Air Canada: Drama in the Air

It's been a long time since posting here, due to busyness of course.  Will eventually get this blog going again with more updates.

The Christmas week was an enjoyable time visiting friends and family in Vancouver were I'm originally from. More on that in another post.

But getting back to Shanghai was quite the story.

The airline was Air Canada.  Generally they are quite good, and today was like that.  The best part is the in-flight movie entertainment.  The flight attendants are quite attentive and friendly.  They serve at least two meals on board for the 12 hour direct flight.  Today's flight was just a little more than half-full which was great, as I could catch a bit of sleep on the flight.  Moreso than usual.  What sucks, however, is the policies with check-in baggage, and of course, the all pervasive airport security.  That shouldn't come as a surprise nowadays, but it still sucks big time.

Somehow I had this feeling that the flight would not go uneventfully, and that was indeed the case.  For starters, an hour delay.  No big deal, it was relaxing to chat with friends at Starbucks beforehand and then eventually go through security.   But the package I was delivering for friends had a problem with security.  There were two large bottles of Vaseline and other lotions, not to mention boxes of baby powder.  The powder they let me carry through, but the liquids had to be either checked in or given up.

I decided to go back through the line and check them in, hoping that Air Canada would not charge $70 for the extra bag this time, as they had said at first.  The initial charge for the second bag was what made me carry the huge extra bag as carry-on luggage in addition to the laptop and other carry-on bag.  At the check-in desk, the person was friendly, but she still insisted on the $70 extra bag charge.  Apparently my ticket only entitled me to one check-in bag, not two as in previous times.

Despite the usual attempts to smile, tell a story, and add some humor, the clerk wasn’t going to relent from the $70.  So the conversation went something like this:

"I have an idea, how about mailing these two bottles of lotion to Shanghai?  Is there a post office in the airport?"

      "Yes, there is a 7-11 store that can do that here.  It will still cost a lot, perhaps half of what is the fee for checking in the bags."

       "Hmm, I see."

       "What I can do for you is this … can go ahead and put the luggage tag on this bag, then you go and find out the cost of shipping.  If you decide to mail it, then will take off the tag and you can carry the bag on.  If not, will check it through.  Either way, the gate closes in 20 minutes."

      "I see."

      "Either way, it is going to be very expensive lotion."    (laughs)

I appreciate the humor, but this wasn't exactly a laughing matter at the time.  With a half-full flight, the airline could have easily checked the bag through with no problem at all.  But no, Air Canada was a stickler for the rules.  In this day and age of air travel, and especially in the land of Canada, that should come as no surprise.

So I got on the phone and made arrangements for my friend to come back to the airport, pick up the lotion bottles, and then someone else would carry them through separately on a different trip to Shanghai.  I’d still transport the baby powder.  In hindsight, knowing about this stupid recently changed one-bag policy would have made me pack the bags differently.

Once through security for the second time, I got subjected to a random body search.  The options were either a pat down or the body scanner.  I chose the scanner.  The airports in North America are beyond ridiculous with their security now, and it only one more reason out of many to keep living overseas.  Even so, despite my views on these goddamn scanners, I had to cooperate and play by the rules.  The way I see it is this. I only go through the scanner once and am then on my way, while the chumps who operate the scanner have to face it every day.

Once on board the flight, there was a problem.  As the plane taxied out of the gate, a sick woman on board basically collapsed in the aisle.  Oh no, all I could think about was if she was OK or not.  The captain was smart to make the call to return to the gate, and the paramedics came on and took the passenger off the airplane.  More waiting after that, as the airline had to do a crew change due to labor regulations.  All told it caused a 4 hour delay.  This was extremely unpleasant, but the flight attendant told me later that the alternative would have been far worse.  That is to say, if the sick passenger collapsed while in the air over the Pacific, they would have to turn the plane around and fly back.

Thoughts on the MMT So Far

Related to the last post, the MMT is a Masters of Mathematics for Teachers, offered online to math teachers by the University of Waterloo.

Having taken 3 full courses now (81.25% cumulative GPA)  and most recently dropped the ball on one  course (doesn't affect my GPA) here are my findings on the program.

First of all, the program is going to take lots of time!  Working and doing a masters at the same time is quite brutal, and the total workload should not be underestimated.  In this context, taking a summer semester off each year really does make sense, as I'm glad I came to my senses at the last minute and decided to drop a summer masters course.

I would seriously expect 4 to 5 years to do this.  Of course there is the option to take time off work and do the program, which is worth considering.  But the overall economics work better if you work and do the masters, even over a longer time period.

Secondly, I've been impressed with some courses and disappointed with others.

The software program (Math 600) was by far the most useful.  It is an excellent place to begin the program with a professor who can't be beat.  She explains in very clear details what you need to do, and if you follow her assignments to the letter you get high marks and learn foundational software programs that will be of great use for the entire program.  I got a 95% in that course and was very satisifed with it.  The fundamental program is Latex which is used for typeset mathematics.

Mathematical proofs was a huge disappointment.  Theory has never been my strong point, but the course itself was taught by the number one professor to avoid, who is the same guy in charge of the History course (see last post).  Even so I plan to take some time this summer to review the proofs material and understand it at a more deeper level.  I scraped by with 75% in that course.

Calculus foundations was interesting but a bit misleading because it was really a course in mathematical analysis, not calculus.  And so this analysis involved another type of theory and proofs.  I got a decent mark in that, 85%, although I still need to review the material in summer as well.

In looking at the course offerings for the upcoming semesters, there is a whole lot more theory on the buffet table, but not as much practical stuff as I would hope to see.  There is finance and modeling, which I want to get my hands on.   I wish there would be a course in cryptography, but I have yet to find it. 

Dropped a Masters Course

Today's weather:  High = 28 Low = 19
Cloudy

For the sake of my own sanity, I had to do it.  As mentioned in previous posts, I'm currently taking a MMT program, which is Masters of Math for Teachers, offered by the University of Waterloo.  The masters degree is online, which means of course that it is designed for people, i.e. teachers, who work and do the course simultaneously.

At this point I must clear up two common misconceptions that everyone I have talked to who isn't taking this program seems to think about this program.  First, this masters degree is not an education masters, I repeat it is NOT about education, or anything to do with a MEd or MA.  This program focuses on hardcore math content knowledge.  The term 'for teachers' doesn't mean that the program is designed to help people become better math teachers.  Rather 'for teachers' simply means those are the people taking the program.

Secondly, this is not one of those online masters degrees you can do in two years, as most people I know seem to have been able to accomplish with various other types of masters degrees.  If it takes you three years to do this program, then you're pushing yourself, either by taking summer courses or multiple courses per semester -- in which case you would likely not be working a full-time job at the same time.

Realistically it will take you 4 years, even 5 years to do this while you're working and taking the program at a reasonable pace.  This was what I wrote in previous blogs, but the ongoing temptation was for me to jump the gun and try to accelerate the pace to 3 years, thus aiming to get it done by June 2014.

Well it turns out that I was under the impression that a certain course 'History of Mathematics' was easier and could be done during summer semester (May through July) because it simply involved reading and essay writing.  Unfortunately I didn't do enough research and signed up for the course from what colleagues said.  I was expecting an easy breezy reading course, after a hardcore run of math content over the past two semesters. 

Nothing could have been further from the truth.  This course was the most brutal one yet, based on many factors.  Workload, types of assignments, and tons of new math content to learn.  Basically we would have to learn a whole new set of math content each week for each mathematician we were learning the history of, in additional to reading and essay writing.  Then a final project worth 60% of the mark where 20 pages was the minimum -- all using a new software program that I'm still getting the hang of.

The worst part of all was that none of this information about expectations was found in the course description, and one could easily believe this was a reading course, strictly going from that.

As a case in point, the first week was all about cryptography, based on the mathematician William Tutte.  He was essentially responsible for cracking the codes that the Nazis used in the war and spying on the enemy communications.  Tutte was able to confirm through his code cracking that the enemy believed the Allied Troops were going to land their ships at a certain bluff spot, when in fact the troops would land at Normandy for the surprise that ultimately won the war. 

Tutte did amazing work in cracking the enemy codes from what they used as a 'Fish Machine' and Tutte essentially built the first computer from scratch in order to do this.

