Scooter Legality: Is It Even Worth It?

In looking back over my goals for this year and next, most were accomplished, but the overall bugaboo of trying to legally ride and register a motorcycle or scooter in Shanghai remains exactly that: a huge bugaboo.

I'm beginning to rethink whether it's even worth the attempt to 'get legal'. Of course, I'm still going to ride scooters and motorbikes in Shanghai, there's no question about that, but the whole rigmoral of getting licenses, registration, etc. may be a needless waste of time and money.

Now that I have a motorcycle license from Canada, it may be easier to abandon the plan to register a bike, and just go for a Chinese motorcycle drivers license itself. It would mean upgrading the current Chinese car license I've got. Will start looking into that next year.

That way, with a license and no registration, it would be "more legal" or "semi legal" as opposed to no license and no registration. I've even used my car drivers license to get out of difficulties when stopped by police, which happens maybe once a year.

And this is the thing, the chances of getting stopped by police are extremely low to begin with, so why even bother with legit plates? Fake plates are good enough, which I've got.

On the other hand, the city has long wanted to get rid of any and all motorcycles within the downtown core, regardless of whether they have legal plates or not. The plates and licensing for bikes really means squat compared to the bigger picture of the Chinese obsession with private cars and the government drive to back it up. Since cars are higher up the food chain, then it's a simple matter of making them a higher priority and sidelining the motorcycles and scooters. To that end, I have seen a lot more streets with bike bans in the past few years, and of course the recent introduction of gas stations that refuse to fill up bikes downtown.

Basically I always get my gas in the suburbs and continue to use a system of jerry cans developed last April.

To put it simply, the city doesn't want bikes. I would imagine an outright ban in the years to come, like Guangzhou has done, but it's hard to predict when and if this would happen. The telling point will be the beginning of 2012 when city governments always want to enforce any new traffic rules.

Will see what happens, if anything does. Meanwhile I'm not exactly rushing to get legal plates.

2011 Almost Finished

Today's weather: High = 12 Low = 7
Cloudy

I really like this time of year as once we pass the Christmas threshold with a genuine 3-day weekend, then it feels like the worst of the workload is over with, and there is a nice break in sight.

The beginning of November and December, as I’ve mentioned several times already, are the worst two months for the type of teaching work I do as it feels like there is no end in sight to the relentless workload. But there is an end in sight, and Christmas is the indicator for that.

Interestingly, the weather has taken a turn for the warmer and this winter is already a lot milder than the same time last year. Hopefully this global warming trend will keep up, as it means my scooter went out of hibernation and I've been enjoying the fun of blasting around town on it recently.

Overall I was quite satisfied with how this year 2011 has gone, and I would rate it as a great year, one of the best experienced so far. A huge reason for that was the simple fact that I spent it living in Asia. It seems the majority of good news and positive experiences came out of Asia this year, while there was a whallop of bad news out of the west.

On the global stage, we heard of the death of 3 dictators / terrorists within the same year, namely Bin Laden, Gaddafi, and Kim Jong Il. Not only that, but two long-time authoritarian regimes of Egypt and Libya experienced sudden collapse, and one would hope making a path towards democracy. Economically, East Asia and SE Asia did very well this year, which has also greatly benefited me personally. Things weren’t all rosy in Asia, as Thailand experienced severe flooding, of which I experienced a bit. But taking a holistic view, it was quite evident that Asia shined brightly as a star this year, with tons of good news coming out of this continent

At times like this I feel very happy and privileged to be living, working, and traveling in Asia for yet another year, and this is clearly the place to be, and at the right time. It’s not always peachy, especially as Asia demands a hard work ethic and long hours. I wouldn’t exactly recommend this continent if your cup of tea involves lots of play and laziness.

Even so, despite the job stress, it’s been a damn fine year. It has also been an extremely productive year for me, the best of my entire life. Highlights would include the trip to Indonesia in winter and Thailand in summer, some of the best travel to date. Also beginning a math masters degree online and teaching AP calculus at school for the first time. Other things included getting a motorcycle license officially back in Canada, moving apartments twice in Shanghai, and selling off my old motorcycle for a scooter. A lot of other things happened also, and it was a very good year socially to say the least.

What made it possible to do so much was the comparative lack of traveling around in China. The fact of the matter is that China travel is a bitch. It is no fun, always exhausting, frustrating, and draining. My goal for 2011 was to avoid it like the plague. which was more or less accomplished. As a result, I felt more established in this city.

Celebrating Christmas

Today's weather:  High = 7  Low = 2

Sunny

 

Apparently I wasn't the only one who had this idea on Christmas Eve.  Some of the worst traffic I've seen as locals packed the restaurants, bars, clubs, stadiums, and other venues downtown all evening which turned all the streets into a parking lot until the wee hours.  Thanks to my new white gas scooter, I was unaffected, having learned from my mistakes on previous Christmas Eves in this city and Wuhan.  Good luck getting a taxi, that's all I can say!  Fortunately I blew past the whole mess, both going to and from various parties, and there were no issues with that.  It does, however, bring back a nightmare of 3 years ago when I lived in Songjiang and actually tried to get a taxi home that night.  Ever since then, I've been adamant about riding scooters on nights like this, even though all my friends thing I'm crazy for doing it.

 

What amazes me is how the locals have taken to celebrating Christmas Eve as there were more young people out on the streets than with a major Chinese festival.  With that, the police and security forces were are also out in droves to keep order.  You'd think it was Chinese New Year or something.  But no, it is not, they are merely imitating western holidays with a passion that is frightening to say the least.   

 

Anyways, despite all the crowd ruckus, I still had fun.  Started the day off with a nice sleep-in, and put a dent in the huge pile of marking I'm saddled with as the end of term approaches.  Since one of my colleagues is out 6 weeks for surgery, I ended up taking over her classes, in addition to my own.  It means a surge in the marking load, and this was a good weekend to do something about that pile.  After that, a nice and relaxing Christmas Eve church service in the daytime, for the expats.  Later on that night, they had a massive series of church services for the locals, one every hour, which contributed to all the traffic jams that night in the French Concessions area.

 

Later on, I pounded treamills in the gym and skipped lunch, in anticipation of a big Christmas Eve feast later that night, which certainly turned out to be true.   I've been pounding the gym every single day now, since last week, to try and lose weight and get in shape for my upcoming bicycle trip in Thailand.  Unfortunately I'm still gaining weight as this season is nearly impossible to exercise, but it makes me try all the harder.

 

The Christmas party itself was really great, celebrated with a bunch of the young people from the SCF church  (Shanghai Community Fellowship) and also in conjunction with a house warming party for someone who recently moved into the French Concessions area.   It is of course a favorite area for expats, but the rents are astronomically high.  The apartment I went to was in an old-style house, and rather small, but she was paying 3 times my monthly rent.   Basically I live out in Minhang District which is a little far away from downtown, but nothing compared to where I used to live in Songjiang.  Still I could never live in th city center, as it's too expensive.  

