Reflections on 2010, Bringing in 2011

During the New Years countdown as the clocked ticked the final few seconds, I could more or less summarize 2010 with three words that came to mind:

GOING
GOING
GONE

And then a great sense of joy that the last year had been put into the dustbin, figuratively speaking, and a fresh start was about to begin.

To say that 2010 was a difficult year is an understatement indeed. It ranks up there with 2008, another real tough year in terms of personal struggles and stress. But this past year was also a lot more comparatively stable in terms of global current events, and also with job security.

So I'd say that the difficulties in 2010 were of a much different nature than that of 2008, and it's like comparing apples and oranges. However, difficulties are still difficulties, and I'm very glad to have gotten this year out of the way.

To summarize, the real problem this year was that of burnout and busy-ness. Things got to a point where I felt like I was out of control, and the pace of life and unfolding events was spiraling to a level way beyond what I could comprehend or grasp. Just when one demand was tackled, another would crop up, and it was a never-ending series of fires to fight, and all this energy spent dealing with things without nary a break in sight.

Because of that, I'm revising my upcoming winter holiday plans to chill out in Thailand, and seriously have a break.

This past year was a record in terms of travel, which in China, is always stressful. The analogy is like when riding a motorcycle on the streets, you are constantly dodging things thrown your way left, right, and center. Riding in a straight line is the ideal fall-back situation, but most of the time you are making course corrections, and dealing with the car that just cut you off, the truck that did a U-turn in front of you and blocked the road, or the pedestrians that cross in front of you willy-nilly.

So the short end of it is that trips in China never go smoothly, and there is always some kind of hassle, inconvenience or delay to deal with, regardless of which mode of transport you pick or how modern the system gets. Trips then, should be kept to a minimum, and only made when you are sure it's worth it. Problem is, last year, there were just too many trips made and they all seemed urgent at the time. It eventually got to the point where I wasn't sure if a trip was really worth it or not, even if it was worth it.

Combine that with the demands of teaching and many other demands, and well, burnout quickly set in. The cure is relatively simple, and it has always worked in the past -- a winter vacation away from the melee in a country that is more laid-back and tropical. No wonder Thailand ends up being the default holiday choice for millions around the globe.

The game plan for 2011 is that I'm aiming to be a lot more organized, better with time management, and in better physical shape. The basic idea is going to be learning to say no to the supposedly urgent demands of others. Not an easy thing to do in China, but well worth it in the long-run

Happy New Year!

Today's weather: High = 1 Low = -5
Sunny and freezing

My favorite day of the year is New Years Eve. As always, it's a great time to go out and celebrate, regardless of what the weather might throw my way. This year, it promised to be super chilly with gale-force winds, and a survey from the newspaper showed that 60% of people planned to opt out and stay at home this time due to the cold weather.

This was good news, as taxis are always scarce in Shanghai on New Years Eve. The public transport extends for just a wee while longer into the night, but it still shuts down around midnight so this is harldy an option. It's not like in my hometown Vancouver, where the buses run all night and are free. Because of all that, the original plan was to shuttle around on the motorcycle from venue to venue, and brave the sub-zero temperatures while doing so -- in the hopes that I could be guaranteed a ride home at 1am or 2am. Thankfully that plan was no longer needed, as I unexpectedly saw all kinds of empty taxis plying the streets while shuttling between parties on the bike. So I happened to be near the school while on a run between parties. Thus I stashed the bike underground in the warm shelter, and took a taxi the rest of the way. It will more or less remain there in hibernation until the end of February when we get back from the winter holiday break. The weather is just too cold here to be riding bikes anymore.

Actually I'm more concerned about the bike than myself -- I can survive the chilling winds while riding, but if the bike stays outside for long periods of time, then the engine gets cold, the battery loses its potential, and it's really hard to start it up again. Let's face it, motocycles were made for Thailand weather, not this.

Having to work on New Years Eve wasn't the most fun thing, but I showed movies in one class and the other had their test delayed to this day, so it went relatively smoothly. After that, a nap, then getting ready in the cold for two parties. First one was clear across the city to watch a student sing in a band. It was mostly Korean and Japanese young people playing grunge music, and cover versions of the likes of Simple Plan, Green Day, etc... Korean teens are famous for joining high school bands, as we saw dozens of performances like this at the former school I taught at in Dalian. Every day after schoool, for example, you could hear them rehearshing. The performance by my student's band, however, pretty much rocked them all, and it was very well done -- albeit the noise level was crazy loud!

After that, another sub-zero motorcycle ride across the city, by now it was about 9pm. This time I gave up halfway through, as mentioned above. I caught a taxi the rest of the way to the hotel, where there was a party held by the Alpha Course I was a leader for in the past 3 months. After that, a church event downstairs to welcome in the New Year, more or less. We had to clear out by 12:30, as there was another event scheduled to use that room after us. By that time I was exhausted and had to turn down another party invitation. Then it was a surprisingly easy case of finding a taxi and getting a ride home.

Exactly two years ago this day it was a similar scenario for New Years Eve -- but I was living way out in the suburbs at the time, and it was an absolute nightmare to get a taxi to where I wanted. To make a long story short, I made several mistakes and went to after-party invitations that I shouldn't have gone to. That ended up having me stay the entire night up in a club, drink too much, and then fall asleep on the metro station bench like a bum, waiting for the first train that would get me to Songjiang at around 5:30am. When I finally got there around 7am, the local taxis there still wouldn't pick me up, and I walked the final 3km home in the freezing cold, cursing under my breath. Like I said, that was a nightmare. Comparing this New Years to 2 years ago I'm amazed at all the positive changes taking place, and very thankful that I wouldn't have the desire or inclination to do anymore of these after-parties again.

So let's just say that 2011 is off to a great start by waltzing into a cab at 12:36, getting home at 12:48 to a nice warm place, and paying a very reasonable 25RMB for that 5km journey and having no fuss and hassles along the way.

A Short and Relaxing Week

Today's weather: High = 10 Low = 4
Sunny against a deep blue sky

Thanks to the nice Christmas break, we're all feeling pretty relaxed this week. School still goes on, of course, as it will until mid-January before the Chinese New Year break.

Meanwhile, I'll keep this blog up and running with more of the details of what I'm up to, whereas the travel blog I kickstarted earlier is more for the highlights. I figure it's a reasonable compromise.

Next up, the Jan 1 New Year break coming up, and a good reflection on 2010 overall. Let's hope that 2011 isn't so busy, and it has a lot less traveling around.

Switching Blog Platforms

Today's weather: High = 5 Low = 0
Sunny

Taking a tip from my Wuhan colleagues, I'm going to be switching to the travelblog.org host platform. Basically, that allows me to post more pictures and videos to make the blog more snazzy looking, attract more readership, and have the combined effect of text and photos to tell more of a story. Plus it's easier to access.

While blogspot can also do pictures and video, the ongoing problem has been net censorship and limitations on what I can do with this host platform by always using a proxy server to access it. Consistent blocking of many key websites has been going on for at least two years now in China, and shows no signs of letting up. The common blocked sites are facebook, twitter, youtube, and of course the blogger (blogspot) platform.

The most popular way around this is accessing a VPN (virtual private network) but that requires money, and there is still no guarantee that the VPN will actually be reliable. It also happens to be a very slow and painstaking way to access facebook and youtube, based on friends who go for the VPN. I'd rather just do without, and then wait for the winter and summer holidays when I'm outside of China to do semi-annual facebook maintenance.

Meanwhile, the travelblog forum is quite user friendly. It's also the most popular forum for foreign travelers (hence the name) and unlikely to be blocked. Expats in various Chinese cities have caught on to blogging with a travel blog, and I may as well join the bandwagon.

For starters, you can highlight this link and click here:

http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/Xujiahui/blog-555712.html

Once that blog is up and running, this one will be more or less saved and archived onto my hard drive. Then I'll be putting this blog into the dustbin, figuratively speaking, and going with travelblog as the main platform.

Best Christmas By A Long Shot

I knew that returning to the *downtown* part of Shanghai was the goal worth pursuing, and that life would improve after doing so -- but the tail end of 2010 has actually exceeded those expectations. This Christmas was a great example of it. The social life situation has now improved to the point where I'm finding myself double-booked for lunches and parties, and in need of an organizer to sort all the details out. In other words, it's the opposite problem of last year and the year before. Now there's too much going on, with imminent burnout approaching, and a need to cut back on activities. Of course, I'd rather have this problem than the other situation of cabin fever and loneliness. It seems that the last 3 months of re-settling in the city have made up for the last few years of difficult work situations and a lack of social situations, to the point that I'm rapidly catching up and getting back into the swing of what life in Shanghai is all about. Life in the city now is the same as what I enjoyed back in 2001-04. If it keeps up for next year like this, then the life will be even better.

All this being said, it helps to have the contrast of having lived in other Chinese cities for the past few years. I was rather keen and eager to try living in other Chinese cities just to get a sense of comparison, and for the sake of curiosity. Well, I got that, by living in Dalian and Wuhan, and then returned full-circle to Shanghers. So I can make some conclusions.

People often say that the big city of Shanghai is a lonely place. That may be so depending on how you look at it, but my conclusion is that life is *truly* lonely in the smaller cities of China (5 million considered small), and even moreso for the countryside existence.

People need community, we're talking friends, social networks, connections, parties, and just others to hang out with and share life together with. Christmas is a good reminder of having that time and community with people in a foreign land away from our home countries. In fact, I've been very blessed to find that sense of community here in Shanghai, and to enjoy a family away from family, in the sense that I feel more home here than I ever have in my home country. And so the cliche goes, as it is certainly true, of finding a home away from home.