If we only needed to read about this amazing man and write essays on his work, that would be great.  However, the first week of this course also required that we delve deep into cryptography and solve ciphers ourselves, specifically the Vigenere Cipher.  A brutal first written assignment was only worth 8% of the course mark yet I spent nearly 20 hours learning cryptography for the first time and applying it to solve the problems we were required to do.  The directions for the assignment were very vague and so I invented methods of my own that were totally different from the methods that the prof insisted we use.

Based on my learning thus far, I find cryptography to be fascinating, however, this topic would easily be enough to justify a whole math masters course in itself, not just one mere week. 

The sad fact is that after this week, we move on to a new topic with a new mathematician, and have to learn a whole new set of math content related to whoever the guy happens to be.  For example, next week we learn about Euclid, and of course there is new math to learn for that, specifically Euclidean solutions to quadratic equations.  The week after that we get into Islamic mathematicians, and learn a whole new set of math related to their contributions  Of course we need to learn about Islam background too.

All in all, a good course, but let's be honest:  each week is a bloody module in itself!  The workload alone for this course would kill me.  Combined with the fact that May and June are the busiest times of the school year, it was a matter of necessity that I had to drop this course.

There is no penalty, I get my full money back and the drop doesn't show on the transcript, as long as this takes place before May 21.

AP Exam Looming

Today's weather:  High = 30  Low = 20
Cloudy

Grade 12 students are set to write their AP Calculus exam this Wednesday.  They have a very good chance of doing well, based on the results from their practice test I arranged in class last week.  Finally our school got approved for a code, and all the previous mess involved in this process has been sorted out.

Flight Delays: A Serious Problem

Today's weather:  High = 25 Low = 17
Cloudy

I recently came back from a very successful shopping trip to Hong Kong over the May Holiday extended weekend.  However, it was also extremely crowded.  Read all about it here

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/10285

Our flight was delayed almost 3 hours on the way down.  Not surprisingly, very little information was given to the passengers as to the reason(s) why the flight was delayed, or when it would take off.  They simply told us things like "please wait" and "we will tell you more information later"

Any frequent flyer in China would experience this kind of thing, and it is in fact a normal experience.  The horror stories related to delayed flights would no doubt be dramatic, and I could certainly tell a few of them.

From time to time, passengers have been known to take extreme measures to get compensation, such as refusing to leave the plane on arrival.  My concern is that as flight delays and the whole Chinese air travel experience gets worse and worse every year, the actions that passengers take to get compensated are more and more extreme.

Read about two recent cases in which passengers got out and stormed the tarmac in protest, which is a severe violation of aviation law.

www.szdaily.com/content/2012-04/18/content_6663535.htm

Something has to be done to address this issue of air travel in China as the problem is reaching a crisis point.  Airports in the Pearl River Delta region are the worst of all.  This includes Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.

http://www.businesstraveller.asia/asia-pacific/news/mainland-china-flight-delays-reaching-serious-levels

Until then, my advice is to always expect delays when flying domestic, build it into your schedule, and be prepared to wait long hours.  Ironically, air travel is the best way I can think of to work on your patience and build your character.

Despite the lack of infomation, airlines and airports undersand how emotional this can be to people, so they at least try their best to help in anyway they can.  This is a gesture that should be appreciated.  They do things like provide food early if the plane is sitting on the tarmac to soothe the passengers' neves.  If you happen to be stuck in an airport in Dalian, then the airport will provide cheerleaders to ease the pain.

http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/china-airport-brings-cheerleaders-soothe-stranded-passengers-578937?hpt=hp_mid

That is a very creative idea.  Next I want to see is massage services at airports.  I bet they would do a booming business.

HSBC Shanghai, It's Been Nice Knowing You

But it's time to say goodbye.  After wiring all the money that needed to be wired, then withdrawing all the remaining cash, the next logical thing to do was close down the account.  Predictably they asked why.  I simply told them I had gone to Hong Kong and opened a SmartVantage account with HSBC over there, thus I didn't need the existing Advantage account in Shanghai anymore.  I could have told them their customer service was crap, and it took 3 painfully slow weeks to send and receive overseas money transfers.  But what would be the point of telling them that?  It's not their fault, it's the mainland banking rules.

As mentioned in previous posts, the HSBC SmartVantage account is not offered on the mainland.  It is, however, offered in Hong Kong and it only requires a minimum balance of HKD 10,000.  If you don't have that, there is a 'below balance fee' of HKD 60 every month.  The SmartVantage account is multi-currency, with over 15 major world currencies available.  Plus you have access to many other services.

Compare this with the Advance and Premier multi-currency accounts.  These are also available in Hong Kong with minimum balances of HKD 200,000 and HKD 1 million respectively.  Or else you pay a below balance fee of HKD 200 or HKD 500 respectively.

On mainland China, the only multi-currency accounts offered are with the Advance and Premier.  But that requires RMB 100,000 or RMB 500,000 respectively.  Or else a below balance fe of RMD 150 a month or RMB 500 a month.

The HKD and RMB used to be on par, but now 1 RMB = 1.25 HKD

To make a long story short, the Shanghai bank account served its purpose, which was to wire money to Thailand in my name, as it would have been unrealistic to go down to Bangkok for a day or two and carry cash

I was, however, able to carry cash and physically go down to Hong Kong during business hours.  Then I opened an account there last month.  Will be going again during the May holiday to help a colleague do likewise.  Going down in person is essentially the only way to open a HK-based account, which is certainly possible for non-HK residents .  There are rumors that you can open one by staying on the mainland, but this is only a rumor.  If it were possible, it would be an incredible amount of trouble.  That's just China.  But you go to the other China, that is HK, and it is easy breezy.  Welcome to one country, two systems.

HSBC advertises itself as the world's local bank.  They also are known as Hong Kong and Shanghai Banknig Corporation.  But you can obviously see that the HK and SH branches are two totally separate local entities thus the 'world's local bank' is most certainly true.  To test the waters I wired a small amount of US cash from my SH account to the HK account and got charged an extortionate rate.  The mainland banking rules are mainly to blame for this, as other HSBC branches in the world don't charge as much for comparable wire transfers.

To get money into the HK acount you'd somehow have to avoid the mainland banks entirely.  In which case you'd want to wire it in directly from overseas, or take cash and carry it across the border into HK.

Lots of Upgrades

Today's weather:  High = 27  Low = 18
Amazing

As the title suggests, there are many upgrades coming up.  The main thing is the scooter will be replaced with a high-powered motorcycle, and the folding bike replaced with a professional mountain folding bike.  Then I'm getting a GPS unit and a notebook computer.  One has to wonder how I'm not broke, or soon to be broke after all this.

Going to Hong Kong over the May holiday break will be primarily how all this is accomplished.  Also going to help a colleague open a HSBC SmartVantage bank account, drawing on the success I had with that last trip, we're both heading on down.

Meanwhile, 69 more days until summer vacation starts.  You can read all about that on my biking website.  Lots of recent success on there about getting to Chongming Island and Jiangsu province from the cty.

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/10285

But I'm primarily concentrating now on preparing students for AP Calculus exam this coming May 9.  That day will happen sooner than you think.

Amazing Airfares

Today's weather:  High = 20 Low = 10

Sunny

You know the airline.

http://www.airasia.com

They have a promo such that if you book flights within this week (From Apr 16 to 22) and fly during the summer period, then you can get some seriously awesome deals.  This will no doubt be useful for my upcoming Burma trip

http://www.crazyuyonabike.com/doc/10285

The only difficulty is coming up with a plan, asap, in order to make use of these flights.  The deals extend all over the network, and I'd to do another country for a month before Burma.  In terms of internet access, I've basically decided to do the Burma trip in August when there won't be a need to go online for my MMT masters degree.  Obviously, internet access is sketchy over there and it would be silly to rely on it.  

Meanwhile that leaves July and a whole bunch of cheap flights to figure something out.  Will eat a cheap meal, decide over dinner, then start booking out the wazoo.

A Student Went Nuts

Today's weather: High = 21  Low = 12

Sunny

He didn't go around shooting people or anything like that, but a particular boy in my calculus class has been acting up lately and I'm seriously concerned.  To make a long story short, he doesn't have he support of his parents, his Dad often beats him, and he lives with other relatives in substandard conditions.

