Pat's Summer in Asia

It has been a little over a week since my last update, and since then, I have spent a weekend in Beijing and have completed the first week of my internship in Shanghai. I am also wrapping up the third week of my stay in China as part of the USC Global Fellows Internship Program. With five weeks left in Shanghai, I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed. Before I left for Asia, a two month internship seemed to me as if it were an eternity. I found it difficult to believe those who said that my stay in China would fly by. Being in the midst of a foreign environment with a completely new culture to experience, however, has really made me lose track of time here. It is tough to think about the big picture when everyday activities - such as finding dinner or making the commute to work - bring with them both excitement and challenge. I look back to my first post (while I was still at home) for some perspective: "I will be happy with my experience if I can say that I approached everything with an open mind and made a conscious effort to learn from the people that I met." I will add one more thing: I hope I can appreciate the little things and recognize how they make my life in China different (or the same) compared to my life back home.

I will recap last weekend's trip: Stephen, Kent, and I left for Beijing from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport around noon last Friday. Beijing is only a two hour flight from Shanghai, so after having endured consecutive thirteen and four hour flights from Chicago to Tokyo to Shanghai, two hours seemed like nothing. By the middle of the afternoon, the three of us had met up with Dylan and Adam, the two Beijing Fellows, with whom we were staying. Their apartment is in the Chaoyang District, a pretty ecclectic area that includes Sanlitun Road, big businesses, and the sweet new CCTV building. Having spent a few weeks in China, I could easily identity the differences between Shanghai and Beijing. If I were to make an analogy, I would say that Shanghai is like Manhattan (on steroids), while Beijing is somewhere in between San Francisco and Los Angeles. With high-rises and skyscrapers for miles, Shanghai is so densely populated that life is fast-paced and, at times, a bit hectic. While equally as large in population, Beijing is more spread out and seems to be more easygoing. A visit to Beijing and you can tell what an enormous impact the Olympics had on that city. New highways, a new subway line headed to the Olympic Green, and clear skies are just a few of the major changes from 2008.

We devoted Saturday entirely to the Great Wall of China. There are several sections of the wall that are open to visitors, some more touristy than others. The three of us decided to make the hike from Jinshanling to Simatai, about a three hour drive from Beijing. I had read that while it is farther away than other parts of the Great Wall, the Jinshanling-Simatai stretch offers visitors a glimpse of the wall in both its restored and unrestored states. In addition, the hike was supposed to offer a tougher and more adventurous wall experience. We were up for it - but we arrived in Beijing without any means of getting there. Friday evening rolled around, and we learned that local taxis do not go to Jinshanling and a hired driver would cost us a whopping 2000 RMB. A little disappointed, the three of us were about to pay for a driver when Stephen's employer called: He has a friend in Beijing that would drive us to the Wall for less than half the price. We went for it.

The Great Wall of China at Jinshanling

After a long night out on Sanlitun, the three of us woke up at 6 AM on Saturday to meet our driver outside. There he was, decked out in a pink polo shirt and happy as a guy could be that early in the morning. I guess our trip to the wall was just another part of the adventure. With no means of transportation just twelve hours before, I would not have thought that we would end up with a private ride from a Beijing local. We arrived at Jinshanling around 8:30 in the morning and began our hike east toward Simatai. The Great Wall of China is something that everyone learns about, but I never had imagined that I would ever see it. Needless to say, it was amazing and a bit surreal to walk across the wall and look out on the Yanshan Mountains spread across northern China. Five hundred years of history were beneath our feet. Three farmers joined us for a portion of the hike. They loved to point to one side of the wall, say "This is China," point to the other side of the wall, say "This is Mongolia," and then pretend to shoot at enemy troops on the ground. The hike itself was pretty intense. Six miles - most of which was spent climbing up and down steep hills and staircases. I have no idea how ancient Chinese armies were able to march across that thing. We made it in one piece after five hours and then scarfed down lunch while overlooking the Simatai wall. The Great Wall - probably the high point of my trip so far.

We spent Sunday morning at the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Both the Forbidden City and the square were packed with tourists, but nevertheless, they were cool to see since both locations are so iconic of Chinese history and culture. I was born during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square. My parents saved the front page of the Chicago Tribune from my birthday. Tiananmen Square was the top news story that day (along with the Bulls losing to the Pistons in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals). So I suppose me standing in Tiananmen Square last weekend was sort of a "come full circle" type of thing. I think my presence in the square was probably more of a big deal for older Chinese citizens. While walking through the square, an elderly Chinese man asked if I would take a picture with him in front of the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. I did. Looking back on that picture, I wish I would have taken it more seriously at the time. It would have been impossible for an American to stand in Tiananmen Square during the Mao period, a time in which this man probably lived in China. For this man, my presence in the square was probably great proof of the change that China has undergone. Stuff like that really makes me appreciate this opportunity.