The majority of my social life takes place in SCF which is basically a community church fellowship of expats who live in this city. To give you a sense of the numbers, there are about 300,000 expats who live in Shanghai (and 1/3 of those made a beeline for the airport this Christmas, as the customs authorities reported). Of those, the estimate is perhaps 10,000 expats in Shanghai who attend a regular church fellowship, this is perhaps 3% of the total, scattered in about a half-dozen community churches in various parts of the city. This isn't very much in relative terms, but there are a sizable number of people in absolute terms, which more or less forms the basis of social and spiritual life, and frankly, survival.

In second tier cities in China, even in the so-called larger places like Dalian and Wuhan where I lived, the numbers are all much, much smaller. I'm still scratching my head as to how I survived, especially in Wuhan, where the situation is very grim indeed. Life over there consisted mainly of working, sleeping, and fighting traffic jams. Others would go into bars and clubs for their free time which didn't interest me, and so I was voluntarily out of the loop and suffering from a lack of social life. Actually it got to the point where I traveled outside of Wuhan nearly every 2nd weekend, mainly to places like Shanghai and Nanjing for exactly the above. So that was basically how I survived.

While there are many positive things to say about these 2nd tier cities (related to my other posts), the actual life quality *all around* is far better in the larger cities.

This Christmas was really relaxed, low-key, and lots of *fun* laughing, telling jokes, and sharing stories. It was also quite funny in that at the potluck dinner I attended, my friends interrogated me about this girl who is visiting for the holidays. Long story on that, it'll have to be another post.

This Christmas reminded me of the 2003-04 spent in Shanghai with similar fun parties and relaxing, and also the one two years ago. Sure beats the Christmas last year in Wuhan.

In fact, while telling more stories of my life in the last two years at a lunch gathering yesterday, my former boss (long story) suggested I put these details into a book. It's a great idea, and I've long since had this pipedream idea of writing all my China experiences into a book. This kind of thing has been done before, thanks to a teacher in Dalian who spent 10 years in China and has now finished the book on his experiences. Obviously these blogs would be the best material to work with to put together a book.

Now with 10 years in China rapidly approaching, the question on my mind is what to do next. There are basically 2 more years to go before reaching that, and the goal of a decade in China is certainly achievable at this point. It's really hard to say what'll happen next, but I'm slowly learning to stop beating myself up for living life this way, and for not always knowing what's going to happen next.

At any rate, this was a superb Christmas celebrated, and New Years is just around the corner.

Merry Christmas from the Metropolis

Today's weather: High = 4 Low = -1
Sunny and clear

Another Christmas celebrated in Shanghai! This now makes it #3. Other Christmases were celebrated in Dalian and Wuhan. I'm coming to grips with the fact that I've almost lived a decade in China now. If I can try to recall the sequence of Christmas/New Year celebrations:

2001/02: Vancouver (flew out of Shanghai)
2002/03: Vancouver (flew out of Shanghai)
2003/04: Shanghai
2004/05: Vancouver (flew out of Shanghai)
2005/06: Laos
2006/07: Dalian
2007/08: Dalian
2008/09: Shanghai
2009/09: Wuhan
2010/11: Shanghai

So it looks like this is the 6th year in a row of the holiday celebrated in Asia. Today's Christmas was much better than last years, and a good reminder of the festivities of two years ago. More details to come.

Burning Out

Today's weather: High = 16 Low = 6
Sunny

Thank goodness a holiday is approaching, or for that matter, a series of them.

This time of year is always classic burnout time. The long stretch of the school year is about to wrap up, but in actuality, we still have a month to go before the big break.

With all the other stuff that happened in 2010 altogether, it was more or less the busiest year of my life -- I'm not exactly thrilled to have been living life at the pace I have this year, and to sense and feel that things are going too fast to handle. So the cure is rather simple, an extended winter break in the tropics of doing nothing.

Looks like it'll be Thailand once again, folks. It's the number one default holiday plan.

Maybe a White Christmas

Today's weather: High = 13 Low = 5
Haze

From today's paper. The temperatures have rebounded from the last cold snap but are going down again this weekend sharply as the next cold wave approaches. It might even bring snow for Christmas.

At any rate, we're definitely in holiday mood as the courses have all wound down now and it's gearing up for the usual exam scene. We get a 4-day weekend for Christmas, followed by a 3-day Western New Years, then not long after that, the Chinese New Year.

There is lots going on for those holidays, and rest assured, enough dinners, celebrations, dates, and get-togethers to make myself feel just like at home. In many ways, referring to a previous post, Christmas celebrated in Shanghai has become somewhat of a new tradition.

With all that mind, the dust has settled, as it were, on last weekend's Wuhan visit. To be perfectly honest, despite all the complaints, there were some things I missed about the life last year and some small regrest about leaving. But as we all know, that sort of thing is normal in life, and the pros of moving forward to this current job here in Shanghai have still far outweighed any potential pros of staying behind.

Actually a Chinese friend put it very well when we discussed this recently. Basically they have a saying about exactly this sort of thing, that the beauty of a situation or a life is best viewed from a distance. In other words, now that I've distanced myself from Wuhan I can see the good things, whereas actually going back there would inspire all the complaints.

As always, the Chinese get it spot on with their myriad of sayings.


------------------------
ENJOY the good weather while it lasts - because rain and snow are on the way, with the possibility of a white Christmas, according to city weather forecasters.

It will be warm and sunny from today until Friday, with high temperatures of 12 to 14 degrees Celsius, said the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau. But on Saturday the mercury will plummet, with minimum temperatures down to below 3 degrees on Saturday and freezing point on Sunday.

There will be sunny and cloudy spells before Saturday, and snow is expected to arrive late Saturday or early Sunday, forecasters said.

Yesterday, the city air was slightly polluted, the third level of a five-scale air quality assessment system.

Environment authorities said the inhalable particulate index was rather high. The wether bureau said that with temperatures rising, the city was affected by hazy conditions yesterday, contributing to air pollution. Air quality is expected to improve when the cold front hits.


Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2010/201012/20101221/article_457861.htm#ixzz18k8S0OL5

Wuhan: The Ultimate Yin-Yang

Today's weather: High = 14 Low = 3
Sunny and clear

With about an hour to kill in the airport waiting for my flight back to Shanghai, let's recap this weekend trip to Wuhan --- the first such trip all school year actually, as my weekends are ordinarly quite busy with stuff and trips are not often anymore.

In the last post I was excessively hard on Wuhan, so you got the 'yin' part of it. That would mean the terrible traffic, crowds, noise, and general chaos. Now let's go for the 'yang', the other side of the coin, as it were. The cheap and delicious food, friendly locals, great relationships, excellent job opportunities, stories around every corner, and an overall sense of adventure that you're truly living in the wild west. I mean seriously, if adventure and gaudiness is what you're after, it really doesn't get much better than Wuhan. This place will floor you. Even a 6km trip down hopelessly congested roads across a river becomes an adventure. You never know if it will take an hour or 2 hours. If you lack the patience but are brave enough, you'll get on a motorcycle and weave in and out of the most chaotic mess of cars you can imagine. Whether we're talking about the ying or the yang, my last post still stands: you have to be superman to hack Wuhan.

I was finishing off my 'hot dry noodles' and catching a cab to head off to the airport, early of course, because I was afraid of the traffic. Even though it's 8am on a Sunday morning and my flight leaves at 12, I take no chances with this.

Anyways I stumbled upon some sort of Chinglish sign on a piece of furniture board that read like this:

-----------
I AM LEAVING THIS TOWN
I AM LEAVING THIS TOWN

MY LOVE

WHERE THERE IS GREAT LOVE
THERE ARE ALSO MIRACLES
------------

I nearly choked on my noodles after seeing that sign as it basically sums up the whole year I experienced last year while in Wuhan and how I felt right down to the letter. I'll be thinking of the interpretation of that during the plane ride over, but this would surely be a good thing to put in my book -- a pipedream project basically, one that will likely never happen, but makes for fun dinner conversation.

This weekend really got me thinking about the whole last year I was working in Wuhan, and also the year prior to that in the boonies on the outskirts of Shanghai. Both jobs were incredibly tough and needed a survival mentality to hack it through, but they were also full of adventure, daily challenges, and stories that would make for perfect book material. Maybe it can be called 'The Tough 2 Years' or something like that, who knows. It's a real toss-up as to whether Wuhan or the outskirts of Suzhou made for a more difficult experience, but one thing is for sure: I could only have suvived those years by a miracle.

Rewind two days ago to last Friday night, I fell asleep in the posh hotel that was arranged thanks to a local friend Jessie. I met her last year on a salsa dancing course and we got along quite well. To make a long story short, she used a bit of guanxi (connections) to help book me into a business hotel for over a 70% discount.

The next day I successfully crossed the river and regained my bank card with all the former cash in it. Also, I was doing a special delivery of Christmas presents for a former colleague. Things happened quickly as I got the bag from their friend in Shanghai and transported it on the train. We then met at the Gianos (famous western restaurant) in Wuhan next door to the Mr Mai's coffee shop -- frequently hangouts from last year. We caught up on all the school gossip over a delicious lunch.

This is the first time I can remember in my life that I actually finished a trip with more money than when I started.

After that, chatting with the former motorcycle mechanic who used to fix all our bikes from school last year. His business is thriving, thanks to the recommendations he has from teachers at that school. But much to my shock and horror, he showed me the scooter I had sold to a colleague just before bamboozling to Shanghai in June. This scooter went through a serious crash and was rendered unusable -- the mechanic said so himself. What basically happened was that the guy driving the scooter was cut off by a car turning left in front of him, and he flew head over heels over the car. The scooter was compeltely crushed, and he ended up in hospital with a full-leg cast.