Today he started hissing and growling and banging his head on the desk during the breaks between classes.  This was a new development.  Not loud or anything overly disruptive, but nonetheless noticeable.  Other students dismissed him and said he was depressed, he does it often, don't worry about it.

Things are happening at school to take more care of this boy and for privacy reasons I don't want to get into too many details.  However, I want to post more about this issue on my other blog from a spiritual point of view, especially concerning these manifestations.

 

We Have a Crackdown

Today's scooter ride to work was a little scary. There is a colossal intersection I have to pass through each way (Caoxi Rd and Zhongshan Rd). Police love to stand around and nab unregistered scooters as they are waiting for the lights. The usual tactic I have is to sit back 50m from the red light and wait for it to change, then go through with the mass pack of other scooters when the light changes, thus blending in with the crowd.

Imagine my shock when I saw no fewer than 6 police officers flanking the intersection and coordinating their attacks to stop the scooters. They were quite aggressive about it, and walking around back and forth to catch people like me who stop before the light. I had to do quite a few stealth moves, U-turns, ride against traffic to get away from the intersection completely.

Then a few hours later I was walking to the bank and I saw a blue truck parked and full of scooters which were already confiscated. This is not a good sign. The bike is parked at the school now, safely underground, and it may stay there for awhile. Rather park the bike voluntarily and take a break from riding, as opposed to the police taking away my bike.

I Love My Ayi

Today's weather:  High = 22  Low = 12
Sunny
 
When I was a kid, my Mom used to say, "Don't think you can have a maid to clean up after yourself when you become an adult.  You'll have to learn life skills yourself."
 
Little did she know I would end up living in Shanghai, hiring a maid, and speaking Mandarin. 
 
One of the hallmarks of living in Shanghai during my first stint from 2001-04 was the "ayi", that is the local house maid who came regularly to clean, cook, wash clothes, and generally keep the place in order.  Hiring domestic help is common for foreigners living in Shanghai.  For those of us who can speak Chinese, and even those who can't, the ayi does far more than simply a job -- she effectively becomes like your mother, ready to dish out plenty of good advice and stern criticisms about eating habits, personal health, and watching out for your safety.  These people can also bargain like nobody's business.
 
Indeed, all the ayis I've had have been an enormous help in terms of local knowledge.  I weigh far more heavily what they have to say about survival in Shanghai than anyone else.  For example, when they tell me to avoid the red colored taxis, then it's great advice.  Similar to how I'm told that sleeping when exhausted and skipping dinner after a long day at work is not a good decision.  Instead I should just go to bed earlier and eat regular meals, especially the meals they offer to cook. 
 
The best advice came once about 3 years ago when I was living in the Gubei area on the weekends, and working out in the boonies -- a school called Sino Canada.  I was so angry about some things at work and afraid the school wouldn't pay my salary.  She basically told me to calm down and take time before making any irrational decisions.  When I finally did get paid, the ayi was sure to get a major bonus.
 
Now, during my 3rd stint in Shanghai, I've finally decided to hire a 3rd ayi and she has been a real winner.  The market price has gone up -- to around 20 RMB per hour.  But if she keeps up her excellent work as she has done for the past couple of times, then I may consider paying her more.  At any rate, I've been firing off emails left, right, and center to people I know and advertising her services.  She is one of the rare types who works hard, goes beyond the call of duty, and does it all wth a smile.
 
When in China the key thing is to get recommendations from others, and to do everything privately through word of mouth.  When a person does something really well, then his or her reputation spreads fast, and people know this is the one they go to.  There is so much riffraff in China I wouldn't even know where to start.  So then the exceptional people stand out and shine through private contacts.  They end up getting so much work they have to turn down offers.
 
I would never recommend using an agency or referral service for ayis.  Instead, do it privately.  The same would apply for house rentals.

 

Math Masters Degree 25% Complete

A rather significant milestone with this program.  I've now achieved 1 credit out of 4.   For those interested, the MMT description can be found here:

http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/

It is an online masters degree in math for teachers, however, don't let that name mislead you.  The program is not designed for teaching pedagogy, and I knew it from the outset.  Rather, the focus is on mathematical content.  The courses have been specifically picked for high school teachers.  That is, if we can master the content at the level of the program, then it helps greatly in the lower-level content that we teach the students in class, by leading to a deeper understanding.

So far the courses I've taken have been:  Mathematical Software, Proofs, and Calculus Foundations.  The last one is more like a course in mathematical analysis, despite the name "calculus" which is a bit misleading.   I'm going to set aside some time during summer and re-learn the material in the last two courses.  I got the marks OK enough, but the content has been very difficult to grasp, as pure math and theory is not my strong point.  However, it's important to learn, so I'm going to take the time and do it.

Next up on deck is the History of Mathematics course which promises to be interesting.  After that it's mathematical modeling, more theory, then the much-awaited finance course, which will probably be the highlight of the whole program.  I'd also like to take a stab at probability, number theory, and geometry.

If all goes well then I'm done this program in June 2014.  It's a steady slog, but 2.5 years seems to be a reasonable time frame to complete a masters online while not compromising work.   That's an important date for other reasons as well, when I'll most likely quit BC offshore school teaching and do a career change.  

The price of this program is very reasonable.  I've been paying out slightly more than $950 per half-credit, so it's probably going to cost just short of $8000 in total.

Those people who go home to Canada, stop working, and take physical masters degrees on campus are throwing money down the drain in more ways than one.  Not only is the cost much more for actually showing up on campus to do a degree, the lost opportunity to work is what really eats away the cash, given the higher living costs in a western country. 

However, doing a masters and working at the same time is quite brutal to be frank.  I'm enjoying this 3-week slack time until the next course kicks off in May. 

The Thai Monsoon Begins

It should be fairly obvious by now that I have an affinity for Thailand after an umpteen amount of trips down there.  Only reason why I don't live there, well at least not yet, is the economics isn't as good as working and living in China.  Even so, retirement in Thailand is a darn fine idea.  If not that, then medical tourism, or certainly just tourism in general.

My favorite time of year in SE Asia isn't the dry season, but actually the monsoon.  This may seem strange, but for the type of travel I do, namely bicycle travel, the monsoon is the ideal time.  The rains happen in the afternoon and evening most of the time, and other than that, it is cloudy with temperatures not as searingly hot as they'd normally be.  Another huge benefit is that it is low season which means less crowds and better discounts.

There is no real official stating time for the monsoon, but it is usually around now as marked by the Thai New Year, or the Songkram Festival.  This is the water festival to mark the end of the hottest weather season and celebrate the monsoon arrival which brings the rains and the cooler weather.  Fittingly enough, they go around dumping water buckets on everyone at this time, especially in Bangkok.

Unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to visit Thailand during Songkram due to my work schedule, but I follow the news and other peoples' bike blogs to see what's going on.  I'm now quite looking forward to seeing the monsoon kick into higher gear, and for the low season to approach so I can head on down there --- which of course is where I'll be this summer.

 

AP Exams All Ordered

Today's weather:
High = 18  Low = 11  Cloudy

This week has been quite hectic in terms of exams.  Students in the senior year at our school already had to write a provincial exam for their English course, as well as take part in the mathematics contest.

Next on the agenda for testing is AP Calculus.  It was a horrendously complex task to get all the exams ordered to our school, but it got done.  So now, we can now ramp ahead full scale into the final preparations for this big test.

78 more days until summer holiday, but who's counting.  

Holiday Trip / Bike Warmup All Went Pear-Shaped

See the cycling blog for the details

 

www.crazyguyonabike.dom/doc/10285

 

I'm so glad I chose not to invest any money in China, despite how this trip made for some interesting possibilities in a region of northern Jiangsu province that has huge development potential.  But as I learned on this trip, whenever China develops something new, they also cancel the former option, and so people don't really have a choice but to pay more for the newest "options"

 

In this sense, the development is really a step backwards, not forwards.  As such, I won't be investing a jiao of my money to participate in China's development, no matter how large the profit potential.  It's really a matter of principle.

