que pasa

A friend and I decided to go get us some culture so we went for a Beijing opera last Saturday.  The Chinese title is 狸猫换太子, translated as "Civet, A Substitute for a Prince" (I didn't do the translation). 

I was half expecting some rather wayang-ish opera (i.e. very ching-chong-chang type, Singaporeans will know what I mean) and suspected I would walk out halfway because I didn't understand.  Yet we went anyway because we got the cheapest seats and figured RMB 60 wasn't too much damage...  It turned out quite alright actually. 

Between the short English summaries at the beginning of each scene, a 25% understanding of what was actually being said/sung, and a 50% understanding of the Chinese subtitles projected on the sides of the stage, my friend and I managed to follow the entire play. 

I guess I could go for another one in a few months.  Heh.

It's been really cold the past 2 weeks in Shanghai.  Just this week past, it went down to -3 degrees Celcius.  Today it's 7-14 degrees so I think the cold spell is over.  I've been so bundled up that I can't turn my neck without turning my body, it's ridiculous. 

I'm looking forward to coming home this Thursday.   Get to see my family and friends again.  That will be lovely. 

(Until then, I need to clear a few major hurdles at work.  Wish me wisdom and good luck!)

Santa came in surprising forms this year:

He came in the form of my friend who was leaving Shanghai for good.  She gave me all her extra stuff that I could actually use (pillows, mattress, food stuff, toiletries, detergent, miscellaneous things).  I will have lots of unpacking to do to get my apartment into a decent state again.

He came in the form of my cell group friends who hosted a fantastic home-cooked dinner.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, apple pie, bread.  Yummy.

He came in the form of very good sleep last night, that unfortunately ended up in me waking up late this morning (because I forgot to set my alarm). 

He came in the form of a tilt of the head from one of my bosses (who has pretty high expectations) of one of the deals I've been processing, so we can now move to make an initial offer to the target company and start negotiating. 

He came in the form of me laughing out loud a lot more finding a lot opportunities recently to laugh hard and out loud with my colleague.  We're going through some pretty heavy-duty stuff right now.

He came in the form of me getting clearance to take 2 weeks to come back home for Chinese New Year.

Thank you Papa!

... distant relatives are not as good as close neighbours.

Or in my case, landlady.

I had some problems recently with the apartment.  A few weeks ago, one of the faucets was leaking and I informed the landlady.  She came the next evening immediately to get somebody to fix it.  When that young guy couldn't do the job, she called up an older man (who happens to be her elementary school friend and lives in the same apartment building as me) to help.  I think she ended up staying for a couple of hours to see the thing done and she was most apologetic for hanging around the apartment at night.  But I was more than happy that she did get it fixed in the end.

Last weekend, the power in my apartment stopped.  It wasn't the circuit breaker (or whatever you call that thing that trips) in my apartment.  So I called the landlady again after I had called the local property management.  She called up the same elementary school classmate to take a look.  And she reassured me that he would help me and that I should not be frightened or worried.  He did manage to fix the problem after an hour (he told me to go buy a part to replace something at the mains outside leading to my apartment) and power came back on.  (Incidentally, this apartment building does not have its own property management, we are serviced by a local district property management company.  By the time the property management guy came, I didn't need his help anymore)

On Saturday morning, I found a pair of bright blue warm slippers and a down quilt in my apartment.  The landlady had them brought over by the cleaner (she recommended her cleaner to me, her cleaner has a set of my door key) so that I would be warm when the temperature drops.  I thought that was really sweet of her.

My landlady is really quite nice and I feel that she treats me like her daughter (because her daughter studied in Singapore before and we're about the same age).  I think the cleaner has also said some nice things about me, about how I keep her apartment clean, don't mess up the place, no wild parties and stuff like that.

I am very grateful that my landlady is nice enough to see that I am not having problems living in her apartment.  Not everyone gets that.  

I’ve found my apartment in Shanghai guys, so I can now take visitors.  It is good to have this part of my life settled.  My apartment isn’t fantastic but it works, and you’re welcome to visit. 

So many things have happened in the past 6 weeks since I’ve moved to Shanghai.  I’ve started work with a new company but still in the same line – an private investment firm that invests in startups.  Between work demands and  expectations and apartment hunting, it has been tiring.  Thank Papa though that one of the easiest, and probably the best, things that have happened to me is finding a church and cell group that I was comfortable with immediately. 