 

Anyways, at the party, I got stuffed with salad, German dumpings, lamb, turkey, and all kinds of other food and desserts.  Secret Santa gave me an electric blanket which is much appreciated.  In turn, I pawned off a gift of assorted chocolates that the Chinese school administrators gave me the day before.  Having no need to get fat off expensive chocolates, I re-gifted this, and put it in the Secet Santa pile at a non-work related social event.

 

Another unexpected bonus.  While riding the scooter to the party in the insane traffic, I stumbled on a cake shop.  The shelves were totally cleared of cakes as locals had bought them all out.  There were a few nice pastries, cookies, and lemon bread still there so I brought in a massive pile to the cashiers.  This would be my dessert contribution to the Christmas party, and was expecting at least 100 RMB to pay, but I got an insane discount for only 28 RMB.  The shop owner spoke perfect English and said it was a Christmas discount.  I didn't even have to bargain.

 

 

 

 

Christmas: A Prelude to the Holidays

Today's weather:  High = 7  Low = 0
Sunny

It's nice to have a long weekend, or a short break for Christmas, in anticipation of the much longer break for Chinese New Year.  Ideally we should have a 2 week holiday for Christmas and a 3 week break for CNY.  Even better, a 2-month break from mid-Dec to mid-Feb that spans both holidays, but we know it's not going to happen like that.  Meanwhile, we're quite happy to settle for a shorter Christmas and to play down this particular holiday, in exhagne for the 4-5 week break in mid-January for he Chinese New Year.
 
The only problem in this line of reasoning is that people don't want to play down Christmas, they want to play it up.  The arrangment we enjoy in offshore schools in China is nearly perfect because the shortened Christmas break makes it possible to enjoy this holiday for what it's really about:  a silent night, to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  If the commercial aspect of Christmas is played up in China, like it is in the west, then we have to replay the yearly nightmare of festive filler and obligations. 
 
Things like gift-giving, Secret Santa, Christmas performances, and all sorts of other filler activities end up wasting class time, when this could be better used to prepare students for the term-end exams.  Sine the school year doesn't stop around Christmas, then my argument is that we should play down this whole thing, enjoy a quiet celebration, get on with teaching, and prepare for the real holidays which are Chinese New Year.
 
We can still enjoy something for Christmas during this short break (more on that in the next post) but I think it's reasonable that we should downplay the whole Christmas thing while in China.  Since we are living in a different culture overseas, then I only think it's fair that teachers should adjust their expectations and not pine for the comforts and sentiments that were voluntarily left back in the west.  For goodness sakes, we get all this time off to coincide with the lunar new year and can easily catch a flight to South East Asia.  That is a very generous deal, and if it means downplaying Christmas, then I'm perfectly OK with it. 
 
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that back in the west, you would not be able to take 4-5 weeks off starting in mid-January and catch a cheap flight to Thailand for a paid vacation.  Back in the west you would get the 2 or 3 weeks off for Christmas, and then what?  Suffer at work from January until March during the coldest and wettest time of the year.   Of course, we're doing just that right now in December, but  it's nicer to get this over with first.
 
 

Good Riddance Dear Leader

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/World/2011/12/20/North%2BKorea%2BNation%2Bin%2Bgrief%2Bfor%2BDear%2BLeader/

 

 

NORTH Koreans marched in their hundreds to their capital Pyongyang's landmarks to mourn Kim Jong Il, many crying uncontrollably and flailing their arms in grief over news of the death of their Dear Leader.

State media proclaimed his twenty-something son and heir-apparent Kim Jong Un the "great successor."

After 17 years in power, Kim died of heart failure on Saturday at age 69 while carrying out official duties on a train trip.

Kim died "from a great mental and physical strain," the Korean Central News Agency reported. Kim, who had received medical treatment for cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases over a long period, suffered "an advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock" on the train, it added.

The report said that every possible first-aid measure was taken immediately, which failed to save Kim's life, adding that an autopsy was done on Sunday and "fully confirmed" the diagnosis. Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008.

On the streets of Pyongyang, people wailed in grief, some kneeling on the ground or bowing repeatedly. Children and adults laid flowers at key memorials.

"How could the heavens be so cruel? Please come back, general. We cannot believe you're gone," Hong Son Ok shouted in an interview with North Korea's official television, her body shaking wildly.

 

The death comes at a sensitive time as North Korea prepares for next year's 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. The preparations include massive construction projects as part of Kim Jong Il's promise to bring prosperity.

Some analysts, however, said Kim's death was unlikely to plunge the country into chaos because it was already preparing for a transition. Kim Jong Il indicated a year ago that Kim Jong Un would be his successor, putting him in high-ranking posts.

What the Bleep Do I Know

Today's weather:  High = 8  Low = 1

 

The idea to quit Shanghai / China comes and goes in waves, and I'll admit these dark cold and endlessly busy days I'm feeling rather keen on quitting. Nonetheless this city has formed a major part of my identity and social life and it makes more sense to stay here unless I have a clear idea of where I'd be going next from here if I did leave. 
 
What it did occur to me over the weekend is that the more I learn or think I have "figured it out" or arrived somewhere in life, the more I don't know and there is a true sense that the journey has barely begun. In other words the 10 years spent here are only a small part of what may be next, whether I stay in this city or move on. It seems everything my own culture has taught me is a lie about the need to arrive at a state of self actualization. That never happens, and one risks the dangerous sense of complacency and pride at having achieved a sort of pseudo-arrival, where one becomes convinced he can then cruise along in his actualized state of knowledge until retirement and eventually death.
 
Maybe I know a few things about math or whatever and it can make me feel smart but I am coming face to face with the fact that I really know diddly squat. This latest proofs course for my masters degree brought that one home. There is a lot of truth embedded in a proof and I feel like with each day there is more I don't know, just as the saying goes. The good part is that the learning will go on for quite some time, and I don't expect to "arrive" at a state of self actualization. Not now, not ever.

Scooter Hibernating Again

Today's weather:  High = 5 Low = -2

Sunny

 

Oh well, I got two weeks riding out of it.  Meanwhile it's now going underneath the school parking garage for hibernation, as the chilly winter is here to stay. 

 

The last hurrah of riding involved discovering a tunnel by fluke that goes to Pudong.  There are dozens of tunnels and bridges that cross the river between Puxi and Pudong, but most are either off-limits to motorcycles (actually they all are) or too busy.  I just happened to find a lightly-used tunnel that is not enforced either, and this would make a good passage if I ever needed to get to Pudong on a scooter.  For the past year or so, I often regarded Pudong as off-limits to a scooter ride, but maybe not any more.

 

The nicest part of the tunnel was feeling a bit of warmth from the freezing cold as it has that beautiful nice insulating effect.  But I got cold soon afterwards and then took a 30 minute long hot shower back home after the fact. 