That's gotta hurt. Thankfully he was wearing a helmet.

Because of that, there was a big push for everyone to get helmets, and then an ensuing police crackdown on scooters in Wuhan. This was something that we all knew was coming. We had enjoyed a free ride for so long, when would it stop? The police got out in full force around the school and surrounding areas to nab unlicensed bikes. Another former colleague had his motorcyle impounded and later got it back, thanks to a bunch of groveling and procuring the needed documents.

The secretary of that former school undoutedly made the crackdown worse by calling up the PSB and complaining about why they were cracking down on all the teachers riding scooters. Predictably, the PSB replied with, "Foreigners should not be riding scooters" which more or less equated to the secretary informing the cops that we were doing exactly this, and indicating where they should be focusing their next crackdown. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened.

So the unthinkable irony has happened -- it's actually easier to ride scooters and motorbikes in Shanghai now, where the police have stopped cracking down.

Anyways, after that, I caught a bus back across the river for a Saturday night party at the 'Blue Sky'. It took over two hours, but it was worth it -- my local friend Jessie and a bunch of other foreign teachers at a school in Hankou District were there celebrating. It was lots of fun, great local food, great western food, and a salsa dance demonstration as they requested that we do.

There's a lot of other stuff to write about Wuhan actually, more than is possible in a post. But I have to wrap it up as they're calling my flight boarding.

Wuhan Banking Errand Successful

Today's weather: High = 8 Low = -1
Sunny and clear

Things are warming up a bit here ... and finally with some time off on a weekend, I figured it was high time to do this Wuhan banking errand and pick up my lost card. Thankfully it was a success and I now have access to about 10,000 RMB that was unclaimed from last year. I put in an application to replace the lost card on a previous trip through Wuhan with my new passport back in August. Since the application was going to take some time to approve, I would then be based in Shanghai later, and would not have time to make another trip back to Wuhan and pick it up.

Until now, that is 4 months later.

Obviously, sending the card to me in the mail or having a friend deliver it to me were not going to be options. In China, you must go back to the home branch of wherever it was that issues a document that you lost or had stolen, i.e. drivers license, bank card, ID card or what have you. No exceptions. This makes it all the more important that you never, ever, ever lose things or get things stolen in China. If you do, it's a royal hassle.

Recall back in July I lost my passport, two computers, bank cards, driver license, and many other things while in a black-market taxi on the way to the Wuhan airport that took 4 hours in despicable traffic jams. This was after leaving that awful city with the completion of my contract.

Because of that experience, I've never taken another black taxi again. But last night was a disgusting reminder of how prevalent they are in Wuhan. Because of the despicable traffic situation in that city, those taxis thrive, as all other means of transport are either congested or unavailable.

Did I tell you just how much I HATE the traffic in Wuhan? It was the primary reason I left.

What makes the situation worse is that, ironically, there are now high-speed trains between Shanghai and Wuhan that have improved big time. They now only take 4 hours, as the one I took last night was like this. They depart from the new Hongqiao station in Shanghai and use the new high-speed bullet train route to Nanjing that was recently completed. Because of that fact, I left at 2:30pm after classes and got there just before 7pm on Friday night.

The original plan was to head into my hotel, drop off my stuff, and then catch a party with some old colleagues from Maple Leaf later that night.

That plan totally went awry just after stepping out the train station. It was just a total mess. Noise and shouting everywhere, black cabs galore, throngs of people crossing the street in every disorderly maner possible, and the actual roads were clogged with traffic and all manner of vehicles breaking the rules. Obviously, nobody was going anywhere. Taxis were not stopping, even with the lights on to indicate they were "available". I was simply being ignored, and the only way to get anywhere was to hoof it on foot.

So I walked from the train station to my hotel, in the hopes of being able to catch a bus or a taxi along the way. The roads were all congested the entire way, even way past 9pm at night, and there were no options of being able to get a bus or taxi --- despite all the attempts to try.

Of course, zillions of black taxis, motorbiker, and even scooters offered me rides but I refused every last one of them. After last July's incident of losing my stuff on a ride like that, I vowed never, ever again.

Finally making it to the hotel I scratched the plan to catch a party and just fell asleep. The next day, Saturday, I was luckily able to find a taxi and took it way to the outskirts of the city by the #3 Ring Road bridge. Then I changed to another taxi, crossed the bridge, and made it to the bank near the Wanke area. This was to avoid all the jams along the #1 Yangzte Bridge, which is even worse now. After about an hour of waiting at the bank and explaining my case, I finally got the card with all the cash.

That money will be used for the upcoming winter break trip.

The ongoing thing about Wuhan is I simply don't know how the hell I managed to survive almost a year of this crap before. It boggles the mind how backwards and congested the place is --- maybe some people can hack it, but they've got to be super people. Living in Shanghai for the last 4 months shows just how much of a positive difference it is with everything you can think of, and I'm glad to have switched over.

Cold Snaps are Tiring

Today's weather: High = 1 Low = -3
Sunny and cold

While the weather is expected to rebound eventually, it is going to take some time for that to happen as we get out of this cold front pattern and the winds start shifting from the south. Today was a real bone-chiller with heaters needed galore in all indoor places. These cold snaps are real tiring on the body as well, and I feel exhausted.

Snow Wonder It's Cold

From the paper, as usual

----------------------
Ice is expected to cover Shanghai's streets tomorrow morning with the continuing snow and low temperature, weathermen said, reminding drivers to be careful.

A yellow road-icing alert, lowest of the three-level system, was issued by the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau at 2:30pm today warning that ice would probably affect city traffic in the next 12 hours.

The snow is forecast to continue till midnight and the accumulation would reach three centimeters in part of the city, the bureau said.

The winter's first snow began to fall on the city this morning and the temperatures are plunging.

At about 10:26 am, snow first appeared in the city's suburban Jinshan District, then spread to Songjiang and Qingpu districts and reached downtown before noon.

The snowfall should continue this afternoon, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said. The bureau issued a blue cold-wave alert yesterday at 5am today.

The temperature recorded at 12:30 pm was 2.2 degrees Celsius and today's high is around 5 degrees Celsius.

The low tomorrow and Friday could reach minus 2 degree with ice and even lower in the suburbs, the bureau warned.

Gale winds at 38kph to 61kph should continue today. Urban residents are warned against falling objects.



Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=457367&type=Metro#ixzz18BIbE8pL

Skiing or Motorcycling in the Snow?

Today's weather: High = 2 Low = -5
Blizzard conditions

Not kidding you, we got ourselves a white out today. They forecasted it would be snow flurries and cold. It most certainly got cold, but they miscalculated the snow. Instead of flurries, we got ourselves a full-blown blizzard in the afternoon that's still going on right now.

It caused some major rush hour traffic snarlups like you wouldn't believe, and thankfully I was able to skedaddle out of school around 4pm before the worst of it came around.

Even so, the streets were like a ski run. Riding a motorcycle in those conditions reminded me of those fun times back in Vancouver when the family used to go night skiing on the local mountains. The helmet and gloves helped to keep the cold air out, and the speeds were low enough to keep the bike stable. Talk about a rush. Unfortunately I saw cyclists and others going down. One guy ahead of me crashed into a another cyclist, they were going slow enough that the impact caused only a wobble, and then, bam, they both lost balance and down they went into the slush.

The main intersection near my house was total gridlock and it was a constant sound of horns and a spaghetti-like tangled mess of cars. The police were doing all they could to keep order, but a day like today felt like just a total traffic mess.

Shanghai is simply not prepared for snow, and no wonder as it hardly comes here. The good news is that the temperatures are going to rebound over the next week, reversing this cooling trend of the last week.

If the long range is saying what I think it is, we'll be at 20 degrees again by Sunday.

Global weather is most certainly going wild. You see all the stuff happening in the States now as well? Floods in Washington State, record warmth in Arizona, and also record cold in Florida at the same time.

Winter Holiday Approaching

Got some encouraging news at today's staff meeting. The exam schedule has already been posted. That means we're really wrapping up the term and the holiday break will be here sooner than expected.

This usually happens around Christmas which signals the end of the 'long stretch', basically the 3.5 month run from National Holiday until the Lunar New Year.

While China itself does not celebrate Christmas or offer this as a holiday -- most Chinese employers give at least a couple days off for their foreign teachers. So it becomes a sort of mini-break and it's greatly appreciated.

I actually enjoy the new tradition that Christmas has become while living in China. We lack all the commercialism and trappings that are found back in my home country around this time. Around this time of year, it's the sort of materialistic holiday that everyone complains about for various reasons, yet they still go through with it and nobody wants to challenge the "meaning" of what this holiday has become of. In a way it reminds me of a bunch of teachers complaining about how bad the cafeteria food is, yet they still eat there every day.

Here in China we're away from all that, well the materialistic trapping of Christmas that is, not the cafeteria food.

So what happens is the small number of expats who are "stuck" here for Christmas get together and it ends up being a better celebration all around. A great example of this is how the local SCF (Shanghai Community Fellowship) church organizes a Christmas service for expats and also dinners for the various smaller groups. Having gone to this for a number of years now, it's totally worth flying in from another city, or otherwise commuting long distances for. There are other great examples of Christmas in the city too, including events and dinners put on by various companies, and various hosts who do their own parties.

In other words, the expats who have found ourselves in exile become like a family away from their own families. The end result is a great Christmas celebration that focuses much more on the true meaning and much less of the trappings and obligations that would be found in one's home country. It basically becomes simpler, with more time to spend on people, and less money wasted. Of course, gifts and presents are exchanged, and there is great food, but it's all on an economy of managable scale.

