Back from Shanghai’s construction grave!
A thousand apologies for losing touch, and a thousand more for not having the chance to get back home for the holidays. Saying that I have been busy would have been an understatement, as I have been juggling spending time with girlfriend, school & thesis, part-time teaching, Rotaract organization president-ing, and business development with I Care Liwu. Nonetheless, I have committed to a new year’s resolution of always finding time to let people know that I am alive. That and waking up early, learning 25 new Chinese words a week, and maybe hitting the gym. Yep… I’m going to need both luck and a miracle.
Girlfriend
Lana’s well. Still working hard and happy that she doesn’t have to travel an hour and a half every day to get to work – it is now a 5-minute walk from home. I can definitely tell the difference every time I have a chance to see her, and am counting the days until we can relax and get back to the states again. Although I regret that I can’t show her what a REAL Christmas is like, if time flies as quickly as it has in the last year, I’m sure December 2010 will be just around the corner. For now, we’ll just have to settle with creative Christmas trees, festive candles, and folding sofa-beds, while visions of Jacksonville dance in our heads. How about a tree made from toilet paper rolls? It’s both convenient and eco-friendly (well, at least the fact that I’ll need toilet paper anyway). If you have any better ideas, be sure to drop a comment!
School
Now I’m taking two classes at Fudan, Social Demographics in China and Chinese Media & Politics in a Global Context. Very interesting classes this year, and we’ve gone over everything from the development of marriage laws to the issue with internet censorship to China’s stance on the current conference in Copenhagen. At the same time, I’ve been working bit by bit on my thesis, which has jumped back and forth between company business plan and research paper on “China’s Socio-economic reform and its resulting impact on return to education”. If all works out, graduation will be set for next Spring; guess that’s another new year’s resolution!
Part-time teaching
Lana’s a great teacher who’s very passionate about both her students and work. Me? Not so much; sometimes I just feel like a big white monkey sent to entertain kids while their parents are out building Shanghai with business opportunities. This is partially the English center’s fault – they’re more focused on keeping their heads above the water instead of providing their teachers with any kind of meaningful resources like quality textbooks, paper, or scissors. If a company doesn’t take its employees seriously, of course the employees won’t treat the job any better.
Rotaract
Long story short, we’re growing! Recent activities have been hosting a World Trivia Night fundraiser at the Hilton Shanghai (raised $10000, which was contributed to both a Hilton charity and our club), representing China’s Rotaract Clubs at a conference in Singapore, developing various community service projects, and meeting every week. Check out the latest newsletter in the Rotaract section.
I Care Liwu
I Care Liwu – the home of all your Shanghai Experience Gift needs. We are basically providing a platform of services in Shanghai that can be compiled into a package and delivered as a gift for a variety of occasions. This business is highly demanding, requires a great deal of business guanxi or “relationships” around Shanghai, and challenges creativity to develop both stimulating and memorable gifts. In other words, it’s a perfect fit for my personal and professional development. Check us out at www.icareliwu.com!
So, that’s a rough news flash of the ‘important’ things you might have missed. Don’t worry, next time posts won’t be so long and straining on the eyes. Can’t promise they won’t be short and straining on the eyes, though. Thanks for the sustained interest and enjoy what’s left of your weekend, all!
Shanghai dui Xiaocheng de shenti hao bu hao?
Re lie huan ying guang lin “Shanghai dui Xiaocheng de shenti hao bu hao?” de ke!
A very warm welcome to “How Shanghai life is treating Jacob” Class!
Readers, I can now honestly say that Florida isn’t the only one with weather issues. Just last month a friend told me that I should probably buy some thick sweaters early before prices jumped up with the coming winter. While saving money is one of my fortes (I’ve even found myself cooking to save money on the already $1-2 meals), I thought I could save it for later considering how humid it had been since I arrived in Shanghai. I had been warned, but I thought time was on my side.
A week later, I was explaining to my uncle that this autumn season was surprisingly warmer than I had expected despite the minor temperature drop at night. I mean, Shanghai is supposed to be hot in summer and cold and winter, right? I then hung up the phone, threw on some shorts, and took the elevator down to grab a few things from the convenience store across the street like I had done every morning. But this morning was different. The streets were a little clearer, the air seemed a little foggier, and for some reason my hands and feet felt different. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t feel my hands and feet at all! When I asked a by-passer what such a sensation was, he told me it was what they called “winter”. Go figure – a week of 80 degree autumn followed by a 40 degree and below winter.
As we speak (or as I type and you read), I am huddled around the laptop trying to gather the warmth back into my legs. I even find that typing can warm my fingers. This is, unfortunately, the result of what I’ve always referred to as the “China workout plan”; loosely defined as one in which a person is forced to undergo healthier foods, a transportation method that they call walking, mind exercises in class that they call thinking, and a summer of intense heat. Because of such a workout plan, therefore, I had once again been losing weight and definitely did not prepare for the coming winter.
