CHINESE NEW YEAR EVE --------------------------------------
AWAL LIBUR WEEK2 (I've 2 week holiday from my office. Hah! Enak bgt! Enjoy)

Gw diajak Kat makan dinner bareng (steamboat - cook together, eat together). Ini hari pertama gw kenal2 anak2 gereja MRII Shghai.. Wehhhh.. Seru bgt.. And the people are realli nice!!


Dr kiri: Katherine, Melly, Imelda, gw.


Kat itu anak gereja - dy yg pny rumah. Gw benernya rada sungkan seh.. soalnya pertama kale ketemu kan udah diajak 团圆饭(which is contradictory - coz it's supposed to mean gathering dinner, while gw sendiri baru aja kenal geto). Kita belanja di Super Brand Mall (sampingnya Pearl Oriental). Kat dulu sklh di Seattle tp sklh bahasa satu taon dan skrg kerja di Shanghai. Total time in Shghai: 1.5 years


Melly lulusan S1 & S2 dari jerman (arsitektur) - and she's really nice. Kl ngmg ama temen2 baru bisa 体贴(attentive) bgt "entertain"nya. Udah 3 taon di Shanghai. Katanya pertama kl waktu di Shanghai struggling bgt, pengen balik serasa-nya. I know how it feels man. Tp skrg dy orgnya udah bisa adjust - very well! I'm encouraged. Kdg2 musti survey2 lokasi.. Ceweq2 man.. Wah berat jg ya jd arsitek! Skrg dy lg pindah rumah (dy tinggal deket ama tmpt bos gw yg lama - where I stayed the 1st 2 weeks in Shanghai, dari 中山公园 ke 金沙江 which is one metro stop away)


Imelda - temen Kat. Bonyok mrk saling kenal - mrk jg baru kenal geto. Imelda pagi keesokannya udah pengen k Huangshan (how she eventually ended up going to Huangshan juga aneh - gara2 ada siapa geto yg gak jd pergi, jd ada tempat kosong). Ya lucu lah! Dy di sini kerja (brp lama Imel?? Gw lupa - Tempat kerjanya di Minhang, deket2 tempat kerja Evan). Anehnya lagi Imelda dari Purdue, which is the same as Evan!!!!!! Nah loh! Dunia kecil banget!!! Dy gak kenal Evan - Evan jg skrg masih di Indo (Semarang).. He'll be back soon. Nti gw kasih tau Evan of this character called Imelda.


Overall, nyambung2 aja ngmgnya. Ini hari pertama which leads to 8 days straight gw ama Kat / Melly jalan2 bareng (yes, EIGHT DAYS STRAIGHT). Ada temen2 lain jg yg dtg. Dibawa puter2 Shanghai. Two of them are really very nice people.. (Kebetulan sama2 libur jd ada waktu) - 8 days worth of pictures coming up!!!!

JALAN2 AMA LIFENG (LIFENG BROUGHT ME TO STROLL AROUND THE TOURIST AREAS FOR 6 HOURS STRAIGHT) - This is Lifeng on the left, Felix (Lifeng's friend) on the right. Kmrn pengen cari2 org dari Shanghai Maritime University (soalnya lg interested perkapalan) Guess what! Felix is the first one who studies there. Dy kerja bidang forwarding skrg. Ini resto d Huangpi Road (makanannya 干锅 alias pot kering) ala Guizhou (deket Sichuan - terkenal dengan makanan pedes.)

Jinmao Tower (just a stone's throw away from Pearl Oriental)

Gak tau building apa ini (yg penting ada bendera China ya aja) - governmental office opposite Shanghai Museum. Dulunya itu di The Bund, tp karena government udah designate The Bund as the area to be preserved, maka tempat governmental office dipindahin ke 人民广场(people's square) which is where I was standing.

Ini daerah 步行街 (pedestrian area) di daerah Nanjing Xi Lu. Kata Audrey seh jelek, tp memank 档次(kelas) Audrey kan beda.. Di picture ini ada satu org lg maen saxophone (di sebelah kanan atas).. Keren. Musiknya di-amplify jd satu jalan kedengeran. He really gave the whole street a certain flavour（特色).

Byk toko d pedestrian area itu udah tua (some goes back to whatever dynasty geto). Toko ini Heng Dali (toko jem) mayan lama jg, cm I can't be certain how far back..

Nice view of the Pedestrian Area

This is interesting. Many shops are called No.1 this , No. 1 that. (e.g. No 1 department store). It goes back to the period of Chinese independence - where the state started establishing stores for private goods. But I heard from Lifeng that manajemen dulunya parah - and the service is really lousy. As of today, I can't be certain coz I din go inside to check it out.

John Naisbitt reported in his book Megatrends Asia (pg 112-113):

"China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) .. response to budget cut was entreprenuerial. Since 84, the PLA has set up more than 20,000 companies with profits of about $5billion (yes, $5 billion). That makes PLA the largest and most profitable commercial empire in China. .. As many as half of China's military personnel are engaged in non-military, commercial activities.

Citicorp has invested in a pharmaceutical company that is part of PLA's San Jiu Enterprise Group.. Baskin-Robbins works with a military-run firm to sell its ice cream. Other successful PLA businesses include Guangzhou's 3-star hotels, best karaoke bars, bus routes beteween GUangzhou & Shenzhen.. PLA even owns JJ's, Shanghai's largest nightclub. "PLA, Inc" .. has stake in Nine Queen's Road Central and offices in old Bank of China building

PLA .. use special advantage (of military airport) to fly places civilian planes can't. It's as if a bunch of US Air Force officers decided to use some of their military planes to fly civilians around to various parts of the country in order to make a few extra bucks."

Sampe2 tempat yg gw & Sando mao sewa itu pny army sini. Jd disewakan kpd org army & mrk mao sub-lease ke kita, tp kita decide "no" .. Kl ada mslh apa2, gak bisa di-claim karena melanggar.

Gw & some police car gimmicks in Nanjing Pedestrian Area

Coba lihat kawat2 depan gedungnya State Grid (yes, the State Grid alias PLN)!!! Bisa kebayang Shanghai dulu itu kabel listrik-nya kacao segimana.. Skrg udah mending seh.. Cm byk transformer gede d samping2 jalan. Mayan serem se.. (lain kl gw tunjukin fotonya)

Me and Pearl Oriental Tower & Lujiazui - Shanghai's new financial district (where I'm standing at the Bund). Huangpu river in between separated PuDong (East of Pu) and Puxi (West of Pu). Pudong is a new area gazzetted by the government to be Shanghai's new developmt town! Shanghai is far too crowded already. Bayangin man! Dulu itu flat ground & farming areas tp skrg it's where Shanghai's international airport is! Wow! Gila betul (Shanghai separates its airport into 2: Int'l in Pudong - east end, domestic in Hongqiao - west end)

I purposely took the pic with the boat with the HUGE LCD advertisement in the middleground. Yes, people, it is an LCD screen. Spore kyknya gak ada ya.. (Spore advertising media-nya kyknya ktinggalan dech).

Nice view of a garden with Pearl Oriental at the background (left) - Lifeng helped me to take the photo

Cheng Huang Miao - It's a must visit. It's 10 minutes walk from the garden earlier. This is where the people gather during CNY and 15th day （正月十五)

Starbucks in Cheng huang Miao - a seamless blend between East and West! Nice..

Nice. Novelty! One-finger trick! Hah!

