Fireworks

On the 23rd, we hear fireworks going off for about an hour. We finally decided maybe we should see what was going on. It was when Paris Hilton was here for a fashion show, so we decided it was probably that. It definitely was the largest firework display either Jon or I had every seen!

More subway Chinglish!

I stumbled upon a blog that had the same series of Chinglish from the Line 2 subway as I did - but he had many more than I did! Check it out. Scroll down to near the bottom of the page.

Steaks

Home-grown beef is one of the things we really miss here. Jon bought four steaks the other day, at over $10 per steak. Ouch.

I made him bring back baking supplies that are either impossible to find or super-expensive here, such as chocolate chips, pecans and lemon flavoring, when he went back to SD recently. I also had been craving salt-and-vinegar chips so he brought back those. I'm so lucky to have someone smuggle things home for me. :-)

Bank of China Chinglish

Even the Bank of China has Chinglish. This is a screenshot taken after logging out.

Banking in China is not nearly as convenient as in the USA. It is still a mostly cash-based society, though many people have ATM cards now. Banks are open from 9-5 weekdays and 9:30-4 weekends, and some close for lunch. You need to take a number and wait. Usually, you can leave for an hour and come back in time for your number to be called. You have about a 20 second window to make it to the counter, or the next number will be called. Some branches don't have the number system, so you need to stand in line. This can also take hours.

Jon gets a bit of his paycheck deposited into the China account every pay period. It gets deposited in US dollars, so he needs to actually go to the bank, bring his passport and bank book, and sign six different places to get the money transferred from USD to RMB. This can kill a Saturday morning, so he typically waits for two or three months to do this. There is no night deposit and no doing anything without your passport and actual deposit book.

Reading

Christianne sent me three books a few weeks ago, after I mentioned how much I miss reading English on a daily basis. She is an avid reader too and also works at Dak. We actually worked together at DCS (Dakota Communication Solutions) as supervisors before it went under. She left for Dak about a month before I did.

Last week I read Salem Falls and this weekend I read Water for Elephants. Both were really good. I love reading. Yes, I read a book over the weekend. Yes, the whole thing.

Next week it will be Nineteen Minutes, another book by Jodi Picoult. I read "My Sister's Keeper" by her a while ago and love her writing style.

I used to be in a book club in Brookings. It was a small group of women who worked at Dak. We spent a lot of time discussing things other than the book, but it definitely was a highlight of the month to get together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving night was spent at The Spot, a bar on Tongren Lu. Dan, Sai, David (Dak sales from Hong Kong) and I waited for Jon, who was just getting back from Beijing. We didn't have turkey, but did have some good dips and other appetizers. The menu is huge (literally!) but no turkey.

Castle Oktober

Some older photos, from October 27th.

Dan, Judd (senior project manager from Dak US) and Jon at Castle Oktober. It's a beautifully-restored old building, now a restaurant with a great garden. It was built by a Chinese general in the 30's, taken by the government and was the Taxation Bureau office until recently.

Dan and Jon dress freakishly similar. In the office, they somehow manage to wear the same color striped dress shirts and cuff links nearly every day. Even on the weekend, they both show up in Tommy Bahama t-shirts. I'm sure they'd say "great minds think alike."

Actually, they said, "There's not many places in China with clothes big enough for us!"

Wo de mao mao jiao Boots!

What a tubby kitty. She doesn't have to run up and down three flights of days daily, as she did in our house in South Dakota. Now, she lies in the window sill all day. She has a pretty good life.

We really do play with her to give her some exercise! See how ferocious she is? She's stalking some string.

Aggressive Beggars

The last time I blogged on begging, I got flamed by some Anonymous person. If you are going to personally attack me, at least have enough guts to leave your name. Obviously, this person didn't know me, or they would have known where I give money or donate time. Yes, I do mostly blog about positive or things that I think are interesting to others. I don't blog about the evenings I eat a sandwich for supper and spend the night working. I blog about the times I go somewhere and try something new. Hence, it may seem that my life here is all fun and games, when in reality I just try to show the interesting things.

Anyway, one night we were at Malone's, sitting outside. We had front row seats to what was pretty much a circus. I used the ISO 3200 setting on my point-and-shoot, hence the grainy shots. We watched a large group of beggars hassle everyone who walked by. They tried to use the kids to gain sympathy. Once as we walked by, a woman asked for money and on cue the kid starts fake coughing. A man was hovering nearby, clearly the "ringleader" of the group. If there was any trouble (such as some Chinese people demanding they leave) he disappeared.

