Getting Down and Dirty

After a few days at the brewery and a couple mandarin lessons down, I think I'm definitely beginning to get into the swing of things around here...

While my hours at the brewery don't make life easy, I'm finding ways around it for now. After my shift is over at midnight I'll probably catch up with a bunch of friends at the bars/clubs for a few hours which will be nice. Working as a server at the brewery has become pretty nice actually. Every day I meet some new customers who are from a different place and maybe speak a few more languages that I've never heard, but they are fun to interact with. I even got to spend some time speaking Spanish last night with a guy who spent 6 years in Spain while we talked about the upcoming World Cup :-) One group of people that I was serving told me that they tutor Chinese people on how to speak English for $30/hour and they recommended that I try to do it also if I have time...that could be interesting. I have become pretty good friends with some of my co-workers at the brewery, and they're fun to hang out with as well. They often teach me new words in Mandarin, which is nice.

Linda, my Mandarin tutor, came by today and I did my second lesson. I seem to be catching on quite quickly and now I can say useful words like different foods, taxi vocabulary, family, electronics, and higher numbers. Counting in Mandarin is quite easy; although the normal American hand counting is much different here, they use only one hand, similar to sign language I think...

It wasn't too hard to master :-) ...I've also started stringing together sentences such as: I'm hungry, I want ____, I love you, I'm eating ____, I am/you are ____. What's nice about Mandarin is that verbs don't seem to need to be conjugated. In Spanish and English you conjugate like crazy and many verbs have lots of different forms, but not with this language :-) What's most difficult is the different tones: you can say 'tang' 4 different ways to mean 4 entirely different things! I'm not learning Chinese characters, just how to speak. I figure that I don't really need to know how to read/write quite yet. Conversing is more important to me.

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PMM

Looking for Some Changes

I have come to some realizations quite recently: #1, I need a 9am-5pm job, #2, I'm definitely feeling a bit homesick, #3, I need to find some ways to be more active.

Working from 4pm - midnight doesn't really provide me with an opportunity to hang out with any of my friends around here. And it's looking like I'll be working this weekend so that may rule out spending time with them when they don't have to go into work. All of the other interns work 9-5 - a standard workday. But me, I work during the time when all my friends are off of work. I don't get to eat meals with people I know, nor do I have time to just hang out and watch Chinese bootlegged movies with them. Everyone's in bed by the time I get home from work, and I'm too wiped out to want to do anything after I get off anyways. So I'm hoping that my schedule changes once Kelley gets back from Hong Kong. I'm the kind of person who needs a social life, ya know. I definitely understand that the brewery runs from 5pm-2am everyday and that's just the way it is, but I'm gonna try to talk to Kelley when she's back and maybe I can create a regular workday for myself doing things like event planning, business development, etc.

This dilemma, results in bigger waves of homesickness. Not having anyone who speaks my language (literally) to spend time with on a regular basis leaves me missing everyone back home much more. Little things bring me back though...like eating a snickers bar, browsing youtube, interacting with English speaking customers at the brewery who are interested in where I'm from, watching soccer matches in my living room and nba games at the BCB, and video chatting Kelly and my parents when I can. Finding things to fill my time in the afternoon has been a bit more difficult than expected, without people who are looking for something to do along with me. I know shanghai is a happening place with lots to do, I just don't want to do it alone. I'm on the prowl for softball leagues, soccer leagues, and golf :-) We'll see how much success I'll get out of that.

Day #2 at the brewery was much better than Day #1, as we were much busier and I always had something to do, which was nice. You don't come home quite as tired after a day that flies by. On Tuesday I was standing around quite a bit and it was really getting to me - but not so much yesterday. It's cool when most of the customers are westerners and they all have crazy different stories as to why their in Shanghai...fun people to talk to. Hopefully today, tomorrow and the weekend will go by quickly as well! Many of my co-workers at the brewery are either Philippino or Chinese, in fact only one other guy is a native English speaker - the head chef, Mike. So, although most of them speak some form of english, not all do and there are definitely some language barriers which are often frustrating/fun to maneuver around. I learned yesterday that the BCB only has one restaurant location. The other is where they brew the beer. Originally the other location was the first restaurant and when they opened the latest one it was much more popular so they just use the other building for beer brewing.

