Tidbits of Shanghai (part 1)

(For more pictures of Shanghai, please click here)

Two views of "The Bund": the Bund at night, and the Bund during the day:
At night:
The bund is a beautiful place to be at night. The lights that outline the builds are simply incredible - its all about the show. The lights change color constantly, almost like the fourth of July fireworks here at night.

Unfortunately, we went to the Bund on a day where everyone else was there - the last night of the national holiday. There were sooo many people! My goodness. It was like being on a crowded bus, all the time! It took us about half an hour to cross the street to the other side because there were so many people. At least we didn't lose anyone (stayed together through it all...)

What is more impressive though, I think, is the day-time view of the Bund. Check it out:
I think this view is more incredible because it shows just how immense the buildings were, and how many immense buildings there were along the Huangpu river. It was amazing. From what I heard, most of these buildings are designed by world-class architects.... (this makes San Francisco look like a small town) The other part of this is that these buildings are not just concentrated in the Bund area, but are spread out all over Shanghai (but not as impressive). Our hotel is about 40 minutes by taxi away from the Bund, but you will see these world class buildings all along the way.

Hope you will get a chance to visit some day!

john

1 man, 2 cultures (reflections of trip to Shanghai)

(disclaimer: if I sound racist in this posting, please forgive me...)

Just got back from a business trip to Shanghai. We had a really good time in Shanghai - although it was super busy, we did get to go out and see parts of the great city. It was quite different, in almost every way: size, people, and the culture.

As soon as I stepped off the plane. I can feel the humidity, along with it, a sense of being 'home'. I haven't felt humidity in a while - although its not very pleasant, but it felt like home. Its like I was in a time warp, travelling back to the time when I'd drop off my backpacks as soon as I got home from school, heading straight to the playground to play baseball, and getting in trouble when my parents get home because I didn't do my homework. Boy it was a great feeling.

After spending 10 days there, I felt that I could blend in, disappear, get lost in the great city of Shanghai. I felt at home, I felt comfortable. I spend most of my time explaining the chinese culture to my co-workers. I really felt that I was proud to be Chinese.

But I am not. I had spent most of my life here in the United States, and I sometimes think and act like an American. I can't speak chinese that well, and I can't write, and worst part is that I can't type in chinese. So in the end, who am I?

I've been struggling with this for a while now. Am I "Chinese American"? What exactly is that? I don't reaally think "chinese american" is a culture - one is either more "Chinese" or more "American", depending on which culture you feel more comfortable in. For me, I can function well in either cultures, but I don't feel like I fit in. Thus, I feel lost. Am I Chinese or American?

My life is here in America. My son is growing up here, my wife was born here in the US. I went to highschool and college here in the States. I can speak almost perfect English, and have a great time when I go out with my co-workers after work. I am a big fan of American football, and I am generally not interested in what happens in other countries other than the US. I celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But am I "American"? Far from it. My wife thinks that I am pretty "fobby". (Fresh Off the Boat) About 95% of my friends are Asians, and I pretty much only hang out with them. I eat a lot more Chinese food than most of my friends can handle, and I watch alot of chinese movies. I don't feel comfortable at a party where everyone is "American", unless they have some Asian blood in them.

On the flip side, even though I felt comfortable and feel like I can blend in in China, I don't think they see me as one of them. For one, I dress differently, and I only have a rudimentary knowledge of the language. I can get by, but I am not sure if I fit in. My ideals are very different. I think that people should be free to do what they do and not be bound by the society. I believe in creating opportunities for myself. I feel that people should not feel obligated to stay in relationships that they don't really want to be in. Lastly, I can barely read, not past a 5th grade level, and I can't write and I type really slowly in chinese. I don't really remember or celebrate Chinese holidays (other than chinese new years).

So, this is probably why I feel so weird these days. Who am I? What culture do I belong to? What is my identity? Part of it is that I feel scared, alone. Sometimes I feel that Liz doesn't understand this inner struggle that I have. Sometimes I resent my parents for bring me to the US when I was 12, and now I don't have a culture that I can identify with. I am somewhere in limbo, drifting from side to side, depending on where I am or who I am talking to. I think if I were to spend a lot of time in either place, I would miss the other.

Through all the books that I read from my classes in Asian American studies, I don't think any of the authors have an answer. Although, one thing is for sure - I am beginning to see the struggles that they have. I used to brush them off as idiots that just don't know who they are. Now I am one of those idiots....

Worst part is, I think I will forget about all this next week. I will go back to my daily routine, live my American way of life, go about with church, and hang out with all my Asian American friends here. That is why I am writing this down this time.