Meanwhile, Christmas is the mini-holiday that tells us another mini-holiday is coming up, the Western New Year, which has similar meanings and fun. Then it tells us that only two weeks later, the big holiday is approaching, which is the Chinese New Year. This is excellent because it takes place in the dead of winter and it is the perfect time to head south to tropical countries on cheap flights.

This is what practically every teacher does around this time. They come out of hibernation from Dalian, Wuhan, Shanghai, Suzhou, and many others, and they converge in Thailand -- the preferred choice by a mile.

Playing Host

Today's weather: High = 9 Low = 4
Cloudy and windy

A visitor from Vancouver came to see me over the last weekend. I've been receiving quite a few guests lately this year. Funny that nobody wanted to see me while living in Wuhan, and all of a sudden they do now that I'm in Shanghai. Not sure what to make of this, it has both good and bad points.

This recent flurry of hosting guests in the city has shown that there is much I need to learn about playing this role, and the last few times have left me exhausted. Hopefully the people have gone away with a good impression of the city, but simply put it's a hell of a lot of work to coordinate these kind of visits -- it becomes a job in and out of itself, it becomes more work than my actual day job, and there aren't many rewards.

Then again the two 'jobs' may be connected in more ways than one. Similar to what happens in the classroom, the solution to the problem of exhaustion is more of a matter of facilitating and delegating, instead of trying to orchestrate the whole thing by myself.

In other words, all visits from guests here have ended up in the same pattern. They show up, time is limited, we see a few sights, meet a few people, and then it's time to go. Who's to say I couldn't just outsource all this work to the well-established tourist market here or some of my own contacts in the travel business who specialize in giving tours for a living.

The counter-argument to this is that I could provide a unique spin on the city that a tour company would miss, and hence I should be doing the work for a more personal touch. But given the common fact here that the majority of visitors come on ultra-short trips, we end up doing the same things that a tour company would do anyway. You know, the stroll down Nanjing Road at night, walking the Bund, sipping tea at Yu Gardens, bargaining in the markets, and so forth. These are all totally worth doing in Shanghai, along with many more great tourist experiences, but the bottom line is that a business could do this better than I could.

As a teacher and a resident, I'm not the best person to be leading tours anyway. I find the whole tourist thing to be rather dull and boring, not to mention very exhausting while fielding the same questions over and over again. It's easy to lose patience in situations like this. Since most foreign guests share typical reactions to life in China and they all ask the same questions, it stands to reason that a tour company would be better qualified. Even basic things like how to cross the street, how to take a taxi, or how to bargain could be handled this way.

Meanwhile, the real reason I like to host, and hopefully why guests also come here to see me, is to get a glimpse of the kind of life I've got going in this great city --- I really appreciate that. With the whole 'show you around' thing out of my hair, it frees up more time and energy to line up activities where the guests can be a part of what I do in the city and see how it all fits together.

So in a nutshell, it makes more sense to keep going about my own business and find creative ways to involve guests in that, while delegating the tour business to others.

An example of how this might play out is that a tour is arranged for the morning, we all meet for lunch near my work, they come observe one of my afternoon classes, then a friend takes over and shows them the ropes on how to use the subway. After an afternoon of free exploring and me teaching, we then meet up with some other friends for dinner. While eating, we discuss what they might want to do in the evening, because I will surely be up all night marking papers.

Don't Miss That Train!

From today's paper

-------------------
IN an era of convenient air travel, missing a flight isn't a big problem since it's easy to catch another one without being charged twice.

Yet for many Chinese, the train is their only affordable transport for long-haul trips. Even a minute change in the pricing of train tickets may restrict many people's access.

Therefore, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) should tread cautiously when changing policy that will affect tens of millions of passengers.

It seldom does. In a fresh reminder of its arrogance and unaccountability, the ministry's latest regulation stirred up so much controversy that it was forced to scrap it only days after it went into effect.

The new rule came into force on December 1. It stipulated that passengers who are late for regular-speed trains would lose the money paid for their tickets.

Under the new rule, except for cases of illness or injury, they could not ask for a refund, nor could they transfer to other trains through ticket swaps within two hours of departure - a common practice that used to apply to high-speed and regular trains.

A migrant worker surnamed Li in Foshan, Guangdong Province, was embittered by this rigid new ticketing policy. Due to snarled traffic, he arrived at the station too late for ticket punching and was barred from boarding just five minutes before the train's departure for Hubei, his native province.

His attempt to swap the ticket, which cost 281 yuan (US$42), for the next train home ended in failure. He had been 10 minutes too late, the booking office told him. Dismayed at the loss of money - nearly one sixth an average migrant's monthly income - he burst into tears.

Li's ordeal is not unique. People similarly angered by the tightening of the ticketing rule have decided to take action to restore the status quo ante.

The Oriental Morning Post reported on Tuesday that Li Fangping, a pro bono lawyer in Beijing, on Monday had filed the first lawsuit against the railway authorities, demanding reinstatement of the ticket-swap mechanism.

Li had missed a train on December 5 by one hour and a half and was not allowed to transfer to another one that left later in the day.

Under the old system he would have had two hours to make the change.

The bone of contention is the perceived inequality of many who were affected by this new ticketing policy. They cried foul over the "discriminatory way" they were being treated.

Indeed, the ban does not apply to holders of high-speed train tickets. Thus, regular passengers had good reason to suspect a ploy to force them to choose more expensive high-speed rail services.
----------------

This is spot on, because the regular train services have a recent history of always being delayed. This new policy had no way of accounting for delayed trains, because it was only based on the time printed on the actual ticket. So in theory, a train that was 30 minutes late (very common) would have everyone left out of the loop.

The high-speed trains have a better record, but delays are still rather common. This was especially true for all trains in and out of Shanghai during the EXPO. Earlier this year, it got to the point where I was amazed if a train actually departed or arrived on time.

Thank goodness the ministry of railways backpedalled on this new policy, and things are back to the old system.

Never underestimate the power of the masses.

Got Sick

Today's weather: High = 13 Low = 5
Sunny

My driver told me ages ago when I used to live in Dalian that the cold weather itself is not a problem -- but rather the change to cold weather.

In other words, during the transition to winter, people get sick big time -- myself included. It happens every year to me around this time and we were fortunate to enjoy a beautiful November. But reality had to happen sooner or later. Anyways I'm taking the day off and resting in bed.

One of the peculiar things about Shanghai, or any city south of the Yangtze River for that matter, is how the winters work around here. A long while back, Mao Zedong decreed that anywhere south of the Yangzte was "warm", and anywhere north was "cold". The end result is that central heating is not installed in any buildings south of the river, and the buildings themselves are not designed for winter.

But residents also figure that winter is so short around here, there is no point in equipping the buildings for only 2-3 months worth of cold. The thinking goes it's better just to survive it, and then spring is here around the corner.

This goes hand-in-hand with how Shanghai is on the fringes of the subtropical zone, and increasingly so with global warming, the winters are becoming shorter and shorter. So in a way we're being teased with 9-10 months of relatively warm weather during the year. But it's not warm enough to be a distinct substropical climate like Guangzhou is. Winter is still a reality to be dealt with in Shanghai, and locals will talk about this incessantly about how they prepare for it.

For example, you go out on the street today and everyone is dressed in toques, scarves, gloves, etc. when it's sunny and well over 10 degrees in the afternoon.

The doctors also warn incessantly about preparing for winter and how everyone gets sick this time of year. Part of the reason for that is the constant use of heaters indoors, now that more and more people can afford the electricity bills. The new heaters are also so powerful that they can double as a central heating device that Mao Zedong ruled out decades ago because we're south of the river.

So it would be a perfectly normal situation to walk into an office with the heater blazing. Meanwhile, the air inside is crisp dry, people are still wearing their jackets, and it is a breeding ground for germs. But since people realize that, they also open the windows in a bid to try and create a "healthier" environment. The end result is a constant change in temperatures from hot to cold, and the body can't make heads or tails out of what is going on.

The body, like mine does, eventually gets sick of all this.

Proposed Bullet Train: Beijing, Vientiane, Bangkok

Today's weather: High = 14 Low = 6
Sunny and chilly

It was with great interest that I stumbled on this news article. Due to the long-term economic growth and emerging prosperity in both China and Thailand, it is very exciting to see these kind of developments take place -- especially as I have a keen interest in both countries.

A China-Thailand express highway has already been under construction for ages that is bound to be open soon -- if not already. The highway mainly connects Yunnan province with the Chiang Mai area of Thailand, more or less following the Mekong River. But it only skirts the top of Laos and doesn't really benefit that country directly, except for the area around Luang Namtha and near the Thai border.

On the other hand, this proposed high-speed railway looks to really benefit Laos. They definitely want to connect Beijing to Vientiane to Bangkok. It's still very much in the planning stages, we don't know much about routes, and the line wouldn't open until at least 2015. But we can easily deduce that the high-speed railway would have to pass through most of Laos in order to connect those 3 capital cities. We can also deduce that Vietnam is excluded from the proposal, as they didn't mention anything about Hanoi.

This is mainly a Sino-Thai project we're talking about, after all.

Based on all this, my best guess is they are going to piggyback this line with all the new bullet train construction in China right now, and somehow get a link going to Kunming. From Kunming, it could continue south into Laos, then through Luang Prabang, and then to Vientiane.

This is all just speculation, but I think they start with the Beijing-Wuhan connection soon to open. After Wuhan, there would be a considerable demand for high-speed rail to link Guilin, and then to Kunming. Those cities are all underserved right now by rail. I'm heding my bets that the Chinese government would love to connect Guilin and Kunming this way, and a line may already be in the works for all I know.