<-- I also got a uniform...how did they know I'm a huge fan of the 3/4 length sleeves?? Clutch! (Those are beer coasters in my hands)

As you can tell, my future at the brewery is a bit blurry to me...I don't really know what kinds of changes the loss of Gary will create, and I have no idea what Kelley's plans are for me. I'll just have to be sure to clear these things up once she's back from Hong Kong next week. As I've said, I obviously don't want to be waiting tables for the next three months. If things don't work out here after a while, Next Step Connections can always provide me with another opportunity that will suit my lifestyle/interests/future career path a bit better I guess. I definitely don't want to just give up on the BCB though...I just need a clearer definition of what my place will be for the near future!

Ohh, my new favorite restaurant for lunch is Wu Da Niang. It's right down the street from my apartment and they have some incredible carrot and pork dumplings for real cheap =)

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PMM

The Night Rider

Between yesterday and today, I have definitely collected some first-time experiences.

I began my internship on a rough day for the Boxing Cat. Gary, the brew-master, died from unexpected heart problems the night before my first day at work. So, needless to say, everyone was incredibly sad when I got there - people were crying and hugging. I barely new him. I actually just met him a couple days ago and he seemed totally healthy to me, but I gave out a few hugs myself. I guess he was the guy at the brewery that all the customers knew, who really enjoyed having a good time and always wanted to be the life of the party.

I could definitely see these traits in only the few minutes that I spent with him the other day - it's too bad that I won't have a chance to really get to know him. I guess it just goes to show you that you never know when your time is up, so you really have to take advantage of all the opportunities you have.

We began the day with the weekly managers meeting, where we talked about different upcoming events, changes around the restaurant, problems, etc. Some big things happening at the BCB soon will be a 'Gary Memorial Party' in the next couple weeks, 'World Cup Game Coverage and Promotions' from June 11 to July 11, a '1st Anniversary Cook-Out' for the Boxing Cat on June 13th, and also a 'Forth of July Party.' :-) These all sound like they'll be a lot of fun.

As I said, Kelley wants me to start with the nuts and bolts of the BCB - which is the food, beer, and the people. So I began my internship learning how to be a server in the restaurant. It was pretty fun, although in China they don't tip :-) So I'm definitely learning to respect all of the hard-working waiters and waitresses in the U.S.! Customers are usually pretty easy to deal with, but there are many people who like to make things tough. I learned that the best way to handle people like that is to just smile and try your best to make them happy. The BCB has 3 floors. I worked the 2nd and 3rd floor yesterday and I was pretty much thrown right into it. But I think I did pretty well with everything. The menu isn't very difficult to understand and as long as I remember the soup of the day and what time happy hour ends, then I think I'll be just fine as a server :-) I get an allowance of $150 every month at the brewery to spend on food/beer/etc, so I'll probably use it to eat dinner every night during my break. Which means every day I'll only buy my lunch and it's real cheap, about $2 - $4 depending on where I go.

The brewery is open from 5pm to 2am everyday. So I work 4pm - about 1am. I'm not sure if this will continue after I'm done being a server, but I definitely start to yawn a lot after about 11pm :-) We'll see if I handle today a little bit better. After work, I ride my bike home and biking at night in Shanghai is really beautiful. It is a pretty tranquil city at night time and there are no horns, very little cars, and lots of lights on the buildings. In comparison to riding to the brewery, it's an entirely different world. During the day, I think people honk their horns just because they have them, and no one is a good driver =) I also save a lot of money riding home at night because the metro closes at about 1030pm and it would cost probably $4 for a taxi ride everyday, so thank god for the bike!

