Update: After riding the bike exactly once from the bike shed behind work to what I THOUGHT was a safe place, the elevator lobby on the 21st floor of my building I discovered Monday morning that the bike has indeed already been stolen. It was locked and everything. Eh, I guess you get what you pay for (exactly 1 yuan to the bike repair guy on the street to raise the seat for me on the way home.) Wow. Go China.

Living in this new apartment means I now have access to all the Chinese television that for some reason was blocked by a whole bunch of French, German and Japanese programming in the exchange student dorm. (yes, very good, censor the Chinese television programs made available to the exchange students who are already in China. Brilliant.)

Those that know me well know that I pretty much can’t stand watching television but for some reason I decided to turn it on this evening. As I expected, not a whole lot going on (it is television after all) but there was an in-home interview of a foreigner named Da Long and his wife. They do these laowai programs every so often of the foreigners that speak and write incredible Chinese and if they’re not too shmaltzy, I’ll watch them for inspiration and new vocab. Da Long is Swedish and has lived in China for 15 years, speaks fluently, writes beautiful calligraphy (this is probably where I’m most envious) and can even read ancient style Chinese…the guy’s basically a rockstar. Well, aim your t-shirt cannon over here and call me groupie because I realized after a few minutes that I actually know Da Long. His name is Johan Bjorksten and he owns a PR company in Beijing. As I understand it, he’s essentially the go-to when it comes to understanding the media world in China. I came across his name through a couple of people I met while I was back in the states and coincidentally just emailed him today. Small world.

Being now in the media world, I noticed I’m starting to pay more attention to commercials and advertisements as a science…marketing tactics, underlying messages, intended audiences, some content more sophisticated than others but all essentially trying to convince people to take some sort of action. Around town these days you can see banners and posters sunshining “civilization and stability, peace and harmony” and “creating a civilized Shenyang to welcome the world”, an effort of course by the government to make sure China puts only its very best face forward for the upcoming Olympic games. The big tagline is “Welcome the Olympics, discuss civilization, cultivate a new wind” (note: my translations make these all sound a little hokier than they really are…in fact they’re actually kind of catchy, get-the-masses-moving mantras) This evening I happened to catch several of what I would call public service announcements in association with the big tagline. A short ad showed various images of people of all ages exercising and being active and then towards the end, the words “the Olympics are coming, we’re welcoming the world, have you moved (or performed) yet?” Heck yes for finally encouraging physical activity as a cool thing to do! The one I was most impressed by was probably around 60 seconds long and showed at least ten different scenarios of people performing random acts of kindness. Every scenario consisted of a helper and a helpee with a third person (usually an unassociated bystander) looking on, visibly impressed by the act of civility s/he just witnessed. Simple things, really, like reacting quickly to hold an elevator or stopping to let a child cross the street at the crosswalk. A woman pushing a person’s coffee cup away from the edge of the table where it was precariously perched, a kid picking up a baby toy and handing it to the baby in a stroller, a man pulling another person out of the path of some falling boxes, a young man helping a worker pull a heavy cart onto the curb, etc etc. Aesthetically, it’s a well-done piece and even kind of heart-warming. I mean who can’t feel good about strangers helping strangers because it’s the right thing to do? China is under a lot of pressure right now to “straighten up” according to Western standards of politeness and conduct, to “civilize”. Unfortunately for those officials in Beijing charged with shining the faces of the Chinese population, old habits die hard, particularly in places away from the shiny internationalized cities like Shanghai and Beijing. I’m very curious to see what kind of effect these 文明 (wenming, civilized) campaigns actually have on the general populace. Though you might not recognize it from the sidewalks in some areas, the ‘no spitting’ campaigns have been around since SARS and while it’s still unwise to dodge cars and roam the streets as a pedestrian while talking on a cell phone, in general, crossing the street has become markedly safer over the past year. Change is coming and I’ll give China credit for the progress it’s making. I mean seriously, 1.6 billion people. I still haven’t been able to wrap my head around it and I can’t remember if I’ve shared this with my blog audience but here it is again anyway as a starting reference point: there are more people studying English in China (something close to 400 million) than people who speak any form of English in the rest of world, combined. That is one mother of an inertia train.

