One-Eyed Panda’s Journal

We moved into the new place last Saturday & had a great housewarming party last night - I know this is going to look weird for anybody that reads this in the archives cause the last post was on us finding the house, but whatever. It has taken about a week but everything is finally in a state where I can say we’re settled and I can freely blog again.

It really felt that way after last night’s housewarming party, which we combined with the going-away party for our friend, Ray Shi, who’s heading back to the US on Wednesday. It was great cause we got to see a lot of people we hadn’t seen in a while and everybody loved the place. I need to take pictures as we made one or two small changes from the photos that the landlord posted for the classified. I’ll try to do that soon.

I’ve spent a lot of time exploring the area - most of it with Roger, who prefers to now do his business outside rather than using the diapers that he used as a puppy. That means more walks which means more exercise for me. There are lots of great little cafes and shops on Shaanxi Nan Lu and through out the French Concession and it just feels like a perfect combination of Western and Chinese side by side. It’s great to come home at night and just feel like you can relax here.

But other than that there isn’t a whole lot going on. Work is going at a steady pace. I’m busy but not getting overwhelmed. I’ve become addicted to Aric S. Queen’s Rough Sundays podcast and am really enjoying Pascal Mercier’s Night Train to Lisbon. I sat down today at Vienna Cafe today for brunch and ended up reading about 60 pages and probably will cover another 80 or so before I head to bed.

It’s been a perfect long-weekend.

J.

Well it’s after 10pm and I should probably be heading to bed, but I’ve had such a great last couple of days I had to blog about it first. 

First thing is that we’ll be moving by the end of the month to this apartment in the French Concession. It’s like something out of Lust Caution and I think we’ll really enjoy living there. There are cafes all around the building and it’s close to my office. I’m looking forward to walking Roger in the area.

Secondly things at work are going really well. I think things are finally coming together for me. My cover story in our April issue got a lot of great feedback (the link to the main story is here). The book review I wrote for the April issue was on James Fallows’ Postcards from Tomorrow’s Square. Today I woke up to find that James had linked to the review on his blog with some very flattering comments.

Finally I’ve been listening to a lot of good music recently. I went to the Battles show at the Dream Factory about two weeks ago and then to Hard Queen’s CD release party last week. Right now, I’m listening to the first of Aric S. Queen’s Rough Sunday shows and I can tell that this show will become a big part of my Sunday mornings.

That’s it for now. I’ll keep this space updated with new developments.

J.

Well I got back from my trip to Anhui on Thursday and it went amazingly well. I got some really good interviews with farmers who lived near the town of Yuexi and in Henghe Village - both of which are on Ming Tang Shan (about four hours south of the provincial capital Hefei). 

I didn’t know the town and the village where on a mountain until my colleague told me when we were sitting at the McDonald’s at the Hefei train station. Thankfully I’d packed warm clothes as there was snow and we couldn’t get up to Henghe Village on Monday but we succeeded at reaching the mountain on Tuesday. 

It was a long trip travel wise - about eight or nine hours by a combination of bus and train each way, but well worth it - I had an amazing time personally and professionally.

One thing that bothered me when I was there though. The farmers I interviewed kept telling me that they didn’t have any culture. They weren’t referring to the 5,000 years of Chinese culture that you hear trotted out everywhere. They meant manners. 

Their claim disturbed me because it’s one I have heard Laobaixing (old 100 names - common people) use before. But it’s not true at all. They are some of the friendliest and most hospitable people I know. They could’ve just been being modest but when you tell them that they have manners about five or six times over the course of an hour and they still tell you it’s not true then I tend to think they believe it themselves.

For the rest of what I learned you can wait until my story comes out on April 1st or check out another blog post I did on the trip here.

J.

Well I know it’s been a long time since I posted. Work has been taking up a lot of my time - I’m working on the cover story for the April issue and that’s going to involve a trip from Anhui. I leave tomorrow and return Wednesday.

The one thing I have been doing with my free time is reading a lot. I’m currently in the middle of James Fallows’ Postcards from Tomorrow’s Square but at the same time I’m also working on John Pomfret’s Chinese Lessons and I’ve just bought a few more books today.

Why I don’t know. They just seem to fill me with a lot of hope.  And I know that sounds silly but they’re helping me to chill out during a very busy time right now.

J.

Well I know I haven’t posted for a while. Chinese New Year kept me away from my laptop  and I returned to Shanghai and a really busy six-day work week. Hopefully in the next couple of days, as we wrap up the March issue, I’ll have more time to write in this space. Until that time you can read some of my stuff here and here.

J.

I was catching up on the December issue of GQ today at Munchies when I came across the magazine’s personal finance column.

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the column recently. With the financial crisis — and the fact that I was without a job for almost a month — I was, and still am trying to watch how much I spend. In the December column, the writer was complaining about how he was seeing thousands and thousands of dollars disappear from his investments. And even though this money was theoretical (it wasn’t really his until he took it out of the investment), he still felt the pain.

 The writer was also a little dismay and annoyed at the guys on Wall Street who put him in this position. So he called up a financial planner on Wall Street. Who toold the writer should have some sympathy for those Wall Street bankers. They were going through a period of really low self-esteem. Their sense of success and self-esteem was really set by how much money they made and since they weren’t really making any money at the moment, they were pretty down in the dumps. 