You know I would I have blogged if I could, so this tells you that
a) I’m working much much harder than I did in Chengdu;
b) I have more friends in Shanghai to hang out with and so have less time and energy to blog;
c) So many big and small things happened and I don’t know where to start.  There were mini crises in every other aspect of my life, all of which seemed un-resolvable yet somehow were dealt with.  To list them would seem petty.

I really should get my story down so that you guys know why I moved and what’s been going on, but I just wanted to get something important out first.

I finally admitted to myself and to 3 other people this weekend that I’ve been kinda living in trepidation the past 6 weeks with regards to work.  My limits are being tested rather severely and I’ve been feeling like I’m not cutting it.  It’s not so bad that I’m shaking with fear and anxiety, but I know it’s really been bugging me subconsciously.  I fear that I will not meet expectations and impress my bosses enough for them to want to keep me in this job and that means that I would have made the wrong move.  Worse still, what would that mean for my career?

I’m putting this on my blog because I want you guys to remind that I said it.  I want to get out from under that shadow.  I feel very strongly that Papa pulled me out of Chengdu, and that living in Shanghai is really good for me (particularly in putting me back in a strong Christian environment).  So for however long that I will be here, I want to trust Papa to be in control and that he will grant me favor and the ability to do what I need to do.  I don’t want to feel like my new bosses own me and that I have to push myself so hard to impress them. 

The truth is, I don’t know if what I’m doing now is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.  I don’t have any long term plans and I’ve always just gone with things.  Contrary to what my work requires, I’m not this mad planner and have all these things that I want to do or achieve in life.  While I have not accumulated wealth, title or possessions, I feel that I have gotten, and still am getting, some seriously good life experience.  I believe that all this experience has purpose for something in the future, although I have no idea what that is. 

So if I ever talk to any of you and I’m really feeling the pressure or behave like I’ve forgotten the stuff I’ve said here, I want you to check me and remind me.  I want to live like I truly believe Papa is really is in charge, that he will make whatever needs to happen, happen.  And that he will make me be, and do, whatever I need to. 

If you believe, please keep praying that for me.  Thanks.

Right, on to the second part of my Japan trip – Kyoto.  Gaijin is the Japanese word for foreigner, which I totally was.

Shinkansen is FREAKIN expensive
I paid 13,000 yen for an unreserved seat in economy class, one way.  Took 2.5 hours to reach Kyoto.
I wanna say that the Shinkansen really no big deal, you can't tell how fast it’s going (i.e. super fast), but apparently, that’s why it's such a big deal.  Oh well, I always thought the idea was to watch things zip by until your neck hurts from trying to turn so fast...

Anyway, just like the other time in Hong Kong, I tried to get a free upgrade to a really nice cushy seat in the best class cabin by just walking in and plonking myself down – to get my money's worth, you know.  But unlike Hong Kong, somebody actually reserved this seat and conductor actually comes by to check if you’re in the right cabin, so I had to change seats two times.

Japan summer sizzles and burns
Joy was complaining that it was really hot, but I kept insisting that it wasn't as hot as Singapore.  I had to eat my words when I arrived in Kyoto (and also when I returned to Tokyo on the last day).  It was ridiculously hot and humid.  It's like this wave of hot air smacks your face as you exit any building and hugs you tightly as you move around the day.  I was burnt lobster red, and even had a mild heatstroke at some point.

Thank goodness when I arrived, people were handing out fans for promotional material – it became one of my top four most treasured possession.  The other two were my cap, passport and wallet. 

Word to the wise, don't go to Japan in the summer.  If you must go and you don't like caps, use a wide-brimmed hat.  It's rude to use umbrellas - take up a lot of space on the sidewalks and poke other people’s eyes.  Wear a cap even if it doesn't feel hot because you'll feel the heatstroke later. Expect to be sun-burnt.  Drink lots of water, don't worry there are vending machines everywhere.

Kyoto = shrine/temple heaven
May I just say I have never been to so many temples and shrines in my life before, nor have I seen so many buddas before.  Although I don't subscribe to either Buddhism or Shintoism, I wanted to see what the temples and shrines were like.  Some were actually quite nice, and every shrine does have its own feel. 

I actually found a shrine that was supposed to be the place where people (including professionals) come to pray to the "soccer god" for blessings.  Actually, the "soccer god" has evolved into a "ball-sports god" because people left baseballs, volleyballs, water polo balls and tennis balls there too.

The night I arrived, there was this shrine festival going on.  This procession of men (old men, young men, even kids) were along the shopping street and they were chanting "wakoe wakoe, wakoe wakoe..." while they danced/jumped vigorously, and carrying this throne/altar thingy to their destination.  They came really closed to me and it was almost like they were a possessed mob.  Gave me goosebumps.