The wenming campaign has also got me thinking about how the American public today would react if the government decided to actively discourage certain practices through a series of education initiatives and television and print campaigns. Surely there were campaigns throughout the 20th century as America went through it’s own pubescent industrialization and growth but now that America is what the Chinese call 发达了 (fadale, flourishing, fully developed) I’m curious if people think any sort of campaign could reign the public in. One example that just came to me is the effort to curb obesity or smoking. Are these efforts working or are these going to turn into wars on drugs?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

It’s Sunday night, I’m feeling witty and writey and instead of preparing for my 8am managers meeting tomorrow, I think I’ll do a blog session.

I know, I know, it’s been ages...this calls for a drink!
*goes to cupboard*
hmm, not a big enough occasion to open a bottle of anything expensive and I’d hate for someone to mistake me for drinking alone...guess I’m going with the old writer’s standby, Lipton English style tea with a dash of whole milk.

It’s not really English style...it doesn’t even taste like an English breakfast. But it’s got a picture of Big Ben on the box and it’s bagged and black, not green, so as far as the Chinese are concerned, it’s English style. I don’t get it, am I missing something? Back home Lipton is to tea what PBR is to beer, yet here you can go into a café or a fine tea house and order from a list of expensive green tea selections and it’s “oh-by-the-way, should you care for some black tea please choose from our wide selection of Lipton varieties. They’re really quite nice.” I’ll give the folks at Lipton this, they’re smart for getting their product where it is. For Chinese, it must be like ooh, it’s imported...oh wait, it’s made in Guangzhou. But in perusing the shelves at the local Carrefour, there really aren’t any other tea companies making powdered, easy to mix, reasonably good tasting milk tea, or lemon refresh tea, or mint julep tea or coffee tea (yeah, I don’t get that one either) so kudos to Lipton for getting the corner on the market.

Speaking of corners, I should tell you all about the incredible little (actually rather big) NW corner apartment that I’m now three months into renting in the south part of town. Two-bedroom, dark stained hardwood floors, big kitchen, new appliances on the 21st floor of the newly constructed (within the last five years) teacher’s building at the arts college right near the bustling San Hao Jie (long time JQtLM readers will recall that San Hao Jie is the electronics district of Shenyang.) I’m basically a quick 15-minute walk from work and right in the center of the downtown artsy boutique area. If you’re familiar with Portland, I’d say this area is about three years from being a cross between NW 23rd and the pearl. For the rest of you, it’s got character and some serious money that’s about to be spent on making this the next “nice part of town”. I’m told that right across the street from my building, a Hong Kong investor is getting ready to put in a multi-billion yuan leisure block, complete with mall, movie theater, hotels, high-end eateries and I’m sure at least one tea house. (Maybe they’ll serve Lipton.) It’s a dirt field at the moment...I wager within 4 months they’ll start seeing patrons.

Being on the 21st floor gives me a great view of the city, especially at night when I can sit in my little sun porch and gaze at all the lights, and in the mornings with my toast and logic puzzle magazine. It’s a cozy place (though a tad drafty here in late October as we slowly await the Nov. 1 city-wide heat turn-on day) and nice to be out of the exchange student dorm (no guard locking people in at night and making friends sign in at the door, hot water when I want it and no Russian techno thumping from six rooms away.) My co-worker/boss (Zhao Yubo, lived in Japan for five years and is now the head of the International Affairs Department, known as zyb from here on out) set this up for me with his friend who is a teacher here at the art school and owns the place. The company pays for half and I’m subletting the other half to my Australian buddy Lee. It’s the first time I’ve had a roommate since my freshman year of college. So far it’s working out well since we’re both really mind our own business laidback sort of roommates. Lee’s more nocturnal than I am and our schedules don’t really coincide much so despite living about 10 feet from each other and sharing a bathroom, in fact we rarely see each other, all the same to both of us.