But the main problem with this route is that so much of it goes through mountains, especially the parts in and around Kunming and the Laos border. It would be a massive engineering feat with tunnel blasting and relocation of villagers galore.

Then again, I can't see much of an alternative to the mountains if they specifically want to link those 3 capital cities by train. Perhaps they could go through Nanning instead of Kunming. If they did this, there would be fewer mountains to contend with, but the route would be convoluted in order to avoid Vietnam.

It's all in the planning and discussion stages now, but I'd be eager to see what comes of this one.


-----------------
A HIGH-SPEED railway linking China, Laos and Thailand will be under construction next year, Thai and Laotian officials announced at the Seventh Seventh World Congress on High-Speed Rail in Beijing yesterday.

The bullet train project jointly invested by the three countries is expected to be completed in late 2015. It will boost trade in the ASEAN free trade area, according to the congress.

The new railway that will connect major border cities of China, Laos and Thailand will be used mainly for passenger transportation at the initial stage and for freight shipping later on, Xinhua reported today.

Suthep Thaugsuban, deputy prime minister of Thailand, said yesterday that the Thai parliament has already approved a framework for the Sino-Thai project, which was earlier projected to cost 480 billion baht (US$15.4 billion), Xinhua reported.

Suthep said he wished for an early start and finish of the highly-anticipated project to strengthen the ties with China and other Southeast Asian nations.
Somsavat Lengsavad, deputy prime minister of Laos, also said Laos and China have signed an agreement on bilateral cooperation in the construction of the high-speed railway which will link Vientiane, capital of Laos, with Beijing.

The officials didn't elaborate on a timetable or budget plan, saying it is still being discussed.
---------------


Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=456728&type=National##ixzz17WdaHT5A

Cold Weather Averted, More Motorcycling

Weather today: High = 21 Low = 12
Sunny and gorgeous

So much for that expected cold front and beginning of winter. It looks like that extra push of tropical air is holding due to the high pressure ridge. The papers got it wrong, the accuweather got it wrong, and even my own forecast was wrong -- which caused so shortage of embarassment after I sounded the alarm about the end to this gorgeous weather.

In fact today was so nice and relaxed you'd be forgiven for thinking it was April. People were outside in droves, jackets were off, outdoor sales were up and running, and markets on the streets galore.

It was a perfect day for another last-season motorcycle ride around the countryside, and I enjoyed some great times on that. In fact, this unseasonably awesome weather is making everyone so happy and relaxed ... combined with another good weekend of socializing, this is probably the happiest I've been in years.

Interestingly enough, another friend just got married this weekend. That makes for a whopping 5 weddings I've attended in 2010, including being the best man. A record for sure, and if I ever get married myself, I'll know exactly how things are supposed to run.

It's a real mystery what's causing this unseasonably warm weather. I'm enjoying every day of it, and each time there is an apparent cold front to bring in winter, it doesn't happen. This is strange, because the newspapers clearly reported a chillier than normal winter this year, and they backed it up with La Nina and Arctic Oscillation patterns. For many parts of the world it surely is turning out that way, as it seems that nearly everywhere is getting hammered with storms.

Meanwhile we're basking in this great warmth, and the farmers in rural Shanghai are already gunning for a 2nd growing season. Based on all the activity I saw in the countryside today, they've hedged their bets from the near-perfect conditions in November, and are expecting it to go on. That once bleak and deserted countryside I passed by countless times a couple years ago in the winter is now hopping with activity and there are families out galore.

Global warming can't be all bad.

The only nagging question is how to possibly make an accurate weather forecast or come up with some kinds of predictions for what the winter will be like. Perhaps the unthinkable could happen and this pattern would last well into December, maybe even January, and there would only be a couple weeks of cold.

Clearly the farmers are betting this way, and I may as well do the same, forget about parking the motorcycle, and just ride year-round like I always have.

Last Motorcycle Ride of Season

Today's weather: High = 22 Low = 13
Sunny

The unusually balmy weather continues, so much that people are out wearing shorts and T-shirts. Unfortunately that is all coming to an abrupt end in a matter of days.

Based on the short and long-range forecasts, I'm now calling an end to the motorcycle riding season -- winter will be darkening our doorstep any day now. In fact, we were spoiled so much by the unseasonably good weather in November that it was only a matter of time before things would change. The Siberian cold front is on its way here, and temperatures have dropped 10-15 degrees where that front has already passed through. This mimics the change in the weather that happened last week in the Eastern US. The patterns are typically the same on either side of the globe, with a delay effect of 6-10 days. That means if a blast of arctic air hits the East Coast in North America, we will soon get the same over here.

So yesterday was fitting to get out the motorcycle, do a final long-distance ride in the countryside, and celebrate with a dinner at the 'Blue Frog' western restaurant hamburger joint back in the city.

This inevitable change in the weather won't mean permanent cold, as the temperatures could easily bounce back up like they did after that surprise early chill in mid-October. But one thing is for sure: dramatic temperature fluctuations, which would be consistent with the overall pattern of 'global weather gone wild' (TM)

In other words, one day might appear to be deceptively warm and a nice excuse for another afternoon motorcycle ride. But then during that ride, the cold front comes out of nowhere or else the evening chill sets in, and the ride becomes very unpleasant. This has happened countless times already in my 2-year motorcycle riding career. I've also said countless times that I'll hibernate the motorcycle from Dec - Feb, but still end up riding year round and facing the chills.

The way things are going, there may only be one month of cold weather to contend with before the New Year break, when everyone then heads for tropical countries. By the time we get back in late February, the spring season is already beginning.

Trips

Today's weather: High = 15 Low = 12
Cloudy

After having stayed put in Shanghai for two months now and really getting into the swing of things at work, I'm happy to say now I actually look forward to the next trip --- wherever that may be. It probably won't happen for ahwhile yet, but the fact that I actually want to travel again and hit the airports is a good sign. Earlier this year, in 2010 that is, I was going through some rather intense travel exhaustion, burnout, and the ongoing nightmare of a lost passport. It easily got to where I was actually *dreading* the next airplane, train, or bus ride. Thankfully, the excitement of travel has now come back.

There were two periods of relative stability this year. First was after the lunar new year where I hunkered down in Wuhan for about this same amount of time getting lesson plans together and taking another stab at attempting a social life. Sad to say, both those earlier attempts failed. I then went on a frantic travel spree starting around April and May, hitting the airports nearly every 2nd weekend, most of it to head down here (to Shanghai) and get set up for future jobs and social life situations which I am enjoying very much now. And so, this latest period of stability is quite good.

Ironically, I'm penciling in another trip to Wuhan sometime before Christmas. This is to retrieve 9000 RMB in old bank account funds. This was a fallout from the lost passport episode where I also lost the Wuhan bank card that had all my RMB cash from my previous job. I put in the request for a replacement card way back in August while there on a short trip -- they needed to see my new passport of course.

Unfortunately, they said back then it would take 2 weeks to process the card and I would still need to come back to pick it up with my passport. They couldn't mail it out to my new address in Shanghai. Of course, life got super busy so I haven't made any trips back to Wuhan yet. For all I know, the whole card application may need to re-processed. What I'll end up doing is proving that the account is in my name with the passport and just withdrawing all the cash on the spot.

The only question is when to take a day off work and do this. Friday is out of the question, because I'm then tied up with social activities and committments all day Saturday here in Shanghai and it's a waste of a trip to visit Wuhan in jsut a day. Sunday-Monday is a better option. If all goes well, I'll head in there, grab the cash, and leave a little richer.

The train system has now improved big time. The whole Shanghai-Nanjing section was replaced with a new high-speed track line so that particular section only takes 90 minutes. The Nanjing-Hefei-Wuhan section was already fast, so now they estimate it takes a mere 4 hours to reach Wuhan. But realistically, the total door-to-door travel time is still going to be 6-7 hours, compared to the 8 hours total it used to take. By comparision, the airplane total time is about 6 hours, or 5 hours if everything goes super well.

As mentioned in previous blogs, the first part of the problem is that all the flights to Wuhan leave from Pudong airport which is way out in the boonies. The new Hongqiao airport doesn't resolve things very much, as the Wuhan flights don't make use of it now, just like they avoided it in the past. The second part of the problem is that the airport in Wuhan is also way in the boonies, and the horrendous traffic (10 times worse than Shanghai) makes for long and tortuous journeys to the final destination.

So that's basically why I haven't been going to Wuhan much these days, and I shake my head at how many times I did this journey back and forth earlier in the year.

On a more exciting trip coming up, it's looking like India, India, and India again for the new year break! Really stoked about this one folks.

Driest November on Record!

Today's weather: High = 17 Low = 10
Cloudy

This is rather unbelievable ... the month of November in Shanghai has only seen 0.8 mm of precipitation, and if the next 5-day forecast is correct, that's all that we're gonna get.

The low temperature has rarely gone below 10 degrees, and it has surpassed 20 on a few occasions. So in short, we've been spoiled rotten by balmy temperatures unheard of for this time of year.

The long range forecast expects similar things to happen in December, but they are calling for a substantial cold front in a week's time. We'll just have to see about that.

Last year at this time, it was freezing rain and howling winds, almost zero degrees. Not so pleasant then, but it sure is now.

Anomalies in the Weather

With global weather gone wild nowadays, there really aren't that many 'anomalies' in the weather anymore. In fact, the new normal is for the weather not to be normal.

The latest thing is a variation on the El-Nino and La-Nina cycle which causes the jetstream to deviate from the 'normal' pattern. The Arctic Oscillation also plays a role in this. The consensus now is that it is a La-Nina year with a strong Arctic Oscillation.