 

Anyway, this cold weather is doing damage to my bike, as well as myself.  Time to hibernate it and figure out some other way to get to work.  In a word, pedalling.  Speaking of which, I'm going to be hitting the gym rather frequently to start the training and weight loss trend for the upcoming winter holiday trip.

 

 

Trouble at the Provincial Border

It goes without saying that every time I ride a scooter to or from Sino Canada, things get dramatic.  I seldom go out there anymore, but when I do, I'm continually reminded and baffled as to how I managed this particular run over 100 times back and forth when teaching at that school from 2008-09.   Talk about adventure.

  

It turns out that Sino Canada is a BC offshore school, very similar to where I'm currently teaching  (Nanyang Model School in downtown Shanghai).  Yet conversations with teachers over at Sino are once again making me jealous of the holiday schedule they enjoy and we don't.  Such as 2 weeks for Christmas break and 3.5 weeks for Chinese New Year.   We don't get even close to that.   Oh, and who can forget Friday 11am dismissals which they get and of course we don't.

 

So there are times, such as now, when I'm tempted to go back to working at Sino since they have the 2 week Christmas holiday which might even make it possible to head to Vancouver Canada and spend it there.  Imagine that.

 

Even so, the drama involved in commuting to or from that location is a little bit much.  Regretably, it detracts from the major relaxed schedule that a teacher could certainly enjoy over there.  3 years after the fact, nothing has improved with the transport situation, and it's actually gotten worse!   As usual, you need a scooter or a motorbike to do this, and making the occasional trip out there is a humbling experience.

 

The key difficulty is the provincial border checkpoints between Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces.  Public transit doesn't go through the border, and the police are ruthless in stopping bikes and scooters that go through as the traffic is very, very sparse in general.    There are two checkpoints, both active now, and I often avoid them by taking backroads which I'm quite familiar with.  But yesterday I had no choice.   It takes nearly a half tank of gas to scoot this run from Shanghai, and gas stations are sparse in the area.  With the fuel levels low on my scooter, I was hoping to get gas at the local station but it was closed, already, at 7:30pm.  

 

Moving on, I ran out of gas about 2km from the provincial border.  No choice but to get off, walk, and push.  Of course, the cops stopped me at the checkpoint, but I played the fool and pointed to the empty gas gauge.   It worked.

 

 

0.5 Credits Down, 3.5 To Go!

Today's weather:  High = 9  Low = 1
Sunny
 

At this point, it's not entirely certain if I actually passed the second 0.25 credit course for my online masters degree, but it's highly likely that I did.  Calculations showed I needed to get 45% on the final written assignment to pass, which I'm confident I did, but will know for sure this weekend.

 

Even so, this latest course 'mathematical proofs' was by far the hardest one.  Conversations with other colleauges who have done this same course showed they also found it tough.   Through a celebration dinner last night I learned a lot more about the course, and the fact that one needs 4 credits to graduate.

Most of the online courses are 0.5 credits which last a little longer than 3 months, and can be taken in any of the three semesters  (Jan-Apr,   May – Aug, or Sep to Dec).   There are a few "half courses" that count for 0.25 credits, such as the two that I just completed.   Software, and proofs.

 

As tough as it's been so far, the discouraging part is that I'm only 1/8 of the way through the program.  It doesn't take a math major to figure that if I keep up this pace, it will take up to 4 years to complete the degree.   This is way off my original prediction of two years,  which in hindsight, I have no idea where that number came from.  It could have come from people who actually quit their jobs and did a masters full time, which, traditionally, does take two years.    Or potentially from colleagues who are doing "ed masters" or education degrees while working also, often in two years.

 

Regardless, it is going to be a long slog to get this degree, and I will have to revise my earlier plans.   I'm no doubt going to stick it out, as this particular type of masters is right up my alley.  In response to others' inquiries, I have no desire to do an "ed masters" as frankly, I consider it to be fluff and a waste of time and money.   The one that was offered by Maple Leaf, for example, in ESL pedagogy, sounds nice in theory but you can learn all that stuff on the job.

 

The advantage of the current masters I'm doing  (MMT:   masters of math for teachers)  is that it's online and also project-based.  But the disadvantage is that it's a ton of work.  Based on the time commitment involved, a lot more work than other masters programs.   People often ask me whether this has anything to do with teaching, as there is hard core math content involved and not a lot of pedagogy. 

 

As mentioned above, actual teaching is learned on the job, not with a masters course.  The idea with the MMT is to increase the teacher's content knowledge of common high school math topics.  For example, we learn in-depth calculus proofs while the students don't, but knowing the proofs helps to get a deeper understanding of the material which helps for teaching it.

 

 

Year Winding Down

Today's weather:  High = 7  Low = 0

Sunny

 

With yesterday's cold wave beginning to moderate now, most of us teachers are glued to the weather forecast to see what's coming up next.  After a slight warming trend this week, there is another cold wave attack before next weekend.  It's actually a very predictable trend, where this happens every 6-10 days.  

 

Stage 1:   The winds are out of the south and sunny as temperatures warm up   (4-5 days)

Stage 2:   It gradually gets overcast and begins to rain.  The winds shift to the north or northeast   (1-2 days)

Stage 3:   The rain stops and the wind intensifies, shifting to the north and temperatures plummet   (1-2 days)

Stage 4:   The wind subsides and gradually switches back to the south, where stage 1 repeats again

 

Basically, once it starts raining in the winter in Shanghai, the temperature always drops.  Stage 3 can be particulary brutal as it's not uncommon for the temperatures to decrease throughout the entire day after the rain stops.  That is, the morning "low" can actually be the high temperature as the warming sun isn't enough to counter the cold front effect.

 

Meanwhile, the school year is wrapping up.  First thing to finish is the dreaded masters degree course on mathematical proofs that has been dogging me for the past 6 weeks.  With the latest written assignment scoring a sweet 90%, that has bumped up my average and there is less pressure on the final assignment  (due Tues) in order to pass the course.   Having said that, I'm nearly done the final assignment and it's looking more and more likely that I will pass this course.

 

On the anticipation of this happening, I'm heading out to the boonies to Sino Canada in order to celebrate with a colleague over there who also had to suffer through this same online proofs course.  The idea is that we'll be drinking some alcohol.  

 

Meanwhile, there are still two weeks of course teaching before Christmas, and then we get a 3 day weekend from Dec 24, 25, 26!   Colleagues over at Sino get 2 weeks for this break, which seems unfair, but then they also live in the boonies while I'm teaching in the middle of Shanghai.  So it balances out.

 

However, a colleague at the school I teach at is undergoing surgery at the hospital and I'm covering classes, and coordinating a team of other subs.  This is a ton of extra work and thank goodness it won't overlap much with my masters course, otherwise I would undergo sure meltdown.   They are compensating me nicely for this sub work.