Living close enough to walk to work has proven to be a blessing because it means I get at least two speed walks in each day plus the Carrefour, dry cleaner and bank are all right on the way making errands a lot less hassle. The close proximity of everything is really encouraging me to walk everywhere and take the bus more and it’s amazing how much better I feel about it all. One of my co-workers gave me an old bike so for slightly longer trips or days when I need to get somewhere faster than a jog, I’ll be able to cruise in beater style. (The crappier the bike, the less likely it is to get stolen around here. I had to make sure I didn’t clean it up too much for fear it would catch attention.)

Between Lee and me, I’m probably the better cook, which isn’t saying much. It’s not that I can’t cook, it’s just that I enjoy eating so much more and if it’s just me eating, why for heaven’s sake would I want to spend copious amounts of time preparing something gourmet when I can spend less time preparing something easy and use that extra time I saved doing something more useful like writing in my blog? Ha, or something like that. Lee and I’ve discussed from time to time the possibility of hiring a “baomu”, a housekeeper whom we could have clean and cook for us on a regular basis. In fact the labor is cheap, but our schedules are so erratic that it just doesn’t quite work and the actual need for one hasn’t been that critical.

After my dinner tonight however, I am rethinking my last statement. Previously of mixed review on the Carrefour for its slightly higher than average prices and a shopping area that’s kept far too toasty, I recently became a believer when I stumbled across the import goods aisle. No longer do I have to trek across town for foreign staples like refried beans and canned garbanzo beans. They even have blueberry muffin and brownie mix…now if only I had an oven! Included in the Carrefour lineup are pastas and canned spaghetti sauces, which have stood up nicely to my cravings for all things fakey-Italian.

Anyhow, back to this evening. After my turbo jam workout, I wasn’t feeling like a real big dinner but had some leftover sauce in the fridge. Somehow I had the brilliant idea to pour spaghetti sauce over toast and call it done. (If you haven’t noticed by now, I really like toast) Kind of like a pizza with all the cheese eaten off, it’s not something I’d serve to a guest (or really to anybody truth be told) but in fact it wasn’t half bad. As I was eating it though, I recalled the milk and orange I had for breakfast and the handful of digestive biscuits I had for a snack while I was writing earlier today and couldn’t help but laugh to myself at how lazy and sad my meal preparation has become. Gosh I hope I someday marry a man who can cook ‘cause it for sure as heck isn’t going to be me in charge of dinners (for his sake).

Enough nonsense, here’s a quick recap of the last (holy cow!) three months:
Mom came to visit for a week—awesome! ($10 bucks says she comments on this entry with something to the tune of “what, that’s it? I fly across the world to see you and all I get is awesome?”—I promise, I’ll write more details later, I’ll even include pictures! It’s just getting late and I do actually have that 8am meeting tomorrow...)
Fell in love with a really neat guy who kept me company, took me around town on the back of his motorcycle, introduced me to his parents, cooked for me and succeeded in making me feel really special.
Returned to Oregon for nearly two months to visit family and friends and do some networking and research. Gained a lot of confidence and perspective, both on my job and my identity as a woman, a professional, an American and an expat.
Left on a one-way back to Shenyang, heels leaving well-defined grooves all the way to the runway.
Save for a new building or two, returned to find China much the same as when I’d left. Was surprised and impressed to find how much I’d changed instead.
Had to let the really great boyfriend go because life is so damn complicated. That and my ability to be a good, devoted girlfriend currently rivals only my ability to cook.
Continuing to make my way through corporate China. As a friend of mine puts it, I am North Media’s “bao” or little treasure. Not sure if that’s the case or not but I am finding that when I ask the right questions, I seem to get a lot of answers. They have definitely got me hooked and are setting up some great challenges and opportunities that I just can’t help but want to grapple after. I’m an unfortunate sucker for career advancement.

That 8am meeting is a lot closer than I’d like it to be. Eh, they tell me I’m young...who needs eight hours of sleep anyway? Really, I’ve got Lipton, what else could you possibly need? Next episode: the Nescafe powdered coffee with real powdered Coffeemate! (maybe THAT will have some caffeine...)

Updates coming soon, I promise! Thanks for your patience!