Local Bike Break

Today's weather:  High = 25 Low = 11

Sunny

I'm on a short bicycle trip for this 3-day holiday.  Anything bike related will be on this site from now on

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/10285

Weekend Make-Up Days are Terrible

There is no justification for this whatsoever, especially when it includes both Saturday and Sunday to get a 3-day holiday, and when today's weather happens to be a high of 21, a low of 12, and sunny.

I can never understand this ridiculous policy to work on weekends to make up holidays.  We rarely had to do it at previous teaching jobs such as Maple Leaf and Sino Canada.  But this school takes the cake.  At any rate, nothing to do really but play the babysitter role.

I'm in the process of doing the math on how often our weekends have been ruined this year, or will be ruined.  Not encouraging.  The lack of general holidays at this school is a key reason why I'm taking advantage of the entire summer break to plan a major bike trip in Asia, because this is the only remaining option.  As well, I'm making plans to quit teaching in BC offshore schools altogether by June 2014,  and move on to something else.  The next two years I need the money fairly badly and it only makes sense to keep going, and put up with some of these things ... but in the long term, there is no way I would endure these kind of working conditions.

I take inspiration from a guy I met in Thailand last summer who finances his extended vacations through a "passive income", in his case, from real estate investments.  As promised, will eventually write up a detailed post on the financial and career plans I've been cooking up over the last year or so, and how I might be able to do something similar to this guy, most certainly within the next five years.

The Traumas of Over-Committing

Today's weather:  High = 17  Low = 9
Rain

I have a very bad habit of committing to something new, enjoying it at first, then burning out as I realize I have committed to too many things already and can't possibly finish them all.  Then, something has to give.  Either I sacrifice one committment for another, or I spread myself too thin, or worse yet, bail on a committment I've decided to be lower priority.

This has the effect of letting others down, and rightly so they are angry, as I have been the one to goof up.

Once more I've found myself in this kind of ugly situation.  Without wanting to go into details, I'm going to have to scale back on the mess I've created and make apologies, then find some way to back out and/or delegate out what has gotten me burned out.  Then, hopefully once things are under control, will finally put into practice the best advice I got from a university friend.

His advice was simple.  Say no more than you say yes.

Hoping to Salvage AP for Next Year

Today's weather:  High = 25  Low = 12

Sunny

Progress is being made to get the AP tests ordered for the coming exam season, but the overall reluctance of students to sign up for the AP Test and for students to take AP Calculus next year is having me concerned.  

Word must have gotten around not to take AP, as only 10 students have signed up next year, as opposed to this year's 25.  Then again, the 25 probably went in blind, or seduced by the face and status that the two letters AP could bring them.

Is it possible that the AP curriculum isn't the way to go for Chinese students?  Or maybe it's our particular brand of Chinese students who want to escape the demands of the domestic program and enroll in an international program to prepare for overseas study -- a program that is supposedly easier.  Whatever the case, they balk at the rigors of standardized tests and the hard work needed to prepare for the demanding AP Test.  My only question is this, if they don't want to take the test, then why are they in my class??!!

Maybe there are exclusive AP schools that exist.  If there are, I would jump at the chance to teach at them.  

Research seems to indicate that IB schools are much more popular overseas, which is a shame, as I'm philosophically opposed to the IB curriculum.  The two curricula are nearly polar opposite of each other, as IB emphasizes more project-based learning, student-centered learning, and connections between subjects.

Even so, AP curriculum continues to grow by leaps and bounds.

We Work On Sunday? We Do DJ Mix

Nuff said. Unfortunately we do have to work 7-days in a row, including Sunday for the April holiday schedule. I knew there had to be a catch.

There's no way I'm teaching any classes that day.

Instead I'm going to demonstrate how to do DJ mixing on the Ipad. There will be time for practice, ideally one IPad per group.

After that, a student is selected from each group to perform in front of the class. There will be two pre-selected hip hop or techno tracks (the same which they practice with) and the criteria for judgment will be:

-- proper use of the headphones to cue the tracks in advance without the audience hearing.
-- proper volume control between the two tracks.
-- smooth BPM matching between the two tracks
-- originality: use of special effects, looping, cross-fader techniques, or jogging.

There will be a competition with each student and evaluations will be peer-based.

Let's Mix DJ Style

Today's weather: High = 26 Low = 15
Sunny

Speaking of hobbies, I thoroughly enjoy bicycle travel, motorcycles, and DJ mixing. There you have it, a top 3 list of hobbies that can make for any online dating profile. DJ mixing has the potential to become seriously addictive, and when combined with an IPad on a bicycle trip, then my career has practically been hijacked now.

An IPad is actually the perfect choice for a virtual DJ app. I used to do this extensively with a PC but gave up as it's too much work to use a mouse and trackball, and the headphone interface is a pain. Most of the free apps don't come with headphone feature anyway

A brief overview on how virtual DJ mixing works. The "traditional" approach aims to replicate the physical DJ turntables and mixers, which cost a fortune to use and make for a hobby that I simply will never be able to afford. But the computers can replicate that equipment. The two turntables are linked with a crossfader and a mixer that allows for various sampling and sound effects. Manual cueing of tracks is standard. Some of the more sophisticated programs have auto BPM matching, and the headphone feature. To mix tracks, the DJ has one turntable going and then typically plugs in a headphone for the other deck. The DJ can hear both turntables but the audience only hears one. The DJ then relies on complex beatmatching and cueing skills to get the tracks lined up, which take years of practice and fine-tuning. He then plays both decks live with the crossfader and uses various other mixing features to seamlessly mix the tracks for the audience. This goes on and on to produce a stream of music. 

In my opinion, techno and house are the easiest to mix for beginners. The computer can match BPMs and there are no lyrics to worry about. With time and skill, some awesome mix techniques can be honed and the audience will be ooed and aahhed by the skill of the DJ.

 Mixing hip hop is way more difficult and beginners would probably want to avoid it. With hip hop, it sounds terrible to mix with lyrics, and so there is a short opportunity at the "intro" and the "outro" of each track to do the mix. The computer doesn't match BPMs very well with hip hop and it all depends on the track, so a ton of fiddling is involved.

 An Ipad can do this mixing much better as you're using both your hands as an actual DJ would, and not fiddling around with mouses and trackballs with only one hand. I've also downloaded a visual mixing app that claims to be better than the traditional headphones method, and will see how this one works.

Holidays Unveiled

Today's weather:  High = 23  Low = 13

Sunny

It looks like the weather has finally turned, and today was just absolutely frickin gorgeous.  The whole week is looking good, and we can finally say goodbye to winter.  On that note, people are out and about in full swing to prepare for the annual Tomb Sweeping festival.

The way the holidays will work is such:

6-days work in a row from now until March 31

April 1, 2, 3, 4   Qing Ming (tomb sweeping) Holiday

April 5, 6     student teachers come to visit and give presentations, so we effectively get a break

April 7, 8, 9   Easter Holiday

Qingming and Easter usually happen close together.  Both holidays have similar themes, interestingly enough, to do with tombs.  

This time we got a really nice break with the Chinese admin offering the Easter break, saying it was as important to Canadian teachers as Christmas!  This was an amazing gesture, and unexpected.  

For all intents and purposes we then have a "spring break", and Term 3 will effectively end March 30.

Some progress was made on the AP conundrum today (see a few posts back) and will keep updating that one.

A Late Spring, But Finally

SPRING could be officially declared this week in Shanghai, as temperatures are stable and set to climb, forecasters said yesterday.

Hopes that spring had arrived earlier this month were dashed by the return of cold weather. 

The mercury is expected to hit 20 degrees Celsius tomorrow, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

Shanghai's weather is forecast to be good this week - mostly sunny with some cloud - due to high pressure, said Zhu Jiehua, a chief service officer at the bureau.

Today should be sunny with some cloud and temperatures reaching 18 degrees Celsius. 

Tomorrow is expected to be cloudier, with temperatures ranging from 10 to 20 degrees.

Overcast weather is forecast for the second half of the week, with showers on Thursday and Friday. 

Temperatures are also set to fall overnight on Thursday, according to the bureau's five-day forecast.

Meteorological spring is announced by the bureau when the average temperature reaches 10 degrees for five consecutive days after li chun - the beginning of spring in the traditional Chinese calendar. 

Li chun usually falls around February 4. 