 

Once Christmas is done with, then New Years will happen.  In this case, we must follow the Chinese school calendar which gives Jan 1, 2, 3, as holidays.  That means, yes, we work on Dec 31 which is a Saturday.  Will I actually do any work that day?  Hardly.  It will be a day of showing movies in class.

 

Shortly after that, it is final exam season, marks, report cards, and I've already got my flight booked for Jan 13.    If my predictions are correct, we'll only have to suffer through 3 more cold waves, 4 tops, before taking off.  I'm also hoping that the flights out won't be affected by adverse weather as they were last year, given the ice and snow situation.  Will just have to see what happens. 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

It Got So Chilly

Today's weather:  High = 2  Low = -3
Sunny
 
The weather speaks for itself ... a remarkably fast change from summer to winter over the course of a week.  While November was a record warm month, a massive cold wave came in from the north before the weekend, and the chill continues to set in as I type.  Barely.  The inside of my house started off a lot better than last year, but the rapid change in weather caused the window panes to shatter outside, and now it is freezing inside as the buffer has been effectively lost.  Will have to get that fixed soon.  Similarly, the cold weather played havoc with my new scooter.  The fuel line essentially froze, the battery kicked the bucket, and I ended up replacing both parts at the stop in addition to a new carburetor replacement and fixing the spark plugs.
 
After a mere short week of riding that scooter, I've now parked it inside the school underground lot where it is warmer, and it will remain there for hibernation, or until it gets warm again.

Another Massive Crunch

Today's weather:  High = 13  Low = 7

Rain

 

This one came unexpectedly, to say the least.  A colleague had to get surgery and is out of commission for the next 6 weeks.  Now we're dong internal coverage, and a complicated system of switching back and forth between classrooms.  It went really messy today with just about everything going wrong you could think of.  The good news is we're getting handsome compensation for this coverage. 

 

But extra work combined with an impending final deadline on one of my masters courses next week, this is murder.  I'm eagerly anticipating the grade on my latest assignment so I can then calculate the minimum mark I need on the final assignment to get a 70% passing mark for the course and be done with it.  This crunch will then be over next week, and will gradually decompress as Christmas and New Years holiday approach. 

 

Thank goodness for the scooter, as that eliminates the commute hassle.

Life is Great on a Scooter!!

Today's weater:  High = 16  Low = 9
Sunny
 
Now that I'm back on a scooter, life has suddenly gotten a lot more positive!  Of course, the workload is still heavy and there are 40 days to go until the winter break, but cutting down on the commute drudgery helps a lot.  Riding a scooter makes the whole thing fun again, and it even makes it possible to go home during lunch now and take a nap.  That wasn't possible before without the bike. 
 
Part of the problem why November was so difficult was because I didn't have a scooter.   It really is the ideal choice to get around the city, even better than a motorbike because of the lightweight feel and the increased agility in traffic without having to shift gears all the time.  But for longer distance commutes and trips, the motorcycle is the better deal, given that you want something which can do sustained high speeds.  The scooter isn't really fit for that kind of riding.  Even when I get the Yamaha YBR250 eventually I will likely keep the scooter for city commuting.  There is a downside and that is getting fuel, but I've got an earlier system devised from squirreling it away in jerry cans that will need to start again.

Got a New Scooter

Yamaha 125cc Cygnus, white color.  Will post pics if I can.  It's a knock-off Yamaha, but still runs very well.  Got it used from an American whose girlfriend didn't want him riding the scooter around town.  The price was incredible, 3600 RMB.  Too good to be true?  Maybe, but I snatched it up in a heartbeat.  This will be the ideal transitional scooter until next May or so when I pick up a 250cc motorcycle for longer distance rides.
 
Meanwhile, in terms of a city commuter, the scooter is really the ideal choice.  The ride to/from work has now been reduced to 15 minutes each way.  Basically, if I was using the subway as a comparison, by that time I'd have barely gotten on the first train to start the commute. 
 
So to summarize:
 
Subway and walking:  40-45 minutes
Bicycle:  30-35  minutes
Scooter:  15-20 minutes
 


 

 

Cold Outside, Not Inside

Today's weather:  High = 12 Low = 3

Sunny

 

As the weather temperatures indicate, seasons change fast in Shanghai.  It literally goes from summer to winter over the course of the weekend, and sometimes back again.  Meanwhile, the cold weather is causing a lot of complaints from colleagues about how cold it is inside the house.  This was certainly the case for me last year also.  However, this year I'm really fortunate with my new place.  It has an outside balcony with a window that closes, as well as another window from the balcony into the house.  So it rarely gets cold inside.  Combined with my space heater, I'm not complaining this year of the cold, and the electricity bill is also rather low.

 

 

Thanksgiving Past Weekend

Today's weather:   High = 22  Low = 10

Sunny and bliss

 

An unexpected bout of sunny and warm weather has ended off a difficult month, and appropriately, it is also Thanksgiving.  We had a nice house party to celebrate that.  Mainly, I'm thankful for:

 

1.        The wonderful friends and community I am part of here in Shanghai, both expats and locals, who may as well be family.  While this was the most difficult work month I've gone through, being able to put that aside and attend meaningful conferences, events, dinners, gatherings and house parties for the last 4 Saturdays in a row is something to be very thankful for.   Having lived in other Chinese cities with a similar workload around this time of year, I am acutely aware of the pain of this time of year when such community of other expats and locals does not exist.

An interesting fact here.   The latest census showed close to 500,000 expats living in China.  About 90% of them were living in either Shanghai, Beijing, or Guangzhou. 

 

2.       The great weather today.  A perfect day for motorcycle riding, which a friend let me borrow.   I sure appreciated the 'power trip' of tootling around on a high-powered bike after having pedaled on a bicycle for the last month.

 

3.       Having made it through this month.  4 weeks until Christmas now.  Nuff said.

 

Gonna Tough it Out and Stay

Today's weather:  High = 12  Low = 1
Cloudy

While checking out another school in town yesterday, I had to realize that we still have it pretty good at our current gig.  Even though conditions are not as good this year as last, they are still a lot better than other schools.  In this sense, there's no reason to change.  What I found shocking was that I went to this other school at around 5pm and the teacher prep rooom was still full of people working.  The school itself had a culture of "stay after hours and do clubs, hobbies, extra-curricular work" which is an automatic fail in my books because it is a 'culture of sacrifice'.   5pm is too late to be at school every day when the work day begins at 7am, even earlier.   Plus the compensation for housing isn't even close to what is offered where I'm at now.  
 
To make a long story short, I'll do one more year at this current place, no changes.  Even so, the original plan remains where I'm looking at June 2013 tops to end this current career and then transition into something else.   By then I'll have a secondary income source as well as the masters degree should be nearly finished, so I'll be in good shape to hit the Himalayas for a few months to regroup and figure out the next move in life.
 