ON A LONE TRIP TO ZHOUZHUANG ------------------------- Sando has gone back for about one week now. The initially apprehensive me - going on a trip to Zhouzhuang. China's no 1 water city. Shanghai has 6 water cities surrounding it (e.g. bandung-Jakarta kota satelit geto) Commissioned by the Chinese governmt, so I thought it'll be safe to go alone. Sempet serem jg sehh.. Tp cb menghibur diri di kala menyendiri.. Haha..=P I took the bus from 集散中心 (which means gathering the loose tourists) di Indoor Stadium. Zhouzhuang is about 2 hours away from Shanghai by bus.

Twin bridge - taken by a couple from Mongolia (anyway d Cungkuo, org2 dari kota2 kecil geto lebih baek ketimbang org2 kota besar kyk Shanghai)

Zhang's House - Ini gambar belakang rumah (ada perahu kecil which supposedly brings the veggie + meat straight to the kitchen i.e. belakang rumah) spy gak jorokin seisi rumahnya

Main2 dengan penggiling beras - jadinya rice powder

A view of the river

Ini kunci dari Ming Dynasty - wuih pinter banget ya.. mrk mimic the space in between the monkey and the tree to make a lock! Wow ingenious bgt org Cina jaman dulu!

Silk woven from silkworm

Ini friends that I made during the lone trip to Zhouzhuang.

Di kiri itu anak sklh d Sichuan cm dtg Shanghai sendirian & jalan2 ke Zhouzhuang sendirian (like me!) Haha...

The one behind.. nah itu mayan seru... (Bule biasanya seru) Org Polish cm co-nya itu main "rowing boat" dan jd agent "rowing boat" merek Croker.. katanya itu merek no. 2 di dunia. Dan ada satu tempat namanya FY di Cungkuo yg produksi 60% dari world's supply of rowing boat.. Gila bener! Nah lu pikir ce di sampingnya itu istri-nya kan.. Jan blg "We're just friends. Me and Yola know each other since we were in high school". Mrk berdua udah pny anak lage. Lucu jg.. Open bgt bisa jalan2 k luar negeri bareng2 ama temen2 sklh. Kita yg hidup d Asia ya gak bisa aja geto - di culture kita, kl jalan2 begitu mgkn kena stigmatised in the best case ya! Heh!

I also met a lone Taiwanese on the trip. We had lunch together eating 踢 (pig's hoof) and ba yu (ikan bego kyk puffer.. kl dipikir2 geli jg seh). Ternyata memank trip yg keluar2 kota Shanghai itu memank byk lone-ranger kyk gw geto.

YIKES.. CHINESE PAPER WORKS RIBET…………………….


Nyambung dari entry gw yg lalu. Gw udah e-mail Audrei bos gw ttg denda 500 yuan itu (gara2 failure to double-register my stay) tp sampe skrg blm dpt reply. Kmrn msn ama anak yg udah pernah magang di company gw juga. Namanya DK – satu org cinpur. Gw kasih tau dy masalahnya begini2.. Dy lgsg blg ke gw "bayar aja 500 yuan nya, biar gak pusing". Gw mikir "Huh?" Lu goblok bgt se. Either that or dy jenius dech..


Gw perlu no hp Audrei supaya bisa telp dy, tp dy di luar negeri. Hari ini sekretaris Audrei suruh gw balik ke kantor untuk cari file yg ada d laptop. Gw balik ke kantor nyari. Gak kecari. Sekretaris-nya suruh gw telp hp HK Audrei. Nah so that’s how I got her hp. Call her one of these days to tell her the problem.


Ok man. Terus terang gw uda rada parno neh bener. Kmrn2 kan apartment manager-nya blg dy mao telp polisi kasih tau ttg masalah registrasi gw. 4 hari lalu gw plg ktm security auntie di bawah. I walked past her and dy ngejar2 gw sampe ke lift. Lalu dy nanya "lu tinggalnya di unit brp ya?" Dan biasanya dy udah kenal ama gw tp br kali ini SAMPE NGEJAR2 GW KE LIFT (about 20 metres past a corner). Di samping dy ada satu security guard lagi. Heh? Koq pake berdua ngejar2 gw? Kyk gw illegal immigrant aja. Gila.


Ya udah .. 4 days have passed since then. Ada bbrp kemajuan… Gw udah mulai ENGGAK parno lagi… Cuek aja lahh… Toh gak mgkn dimasukin penjara… Kl ditagih blg aja boss lagi d luar negeri.. Nyari boss gw aja…


So happens today is Chinese NY !!! Gongxi2.. Gw telp rumah (bokap + oma).. And the same time kepikiran telp bos gw. Ternyata audrei lagi ada di Hanoi jalan2.. Wah enaknya.. Ya skaligus gw pai-nian ama dy.. Terus ngambil kesempatan ceritain masalah gw.. Hpfully can be resolved soon…


Denger2 cerita teman2 kyk Evan dan temen2 MRII Shanghai, kl visa X (student) itu cm daftar polisi udah bisa perpanjang (i.e. gak usah k imigrasi). Visa Z (kerja) LEBIH RIBET LAGI – untuk perpanjang musti keluar ke Hongkong untuk balik dapet “chop” terus balik br urus registration of stay di kantor polisi (i.e. kl urus skrg di kantor polisi, balik2 jg musti urus lagi)… Nah loh!!!! Visa gw itu visa F (business trip).. Beda lagi tu...

KENA DENDA 500 YUAN DI CUNGKUO?? (1)............................................................

Rese banget neh urusan paperwork di Cungkuo. Visa gw kmrn cm dikasih 60 hari dari Cina Embassy d Spore. Sando dapet 180 hari dari Cina Embassy di Jakarta. Heran man! Pdhl tipe visa sama, employment letter dari Spore Management University. Ok gpp.

Skrg tinggal 2.5 minggu sblm Visa gw expire tgl 4 Maret. Jd gw telp Imigrasi di Cungkuo. Mereka minta LIMA dokumen aneh2, including: company's business licence (original), business registry code certificate (copy), registry of stay from local police station (original).

Ok. I decided yg paling gampang yg terakhir paling gampang.

Gw tanya security uncle yg baik itu "dmn local police station?" Lalu dy blg "Gak tau. Gw refer elu ke apartment management". Lalu ktm apt mgmt - orangnya blg "kamu k sini.. cari officer Hu.. kapan kamu mao pergi??" Gw blg "besok". Orangnya tiba2 dgn forceful blg ama gw "ya sebaiknya kamu pergi besok. Gw bkl ngmg ama officer Hu skrg, blg kamu bkl pergi bsk". Heh? Ini gertak nakutin2 gw atau beneran? Denger2 mrk blg, pemerintah Shanghai control registry of stay ketat banget, jd kamu pindah rumah pun musti register.

Gw makan siank tadi. Gw telp 110 (polisi) mao nanya dmn station terdekat. Gila! Mereka bilang "you just wait there, we'll pick you up. we'll bring you to the nearest police station" Gila gw salah denger apa? Gw blg "gak usah". Gw blg ama mrk "Gpp gw yg pergi k sono aja". Gw tiba2 jadi takut man! Lalu gw telp Evan, gw bilang "Kl gw gak telp lu by 5 pm hari ini, lu cari ini ini ini..."