I just finished up my first Mandarin lesson this afternoon. It went really well! My tutor's name is 'Linda' and she's Chinese. Her English is not great but it's good enough to help me compare things. She's kinda wacky and makes a high pitch sound when I say something correctly, but it's funny. She also has crazy comparisons for things when she tries to explain something in English, I rarely understand what she's talking about when she does this, so I just laugh and nod my head :-) I learned a lot in just two hours with her. I felt like a 1st grader learning the alphabet and easy words because we had lots of colorful flash cards and pictures that we were using. It was good though. She said that I am a fast learner, so hopefully I'll breeze through all this simple stuff and I learn how to converse soon! Mandarin isn't easy but it doesn't seem to horrible yet. I'm going to probably set up every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for my tutoring times.

Day #2 at the brewery starts in a few!

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PMM

Mandarin City

I went to set up my Mandarin language tutoring this evening. I'm doing the lessons through a place called "Mandarin City" and they offer some pretty nice services...

I'm set up to do 36 hours of lessons for 3 months - which is 3 hours a week for 12 weeks. 12 hours per month is included in my NSC (Next Step Connections) package, and I guess I can choose to pay for more hours if that's what I want. The lady who runs Mandarin City, Vicky, was trying to talk me into doing 60 total hours for ¥3300 ($480) more...not sure if its a good idea or not. One of my main goals while I'm here is to learn Mandarin, but thats a good chunk of change and I'm not sure if I'll have time for extra hours while I'm working. Aside from that, I purchased my books and set up my lessons for every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I actually don't have to go anywhere for my classes. My tutor comes to my apartment! (Which is good because the Mandarin City office is in a pretty sketchy area)

I wish I came with some background in the language - Rich is a Mandarin minor at his school, and the rest of the people I know seem to know much more than me, so I usually use them for help :-) It's a bummer because right after I graduated, my high school added Mandarin to the World Languages program. I guess you have to start somewhere though. Here's what I've learned so far while traveling the city of Shanghai (without any formal lessons)...I can say "hello, thank you, 1-10, English?, goodbye, sorry, road, north, south, east, west, water, and beer." Those words seem to get me around pretty alright :-) There's a lot of room for improvement! I have a feeling that successfully mastering the different tones of the language will be the most difficult thing to do...but that's the beauty of the Shanghainese dialect of Mandarin - tones are essentially forgotten and you just blur everything together really fast =) I'll probably be good at that.

I start my lessons on Wednesday, so I'm pretty excited about it. Hopefully my tutor is very helpful.

My first official day at the brewery is tomorrow afternoon - today I rode my bike back and forth from my apartment to the brewery a few times so that I got the route down. It only takes me about 8 minutes to get there by bike, so that's pretty huge.

I'm trying to find a soccer league or something that I can get involved in around here. No great luck yet.

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PMM

Bartending, Balloons, Basketball, and Bicycles

...That is how I would describe Lithuania - the 4 b's - after attending the 2010 World Expo :-)

^^Lithuania Pavilion (inside features included bartending competitions, beer, hot air balloons, Lithuanian basketball, and bicycle racing)

Rich, Ree and I decided that we wanted to go see the Expo yesterday and it was pretty spectacular. It costs $15 USD for a one-day student admission, so overall the day wasn't too expensive - although food was quite pricey. The event was HUGE, and there were probably hundreds of thousands of people there. It was like a small town, essentially, with a new country on every corner of every street. Being there was an incredible experience - we couldn't believe how intricately designed each country's pavilion was.

Here's how it works: Much like an amusement park, you walk around and there are restaurants and gift shops everywhere along with lots of different 'attractions.' Most of these attractions are pavilions of countries, and when you see one that interests you, you get in line. The Expo offers 'fast passes' to attendees who don't want to wait in line, but unfortunately they were all out of the fast passes when we got there. Some lines are small, some are massive...it all depends on how cool the pavilion looks and how popular the country is. Pavilions of the UK, Germany, Russia, USA, China, France, Italy, and Hong Kong seemed to be the most popular. The lines for those were probably over 3 hours long (needless to say, we were not interested). In China, waiting in line is much different than one might experience in the U.S...you're constantly on watch because if you're not paying attention, the person behind you will jump in front of you without thinking twice about it. When making a turn in a line, you have to take the inside route because if you leave any space open, crowds will storm through from behind you. I'd compare it to nascar racing. :-)

The pavilions that we were able to go inside of were: Peru, Monaco, Slovenia, South Africa, Chile, Poland, Mexico, Congo, Chad, Lithuania, Brasil, Ireland, and MeteoWorld. Some were kind of lame (i.e. Peru and Slovenia), while others were very cool (i.e. Monaco, Mexico, South Africa, MeteoWorld, and Poland).

