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May 29th 2008

Published: May 29th 2008

大家好！
It's been long overdue that I update y'all on my life here. Here's an attempt at the 4-5 months in a nutshell:

Vistors Round 1: Mom, Emily (my sister), Joe (my brother-in-law)

They came, they saw, and then they saw some more. You can't even begin too imagine how much we did on this trip. The trip happened to coincide with the largest snowstorm that Southeast China has seen in 50 years. It some ways, it was actually a blessing in disguise because so many of the normally jam-packed tourist destinations were literally empty. Let's see...here's a brief list of SOME of the things we saw/did:

Shanghai -

Suzhou -

Hangzhou -

Nanjing-

Shangai again-

Fun trip.

Visitors Round 2: Chris (bestest American friend) and Chico (bestest Mexican friend):

This was a very debaucherous trip very similar in nature to my Mexico City last August. Same group, different country. Definitely a lot of fun.
Also, when Chico arrived he sprung his new business venture on me, which consists of him and several Mexican partners starting a green-building construction company. He is currently working on a clean-energy apartment complex in Mexico City. Being interested in where to get many of the products, Chico told me that he'd like to see what China has to offer in this industry. So, with the help of some friends, I organized a meeting with a solar energy company and we headed out to 台州 (Taizhou) to check out a solar panel factory...very interesting. Chico expressed his interest in having a trust-worthy contact here in China to find quality products for him. So, long story short, I am now the Foreign Manager of AVSE & Co...at least that's what it says on my business card. 😊

My Now Ex-girlfriend:

For about 5 months there I had a Chinese girlfriend named 许丽青 (her English name is Julie). She was a University student at 南京大学 (Nanjing University). Very sweet girl. A few weeks ago we decided to just be friends. For me, one of the main reasons for not continuing the relationship was cultural differences. Specifically, differences in how we develop and present our beliefs. This relationship gave me a great deal of insight into the difference between the culture of American and Chinese youths.
Julie is very 爱国 (patriotic) and takes certain views to heart (Taiwan being a part of China, anger towards the Japanese due to historic events, being enraged at the French for taking a pro-Tibet stance,...) She is very typical of university and high school students and gets very upset when presented with opposing/questioning viewpoints. As an American, I have grown up in a society that encourages people to challenge and question all viewpoints, especially when those views are presented by the government. I see many students here as naive for so easily accepting the opinions presented to them by a government controlled media. At the same time, students may view me as dim for having such obviously false beliefs. I have noticed that Chinese students often feel threatened and defensive when faced with opposing viewpoints. I yearned for open-dialogue and debate, while Julie sought reaffirmation and confirmation of what she knew was right. It was very difficult to have an conversation about certain things and I found that in order to get along, Julie and I just had to avoid certain topics of conversation. It made me realize how important beliefs and attitudes are in a relationship. I'm not saying that I can only date Chinese girls with the same beliefs as me, but merely that they should be understanding of the fact that I may often question their beliefs. This questioning is not always an attempt to prove them wrong, but rather an attempt to understand their views and possibly form my own opinions based upon how well they stand up or topple to the challenge.
Now, don't get me wrong, this relationship was not all bad. In fact, it was mostly good. She was a very sweet, caring, and beautiful girl. We still remain good friends.
With that being said...ladies be warned...这个帅哥现在没有女朋友！

My Chinese:

Well, it's slowly but surely getting better. My studying habits are rather sporadic. Usually when people ask me, I tell them that I study for hours every day. However, the reality is that I often study very hard (3-5 hours a day) for a week or so and then don't study again for 2-3 weeks. However, I think that this is a good tactic because it gives me time to apply what I learned in my week of hard study. Here are some resources that I use to help me learn and practice Chinese:

I try to work on all four basic language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). They are all improving, but at very different speeds.

My XBOX

Probably simultaneously the greatest and dumbest purchase I've ever made. It's hard to turn down buying an XBOX when games are like 60 cents each (compared to $40 in the states). I now spend a good portion of my free-time killing drug-dealers, prostitutes, and civilians in Grand Theft Auto 4. Fun!

The Earthquake:

This is definitely a huge tragedy, the real scope of which we probably won't know for quite a while. It's been very interesting to see how the people and government have begun to deal with this. Pretty much everyone I know here has given a little for the rescue effort. It's amazing to witness the mobilization of this many people for a single cause. I never thought Chinese people could ever be more patriotic than they already were. However, at times it can be a little scary to see how easily this many people can be mobilized.
It's also been interesting to see how the Chinese government has reacted to the quake. Not all may agree, but it seems like they've almost taken it as an opportunity to overshadow many of the issues (specifically the Tibetan/Xinjiang riots) that were clouding the prospects of a non-controversial Olympics.
Last week there was a 3 day period of mourning. During this time, every TV station only showed 24 hours of rescue effort propaganda. Many businesses were closed and people didn't go out too much. It was kind of eerie. In my opinion, I think that this mourning was a bit premature. How can you mourn when you don't even know the full scope of the disaster yet? I just hope that people don't start to put behind them something that's not even over
Despite all this, the Sichuan earthquake is probably the greatest tragedy that China has seen for a long time. My heart goes out to all those affected by it.

Next Year:

Well, I'm happy to announce that I have signed another contract and will be spending at least one more year here in Nanjing, China. I've re-signed with the same school (Nanjing No. 1 High School). I'll be moving next door to my own apartment (a bit nicer), receiving a nice raise and a bonus, getting a free trip home in August, and getting new co-workers. All in all, I'm pretty happy about my new contract.

Well, that's it for now. I'll try and update my blog more often. I love receiving messages and comments, so feel free to write 'em.

I miss you all.

Much love,
Mike

29th May 2008

Angeli
non-member comment

Mike!
I have too may friends from college that I've since wondered "what happened to them" and the likes. I'm glad you're keeping up with this and I get insight in how life been treatin' ya abroad. Take much care milof! ~natasha

30th May 2008

luz
non-member comment

por fin!!!
¡Hola mi Mike querido! Por fin recibo noticias tuyas....tanto tiempo sin escribir. Me interesó mucho todo lo que mencionaste en este tu último blog. Espero que podamos conversar pronto....tengo cosas que contarte. En 4 dias me voy a vivir a Cusco, hehe. Deséame suerte. Muchos besos, Luz

31st May 2008

cristobal boggins
non-member comment

short shrift
whoa whoa buddy, where's all the love for your bestest american friend?? i think the dedicated readers of your blog deserve a little more insight into the times of "visitors round 2," I mean, something interesting must have happened right? Isn't asking a doctor in a chinese hospital if there's msg in an IV bag blog-worthy? And by the way, almost got the Xbox hooked up here in Vegas...

Cristobal
non-member comment

Deodorant
Oh man, remember when we went through airport security and she stopped and looked at my deodorant, and was like What the Hell is this? Hahahaa. And yet body odor doesn't seem to be much of a problem there, interesting.....