Tiananmen Square

We flew back late Sunday night and arrived in Shanghai around 1 AM on Monday morning. I went to bed as soon as I got back to my apartment, only getting a few hours of sleep before waking up for my first day of work at BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Limited. The office is about an hour south in ZiZhu Science-based Industrial Park, so I have a pretty solid commute every morning. The easiest way for me to get to work is to take the company bus which stops nearest to my apartment at 7:15 AM in Zhongshan Park (If I miss the bus, I am stuck with a trip that involves walking, four subway lines, and a taxi. I made the trip on Tuesday, and it sucks.). Overall, my first week of work was pretty slow. I spent a lot of time sitting in my cubicle, surfing the internet, and generally wondering what was going on. I can tell that I have never worked a desk job. I am also probably the only foreigner out of a couple hundred employees at the office, so by now I am used to having no idea what my co-workers are saying to each other. By the end of the week, however, I was assigned a project by my supervisor. I will be working on their AC-DC team, learning to design power converters. My project involves a lot of circuitry and some lab work, so I should be pretty busy for the rest of my internship.

I will hopefully write more about my job and co-workers in my next post, including what it's like to play basketball with Chinese engineers...since you are dying to know.

Pat

After two weeks of an all expenses paid vacation in China, compliments of USC, I am finally starting my summer internship on Monday. I am working for BCD Semiconductor Manufacturing Limited, a "leading analog integrated device manufacturer...based in Greater China, specializing in the design, manufacture and sale of power management integrated circuits." My contact at BCD is a Trojan and a Viterbi School of Engineering alumnus. The last few weeks of random exploration around Shanghai have been great, but I think I am ready to get settled in somewhere for the rest of the summer, and BCD seems like a good place at which to work. My contact noticed that I had listed some intramural basketball activities on my résumé, so he even invited me to play in their company league on Thursday nights. Ball it up with Chinese engineers - check that off the bucket list.

It is Friday morning in Shanghai as I write this, and I have had a pretty busy week so far. On Monday, Cris and I visited the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center in People's Park, one of the coolest museums to which I have ever been. In previous posts, I have written about the incredible transformation that Shanghai has undergone during the past few decades and the continuous development that defines this city. The Urban Planning Center is Shanghai's showcase of the end result. Across an entire floor of the museum lies a scale model of Shanghai as it will look in the year 2020. The exhibit must have taken countless hours to assemble, for every building was crafted with painstaking detail. Cris and I were able to locate our apartment building and identity familiar places that we have visited. My camera died halfway through the museum, but luckily someone already took a picture for me.

I spent Wednesday touring the Haworth furniture factory with Yelena, Kristin, and Cris. Thursday afternoon, I walked through the French Concession, an area that was historically occupied by French colonizers and is now Shanghai's most trendy shopping and dining district.

I am taking a trip up to Beijing this weekend. The itinerary:

Friday (today): Flight from Shanghai (Hongqiao) to Beijing at 11:55 AM. Spend the rest of the day exploring the city. Enjoy Peking Duck dinner, a Beijing staple, at night.

Saturday: Hike the Great Wall of China from Jinshanling to Simatai.

Sunday: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Flight from Beijing to Shanghai (Hongqiao) at 11:10 PM.

Monday: Arrive in Shanghai at 1:00 AM. Be at the bus stop for work at 7:15 AM.

I am in for an exciting yet hectic next few days.

Pat

Today Cris and I were supposed to start work at Novem Technology. We thought that it was a bit odd that we had not heard anything concerning work for nearly a week, so yesterday Cris spoke with one of our contacts at Novem hoping to get directions from our apartment to the office. I was sitting down to a bowl of ramen when Cris got off the phone and broke some news to me - Novem was closed last week due to financial troubles. Needless to say, our summer plans have been unclear for the past few days, but the USC Career Center as well as the alumni network in Shanghai have assured Cris and I that they are working quickly to pair us with another company for our internship. I am sure that this is another first for the USC Global Fellows Internship Program, but it sounds like we should be starting our new internships very soon.

In the meantime, I have been doing more exploring of Shanghai. I think I am finally starting to get the hang of this city. Most of the time, we have relied on taxis to get around Puxi, which is the most developed section of Shanghai west of the river. Taxis are nearly everywhere in Shanghai. They are all Volkswagen, and they are all dirt cheap (daytime taxis start at a mere 11 RMB, or about $1.60 U.S.). Hardly any Chinese taxi driver speaks English, but the language gap can be bridged with a picture of a Chinese address on a digital camera. At least I know how to ask for my receipt ("Fa piao, qing.") The last few days, however, I have used the subway system to get across town. There is a Line 2 stop on Jiangsu Road that is only a ten minute walk from our apartment building. From there, the Line 2 subway will take you anywhere east-west across the city, including Nanjing Road, People's Square, and all the way across the river to Pudong New Area. I stick out like a sore thumb (well, I do everywhere in Shanghai), but I have felt that taking the subway has been one of the best ways for me to get the feel of and make a connection with the city.