AP Calculus Bureaucracy

Today's weather: High = 12 Low = 5
Showers

Thank goodness this error was brought to my attention now while there is still time to do something about it, or else we could have had a crisis situation on our hands.

There has been a lot of bureaucracy involved in starting up an AP program at our school. In retrospect, I should have persisted with the original plan to get the information clearly from colleagues at other schools in China who already have the program up and running. I tried this at first, but gave up after little responses or veiled hints that others didn't want to share this information. Not much of a surprise, given the ultra-competitive vibe among different offshore schools in China. It's like we're each protecting our own little fiefdoms in different cities.

Anyways, make a long story short, I tried to set up this program on my own and it hasn't been going that well.

The key part in running an AP program involves submitting a syllabus to College Board to become audited. College Board is essentially the nonprofit organization in charge of the whole AP program.

Putting an AP syllabus together is the easy part. Submitting is the bugaboo. In theory you just create a user account and submit the audit online. But it's never that easy. The first obstacle involves finding your school on the list in order to get an access code for which to match the audit to.

So I signed up for a user account last October, and couldn't find our school's name on the list. I asked what to do. They said the principal needs to contact another company called ETS (Educational Testing services) and fill out a form in which to get an access code. The principal does exactly this, but ETS never gets back to him, and we still don't have our code.

Time to panic because the course audit is due at the end of January. During my winter holiday break in Thailand I pick "Shanghai AP Self Study" from the list and register as a home school teacher, and submit the audit to that "school". Within a day my syllabus is approved and we're rocking. So we just have to keep waiting for ETS to get back to us with those access codes.

Well, they never do of course. Time keeps on slipping. A few emails are sent back and forth and they ask for me or the principal to call them, which we don't because we are busy and there are time zone differences.

In general I hate making calls to North America or receiving them because it always has to be late at night my time when they are awake and chipper.

Anyways, a top student in my AP class comes up to me and asks what the deal is with registering for the AP exams as the deadline has already passed. No way, but it turns out he is right, and I start to panic. If we can't get students registered for that exam, then the entire year's worth of coursework will have been like pissing down the drain.

More research shows that while the deadline has passed for students to register to take the AP Test independently at a testing center in Shanghai, the ordering deadline has not yet passed. The ordering deadline is when an AP coordinator (that'd be me) can get the exams shipped directly to our school. The students would then write the exams on May 9.

In fact, we are still 8 days away from the priority deadline for ordering, and there are two more deadlines after that. In the worst case scenario, there is a "late testing scenario" in which the AP coordinator can order a different version of exams for students to take a late testing day on May 25. However, that will set the students back an extra $40 each which is not something that any of us wants.

While I'm glad there is still time, the problem remains on how to get those goddamn access codes so the exams can be sent to a specific school address that is registered in the database. I've been hounding the various companies with emails and will do the same with phone calls later tonight.

Due to exam security reasons, the exams can't just be shipped to any willy nilly address and that's why they have the access code system in place. Even so, I'm rather pissed off both me and the principal did all of our parts, but ETS left us hanging.

At this point it's a matter of urgency because there is no longer any other recourse. I was hoping that in case of a screw up like this, students could register by themselves but clearly it is too late for that now.

The Power of the Pad

Having picked up the IPad in Hong Kong last weekend, I'm getting a feel for how to use it. On the surface it is just a small tablet. But holding all that technological power in your hands, you somehow feel like you are playing God. The possibilities of what the IPad can do are downright frightening.

I spent a few hours learning the ropes and setting up basics like Itunes and photos, and I had nightmares after the fact. Not because it's complicated, actually the process is remarkably user friendly.

The nightmares came from realizing just how much potential this tablet actually has and what it can do. The Ipad could easily turn into an idol.

With the push of a few buttons I was able to back up my entire photo and music collection onto ICloud, and sync it onto the IPad. Then I downloaded a few podcasts and listened to amazing quality music.

That is just the beginning. Having talked to a few people using the IPad, it has potential to do just about anything. What I'm most interested in is downloading apps related to maps and GPS in order to fuel my bicycle travel hobby addiction.

Combine that with the capabilities of 3G internet surfing, the next step is to get a SIM card and be able to surf the internet anywhere. This is now making me realize the possibility of doing China bike travel again, with the internet bugaboo having been solved with the IPad.

China bike travel used to be enjoyable, but it got very difficult with the relentless restrictions on internet cafes and the hotel difficulties for foreigners. The Ipad may solve this problem with the use of 3G surfing, and the use of GPS and maps to pin down suitable hotels that accept foreigners. While arriving in a new city, tired and exhausted at the end of the ride, I can then follow the GPS course and check into a hotel which might actually accept me.

The IPad can do a heck of lot more than just this. There is the possibility to download entire books onto it and read, not to mention practice writing Chinese characters using various apps.

Writing characters has long been something I wanted to do but is holding me back on Chinese learning. It may be possible now.

These ideas and countless more are now possible with the Ipad. Yet that is precisely what makes this tablet so very frightening.

Experimenting with Mainland Bank Accounts

Today's weather: High = 9 Low = 4
Partly cloudy

A successful resolution to the mainland money debacle that had been dogging me for the past few weeks. No wonder Hong Kong is known as a money town if the main purpose of a trip there is related to money.

While pounding my head in frustration at the mainland banks earlier, I had resolved to throw the towel in with HSBC on the mainland and shut down the account.

The sucker punch account I have now on the mainland is setting me back 150 RMB per month on below-balance charges, since I don't have a minimum balance of 100,000 RMB. Actually that HSBC mainland account is known as an "advance account" for multi currency options. And it doesn't even offer Thai Baht, which is a key currency I want to deal in. Will be expanding more on eventually with this blog, if I ever get around to it -- been so behind on posts lately.

Mainland China offers slim pickings when it comes to multi currency bank accounts, but that should hardly come as a surprise. If not the advance, there is the "premier" which requires a balance of a half-million RMB or else 300 RMB monthly below balance charge. Citibank, their main competitor, is hardly any better while offering similar accounts and below balance charges.

Meanwhile, it was an interesting discovery in Hong Kong to find out about a SmartVantage HSBC multi currency account which requires 10,000 HK dollars or else a 60 HKD below balance fee. It offers the same services and benefits as the advance account, without the higher fees. This kind of account is simply unavailable with HSBC on the mainland.

This all seems to indicate that mainland Chinese people who deal in foreign currencies must be filthy rich. Yet it can't be possible that all banks cater to these high-end customers. Rumor has it that ICBC (Industrial Commerical Bank of China) offers multicurrency accounts at good rates, and will bring a Chinese friend along to make inquiries.

As for the HSBC account on the mainland, it's time to shut this baby down.

Ticket Scalpers Beat the New System

While coming back to Shanghai on this latest banking errand, I saved a bundle of money by flying to a neighboring airport in Hangzhou and taking the high-speed bullet trains. In theory these trains only take an hour.

I should have known better. As of last time I tried to take a train from Hangzhou to Shanghai it was a disaster, and this time wasn't looking any better. The place was packed with people buying tickets, but wouldn't you know it, scalpers showed up and offered to sell for trains leaving very soon.

The new system is a real name system where your passport details are printed on the train ticket. Actually you can use 21 forms of ID, including a Chinese drivers license, which for me has proved most useful.

The new system is supposed to stop scalpers, but somehow, not surprisingly, they are back out in full swing. I was astonished to see them pull it off, but having lived in the grim mainland for so long, I'm no longer surprised by anything nor do I question any longer how people can find ways to break the rules. It's in their nature.

So the touts approach me, and I take a look at them to at least get a feeling I can trust these guys. I mostly don't so they must have been good. The offer is a first class ticket for 230 RMB. Screw it. 2nd class. They want 150 RMB, twice the ticket price. No way, I yell out 100 RMB, and start hoofing it. They yell at me to come back with 120 RMB which is a good deal considering the train leaves in 10 minutes. But I make a show that it seems like a terrible deal. That settles the deal, it is sold.

Then they ask for my passport and start haggling amongst each other as to how much commission each one gets! Shit, well, too late to back out of it, as we already negotiated. Number one rule about bargaining in China, it's incredibly offensive to not buy something after you negotiate the price, especially in this context.

