Oriental Orientation

Oriental Orientation

10 September 2010

Shanghai, China

The coolest thing about my first day of school was that it is likely to be my last day of school that lasts for ten hours. The intense schedule of first year is now officially behind us, and we can concentrate on finding great jobs and then really focus on being B-School “Seniors.”

The second coolest thing about the first day was that Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission, was also there. With him were his buddies, the Vice President of Ghana, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, and South Africa’s Consul General in Shanghai, Vika Khumalo. They presented a panel on the topic, “China, Africa, and the EU in the 21^st Century.”

The U.S. was not mentioned until well into the discussion. Mr. Khumalo said, “Africa, China, and Europe. But there is a fourth leg to the table. You can love them or you can hate them, but you can’t ignore them. The United States...”

Pictures: Jerome, ECL, and our pal Romano Prodi (in the background); the IESE crew on campus (which, like the arch in St. Louis, was designed by IM Pei); Tomás, Gerald, ECL, Mike in class; the CEIBS gym; the IESE crew at the welcome party, which happened to be at a Basque-style compound

Flat Hunting: Craigslist or Dumpling Stand?

6-10 September 2010

Flat Hunting: Craigslist or Dumpling Stand?

Monday morning, Xiaomei took me to see two flats. One was a very nice single but was way out of my price range. The second was a potential fit --- a three or four bedroom depending on potential roommates. It's 18000 RMB for "four" bedrooms. The problem is the "fourth" bedroom is really more of a study, but we could put a twin bed in there. On the other hand, it has a huge common area with great furnishings and a kitchen several times bigger than any others I’ve seen in Shanghai. It has an amazing location though, near Weihai and Shimen Road, which is near the Four Seasons and a very convenient metro stop.

Then with my pals from IESE I saw another potential flat I could live in with two IESE guys. It is technically in the Jingan Temple area, but it seemed a bit far West. Entering it was just like in Coming to America, when they are staying in the decaying apartment building in Queens but Arsenio Hall remodels their own apartment luxuriously in great relief to the building itself. The building was not an expat building like most we had seen; there were notices in Mandarin covering the bulletin board and elevator walls, and we only spotted Chinese neighbors, which I think would be a plus. It's only 10000 RMB with three real bedrooms, but I remained a bit worried about the location. The owners also stopped my potential flatmate Gerald on the street after we had seen it with an agent and suggested we make a deal without the agent. Maybe devious, maybe money-saving, but in this unfamiliar world, I said I’d prefer to have an agent, who would be our only hope of an ally if any problems came up with the landlord.

Another place Gerald and I saw was near People’s Square Metro and had amazing views and a particularly amazing landlord. He appeared at the door in his boxer shorts and gave us enthusiastic insights in loud Chinese about the apartment - its rooms, the views, the neighborhood – as we walked around.

We walked into one bedroom, and I said, “We found his pants.” They were laid out on the dresser.

The problem with the Tasmanian landlord was that the rental term was one-year, and that was non-negotiable. The agent the IESE guys had found said it was very normal to leave after four months and just forfeit the deposit as the penalty. I wasn’t comfortable with this, whether as a real estate professional, a karmic consideration, a moral question, or lack of experience with the Chinese way. I wasn’t going to sign a one-year lease when I knew I wasn’t staying.

The next day we saw a five-bedroom flat near Jiangsu metro stop, which is on the preferred Line 2 but one stop further west than I am hoping to live. The potential roommates would be two friends from IESE and two new friends from ESADE, which is another business school in Barcelona. The apartment complex had tons of amenities, though all of them had fees for each use. They spanned from a swimming pool and work out facility to a pool hall and a mahjongg parlor. The place also had an amazing den, almost a man-room, with a huge flatscreen TV, several large leather couches, a massage table, and an extra refrigerator by the sideboard bar. Gerald and Hendrik adored it and wanted to move in. I was only dubious about the location. It also seemed a little grimy because it was not cleaned for new tenants yet. As with many flats we saw, there was an inexplicably large number of Chinese people there for the real estate showing. They all sat around watching us check the place out.

At any rate, the guys loved it, and I thought it would be fun to live with a big crew since it’s only for a semester and we’ll all be travelling a lot. The price was also right: 15,000 RMB for five people, though one room was again very small and would need a discount. So we settled on it and started to talk details with our agent, who in turn discussed them with the landlord and her large entourage.