Gw sampe di police station jam 2 siang. Orangnya blg "You'll be fined 500 yuan for not registering your stay within the first 24 hours of arrival." Gw kaget. Huh? Gw pikir kan gw ada visa. Koq kena denda seh?? Aneh bgt. Gw mikir orgnya minta duit kyk d Indo. Gw nanya "bisa bantu gw gak?" Orangnya dengan tegas jawab "Gak bisa dibantu". Lah bukan mao duit, jd beneran neh? Gw sempet telp Evan nanya "gmn neh Van??" Gw coba konfirmasi beneran gak tu. Orangnya suruh gw balik besok bawa duitnya. Terus gw nanya "terus kl misalnya saya turis tinggal d hotel, masa saya mesti register juga?" Orangnya jawab "orang hotel-nya pasti registerin kamu".

Ya ampun... Gw telp sekretaris bos gw, Qian Neng. Gw nanya udah pernah register belom? Dy blm belom. Gw e-mail Dikun, anak SMU yg pernah intern di company gw - blm dapet balesan. Brsan gw e-mail Audrei - udah bingung mao gmn. Skrg gw jd bingung man.

NO ONE USES THE POSTAL CODE SYSTEM IN SHANGHAI????????????


Lists. We know what they are. There are thousands of them. There are some you hate. There are some you always keep in your head because it makes you happy. There are some, no matter how you to try to remember, you will end up forgetting. Some lists make people happy e.g. what to buy for your loved ones. Some make ME happy e.g. list of things to bring back to Jakarta (that means I'll be having a holiday). Some lists will make you laugh to yourself e.g. list of jokes to tell your girlfriend. The same list may be a happy one for some, but a dread to others e.g. list of baby names.


To me the list I hate the most is KIV list. What are those? KIV stands for Keep-In-View. These are the kind of lists that you must always have around in mind, and you can't throw it away. No matter what. I hate those lists because sometimes it has no end-date, sometimes you don’t even know whether you have to do it at the end.


Today I have 3 KIV lists. 1st: get a cleaner to clean the house. 2nd: find a barber. 3rd get my unit’s address.


The 1st of the three. The other time when we moved to this apt in Longcao Rd, you might recall, our unit was awfully DIRTY. We were pretty innocent at that point in time – we let the tenant go without paying a single cent for cleaning the house. The other time you might remember there was an angel (by the name of Wang Ah Yi – Auntie Wang) who came during our distress to help us clean the house. I bargained for a sum of 20 yuan for a single visit – initial price of 25. Then onwards, she told us she’d come over on Thurs 7 pm (and probably Sunday at 12 pm). That week of course, we had a to work late and could only leave the office at 7pm – when we got home, it was already 8 pm (too late). We waited for Sunday – she’d probably come. Not a chance.

Audrei told us she’d give the tenant a call – to clean up whatever mess 2 weeks after we move in. I guess she was pretty busy that she forgot. We didn’t blame her. So we closed the kitchen and today, I bought one roll of tape to prevent the small roaches from entering the living room (we suspected that they are coming from the smelly kitchen). I taped the bottom of the door.

Today, I had asked another potential cleaner by the name of Li XiaoJie (Ms. Li) to come by and clean up the house. She got here just in time – 12 pm. I had early lunch (11am) – so as to prevent myself from going hungry during the clean-up. I was cleaning up – the whole place was messy, and thought that I would ask her to clean up ONLY the toilet and kitchen. I also told her the aircon was dirty – she had volunteered to ask the security guard to check the aircon – one of those common dirty Chinese tricks – overly eager to do the job even before the price is agreed upon. I told her “no need to do that……”


As always I said “我们先谈价钱吧” – let’s talk money first. She asked me what kind of price I’m willing to offer her. I didn’t want to be the first to make the move, cause generally it is bad. But in the end nobody wanted to set a price, so I went ahead – 20 yuan. Just like Wang Ah Yi’s price the other time. She turned her head from side to side. I had expected her to say like 50 yuan… Ok. Chinese are known to be “knockers” (as in “tukang ketok” – OK that came out wrong). Well anyway she said 100 yuan. I was like shocked!!! Is she crazy? I told her “I know the market price ok – this is way too expensive”.


After beating around the bush, we finally come to a dead halt again. We grew increasingly impatient cause nobody wants to lower or increase the price. Then she said “好吧，通常这样的话是看缘分” (the relationship between employers and cleaners are normally a destined one – we’re just not fated). I was like laughing laaaaaaahhhh… Sialan. Ngakak sial… Here it is just cause we can’t agree on the price, she’s trying to be philosophical. I was already pissed and I said “缘分归缘分，事实归事实” (destiny is destiny, but FACT is different). HAHAHA. BUT I had meant to say “缘分归缘分，现实归现实” which means “destiny is destiny, but REALITY is different”. I only realized afterwards when I flipped the dictionary pages and found out I was wrong, because FACT and REALITY sound so similar in Chinese. She must be thinking likewise “STUPID boy, trying to be philosophical”. Darn it! Lol. I told her 25 yuan and she was gone. So there I was, desperate again. I ended up cleaning the FREAKIN DIRTY toilet and the whole house all myself. Haha. Again.


2nd in my 3. This one was easy. I need to cut my hair cause the last time I cut it was in Jakarta – about 5~6 weeks ago. Guys need to cut their hair every 1 month. I surveyed the surrounding, and found like 3 hair-cut services. The first one had a guy sitting slouching in his seat (barber) – I leaned forward from the window to ask him the price. He said 4 yuan – OMG that’s like less than GOCENG rupiah lahhh yawwwww.. Gila gunting yg dipake karatan kale yahhh… Scary. OK – KIV. Um, I walked 2 doors and found one salon – nice, 10 yuan. Another 2 doors, 15 yuan. Nice. Ok, will cut my hair soon.

3rd and final one. Address. This was pretty tough. The surprising thing is that NO ONE in Shanghai uses the POSTAL CODE system. I asked the security guys below – don’t know. Security auntie – don’t know. Main door security – also don’t know. There are tonnes of shops beside our apartment – none put a postal code. NONE. It’s crazy. I ate my dinner at 10pm at JiJiXiaoZhen (soon to be my favourite eating place) – it was raining heavily, coldest it has ever gotten since I came to Shanghai. I sat down, thinking of IDD calling Sandra for Stephany’s (tenant’s) number – cause I need it to write an application letter urgently. Real urgent. I had 1 minute left on my IP card – so I thought it would be useless. I came out from JiJiXiaoZhen – there it was, HanTeng hotel. I thought “how to problem-solve??” The hotel guy probably knows the postal code, but why would he gave it to me?? Do I go in and just ask what’s your postal code? That’s dumb lahhhh… So I went inside and asked “How much is your room price? OH so and so… Ok can I have your address please???” I noticed there was no postal code on the brochure – cannot be. I asked him “what’s your postal code??” He gave it to me. There it was – right at the bottom of the brochure, a small six-number figure, written wrongly somemore… Walaw. The last number a 5 instead of a 3… Walaw… Haha… At least problem solved.

Actually there’s a 4th in my KIV list – renew my visa. Sando has applied from Jakarta and gotten 6 month visa. Me? I applied in Spore and gotten a 2 month visa. You know what is needed for renewal? 1 photograph, 5 documents – including business licence of the company (ORIGINAL!!!!) Crap la…How to get??? Ask employer ahhh???? Siao weh… and a registration form of residence from my local police station. Crap lahhhhhhh… Dumb.

WK4 WEEKEND (2) - GOD'S TIME................................................................

Ok.. udah 4 mgg d Shanghai tp blm pergi gereja satu x pun.. Reasonnya ya gw bilang ya bonafit2 aja... Minggu pertama diajak bos jalan2 during weekend. Waktu itu gw masih tinggal d rumahnya - dan hari ke 2 udah diajak jalan2.. Dan jg considering dy gak in town most of the time, as she puts it "U're lucky I can be this free". Ya udah.. gw pikir minggu depan pergi aja asal sate jalan terus.


