Wait any longer and you’ll forget everything, I finally told myself this morning. I came to China with every intention to document my day-to-days; I even brought a brand-new moleskin and a handful of those ink pens that seem to have a stream-of-consciousness effect on me. But sometime between the jetlag and late-night clubbing, I never quite found the time to really sit down and apply myself, to myself.
I don’t expect to remember every detail. To be fair, I don’t even expect to remember most details to most events. That said, I will try my best to capture at least the essence of this trip to the best of my ability. Since I don’t want this blog to feel like a daily chore, and most people don’t blog everyday anyway, I will refrain from turning this into a rote recitation of my daily goings and doings. Besides, my life probably isn’t interesting enough for that to be sustainable anyway.
For context, the following is a quick recap of my adventure in China so far:
- Yang’s Fried Dumplings: Ironically, my first meal here on our first day wasn’t dumplings but noodle soup. I mistakenly thought that it was 5.5RMB for two, which I considered a huge rip-off at the time. Colossal mistake.
- Saizeriya: Ironically, my first two bullet points are about food, when food has been anything but a highlight of this trip (more on this to come). But this place is surprisingly good, especially when you’re craving something that resembles food back in the States. Great conversation with Louis Choi here about girls, jobs, and everything working out in the end.
- Golf with the boss: Sean took us to the driving range and taught us how to swing a club. First time really putting the bat to the ball on a golf course, even if it was just driving. Surprisingly tiring , yet therapeutic.
- KTV with the coworkers: At People’s Square after work. Fell in love with Kimberly a bit, and for the first time in my life found the Chinese accent sexy as she sang Madonna’s La Isla Bonita. Recognized some Chinese classics Mom used to play, and sang along to some other Mandarin hits. KTV is surprisingly good for one’s learning Mandarin (side note: “surprisingly” will definitely be a prominent asset to my blogging vocabulary this summer).
- Dinner with Cozy at 1001 Noodles: Continuing the trend of cool Chinese people with cooler English names (Morning, Shining, Endales, etc.), Cozy took us to this fantastic noodle place in Xujiahui.
- The Jesse, Louis, and Sheng adventures: Lady bars, excessive spending, M2, and the Faceplant. Also, a day’s worth of Titanic, He’s just not that into you, the justice league, the green lantern, and
- The sick day and Pudong: Walked around the city for about six hours, went into three shopping malls, two Uniqlos, and bought a pink v-neck. Didn’t say anything in English until around 6:30.
- The Sketchiest Free Movie Screening Ever: With Chris and Chad somewhere near the Jiaotong station (incidentally, right by the Crowne Plaza, where we stayed our first night in Shanghai). A horribly annoying Chinese fighter flick (“5 Brothers”), a ten kuai minimum disguised as a free cover charge, and the scariest alleyway known to man.
- Foosball, Pool, and HKU kids: Countable hours working on my pool game (expectedly bad) and foosball game (better than expected) while making small talk with HKU kids.
- Fake Markets, Snooker, and the Bro-iest Pong match: Walked around with Cherk trying and failing to find Nanjing Xilu, chatted in fake markets and the 80 RMB “real silk” tie, and got frustrated with Snooker (which we had just watched the world championship of a week before). Then pre-gamed with a one on one game of pong with four beers a person.
This list will probably be the most straightforward part of this blog. I foresee a lot of talking around issues- trains of thoughts and random musings that begin from nothing and end nowhere and everywhere. I just hope that I’ll have the discipline to not neglect this project; this is not a Xanga.