That night Gerald and I went for dumplings in a rather chipper mood. It felt good to know we had found a place after all that looking. I still wasn’t in love with the location because the surrounding area was relatively unappealing as far as restaurants, businesses, and the like, and yet I was very pleased because it was a short-term rental contract at a good price and, most importantly, because I was excited about the group of roommates.

At the dumpling stand, I was struggling to remember the Chinese word for 8, and a bystander provided it. In the few words he said in English, I caught the sound of home and asked where he was from.

“Tennessee. Where are you from?”

“Tennessee.”

His name was Chris. We started chatting, and we mentioned that flat hunting was about all we had done since arriving. He told us he and his flatmate were actually looking for subletters for their lease, which expires on Christmas Eve. Their flat was right next to Jingan Temple Station (my most preferred metro stop) and 8000 RMB per month for two bedrooms. He said that around his flat there was a perfect mix of expat venues and Chinese hole-in-the-walls. This was too good to be true! Except that I had just committed to the five-bedroom next to Jiangsu Station. We got his number anyway and said we could get the word out to some other exchange students. He also said he would suggest some places for us to go in Shanghai.

This is when the catches started on the five-bedroom. First of all, they wanted a deposit of two months of rent for a four month rental contract. I did not trust this agent to any degree and particularly thought she seemed extremely closely tied to the landlord, though I don’t know in what capacity. Also, I have a friend who was here last year and, for no arguable reason, was not given his deposit back, only finally getting one-half of it back after much effort and the help of his agent. Therefore I did not see the deposit as something we were likely to see again in this case, especially with the Chinese propensity to renegotiate as one goes along. I took note that, if we considered the deposit lost, the net rental price would be 4500 per month per person, which was the same cost as the nicest flat I had seen so far. For that much I preferred to live smack dab in the middle of town. (Granted, all of these rents are far less than they would be in Barcelona.)

As negotiations went on, this became a sticking point and, to make a long story short, it killed the deal for me. (In the end, some other friends kept negotiating on some other points, and the terms changed several times in other ways, not to mention the problem that it finally came out that a Taiwanese golfer was a current tenant and not leaving for a few weeks.)

That’s when I resorted to the dumpling stand-turned-Craigslist opportunity and called Chris. Gerald and I went to see the flat, which was on Yan’an Zhong Lu, and you could see the Jing’an Temple Metro Station sign from the window by the elevator. The flat didn’t have any crazy amenities but was exactly what it needed to be: short term lease, no deposit (!!), large common area with a big TV, a couch, and a dining room table, a reasonably functional kitchen, and location, location, location. Not to mention that there was no agency fee but as virtual agents, we had the two Chris’s, a Tennessean and a Texan who spoke reasonable-to-good Mandarin and could remain middlemen with the landlady. I was sold.

So, that’s the story of how Gerald and I found our fantastic flat through the Tennessean I met at the dumpling stand. I moved in the next day, on Friday, 10 September, the same day I needed to give up my room at the Rayfont Hotel.

Pictured: 1003 Yan'an Zhong Lu: the den, my bedroom, and the view out the window next to the elevator

Homeless in Shanghai

5-9 September 2010

Homeless in Shanghai

The balance of week one in Shanghai: what you need to know.

Chinese cell phones. Getting one was only supposed to take a minute. I suggest going alone and not worrying about if you spend $10 or $30. In retrospect, I wish I’d spent more because it took me several days to figure out how to save a contact on this prehistoric device, which, incidentally, has very little memory to boot.

Eating lunch for <$1. It can be done. I suggest following a notably indiscriminate Spaniard into the most incomprehensible hole in the wall you pass while searching for the least expensive cell phones on the planet. Two quarters worth of dumplings and noodles will fill you right up. The Chinese people laughing at you ordering by pointing at their food is included for free!

Drinks at lunch. Unfortunately you’ll have to throw out another quarter to have a drink with lunch. The catch is, you have to get the drink somewhere else. We found Cokes and an assortment of teas at the shopfront next door. Unfortunately Diet Coke is only available in the expat neighborhoods or large groceries.

Other eating notes. We spotted my friend, Hendrik, eating in a restaurant called “Chinese Fast Food” and remarked on how courageous he was. Then I walked in to give him props and found him eating plain white rice.