Minggu ke 2 - free neh ceritanya. Uda pergi ke Huai Hai ZHong Road (MRII) tp gw ada impression itu mulainya jam 3 sore. Waktu gw lihat brosur yg gw selipin d dompet gw - jam 10 pagi.. Weks.. How can I be so blur???


Minggu ke 3 - disuruh double OT ama bos.. Bo pian. Another weekend gone.


Minggu ke 4 - minggu ini. Ceritanya gw udah free bgt. Keenakan blogging (which is bad) sampe pagi jam 5. Akhirnya terlantarkan. Br sadar ada gereja jam 10 pagi. Den as expected, gak bisa bangun walaupun udah set alarm. Nah siank ini ketemu Hendry online. DOENKS. Terima teguran.... (Thx Hen, appreciate it). Br sadar slama ini Tuhan nunggu gw - "Ya udah kpn lu mo pergi? Dikasih waktu bukannya makin tambah rindu pergi malah lupa. Heh." Ya even though it's serious, tp I see a lighter side of it. Heh. Lucu aja geto. Parah aja gw.. Haha.. So I picked up mi hp - telp org2 MRII yg ada d brosur itu. Ya hopefully minggu depan bisa pergi=)

WEEK4 WEEKEND (1)...... CERITA SERU - DEBIT CARD SYSTEM DI SHANGHAI MATI JAM 1030 MALEM????


GAMBAR GW & EVAN d SHANGHAI STADIUM Pagi ini terima sms dari Sando dari Indo. Dy cm mao blg "oh ini nomor gw d Indo". Pake Chinese lagi. Hayyah... Kamsia oei. Oh ya udah gw bales (pake Indo kl ini.. hehe) tp sampe skrg blm dapet jawabannya.


Anyway.. Gara2 gw kmrn mlm tidurnya jam 5 pagi ngerjain project tmpt kerja gw, gw hari ini bangunnya jam 12 siank. Lgsg ketemu Evan makan Japenese. Waduh top banget lahh.. Realli nice.. Ada satu menu. Gw gak tau namanya apa - kyk jamur jepang dibalut pake daging sapi dikasih teriyaki sauce. Nah enak bgt. Abis dari sono ya udah, kita pulang, tidur d rumah sampe jam 5 sore. Evan jg kecapean, jd sama2 tdr.


Ya udah malemnya kita ke Shanghai Stadium. Soalnya katanya d sono ada bus2 yg keluar kota Shanghai. Sesampainya d sono, wuih ada byk CALO.. jual2 tiket.. ya namanya gw main modal nekat.. gw nanya aja.. "Ini tiket ke mana?" Org-nya cengo.. Dy bilang "Ini tiket Jeff Chang"... Yehhhhhh....... Anti-klimaks bgt.. Kirain tiket ke luar dari Shanghai.... eg. Hangzhou, Suzhou... taunya tiket konser Jeff Chang 张信哲 kl gak salah (singer Chinese - one of my favourite)... Orgnya nyeplos "Org itu (gw) koq aneh.. pake nanya tiketnya buat kmn???".. Gw mikir dalam hati "sialan lu kirain tiket k Hangzhou... allahhh malah tiket konser"


Ok... Nah kl d Shanghai, namanya FO (Factory Outlet) itu ada bbrp.. Top lahh.. D Stadium ada satu.. Gw masuk, ngelihat2 sportswear geto.. ya ktm Adidas sweatshirt .. muraahhhh banget.. 74yuan man! Busyet.. ya udah beli...... Ok kita mkn mlm d Papa John's ... makan pizza ...

Terus kita k supermkt. Nah ini gambar penitipan barang d supermarket Shanghai.. Nah loh... Otomatis semua.. And bagusnya lagi... ENGGAK USAH BAYAR... GILA.... Gw mao beli bedsheet.. kmrn ke Ikea nyari .. eh taunya mahal bangettttttzzzzz... target market Ikea beda lah d Spore ama d Sg ama Indo..

Ini gambar LIFENG (tengah - colleague gw) dan temennya, Felix (sklh d Shanghai Maritime University - oh perkapalan.. interesting).. Nah ini cerita SERU-nya.. Kl org China itu.. Mrk 很会作人 (hen3 hui4 zuo4 ren2) alias punya manners banget. Serius.. Gw ama Evan lg complain ttg org Sg (gmn mrk kdg2 rese n dll..) Nah.. LIFENG itu colleague kantor gw - dy rela sampe2 temenin gw beli bedsheet. Ya ampun.. Boro2 colleague lu d Spore bs kyk geto..


Dy jg cerita kl misalnya supermarket d Shanghai itu selalu d tempat yg jauh dari MRT site (peraturan pemerintah) - Shanghai urban planning-nya pinter bgt, jd satu kota itu traffic-nya jd enggak gila2an macet-nya. Ok... Ceritanya gw mao bayarin mrk dan udah tarik2an barang ama mrk UDAH LAMA AND MAYAN PARAH (mrk gak enak gw bayarin).. waktu gw mao bayar buat minuman yg Lifeng + Felix beli ... kasirnya bilang "SORRI KITA PUNYA DEBIT CARD SYSTEM JAM 1030 UDAH MATI"... ANJJJJRRRRINGGGGG... wah.. how come so sweh ah?? Sialan... wah... Sialan.. gw mao ngakak juga gak bisa... sialannnnnn...lol... lucu banget geto loh... ya gw lihat duit d dompet... Um.. gak cukup tuchhh... Akhirnya... ya... mrk ... bayarin... gw... dech... gak enak bgt..........*puter2 kepala*

DUNIA KECIL - EVAN, MY FRIEND IN SHANGHAI....................................

Nah ini temen gw, Evan. Dy org Indo jg.. Tp skrg sklh d Purdue.. Hehehe.. Gila juga se.. Kmrn dapet msn dy.. "Norman, are u in Shanghai? How long are u here for??" Ok.. gw pikir dy cuman chatting biasa .. Tau nya... Wah ternyata dy juga d Shanghai.. Wuih.. Ya udah gw ama dy tiap weekend without fail pasti keluar2. Hehehe seru juga recalling waktu NS. Soalnya kita sama2 trainee kena tekan together! Hah!!!! Ini foto kita kmrn waktu kita mesen makanan.. "Waduh sori Evan , gw lihat menu makanannya juga gak ngerti2"Abis dipesen.. Evan bilang "Wah Norman pinter juga lu mesen-nya..." Hahahahaha.. Norman geto lohhhh.. Pasti jago la.....

Evan itu temennya temen Sandra dari Indo, namanya Liza & Budi. Mrk smua ternyata kenalan & temen maen di Purdue. Gila... Wah br sadar dunia kecil banget!!!!

FENGYUN, FINANCE EXPERT......................... (the one holding the Mike)

Ok.. orang2 kantor udah pada cabut semuanya.. Brsan gw pengen selesai-in project gw.. mao ketemu Evan abis ini d XuJiaHui. Mao nyari sepatu. Sepatu gw kemasukan air kl hujan sebel bgt.. (Sepatu yg coklat itu hehehe.. Cien2, lu tau yg mana yeh? Hehe..)

Terus jam 550pm, 5 menit sblm waktu sls, ada satu colleague yg ngobrol ttg finance ama gw. I'm starting to think orang2 finance dy kantor gw itu gila bgt - super jago bgt le.. I mean kl praktek n practical knowledge mgkn gw gak tau sgmn jago mrk, tp ttg cognitive market knowledge.