Basically it means that the western parts of North America are getting hit with record cold temperatures as the jestream has shifted to the right. Conversely, much of the SE part of the continent, for example is enjoying record warmth for this time of year and balmy breezes from the tropics.

This would certainly apply to us in Shanghai, as the jetstream patterns on side of the world mirror the patterns on the other. This time of year normally sees freezing cold arctic fronts and temperatures down to almost zero. But now we have consistently stayed about 10 degrees and it has not been windy at all. It is a total change to last year.

Other parts of the world, not like this. Friends back in Western Canada, for example, are suffering with extreme cold and snowstorms unheard of for this time of year. Sure makes me glad to be over here ---- at least for this year.

2010 Looking to End on a More Relaxed Note

Today's weather: High = 18 Low = 8
Partly Cloudy

Well this is just for me personally ... better hold my breath before applying this to current events!

Fittingly enough, just after I started typing this blog post, I got wind of breaking news that said North Korea launched artillery fire across the border onto a South Korean island, and then SK fired back. Yikes! NK has always been in the news for doing this or that thing, and the most previous dispute was the submarine attack. But this latest one is pretty hard to dispute blame, and it looks like the entire SK military is on high alert now and preparing for more attacks.

And in more local news, there was a fire that broke out in Shanghai last week and destroyed an entire apartment complex. Now the whole city is on fire alert and the mayor is launching a series of building code crackdowns. The fire was caused by poor construction work in a neighboring building, where the work was sub-contracted out to unlicensed welders who were hired off the street. The managers soon fled after this, although some 15 were detained. Most of the migrant workers fled back to their hometowns, or were left in Shanghai without any compensation after the fire. Needless to say, unsafe work practices and lack of fire prevention are rampant like this all over the country. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The hyper response and all this typical "after-the-fact" planning come from the loss of face that the mayor would experience after such a tragedy happened in a city that just hosted the EXPO. After all, this wouldn't make major news headlines if a fire happened in, say, an interior city like Chongqing (which did happen there about 6 months ago)

Moving over to Taiwan, my friends from that area say that an earthquake happened there recently and this has some effect on upcoming local elections. Apparently they are afraid of the next guy being elected who won't be as friendly with the mainland as the current leader is. Positive ties between Taiwan and the mainland are rather key, especially with all the recent developments. Especially the direct flights now between Shanghai and Taipei that only take an hour.

Despite these sorts of things, life for myself has been going very well in the last few months. I'm happy to say that I haven't left the city at all for two months strong, and have been fitting in very well. It's gotten to the point where I actually *want* to travel again now, and look forward to wherever the next trip is.

Most of this year was a total whirlwind of traveling, and I basically hit the airport an average of once every 3 weeks! Friends who do business travel would tell me this is easy, compared to flying once a week like they do, sometimes more. But the fact of the matter is that frequent flying is exhausting. I was getting mighty sick of airplanes already this year, and pulling off a schedule like my business friends do would drive me insane.

Air travel is so exhausting because of the total time you're traveling, not just the time in the air. All the stuff about getting to/from the airport, flight delays, security checks, etc. just adds stress, not the mention the fact that waiting around in airports, transfer halls, or on the tarmac is mind-numbingly boring.

Basically I didn't really start flying until I was 22 years old. So it was a neat experience and a lot of joy at first to do this. Things would be seriously wrong if it got to the point where I didn't want to set foot in an airplane again. I guess the point is that air travel first became a special thing for me, not an exhausting ordeal --- and I'd like to keep it that way.

So feeling like I can stay put in one place for awhile is quite refreshing at this point, especially with the recent positive successes that have happened.

Recently the school where I work got a very positive review and some great feedback related to that, and things are really moving forward.

The gameplan at this point is to continue staying in Shanghai until the New Year Break, and several visitors are coming here to see me for a change.

Countin' Till Christmas

As usual, during the middle of the long stretch without a holiday, we look forward to Christmas. It's not that Christmas signifies any long holidays, in fact, we only get 4 days off total.

But when Christmas comes, New Years follows shortly after, then does final exams, and then the Chinese New Year break.

There are other neat little surprises along the way, including 3 friends who have already booked plane tickets to see me here in Shanghai before the break.

When I lived in Wuhan last year, nobody wanted to see me. Sniff Sniff. But now that I live here they do, so that works out.

As for the New Year break .... what to do? It's looking more and more like INDIA!

Can't get enough of that Indian thang.

Results: Cumulative Marks are Lower

After entering some past marks data and seeing whether cumulative marks really do give lower final marks than running term-by-term marks, as in the last post, the results were quite surprising.

If we run marks the lazy way by just making a gigantic spreadsheet without any regards to weights, i.e. all assignments, tests, etc. are equally weighted, then it turns out that cumulative marks give higher final averages.

But once we start assigning weights to categories and also running cumulative marks, then the shit hits the fan.

So far I have analyzed about 5 sample sets of data, and I would like to run more, but the results are all saying the same thing. A cumulative marks-based system with weighted categories and weighted terms lowers the overall school mark by around 2 - 3% which is statistically significant.

Let's say that the school wants the terms to be weighted as follows:

Term 1 -- 15%
Term 2 -- 20%
Term 3 -- 15%
Term 4 -- 15%
Final Exam -- 30%

Let's say that there are the following categories

Tests -- 60%
Labs -- 20%
Homework -- 20%

A term-by-term spreadsheet would apply those categories to each term, calculate a mark for each term, average the marks according to the weights above, and then calculate the final grade.

A cumulative spreadsheet with weighted terms built in would do something similar, but it would calculate everything based on a percentage of the *final* mark as follows

T1 and T4 Tests -- 9% (60% x 15%)
T1 and T4 Labs -- 3%
T1 and T4 HW -- 3%

T2 and T3 Tests -- 12% (60% x 20%)
T2 and T3 Labs - 4%
T2 and T3 HW - 4%

Final Exam - 30%

A quick check shows this all adds up to 100%

No wonder the administrators always frown on this particular kind of cumulative spreadsheet. Or, in former schools I taught at, they outrightly banned this way of doing marks.

As for why the marks are lowered this way, I have some idea, but it would be too complicated to get into here.

Statistical Project

In keeping with that last post about cumulative vs. term marks and all the controversy involved, I've got my hands on all my past marks from the old schools I taught at in Wuhan and Dalian.

Since my marks were all term-by-term reported and then averaged to get the final, I can easily combine all those marks into a retroactive cumulative spreadsheet system and see if there are any differences.

If there are, I will be mighty curious to see what's going on.

The prevailing controversy basically says that cumulative marks give a lower 'school mark' or final mark, compared to doing separate term-by-term marks.

Cumulative Marks vs. Term Marks

Today's weather: High - 15 Low - 10
Cloudy

Another education-related post to inform or bore you, whichever that may be.

An ongoing debate in schools is whether for teachers to do cumulative marks, or run separate marks every term. Cumulative marks mean that the student's mark carries through from the beginning of assessments right up until the end. Separate marks mean that each term is assessed in part, and the terms are averaged at the end of the year.

For semester schools that run an entire course in half a year, the cumulative marks are the preferred option. For "linear" schools than run for an entire year, term marks are a better option. Since we're a linear school that's basically what I do -- marks up until the Jaunary break, then run a new cycle of marks up until June, and then put the two together.

The general rule of thumb is that the longer the course lasts for, the more advantageous it is to do term marks. That breaks it down into a series of shorter terms, and gives more motivation to the students. This allows them to see improvement if, for example, they bombed Term 1 and then start getting better marks in Term 2.

That being said, the "mark" that students always want to track is their running total. Statistically, this changes less and less as more and more assessments are added in. So if teachers are doing cumulative marks for an entire year, it can be demotivating because the student essentially gets "stuck" with their mark, which is based on whatever influenced it from before.

On the other hand, doing term-by-term marks can be deceptive, especially if there are multiple terms added together at the very end. Suppose a student bombs Term 1, he then forgets about it as his Term 2 mark becomes really good. He's thinking he made some good improvement, and he did, but only for that snapshot. Once the marks are then averaged together, that crappy mark in Term 1 then comes back to haunt him.

The difference here is that he knew it all along with cumulative marks, even though he felt stuck with it. With term-by-term marks, the lousy first term then comes back to bite him at the end by "surprise".

Some teachers would say to drop the first term if it was the lowest one, or weight the first term less. I think both of those responses are a load of BS because you're changing the goalposts on students after the fact. What about those who busted their ass off in Term 1? Totally not fair if one studnet gets his term weighted less or dropped, and also not fair if the whole term gets weighted less for someone who worked really hard at the beginning.

Because if term 1 gets weighted less, then it only means that the other terms get weighted more.

In this sense, I'd lean more towards cumulative marks and would prefer to run them myself because cumulative marks focus on the end result -- not a particular snapshot. However, cumulative mars are controversial in most schools so I've opted for a two-term compromise which I'm happy with.

Perhaps a third alternative here would be to keep running cumulative marks in the background but only show or report marks that are based on a snapshot in time. How to actually do that would need more research on my part.

Backing Up The Hard Drive

Today's weather: High = 17 Low = 11
Cloudy

Having finally learned my lesson from the previous two hard drive crashes and the loss of two former laptops, I went out to Best Buy today and got myself a 500 GB portable hard drive. I'm now in the process of backing up every single file. Eventually I'll be making backups of those backups, I kid you not.

It was actually last week when I realized how much of a teacher's life depends on the computer. I was chatting with my students about marks and trying to calculate their term 1 report card mark. On that particular day my computer wasn't with me. Trying to explain the calculation by hand was really complex for both myself and the students.