Making haste, the key player returns with the passport and train ticket with he details printed on it in no time flat. Then she tells me to hurry my ass over to the departure hall.

As to how this happened, I am clueless as to the details. But surely they must have some inside contact working the ticket sales. There's no other way to explain it, based on the fact that my passport number got printed on the ticket. Corruption at its finest, and a key reason that the scalping problem will never go away in a million years.

HK Bank Trip a Roarin Success

Today's weather (Shenzhen)
High = 26 Low = 15 Sunny

One country and two systems is of great benefit to those who can use this dichotomy to their advantage. On one side of the coin, you have the fact that the mainland and Hong Kong are two fundamentally different social systems. In general, if you're having trouble and inconvenience on the mainland with banking, business, visas, or a host of other things, then Hong Kong is your perfect solution. On the other side of the coin, you have the fact that Hong Kong and the mainland are one China. This makes it very easy to cross the border back and forth, and certainly to apply for Chinese visas within Hong Kong at the mainland "consulate"

In this sense, I fully support the one China principle and the 'one country two systems' model because I've benefited from it numerous times, not to mention the most recent successful HK bank trip.

As described in the last post it essentially means making money in the mainland and walking across the border with cash in hand in order to bank it with a Hong Kong based multi currency account.

That type of account is precisely what I opened on Friday, not surprisingly, at the world's local bank which is HSBC.

Hong Kong wasn't the first idea, but I was more or less forced to do this out of frustration and desperation with 8 earlier failed attempts to set up a multi-currency account on the mainland with HSBC here in Shanghai. So there was no choice but to take a day off work, fly down to Shenzhen on Thursday night, and carry piles of cash across the border just like the locals. Then on Friday I opened an account at the HSBC in Hong Kong and got a totally different experience, and a lot more positive to boot.

I don't want to make a habit of carrying heaps of cash across the border. To avoid the risk of getting caught at the border and having the cash confiscated, then the plan MUST involve flying to Shenzhen and walking across at Luohu or Lok Ma Chau. This in itself involves other risks, given that the Shenzhen train station (Luohu) in particular has always had a terrible reputation for crime and pickpockets.

This is not exactly the kind of place you want to be walking around with cash, but everybody does it, and everybody knows about it. So you're essentially a walking target. I took a taxi to Luohu right at the gate, jumped out, and literally made haste as I had pre-memorized every step to get to the border queue with the cash securely tucked away. The problem with newbies doing this border run is how incredibly easy to get lost in the maze with poor signage and throngs of crowds -- even during off-peak times. If that's the case, you stand there looking lost for one second, and your cash is gone.

As it turns out there won't be much need to do a cross-border cashwalk again because all the banking can now be done online, since the account is set up. This includes remittances to and from the account. RMB transactions are indeed limited, but they may not be necessary for what I'd like to do.

There is also the option of 3rd party banking but I'm rather clueless on that and will ask finance contacts to help. As it stands, I've learned more about banking and finance in the last several months than my entire life.

Some frequently asked questions about HK multi currency banking:

1. Is it possible to open a Hong Kong account without actually going there? How I wish. I tried, and it's incredibly troublesome to do this from the mainland, so you're really better off just making the trip.

2. Do you need to be a HK resident to open the account? No but it depends on which bank, and which currencies you want. HSBC is the best choice as they only ask for a proof of address (can be in any country) and a passport. Then the mechanics of the account are quickly set up, and they issue you a debit card and PIN it on the spot. It is not possible to enjoy RMB services, RMB remittances, or RMB deposits unless you are a Hong Kong ID card holder. Even if you do have the ID card there are limits in place on how much RMB you can transfer daily.

3. Which banks offer the multi currency accounts? The *norm* is to have multi-currency accounts in Hong Kong. HSBC is not the only player in this game, despite what their PR campaign may lead you to believe. Other banks such as DBS, Citibank, and Standard Chartered can also do this, but there are more limitations. For example, not all can offer Thai Baht, which for me is a key currency I want to deal in. Some of the banks won't open accounts to non-residents of Hong Kong

4. Is there a minimum balance required? Of course. It depends on which bank. Research has shown DBS to insist on HKD $30,000 or else a $50 below balance fee each month. Citibank is comparable. HSBC offers the Advance Account requiring HKD $200,000 minimum total relationship balance or else HKD $120 per month below balance fee. There is the Premier Account which requires a whopping million HK dollars.

Intensive online research led to believe that the HSBC Advance Account was the lowest balance requirement option, and this was discouraging because I don't have that kind of money kicking around nor do I want 120 Hong Kong dollars draining out each month.

However, the person I spoke with was extremely helpful and introduced me to the SmartVantage account, which I had never heard of. This is the best deal out there because you only need HKD $10,000 minimum balance or else a HKD $60 monthly maintenance fee. The account manager was courteous enough to "downsell" me this option, which would have been unheard of on the mainland. You can still enjoy all the benefits of the Advance Account including online banking and a security key password that is mailed to your address. Just bring proof of it, such as a utility bill, and you don't need to make another trip to Hong Kong.

In general, it was the most positive bank experience I've had in years. The accont manager was great and, shockingly, I was treated with customer service. Everything was smooth and the whole thing was done in 30 minutes, including all the paperwork, PIN card, and the rest getting sent off in the mail to my Shanghai address.

After a zillion of my stupid questions, she jokingly told me, "Don't think so complicated, this is Hong Kong, it is convenient, we just do things. If you've lived on the mainland for so long, then this must be beyond your imagination."

You got it. I tried to tell her that what we accomplished today would have been impossible on the mainland. Then she joked back and said, "Well then I must help you if you came all the way from the mainland to open a bank account."

Then she pointed me in the direction of the Apple Store where I made sure to purchase the latest Ipad which is just released today.

When in Rome: Cross-Border Cash Walk

Today's weather: High = 13 Low = 8
Rain

The restrictions involved in mainland Chinese banking are downright scary and horrendously complex to boot. Put simply, a nightmare, if the money involves anything coming into China or leaving the country. A simple RMB account where the money stays inside the mainland -- that is not a problem. But anything else and you're just asking for trouble and wasting your time.

But it's a well known fact that millions of Chinese locals are flushed with cash and that money most certainly leaves the mainland in foreign currencies. Also a ton of foreign currency goes the other way and is converted into RMB.

So how can these cash exchange volumes happen given the crazy restrictions on the RMB? Enter the cross-border cash walk. Locals will literally walk across the border both ways with more cash in their pockets than you could possibly imagine.

Hong Kong is the most popular choice because of the ease in which to conduct international currency transactions in the city-state and the relatively low security at the border with the mainland. Basically it is a high volume land crossing.

Obviously it is illegal to cross the border with heaps of cash, the limit being 20,000 RMB (it used to be 6000 RMB). But laws in China mean diddly squat because the society is not *ruled* by law. If everybody followed the "rules" then nothing would get done. Those crossing the border with massive cash piles are more or less forced to do so. Having been blocked by rules at the mainland banks already, they aren't exactly going to submit to rules at the border about exporting cash.

Even so, airports are not a good choice due to the low volume and stricter immigration checks. The HK land borders have virtually never stopped anyone for cash exporting.

As for myself, that's how it's going down for me. Out of frustration and 8 failed attampts to do a transaction I closed out my mainland HSBC account and am hauling down piles of cash to Hong Kong for the weekend in order to do the transaction there.

The amount of cash is comparable to what the rich locals do.

Where's the Crackdown?

Today's weather: High = 15 Low = 7
Sunny and the warmup finally happening

The newspapers showed the city vowing to wage war on scooters and motorcycles. This month was supposed to be the start of a 3-month crackdown, yet the action on the streets indicates otherwise. Not a crackdown to be found in sight, despite the logic saying this is when they should do it -- as the weather gets good and the spring riding season officially kicks off with more and more scooters on the roads.

There are indeed more bikes on the road with better weather. I've been tootling around all over the city in the last few days, even right in the heart of downtown near People's Square. No signs of a crackdown whatsoever. It's really strange. Maybe this is part of the game, for the police to keep the riders guessing, lull them into a false sense of security, and then suddenly pounce when nobody expects it? Who knows, but I can only keep tabs on the situation.