In the more short-term, I've got two razzle-dazzle trips lined up.  Winter break is going to be South Thailand and Burma.  Summer break is going to be Tibet, Nepal, and India.

Looking at a Change for Next Year

Today's weather:  High = 19  Low = 12
Rainy
 
I can't say anything formally yet, nor will I make any formal decisions until after the winter holiday, but I'm greatly disappointed with the direction that the school is going in this year compared to last.  More meetings, more paperwork, and more financial stinginess is never a good sign that you want to see in a workplace, so when it goes this way, then head for the exits.  Fast. 
 
As such, the usual routine of changing schools next year will happen unless there is drastic improvement later on  (which I doubt).  Fortunately I've got a really excellent lead at a school that is literally across the street from my new apartment in the south of Shanghai.  Will be meeting the principal later on this week.

Enjoying This Indian Summer

Today's weather:  High = 25  Low = 15

Sunny

 

An amazing bout of warm sunny weather over the weekend.  Great chance to go motorcycle riding.  I found out it's freezing cold and pouring back in Vancouver Canada, so this is a nice counter-balance.  Summer-like weather in December, who would've thought

 

 

Cramster to the Rescue

Today's weather:  High = 14  Low = 6

Sunny

 

Why I didn't already think of this a month earlier is beyond me, but better to save the day later rather than never.

 

The website http://www.cramster.com  is an interactive study community where people can post math, physics, or chemistry questions and get real-time help and interactive responses.  I was highly involved with this a few years back and accured a massive amount of nearly 60,000 points for helping people answer physics questions.

 

Now these points will come to some major use.  The website has evolved considerably to the point it now works like this:

 

1.        A student posts a math, physics, or chemistry problem to the website and requests the level of urgency to have it answered.  A highly urgent problem will be answered in a matter of minutes because it awards a premium of points.  But such service will cost some of your own points.  A non-urgent question is free to post, while it also awards less points.

 

2.        Others keep an eye on the discussion board and answer whatever questions pop up, noting the potential points available.  Building points allows you to use the express service or redeem them for real stuff.

 

3.       When a student gets a response, he/she is required to rate it.  The highest rating gives the maximum amount of points available, whereas the maximum is defined by the difficulty of the question and the urgency level.   Other ratings give less points.

 

4.       The economics of points dictate a win/win situation for both people who post and answer questions.  The quality of the answers is extremely good, and far more detailed than any textbook solution manual or other standard website would give.

 

Of course, one has to ask if this is cheating.   I've brought this website up at school several times with colleagues and have been lambasted for even suggesting such a thing exists.  Yes it exists, deal with it. 

 

In defense, 9 times out of 10, when students ask a question on the website, they have tried it themselves first and gotten stuck.  This is evidenced by them writing things like, 'I've done this so far, but not sure what to do next'  or  'I'm not sure how they got this answer'.   The goal of replying to questions is to provide hints and steps to get the answer, and not say the answer directly.  This is really no different than what happens in class.   Student tries a question, he then asks classmates, and if he still can't get it, he asks the teacher.

 

The student would then internalize what was provided, and then come up with his or her own answer.  Most of the time, this is exactly what happens.  Literally thousands of students have said how the website helped them get As in class as the feedback process prepares them very well for tests.  Of course, in a test, they do NOT have the website available as a crutch.

 

Cheating occurs if a student simply gets an answer, and then copies and pastes the answer to hand in as an assignment.   Not only is this dumb, but there is no learning in this process. 

Most universities these days now assign questions using 'Web Assign' which randomizes the numbers in a physics problem and ensures that everybody must submit a unique solution.  In this way, the help from the website above is really good because it can then be modified to the unique question that the student must answer by himself.

 

To make a long story short, I'm also going to be relying on hints and help from others by posting questions to the website for my current assignments that I'm stuck on with my masters course.  Even the mere thought of having this 'lifeline' available is increasing the motivation I have for doing this next assignment.  I've nearly finished it and am rather confident of the results without having posted any questions yet.

 

It gets better:   if you do a web search, there is no way to see any answers to questions posted by yourself or others unless you are already a paying member of the website and have logged in.   You can, however, see the question itself, which tells you that it may not even be necessary to post because somebody else already did.  Just log in and learn.  Nuff said.

Temperatures Dropping

Today's weather:  High = 12  Low = 3

 

The rain cleared from the weekend, and we've now been enjoying crisp clear weather this week.  This is a sign we're entering the dry and cold season, which parallels the dry season in SE Asia.  On this note, the flood situation in Thailand which I've been following closely is slowly being alleviated as the monsoon is basically over now. 

 

It would be nice if a vacation were to happen right now, but it's still at least 50 days away until the winter break.  Ouch!    Unfortunately, more bad news has happened in that one of our teachers will now be out of commission for 6+ weeks due to major back surgery.  As a result, the regular staff are doing internal coverage to act as subs.  They are compensating us healthily for this, but it's going to be a major bitch of a workload for the next 3 weeks until my masters course has finally run its course on Dec 12.

 

Speaking of which, the first course 'software' ended well in October with a nice 94% mark to cap off the final project.  The current course I'm doing now is 'mathematical proofs' and to quote a colleague from Sino Canada (another school down the road) who's also doing this, the course is an "absolute nightmare" and "it's hell".  He is correct.  The intimidating language and nature of proofs is one of the things about math that I wish didn't exist, but it does, and we have to deal with it.

 

My goal is simple for this course:   survival.   The pass rate is 70% and I'm barely floating above that now, having been killed on the latest written assignment.

 

Once the hell of proofs is over with, then things will gradually ease off as we approach the winter break.  I've already got plane tickets booked ages ago and am now figuring out trip logistics in more details.  Stay tuned to that on the crazyguyonabike.com site, as this winter break trip is gonna be off the hook!

 

 

I Came This Close to Quitting China

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

Before coming to China 10 years ago the advice I got in training still holds true to this day, even moreso. Namely, one friend told me there would certainly be days when I wondered what I was doing in China and I'd want to run for the exits.

Yesterday was one of those days.

I'm very grateful for the 3 pieces of advice learned in training which I've held onto over the last decade.

1. Lower the expectations. Good general advice and it especially applies for transport inconveniences.

2. Patience and flexibility. Nuff said.

3. Don't make decisions when under the gun. In other words, right now the most tempting thing to do is quit China but I'm going to take a step back and reassess over the upcoming holidays. Right now would be a terrible time to make decisions and April/May is the same story. I haven't always kept this advice and have quit jobs in the past when conditions went downhill or when things got rough.

I'm going to post more detail on the importance of community in Shanghai and maintaining a social network outside of work. This is something I go on a LOT about, even more than transport. However I'll just come right out and say it. Without that community network I would have totally quit and the community is what is compelling me to stay and not quit.
It is why I came to Shanghai in the first place.