So I said, "OK we'll do it this way then. I'll just go home on the motorcycle during lunch, get the computer, and we can discuss the marks then." Problem solved.

Aside from the all-precious marks, the computer is also used for storing lesson plans, resource files, tests, worksheets, electronic books, teaching videos, and a whole host of other resources. In fact, I'm still trying to get the resources back from the first two hard drive crashes and the loss of the computers that happened while teaching in Dalian, Suzhou, and Wuhan. Some of it will never be recovered.

I was using an ad-hoc USB system for storing data files at first, but since gave it up as it wasn't very efficient. The whole exercise of plugging in U-disks, unplugging them, and transfering them was rather frustrating, not to mention there was a risk of getting a virus. So I figure a portable hard drive is well worth the cash and it could very well save my butt in the future if my computer should crash again.

On the subject of backing up hard drives, I have recently downloaded a whole arsenal of math resources from an FTP site that my former school had put online. Combine this with a trip to Wuhan in August to get files from other colleagues, and it's now a major re-organizing task to put the folders in a way that's easy to use.

When a bunch of teaching resources come together from all over the place, it can get rather messy, so the challenge is to sift through it all and streamling the resources into more usable packages.

During teaching practicum, one of the math education leaders went against the crowd with a statement, but she was basically right on the money. She said that the way lesson and unit planning really works is that you start with the resources you have, and base the planning around that. In other words, you gather resources first, and plan the curriculum later. When it comes right down to it, a well-designed multiple choice test, a review package, and a pre-made answer key are far more valuable than a lengthy document about how you're going to teach the material.

And if you want such documents, for example the boss or the inspector wants to see it, you can always download them from an FTP site where somebody else has already produced them.

Life Quality is Good

Today's weather: High = 23 Low = 13
Sunny

Unbelievably, the gorgeous weather keeps up for yet another week and the cold fronts have not hit this far south yet. That is going to change abruptly this weekend when the temperature will drop in Shanghai and it will feel like winter, but for now I am grateful for the good timing.

It may seem like I'm a wimp for the weather, as I'm from Canada after all where it is supposedly cold all the time. But the problem here is that the houses are not designed for it, and the *indoor* temperature becomes uncomfortable. At least in Canada you can walk into an insulated house, turn on the heat, and take off the jacket. In a Shanghai winter, you never feel like you're warming up and the jackets always stay on. Including when you sleep. And yes, that's with the hot air conditioner going full blast too.

So any break in the winter weather is a good thing.

I just got back from a global leadership training conference that was very inspirational. We heard talks from the former CEO of General Electric and some of his business models can be applied to what I do -- teaching work. Certainly a lot of useful take-aways and it was well worth the money.

Being based in Shanghai makes it possible to attend these kind of events, in addition to Toastmasters clubs and a whole host of other activities. I have been enjoying a very active life over the last month and making lots of new friends. Combined with a more relaxed work schedule, I would say the quality of my life here is far better than the last two years combined ---- as I expected that would be the case.

Frankly, you really can't beat this city in China for the quality of life it offers. What amazes me about living here is that every weekend you can visit a different corner of Shanghai and it is all brand new. For example, the conference was held in a part called 'Xin Tian Di'. I don't often go out there, it is near the People's Square area and rather crowded. I live in the Xu Hui area which is about 15-20 minutes away by motorcycle, or 30 minutes by subway.

'Xin Tian Di' is a very attractive area in that most of the older houses have been preserved and it has that unique Shanghai charm that I remember over 8 years ago from first coming here. There are new developments of course, but they blend in well with the old houses and they haven't been bulldozed down like so many other districts. There is this new pedestrtian street where you can lounge around, eat at restaurants, chill out in the Starbucks, and so forth. If friends and family come visit me here, this is definitely the place to hang out in.

I'm really grateful for how this year is going because I remember all too well what it was like in the previous two years. The feel of dread quickly set in by November during the long stretch before the big holiday. It was basically a case of survival. Just get up, go to work, go home, and crash on the couch. When you combine varying degrees of isolation and extreme workload, that can't be healthy.

It is interesting that most of my colleagues here go to other places in China during the weekend, for example, a trip to Beijing, another one to Dalian, and weekly trips to Nanjing that one of my colleagues does. I used to do this stuff all the time while living in Wuhan last year. This year I'm going to stay put until the holiday as it has been one incredibly hectic travel year for 2010 already.

For the sake of health, I better stick in one place for awhile and give those airplanes a rest. It wasn't until I was 22 years old when I took the first major airplane ride. Because of that, I've always regarded air travel as something special and want to experience that same kind of joy. Since it got to the point where I was sick of air travel and dreaded going to the airport, then something had to be seriously, seriously wrong. So that's why I'm staying put for awhile.

How To Count 1.3 Billion People?

Today's weather: High = 23 Low = 13
Keep up this run of gorgeous sunny days!!!!!!

Every 10 years, the People's Republic does a census. This is actually my first experience with a population census, as I arrived to China in 2001 and the last one was done before I got here.

The newspaper articles are rather clear about the difficulties faced by the census workers this time round. The majority of residents don't trust strangers knocking at their door, and are suspicious. This goes hand in hand with a faced-paced lifestyle in Shanghai when it's also hard to find people at home. So the workers try to show up between 5pm to 9pm and catch as many people as possible. But they figure that 2 out of 10 people reached is a good thing. That's how hard it is to do the survey.

Somehow or other they'll be able to do their census. My guess is they would use pre-existing data from police registrations to get the numbers. By law, every resident must register their address with the local police station, otherwise known as 'pai suo chu'.

So if the numbers can be found from the police station, then the purpose of doing the census must be to ask questions and get survey forms filled by those residents who can be reached. In fact, it's a lot like what they do from my home country Canada. Some of the forms are standard, but a randomized 1 out of 10 has an extended form.

They mainly want to know migration patterns and how many people are really living in the cities. Shanghai has a huge floating population, and it's anyone's guess as to what it actually is. The official population figure is around 20 million, but a 4-5 million floating population is quite likely.

The problem, however, is this. The floating population is not registered with the police, because most of them are migrant workers who come into Shanghai from the countryside. So if they're not going to register with the police, then why would they be available to answer questions from a census worker? Despite the so-called reforms, there is a 'hukou system' that is rather entrenched. Basically it means they need to have a Shanghai 'hukou' or residents permit, in order to get social benefits, and of course, to register with the police. No hukou, no registration, so how can they track this?

The census undertaking is a laudable goal, but I seriously doubt we'll ever know the true population figures for the cities. There is safety in numbers. When there are too many people to track, it makes registration a very difficult thing. This of course would also apply to me tootling around the city on an unregistered bike.

Retro Commute

Today's Weather: High = 23 Low = 11
Sunny

With such a nice day today, why not another motorcycle ride. This time I did the retro commute of two years ago from Shanghai to the boonies where I used to work at Sino Canada. The trip seemed to take an extremely long time, and I kept wondering: How on earth did I use to do this so often two years ago? This was freakin grueling!

In actual fact I did that commute 2-3 times a week, sometimes every day when I used to live out of the Gubei apartment. I still can't figure out how I managed to survive all that.

Mind you, there are some advantages of living out there. Today was a matter of necessity to head out and get gas for the motorcycle. Inside the city they are cracking down as I feared they would .... they don't fill up gas to unregistered bikes anymore. So that means trips far out to the boonies to get gas.

With a tank full of gas now, that should last more than another month. Here's to a bet I can last until Christmas with that tank of gas.

Feeling Good in the Long Stretch

Today's weather: High = 19 Low = 7
Sunny

For those familiar with the Chinese holiday schedule and the school semester schedule, the longest stretch between holidays occurs right now. Last holiday was October break, or National Day. The next one isn't until Lunar New Year, about mid-January. Unfortunately, I considered the National Holiday a write-off for me anyway, and was really worried that it would set me back for this long stretch for the next 3-4 months.

Thankfully, this long stretch is turning out to be OK. It is remarkably different from the depression of previous years. I'm actually enjoying life and finding it going quite well, instead of preparing for the usual dread of going through this 3-4 month slog every year.

The weather plays a big role in this. It's the first time in years I remember the gorgeous weather continuing right into November. Last year and the year before, an early and long winter set in with freezing cold fronts, rain, and biting winds. With the exception of a cold front a couple weeks ago, it has remained relatively mild up until this point. That makes a huge difference with bearable motorcycle rides to work, and then finishing work in the afternoon without needing to wear a jacket.

The lack of commuting is also helping me feel a lot better. It is a simple 5-10 minute motorcycle zip on downtown streets to get to work. That can be exilerating, as the roads are super crowded and it's a constant game of dodgeball the whole way through. Nothing like a cold blast of wind and a real-life video game to wake me up. Since it's so short, I don't get to feel the nasty effects of cold hands or leg burn like in the commuting hell while I was working at Sino Canada a couple years back.

The only downside to this method of transport is that it's more or less required, ironically, just like it was required at Sino. The bike is unregistered, which is a major pain in downtown Shanghai as there are constant police to dodge. Of course, I could do without the motorcycle and use the subway but that would turn the trip into 30+ minutes and then it *would* be a commute! Walking to the subway takes up to 15 minutes. Once in the station, all the rush hour controls and security checks make for convoluted paths and waiting which adds time to the commute. It's not worth it for only going 2 stops. The other alternative is a taxi, but they are impossible to find in rush hour and even if I get one, I'd just end up sitting in really bad traffic jams.

The motorcycle is really the most convenient choice. It takes me door-to-door, bypasses all the traffic jams, and allows me to enjoy more sleep and still get to work on time.

