Christmas Eve the day of apple giving?

Merry Christmas Eve to everyone! Here let me give you an apple!

Apparently that's the thing here in China give someone an apple, maybe it's because Christmas Eve in Chinese is 平安夜, and maybe it sounds like an apple? Honestly I think it's just to sell apples, oh well an apple a day keeps the constipation at bay. I got two today, so I feel loved.

Here is one of them:

Super Kawaii right?

Good and bad news, my mom randomly decides to come to celebrate Chinese New Year this year, so the majiang table will have enough people, yay! But, it looks like I'll have to see her sooner than I thought.  Just kidding, I think it'd be nice to spend the New Years with family for the first time in a long time. I'll admit, it might actually be nice to have Connie around too, just cause it'd be easy to win her money in majiang.

I've already started saying my goodbyes to people who I might not see again, all I can do now is tell them how much I value their friendship and how great it was to get to know them. I'm actually going to miss being here next semester.

Well time for bed, goodnight and good morning everyone.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday,

-MC

Christmas in the PRC

Well its the eve of the eve of the eve of Christmas eve, and awhile most of you in the States are enjoying your holiday, I am not so lucky.  I have class until January something, and I have class on Christmas! What sorcery is this? Oh right, I'm in China, where Christmas isn't a thing unless you're spend time in a shopping mall. 

Funny story, not so much funny as to a story. So there was this couple in China doing a little bit of shopping, actually some hardcore "Black Friday shopping." The boyfriend complaining to his girlfriend that he has had enough and that he wants to go home. Everyone in the mall could hear them argue, and the news said that he was carrying handfuls of bags.  After he had enough, he just jumped. Moral lesson of the day. Be patience with your girlfriend, cause there is no afternoon delight in the afterlife. 

Anyways, I'm too lazy to finish my final paper, so I thought I would come write a quick little post. Only 3 more weeks until I'm out of Nanjing and back to Shanghai, I can't wait, but I am kind of sad to leave Nanjing. I wasn't until today, I realized that I've met so many great people, and that I've made some what of an impact in their lives. I'll miss them when I finally have to part. It really has been a great semester here, it may be a crap place to live, but it's full of wonderful people... and crappy alcohol. 

Well back to my paper/death, until next time.

-MC

Final Stretch...sort of

I'm down to my last month in Nanjing finally.  I just got back from my "interview," what a wonderful experience that was. Oh, also during that time I got accept for my internship at Morningstar, where I'll be a marketing intern.

I have one more paper to write and then I'll be done with the heavy lifting for the semester, aside from studying for finals and whatnot. Although, the learning fatigue is already settling in, looks like its going to be a long last month.

On a happier note, an early Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone out there, hoping everyone is safe and happy during the holiday season. No one go killing anyone for an PS4 or Xbox One, it's not a tickle me Elmo, that toy is the bomb.

Well, that's about it really, at least for now.

Until next time.

-MC

Close the window you're letting in the PM 2.5

Well if you didn't know Nanjing has had two days where the air quality index was over 400.  Just to put things in to perspective at 100 you should avoid any heavy activity, 200 stay indoors, 300 don't go outside unless money is raining from the sky, even then reconsider, 400 death....

It literally was hard to breathe when I wake up in the morning, and I'm pretty sure I've lost some lung capacity in the last two days.  On a positive note, I feel like I've recovered from my marathon and have begun to walk normal again.  :) I'm really to take on my next challenge, unfortunately the Hong Kong Half-Marathon/10k are all filled up so no running there, but I'll find something hopefully.

It's crunch time in Nanjing right now, I have two papers to write and I have yet to start.  I don't know what is about me recently, I have no drive to study anymore.  Maybe it's not having a break since I've start college. Literally ever summer has been accounted for, and I thought this year would be a relaxing year... WRONG. It some way it has been relaxing, teachers taking it easy on me cause I got that "foreigner" status working for me, but then I just get lazy.  I want that drive that I use to have when I was a freshmen.  Maybe I need a swift kick in the ass, or some kind of motivation.  I don't want this mentality of "just getting by" to carry into my real senior year.  Change starts tomorrow!

A couple more months and I'll be back in the states. I cant wait to have real bacon again, and anyone who makes me a Thanksgiving meal when I get back, I'll love you forever.  Bacon-stuffing? Just a thought.