I will also say unequivocally that it is destructive behavior to choose to solely rely on coworkers for social life and community when outside of the office. I realize this is very common in China and Asia in general but it is still a destructive practice and violates a sense of healthy boundaries. Any clubs or activities to this end I will stay away from and suffer the consequences. Such as international booze clubs, where coworkers meet in others' apartments and drink, or video game clubs or house parties to a similar effect.

Related to all this is the fact that our teaching staff has now become a de-facto men's club with 80% young single men this year and I shouldn't have to point out the implications as they are obvious. The situation is now becoming a carbon copy of the men's club that existed when I taught in Sino Canada 3 years ago in the boonies.
Now it seems we've simply migrated downtown but the fundamental problems of an imbalanced staff like that (in terms of age, gender, and marital status) are the same regardless of location.

In fact a far more astute colleauge and friend told me at Sino back then that I was focusing on the wrong problem (location) when it was really a people issue in terms of unhealthy boundaries and staffing. She happened to be a woman, thank goodness, and corrected pointed out that the STAFF would still act in an unhealthy way regardless of where the school was. Took me 3 years to figure out what she picked up on in 3 weeks but yeah, I get the point,
this is a people issue.

Now the question remains, what to do about it?

Verified: They Don't Rest on Weekends

Today's weather:  High = 23  Low = 17
Strangely warm and humid
 

Awhile back I wrote a post about the 'bragging rights' that the Chinese feel about how many holidays they get per year.  They come up with a huge number, from the fact that they count the weekends as holidays.  The underlying assumption here is that weekends are days that everyone could potentially be working, and the sad reality is that many people do exactly that.  7 days a week. 

 

This afternoon I was at the apartment office taking care of some business with my landlord, and it all went rather smoothly which is a rarity in China, and appreciated when it happens.  So we all stuck around for awhile longer and chatted in Mandarin, and they were rather impressed that I could do such a thing.  At that point, I threw in the fact that I also taught high school math which got more 'oohs' and 'ahh's.   Just love it.

 

Anyways, later in the conversation, one of the workers told me about how the Chinese view weekends.     This verified what I had long suspected.  That is to say, the concept of rest on the weekends is seen as a Western tradition and it works differently in China.  Literally, works.  The sad reality is that even if they could take breaks and relax on the weekend, they would choose to work instead since that's a way to amass more fortune

The conversation went something like this.  

 

Worker #1:      So you must be a pretty smart guy teaching math to the senior high students

Me:   Not really, it's just a job, something that pays the bills.       (It also finances my bicycle travel hobby and other long-term investment plans)

 

Worker #2:       Ah cmon don't be modest, there's a lot of teachers who can't do this, as the level of math at the senior grade is most difficult and they won't just hire anyone to teach it.  

 

Me:  True enough I guess

 

Worker #2:      If someone else wanted to teach that level, and they weren't up to par, the school would be like, 'Why do we need you?' and 'What's the use of you?'   So you must be pretty good

 

Me:   Thanks.  

 

Worker #2:    By the way, did you know that most of the Chinese high school math and English teachers do side tutoring jobs on the weekend and make more money?  

 

Me:   It doesn't surprise me they would do something like that.

 

Worker #2    They don't tell their employers of course, but they arrange 'upgrade classes'  (BU KE, not sure how to translate it) where groups of students pay 150 RMB an hour and they help prepare for the massive university entrance tests.

 

Me: Ah I see, yes, a long time ago I used to do similar things.   I was working in 2003 as an English teacher during the weekdays out in a school called YUCAI in Jiading district  (the boonies).  Then on weekends I had a side job teaching adults.  The side job gave me more money than my real job.

 

Worker #1       We can arrange that here too.  You want to make some extra money?   We can easily get a training class going on the weekends with other staff workers who want to speak English.

 

Me: Thanks a lot, but these days I'm busy and don't have time for it.  Unlike in 2003, my teaching hours are long and it's really a full time job.  Plus I'm doing other things on the weekends so I wouldn't be interested in more jobs and work.

 

I then described the stuff I do and the workers interpreted it as recreation, fun, and enjoying life. 

 

Then a worker said,  "Yes, that's the difference between Chinese and Western culture.  You guys like to do fun activities on the weekends and rest, but here it's different."

 

I said, "True, I understand, but isn't the weekend supposed to be for having fun and resting?  You can still work from Monday to Friday."

 

One of the workers said, "That's what you guys do in the West, work Monday to Friday and rest on the weekend, but here in China, we work all days."    

 

And that was the end of the conversation.

 

Keep in mind I've had many Chinese friends in the past tell me that foreigners enjoy life and they don't because they face a 'heavy burden'.  This isn't news at all, but the full gravity of the situation really hit me today that even on the weekends where they COULD rest, they choose not to, as it would be lost opportunities to make money.

 

They must think I'm a lost cause because I've got enormous money-making potential  as a white guy who can speak Mandarin and teach high-level mathematics, among other things, but I'm squandering the opportunities to make a fortune since I'd rather take it easy on the weekends.   Fool of fools I am. 

 

And even if I did make all this potential money, I would then be criticized because I'm spending too much of the money and not saving up to buy a house and get married.   Note the order !!

 

Many times a taxi driver will ask how much money I make, I tell him, then he calculates the yearly income and also how long it would take to buy a house with what I'm making.   When he finds out that I haven't bought a house in Shanghai, he wonders why not, and asks where all the money is going.  I point out that a lot of the money gets spent on small comforts every day and it adds up.  Such as the taxi I happen to be riding in this very instant.    The irony of that moment is not lost on either one of us, and we laugh.    

 

Even so, I know for a fact where my money is really going.  In a word:  travel.     I've seen more of China than most local Chinese have, and they are the ones who tell me this when I put together an abridged list of all the cities I have been to.   Spending all that money on travel is something I have not regretted for an instant, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

 

Doug's Sichuan / Tibet Bike Trip

As mentioned in the last post, a cyclist Doug Warner is doing perhaps the best long distance bicycle trip and blog I've seen yet.  He works in Suzhou which is close to here, and he somehow managed to get 3 months off.  Jealous!!!   With that time, he has managed an incredible trip, entitled "Rolling West Through China".  For the past 2 months or so he simply got on a bike and pedalled west.

 

He is now at the Sichuan / Tibet border.

 

How he managed to get so far in such a short time is a mystery to me.  He has taken plenty of days off and is enjoying the trip more than you'd think for something of that magnitude.  Part of his success is what I should be doing for the next trip:   bringing along a local.  This is the ingenious idea, that a local friend can eliminate nearly 90% of the hassles that would go along with China travel, and the hassles I have often complaind about in past blogs.  For example, Doug has always gotten the cheap local hotel digs, and has rarely paid more than 60RMB for a hotel room.  With one exception, the police have never harassed him or bothered him in hotel rooms.  He always manages to find internet cafes to update the blog, and of course, he gets the local perspective on all things China along the way.