Nama colleague gw itu Fengyun - dy explain what's happening with the China Stock mkt. Dlm 6 bulan, stock mkt increase a two-fold. Yes a two-fold. Byk reasons-nya - pertama ttg peran pemerintah untuk allow opening up a large portion of their companies assets to be securitised. Dy jg blg Shanghai byk bgt companies yg listed itu state-owned. For a private-owned companies to be listed, it must be a super super solid company (beda ama Spore ya). Terus what happens all the foreign reserve - China kan lagi gila2an build up reserve. Justru di-invest ke property, and causing the land price like those in Shanghai to become extremely high. Nah, menurut Fengyun companies kyk Morgan Stanley pada invest d China's CBD - and the way they put it is by PLOTS. Wah gila bgt lah. I mean Spore itu kecil bgt - and Spore government kl release CBD area itu bit by bit. Br aja release plot of land beside Wheelock itu kan. China is far too expansive. Dy jg cerita ttg Shanghai pny major yg brsan di-sack gara2 corruption of something like that. Mkt sentiments about land price is that itu udah mandek. Dan skrg the money is flowing to .. yes the money market.

Anyway Audrey jg pernah blg front-end managers di Spore don't know what they're talking about - she used to say that Hongkpng counterparts are much better in dealing with the customers and they know what they're talking about. Dy blg Spore pny itu semua graduate dan Hongkong pny very experienced. And subsequently she pulled out her money from Spore. Hah. (Ok.. gw gak mao ketawain Spore lagi lahh... jahat)

Dy ngmg ttg junk bonds - dy cerita ttg father of junk bonds: Milken. Gmn caranya dy popularise junk bonds. He issues a medium-sized company's junk bonds to ACQUIRE a larger company's asset with the promise that he will give them back the liabilities using the larger company's profit. Simple se.. very basic.. tp interesting and powerful concept.

CHEN HONG, MASTER IN FINANCE, MAJOR IN FIN. ENGINEERING

Hari ini hari terakhir sblm Chinese New Year Holiday - so gotta finish up everything b4 going for hols. Kmrn ditraktir makan ama colleague abis kerja jam 9 pm ama Chen Hong (colleague gw - she also deserves one story just like Xiao Bai) soalnya kita bantu edit report macro-econ dy. Ditraktir d bawah tok - Saizeriya - makanan itali, ditraktir es krim. Heh. Ok la bwe pai. Ceritanya dy RA (research asst) buat profnya. Heh. Dy master in finance, major in investment. Dy pernah nanya gw something about finance .. Dan perasaan gw koq finance gw jelek bgt. Dy nanya gw lu major-nya apa? Gw blg finance. She doesn't seem to understd even though she can speak English. Ya udah.. bingung2 pada akhirnya br tau. Dy bekas bachelor in finance, major in financial engineering. Pantes dy gak ngerti apa yg namanya finance major. Heh. Bayangin finance mrk ngambil 10+ finance subjects. Gile - SMU ada ya yg ngambil 10+ finance subjects?????? Konklusi gw pokoke gw gak level aja.....

Ok... Sando udah cabut pagi ini - gw bangun2 ada sms "大江 (da4 Jiang1).. bla3x"... OK.. gw pikir siapa neh yg sms gw?? Manggil2 gw Da Jiang (panggilan deket buat surname Jiang - i.e. gw). Colleague mana yang SKSD bgt? Pake chinese hampir satu sms. Gw gak tau knp nama sender-nya gak keluar. Gw cek.. ya br tau itu Sando. Ya udah kl dikirimin chinese ya bales pake chinese duonk. Ya gw bales "小曼其实我不大懂你在说什么。 Maglev 达了感觉怎样呢？haha. 好吗？那么，祝您下一年来身体健康，学业进步，整家可以快快乐乐度新年。 haha. 一路顺风。"Xiao Man (Sando), sebetulnya gw gak ngerti lu ngmg apa. Maglev (k airport) feelingnya gmn? Haha. Seru gak? Kl bgt, wish u in the coming year a healthy physique, success in all endeavours, you and family can spend a happy chinese new year together. haha. Have a nice trip". All in Chinese. Haha............................

Dy bales "Norm lu ngerjain gw ya?" Heh. Loh wish u happy CNY koq dibilang ngerjain elu se?? Ya udah neverminddd looorrr... Haha.

Ok, jd gw hari ini ke kantor sendirian. Hehe.. Di kantor org2 udah pada hari terakhir jg.. Hehe. Tp masih ada kerjaan. Then udah pada bosen neh.. ya udah puter musik .. Pertama2 enak.. terus ada satu lagu neh "Linda Linda Linda Linda... " I burst out laughing lahhh siallllllll..... Sialan! Itu lagu yg gw denger 12 tahun yg lalu.. Neh ceritanya dulu pertama kali gw dateng spore kan ngambil les inggris. Nah org2 d kls ada yg dari China. Ada satu ce yg mayan cakep (baca: cakep cheap) namanya Linda. Neh terus, ada satu cowoq d klas yg mayan playboy. Kl gak ada guru d klas, cowoq itu bakal nyanyi ke ceweq itu "Linda Linda Linda Linda".. Sialan.. waktu itu gw masih kecil, gw pikir cm lagu ngarang sendiri. Ya skrg 12 taon kemudian, baru sadar ada lagu yg kyk geto.... LOL... Hehehehe

Yg baca ini lg mid-term, hopefully u're entertained. He2 good luck ya!!!!!!!!

AM I ATTRACTIVE TO GAYS?

Now why would I ask such a silly qn?

Kmrn ketemu neh satu cowoq d MRT deket rumah kita. Kan dy ceritanya approach kita... In English: "Aduh dari Spore jg yach??" Dy blg dy org Shanghai bekas sklh d nus... Wah gw ama Sando udah seneng bgt.. Kan keren duonk ada temen Spore yg tinggal deket gw. Gw keluarin kartu nama SMU gw - neh nama gw.. dari SMU.... OK.. Terus selang 3 hari, dy e-mail gw. ternyata namanya jun.

Ok... dy blg lu coba add gw d msn dech.. OK.. gw add.. Kali pertama dy msn ama gw.. BLARRR...

Ini conversation-nya: (d bawah nama org-nya ....)

.... says: "dun worri. i'm online most of the time"
! normz says:hehe
! normz says: me too
... says: i found that u r quite naughty!!!!!
! normz says:lol (dlm hati DH: ok.. sounds funny .. heh?? ini org gila??)
.... says: always replace the ending "y" to "i"
! normz says:hahahaha (DH: oh.. hayyahhhh cm geto doank)
.... says:such as realli onli
! normz says:oh.. (DH: ya udah .... biasa geto loh)
! normz says:thta's sporean (DH: anak mama lu!!!!)
... says:naughty boy
.... says:i thought sandra is ur gf?
! normz says:nope (heh.. did he just said that... naughty boy....again...wookieeee.....)
! normz says:heh..
.... says:so ur girl is back in s'pore?
! normz says:haha
! normz says:no gf yet
.... says:i don't believe!
! normz says:anyway gt run for now (ok gw gak mao ngmg ama lu lg man)
.... says:ok u work first."

Conversationnya selesai d sono... Ok.. cowoq man!!! Gw friik out gile.. Waduh... Sando seh blg orgnya cute.. Ya emank lucu seh... tp.. lucu-nya kayak hamster bukan cute-nya Colin Farrell atao... whoever... gay....