Until next time,

-MC

4 hour and 20 minutes later...

I completed my first marathon.  Not too happy with the time, but I'm happy that it's over and that I finished. 

First things first, thank you to my wonderful friend and running comrade Maddie, without her I don't think I would have been motivated to train in China. 

Anyways, a little about the marathon. It was in Shanghai, the place where both my parents are from and the city where I can actually use my dialect. Since China uses the metric system, all the distance markers where in the metric system, so by the time I'm at 26, I had to remember I'm only at mile 15, roughly. I did less math during the race because of all the converting, maybe if I didn't think so hard I could have done better. Haha.  What can I say, must be the asian part of me, always wanting to do math.

I had a couple times during the race, where I thought I wasn't going to make, the legs started to give up, but slowing down and stretching helped.  I rather have a crappy time, than not finish at all, that was most important to finish. 

After the marathon, I literally passed out at the restaurant for about 20 mins and then again at the train station and then again on the train. One last thing, stairs.... are the devil. 

Marathon complete, one more thing checked off my bucket list. 

Until next time,

-MC

Marathon.. death to my knees

Hello Hello,

2nd day with my new VPN and I'm back online now. So the marathon I've been training for the past 3-4 months is in 5 days now... And let's just say I have not been up keeping up with my training. 

I'm a bit nervous... correction I'm terrified.  Before I came to China, I think I was in the best shape of my life. Lifting, swimming, running, doing doubles 3 times a week, I felt great.  As long as I get to China, BLAH! I turn in to a mess. I am glad that I put in a lot of miles before China, there's a Chinese saying that goes perfect here.  好的开始，是成功的一半, a good start, is half the battle. 

Getting away from my marathon problems... China updates:

Girlfriend: no, school: sucks, internship: pending, money: broken. 

I've had some odd approaches by some girls here.  Most recently, I met a girl at an event, and at the time she had a boyfriend of two years.  Two days later, poof no more. The most awkward part about this story is that she tell me I'm attractive, I'm flattered but..., and that "I'm not a reason for why they split up." Oh... she only wants to speak to me in English, so I'm thinking "green card maybe?"

Anyways, back to work.  Until next time!

-MC

Pre-Thanksgiving Withdrawals

Well I know I've been getting worse and worse at posting blogs and vlogs. I've been too lazy/busy to write and record. My VPN seems to be on the fritz as well so I'll be blogging on my phone now. Let's see how this goes...

Well as I promised, my trip home from Ningbo to Nanjing was an interesting experience. I took a "black bus" or something like it to get back in order to avoid the typhoon coming. (side note: in China there are illegal taxi so they call them "黑车" translates into "black car" hence  "black bus") The whole process in which we got home was so shady. In our attempts to go home early, we were lured to take a "blac bus." Impulsively, we returned our train tickets to buy our bus tickets. Magically they were the same price. The person who attempted to sell me the tickets wanted cash up front and then would give us directions to where the bus was supposed to pick us up.  I pretty much knew we got screwed right then and there, but I didn't want to lose a kidney or any other part of my body.  Working my Chinese haggling skills, I made him take us to the bus stop where we met by an even shadier fat lady.  It really wasn't our best day. After about 10 马上到 (it'd be here soon), the bus finally get there.

After about a 4-5 hour bus ride, they literally drop us off in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know where we were nor did Alec. Fortunately, some "black mini-van" dude came and asked where we wanted to go, and instead took us to the metro station before it closed. We amazing raced it to the station and got on the second to last train. This was my wonderful vacation experience full of shady deals and creepy tunnels....

Now I want turkey.....

National Day in the PRC

So I'm back in school after the week long holiday, plus one extra day for a sick day. So lets not waste any time shall we?

Last time I posted, I had just gotten back from Shanghai on Mid-Autumn festival break, and literally a week later I get another break for National Day.  This is the last long vacation time for people in China until Chinese New Year, so a lot (I mean a lot) people go out and travel for this particular holiday.  

As Alec (my old room mate) and I were deciding where to spend our holiday last minute, it was probably not in our best interests to buy last minute.  Fortunately we found some tickets to Ningbo and planned to travel to the islands nearby to do some camping.  