Getting lucky
I actually said to a friend, "Hey, let's go geisha-spotting tonight, we might get lucky!"  Only after I said it did I realize what I had implied, sigh.  Anyway, we got to see two geishas get out of a taxi to go for dinner and the next day I saw another two posing for some photographers.  One of them smiled back at me when I grinned at her. 

Apparently geishas and maikos (girls training to be geishas) are far and few between so I'm glad to see some.  I have to say, I thought geishas were supposed to be slim (like Zhang Ziyi in the movie) but I guess that’s not always the case.

One day pass bus cards – learn from my mistakes
In Kyoto, you can pay 500 yen and get a one day pass for unlimited rides for all flat-fare buses in the city.  This will pretty much cover any tourist destination and is a pretty good deal so long as you take more than 2 bus rides.  But it's not that easy to get, because nobody taught me how to get it! 

The first time, I threw my 500 yen fare down the coin collector machine and then indicated I wanted a card, but the bus driver was unhappy because he did not get to see how much I paid.  I think he asked me if I paid 500 yen, to which I nodded my head.  He decided to give me the benefit of the doubt and gave me my card.

The second time, I decided to ask the driver for the pass card first, he took it out and then pointed his open palm to the coin collector machine, so I dropped my money in.  WRONG.  You’re supposed to put the money in his palm!!!  How would I know right?  If you want me to put the money in your palm, then don’t point to the machine!  Place your open palm OVER the collector, not in a place where it could be mistaken for pointing to it!

Anyway, I think I damaged the reputation for all asian looking gaijins in Kyoto.  Sorry guys.

Asking for directions to non-tourist destinations is like charades
I'm pretty good with a map, really.  But without a map, my sense of direction is pathetic.  Without a map and any language ability, I'm even worse.  Thank goodness when I wanted to look for something that was not on the map (like UniQlo & Muji shops, or Krispy Kreme), I was at least with a friend who could speak a smattering of Japanese.

The trick is to ask the right person.  This meant scanning the crowd for someone who looked (age) and dressed like she would know the brands so that they could point us to the shops.  Then you say the brand, or point to the logo on the shopping bag (from our intended destination), and a series of hand actions that indicate "Big (as in large shop)," "Time (as in how long does it take to reach)" and "Far?" and then confirm the directions with a series of jerky hand motions.

Sightseeing recommendations
Within Kyoto itself, you should go to Kiyumizudera temple, Nijo castle, Kinkakujin temple, Maruyama Park at least. 

Don't bother with the Imperial Palace, it's not worth it because you only get to see the exterior of the buildings and you have to go there one day in advance to make the reservations.  Oh, I also set off the alarm when I lept across the drain to walk next to the castle wall so that I could walk in the shade because the heat was unbearable.  Guess that's not allowed, haha.

Nara – day trip, take a half day hike there.  Lots of deer, you can go up and snuggle one of them I think.  I got as close to patting some and stroking their ears.  Has a few UNESCO Heritage sites, apparently this place is rated #2 in scenery after Kyoto.

There are also some walking tour routes in Kyoto city you can take, which can be quite nice if the weather is good.  The information is readily available at the Kyoto City Tourism Info Office located at the Kyoto station.  You can also get bus route information there too. 

I think about 3-4 days in Kyoto is good.  Took an overnight bus back to Tokyo which was much cheaper (4,200 yen) and managed to sleep pretty well too.  Kyoto really was quite okay.

If you're planning to climb Mt. Fuji in the summer and you're planning to spend a night at one of the cabins for a night, here's what I recommend you pack:

- Winter jacket (for strong winds and cold weather during the night and when ascending to the summit)
- Ear warmers & scarf, thermals/long johns (unless you're really resilient)
- Cap (provide shade under sun, block face from flying sands, keep head warm)
- Extra T-shirt and long sleeve shirt (layer as you go up)
- Wet wipes
- 2 litres of water
- Energy bars/snickers/beef jerky/biscuits
- High altitude meds (you don't realize you need it until you start feeling really sick, by which time it's too late, you can't turn back)
- Headlight (for lighting the way when you climb in the dark)
- Extra pair of thick socks
- Cash 2500 yen (5x100yen for toilet, 2000yen for buying a hot meal and drinks - you appreciate the hot food and basically become price insensitive at that point. there is no free hot water available in the cabins)
- Cards/book (something to entertain while resting at cabin)

Optional: camera, ipod, sunglasses

When you start at 5th station, wear long pants (i.e. cargo pants/jeans), hiking boots, t-shirt. cap to start.

