Blogs from Zhuhai, Guangdong, China, Asia - page 2

Well of course I suffered from a bit of a Jet Lag but not too bad because I had to stay awake the whole time from morning till about 9 in the evening and when you start working on the second day of your arrival – it kinda helps too ;) Well here are some short things I have realized so far: Chinese like to stare at foreigner- ok I was used to that in Japan too – but they tend to make photos of you too!! So I ask my host mum and dad to tell me how to say “one photo – 5 kwai” (OH btw RMB/Yuan/Kwai all the same ;) ) Also I am not the only intern in my company! There is a nice guy from France, too! We actually went to ... read more

Almost three years ago I lived in Zhuhai's Mei Li Wan Apartments, and saw several new high rises sprout up across the street. In two years I never saw a body or piece of furnature inside the buildings. Noone comming or going. I came back for a visit the other day and decided to ask how much an apartment was and who lived there? The answer was 20,600 RMB per square meter, which makes a person wonder: who lives here? The answer is noone. Allegedly retired people from northern cities have invested, but no renters. Though last year China saw a 40% drop in housing sales. The three year old complex has map of the url=http://www.arup.com/Projects/Hong_Kong_Zhuhai_Macau_Bridge.aspx#%21lb:/Projects/Hong_Kong_Zhuhai_Macau_Bridge/Hong_Kong_Zhuhai_Macau_Bridge_Gallery_2.aspxHong Kong Zhuha... read more

So in breaking news, I am still in China and not in Minnesota. Who would have guessed it!? I think living in China has increased my sarcasm to a pretty extreme degree. I blame fellow international students. I have now been away from MN for 85 days. I think the most important thing I've learned at this point is that: Regardless of location/situation/etc. I can adjust to just about anything. It's insane that what was once seen as "crazy" or "overwhelming" is now everyday moments. Taking the buses to get stuff done? No big deal. Speaking Chinese? Still hard but hey, I've made some progress. Regardless of what I get used to, there are still moments of complete rejection of where I am. I think November was spent finally "normalizing" life in China but then I ... read more

If I was in Minnesota right now, it would make complete sense to be awake right now. But it's 3am and I have class in 6 hours, so I am not enjoying this. So I'm still here and waking up in China is still confusing. I still haven't managed to fully adjust to sleep here, it was going well for a couple weeks but now I feel I'm off somewhat. It seems that the little things (essentially the things you never even notice) are the things that throw off any sense of normalcy. I had a relatively fun week last week. I spent it socializing, getting to meet some new people, drinking too much milk tea, etc. But somewhere over the weekend, I had a very sudden mood shift. I was at Gong Bei with Panhia ... read more

I'm leaving Zhuhai for Shenzhen today. I'm aware that I never made a post mentioning that I'd arrived here, but trust that I did a so a month ago, and have been here since. The city is very nice. The streets are lined with palm trees, and the climate is very tropical. I did only a little sight-seeing, because of the demands of the course I was taking. At one point my friends Will and Brian from Wuhan came to visit me, and we took a trip to the beach to see the fisher girl statue, which is the local symbole. Alas, there was a mansoon soon after we arrived, and the wind broke my umbrella. It was fun nonetheless. I'm right near the Macua border, but somehow I didn't make it to Macua. I do ... read more