Well, I’m sure that a lot of those bankers will still get through the financial crisis okay (but I also know that a lot will also lose their jobs and may spend some times unemployed). I can really identify with their sense of failure though, especially if those bankers aren’t performing the way they want or if their jobs have met with the axe. I know that I didn’t really how much I defined my identity by my job until I wasn’t working anymore. I felt an extreme sense of failure even though I hadn’t done anything to put myself in that situation. I was just unlucky. 

It took me about two weeks to get my head around that fact and then after I did that I was able to really concentrate on building my self-esteem by making sure that I got another job. The day I received the offer for the job that I really wanted was probably the day that my self-esteem got to it’s highest level possible and has now settled a very high and stable level. 

I hope the bankers regain their self-esteem too.

J.

Well I can now let everyone know. I start a new job on Monday with a China business magazine as a staff writer. I’ve achieved my dream job and it only took five and a half years.

J.

Well it’s the first day of 2009 and last night could not have been a better end to what’s been a crappy last couple of months for me. I got to ring in the new year with Cold Fairyland. And they were on their best game last night — especially since they’d just returned from playing in Spain a couple of days before.

The line up has changed a bit since I saw them last at The Zhejiang Dream Factory back in April for their CD release party for Seeds in the Ground. Now the lead singer, Lin Di’s husband Seppo is playing bass (definitely not a negative). One of things I noticed this time out is that CFL’s new stuff seems to emphasize the Chinese instrumentation more — Lin Di’s pipa seems to come out much stronger and the band’s drummer can rival Hedgehog’s Atom for how hard he pounds the skins — both in traditional Chinese and jazz drumming fashions. In fact he seemed to break into a lot of drum solos last night in between songs that were just amazing.

Probably the best part about their new year’s eve show is that the band played it more like an evening with Cold Fairyland than their traditional shows. I don’t know from looking at the attendees how many people knew of CFL before the show. I think not many. Winnie and I showed up at about 9:15 (CFL was supposed to hit the stage about 10 but started closer to 10:30) and the Melting Pot was packed with people who’d come for their NYE buffet — mostly older expats and dice-playing Chinese (who kept playing dice during CFL’s set) not the typical CFL fans.

There was also, I’m sorry to say, annoying cover band called the Pilgrims opening up for them. It looked like a group of bored/laid-off European bankers who had decided to start a band for extra cash. They got very little applause when they played. But once CFL hit the stage the Pilgrim’s lead singer, who seemed like he got drunk long before he came to the bar, was giving nothing but praise to CFL. And you could tell that people really got into the music (and the contests) and I am sure a few new CFL fans were converted last night.

To me the best thing about the night was everyone was just there to have a good time and be about the music. I know that sounds cheesy but it’s true. Ruby, one of the Melting Pot’s owners made sure that free champaign was given out at midnight and was really making sure that everyone was having a good time.

Me, last night I was able to forget about my troubles and just enjoy the start to a new year. Hopefully 2009 will be a much better year for me.

J.

Well it’s the last day of 2008 and I’m in a position I didn’t think I’d be in a year ago. To be honest I’m not too happy about it  – I am just realizing now how much I define myself by my job. I’m getting a little bored and depressed. Trying to read more and do some more writing in between my job hunting, but I am still getting frustrated sometimes (I feel pretty cut off from the world staying at home during the daytime). Usually that means I lose my temper when Roger does something naughty and I know I shouldn’t.

I know I shouldn’t really get frustrated either. I’ve only been off two weeks and I am not in finance troubles. I’ve got money saved up and there are opportunities that I am waiting to hear back on. Something will come through for me. But I guess I am becoming a bit too reflective today. I still think of myself a year ago when I didn’t really have a care in the world expect trying to get Winnie a visa to visit Canada — and we managed that, so I’ll manage this too. It just may take a while.

I need to go out tonight I really do. Not just the fact that it’s New Year’s Eve. I need forget about my frustrations for awhile and just enjoy myself. So I’ve decided to head out to tonight’s Cold Fairyland concert at the Melting Pot on Hengshan Lu.  

The concert is free but I’m not going for that reason. I really enjoy the band and own all their albums. I want to do something different this year. Something a bit different than going to a drinking fest at a hotel or karoake (which really ends up being the same thing). There won’t be many people there that I know. But that’s okay I just want to enjoy myself and forget my troubles for a few hours. 

Tomorrow is the start of a three-day national holiday here in China, so I plan to take tomorrow off from my job hunting anyway and just enjoy the day and spend a lot of time with Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road. 

If you’re looking for a bit cheerier reflection on 2008 check out this great post from Biscuit.

Let’s hope for a better 2009.

J.

Well it’s a rainy post-Christmas Sunday. For me that means spending the day with a book and iPod. But for those that want a bit more of sensory experience try these links from Adam Schokora’s 56minus1 blog:

• Adam is producing a series of videos of his 93-year-old Chinese teacher,  Teacher Gui as she recounts her life in Shanghai. Very interesting stuff.
• Adam also posted an interview that UVic’s radio station did with former Shanghai expat Aric S. Queen about his time and escape from Shanghai. It’s about 30 minutes but well worth the listen as Aric is just an amazing guy.

I hope these stories brighten up your Sunday.

J.