Lately

I've been very busy lately, juggling all this work has been such a killer.  I finally have some time to catch up on my favourite blogs, and I'm slowly getting tired.  Like I even have the energy to figure out all the different endings to MARV's Choose Your Own Adventure... The one I read, I killed him (woo hoo!).

My body aches because of the hardcore manual labour I was put through on Friday and Saturday.  Nick and I got paid $100 US (along with some other people) to help set up for China's biggest expat party.  We thought we were getting a deal from it ($100 USD goes a long ass way here) boy were we fucking wrong.  Independence Day in SH attracts over 2,000 people.  To accomodate them and their activities, we had to move over 5,000 bottles of beer, 12,000 cans of pop, tents, chairs, tables and 2 tonnes of sand for their friggin kids so they could build sandcastles - all in the rain.  After working all day and night for 2 nights, I realized how much of a princess us North Americans can be.  I kept wanting to wash my hands when they got dirty, my feet were sore, back aches, eyes tired the list goes on.  Definitely wasn't worth the $100 USD we made.  It was pretty fun though, in China, the beer companies push their beers by hiring hot chicks, dress them up in the beer colours and have them smile and wave their asses.  Nick and I got so drunk visiting the Budweiser and Steinlager girls.

In contrast, I went to SH's Canada Day celebration today, which was way smaller.  About 150 heads in a small area of a park.  The park is SH's biggest, called Century Park, and in this park, there is an area called Montreal Gardens.  It was designed and set up by the city of Montreal... cool, but nothing spectacular.  I was just surprised to see some grass.  I had to go and schmooze, meet all the Canadian important people and try to push those Diana Krall tickets.  I offered 2 for raffle... everyone was quite happy.  I also came in 2nd in a watermelon eating contest, won a bottle of Cognac.  Some biatch beat me!

Yaay Brazil!  I guess my last entry totally didn't make sense, seeing Korea didn't even play Germany, but what a frickin match.  I've never watched a full game of football until I got to China.  Velly lice!

Pop Goes the Mosquito

As I sit here writing this latest blog entry, I have been bitten about 10 times by a couple of pesky mosquitos.  Upon complaining, my uncle brought to my attention a cool device that kinda looks like a tennis racquet to fry those fuckers.  It's got an electric net and you kinda bat it around like a raqcuet.  Poor mosquito's that touch this net are instantly fried with a loud popping sound.  EAT IT BITCH!  WHO'S THE MAN YEAHH!!!!!!

Yes simple people are simply amused.

Conspiracy Theory: Even though I want to see an Asian team go far in the World Cup (Go CHINA! errr...), you can't help but wonder about FIFA and Korea's success.  Not to say Korea isn't a good team, their win was celebrated by Koreans everywhere.  However, all the discrepancies, and leading evidence to suggest that somehow it was rigged will lead you to think twice.  Like that Spain goal was definitely NOT out of bounds, it didn't even touch the line!  And what about the corner kick Spain was supposed to get before the whistle went off?  And that penalty kick, the Spain guy stuttered and kinda kicked the ball right at the goalie!  If Korea lost, not too many in Asia will go watch the games.  The Koreans certainly won't fly to Japan to watch Germany or Brazil play Spain.  So here's a thought, if Brazil, a relatively poor country, beats Germany, a relatively rich country, how much you wanna bet that Korea will be able to buy them out so that Korea wins?  I'm willing to bet that will happen.  Still, I think it is so cool that the Korean's are so happy.  I don't think the CBC's or ABC's around the world would be as ecstatic if China made it this far.  "Harrow harrow!  YEAH!  We is bomb like Snoopy Dog!"

So I got a bit of feedback from friends about what to do with my life, and most of them had suggested choose #1.  But I had a lot more to weigh around, and I'm going with #2.  In addition to all that was mentioned before, many have been telling me that this company is growing at an impressive pace.  They also know a lot of people in SH, which will expand my network and give me the opportunity to work with many different clients.  I've recently been assigned by them to work on a project chasing Lotus, who are doing a launch of a new car here in SH.

And my boss came in from Singapore the other day, I finally got paid.  $500 US.  He's supposed to pay me more when he comes in next time.  At any rate, sweet cash so good.  Looks like I'll get to meet Diana Krall really soon.

Options

1.  Canadian Internship with Company in China

The Good:
Big responsibility, very good pay, lots of freedom, room to prove myself, if job well done, opens a lot of options, very good position

The Bad:
Big responsibility = lots of stress, narrowly focused on strategizing marketing efforts for a particular product, only for 6 months, after that who knows, if I don't do a good job, my reputation here is ruined

2.  Project Manager with Local Events Marketing Company

The Good:
Lots of freedom, cool management team, good work atmosphere, can meet lots of people, work with big clients like Nike, lots of room to grow in company, relatively stable

The Bad:
Shit pay, position not as flashy as the first, role not as big as the first, shitty pay

3.  University Professor for MBA Students at one of SH's Finest Institutions

The Good:
Steady Job

The Bad:
BORING AS FUCK!

I hate being a teacher.  Kudos to all those out there who get enjoyment and satisfaction out of teaching, I have no idea how you do it.  As for the job options, I'm leaning towards the 2nd one, the pay is really bad though (at least compared to Canadian standards) but is okay when you compare to local standards.  Except for the fact that I have a gimungous debt to pay back the government in student loans... FACK.  One too may beers/JDs in uni.  Actually, a lot of my money goes to alcohol.