Another positive are the relaxing work hours. Most of my classes are taught in the morning, 40 minute each, and then there are the long lunch hours. Most of the tutorial times with my students are during lunch, unlike at the other schools where the only available time was after school. So that means I can usually walk out the door around 3pm, go home for a much-needed afternoon nap, do lesson planning, and still have time for other stuff in the evenings.

Speaking of which, I've really gotten involved in exactly that. Two nights of the week are for church-related activities and there is another thing I've got going on the weekends.

So all in all it's working out pretty good. There isn't much of a need to travel, although one of these days I need to make a trip to Wuhan and withdraw all the cash from my old bank account.

Commuting less than 100 km / week

Weather today: High = 20 Low = 5
Hazy

The motorcycle odometer tells me I'm putting less than 100 km every week for getting around. Actually I haven't left the city of Shanghai at all since August except for two occasions. One was a family wedding in Vietnam earlier last month, and the other was was a church retreat in Songjiang just last weekend. Technically, Songjiang is part of Shanghai (province) so that may not necessarily count!

At any rate, most of what I need is right downtown in a particular district: Xu Hui. Even trips to Pudong or People's Square are a rarity as the majority of time I am happily enjoying life in this district.

Two years ago while living out in the boonies, I would be commuting almost 100km *every day* on the motorcycle, actually the scooter at the time. Last year while working in Wuhan, that dropped to about 250 km every week, or just about enough to fill a tank of gas every week.

Now I only fill up the gas tank every month.

Life After EXPO

As the 2010 EXPO has wrapped up here in Shanghai, the life is slowly returning back to pre-expo days. That means, among other things, subway schedules finishing at 10:30pm to 11pm instead of after midnight. Construction projects are back up and running at full speed, along with all the unlicensed night trucks nicknamed 'street killers'. Construction was more or less banned during the event, but since it has resumed, so have the trucks come back on the road. Related to the resumption of construction, the skies aren't so blue anymore as they were during the event.

With the influx of visitors now back to the provinces, the hotels aren't so busy anymore and it's easier to get around. Security, however, still remains tight ... and likely will remain for quite some time.

Most of the pavilions themselves are being dismantled and shipped back to the respective countries. The China Pavilion, along with the EXPO Cultural Center, the Saudi Pavilion, and a few others will remain. The EXPO site will be re-developed into housing, parks, and other benefits.

I actually enjoyed the event --- went at least 4 times. Although getting around was a pain, to be sure, the benefits of a cleaner city and less noise / air pollution were charming.

What's in a Grade?

Today's weather: High = 17 Low = 10
Partly cloudy

As the November report card marks are rapidly approaching, so are the students' application deadlines to various US and Canada universities. They are enthusiastic, or should we say obsessed, with getting the high marks to enter the institutions of their choice. The first reporting period is the most important, as these marks are the basis of what they use for early admissions.

So this begs the question of what's included in their 1st term grade -- which is more like an interim grade. In other words it's gotten me very curious, once again, about the process of assessment and evaluation and the details of what goes into that all-important number on their report card.

The term 'grade inflation' is used a lot these days, in various contexts. The Vancouver Sun newspaper from my hometown has much to say about grade inflation as it relates to the English marks of the school sytem (in general) I teach in -- BC offshore system. Obviously this is a hot-button issue with a lot of controversy, but thankfully as a math teacher it doesn't affect me as much.

Nonetheless I thought I'd do some internet research on what exactly grade inflation is, and more importantly, what are the criteria that go into making a grade. As usual, Wikipedia to the rescue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_inflation

Another website called grade inflation a dangerous myth!

http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/gi.htm

From what I could conclude out of these articles:

(1) Grade inflation is better desribed as grade compression. That is to say, "inflated" grades mean the marks in a sample set are closer together and it is more difficult to tell who is a top student from an average student, and so forth. In other words, the "inflated" grades don't fit a normal distribution. Rather, they are skewed to the right.

(2) There is mixed statistical evidence on whether grade inflation / compression is really happening.

(3) If we accept that it's happening, then nobody has been able to prove whether the standards for getting an "inflated" A are lower than the standards for a "true" A. In other words, nobody talks about the criteria that is used to judge an A or how a mark develops. Unbelievably, the debate rages with that crucial part of information left out.

(4) Marks that are supposed to fit a prescribed standard, i.e. a normal distrubution or a limited number of As ensure there will be "winners" and "losers" in the class. In other words, if the marks are altered to fit some sort of desired pattern, then the grades describe relative standing in a class as opposed to how well students meet an objective set of criteria.

(5) Some educators argue that grades themselves are the problem and should be done away with and replaced with qualitiative comment. I couldn't quite agree with that -- and besides, that scenario is not possible in my world.

My own take on things is that the student marks should reflect, as much as possible, how well they perform to an objective criteria set. The best source of that is the PLOs, or the prescribed learning outcomes, as set by the government.

The idea of altering marks, doctoring them, etc. goes against the entire scientific method and should make any math or science teacher cringe. If the report cards come out and the marks are "too low" or "too high" and as a result they are doctored, it is the same as doctoring the data from a scientific lab because the results didn't fit the ideal model. Obviously I'm not in favor of scaling marks or grading on a curve.

Students need to know ahead of time what the criteria for assessment is, and how they can plan to meet the expectations. I put that information in a course outline at the beginning of the year, for example:

Quizzes -- 15%
Test -- 40%
Projects -- 10%
Homework -- 5%
Term exams - 30%

Going into more details, the tests themselves are based on PLOs and the lesson plans are geared to cover those PLOs and in essence, prepare for the tests. There is usually a review package or some other sort of practice test as well.

Even so, there are multiple factors for why a grade isn't exactly objective. It can be as simple as when the test is scheduled. Shockingly, I gave one math quiz before lunch for one class, and the other one after lunch. The one before lunch netted an 82% average, while the one after lunch only fetched 70%. It was the exact same quiz.

Several students complained afterwards and said they were 'too sleepy' when the test was scheduled in the afternoon.

Another thing is how two tests can be designed on exactly the same PLOs yet one is much harder than the other. It may not even be that one test is harder, but the order of questions or the pscyhology of the test can influence the final mark. For example, a multiple choice test that has a string of B B B B B choices and no D or C can throw people off, even if it is a simple computer error where the choices are not randomized.

So while the grade may not be completely objective, it should try to be as much as possible. I think the key here is to say what the goals are ahead of time, let students achieve them, and don't switch the goalposts midway through the game.

History is Made

Today's weather: High = 15 Low = 7
Sunny and chilly

The Guiness Records Link says it all. Two years ago I had the honor of hosting this guy out in Zplashes, the remote hotel outpost just beyond the Shanghai province border.

http://www.14degrees.org/en/?p=860

Blog Reactivated

Today's weather: High = 14 Low = 8
Sunny and chilly

Hello world again!

After numerous email requests from readers, I've decided to get this blog back and running again. I've reached a bit of a compromise in that I'll keep the blog going, but stay off facebook for quite some time yet. Besides, facebook access from within mainland China is very difficult -- reinstating my account wouldn't be an option even if I wanted to.

Privacy concerns are what prompted me to disappear off facebook and pull this blog. But after some encouragement from some friends who are in favor of free speech .... well needless to say, I'm back.

Having thought about it some more, there isn't as much of a privacy concern with this blog as with facebook. As I see it, there are only two ways to come across a blog site like this. One, you do a search for a topic of interest, such as "life in Shanghai" or "blogs about Shanghai" or something like that. The other way is if you already have this blog address.

For the most part, I'm writing to a general audience here, which may or may not include specific friends and family members. In looking at the patterns of how I've written these blogs in the past, I habitually stick to general terms and avoid giving out specific names of people, addresses, personal details, and information that could affect others' privacy unless they've consented first.

When I do write in specific terms, it tends to be neutral information that others can use if they want, or just skip over if not interested. For example, the schedule of a train, how much an airplane ticket costs, how to cross a land border, the traffic patterns in a city, or some details about how to teach mathematics. In other words, it's the kind of information could already be found on the internet or from other sources.

However, and this becomes the whole point of why I write these blogs -- I try to bring out information that is both useful and extremely difficult to find from other sources. It's not that the information is confidential, but it's because few people have taken to posting it.

For example, the details of how the traffic patterns work in a city like Wuhan (where I used to live) are almost nonexistent online, yet that city suffers from chronic traffic congestion on par with Sao Paulo and other cities that make the top 10 list of the worst traffic in the world. If you do a search on the internet for "cities with the worst traffic" you will invariably find Sao Paulo and Los Angeles, but Wuhan won't even make the list.

But if you're stuck in horrible jams on the way back from the airport that last for more than 3 hours on a Sunday night like I was repeatedly last year, then you begin to wonder why the traffic is so bad and why this city isn't on any top 10 list. The next step is to start researching the details for Wuhan traffic and looking for creative ways to beat the jams.

Eventually you say screw it, the traffic is so bad, the city isn't worth living in, let's pack up and move to Shanghai.

With all that in mind, this blog is mainly designed to inform and to share stories.

Facebook, on the other hand -- I'm not such a big fan of it anymore. Even if there are so-called privacy filters and your account is really limited to friends and family members, you tend to forget who's reading. This is especially true if you have 500+ friends on your profile like I once had. So you might drop your guard, let a personal comment slip the net, and someone inadvertently gets offended.

The irony here is that you think you are secure or have privacy with your "personal" account and selected friends on facebook but you are really not. Meanwhile, a public blog like this has the ironic effect of being more private because of the very nature of your being selective of what you choose to post -- after all, anyone could be reading!