Ok.. hari ini gw masuk kantor.. dy lgsg msn gw... hari ini punya conversation:

... says: "eh i just got to the office" dlm bahasa Ingrris
.... says: so what did u go and do last night?
! normz says:oh...nothing much (DH: what????? ngapain lu nanya kmrn mlm ngapain)
! normz says:just reading
! normz says: heh
... says: reading with with sandra
! normz says: (DH.... woookiehhhh)

Ok... I barely know u man...

And ini conversation gw ama sando ttg dy:

Sandra says: heh...
Sandra says: quite gayish
! normz says: i think he wants to get to know ya from me
! normz says:u want me to pass him ur msn?
Sandra says: heh...
! normz says:he asked me if you're mi gf
Sandra says:thanks
! normz says: i said.. no....
Sandra says:das why he's so happy
! normz says: ya.
Sandra says:knowing You are single
! normz says: san, since u find him.... "cute".....
! normz says:um...
! normz says:i think u and him are gonna be a good match
! normz says:wow
! normz says: sooner than we think
! normz says:see whether mi prediction's rite San.. (DH note to readers: I made a prediction about San's future bf last time)
! normz says:um.. a guy.. not from SMU (check)
! normz says:taller than u (check)
! normz says:sporty (....nope)
! normz says:street smart (... nope)
! normz says:cute? (... definitely)
! normz says: (DH: copy) "... says:so what did u go and do last night?"
! normz says:i ....
Sandra says:ok he's into you
Sandra says:say nomore
Sandra says:i dunno ur attractive to gays
! normz says:shugs....

Ok man... Am I attractive to gays and orang2 aneh semacam itu?

A DAY WITHOUT SANDRA..................................

So hari ini Selasa – off day. Gw bgn tidur jam 10 geto se. Sempet mao ngurusin internship n exchange. Kmrn telp bokap ttg exchange tp bokap sakit perut – jd gak enak jg lah pdhl udah mepet neh.

Gw bangun and mulai bersihin rumah. Tp find I hv nothing else to do. And tendency emank rada takut se keluar2 d tmpt yg asing. D rmh ada buku mayan byk.. bawa dari Spore (China Inc – Ted C. Fishman, Khotbah d Bukit – Sinclair B. Ferguson) Ada jg Megatrends – John Naisbitt, The World is Flat – Thomas L. Friedman à Itu pinjem dari bos kita. Gw suka baca buku se.. hehe

Terus mikir2 sono sini. Akhirnya first thing’s first. Sapu2 rmh.. Parah man. Satu minggu gak disapu udah berdebu-nya setengah mati. Kyknya AC-nya jorok geto. Ok terus pel… To cut the story short. Abis jam 1 siank nothing to do.

Y udah pengen makan siank kan ke 集集小镇 (Ji2 Ji2 Xiao3 Zhen4) – itu fast food kesukaan-nya Sando. Haha. Plg cm 5 menit dr rumah– itu d sampingnya Caobao Lu MRT. Itu typical Chinese food cm makanan-nya murah and bersih and harga2nya terpampang jelas. Geto.

Ok gpp. Gw orgnya tukang explore – gw suka geto jalan2 k tempat2 yg “untread” sendiri. Gw decide hr ini gw pergi k KFC (hah! Not even exploring) Gw lihat harganya – sama kyk Spore di-convert S$4. Eh please man! Mahal gila d sini. Mknan biasa harganya S$2!!!

Ok gpp since udah jauh dari JiJiXiaoZhen jd jalan terus aja nyari tmpt makan. Udah kira2 10 menit dr rumah gw neh. Gw blm geto laper se. Akhirnya gw lihat ada China Everbright hotel – bagus itu high-rise among the low-rise apartments like mine. Ada exhibition-nya d dalem – Masuk aja geto. OK2.. baju bermerek Adidas, Nautica… etc .. NAUTICA!!! Wah favourite brand!!!! Tp gak ada yg cocok jd gak beli dech.. Terus ada yg jual buku2 bekas! Nah itu dy.. haha.. Akhirnya ngelihat2 gw beli satu buku “Take It From Me!” – Practical and Inspiring Career Advice From the Celebrated and the Successful eg. Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey n Milton Friedman. Itu isi2 quotes dari org2 terkenal itu. Oh well I’ll get one. 30 yuan = S$6. Cheap.

Terus gw ke next building. Ok ada cartoon exhibition. Ok. Gw lihat dalemnya. Eh koq ada exhibition jual makanan? Okie gpp. Masuk. Pertama lihat2 se keren. Lama2 wah jijai bgt. Bayangin yeh.. tempat exhibition kyk Jakarta Convention Centre geto terus mrk d dlm jual daging.. OH MY GOAT!!!!!!!!!! So disgusting. Gila.. tmpt kyk JCC geto mrk pake buat kyk wet market!! Oh parah le org2 sini. Ok that ends my trip for the day. Haha at least gw tau tmpt itu exist lah.. memank dasarnya gw risk-taker. (Pantes gw bs gak suka Spore yg bosen geto) Gw akhirnya beli daun TEH dari tempat exhibition itu (I suppose clean la.. LOL)

Ok.. terus akhirnya gw k satu tmpt makan kecil deket sono (ard 7 menit dari rmh, 2 menit dari Caobao Lu MRT). Gw pesen bihun. Gw nanya ada daging gak? Dy blg ada and gambarnya byk daging. Nah .. Gw kan gila daging. OK dech. Waktu makanan-nya disuguhin.. Ya ampun.. Ternyata daging-nya dikit bgt. Ok gpp gw makan aja. Terus org lain pesen bihun jg – this time I don’t believe it! Daging-nya dy BUANYAK man! Oh man! Koq bs? Apa gw terlalu nyolot ngmg ama attendant-nya jd dikasih dikit daging? Enggak juga ah.. Aneh.. Apa gw kelihatan non-local? Enggak juga. In short, I don’t know why knp mrk kasih gw DAGING-NYA DIKIT AMET! Mgkn br masak yg baru kali ye.. Bingung juga neh….

WEEK 3 WEEKEND OVERTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wah udah lama gak nulis blog jd byk yg musti gw update. Just like what a Newtonian would say "For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction", so for every intresting event and happening, there must be an equally-scintillating blog entry.

Hr ini gw sendirian d rmh. Gw dapet off karena weekend kmrn disuruh double-OT sama bos (sabtu n minggu). Dan pada akhirnya .. on Sunday 6 pm kerjaan gw blm selesai and bos gw blg "eh ok go and sleep". Heh? Gw kaget. I mean gw udah slog the whole weekend buat ngerjain ini yg deadline-nya hari ini then lu suruh gw pulang tidur? I mean .. anti-klimaks abiez bok.. But that's precisely what I heard. Gw sempet bingung. In a normal school context, a Prof wouldn't tell u "do this project for 13 weeks" and at the end of the 13 weeks he said "ok class, let's go and sleep". I mean it's just ridiculous. (Note: the root word of ridiculous is to "ridicule" - yg artinya "tertawain org") Haha. Gw sempet rack mi brains out trying to figure out what does a motivational book say I shd do if this happens - um.. none. What does God say I shd do when mi boss tells me to do the project for the whole week and at the end say "do it no more. Go and sleep"? Mirip seperti cerita Abraham mao ngebunuh Isaac. Hmm. The angel of the Lord said (to Abraham), 'Do not raise your hand against the boy ; do not touch him" and so The angel of the Lord said to Norman, 'Do not continue with Audrey's project anymore, do it no more I say". Kaget lah gw. Sempet 不知所措 (bu4 zhi1 suo3 cuo4) dunno what to do.