I spent my twentieth birthday here last Wednesday. Not exactly the same as being home, but I got a birthday message and slice of cake from the apartment staff here. Apparently my name is Mr. Phtrick J. Vazl, but the cake was good so I will take it. On Thursday night, the Shanghai Fellows and employers had a reception at Haworth Furniture, the company at which Kristin and Yelena work. The Haworth office is in the Pudong district in the Shanghai World Financial Center, the tallest building in China and one of the tallest in the world. During the reception, I remember thinking how surreal this experience has been so far. There I was in the nicest office in Shanghai, enjoying open bar and catering from a fancy restaurant, sitting in a $4,000 egg chair, and looking out on one of the most rapidly developing cities in the world - Thank you USC.

We spent several hours soaking in the view of Pudong New Area. Pudong really represents what Shanghai has become during the past two decades. China wants Shanghai to become the financial capital of the Far East, and Pudong is the district of the city set aside for this purpose. Everywhere you look, a new high-rise is being built. Shanghai has two of the tallest buildings in the world, the Financial Center and the Jin Mao Tower, that are literally one block from each other. The city has already started construction on the Shanghai Tower which will be taller than the two others. Shanghai is a beautiful city to be in at night (see below). Most of the buildings in Pudong are illuminated by some sort of lights. Looking out from the Haworth office in the Financial Center, we could see the Oriental Pearl Tower next to the river, which just might be the weirdest yet coolest building in all of Shanghai.

Shanghai World Financial Center and Jin Mao Tower, two of the tallest buildings in the world...right next to each other.

One of the biggest cultural hurdles for me in Shanghai has been the food. It is less of an issue of whether or not I like Chinese food. I have enjoyed everything that I have eaten here so far, and I think that I have a fairly open-minded attitude toward trying new things. My bigger problem pertains more to the process of getting a meal. There are so many small restaurants and street vendors around the city, and it is hard to know what is good. The best approach that we have all employed is to just go for anything that looks or smells good. It is tough when most store employees and vendors only speak Chinese, plus the fact that many of the menus in small restaurants and on the street are not in English. I have almost always been able to get by with pointing at pictures of food and/or names of food on signs. Holding up fingers is the go-to method for indicating quantity. I found this great dumpling place down the street that I have gone to in the mornings for breakfast. Routine: Point to the third item on the menu, Hold up three fingers, Get three dumplings, Pay three yuan, Say "Xiexie," and be on my way.

On Saturday, I checked one of the things off of my China to-do list. I am a bit of a coffee addict, and my favorite spot back in Chicago for coffee is Dunkin' Donuts. I was pretty freakin' excited when I heard that there were some Dunkin' Donuts stores in Shanghai, so on Saturday I took the subway and found the store on Fuzhou Road near People's Square. Maybe this is an excuse for me to eat some American food while I am here, but I think part of visiting a new place is to recognize the little differences in things you know from back home. I have to say, the coffee just was not the same, but my dad added some perspective to my experience through an email - "but can you believe you were at a Dunking Donuts in China!"

There were many locals wondering why I was taking this picture. They just don't understand...

We spent Sunday night at Yuyuan Garden in the Old City in Shanghai. Yuyuan really resembles the China that I had always imagined. Rather than more tall buildings, the garden is built in the fashion of the water cities that are inland, with small waterways meandering around buildings of traditional Chinese architecture. Today there are a bunch of small shops and restaurants, and the garden is wonderfully lit up at night. We spent several hours there taking it in. For dinner, I waited in line for some awesome steamed dumplings. There was a long line of Asians outside the restaurant, so I figured it must be pretty good. We spent the rest of the night wandering in the area around Yuyuan. We found a small street that was packed with locals making some of the best street food I have seen yet. I am definitely headed back.

 Yuyuan Garden at night

I am starting to think about weekend trips that I want to take while I am in China. A few ideas that have been mentioned - Beijing (a must), Xi'an (Army of Terracotta Warriors), Yellow Mountians, Hangzhou, and Suzhou.

Pat

Thanks to the Great Firewall of China (I stole this), my summer blog at patinshanghai.blogspot.com is officially blocked by the Chinese government. Luckily, my VSA blog here has not been found by Chinese censorship officials (yet), so I will now be posting updates on this site.

Where to begin...I am slowly getting acclimated to life in Shanghai. After nearly two days of traveling, we finally settled in to our service apartments on Yan An Road West on Saturday. 