Meanwhile, the official 'Jiaoji Lu' scooter market closed down a couple weeks ago, and all the shops were evicted. This had been planned months in advance as the buildings had to be demolished for new developments. The traffic police spun this fact in the newspapers to make it sound like they "raided" the shops and shut them down, but this was actually done by the real estate developer.

The shops have indeed moved and I got the new location from the people who did lots of work on my bike over the years. The new location is way further out, regretably, but it can still sustain these bikes on the road. Just yesterday I went out there and installed a new double-barrel air horn.

This thing is LOUD folks, it rivals car horns.

Staying Sharp Through Video Games

Today's weather: High = 9 Low = 3
Sunny

Video games are often looked down upon by teachers as negative, after all that's what we find the students playing in our classes and we confiscate their PSP or whatever gadget they happen to be using. Video games are seen as idle entertainment, ways to pass time, and stealing away our young generation's minds.

But there is a significant benefit to playing certain games. Chinese traffic (see last post) requires constant attention to surroundings and watching multiple drivers, reacting accordingly, expecting the unexpected, and dodging, dodging, dodging.

A video game is the perfect way to practice for this kind of traffic reality. In the video game, you're doing the same thing as the above. You are skillfully navigating your player through the obstacle course, fixed on the objective, and dodging multiple enemies who are trying to knock you off course.

The idea is to pick a video game that is far more chaotic and challenging than the traffic reality, but sharpens your skills to make quick and complex decisions in a matter of split seconds. I find Mario is the perfect game. It's not about driving, although you could say Mario Cart is the one. But regardless, there are some complex action sequences that take much skill and practice to get the hang of, and it is really intense.

When you get really skilled at the video game, you can move your player around without thinking about what you're doing, and focus the attention on the enemies and other players so that you can predict what is going to happen and avoid accordingly.

Needless to say, this is how it works on the actual roads. But there is a key difference here. In the video game, you have multiple lives in case you make a mistake, you die, and start again. Not so in Chinese traffic. You get into an accident and it's game over.

Chinese Traffic Culture: Pure Ugliness

Despite all the wonderful things about Chinese culture, there exists a dark side, and that is the behavior of people driving on the roads.

This ugliness and darkness cannot be avoided because one must take to the roads every day in order to get to work, go to places, meet people, socialize, etc. The daily chaos and unpleasantness on the roads is something that everybody hates, yet there is no choice but to take to the roads. What else are you going to do, ask Mr Spock to beam you up?

And so the thinking is to get the journey over with as quickly as possible, and arrive at the destination where life can go on as normal. This kind of mentality only leads to more chaos on the roads, since everybody wants to go quick, quick, quick and nobody has any patience.

This blog has no doubt made the point over the years that getting around in China is such a goddamn hassle. Transport is an incredibly big deal, and unnecessarily so. When it comes to convoluted methods to cross provincial borders, hire illegal taxis, or stockpile fuel in gas cans to ride scooters around the city, people will do just about anything unreasonable to get from Point A to B in a reasonable way.

And the high rate of accidents means that getting from Point A to B is never guaranteed.

Understandably, one can never relax on Chinese roads and tensions run high, regardless of what the mode of transportation is. However, road rage doesn't take the same form as we would have back in the US. In China, you're not going to have some guy screaming obscenities out the window, squealing tires, or pulling out his gun. But the absence of overt aggressive behavior doesn't mean that road rage doesn't exist.

Far from it.

Taxi drivers will routinely curse other drivers behind their own wheel with the windows rolled up. Nobody hears the curses, but they exist in the drivers' hearts. There is hatred on the roads. Drivers will routinely cut other drivers off and let out sighs of exasperation and frustration when someone else cuts them off. Or on the subway, they will push, shove, and force their way onto an overcrowded train when the doors are about to shut.

The biggest concern is when all this passive aggressive frustration explodes into a full-blown fight. This is a common scene during fender-bender accidents, when the parties will often get into an argument, a shouting match, and sometimes a fistfight with a crowd of gawping onlookers. If the police get involved, then it's game over if you happen to be a foreigner, because in this game of anarchy, the foreigner is always at fault.

Given all this nastiness of Chinese driving behavior, it's no wonder that I'm extra careful out there. But fear is an awesome motivator to avoid accidents. Every single tale I've heard about foreigners getting into accidents with Chinese locals ends on a negative note, and it reveals an incredibly vicious side to these locals that is worse than any accident.

To make a long story short then, you do not, I repeat do not even want to think about getting into an accident.

Bring on that High Pressure Ridge BABY

In normal times, the weatherman will often say that a ridge of high pressure is building, to indicate clear and dry conditions.

After nearly 40 days straight of the most miserable and depressing frickin weather this city has seen in decades, the upcoming ridge of high pressure in the forecast has never looked so good.

Not only is it going to be sunny for a week, it is going to warm up. Considerably.

Successful Fuel Run

Today's weather: High = 10 Low = 2
Full Sunshine

Such nice weather on a weekend could only mean one thing. Get on the scooter and do that long-anticipated fuel run. Given the year-long regulation that prohibits gas stations from selling fuel to unregistered scooters and motorbikes within the city center, and an ongoing crackdown on scooters in general, then creative methods need to be devised in order to get a reliable fuel source and to keep on riding into the sunshine.

There is obviously a thriving black market for gasoline. There is also a black market for RMB to US dollar currency exchanges, and a black market for pretty much everything in China. In general, it should be abundantly clear that micromanaging a society with a gazillion rules and documents is doomed to failure, because there will always be those who bend the rules as they see fit, people who interpret rules a certain way, and those who simply find ways around the rules.

The black market for fuel costs a little more than the gas station, it is closer, and the fuel readily available. But it still involves calling up the guys and heading over there week after week. The scooter tank only holds a week's supply of fuel at best which is the root of the problem.

So I picked up a large gas container a few weeks ago and it can hold at least a month's supply. As expected, filling this thing up wasn't going to be easy. The original plan was to head across the border to Jiangsu province where I've had some success before. But I got too lazy and instead headed out into the suburbs closer to my house.

Not surprisingly, the gas stations out in the Shanghai suburbs refused to fill up the can, citing the need for some permission document issued by my work unit. Screw that. But they had no problem filling up the bike. The interesting thing was they immediately assumed I wanted to fill up the gas can first, and said no way. Then when I asked to fill up the bike instead, they had no problem doing it.

I used this strategy to my advantage. I went from one gas station to the next, filling up the bike, siphoning into the gas can, filling up the bike again, and so forth. Eventually the can was full and I filled the bike up one last time for good measure.

The whole run only took an hour and a half. According to my estimates, I should be OK now until May.

The Sun Came Out

Today's weather: High = 8 Low = 3
Partly Cloudy

When the sun hasn't come out for nearly 40 days, this is no doubt big news. The sun made a prolonged appearance just before lunch today, and students were all flocking to the windows in various classrooms around the school to see this. Later on tonight, it remained clear. The change in atmosphere around the city was especially noteworthy today as it seemed to bring a smile to many faces.

The forecast for the next few days is looking quite good actually, although it's still chilly and below average.

Domestic Violence Upstairs

The weather is a convenient scapegoat to blame for what is now turning out to be a rather disturbing week. A foreign husband and Chinese wife are yelling a few floors upstairs, and the violence has escalated to him throwing furniture around and trashing the place.

A friend suggested I call 110, which is the classic Chinese police hotline, and the catch-all solution to any and all problems. But past experience has shown that calling 110 is unhelpful at best and at worst, gets me involved in a dispute I'd rather not be a part of.

So I simply went downstairs and reported this dispute to the 'bao an' or the security guard, and he noted that others had already complained before me. That helped get me off the hook as the foreigner who has nothing to do with the violence, and then the 'bao an' promptly called the 'zhi an' or the local public security official who is responsible for dealing with these kinds of things.

So far things seem to have quieted down. If it keeps escalating, then I'd be happy if they took this guy, threw him in a police van, and sent him to the local slammer.

Severe Food Poisoning

Today's weather: High = 8 Low = 5
Cloudy

Adverse health effects are beginning to show all over the city as the worst start to the spring season in over 60 years is taking its toll. A protracted lack of sunshine and constant wind, rain, and below average temperatures are increasing traffic accidents and hospital visits by huge percentages. The usual sicknesses are increasing such as colds and fevers as people grapple with the realities of this horrible weather.