The French Concession. On the particular night I led us there, Cotton’s was an awful choice. It was an amazingly secluded courtyard that felt like Midtown Memphis in the midst of one of the largest cities in the world. Anyway, on this particular night, it killed the buzz, but I still have to give it great marks for its signature cocktail, the Cotton Gin. Does it even matter what it tastes like? For a Southern Belle lost in the Far East, the name is enough!

Flat hunting. You won’t even believe this. In fact, it’s worth its own post…

Pictured: New cell phone contracts: don’t forget to read every word! --- Eating scrumptious Yunnanese with my sorority sister, Myraida --- Hendrik eating scrumptious…white rice!

Shanghai Kick Off

4 September 2010
Shanghai, China
Shanghai Kick Off

I woke up at 7 am on the dot.

I put on my sports clothes and went to the front desk to inquire about the gym the Rayfont claimed to have on the hotels.com listing, but I didn’t expect there to be one in actuality because I had not seen it on the first floor nor seen it mentioned elsewhere. He told me it was on the 34th floor. I got in the elevator, and there were only 33 floors. At first, I thought, ah, here we have the reported Chinese reluctance to saying “no” straight out! He just sent me to a non-existent floor! I rode to the 33rd floor, anyway, and indeed there were stairs heading up another floor. Loud work was going on nearby.

The gym was there and very rundown but with two working treadmills and even a rowing machine. It was nice to run looking out at Shanghai, trying to guess what lucky shapes the buildings were supposed to bring to mind, if that one could be the budding magnolia, or the bamboo, or the pineapple crown or some part of a lotus flower.

Then I got ready for a day with Xiaomei. She was the first person I had called yesterday after arriving in Shanghai.

Xiaomei is Chinese and went to the Mississippi University to Women, which is on the south side of Columbus, Mississippi, where I grew up. It is also my step-Mother’s alma mater and favorite cause. Then Xiaomei went to Mississippi State University to study business. (We Ole Miss Rebels will forgive her for that!) Afterwards, she worked in Jackson, Mississippi, including for my cousin Wen Nance’s business, Trinity Apparel. http://www.trinity-apparel.com/

Now Xiaomei is a successful entrepreneur and runs her own import-export business here in Shanghai. So, basically she is an amazing woman!

When I called Xiaomei, I thought she might offer to meet me for dinner soon or help me figure out my cell phone, but little did I know that her Mississippi skill set extends past business to perfect Southern hospitality! First of all, she gave me a dinner recommendation. While options are nice, it was utterly refreshing to be given complete direction after a full day of traveling. She told me one specific restaurant and suggested a bar to check out afterwards. Simply Thai is in Xintiandi, which is a trendy expat area. While Xintiandi is anything but Chinese, it is full of good bars and restaurants, and dinner was great. A Frenchman and his regal Chinese companion sat next to me sipping from coconuts and speaking French.

Anyway, the second thing Xiaomei said was that she would pick me up this morning and take me out into the countryside. My first full day in Shanghai and leaving for an adventure already!

I was ready when she called to say she was downstairs. When I met her, she immediately grabbed my hand. In her other hand she carried a bag of pastries and soft drinks she had just captured at the shop next to my hotel. She led me to the car, which her husband was driving, and another friend sat in the front seat. Xiaomei and I rode in the back, and I breakfasted on a very tasty pastry with small pieces of dried fruit in it. The drive out of Shanghai was mesmerizing. In no more than ten minutes, the densely packed high rise buildings were replaced by active farmland littered with small huts. The fields were punctuated by groups of white egrets.

We drove to Dianshan Lake, where Xiaomei and her husband recently bought a second home. Their friend is interested in buying one there as well, so we spent the better part of the day looking at houses that were for sale in the same development. It had two parts. One looked like a rather nice neighborhood development in the U.S. There were big yards with plants just like Mississippi: magnolias, crepe myrtles, and monkeygrass. They also had a tree that reportedly keeps mosquitoes away, and as a result everyone wants at least one in their yard. It sounded to me like a good export opportunity.

The second part was a traditional Chinese area. It was sort of new urbanist with a Chinese twist: the entries were pedestrian lanes, lined with bonsai trees and doors with exciting handles fashioned like fantastical animals, and most entryways had a mosaic, such as the symbol of long life or a deer. But, in the back, instead of being an alley for cars and garages (like Harbor Town, for instance), there were ponds with walkways and Chinese pavilions and darling little bridges lifted over them. I fell in love… and then I wondered where on earth the cars went. I asked Xiaomei, “Where do they park? How do they bring groceries to their houses?” Coolies.

