Crisis.

A mini-crisis broke out for my company. Through this crisis I really learned a few things, though I don’t think some of these things I learned are things that I’d rather not learn. Sometimes I really wonder why some people can say some really irresponsible things without thinking how serious such comments can be. I personally found that very disturbing to the extent that I feel angry. Some people just don’t freaking think about everyone else. It’s just so infuriating. An otherwise alright day being spoiled by some people, again.

I’m back from Wuxi for 3 days (going to be 4 soon, I know) and I really should be doing a little update about the trip. But then again I’m not in the mood to do it now. Maybe tomorrow. Or Friday. Or whenever I feel like.

Goo.

Before everyone starts to wonder where I went, let me assure everyone that I’m still in Shanghai, still working, and still (trying) to enjoy myself in this big city. It was just that after the two days in Wuxi I was struck down with the flu and was having a pretty bad time enduring the flu virus. But don’t worry, the worst has apparently gone past – my fever has gone down and now I’m just left with a headache, giddiness, cough and running nose so all in all I’m on my way to recovery. Thank you everyone for your concern.

Suddenly I really miss everyone back at Comp Club. Hellooo.

Drink.

Work today was OK, except for two things. One was of course the frequent issue that I’m lamenting about all the time, the second was the fact that me, Ming Chean and Lee Tong were made to go to the streets and distribute flyers. I mean, it’s really my first time distributing flyers in my life, and I can tell you it’s not an easy task distributing flyers. People simply walked past you, making you feel that as if you are invisible or something. But of course once in a while there will be some nice people who’ll take the flyers off you, and sometimes you’ll love it to bits when a nice lady from the resident committee came and took half a stack from you and say she’d help you distribute in her residence. All in all, another new experience.

Went to a gathering held jointly by MAPROC and SSBA in the evening and met with a lot of business people there. Initially the gathering was a little bit off for me because I didn’t know anyone there, but then after a while I got to talk to a lot of people and some of the conversations were really interesting. Towards the end I was even made to participate in a drinking competition. In the end of the mini-competition, I managed to win together with a Taiwanese guy and got a bottle of red wine for my troubles. And subsequently I was down with slight giddiness because I hardly ate anything there. But come to think about it, for 50 RMB, I got to talk to a lot of business people, drank a lot of beer and got a bottle of red wine. So I shouldn’t complain, really.

Would be going to Wuxi tomorrow. If I’m lucky I would be there for two days, but if I’m not I’ll be back tomorrow night. We shall see.

Mmmm.

A few quiet day went pass without much problems. Nothing much to talk about really. I think I’ve come into a stage where life is really getting a little bit monotonous for me. I think I’ll need some stimulating factors otherwise my weekdays will be boring. After all, there really isn’t much things in the office to be happy about anyway.

Guest Lecture.

I had a great day in office today – nothing big happened, the whole office was nice and quiet, and I was able to accomplish what I need to do in less than a day. Wonderful.

After work I rushed over to Fudan for my Financial Markets lecture. The metro was so horribly crowded that I hardly have any space to move until I reached Chifeng Road. After reaching Chifeng Road, I had to take a cab to go over to Fudan because I reckon that I’d definitely be late for lecture. The cab driver was a very nice guy (his 3 stars on the windscreen says a lot) that he volunteered to take me through a less crowded road for the same fare. In the end when I arrived at the classroom, I was on the dot and the whole classroom has absolutely no space. Every seat was taken up and if not for some nice guy who offered me part of his seat, I would have to stand throughout the whole lesson.

The class today was extremely entertaining and informative as Prof Xie brought a guest lecturer to give a lecture. The lesson was mostly on how market economy can never be in equilibrium, but it was the way that the guest lecture was being delivered that attracted me the most. The lesson was supposed to have ended at 8.20, but very few people left the class early. Whether they were in awe of the lecturer so much that they dare not leave or everyone is so engrossed in the class, that I’ll never know. But I found the class wonderful and it wasn’t until the lecturer ended his class at 9.20 that I left the class (with the main bulk of students, may I add). I think I’m really enjoying my studies at Fudan.

Having another early class tomorrow, I hope I enjoy myself there.

Oriental Pearl Tower.

Went to The Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower today and while it cost RMB 78 to get there, I think it was money well spent. The view from inside the tower was really fabulous, though I did think we didn’t exactly go there at the right time because the sun was shining down at the wrong direction. But nonetheless, the weather was great and at certain angles the views were brilliant. Since it was quite some time ago since I last uploaded some pics on my little journal, here’s a little feast for your eyes:

View of Pudong from the Bund by day.

Entrance of the Oriental Pearl Tower.

View from inside the Tower – and so are the following few.

It even points you the distance and direction of major cities in China! For example, this one says 1160km to Shenyang in Liaoning Province.

Yesterday we went to this Sichuan restaurant called 川三甲 to have a small celebration for Shuhui’s birthday. The food was typcially Sichuan as it was just so freaking hot. I had a very tough time trying to eat the food. I mean, imagine seeing a dish like this:

Chilli Prawn – I mean, you find me the prawn!