Ya sudah. So I packed mi laptop and left the office. That nite gw sama Sandra muter2 People's Square (人民广场 ren2 min2 guang3 chang3) k Capitaland's Raffles City. Biasa weekend di sini is enjoyable beda bgt ama d SMU. Kita pergi beli baju dari UniQlo (hehe.. Sando suka tempat itu karena huge n clean n harga2nya terpampang jelas). Gw sendiri se gw suka bajunya - bukan suka tempatnya. Tempatnya bikin gw berasa kyk d some tacky store like Giordano in Spore. Gw beli sweat shirt warna hijo army n celana bawahan. I'm using those as pyjamas – Sando blg “kebagusan kale buat pake tidur”. But I mean I hv only 1 pyjamas atasan berbulu warna merah itu – itu pun beli dr UniQlo (toko yg sama). Terus bawahannya celana sweat abu2 dari Carrefour Puri Indah. Itu tok – gak ada baju lain lagi. I mean it’s really nice enough for me to wear to SMU – emank bagus.. Tapi sayangnya I dun have pyjamas!! Haha…

Terus we have this favourite fruit bar at B1 – kita suka bgt tempatnya soalnya the fruit juice itu made rite before your eyes and gak nambah es macam2 jd rasa buahnya still intact. Fruit juice plg murah d sono 6 yuan ($1.20). Cheap la considering the place is quite high-brow. Gw se udah pernah nyoba tangerine honey 2 minggu lalu, kl ini gw coba carrot juice. This time it wasn’t that great – tp the experience of weekend d negara bukan Spore, I mean it’s enjoyable banget... Terus kita pergi cuci mata – FCUK, Guess, Aldo.. Tp didn’t buy anything la – biasa. Hehe. Pulang keluar dari mall-nya udara dingin2. Skali keluar mall kita can see the Shanghai Urban Planning centre (going to dere soon prolly) directly depan kita and Radisson hotel (ada revolving restaurant d tmpt paling atas-nya).

Nyeberang jalan k MRT realize ada org minta2 yg “oh man… sorry to say but she stinks” I mean really parah bgt. Proximity-nya bener2 deket bgt, beda la sama Jkt. Kl d Jkt pengemis kan mayan disiplin teratur duduk samping jalan (kecuali minta2 dari mobil) tp d sini parah man – udah child abuse anak2 umur satu taon pipinya dadu geto disuruh minta2, terus d dlm MRT jg ada yg minta2: OH KAMBING GW.

But we walked past them anyways when the light turned green. Masuk k tunnel mrt – kita ngelihat ada org jualan boneka2 soft toy geto. Kita udah jalan like 30-40 metres Sando blg “yuk kita balik lihat2 soft toy geto”. Boneka-nya I have to say I don’t know whether it’s real of not. Kualitet import neng! Dijual ama abang2 geto tp buagus-nya kyk d dept store. Kyknya nyuri atau beli murah dari Pabrik geto. And cheap buanget lagi.. kyk misalnya Mickey classic geto ada tag Disney-nya. Looks damn real lah.. Sando beli bbrp pada akhirnya, gw jg ada beli.

Anyway about bargaining. Gw se gila aja kl bargaining. Kurang bisa bargain se honestly – tp nyali gw gede – gw tawar aja hehe.. Gila gw kyk kmrn nawar barang di Bali – I mean I’m damn ruthless man! Gila. Modal nyali. Mao gak segini harganya – gak mao ya udah.. Sampe Hendry juga blg gw gila. Kl ini Sando blg “aduh kasihan orgnya lah – udah jgn di-rendahin lagi”. Tau dech kl gw d Mangdu se plg kgk bisa nawar, soalnya enci2 Mangdu pada cinko militant semua – kalah lah gw. Hahaha.

Oh anyway when we walked past by that place ada polisi – gila itu yg jualan boneka itu kan PKL (pedagang lima kaki) semua. Ya mao digerebek lah. Susah lah mrk. Kasihan juga dateng k kota besar kyk Shanghai gak ada skill mao digerebek lagi. Tp untungnya kali ini mrk gak ada yg dirazia. Phew!

So nowadays kita tiap malam kl pulang itu pasti baca something la. Koran China Daily favouritenya Sando (I oso like it – very insightful gak kyk Straitz Timez jelek bizniz section jelek). Terus kmrn sempet mao bljr Chinese tp yg bahasa2 ekonomi (k Lawson – convenience store samping rumah) found this interesting book – laporan prediksi ekonomi Cungkuo untuk taon 2007, all in Chinese. I was like “oh my goodness” Wow.. Bagus banget. Tp satu artikel pendek geto I take one hour to read. Aduh byk banget kata2 Chinese yg gw gak ngerti – contohnya the word ‘foreign reserve’ in Chinese? Um.. ‘Data’? ‘Capital’? ‘Offset?’ Rese se emank tp I hope can learn more Chinese business words lah.

Speaking about China.. Tuh kan negara lg berkembang kali, not more evident than Shanghai yg considered really prospering. Shanghai pop accounts for only 1% of the whole China’s pop, and Shanghai area only 0.06% of the whole China area. But the city brings in ONE-EIGHTH of China’s financial revenue, ONE-QUARTER of China’s X+M, cargo handling capacity of Shanghai port accounts for 1/10 of handling capacity of all of China’s ports. So can tell bahwa negara ini sort of a icon of China to the world. Oleh karena itu the whole city is being spruced up, similar to Beijing preparing for their 2008 Olympics – everywhere u hear about Olympics.

Denger2 dari bos gw se katanya Shanghai ngikutin Spore dalam perkembangan kota dan politik-nya. Krn tmpt ini byk foreigner-nya maka itu mrk harus exhibit their political stability, guard civil security, be tough on anti-corruption stance, advocate environmental sustainability, stem out piracy, uphold social justice, provide favourable business climate n yada yada yada.. Terus politik-nya n freedom of speech.. nah ini.. caught my interest. Gmn se politik-nya Shanghai? Ternyata sudah byk berubah dari komunis k sosialis! Skrg sms2an k news channel kyk di Indo about your views & opnions. (Kl d Spore se CUMA ada caught any interesting happening kirim k Straits Times, atao post ur useless senseless shallow comments to Stomp forum) Kasian de org cinpur. Kyk di Indo public opinions udah mulai openly aired – beda bgt ama Spore. And guess knp mrk adopt the Spore political model? Precisely! Karena Spore sama kyk Cina itu ONE-POLITICL PARTY dominated. Yah.. Ngerti dech skrg..

GW BENCI SPORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya.. gw berasa tinggal d Shanghai udah 3 minggu plus - gw sedikit byk udah berubah. When I came here I was like laughing to myself - finally escaped from the treacherous bottomless pit of boredom called Spore. Den when I realised - iya.. as much as I hate Spore, I stopped (or shd stop) condemn-ing negara jelek itu. I mean gw bener2 gak suka negara tolol itu - orang2nya rese, kiasu, kerja byk yg backstabbing, cold, narrow-minded, shallow, too law-abiding, linear-thinkers, no freedom of speech (OMG) - koran udah propaganda semua.. sial. Fabian socialists. Cost of living so high. Premi asuransi mobil selangit. Official GDP per capita lbh tinggi daripada rata2 pemasukan bokap temen2 gw (kl geto GDP per capita diambil siapa tu?). Kl main bola ama Cinpur, pasti mainnya TEGANG bgt - soalnya pengen menang - salah nendang bola udah sori2x (Kl ama anak2 Indo kan mainnya having fun). Kdg2 gw berasa aja jd org Indo susah dimengerti ama Cinpur2.