Just kidding. The cars are underneath. Effectively, the whole thing is built on top of a shared parking structure in which everyone has a garage under the rest of their house, but you would never guess it from street level. Take note, Henry T!

I was enthralled by this development and could not believe my luck to be on a real estate tour on my first full day in Shanghai – and not least in a neighborhood where asking prices have gone up 25% or more in the last six months! But nothing could compare with my first real Chinese meal. Not that the dumplings were not amazing, but the Chinese have a particular style of meals, which I’ll call “high maintenance family style.” Not only is the food wholly different from Chinese food in the States (which I never liked anyway), but the methods and meaning of what you order and how it is served are enough to confuse the most curious China newcomer. Everything matters. You must balance yin and yang, salty and sweet. You pick not only the food, which is all shared, but also the order it comes in. You must even take note to order a lucky number of dishes!

So, as you can imagine, an authentic Chinese meal is not something I could just roll up and order myself. For one thing, eating alone is an oddity here. So, at this stage, the only real chance to have an authentic Chinese meal is to be invited to one, so I was extremely grateful to experience one on the very first day.

The food was new, healthy, incredible.

Four dishes arrived first. One was a rectangular plate with boiled peanuts on one side and, separated by a beautiful purple and white orchid, bright green beans of some sort. The electric green beans were the best green thing I had ever tasted, and doubled as an exceptional way to practice using chopsticks. You picked up the pod and held it while you slid out the individual beans with your mouth.

The other three to arrive together were roast duck, sliced beef with a glaze, and pumpkin, which they noted was not the same type of pumpkin we eat in the States. The pumpkin was a deep fiery orange and cut in dense, juicy chunks. At the beginning of the meal, they also brought me silverware and offered me a Coke, but I did not use the first and declined the latter. I maneuvered as best I could with the chop sticks and drank tea with everyone else.

Next came broccoli, which before the first course was my favorite green vegetable.

Now, imagine the largest mixing bowl owned by someone who loves to bake. That is the size bowl that arrived next full of noodles. Then came the most divine looking – and tasting – dish. Each of us received a large shell with a clam resting on a bed of vermicelli noodles and seasoned with a devastating garlic concoction. The last two things to arrive were scrambled eggs with scallions and, finally, watermelon.

Nothing could beat this spectacular day, but it was augmented by a nice night in Shanghai. My IESE classmate, Gerald, arrived, and I immediately took him to eat dumplings at the spot I discovered yesterday. Then we met up with my MIT sorority sister, Myraida. She works at Apple and sources parts for products you may have heard of, like the iPhone and the iPad, spending half her time in the Bay Area and the other half in China. While it may seem tepid to meet at someone’s hotel bar, Myraida was staying at the Meridien and her hotel bar was 789 Nanjing Road, which affords dumbfounding views of Shanghai. Arriving there, I saw the view from the guidebooks in person for the first time, looking down toward the Bund and the Huangpu River with the Oriental Pearl TV Tower standing like a psychedelic beacon in Pudong. I caught up on MIT sorority gossip (with a very patient Gerald) and even heard some from more than five years ago that I never knew. Myraida also told us about her amazing job and even showed us her personal pictures of the “safety nets” they put up at Foxconn. (Foxconn is a major supplier for Apple that has over 300,000 employees both working and living at their Shenzhen manufacturing complex --- and they have a suicide problem which they are fighting by, among other things I assume, putting up nets to combat jumping.)

Then we adjourned to the Bund. We met up with a friend of Gerald’s from Germany and her Chinese boyfriend at Glamour Bar. Divine view, music, scene, and shockingly enough they even had a very tasty chicken schnitzel. Afterwards, we took a walk on the Bund. In our picture, can you tell who is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower (looks like a space-age rocketship with globular growths) and who is the Hyatt (looks like a bottle opener)?


Photos: (2) Chinese section of the Dianshan Lake development; People’s Square metro station at night and behind it the Meridien (outlined in blue neon) which houses the bar 789 Nanjing Road on its top floor; the view from 789 Nanjing Road; Pudong as seen from the Bund at night; Gerald and ECL get architectural on the Bund at night

First things first

3 September 2010, con’t
Shanghai, China

First things first

First things first: dumplings.