Who am I? Please help.

thanks
john

Settlers Of Catan

http://www.mayfairgames.com/mfg-shop/0480-0499/qps/0483.html

So our friends came over the other night and brought this game over called "Settlers of Catan". I'm pretty addicted now! Its a great strategy game, but it also involves some degree of luck. There are so many ways to win, and the strategy to win depends on the layout of the board! (since the board is different each time)...

As with all games, I'm going to spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out what the best way to win is, and what all the stragegies are.. But I think its complicated enough and has enough degrees of luck where it can be a crapshoot. I'm not sure, but will share my secret(s) with you if I ever figure it out!

j

Sorry, haven't been posting - its been so busy at work! I read this story today though that really touched me!

The Pickle Jar

The pickle jar as far back as I can remember sat on the floor beside the dresser in my parents' bedroom. When he got ready for bed, Dad would empty his pockets and toss his coins into the jar. As a small boy I was always fascinated at the sounds the coins made as they were dropped into the jar. They landed with a merry jingle when the jar was almost empty. Then the tones gradually muted to a dull thud as the jar was filled. I used to squat on the floor in front of the jar and admire the copper and silver circles that glinted like a pirate's treasure when the sun poured through the bedroom window. When the jar was filled, Dad would sit at the kitchen table and roll the coins before taking them to the bank.

Taking the coins to the bank was always a big production. Stacked neatly in a small cardboard box, the coins were placed between Dad and me on the seat of his old truck. Each and every time, as we drove to the bank, Dad would look at me hopefully. "Those coins are going to keep you out of the textile mill, son. You're going to do better than me. This old mill town's not going to hold you back." Also, each and every time, as he slid the box of rolled coins across the counter at the bank toward the cashier, he would grin proudly "These are for my son's college fun
d. He'll never work at the mill all his life like me." We would always celebrate each deposit by stopping for an ice cream cone.

I always got chocolate. Dad always got vanilla. When the clerk at the ice cream parlor handed Dad his change, he would show me the few coins nestled in his palm. "When we get home, we'll start filling the jar again." He always let me drop the first coins into the empty jar. As they rattled around with a brief, happy jingle, we grinned at each other. "You'll get to college on pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, "he said. "But you'll get there. I'll see to that." The years passed, and I finished college and took a job in another town. Once, while visiting my parents, I used the phone in their bedroom, and noticed that the pickle jar was gone. It had served its purpose and had been removed. A lump rose in my throat as I stared at the spot beside the dresser where the jar had always stood. My dad was a man of few words, and never lectured me on the values of determination, perseverance, and faith.

The pickle jar had taught me all these virtues far more eloquently than the most flowery of words could have done. When I married, I told my wife Susan about the significant part the lowly pickle jar had played in my life as a boy. In my mind, it defined, more than anything else, how much my dad had loved me. No matter how rough things got at home, Dad continued to doggedly drop his coins into the jar. Even the summer when Dad got laid off from the mill, and Mama had to serve dried beans several times a week, not a single dime was taken from the jar. To the contrary, as Dad looked across the table at me, pouring catsup over my beans to make them more palatable, he became more determined than ever to make a way out for me.
"When you finish college, Son," he told me, his eyes glistening, "You'll never have to eat beans again - unless you want to."

The first Christmas after our daughter Jessica was born, we spent the holiday with my parents. After dinner, Mom and Dad sat next to each other on the sofa, taking turns cuddling their first grandchild. Jessica began to whimper softly, and Susan took her from Dad's arms. "She probably needs to be changed," she said, carrying the baby into my parents' bedroom to diaper her. When Susan came back into the living room, there was a strange mist in her eyes. She handed Jessica back to Dad before taking my hand and leading me into the room. "Look," she said softly, her eyes directing me to a spot on the floor beside the dresser. To my amazement, there, as if it had never been removed, stood the old pickle jar, the bottom already covered with coins. I walked over to the pickle jar, dug down into my pocket, and pulled out a fistful of coins. With a gamut of emotions choking me, I dropped the coins into the jar. I looked up and saw that Dad, carrying Jessica, had slipped quietly into the room. Our eyes locked, and I knew he was feeling the same emotions I felt. Neither one of us could speak.

This truly touched my heart. I know it has yours as well. Sometimes we are so busy adding up our troubles that we forget to count our blessings....

so true, so true...

My vision and God's vision.

So, I went in last week to have my contacts checked. The doctor asked me how they felt and I said they felt fine, except that my vision is not as clear with contacts as they are with my glasses. Doctor explained that I have a bit of astigmatism, so that even though I have 20/20 vision with my contacts in, the picture from each eye doesn't quite line up with each other, and that is why some of the things that are far away looks fuzzy to me.