Riding on the High-Speed Rail first class, nothing like flying first class unfortunately, it's about a 3 hour ride from Nanjing to Ningbo, and then we needed to get on a bus to shuttle us over to the islands.  In like any tourist-y area there are always people asking where you're going and if you need a ride, now imagine that on a much larger scale.  Appearing Chinese on the outside, I was bombarded with where are you going, do you need a ride, so my trick with getting them off my back is saying "No Chinese" in English.  As I'm waiting in line to buy bus tickets, some dude is asking me the same questions, and I tell him "No Chinese." With a perplexed look on his face, he says in Chinese "What language is that, that's not Chinese." I responded to him in foreign accented Chinese, "No Chinese, means cannot speak Chinese."  Alec is laughing his ass off. Naturally the guys assume I'm Korean, so I just leave it at that.

Anyways, getting to Dinghai and wondering around for a good part of the afternoon, asking where we could camp.  It didn't look too hopeful, so we took a city bus to another island in search for a bit more luck. Fortunately the island down south was more beach-y, and we end up beach camping for the night. The place we ended up camping at was a sand sculpting park. So there was this lovely light/sand sculpture show before we went to bed.

Next morning, after we got bored with the beach and Chinese girls wanting to take a picture with Alec, cause he was literally the only white person on the island.  We decided to hike up the road to see what else the island had in store.  We kept following the winding until we got to this path that took all the way to a radio station tower. From there we kept following a path that lead us to a creepy pink house.  I'm talking like spooky creepy. And what's inside this spooky creepy pink house? That's right a bomb shelter-like room, expect this one is dug into the side of a mountain.  Worst part is that there was multiple chambers in the dungeon room, and that lead to more rooms.  We think it's from culture revolution era or around that time. It was really cool and interesting, but creepy and scary.

After the creepy, scary dungeon house, we just kept following the road to wherever it took us.  Basically hiked for about 3 until we hit the next big town, but they had no camping grounds or anything close to it.  So we improvised. We did a little urban camping (slept in a parking lot, near a park though). In the morning we found out that a typhoon was coming, so we figured that we should head home a day early......

Well the journey home I think will make a great blog post.

Until next time,

-MC

Instead of writing my Chinese essay, I think I'll blog instead

I know it's been a long time since I've blog or vlog, I've just been having too much fun... Not.  

That's partially true and mostly false.  Since my last blog I've officially become a resident of China, I got my resident permit about a week ago.  That probably was the biggest hassle out of everything, but all my paperwork is all done now. I can finally focus on studying Chinese and finding a Chinese wife (kidding). 

If you didn't know this past weekend was Mid-Autumn Festival, and for those who are unfamiliar with this Chinese holiday let me elaborate.   It's always on the 15th day on 8th month of the lunar calendar (Fun fact, I was born on this day). There a lot of stories regarding this holiday, but basically family get together, spend time with each other eating moon cakes. Nasty lotus seed or some other concoction of filling with an egg yolk center.  I'd also like to mention eating a whole moon cake is very unhealthy for you, so many calories.  This year I was fortunate that my cousin brought some ice cream moon cakes, a delightful adaption of boring tradition pastry. 

Heres a video about moon cake: Moon Cakes 

So for Mid-Autumn Festival, I had a 3 day weekend starting on Thursday till Saturday (Sunday was a make-up day), so I took a few of my friends to Shanghai to sight see and to just get out of Nanjing. That weekend also happened to be my birthday weekend, so extra bonus for me.  It's hard to plan what to do in a city that is super crowd and even more crowd on the holiday, and for people with different tastes.  My definition of holiday is to relax and enjoy nothingness, others it's packing the time with all sorts of activities. 

I'm assuming everyone had a good time (?), I know I did.  I had my mom act as a tour guide taking us places/ being the GPS of where I wanted to go eat.  Everyone also found it funny/sweet/cute that my mom likes to hold my arm when we go walking... I call it being a good son, but to each his own.  So, we spend the weekend in Shanghai going to main places, the Bund, Chenghuang Miao, Nanjing Road. Only thing we didn't do was get good Xiao Long bao, next time. 

For my birthday, I somehow got out of drinking in Shanghai, and ended up playing mah jiang with the family and everyone losing money to my mom.  Happy birthday to me, but she did take me and the boys out for brunch, even though I tried paying. 