I was walking down Nanjing Xi Lu, which had been described to me as “Shanghai’s Rodeo Drive,” and true to the point, there was a building fashioned like a six-story piece of YSL luggage. A bit further down, another building was wearing what seemed to me a Gucci flapper dress. Not too much further down, however, there was an old Chinese lady looking very content sitting on a small plastic stool and eating dumplings. Across the sidewalk I spotted the dumpling stand of their provenance, and I ordered some for my first taste of China.

I ordered 8 dumplings. They could only be ordered in multiples of 4, and 4 is an unlucky number in Greater China. For instance, some apartment buildings here do not have a fourth floor, particularly if they are meant for ex-pats who overlap with Taiwanese and Hong Kongese, both of whom are more traditional – and superstitious – than their Mainland brethren. Anyway, as far as the dumpling orders were concerned, I wondered if playing on the avoidance of four was a good marketing trick to assure bigger orders. Then they rang in 7 kuai – about $1 – instead of 3.5 kuai.

Ouch! My first bite unleashed a cascade of boiling water onto my tongue. For a minute, I reeled and completely forgot I was in China.

I had not realized they were the kind of dumplings with a splash of boiling water inside, but, apart from that scarring sensation, they were unquestionably sent from the heavens. I carefully pierced the remaining dumplings with my chopsticks to release the flaming broth into my plate. After finishing them, I rounded People’s Square and thought of them as a new lover: How long until I could see them again? How could I possibly shorten the time we would be apart? What would our next meeting be like?

Ni hao from Shanghai

Ni hao from Shanghai

3 September 2010

Shanghai, China

Ni hao from Shanghai!

All went so smoothly getting here that I'm almost afraid to leave the hotel as something bad is bound to happen! On the flight, after being very cold and fitfully dozing up until the fascinating Sichuan meal, I took an Ambien and didn't wake up until we were landing. I looked out and saw a large brown plain with two black figures on it I, at first thinking they were huge tractors. There were very low white clouds in a lovely light blue sky.

After reaching for my glasses, I turned back around to find this light brown plain was the Long River (Yangtze) delta, and the tractors were boats.

Now I'm at the hotel - it even had a plug converter for me to borrow. The lobby of the Rayfont was promising, the hallway a bit worrisome, and the room totally fine, as meets the uncritical eye. Basically the rug and the wallpaper look well overdue for replacement (held together by tape or awkward patching in some places) but the rest - most importantly the bed, desk, tv, etc, are great, as is the view of Shanghai, though it could be New York or any big city but for a few buildings with red Chinese characters down the side.

The only slight complication has been the realization that my blog is blocked in China. That’s right, folks, I’m important enough to be blocked in China! …Just kidding! The service itself is blocked… but for the one to two readers out there, who are no doubt very closely related to me, I will find a way.

In the meantime, here is my to-do list:

Priority Level Uno:

- Meet up with Xiaomei (friend of my cousin, Wen Nance, who went to Gail’s alma mater, the MUW, in Columbus, Mississippi, and then to MSU!)

- Call Hardy (my friend from Groton who lives in Beijing)

- Get cell phone (or break my Blackberry and get a new SIM card)

- Find a rental agent

Priority Level Dos:

- Buy plug adapter (currently borrowing one from hotel, so not urgent)

- Buy hairdryer and straightener (currently borrowing hairdryer from hotel)

- Find out where best exchange rates are and change Euros

- Find Mandarin classes or someone to teach me Mandarin

- Call Tai Chi place (get phone number from Autumn)

- Zacks Investment Research – do some work!! (my remote part-time job)

- Get a VPN so I can blog or change my blog to Typepad

- Find a gym (Paul Harvin gave me a suggestion)

- Look into Shanghai half-marathon

- Set dates and begin job applications (only banking and consulting applications are due soon)

Stay tuned for first impressions of China.

NB: Pictures show me leaving Barcelona, a welcome sign to Shanghai, and the view from my hotel room at the Rayfont at 1066 Yan’an Xi Lu.

We have lift off!

We have lift off!

2 September 2010

Barcelona, Spain

Today I am leaving for China. Enough of visas and preparation and bureaucracy, and now for airplanes and dumplings and pajamas and probably some more bureaucracy.