Doctor said that unless I want to get Torric(sp?) lenses, I should try to adapt to the contact lenses that I have.

As I was driving away, God was asking me if I can see clearly what His plans are for me. And, just like how I have my contacts on, I couldn't quite see what God's plans are for me. The picture is fuzzy and I can't quite make it out. Its as if one eye is seeing God's vision, yet my other eye is looking at my vision and desires for the future. I realized how much I get sucked up into the things of this world, to the point where I am somewhat uncertain of God's plan for me in the future!

I think I will need to learn to adapt to God's vision instead of insisting on my own vision so that someday, I can see clearly with both eyes open!

john

Contacts...

(In case you haven't noticed!) I decided to give contacts a try, rather than wearing my cool Oakley glasses all the time. Its been quite an experience.

So I went to the doctor's office to go get a regular eye exam. The doctor asks me if I want to dilate my eyes, I said sure. And then she asked me if I wanted to try contacts instead of wearing my glasses all the time, and I said sure.

After the doctor dilates my eyes, she passes me over to the technician, who is suppose to teach me how to put in and take out my contact lenses.

For the life of me (alright, maybe only 1/2 hr of my life), I couldn't see the contacts at all (because of the dilation of my eyes), and the technician keeps telling me that I am doing it wrong because I can't shove the contacts in my eyes. I keep telling her, I can't see the darn thing, and she keeps telling me to try to put it in my eye.

Finally, I think she gave up, and I went back there a week later to prove to them that I know how to put in my contacts, it was just that I couldn't see the thing!

Lesson learned: Don't try to put in your contacts (unless you are "the" Stephen, Mr. Super-good-with-contact-lenses) after you get your eyes dilated!

john

Killing Harry Potter!

[story here]

Can't imagine that JK Rowlings even considered killing Harry Potter! And let Lord Voldemort triumph? Sheesh. I know we get bitter about life as we get older, but that doesn't mean we should start teaching that concept to our next generation so early!

(I know, I know, you're probably thinking, John is so hypocritical because he loves those Oh-I-love-you-but-we-cant-ever-be-together-because-someone-always-dies-before-the-character-realizes-that-they-love-each-other or oh-I-love-you-but-I-dont-tell-you-until-its-too-late sad chinese movies...)

Hey, all I'm saying, is that we don't need to en-bitter (is that a word?) our kids at such a young age!

john

Sexiest car in the world, according to Top Gear:


It edged out the Austin Martin to become the sexiest car. I like! I've always love small teeny cars. Too bad they don't sell the Fiat 500 in the states... Although if gas prices keeps going up, who knows?

Liz's take on this would probably be that its not very safe. *sigh* Its probably true, since it'd probably be either crushed or it'd just bounce off of the american SUVs....

j

World Cup reflections....

Well, World Cup 2006 ended this past Sunday with France being defeated by Italy in Penalty Kicks. *sigh*. I have a friend who absolutely hates the italian team, but works with French people. Who is he to root for?

I was rooting for France all the way. Not sure why, but it just seem like they're the underdogs and I had sympathy for them, maybe? I'm not sure. Maybe its because Italy tied with the US in a game where the officiating was horrible. But watching the Italians play on Sunday, I really felt that there was just way too much acting on the Italian part.

Lots of replays shows how the Italian player was barely touched, then the player would pretend to trip and fall, and throw his hands up like he is expecting a foul?!? What the heck is that? That is how you ruin the game of soccer - playing dirty to get the call. I despise that about the Italians.

Also, the Italians play boring soccer. Little offense, lots of defense, passing the ball back and forth, not doing a whole lot. France made the game a bit more exciting with Henry and Ribery and Zidane - their spectacular breakaway attacks, their passing, and dribbling... Twas fun to watch.

*sigh*, although, I'd have to admit, Zadane is an idiot for doing what he did, too.

I don't know. 4 yrs ago, the Brazil-Germany game seemed to be that much more exciting.

j

Ethan is growing up right before our eyes. Thanks to Liz for continuously taking pictures and posting them on the web! Here's a jem:



As always, you can see updated pictures of Ethan here

In case you are wondering...
the Adidas +10 Commercial players:

José’s team:
Michael Ballack Germany, FC Bayern Munich
Franz Beckenbauer Germany
David Beckham England, Real Madrid CF
Du-Ri Cha Korea Republic, Eintracht Frankfurt
Damian Duff Ireland, Chelsea FC
Steven Gerrard England, Liverpool FC
Kaká Brazil, AC Milan
Oliver Kahn Germany, FC Bayern Munich
Juan Román Riquelme Argentina, Villarreal CF
Bastian Schweinsteiger Germany, FC Bayern Munich
Patrick Vieira France, Juventus Turin