I spent Saturday afternoon shopping in the Xujiahui district with the other Shanghai Fellows for a cell phone as well as ethernet cables and power adapters for the apartment. My experience in China so far has really illuminated how dependent I am on simple forms of communication such as phone and internet. After leaving Chicago on Thursday morning, I did not have a functional cell phone or access to my email and yes, Facebook, for several days. I felt completely disconnected from home. It is when you feel that you have no means of contacting your friends and family back home that you begin to sense the differences of your new surroundings. Needless to say, finally having internet access was a huge boost to my comfort level here.

I think our trip to the phone store made me first recognize how challenging a language barrier can make my life here. Luckily in a large city such as Shanghai, you can usually find someone who speaks some English. However, it may take a couple tries before he or she really understands what you are saying. It took me forty-five minutes to buy the correct power adapter at the electronics store - the first half of which consisted of me attempting to decifer the Mandarin on the packaging of several different adapters, the rest of the time spent struggling with a store employee to exchange the adapter I had just bought because I realized I needed something different. After a full two hours of shopping, everyone was happy. I think I was ready for a nap.

I have spent the last few days mostly getting lost in the city. Shanghai is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The city extends for as far as the eye can see. It is an interesting mix of the old and the new. Small buildings being replaced by large high-rises and skyscrapers. Shanghai seems to be in a frenzy over the World Expo that it is hosting next year. There is construction being done almost everywhere you look. The people here seem to be really proud of the rapid development. The Expo even has its own mascot, Haibao, a strange, blue, Gumby-ripoff here. He is seriously everywhere you look.

Pudong behind a crapload of construction

I still only have a vague idea of where I am in this city. I have usually been taking pictures of street signs and then looking at the map when I get home. We usually have the taxi driver take us to a part of town and end up walking around for hours. There are tons of small shops and markets in which you can find pretty much anything you want. A meal that costs less than an American dollar, Chairman Mao bags, and pretty much fake anything. Kent, one of the other Shanghai Fellows, bought a live chicken in the Xuhui district. We spent the next half hour making a complete scene as dozens of Chinese people approached him laughing and expecting him to put on a show. Good times.

I will end with my most random yet best experience so far. I am interning at a software development company called Novem Technology. I was originally going to start work on Monday, June 1, but due to the recent outbreak of the H1N1 virus, Chinese officials have recommended that all visitors from overseas be given seven days of rest before going to work...meaning I get an entire week off to explore Shanghai! My roommate Cris (who is also working at Novem) and I spent Monday exploring The Bund, a historic stretch of buildings along the Huangpu River that was the center of Chinese commerce during the early Twentieth Century. Along The Bund, we met a group of four Chinese tourists visiting Shanghai for the week. They spoke pretty good English and were immediately interested as to what two American college students were doing in Shanghai. After talking for a bit, they invited Cris and I to a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Having no idea what they were talking about, we quickly agreed. We ended up tasting six (a lucky number in Chinese) different varieties of Chinese tea at a local tea house. It was a pretty cool experience to learn about the signficance behind the act of tea drinking in Chinese culture. A girl in traditional Chinese dress was our hostess and explained what each tea was for (to bring success, fight cancer, strengthen the immune system,...). The leaves of the last tea were over thirty years old, and the tea was served out of a cup on which there was a blue dragon that turned red when exposed to hot water. At the start, you even get to rub Buddha's belly.

We parted ways after exchanging contact info. I even got a birthday e-card out of it from one of the girls the next day. Sheng ri kuai le! I call that a success.

Pat

In only a few hours, I will be leaving for a two month stay in Shanghai, China. I am one of seven students spending the summer in Shanghai as part of the USC Global Fellows Internship Program, which provides stipends for undergraduates to live and work in Asia. The program seeks to increase our understanding of international business and culture - to broaden our understanding of a world that is now more connected than ever before. While in Shanghai, I will be interning with a company and attempting to experience and understand Chinese culture as best as I can. My Mandarin needs a lot of work.

I view the two months I will spend in China as a continuation of a journey I started two years ago. I came to USC from the suburbs of Chicago, hoping to learn about a new part of the country as well as a few things about myself. China is my next step. I cannot wait to see the spectacular Pudong Skyline, walk along The Bund, and discover the great places in Shanghai that cannot be found in a guidebook. At the end of the summer, I will be happy with my experience if I can say that I approached everything with an open mind and made a conscious effort to learn from the people that I met.

I decided to start this blog for a few reasons. I hope it can be an easy way by which I can keep my family and friends updated on my experiences in Asia. I plan on posting as frequently as possibly to let everyone know what I am up to. Furthermore, I plan on using this blog as a record of my thoughts and observations on my life in China. This summer will be one of firsts for me - first summer away from home, first extended stay in a foreign country, first experience with a language barrier. With only a few hours left before it all begins, I feel that I'm ready to make the most of a great opportunity, so here goes nothing...

Pat