Accomodation: I think it costs 6000yen to stay a night at the cabin - that's excluding the 2500yen cash you should bring for toilet and food.

Notes:
I've heard of people starting at the night (~10pm) and then making their way to the summit by sunrise (~430am) but I think that's too tough for anyone who's not trained or fit.  We started at 1245pm and reached our 8th station cabin at 5pm-ish.  I think latest you should start is 2pm, reach the cabin around 8pm, grab a hot meal, rest/sleep and then leave the cabin at 130-2am to ascend to the summit (~2-3hour climb because of the jam in human traffic, dark and narrow conditions and low oxygen level)

If you don't make it to the summit for sunrise, don't worry, you'll be able to see if from anywhere on your way up from 8th station. 

All the best and enjoy your climb!

P.S.  If you hate downhills, beware the EHOD (see my last post) and mentally brace yourself for a 4-5 hour descent...

I had a fantastic time in Tokyo hanging with Joy, Seng and Jukebox.  I don't think we were in Tokyo city proper, but that was just fine, I was just there to chill.  Didn't go shopping or even step into Shinjuku or Ikebukuro - will do that on my way back. 

Just followed along with whatever Joy and Seng had on - which was quite a bit actually.  We went to Joy's kids' club, camping with their neighbors, hung out/had meals with their friends, and climbed Mt Fuji.  I didn't have a camera but you can ask Seng if you wanna see pics, or maybe I'll try to copy some from Seng and upload them here.  

Anyway, here are some highlights from my time in Tokyo. 

City mouse proclaims captured trout "so fresh!"
As part of our camping trip, Joy and Seng's neighbors brought us to this small artificial pond en route to our log cabin.  Basically the owners catch rainbow trout and throw them into the pond and you use these bamboo rods with fishing lines attached to catch the fish using salmon roe as bait.  The pond has quite a lot of fish so technically, you can't possibly not catch any. 

But of course yours truly tried three times with no success - those sneaky fish had figured out a way to eat my bait without getting caught on the hook - and I was starting to worry that I was a total loser.  Finally, after a positive demo from Taka (neighbor, Japanese male) and moving my bait to a "high traffic zone", I caught my first fish.  Determined to prove that it wasn't just luck, I caught a few more. 

There was this particular one though that just kept twisting and flipping as I pulled it out of the water. It seemed extra energetic and so I (obviously a city mouse here) exclaimed, "Hey look at mine! It's so fresh!" Yes, yes, I know, Jukebox was also wondering how my fish could be any fresher than the rest of the fish that were also captured alive.

Anyway, we were so amused by the entire experience, the girls were squealing and shouting, I think the neighbors were probably laughing at us secretly.

Smoked fish speaks to catcher: "Hello Joy, you catch me!"
We had a really good barbecue at the log cabin. Taka smoked the fish - it's the first time I've seen it done like that. And the fish were super yummy, and yes, so fresh!  Anyway, we had all eaten our fill and there was one fish left.  This was Joy's but she has some issues with eating animals that she has seen alive prior to them being served on the plate.  

We tried to reason with her that this was her share and that the fish was really delicious but she was having none of that.  Then Taka suddenly used his hand to mimick a fish talking and made a squeaky voice, "Hello Joy, you catch me!" which had me burst out laughing.  Because Taka seems to me like a man's man kinda person and I certainly wasn't expecting him to be funny like that.  We started to add on in our squeaky voices, "Eat me! Eat me! I'm yummy!" but that didn't do anything except tickle me even more.  (In the end, Jukebox, Seng and I ate up the fish - wasn't going to let something so good go to waste)

This still tickles me when I think about it.  I don't think my description does justice to how funny the moment was.  It's one of those things that you have to be on-site to watch to realize why it was amusing to me.

Jukebox discovers new superpower/ability
It seems that some are more blessed than others, and some have stranger gifts than others. Jukebox is called Jukebox because she knows almost every song you can think of.  She has this amazing storage of song lyrics and melody and can probably identify any song within 5 seconds of hearing any part of it.

On this trip, we also realized that she can sleep anywhere anytime - sometimes in this strange Spiderman position, like she's scaling a wall or something.  She can even sleep a good 2 hours in the cramped and poorly ventilated cabins of Mt. Fuji where Joy, Seng and I were barely able to catch forty winks.

I'd like to see the writers of Hero or 4400 write in a character with her superpowers/abilities, it'd be interesting to see those in play in the plan to save the world.