That's so fucked.  Why is that?

Lonely

So Marv has finally left SH - thank God, I was almost going to kill him for complaining so much (see his most recent post).  When in Rome, do as the Romans, biatch!  That includes budding in line, haggling over $1 CDN, squatting in public bathrooms, eating runny eggs, spitting on the street, staring at people, public transportation, bearing humidity, waking up early and partying til late, pushing, shoving, kicking, screaming, glaring, biting, elbowing, biking, darting across streets, talking to "working" girls and drinking!  Okay, so I wasn't going to kill you dude, seriously, I'm very glad you came.

Poor Marvin kept trying to make fun of me in front of my friends whenever we were all together (usually at meals).  Marv is a pretty good conversationalist even witty at times I must admit, but whenever he tried to insert a Simon crack everyone just kinda fell silent.  The only sound was of Marvin giggling like a little girl to himself.  Dumbass!

Last we left you Marv made claims about Janice "asking about Marv".  His direct quote: "i'm surer than ever that she wants some of this."  However, when it comes to very attractive girls, I'm quite dumbfounded and generally don't tend to say much to them.  I think it was more a matter of her trying to initiate conversation with me because I was too busy drooling.

And as for Marvin's Jose references in his blog, let me just spell out that I think Marv missed Sandy, Jose and Terrence the most while he was in SH, he always seemed to bring them up in conversations with me.

Oh, yeah, Marv, guess who I bumped into after sending you off?  I did tear when you left, but not because you left, but because I saw Abercrombie girl!  Anyhow, turns out she is in High School - you pedophile!  Okay, I admit, I thought she was hot too.

But the day he left, I was hit by a wall of depression.  I wanted to go out so bad that night, but no one wanted to come out.  And as I sat, I realized how sad things will soon get, when all my friends go back home because their term at Fudan has finished.  And seeing Marv, hearing about everyone made me so sad and lonely.  So I booked a ticket home for August 2nd, 2002.  Unless something crazy happens, I'll be coming home!

Well, for a week anyways.

Si's Version

It's has been 2 days since I've written.  Marv has been able to do some updating, and oh how he loves to exaggerate!  Silly Marv, tricks are for kids!

What really happened goes more like this...

Wednesday happened just as planned.  Il Monello's for 15RMB drinks and good music.  Nice lounge with a big expat crowd.  Afterwards, I took him to Real Love, a local dive to see how nasty a local dive can get.  It was ladies night and a lot of dirty old men were there to try to get their groove on.  Marv fit right in.  I also played wingman for my friend that night, what Marv dubs as me picking up a dirty Shanghainese girl is such an exaggeration.  If I was trying to pick her up, I would have asked for her number, I would have walked her to her cab, I would have tried to take her home.  But really, I was helping out a friend.  Marv has turned soft, doesn't really drink anymore.

Took Marv to see the Bund yesterday.  Due to the hot weather, I opted not to do the Nanjing Road, Yuyuan Gardens thing, I'm going to break up the SH tour into chunks so that Marv doesn't sweat to death.  We went to Park 97 for a bit and then off to Pegasus to meet my other friends.  There I met a Texan girl and her friend from Providence (Tricia and Sam) and so I thought Sam was kinda cute.  I wanted to get her a drink, but my cash was getting low so I asked Marv to babysit them for me while I got some more cash.

Upon returning I found out Marv didn't do a good job babysitting because he was nowhere to be found.  Apparently, Tricia had planted a big wet kiss on his face and scared Marvin off.  So I was left alone to try to get to know Sam.  Looking around for him, I noticed he was with another girl, a girl named Linda, she reminds me of Sandy.  For those that don't know us, our friends describe her as, "what-the-hell-is-the-matter-with-your-friend's-face" Sandy - 'nuff said type girl.  Again exaggerated, I only bought Sam 1 or 2 drinks.

The only parts Marv wasn't really exaggerating about was Janice and Alice.  Unfortunately, I failed miserably in initiating conversation of substance with them.  It was one of those "So uhh.. how long have you been in Shanghai for?  Ooooh ya, I've asked you that already."  type deals...  Guys were all over them, including Marv.

Today was a little bit more of a disaster, most of the places we went were kinda sucky.  We were supposed to meet the UBC girls, but they were into doing different things than us and so basically it was Marv and me bouncing around from bar to bar.  Momentum picked up near the end of the evening at this new club called Mei.

Why doesn't he drink anymore?  What did you boys do to him back home man?  I didn't drink that much either because I'd be the stupid drunk guy hanging around Marv if I did.

MARV

Well, he got here.  He's taking a shower right now, it is 12:30 am and apparently he hasn't slept or showered in the past 30 some odd hours.

BUT, I was able to catch up on some good old gossip and learn how people like Igk, Kirb, Boy, Gracie, and Ced are doing.  Marv also told me that he was at the same club as Kayoko one time.  My how small this Xangaland is.  I also heard about his "going away" party.

So we got to my house and then went to Kabb for this Stanford Alumni mixer.  Met some interesting people there.  Afterwards, had Hunan food, damn spicy.  I'm such a suck when it comes to spicy food.  Anyways, Marv's stomach couldn't really take it either, I guess it's too much for the first time in SH.  We had to leave early so I could take him to a hotel to take a dump.  Afterwards, we went to Face Bar and met up with some friends.  I think he's quite impressed with SH.  He's damn tired, I decided to take it easy on him tonight.  We'll party hard tomorrow night.