The past month has been one of the final stages of settling down, and I actually am now beginning to find the confidence to understand where things are located on both Shanghai maps and bus schedules. I guess you could say that I am becoming a lot more familiar with this vast metropolis. I eat Shanghainese, sleep in Shanghainese conditions, and breathe Shanghainese air…. but still have yet to learn to speak the Shanghainese dialect. To give you some perspective, within the “macrolanguage” of Mandarin Chinese there are over 13 sublanguages that different groups of people or provinces can understand and speak. Even though Shanghai has its own dialect and I have begun to generally understand what people are saying when they use it, I prefer to master the “common” or standard Mandarin Chinese before plunging into a different tone and vocabulary system. When all the varieties of villages, languages, and traditions are put into perspective, it truly is amazing how much history behind this culture is unknown to the outside world.
History has been a very important part of my classes, no matter what subject I am studying. The more one studies the state of a country’s economy or culture, the more one yearns to know how exactly it got to such a point. Being a math buff throughout my adolescence, I never really knew how to understand my father’s love for history until now. That being said, we definitely are living history today with the election of our new president, and I hope that future emphasis can be placed on promoting ties between China and the US rather than provoking a future conflict between the countries that would involve the entire world. Whatever your affiliation, it only makes sense to move on from the “what if this guy had won” mentality to one of hope and support. The campaign race might be exciting, but it is only the beginning of the road – and with the economy the way it has become, we have a long and treacherous road to travel.
Life with the Shanghai Rotary and Rotaract clubs has continued to be very rewarding. Last month I gave a speech on the different activities that Rotary provides and my involvement with each, and I plan to give another very soon on District 6970 and the Rotary Club of Coral Gables. In assisting with the Rotary merchandise sales, I have found that my sales capabilities are improving, and I even increased sales by almost 400% in just last week’s meeting! Our Rotaract club’s development has been very fruitful as well: we have been holding field trips for the children of migrant workers, expanding our committees, and organizing club operations. On top of the web development, I have volunteered to re-establish the organization’s old practice of sending out newsletters, and am working on sending out our first publication by the end of this month (which I will make available for you to see). Very busy, but very exciting to see our organization grow!
“Winter”… “walking”… “thinking”… such concepts seem to change their meaning with my change in environment, but each new definition brings about more understanding of the world. Now that winter has finally shown her face, let’s cross our fingers for some snow!
(If you like, you can post comments/questions to this update well. No registration required!)
Another Foreign Devil in the Flowery Kingdom…
Dear all,
I now reach the one-month mark on my stay in Shanghai, or “On the sea” in Chinese. I have finally settled, gotten my internet sorted out, begun classes, obtained my student visa and residence permit, traveled the city, and even reached inner peace. Well, almost. This city’s 20 million people and I are all working together on that last one. When I’m not taking classes like Chinese Economy, Chinese Taxation System, or Foreign trade, I’m just another laowai (literally translated as old foreigner) trying to get a piece of the growing Shanghai pie.
Ah, Shanghai. Nowhere else but here will you find the infamous Shanghai women and their habitual walk around the streets in their plaid pajamas, men riding around with stacks of Dell Computer and LCD screen boxes attached to their aged bicycles, and children guarding their parent’s fresh farm produce while playing games on their touch-screen cell phones. This enormous metropolitan city is basically a time machine in itself. By taking the subway from one district to another, I can travel through Shanghai’s initial development as a fishing village all the way to the financial and commercial capital that it has become today. While Fudan University is in the middle of nowhere by Shanghai’s standards, I still have access to a transportation system of buses, taxis, subways, metros, trains, and airplanes galore. It is amazing that such a city could be encompassed in anything less than what we call a developed country, but then again, there has been so much investment in this and cities like Beijing and Shenzhen that it seems nearly impossible for the other provinces of China to measure up to such a standard of living.
The standard (and cost) of living is not the only thing that’s undergoing massive development here in Shanghai; the Rotary Club is also developing through the growth of new projects and membership. The Rotary Club of Shanghai, one of two clubs in all of China, was actually first chartered in 1919 as the first Rotary club in China and the second in all of Asia! Due to some problems, however, the club ceased to operate after the 1949 revolution, and wasn’t re-chartered by Rotary International until 2006… which makes me the second incoming ambassadorial scholar to come to Shanghai. No pressure, right?
To say the least, the Rotary Club here is very educational, exciting, and well worth every visit. Did you know that the PRC government will only allow foreigners (holders of foreign passports) to become members of Rotary? I didn’t! The Rotary Club also initially told me that they would only be able to fund two meeting visits, but later it was agreed that I’d be able to attend every week if I helped by selling some of the club’s merchandise before and after each meeting. My first job in China, and so far I haven’t missed a meeting since I got here!
The Rotary club of Shanghai has a variety of wonderful community service projects like the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Project, Aids Awareness Programs, Wheelchair donations to the needy, and even the Gift of life in which they provide heart operations for underprivileged children. I am also regularly attending the Rotaract club, headed by District 6990’s very own Jonathan Rowe! Although I haven’t gotten a formal position yet, I am developing the Rotaract website for the club (www.rotaractshanghai.org), working with two committees, and helping plan field trips to museums for migrant school children over the next three months. We even raised over $1600 at our first social event, Cheers for Charity! I’ve also been planning to work out a partnership between the Rotaract club here and the one that a few friends and I worked on developing at Florida International University, but we’ll see how that comes along.
As you can see, readers, with Rotary I’m always in good hands. Despite the situation with the U.S. economy, I hope this letter finds you all in good spirits and look forward to an eventful year. Happy voting!