Org Spore selalu pake "security" (i.e. keamanan) as their country's selling point - I mean come on man! Security is overrated. U mean lu gak bisa apa living with a little bit of un-security? Kasian dech eloe. Ya asal gak kyk Palestina aja it's ok. There are other factors in life besides "security" yg bikin satu tempat itu a nice place to stay - contohnya a place tanpa "defamatn act" (Tau gak apa itu? Heh! Permainan politikus Spore) & negara yg ada natural scenery-nya (e.g. China) & negara yg bisa embrace culture BUKAN as a marketing tool untuk turis tp local culture yg really existent & lastly, negara yg able to embrace diversity (like U.S.). Bener2 culture Spore gw gak tahan aja. All my thoughts about "it" are just negative.


I dun know if I go back to Spore feeling the same but ya I realised byk hal I have to take with a pinch of salt - contohnya, Spore itu tmpt dmn I grew up, had mi ups and downs (more downs than ups definitely), ketemu gereja pada akhirnya (thank God), ketemu orang2 Indo lg di SMU (after 4 taon main ama org Spore), develop hobi untuk baca buku (reading is fun!). Tp at the end of the day, gw sadar i'm living with MYSELF. Betul I'm living amongst apur-apur jelek, tp I'm living with myself. Not them. I mean let's face it! Yg kesel pada akhirnya bukan cinpur2 jelek itu koq - tp gw! gw! gw yg rugi dengan pikiran2 negatif semacam itu. I'm still in the process of recovery pastinya. Tp dengki ini itu bener2 gak baik lah.

SHANGHAI: BETTER OR WORSE THAN JAKARTA?????


Shanghai is pretty much like Jakarta, tp I feel safer here - if u know what i mean. Hint2. And it's this that make me enjoy the place a lot - the LITTLE THRILLS of not knowing what will happen to you today or tomorrow. Small little discoveries that form the bigger picture - misalnya lu jalan d trotoar tiba2 ada mobil come straight to u (today), or d jalanan ada anak umur SATU taon minta2 (kasian bgt.. lucu pdhl), atau org jual koran di dlm MRT train, ada pun pengemis d dlm MRT kl minta2 bisa sampe NYEMBAH ELU.. serious man! It's common here. That little irritating shove by the mannerless people in the MRT, though Sando sempet marah - dy blg "kyk ****** aja mrk – abis didorong waktu keluar dari MRT".. Kl masuk MRT ada penjaganya pake LOUDHAILER (i.e. TOA) teriakin suruh masuk.. Maybe rite now I still consider it novelty. If I spend a longer time here, after the novelty fades away, I don’t know if I still LOVE it to this extent. But anyways temen2 Spore-ku.. u must experience living here! Apalagi yg udah lama eg. Cynthia (yg really find Spore all so boring) – Great mah skrg ada anak2 pindah k Braddel (Jaen, Er, Jen, Fel).. Nti gw balik Spore bs makan supper sama2.. Hehe.. just like the people in the new SMU hostel.. have fun ya people (Hen, Mike, Wat) I heard it’s fun there!!! Supper sampe jam 2. Hehe

PICTURE - MINIBUS (1st 2 weeks)...............................

Hello semua.. Ini udah minggu k 4 d Shanghai cepet bgt...

1st 2 weeks - Shuttle minibus di tempat lama gw... yg pake baju putih itu Sando .. hahaha.. We take this bus every morning from our apartment to department store 龙之梦. The journey takes ard 2~3 minutes only. Nah di bawahnya dept store itu ada MRT-nya (line 2). We take the train every morning to the office (南京西路) and arrive at office at ard 910 - office hour starts at 930. The bus will come at 840am - ard 20 minutes interval. BUt there was one time we woke up late n kita took the longer way. Pergi jalan k LRT deket rmh, br transfer ke MRT line 2. Jalan mayan jauh.. Tp Sando orgnya mayan militan juga - tahan banting - jalan aja terus.. so we got to the office on time.

Kl naik minibus, bos kita Audrey kasih tau kita to pay 2 yuan everytime we board the minibus. Den on the 2nd week we realised that "eh koq org2 pada gak bayar kl misalnya mrk naek?" Kita pikir kan memank org2 itu coba naik tanpa bayar. Later on we realised kl kita "PP" gak usah byr 2 kali. Iya it's things like this yg bikin gw buka mata la bener2. Don't assume everything itu se-predictable Spore. And it made me enjoyed the place a little bit more.

JOKE ON THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER ........................................................

I just read the China Daily this morning. It had an article on Bush, which I thought was a huge joke. While the whole issue was serious, China Daily unintentionally (baca: dengan sengaja) put a twist to the story.

Feb2, 2007
President George W. Bush complained on Wednesday about the size of corporate executive pay packages and urged the boards to make sure they were tied closely to the company performance. ... Bush said shareholders should know the exact details of the executive pay packages. "The print ought to be BIG and UNDERSTANDABLE", Bush said.

1st 2 weeks -

Neh ya.. bayangin .. tempat olahraga d apartmen boss gw di-endorse by Chinese Olympic committee!!! Gila bayangin facility apt mana d negara mana lagi yg di endorse ama national Olympic commitee??? Spore??? Fat hope (spore jelek)

Daniel!!!! Weh di blkg gw ama Sando itu gambar BANK OF CHINA credit card advertisement! I think Angie & (siapa nama boss elu? gw lupa) will be very2 happie.. Sayang Nokia phone gw ada mslh.. Gambarnya terbalik dari kiri k kanan..

1st 2 weeks in rmh boss kita. Dermaga d blkg apartmen kita.. GILE dech

Neh gambar dari sweatshop d Chungkuo.. D gambar ada 9 org lg bikin roti.. Tp satu toko itu waktu itu gw lihat kira2 ada 15 org!!! Busyet dech! Toko biasa lagi! Labour here cheap bgt lah.. Bule2 Amrik ama Europe pasti seneng bisa produce labour-intensive products di Chungkuo. Rata2 graduate Chungkuo musti tunggu 1 tahun kerja tanpa bayar br bisa kerja tahun k 2 nya. Probation period in China = unpaid probation. Belom denger cerita colleague kita Xiao Bai!!! Seperti kata Sandra di goBlog dy, the story deserves one blog (I'll let Sandra do the job)

Get lost Spore!! Spore JELEK! Minggir lu Cinpur Malpur Tapur Bulpur!!! Neh MRT Shanghai bisa nunjukin datengnya MRT up to the seconds ( i mean give some margin for errors la). They can display the ETA for up to 4 trains!!! (2 trains displayed here). Tp pagi ini kereta yg kita naek tiba2 berhenti 15 menit.. dlm terowongan.. Adventure terus aja tiap hari!!! Non-stop!!!

This has to be the dumbest mistake I committed within the last 2 weeks. Neh gw beli shampoo Head & Shoulder - waktu gw buka koq putih2... OH MY GOAT ...... ternyata MOISTURIZER!!! OH MY GOAT!!! For someone who teaches Chinese every night to Sandra, this has to be the malu-ating setengah idup. Baca 润发精华露 means moisturizer!!

Electric feet warming cushion with "tiger-print" patterns.. HAHAHA.. Comfie!

Ini preserved kiwi Xiao Bai bought for us. Keren ya?? Individually-packed! Haha.. novelty