In the past few weeks, I went home to Memphis and had a great time seeing my family and the farm in Mississippi and catching up with friends and enjoying another fantastic Fancy Nancy party in Memphis. I wore a fantastic hat that was Chinese, according to Mr. Lincoln, Memphis' imminent costume proprietor, and I'm sure he's at least as accurate as Wikipedia.

The Conversation Award undoubtedly goes to the yankee Sarah Coleman and the Whitehead's who propounded on "Who is your favorite forefather?" Beware of folks who have recently started history PhD's if you aren't ready for this sort of swerve ball cocktail party query. Leave it to the Whitehead's to have not only an opinion but lots to say on the subject, and, if reports are accurate, even to have corrected said Princeton PhD student about the name of some forefather or President or the like.

The Happy Award goes to Johnny and Amy Lamberson, who brought me a mason jar with something very special and homemade in it. I'm not going to say what it was exactly, but I will take this chance to announce that the Happy Award is being renamed the Moonshine Award for future years.

Anyway, it's time for me to finish packing, though so far I have packed the really important things like my technicolored dreamcoat and praline pecans for gifts and a rather impressive med kit with every medication anyone could imagine needing in China during four months, from Diamox for that Tibet trip to painkillers because I foresee a hike in Yunnan. More notable is what I'm not taking. This ranges from the hairdryer and straigthener that are reportedly cheap there and mine from Europe won't plug in anyway -- to business suits as about ten people have suggested I make the first order of business to get some made there -- to things I almost forgot, like contacts, that, remembering, I opted not to worry about anyway because aren't they made in China?

Whether or not I can communicate or get anything cheaply instead of at laowai prices is another story.

So, I'm signing off as far as Europe is concerned, unless I get stuck in Amsterdam. In closing, the fourth picture provided for your amusement was sent to me minutes ago by my Father, ostensibly as a subtle reminder of where I come from (in case the Lamberson's mason jar hadn't done the trick).

This patriotic Southern American will report back from the People's Republic of China, where she is scheduled to arrive at 11:30 Beijing time on Friday 3 September. In the unlikely event that anyone reads this, please say a prayer over this venture into the unknown, as it marks the first time I've been the slightest bit apprehensive about a trip. Before today I never understood that twinge (or deluge) of stress people describe about traveling overseas or moving to a new place. Alas, as I head off to country #28, I understand.

Zaijian!

Obsession

Obsession
9 August 2010
Madrid, Spain

I can't stop thinking about China.

First, good news on the visa: I am the proud holder of a 6-month multiple entry F-visa for China! I picked it up on Friday. So, for anyone who finds themselves in a similar visa situation, I suggest doing as we did --- apply for an F-visa (not a student visa!) and also include a letter that respectfully explains why you need a multiple entry visa.

China is on the brain. I have one week left of my internship here in Madrid, and it's great that I have lots to finish up because otherwise I would get nothing done! This weekend I bought several new books on China. One is Mr. China by Tim Clissold. It is about investing $400,000,000 in China between 1995-2005 --- and painfully so! On the advice of two friends (not to mention it's place on most lists of books about China), I also started Wild Swans by Jung Chang. It already strikes me as amazing, and I'm on page 8. My third capture was Himilaya by Michael Palin. It is the book version of a trip through the Himilayas he did with a camera crew for the BBC. I got this for two main reasons. First, his coverage includes Tibet, and I was hoping to find something on Tibet from a mountaineers perspective - neither that of the mountaineer or the obsessive spiritualist. I am also happy to read about other areas he included, such as Pakistan, which has been high on my list of curiosity ever since Naveed got engaged (and the prospect of visiting for the wedding arose). Second, Michael Palin's tells the story day by day --- using each day as the divisor instead of having chapters. He also includes a reasonable number of pictures. I am attracted to this as a potential format for my own travel writing, so I am interested to get familiar with an example set up in the same way.

I have unfortunately not spent a minute working on Mandarin this summer. I'm not sure how much time, if any, I will have before I leave for China on 2 September. I wish I had a functional Mandarin Rosetta Stone!

In other news, I booked my lodging for my first week in Shanghai. I will be staying at Rayfont Shanghai Hotel & Apartment at 1066 Yan An Road West. This is on the edge of the Jing'an District, where I'm currently hoping to live. During the first week, I hope to find a flat there --- and, if time allows, dig Shanghai and start some Mandarin courses.

Departure is in less than a month! It is going to be here before I know it! The only thing I'm more excited about is getting to go home and see family, friends, and Memphis first.