^^The Monaco pavilion featured a movie of the country's history, a small replica town, a Formula One racing exhibit, and other bits and pieces of the country's most prized possessions.

^^Poland seemed to know exactly what to do to draw a crowd. They were performing Polish dances, songs, and mini plays outside of their pavilion all day long. People were eating it up.

^^ The South African pavilion had many exhibits on the 2010 World Cup (being held in S. Africa from June 11 - July 11, 2010), they were even doing a foosball tournament outside for people waiting in line.

^^ Ireland Pavilion: Ree and I (pictured above) turned the Irish pavilion into a pretty awesome adventure. Most pavilions had people from their country inside of them, stamping expo passports, taking pictures with expo attendees, and answering questions about the country. However, Ireland did not have anyone their doing these things. So we took it upon ourselves to represent our ancestors' homeland and we decided that we would be 'participants' of the "Student Exchange Ireland-Shanghai." We told visitors that we were from University College Cork and Trinity College in Ireland and that we were visiting Shanghai for the summer during the Expo. Chinese people love taking pictures - especially with foreigners - so we snapped some shots, answered some questions, and I even autographed two men's hats and a little girls t-shirt! After a while, an Expo security guard came up to us and we thought that was the end of our fun, but he just wanted to tell us that he was from Limerick, Ireland and that he was very excited to see us entertaining people at the Irish pavilion. We explained that our lack of an Irish accent was because we are originally from the U.S. but we go to college in Ireland :-) ...It was a great time.

Here are some pictures of other pavilions and things at the Expo...

^^Here's the pavilion for China - very impressive!

^^ This is "Haibao" (pronounced 'eye-bo'). He is the little blue face of the Shanghai World Expo. People loved buying stuffed Haibao dolls in the gift shops. He is all over the city of Shanghai right now :-)

<-- Here's "Zakumi," I guess he's the South African World Cup 2010 counterpart to Haibao :-) I'm sure he's plastered all over the cities of South Africa just like Haibao is around here.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to accomplish all that you want in just one day at the Expo, so we'll probably go back another time, just not today because yesterday wiped us out. I came back after about 9 hours at the Expo and went right to bed! I would like to take a day to go to the more popular pavilions, but I'll have to pick a day when I'm feeling patient enough to wait in super long lines =)

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PMM

World Expo 2010

I'm considering going to the World Expo today and Monday...

Kelley said that I should try to see it before I start working, and there are some other interns who just got here and don't start until Wednesday, so the next couple days might be the best time to go...We'll see though. The Expo runs from May 1 - Oct 31 2010, and is essentially exactly what the name describes it as - a World Exposition. It's a fair of countries, each with their own pavilion/building displaying whatever they want to show off. The expo Logo features the Chinese character 世 ('world', in Chinese 'shì') modified to represent three people together with the 2010 date - pretty creative! It is the most expensive Expo in the history of the world's fairs. Over 190 countries and more than 50 international organizations have registered to participate, the largest ever. China expects to receive about 100 foreign leaders and over 500 million visitors from many countries across the world to come and visit the event, the largest in history. I'm not sure if I'll go tomorrow or in a month or two, but either way it should be a great thing to see!

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PMM

A New Mode of Transportation and My First Time to the BCB

Today I decided that I want to join the millions of other crazy bike riders of Shanghai, and so I purchased a bike :-) It's a "GIANT HUNTER 1.0" Mountain bike...