These kids saw me taking a photo so their mom sent them over. I took this photo and then gave them some money.

This guy was just wasted and could hardly walk. The kids attacked his legs, sat on his feet and clung to him. That seems to be crossing the line.

The kids also were constantly running across the street. Never did an adult stop them or tell them to look before crossing. Traffic is crazy here and the rule is that cars have the right-of-way. I am afraid they were thinking, "One less mouth to feed..." Does China have a Child Services department? (I thought I heard that they have laws about taking care of your parents, but none about taking care of your children. But I have absolutely no facts back that up.)

This lady (right) was at least trying to sell something to make some money. Then a "working girl" came and was trying to sell something else. We saw the negotiation, then they left together. Ewww.

The whole evening bothered me quite a bit. I went home to try to find some more information about homelessness and ways to help in Shanghai. What I mostly found was information on how it is a choice for most of them.

A highlight of one story, based on the work of a high-school girl:

'Huang said that 63 of the people she interviewed were "occupational beggars" who were not wandering alone in the streets because of a lack of money or accommodation. Staff at a government homeless shelter told Huang that about 80 percent of the street people in Shanghai were occupational beggars.

"Considering their income, I can only conclude that some beggars are occupational. They view begging as a job. The reason for them to live such a humble lifestyle is the 'high pay, less labor' mentality." '

Shanghai published a guide on how to spot beggars that are trying to deceive you.

Old story about Shanghai police asking for a beggar task force.

I would like to help those less fortunate. But when it is a choice and they hassle me, I choose not to give to them. I choose to give to those obviously unable to work, who are at least trying to do something for a bit of money (such as playing and singing in the subway.) The able-bodied ones that are dressed warmly and chase after me won't get a fen from me.

Oh - if anyone knows where I can donate some previously-used clothes, please let me know.

Chinesepod

I have been trying to take a lesson or two every week from one of the girls here at Dak, but work overrides it a lot of the time. There is a site called Chinesepod that has daily lessons at various levels, so I decided that I would try to do one or two lessons everyday. I also paid for an account so I can get transcripts of each lesson and have the lesson emailed to me daily. (The MP3s are free to anyone.) I think that should speed up my learning!! I am disappointed with my lack of progress after almost 6 months of being here. Today's lesson was politely declining another cup of tea. There are about 450 lessons for "Newbies" and hundreds more for other levels. The Newbie lessons are about 4 sentences each day, which I should be able to handle easily. Just sync the lesson to my new iPod and listen while going to and from work each day.

Three Gorges controversy

The New York Times had a big article on the human and environmental impact of the Three Gorges Dam project, plus other dams. Chinese Dam Projects Criticized for Their Human Costs

There is still one question I have - how many workers have died during this project? You certainly hear about it when there is no loss of life, but I think construction in China doesn't have the best safety record.

Click on the link below to see my previous posts about the Three Gorges.

Bandung, Indonesia

These are older photos from my trip to Indonesia.

Ira, from MIB, took us to Bandung to see the newest Daktronics ProStar display there. It was a couple hours drive from Jakarta.

First she took up to a restaurant on the top of a hill.

It was what I imagine a rain forest to be like. Each one of the tables was in it's own little shelter, with a low table and cushions. Very tropical. Yvonne or Perk - send me a photo of our group!

There are tons of little tiny shops everywhere, more and smaller than Shanghai. Much more run down and dirty too.

This is the new display! It is owned by Djarum, a cigarette company.

Ira's house

We had the honor of being invited to Ira's house for supper. It was amazing. Many buildings seemed to be a blend of outside and inside, as was hers. For example, one bathroom I was in had an open roof over part of it, with palm trees growing up out of the bathroom floor through it. Most of the buildings had doors wide open, so it seemed as if they had fewer walls.

Ira's house was built around their pool on three sides. It was very, very open. It just feels like you are outside the whole time.

Her husband is an architect, so every detail of their house was well thought out. See the slates next to the window? Those are permanently there - they don't close like shutters or move. They are all open to the elements, no screens or anything. Bugs, rain, whatever can come in, but he didn't want to take away from the design element by enclosing them. It is hard for me to get my head around ever being able to have anything so open (I'm thinking blizzards, dust blowing, billions of mosquitoes, thunderstorms, etc.) but it works for them. How awesome to live in a climate like that! If water comes in, the ayis clean it up. No big deal.

The front entrance, with outdoor patio ahead, the guest room just inside to the right and the pool to the left.

More traffic

I should really find something else to do time lapses of. Traffic is pretty much the same all of the time. Unfortunately due to all of the pollution I don't see any cool clouds. Maybe I'll try to do 24 hours this weekend, on Sunday, when the pollution usually is at the lowest level of the week.