But overall the meal was highly satisfying, and after the meal we went to a pub to have a little bit of chilling out. Played some seemingly silly games and I think it was pretty fun. The thing about the pub was that the drinks weren’t exactly the best. It was like, the Bailey’s tasted more like choclolate milk, the Screwdriver tasted more like pure orange juice, and the Long Island Tea seemed to be like tea rather than alcohol. The JD that I had towards the end, as well as the tequila shot that I was made to drink were the only decent drinks I had. Oh well, at 10 RMB per glass of drink, you are never going to get as good quality in Singapore. Oh well, we should be grateful that such pubs even exist in China. It could have been much more disappointing.

Going back to work tomorrow. I honestly do enjoy my work, but I am not exactly looking forward to it. Somebody saves me.

How to differentiate a great university from a good one – the great university has a main gate. The good one has five entrances, but no main gate.

Work.

Spent the whole day working hard on the website. To be honest, I am quite pleased with myself to be able to come up with the site within one day, even though some of the links are not up yet, I’m still pleased with my own determination. But the whole thing didn’t come easy – I virtually kept to myself throughout the whole day in the office, not really talking to anyone for that matter. I finished my lunch in 15 minutes and apart from the few times that I went to the washroom or to the water dispenser to make my coffee, I was basically sitting in front of the computer for the whole day. But the end result was good – I’ve got a nice little website up that I can feel proud of! After all, the target audience is this massive place called China. Nice thing to put on the resume, though not exactly helping my cause to move into the advertsing industry cos chances are I’d be stuck with yet another IT job when I graduate. But then again, who would mind this kind of experience?

Bought the ticket to a Chinese musical called 东方红 and it cost me RMB 500. I’m not really complaining about the price because firstly, I’d never get the chance to watch such musicals in Singapore, and secondly, the seat doesn’t seem to be at a bad place! The musical itself was first performed 40 years ago prior to the Cultural Revolution period (I think my parents would know how it goes), and they are literally doing a re-run this year to commemorate Labour Day. The thing that makes me feel special is not really about the musical, but more like me paying for the ticket online and get them to deliver the ticket to me!

Would be going to Fudan tomorrow again to do some assignment discussion. I did some preparations just now and found that I don’t really know what was going on.  I guess I’d realise tomorrow when I meet the rest of my Chinese friends.

Have a great weekend.

Lessons.

Had a relatively easy day at the office this morning as I managed to do some work peacefully.

Attended class in the afternoon and I think I kinda enjoyed the class quite a bit. Before I came over to Shanghai, I always thought that I would struggle to understand the classes because they are all conducted in Chinese, but after 3 weeks of classes, I think I’m having an easy time with the lessons and I have been enjoying all of them. Maybe I’m suited to study in a Chinese environment after all. Let’s just hope that Fudan would have some good postgraduate course that considers me to be good enough. Haha.

SOC GradBall – I really think it’s a great thing that we are doing it again and I really hope everyone attends the event because I think it is going to be wonderful. Besides, I think both CISAA and Comp Club have made a huge effort in trying to make the event possible, so I think supporting their effort is only right. I would definitely attend if not for the fact that I’m here in Shanghai.

One week has just zoomed past and it’s Friday tomorrow. Let’s hope it passes by peacefully. I actually really think that my office is a lovely place, no matter what everyone says. Put it simply, after two months there, I think I can still say I love my job. To be able to do something that I know and I like is not easy, but I’m able to do it. And besides, I think I managed to learn a lot of things within this short period of time. Of course, some of the things that I picked up are things that I rather not know, but nonetheless, handling these people and situations are new experiences that I’ve never encountered before.

And ya, I’ve got my China Resident Permit today, thus finally closing the whole issue of the visa. Lovely.

See you guys tomorrow.

Frustration.

Was very frustrated doing work today in office. The worst thing is that I’m not even allowed to show any frustration. Not that I’m strictly forbidden to do it, but I don’t want to start a quarrel in the office, so I have to swallow it. It’s always this kind of things that spoil an otherwise pretty good day. I sometimes just don’t understand whether it’s really our problem at all. Whatever “problems” there apparently exist, I can see none of them. Is it really that everyone has a problem? Or is it someone has a problem with everyone?

I mean, I don’t pretend to say that I’m a patient guy with no emotion problems, but when you are in a state that only you are allow to make people unhappy and not the other way round, do you think you are the one who is having a problem? When you complain that other people cannot control their temper and emotions, do you ever take a step back and think that you are doing exactly the same thing? When you say that other people are this and that, have you ever thought that only you are thinking that everyone has a problem and you are prejudiced against almost everyone in this world? When you say that this guy doesn’t work and that guy doesn’t perform, have you ever thought that your own working attitude also leaves a lot to be desired?

I’m just oh so freaking unhappy today.

Bored.

Another day has gone past here in Shanghai. Life has kinda moved into a more monotonous period for me. Went to class in the morning, witness a traffic accident on my way back, reached office, do work, blah blah blah. Life is getting a little bit boring for me on weekdays. That said, I still enjoyed that 2 hours at Fudan this morning. At least the lecture was interesting.

Still thinking of writing a book when I return to Singapore. Would be nice to write about life here in Shanghai from a student’s perspective. They all say Shanghai is about business and everything, but I think Shanghai is much more that just that.

Feeling sleepy… must be the consequence of a boring day.