"Wow, what a nice bike, it must have been expensive!" - you might say...But no, in fact it was only ¥550 ($80). I found the bike on Craigslist Shanghai, then I called the guy who posted the ad, got his address, grabbed a friend, and we went to his place. Inside of his apartment was a small 'workshop' of bicycles, he probably had about 30 bikes in stock, at least. It was pretty wild. He was an Indonesian guy who loves bikes and so he buys them, fixes them up, and resells them on Craigslist and eBay with his Chinese wife out of their apartment. He gave me an awesome deal, showed me how to lock up the bike properly so that no one steals it, explained his 6 month warranty, and also said that within a year I can sell it back to him for 50% of the price that I paid. So I figure it was a pretty awesome deal - I don't think I'd ever find such an inexpensive, well conditioned bike in the U.S. I'm hoping that I might be able to sell it for the full price on Craigslist or something before I leave.

In Shanghai, many people ride bikes, scooters, and mopeds, and there are bike lanes all over the city streets. I'm thinking it will be a good way to exercise, and it will be much easier to get around the city to areas where taxi's and the metro are inconvenient or expensive modes of transportation. For example, the Boxing Cat Brewery. The metro is actually a pretty decent way to get to the BCB from my apartment, but I think riding my bike will be fun, more convenient, and cheaper overall - It's only a 15 minute bike ride. My only concern about the bike will be preventing it from being stolen. It stays in my apartment when I'm not using it, and I bought a chain to lock it up, but I once had a bike stolen from me so I'm a little nervous about it.

Speaking of the BCB, I went in to meet my boss this afternoon and she seems pretty awesome. Her name is Kelley Lee, and she owns about 5 or 6 restaurants in the Shanghai area. We sat down in the brewery, had some beers, and talked about what I'll be doing during my internship. I met a few people also: Lee, (who runs some of the BCB operations), Gary (the brewmaster), and Mia (employee manager of the brewery). I think that Lee will be the guy that I kind of report to and someone who will show me how they do what they do at the BCB. Kelley said that the only way for me to figure out how to start a brewery/restaurant is to know the ins and outs of the business, and she's leaving for a one week trip to Hong Kong next Wednesday, so starting next week Mia will be training me to become a server and I'll work my way up into more operational stuff from there :-) It should be fun! Mia's day off is actually Monday, so I won't start until Tuesday at 4pm. I'm thinking that my hours will probably be from about 4pm to late night/early morning, which I'm totally cool with because I'm not at all much of a morning person. =) ...Kelley seems to be very head-on, honest, and hard working - necessities as a female entrepreneur in Shanghai. I think I'll learn a lot from her. The BCB is a real cool place overall. It has a very 'American micro-brewery' feel to it, and the atmosphere is great. They play a lot on the words 'Boxing' and 'Cat' in all of their promotional ads and decorations around the restaurant. They have something called the "12 Round Challenge" (round as in boxing and round as in 'another round' of drinks), where a participant attempts to drink 12 rounds of beer pint glasses and if successful, get's his/her picture on the wall :-) ...Sounds awesome! I think it's going to be a very good place to work.

I'm still missing my backpack :-(

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PMM

Luggage and the Boxing Cat

The Shanghai Airport found one of my bags! Just one though - it's my main suitcase with all of my clothes in it, so that's good. Now I need to get my backpack, hopefully it will come tomorrow.

I just found out that I'm heading to the Boxing Cat Brewery tomorrow afternoon to meet my boss and some other people at the brewery. Should be exciting!

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PMM

Boom - And He's Back!

Hello all! This is my first official post from China :-) ...I unblocked all of the sites that China won't let people access, such as Blogger, Youtube, Facebook, Stumbleupon, and others. So now I can maintain my blog updates...

Life in Shanghai is great. Although I am a bit out of it with the time change and some jet lag...I went to bed last night a bit after 4am and now I'm wide awake at 730am (all the construction outside of my window could be a factor as well) - hopefully I'll get used to it soon!

Remember in my last post, how I said that I hoped my bags would arrive in China with me? That was wishful thinking, because they are NOT here! Delta is driving me nuts and they don't seem to be quite as concerned about my bags as I am...although I'm not really missing too much, just clothes really, but it would definitely be nice to stop wearing just one pair of underwear, socks, shorts and the same shirt every day!