Mosaics

I had a lot of free time this weekend (read: I was bored and lonely with my husband being on the other side of the world) so I spent a lot of time messing around on my laptop. Check out the mosaics I made - all from China photos!

They are pretty big so many take a while to load if you click on them to see the large photo.

Construction

Construction on the new subway line near our apartment.

Sunrise over Shanghai

Another time lapse. This one was every 30 seconds.

Trial of Time Lapse Photography

My co-worker Abram told me about his roommate Nic doing time lapse photography, and I just had to try it out. Nic's are way cooler than my first attempt here - but I'm learning! This is a test one to see if I could figure out how to put together all of the photos in AfterEffects. It is a series of photos taken every 3 seconds.

Funny signs

I'm not so sure these can be called Chinglish - maybe they are just funny to me. A fellow Toastmaster told me last night that he reads my blog and these are his favorite part.

All of the taxis have the rules printed on the plastic surrounding the driver. Number 2 is: Schizophrenic or drunkard without guardian is prohibited to take the taxi. Schizophrenic can be replaced by mental patients or psychos. Oh, the lawsuits for discrimination we'd have in the US!


When I first saw this ATM, I didn't think I could use it. It says "Cash Recycling Machine" so I thought it was something you could put in your tattered old bills in, and receive nice new crisp ones back. Sometimes people won't take bills if they are in bad shape. To me, the word recycling is usually only used when referring to destroying one thing but making something new out of the remains.

Nope. It's just a regular ATM. Stick your card in, get money.

Suzhou

A couple weeks ago Yvonne, Perk, Ryan and I went to Suzhou to meet with a potential Keyframe client. Suzhou is about an hour away by train from Shanghai. After the meeting, we went to lunch and had a Shanghai special - hairy crab. They say people come from all over the world to eat hairy crab, and the season just started.

It's really a pain to get all of the meat out.

First, you rip all of the legs off, and the stomach shell off.

Next, the back shell and the sides. Then you suck out the yellow stuff and take out things like the lungs. After getting all of the meat from the body, you crack all of the legs open and suck out that meat too. It's really a long, messy process.

As we were going to the bus station, we walked down the main shopping street and by the temple. Yvonne explained that someone had died and they were burning things to send to them in the afterlife. They believe that if you burn it, it will cross over (or something like that.) In the above photo they are burning money (not real money, which makes me wonder why they can use fake money in the afterlife?) Yvonne said they will burn furniture, clothes, food, etc.

Yvonne trying to throw coins for good luck.


These signs on the temple are totally Chinglish. I thought maybe they were verses with a deep meaning - but Yvonne translated and they aren't. The risk of fire is more dangerous than an actual fire, prevent fire instead of having to put it out, etc.

Google me

Ryan, one of the salespeople, told me that if you Google "Daktronics Shanghai" my blog came up. It is pretty funny. The first thing that comes up is a news release. My post about Abram Photoshopping Dan's head onto Mao comes up 2nd, 3rd is a post of mine about Keyframe, then 4th is the official Daktronics Shanghai site, and 5th is my MySpace page.

Shots

This was at the Blarney Stone, an Irish bar. I think they mean "Slippery Nipple."

Yuyuan Garden

Perk wanted to go into the gardens during his visit so I joined him. We've taken many guests to the outer part, with all of the old buildings, but never have been inside the gardens. It was the kind of place I'd like to have as a yard; tons of nooks and crannies that would be great places to relax with a book.





Then we walked to the Bund, and up Nanjing Lu to People's Square. Naning Lu is pretty much all neon - lots of opportunities for LED displays!

Digital Content Training

On Monday, Yvonne and I flew to Jakarta, Indonesia to give digital content creation and management training. Perk and Victor from LEDtronics were also there. The local company is called MIB.

Ira, from MIB, like the training the first morning so much that she called a guy who works at this billboard magazine called B&B.

This photographer (who was also the editor-in-chief) actually took about a million photos of me for this magazine. He told me they would put me on the cover, but I’m not sure if he was joking or not. In one issue, they had a 4 page spread of a new LED billboard in Bandung (which happens to be a Dak ProStar.) 4 pages is a little excessive….. it wasn't a very large or unique display. On Thursday, two journalists interviewed me.

Perk and I during V1500 training.

Gabriel (photographer) took 181 photos the first day, and 86 during the interview. I think that is a little excessive!!!

Gabriel gave me all of the photos too. I don't have so many of me on the blog so I thought I would post a few.