Pedro’s team:
Djibril Cissé France, Liverpool FC
Jermain Defoe England, Tottenham Hotspur
Kevin Kuranyi Germany, FC Schalke
Frank Lampard England, Chelsea FC
Michel Platini France
Shunsuke Nakamura Japan, Celtic Glasgow
Alessandro Nesta Italy, AC Milan
Lukas Podolski Germany, FC Köln
Raúl Spain, Real Madrid CF
Arjen Robben The Netherlands, Chelsea FC
David Trézéguet France, Juventus
Zinédine Zidane France, Real Madrid CF

I don't follow football regularly, I guess this is a good way to get to know who the actual good players are... hehehe.

Interesting reading so far on Platini and Beckenbauer...

john

Yellow Fever

Here it is, "yellow fever". Its funny, really!

Adidas Jose +10 FULL Commericial

I think this one is in english. Still, love this video!

Rolling Over...
So, its becoming apparent that Ethan can roll over on his own, as last night, he rolled onto his stomach all by himself at 3AM, then again at 5AM, and this morning, at 7AM, he was also on his stomach.

The funny part is that he's not quite sure what to do after that. He cried at 3AM, but by the time this lazy dad went to flip him over, he already fell asleep (face down into the mattress). Then, at 5AM, I think Liz went to flip him over, and then at 7AM whilst I was taking a shower, he half-cried and complained. By the time I went to pick him up he had boogers all over his face! yikes.

Anyways, I'd have to say that we're excited that he is rolling over... Now we're going to try to teach him how to roll back on his own (so we don't have to wake up to flip him over!)

john

ROFL (thats. Roaring On the Floor Laughing, for those of you that are not so well versed in BLOG language).

Liz got a new chair for the baby. When I first saw Ethan in it, I just could not stop laughing. Its sooo... funny and cute all at the same time! Anyways, just had to share this with you all.

The chair itself is called a Bombo chair...

Some pictures of Ethan in it...

RoboCup 2006.

See link here

Amazing Robots! Was reading some of the articles in there, and I guess they decided that a "chess game" is not as good of a game to develop AI (Artifical Intelligence) as soccer is. Therefore, the race is on to develop a robot soccer team by 2050 that can compete with real humans in a soccer match.

The only thing I'd like to say about that is, I hope those robots are padded - otherwise, slide tackling (which is legal in soccer), might hurt a little...

john

Relief...

Yesterday was Ethan's first day at a home day-care center. Liz is going went back to work today (so she can get paid for the holiday), but starting next week Ethan will be at the home day-care center full time.

I'd have to say, as nice as the day care center is, I was worried. Its just so hard because he is soo young! (not even 4 month old). It was great to see him when I got home and that he was still smiling at us when we smile at him. *sigh*. This is why most of the wifes that we know stops working after they have a kid. Its just so hard to trust a stanger sometimes!

Anyways, Ethan is ok. We will see how things go next week.

john

The quiz...

So I took the "Which StarWars Character Am I?" quiz...

It says that I am:
77% Obi-Wan
69% Yoda
65% C-3PO
64% r2d2
...

Here's what it says about Obi-Wan:

You are civilized, calm, and
have a good sense of humor,
even when those around you don't.
You can hold your own in a fight,
but prefer it when things
don't get too exciting.

hehe. I can see myself like that?!?

john

Laziness...

OK, I'll admit I'm pretty lazy - I have a tendency to put things off until the last minute, and things that are tedious and not so easy frustrates me. But, I have a great excuse - I'm an engineer!!!!

Why do people invent? Why are there engineers? I think ultimately its because they're lazy. Radio was invented because we're too lazy to read the paper. E-mail are so popular because we're too lazy to pick up the pen and write a letter. Cel phones are around because we're too lazy to pull off the freeway to make a phone all. And, lastly, bicycles are invented cuz we're too lazy to walk.

Which is why this 2-stroke "wheel" by RevoPower is so awesome!

http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/10/the-wheel-turns-your-bike-into-a-moped/

Get me one of those!

john

Looking back, my last post was on 4/26. I forgot to blog on my birthday. Although, I have to say, this is the first birthday where I almost forgot about it because we have been so busy with Ethan. It just doesn't feel that *important* anymore. I used to take a day off on my birthdays, and do nothing but play videogames. This year, I got up, went to work, just like a normal day. Had lunch with friends, ate a lot of food that I didn't have to pay for, and had dinner with my wife. Other than that, it was kinda mellow...

Trust me, I didn't mind at all. Its all about making sure that Ethan grows up right, thats what its about.