating, "There is a famous Chinese saying about.....", sometimes I think it must lose something in the translation.

The other day one of the Lars and myself joined many of the Chinese students from the GLMBA for a bbq in a park in the North East of Shanghai. This park was quite unique to be in as it is completely man made, so all the trees are in nice rows, it is weird being in nature that just doesn't seem that natural. The park was actually quite nice and it surprisingly had some amusement park rides. My brother in-law once managed a ride called the "Fireball" back in his days with Conklin, and I was amazed to see something very similar to it here. Lars and myself were not too enthusiastic about going on the rides but we decided to give the "big" roller coaster a shot. It was a single loop, with an additional barrel roll in it. It had probably only a 50 foot drop so the loop was the first thing you hit. It was a fun short coaster,  I really was afraid for some reason. I would say it was more scary than doing the "Doppel" in the back row with no lap bar. The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful, so I will make this a short post. I hope everyone back home is enjoying the spring air in whatever city they may be in.

To infinity and beyond.....

Derek