 

Of course, it's not easy to FIND a local partner who would want to do such a cycling trip, and it would take a lot of work and planning to coordinate this with a Chinese person.  In my case, I often op for traveling along as it's just easier and requires less work.   However, the hassles on the road of traveling alone in China are a real bitch.  I have long suspected that cycling with a local friend is the way to make these work.  Such people do exist and it's a win/win situation for both Doug and Peter who are enjoyig the trip of a lifetime.

 

Due to time constraints, and the onset of winter, they had to change their plan and can't go all the way to Lhasa.   Instead they have reached the far western point of their trip in historical Tibet  (still in Sichuan province) and will then loop south towards Yunnan province and Kunming where it's warmer.

 

Even so, there are some incredible Himalayan passes they have gone across.  One of them he described as Narnia and it is just making me itch to go !!!!    This trip has also given me a ton of ideas, that if I can't actually make it into Tibet autonomous region, then the historical Tibet is a nice backup plan. 

 

Anyways, here's the blog.

 

 

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1r4vFZo&doc_id=9392&v=me

 

Thinking About Holidays

If you were in my shoes for this month, then you would be too!  On the bright side, we've been enjoying really nice weather for this time of year ... very similar to last year, how November was like an "Indian summer" in Shanghai and it kept up right until December.  

 

But if you're stuck working, then the nice weather is more of an insult since you can't be outside much to enjoy it.  It's really too bad that the busiest times of the year happen to coincide with the brief periods of the nicest weather in the city which take place in October/November also in April/May.    Aside from that, Shanghai is too hot in the summer, or too cold in the winter.  In fact we're expecting the temperatures to plummet within a week, and it will stay cold until April once that happens.

 

On this note, the most important part of teaching is that we enjoy two major holiday breaks a year.  Summer and winter, baby!  Winter break is traditionally when teachers head off to SE Asia, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why.  This is the prime time of year where you CAN enjoy the beautiful dry season weather, and it is only a 4-5 hour flight away to the traditional locations of Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

 

This time I've got a plan for Thailand and Burma and it's outlined on the crazyguyonabike website.  Only 59 more days to go!

 

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1r4vFZo&doc_id=9602&v=4x

 

Watch that space for more details on how the trip itself will pan out.

 

As it turns out, I'm also thinking about summer break.  One of the bike journals has captivated my attention on a daily basis, Mr Doug's rendition of "Rolling West Through China"  This is the best cycling journal I've seen.  His humorous writing style keeps me glued to his blog, even while the students are writing exams and I'm supposed to be supervising them.

 

When Doug flies back into Shanghai just before Christmas, then the beers are on me.

 

His trip is amazing in that he is cycling around the western part Sichuan province which is part of historical Tibet but not actually part of the automous region.  Some of the views and Himalayan mountain passes he has crossed are absoluely phenomenal.  And of course I've been thinking, "Damnit, I'm so jealous and I want to do this too."

 

It has long been a dram for me to pass through the Himalayas on a bicycle, and espcially to Tibet, but it hasn't happened yet.  The lack of time is what makes this so difficult, and I may very well have to spend the entire summer break doing this.  Usually I go home to Vancouver during summer, but there may be a way to do this some other time, or cancel altogether.   We'll see.  Meanwile, winter break trip planning will be the immediate focus, and that's going to involve Burma, to pick up the trip that got aborted last August.

 

Over the Major Crunch

Today's weather:  High = 19  Low = 17

Sunny

 

If I've got this figured out right, the worst crunch of the year is now over with.   This isn't to say it will be all smooth sailing until the January break, but the last 2-3 weeks of hell are getting over with.  Now it looks my teacher evaluation by the principal is done, the student midterms are finished, the 1st term report card marks are all finalized, the masters degree proofs written assignment is handed in (stayed up until 2am doing this after getting my marks done first), and the transport and apartment situations are finally solved, then I can't anticipate another crunch like this happening for a long time.

 

Fittingly enough, the leadership conference just had to happen ALSO on the past weekend!  At any rate, I don't regret attending, even if it pushed me back a day and caused a backlog.  Anyways, it's common knowledge for anyone living in Shanghai that things pile up and happen all at once, then it gets easier once the crunch is done. 

 

It's a lot like how rush hour works, when the city reaches a state of absolute gridlock from 5:30pm to 6:30pm daily.  Then once the peak has passed, the traffic clears up amazingly quickly so that after 7pm it is hardly crowded at all.  Of course, everyone has to head back at the same time, hence the gridlock.  The same can be said for how the entire city eats from 12pm to 1pm and then after that it is not crowded at the restaurants.

 

Basically you just learn to deal with it, brace out the crunch, and then life gets back to normal. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grabbing That Oxygen Mask

Today's weather:    High = 19  Low = 8

Severely polluted

 

Regretably, as mentioned in other posts, this is the worst time of the teaching year, hands down.   We're approaching the midpoint of the marathon stretch between the National Holiday and the Chinese New Year.  It also marks the point where we do midterm exams and prepare the marks for the 1^st term report cards which are due this Monday.   The official halfway point occurs next weekend.

 

To use the marathon analogy, this is the part where I'm about ready to collapse, though there is plenty more to go.   This week was a major round of preparing tests and now spending the entire weekend to get marks in order.  Not only that, but a colossal written assignment is due for my online masters program on Tuesday at noon, which I haven't even begun yet.  Somehow it will get done at the last minute.

 

To use another analogy, when ripple effects of chaotic waves accumulate in the air, they reach a 'crisis point' where they resonate with the airplane's frequency and cause the plane to undergo severe turbulence.   Sometimes the plane drops out of the sky and the oxygen masks come out.  That's how it has felt for me over the last two weeks.

Despite all this, I still took a Saturday out and went to the Global Leadership Summit which was happening in Pudong.  This is a major leadership event that takes place every year and it certainly was phenomenal and very practical.  I'll blog more about that in another post, as I'm still behind on several other posts for this month.

 

Going to the event felt like grabbing the oxygen mask in an impending plane crash.  The Leadership Summit was much needed inspirational relief.  I still have to ride out the worst of the turbulence, but it is clear that the plane is getting back on course.  In times like now, this is why I appreciate living in Shanghai so much.  The same kind of craziness, hectiness, and wanton busyness can also happen in other Chinese cities of course.  The culture here is famous for people acting like this, 7 days a week, as I mentioned in other posts.  

 

But here I've got a considerable network of contacts outside of my immediate work.  Most of them have jobs in the corporate world, which is mainly what the Leadership Summit was about.  At any rate I appreciate the wide range of contacts within the vast network of other expats in Shanghai who are doing something else besides teaching. 