Money for nothing, visa for free

Money for nothing, visa for free
30 July 2010
Madrid, Spain

This morning my friend and I dropped off our China visa applications at the Chinese embassy. It makes getting a NIE look easy! CEIBS provided a form and a letter, and otherwise the application only required a form, a copy of my NIE (for non-Spaniards), one passport photo, and our passport. The remaining question is mostly what sort of visa will be awarded. Two other friends were only able to get double-entry visas (though they can apply for further entries once in China). I included an extra letter explaining my request for two entries and made sure not to apply for an "estudio" visa, but a short-term (6 months) F Type visa which is technically called a Business Visa, but it includes "estudio en corto plazo" or for short-term study. The embassy official checked the appropriate box and wrote down the request as one for an F visa with multiple entries. So we'll see if luck was with us. We'll find out a week from today, next Friday.

A note on costs: no matter how many entries, a Chinese visa for an American costs 120 Euros, whereas for a Spaniard it costs a fraction of that - and only 30 Euros for a single-entry visa. My question is: is there any actual processing cost different or is this pricing differential purely on the demand side, or possibly set as retaliation for the costs and efforts required for US visas?

At any rate, it will indeed be worth every penny!

The Hunt Continues...

The Hunt Continues...
5 May 2010
Barcelona, Spain

My blog has been a clear underperformer. Hopefully, this post will be the beginning of a successful turnaround.

This past weekend I went with a group of classmates to a small town in rural Catalunya called Sant Boi. It had a surprisingly rockin' night life; the village bar was packed when we headed there after dinner Friday past midnight. On Saturday we grilled out and played futbol before having a nice dinner at a restaurant in town. It was a mellow weekend in beautiful countryside. Perhaps the highlight was driving around in Javi's sweet ride:

Today was the final day of our Capstone Project, a three-day competition in which the 27 teams of our MBA class were divided among 3 companies to recommend a solution to a current problem. In Team B3's case, the company was GAS GAS, a Spanish motorbike manufacturer. The task at hand was to propose an US market entry strategy. Team B3 suggested they focus on the South, which set us apart from the others, who thought California's environmental regulations and double distance from Spain were more appealing. Though we didn't win, the company execs said they would follow our advice! Viva el Sud!

I also had an introductory interview today with a partner at a small consulting firm in London. It seemed to go alright, but we shall see... the interview hunting is still underway and even heating up again.

This coming weekend I'm headed to France because Muz has arrived. She and Lily will be in town until mid-June. I miss them and St. Paul and cannot wait!

In the meantime, it's cinco de mayo, and I live in Spain and have no particular plans. It seems odd that this was a bigger deal back in the U.S. It ranks up there with Taiwanese National Day being celebrated more in the States.

Moorish Adventure #1

Moorish Adventure #1
September 11-13
Granada, Spain

Part roadtrip, part Spanish cramming session.

Caro came to visit and won a Supreme Visitor Award for redecorating our house while we were working and schooling. I highly suggest hosting friends who are designers during your first weeks in a new home, and particularly one in a new country. First, she rearranged the major furniture. Then, she demanded we buy more bookshelves and all sorts of other things. Next she put it all together and reorganized our closets and kitchen. She said she likes doing this.

She did drag Byron around Barcelona shopping at boutiques for a day to settle the score.

In between, we also took a little road trip to Andalusia. Since I was in the midst of intensive Spanish classes, I sat in the back the whole way and tried to open my mouth very wide while practicing my pronunciation. Caro was once again the ultimate visitor by deciding that she, too, should learn lots of Spanish on the ride down.

What sort of things does one learn on a road trip from Barcelona to Malaga?

¡Qué ruinas!
¿Hay alguna habitación?...

Dacian Homecoming

Dacian Homecoming

7 September 2009

Bucureşti, Romania

Romania is my new fave Eastern European country! We went to visit Oana and her family this weekend and had the best time. It was my first trip to Eastern Europe, and I am happy to report that they exhibit Southern Hospitality like no other! Oana's fam served us a 4-hour dinner --- 4 hours of eating no doubt --- and not only that: we also drank palinka, which is in essence Romanian moonshine.

We also saw the second biggest building in the world, met Oana's cute puppies, and took a time machine back to when clubbing was cool. Last but not least, Oana and company gave us a tour of their start-up company, Adulmec.