Updates on everything...

The roommates

Both Chris and Michelle are awesome. They don't seem to be too concerned with the tidiness of the apartment, but I've lived with John and Sean for the past 3 years, so I can handle it! Also, they both smoke cigarettes in the apartment, which kinda sucks (I don't really have the clout to be able to ask them to not smoke in the apartment yet...maybe in a week or two). They've showed me around the city a bit, and helped me with some various necessities (things like gaining access to my blog, getting a Chinese cell phone, finding out where to buy some deodorant, how to ride the metro, and explaining to me that taking photos of Chinese police officers is a huge no no) - so far, so good.

The apartment

Although messy, it is very nice. There are a few interesting rough spots that I'll quickly mention: the beds are a bit firmer than my personal taste, you can't drink the tap/shower water, there is a clothes washing machine but no dryer (i'll explain more later), and I have the smallest room out of the three. Nothing major, all things that I can easily live with, ya know. Michelle's room is very nice - she has the master bedroom. She gets her own full bathroom, television, balcony...the good stuff. Chris and I share the main bathroom. The beds are pretty huge though, so that's nice. The internet seems to be working pretty okay (now that I'm past that whole blocked sites thing). And I believe a cleaning service is coming through our apartment this afternoon. So over all, the apartment is pretty solid. Here are some pictures if you're interested:

<-- Here's my bedroom. I've got some nice orange sheets :-) It's a bit tight (small room, big bed) but it's nice.

<-- Living/dining room area, a pretty modern setup.

<-- Bathroom...shower to the left, toilet to the right.

< -- Kitchen (a little dirty at the moment)

<-- Laundry room - Remember how I said that there's no dryer?

This is what everyone does instead...

...should be fun!

The city

Shanghai is a pretty excellent city. My apartment is located in the Xujiahui area, which is a great place to be. There are tons restaurants up and down the street that I live on (Tianyaoqiao Lu - lu means road), and it seems to be a very busy and happening area. Just a short walk away (literally around the corner) is the metro station - it's a very modernized subway with a variety of lines that go all over Shanghai and it seems even easier to navigate than many U.S. subway stations that I've been to. Food is always easy to find. I haven't yet decided if I should be stocking up on groceries or if I should just go out to eat all the time. Cooking does not sound appealing to me :-) and I'm not at all a good cook. Chris took me an awesome dumpling place called YANG'S FRIED DUMPLING - we got 4 good size, delicious dumplings for only ¥5 (about $.85), so it seems like a good spot to get food. It's fast too! A bunch of us (interns - Chris, Michelle, Sarah, Kim, Ibby, Gina, Rich, Rafael) went out last night, first to an Indian restaurant called Punjabi, then to a bar called Tara 57. The nightlife in Shanghai is looking pretty great. I've made good friends with a number of other interns, but I'm probably the closest with Rich (goes to and plays football at Davidson College in North Carolina). He got here yesterday afternoon and he and I have explored the city a bit together, trying to find good places to eat. So far Cafe 85 and Yang's Fried Dumpling are my two favorites. There are many KFCs and McDonalds in the area, but I'm trying to avoid them :-)

I start my internship on Monday, as my mother kindly posted :-) I also start my Mandarin language lessons (although those have most definitely unofficially started as I explore more and more of Shanghai) on Monday at 7pm.

If you want to know kind of where I am in Shanghai, type in "Shanghai Stadium" to a google maps search. I'm near there. It's not the 'downtown financial district' that you see in the skyline images of the city, but it's definitely pretty cool. And the Pudong area (downtown shanghai) is only a short metro ride away.

My apartment building is huge. It has 34 floors and my room is on the 16th. The elevator works really well :-)

Pictures of building and other random things:

<-- Here's the backyard of the apartment building...it's very nice.

If you have any interest in ever sending me mail or anything for whatever reason, send it to:

Pat McCombs

515 Hankou Road

Hui Jin Tower, 10th Floor, Unit 1004

Shanghai 200001, Huang Pu District

People's Republic of China

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PMM