Part of that includes heated debates on what temperature to put the indoor office thermostat at. This is a constant bone of contention between the foreign and Chinese staff. Foreign staff who prefer taking off coats inside would have the temperature well past 25 degrees, while the Chinese staff insist on opening the windows for fresh air and wearing jackets inside.

There is nothing new in this difference of opinion, but it reached a heated argument this week, no doubt influenced by the shitty and depressing weather outside. The argument broke down into yelling and name calling after nobody could reach an agreement of what temperature the office should be at. The Chinese side seems to have won, citing a Shanghai government regulation that it must be no more than 22 degrees in order to protect the environment.

Regretably, one of our colleagues has left the office for good and can't be in the same room with the Chinese staff anymore.

Hopefully in no way connected to this escapade, we were offered cream puffs by the Chinese side as a gift for international women's day.

But these gifts were poisoned. Whether or not it was deliberate, I don't know, but I ate perhaps 3-4 of these cream puffs and then began to experience a severe food poisoning sickness in my stomach some 40 minutes later while teaching class. This got worse and worse, to the point where I somehow made it home and spend 5 hours in bed getting rid of the toxins and running to the bathroom. This included severe vomiting and diarrhea, the classic food poisoning on both ends.

It was a concern as I haven't gotten sick from food like this in years! Last time was in India about 3 years ago.

Nonetheless I was still able to come to work the next day.

Targeting Summer

Today's weather: High = 8 Low = 5
Rain ... again

As the record overcast weather continues, more bleak news has come out in the form of the school holiday schedule from now until June. I really don't want to get into this, let's just say Saturday and Sunday work makeup days are now becoming the norm, rather than the exception.

With the write-off of essentially all 3 of the stat holiday mini-breaks (April, May, and June) it isn't looking possible to do any short China travel holidays during that time. Teachers are fuming mad at being robbed of this, but rather than join the bandwagon, might as well set the target for summer as the next big holiday.

In some ways, it isn't all that different from the November-December stretch when the winter holiday break was the target.

A few differences this time round. The weather will get warmer and sunnier at some point, although it doesn't feel like it. At some point it simply has to turn, and my guess is that winter and summer season will change like a switch. From one day the warm air conditioning will be on, then the next day, the cool air. Let's see how it plays out.

Another difference is that the summer break is much longer. However, things are wide open as to where I actually want to go for that break! That's a good problem to have.

Chinese Banking: Throw Your Hands Up

---
Throw your hands up, throw your hands up in the air
Wave 'em round the place, prissy staff ain't gonna care
Chinese banks in the house, money here and everywhere
But try and move that money and you're in for a big scare
---


And so that's how it goes. Not that money 'ma fan' (trouble) is a surprise or anything. Banking in China has always been a nightmare. It was like this 10 years ago when I first tried doing international bank transactions. Absolutely nothing has changed in terms of regulations on what to do with the RMB. For this reason I'm very grateful that our company pays our salary in foreign currency. Many schools pay teachers in RMB which is a disaster if you want to transfer that money out of the country.

The official way to do things involves taking RMB into the bank and changing it into USD or other foreign currency. No matter which type of account you have, or which currency you want to change, the bank will ask for the following documents

-- passport
-- copy of work contract
-- tax receipts
-- foreign experts certificate
-- proof of residency

Even if you have a multi-currency account and want to transfer RMB from one account into Hong Kong dollars into another account, the same crap is required.

Obviously, nobody in their right mind would go through such hassle. That's why the black market money changers can do this service for you. In fact, every bank has a dodgy guy like this hanging out near the information desk. You approach him, or he approaches you, and the money is changed on the spot. The whole thing is a joke because it all takes place in front of the bank employees and these guys even use the counting machines at the bank to check the money before the deal is done.

I collected two business cards and will be using these contacts repeatedly.

But changing RMB into USD is child's play compared to the whole story of performing international money transacations from within China. This opens up a whole realm of 'ma fan' if you want to, for example, accept a money transfer overseas or do a transfer to another country from bank branch that is based in China. The details and restrictions are endlessly complicated.

It was expected to be difficult from the get go, so I'm not angry or anything, just have to get creative. It turns out that a necessary trip to Hong Kong will sort out the complications. If I physically go down to Hong Kong and open up a second account at the HSBC there, I can link up my existing Shanghai account and get online access to do unrestricted money transactions, and so forth.

In the case of a remittance I want to do, I will simply wait until going to Hong Kong and do exactly like the locals do: bring piles and heaps of cash across the border. That'll be March 16, and I figure why not get some electronics while I'm down there.

The irony here is that HSBC stands for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Not exactly a global financial hub here in Shanghai like they aspire to. But whatever, the archaic money rules have benefits as well as frustrations.

One British guy wasn't exactly taking this in stride. He stormed out of the bank just before I walked in and screamed, "Jesus Christ, this bank is sh*t" His poor Chinese secretary would have lost face over that, I'm sure.

Will We Ever See the Sun?

This is actually getting quite serious. See the article below.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=495871&type=Metro

TOMORROW should be a rain-free day, but the showers that have persisted for weeks will then return, forecasters said yesterday.

Shanghai's weather has been dominated by thick cloud and showers since February 5, and gray skies will continue for at least another five days, said the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

Even though the seasons are in transition, such a long spell of overcast weather is unusual, said Kong Chunyan, a chief service officer of the bureau.

The last time the city had such a prolonged period of overcast weather was in 1980, Kong said.

Temperatures this week should be as stable as the weather - with the high remaining between 8 and 11 degrees Celsius.

The low should drop to around 4 degrees later in the week, due to a weak cold front.

Today is forecast overcast with rain and a high of 9 degrees.

While no rain is forecast for tomorrow, it should still be overcast, with a low of 6 degrees and a high of 11.

The city is finally expected to see the sun again at the weekend, Kong said.

Last month, the amount of sunshine in Shanghai was 47 hours less than average.

In the second half of the month, Shanghai enjoyed sunshine for less than five hours - the lowest figure for the period since 1972, the observatory reported.

Health professionals say levels of depression have increased during the gloomy weather.

According to the Shanghai Mental Health Consultation Center, the number of patients calling for consultation has doubled in recent weeks.

Online, fed up residents have bemoaned the lack of sunshine.

"My body is getting mildewed," complained one web user on a social network site, while another admitted that "cloud and rain make me depressed."

In order to keep spirits high during gloomy weather, some experts advised locals to wear more colorful clothes while going out and add more warm lights at home.

Planning Ahead

As for summer break, I've more or less secured a 2-month slot to do a proper trip.This will take considerable planning to make it work, and there are seat sales with Air Asia with some incredible bargains if booked ahead in advance -- same story as to how I got such good deals for winter break.

But unlike winter break, the summer trip will go at a much slower pace. The only question is where. Got a few destinations in mind. Will see. The normal pattern is for the monsoon to dominate in summer and thus it is low season in many places in Asia.

Indonesia is the exception to the general rule where the monsoon patterns are reversed, and then summer becomes the dry season. That's definitely a contender. Others include Burma and Thailand (duh!) and Cambodia is also looking like an attractive option. So is Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Iran! Argh! Can't decide! Obviously I'll narrow it down.

What I have decided is to pocket a cool $1000 cash instead of the plane ticket, and then go back to Canada during national day, by using the plane ticket that the school would pay for effective on the next contract (after Sept)

As for math masters degree, it looks now like April 2014 will have the whole thing completed, thus making it 3 years in duration. This was discouraging when I first had that realization. But friends have correctly pointed out it's pretty good deal, given that doing a full-time masters would be 2 years anyway, and those two years would be lost time off work. Besides, if working on a masters full time in Canada without a job, that would be economic suicide. Much better to do it while working i China where the costs are lower, making an income, and keeping busy so as not so spend much money anyway.

So on that note, then signing a two-year contract at school would be the best way to go and I'm looking into it. Already signed a two-year rental contract on my posh house out in the semi-suburbs but still in the city proper. I suppose the former thinking of "one more year" doesn't apply anymore as I'm thinking in terms of 2-3 year blocks nowadays. When people ask me how I ended up in China so long I told them I always made the decision by saying "just one more year." Can't use that line anymore!