 

On the other hand, it is very rare to find such an expat community in cities like Dalian and Wuhan where I used to live.  When faced with similar circumstances over there in past years, I am not sure how I managed to survive.   But clearly I will never go back to living in cities like that.   They say you can improve your Chinese, make Chinese friends and experience the "real China" in 2^nd tier cities such as the above.  Maybe you can do that if you teach ESL and work very few hours a week.  

 

But when you teach in BC offshore schools such as Maple Leaf and others located in the suburbs with enormous workloads, then the sad fact of the matter is that nobody has any time to learn Chinese, experience Chinese culture, or make Chinese friends,  let alone make friends with other expats. 

 

Instead what ends up happening is that teachers socialize and work together, and spend the bulk of the time with each other.  In Wuhan, this was the most extreme case, which nearly drove me to the brink.   There are even some instances of it happening here, but as mentioned above, the vast network of other expats makes it possible to get away from the school compound which, in general, may as well be a mental hospital.

 

One of the most difficult things I grapple with in China is how the culture works against people meeting new friends, mingling, socializing, networking, and so forth.  Due to the work unit mentality (literally:  mental hospital)  people spend the bulk of their time working, in closed networks, with the same people, living together, traveling together, staying in a small area, etc.  so there are few opportunities to meet new people.   People are also scared of meeting new friends due to understandable lack of trust of strangers.  The idea that a stranger is a "friend you haven't met yet" doesn't quite apply here.

 

I've expressed this quite openly with other Chinese friends and they usually come back with a quick little remark like "People have to work in life", with the implication being life suck, work sucks, we sit and suffer, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.   This kind of sad and nihilistic tone is all-too-common in modern China.  Yet when they talk like this, it's also a clear indication that the topic is sensitive and they don't want to elaborate.   

 

For these months in November and December, we spoiled and whiny teachers get to experience what Chinese people have to face their entire lives.   On average, they might get 10 holidays a year, including with the Spring Festival and other stat holidays.

 

Meanwhile, Shanghai is more progressive than most Chinese cities when it comes to this sort of thing.  It's  been a lot better year this time round.  At a time like this, I sure appreciate the chance to get out of the cabin fever and do some meeting and greeting.

 

Major Benefits to Current Location

It looks like the bicycle is on the way to paying for itself already. Saved nearly 100 RMB in cab fares alone after a party tonight. Admitedly, getting on the bicycle isn't my favorite thing to do on a cold night after a party for 30 minutes but this can be gotten used to.

The fact of the matter is that colleagues living in xuhui district downtown are paying through the nose for really small places. I was shocked to find a coworker paying more than me for a shoebox. Granted it was a very nice and well kept place but I couldn't have imagined it to be more than 40 square meters. As a point in comparison I've got 110 square meters and am paying less per month.

The downside of course is the commute but the bicycle has got it down to 30 minutes once again consistently. Another huge advantage is the police don't bother me that far out. I was both amazed and offended that the PSB showed up at my friend / coworker's party downtown tonight, thrust a Chinese badge in his face that said "resident permit inspection" and asked to see his passport. This all took place in Chinese and I deliberately stepped back at first to see what was going on, and my friend handled it very well. I would have stepped in to tell these guys off or at least argue but the situation was under control so no need. My anger was such that my friend / coworker spoke limited Chinese but these PSB folk neither acknowledged or thanked him for his effort. They just asked a bunch of questions like "Do you live alone here" and "Who are all these people with you" and "What's your cell phone"

Details were then entered into a book. I faced the same sort of intrusive bullshit last year when I also lived in downtown xuhui district. The PSB cops came at least 3 times a year to check details, etc.. Granted they're doing this because of recent escapades downtown with filipinos and indonesians who share 10 people to a small room and many have expired visas. Or the recent story of the Eastern European model who killed herself by jumping from a 20 story window, also in xuhui district, over low pay, job stress, illegal working conditions, and the fact she was on an expired visa.

Not surprisingly that particular district is on the police hotspot and they are checking regularly after all these mishaps. Even so they never check out in the suburbs now, they never checked when I lived in Sino Canada or Songjiang 3 years ago, and they never checked when I was in Wuhan 2 years ago.

It is bad enough that these pigs will often check on foreigners in hotels and disrupt privacy but when it takes place in long term rented and leased housing it is really offensive and I take it personally. Thankfully though there are huge pockets of both Shanghai and China where they don't check.

Subway Letdowns

This will be the last post about the subway for a long while, I promise. Having ridden this thing for nearly 10 years now I've seen it grow by leaps and bounds to become the world's largest subway network.

But I've also seen some major frustrations develop where the system is going down the tubes, literally, or it most certainly is not living up to its potential. This is what makes me so angry, that such a world-class potential subway system ends up fraught with trouble and obstacles, to the point where you are better off not using it in the first place.

The same could be said for a lot of new developments in China that are not living up to their potential. I call this the `cha bu duo` mentality where people don't strive for quality or excellence, only what is 'cha bu duo' which is just enough to get by. As a result, new quickly becomes old, and systems with huge potential end up going down the drain simply because people don't care enough

Back on the Bicycle

Today's weather: High = 17 Low=8
Sunny

Interesting day today it is 11/11/11 and the Chinese view this as marriage day. The reasoning is simple, they view this as pairs of 1s so that means two become one. Or is it one become two? Whatever, in response to that many have declared today singles day. Whether you're married or single the fact remains that next year will be last `triple` pair where the day, month, and year are all the same.

To that end, people are declaring 12/12/12 as the end of the world. But I don't think this a very fruitful exercise to predict days of the end of the world as nobody has gotten it right for those who have attempted thus far.

So when 12/12/12 comes to pass one thing for sure is that we'll need to wait 100 years for the next triple which is 01/01/01 in 2101.

Let's talk about something else. Transportation. The details of that last post about subway timings will be "outsourced" to my students as a math project as I've basically thrown in the towel on the Shanghai subway. Forget doing any experiments with time calculations for myself as I've just had extraordinary bad luck with the subway system ever since I gave up my motorcycle to the new rightful German owner two weeks ago.

It's hard to believe but for every single day I've walked into a subway station and watched as a train just left. Granted this can potentially happen 4 times a day as I have to transfer lines, and of course do the return trip home from work.

I've done the math on this and there's about a 40% chance that I miss the first or the 2nd train or both on the way to work or it happens on the way home. Given 10 subway rides (counting both the trip to work and the return trip in the last two weeks) then it can only be a shockingly low 4% chance of missing a train every single day. My atrocious luck showed that it happened.

The final straw was coming home on Friday and line #1 stalled one station before mine. The doors stayed open for 5 minutes and I then got out, hopped an illegal motorcycle taxi right in front of a policeman, and got a ride to the nearest place to buy a bicycle.

Plans to get a transitional scooter or motorbike have fallen through the roof and so a bicycle it is. Once I can recover enough finances next semester I will then upgrade to a Yamaha YBR250.

Until then it will have to be my own two legs