5 minutes of sunrise
Just when I thought we were going to miss it, we managed to hit Mt. Fuji summit right on time to see the sunrise.  It was gorgeous. Most definitely worth the climb.  Watching the ball of bright chrome yellow quickly break through the clouds and head on up and looking around the surrounding peaks of nearby mountains peeping through the sea of clouds quietens you as you take a moment to ponder on the beauty of the things Papa has made.

It felt great to have made it to the top, and I was all ready to say that I had conquered Mt. Fuji, except that I was only halfway through.  The worst was yet to come - EHOD.

EHOD - Eternal Hell of Descent
If you ask me, conquering Mt Fuji is really a test of willpower.  I don't think you have to be very fit to get up and down, but you must stay the course to finish.  And as far as I'm concerned, the descent is much tougher than the ascent. I can't run down or stride down the gravelly steep slopes zig-zagging down the mountain because I'm not that confident of my footing and I feel like I'll just slip, roll and fall off the ledge 2000 meters down the mountain.

You know how some people belief there are 18 levels of hell, or that hell is like a cauldron of super-hot flames and destruction?  Seng called this a modern form of hell (tongue-in-cheek of course) - they just keep making you walk down steep gravelly slopes that hurts your knees and constantly makes you feel super unsure of your steps.  This goes on for like 4 hours! It was most definitely torturous.

My flight back to Singapore was half filled with Chinese 3rd graders. They were on some program that the Singapore government is running, their bright red t-shirts exclaiming singaporeedu.gov.sg on the back. I dreaded the flight, 50 little boys and girls had the potential to turn the 5 hour flight into a nightmare.

I have to say, it didn't turn out as bad as I thought. Except when they kept exclaiming (in Chinese), "Earthquake! Earthquake!" when the plane was trembling as it took off. Except when they kept going "Woooe... woooe..." whenever we encountered turbulence. Except when they kept calling out "Ah yi, ah yi..." to get the air stewardess' attention (because they didn't know about the call button. Except when they all started requesting for endless refills of coca-cola during meal service. Except when 2 girls cut my line for the bathroom (I don’t care if they’re kids and they need to go, a line is a line is a line! But yes, I let them go in front of me anyway.)

But at least there was none of that screaming or running up and down nonsense. And it was quite tickling to hear them all laugh in unison at the "Just for Laughs Gags" video that was being played. I found myself laughing along like a kid too. And then when the plane started playing "Shaun the Sheep" clay-mation cartoon, I figured I wasn't going to get any proper in-flight movie after all. So I content myself with watching sheep breakdance, watching a sheep play a bouncer, watching another sheep pretend to be Picasso and so on.

I still can't figure out why the cartoon is called Shaun the Sheep, but who cares. Just happy to be home.

For work purposes, I will be relocating to Beijing in August. Maybe I will have a chance to be there for the Olympics after all. This relocation is in effect the result of June’s upheaval and turmoil. Well, actually I thought about it and decided almost 3 weeks ago, but it's just now that I'm sharing about it.

Essentially I need to be closer to potential investors. And they're not here in Chengdu, they're in Beijing and Shanghai. It so happens that my apartment lease expires this Thursday so I've been slowly packing up for the past three weeks, preparing for the day.

The past three weeks have also been rather stressful because of work problems, and they are still being worked out. Being in a startup is like taking a course in hardship. We're not talking beginner level here; it's more like Hardship 640 or something. Seriously, do not be an entrepreneur if you're not ready to rough it out. And I mean, REALLY rough it out.

Anyway, this is my last weekend living in Chengdu. Future trips back here will be exactly that, trips. I'll be staying in a hotel, and maybe for a week or two only. As I walked around these past few weekends, it confirmed one thing: I am glad to be leaving, or rather, I am glad that I will no longer be living in Chengdu.

As I have expressed in earlier posts, this place is not my home. I feel no sense of attachment, and I have nothing tying me down here. Despite a fair part of my possessions being here, the fact that I have spent almost three years here, and that my project companies which I am very committed to are located here, I am truly relieved to be going away.

I am looking forward to be living in community (a Singaporean family in fact), being in a place where I have much more eating options (rather than Sichuan cuisine which I don't enjoy very much), possibly be involved in church and have regular bible studies. There will also be many more single working expats that I can relate too. I feel that I have lost a huge chunk of life (as I knew it) here and can't wait to have part of it restored.

So I'll be back in Singapore this Friday, be in Japan for 2 weeks, and then preparing for Beijing.