Here's some photos of my birthday in Nanjing, and a little gift I got from my Kentucky 兄弟

Overall, it was a great birthday weekend.  Good company, nasty drinks. I'll try to post again soon about the upcoming holiday and what my plans are for that.

Until next time,

MC

What do you get when you put the BMV and a strip Club together?

... a Chinese physical examination hospital.

A little catch up...

Hello everyone, sorry with not being so active, I've been busy with a lot of stuff since my last post.  Getting back from Shenzhen and then heading straight back to Shanghai-Nanjing.  In the chaos of moving, getting registered as a long term citizen, picking classes, going to class. I finally feel like I have some breathing room. 

So those who don't know, I have a youtube channel with video blogs (vlogs) when I don't feel like writing. Anyways, there's a tour of my apartment and my bungy jump experience there, so you can check that out as you please.  

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/user/mchan812/videos

For the most part, I think I'm adjusting well.  I must admit I am getting a little home sick, and when I say home sick, I mean just my American environment (mainly for running and what not and super fast internet). I didn't think I would get homesick, but it happens. I'm trying to stay positive and be on top of my studies

Anyways, back to the main point of this blog...

I went and go get a medical examination a few days ago.  Worst experience ever. Hospitals, one would think a hospital would be uncomfortably clean or at least appear to be. Nope not here. When it was all said and done, I felt like I needed to be showered in pool of bleach and other cleaning chemicals. (Or take the alcohol pads and swab my whole body... multiple times).  When I had to have blood drawn, I thought back to my friend Sara back in the states, how she said she bring her own needles.  I really wish I listened to her.

But the overall experience was quick and painless for the most part.  I had a couple angry doctors, don't know if that's how they normally are or they didn't like me/all the foreigners.  The hospitals in China have everything down to a system.  Wait in line, pay the money, wait in line again, get man handled, go home feel disgusting.

School has started, so the blogging frequency many get lower, but I'll either make up for it by having more content or do a lot more quick little blogs, like a microblog.

Until next time,

-MC

Shenzhen travels and Hong Kong Adventures

Hello hello everyone,

Well school is about to start next week, so I decided to go see my friend Kevin in Shenzhen for a short vacation trip. It makes it really convenient to go to Macau  where I'll be Bungie jumping on Monday. It was also nice of the family his living with to welcome me to there home. Saves a lot of money on lodging. 

But anyways, flights to Shenzhen where much more expensive that I thought. So in order to save some cash I decided to take the train... A 18 hour long trip. I was fortunate enough to upgrade my seat to a sleeper cot unwise the ride would have been hell. (My flight from the US to China was only 17 hours. )

I've been having a wonderful time catching up with Kevin and meeting his friends here. The girls are so cute here, I don't want leave. Haha. We decided to go to Hong Kong as a spur of the moment thing. I've never been to Hong Kong so I thought why not. 

This is Jerald Kevin's little brother, we're crossing the bridge to get to Hong Kong.

 Busy busy streets in 九龍 Hong Kong. It really reminded me of New York. As we were waiting, Kevin and I took pictures of each other taking pictures of one another. Haha :)

 

On the Hong Kong island side. It was a lot alike the 九龍 but with a touch of San Fan because of the hills. It's really interesting to see the British influence, and it doesn't seem like a Chinese city at all. Imagine Chicago China town but the size of Manhattan island pack like this:

That's HK for you. It's a great place to visit. Highly suggest everyone visit at least once. I'm hoping I'll be able to go back again soon. 

Bungie jumping in 2 days. Can't wait!!! Be on the look out for the next Vlog there will be a special guest appearance. 

-MC

80% Chinese nationalize now

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've last posted, I haven't been recruited to join the PLA (People's Liberation Army) or anything.  I've been lounging around for a couple days, trying to rest and get over some running pains.

But, most recently I've been doing some light traveling.  I went to Hangzhou for a day to see my friend, and was fortunate to have her tour guide in training friend to take us around Hangzhou and see West Lake. I just got back from Nanjing today.  I spend two days there taking care of school business and what not.  So let me elaborate on my short excursions.

Hangzhou:

It was kind of an impulsive decision to go, I called up a friend asked her if she would be the next day to take me around.  I must praise China for it public transportation infrastructure, it so convenient to travel from one city to another, and even inter-city travel is convenient to an extent.  I took the high speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou which took roughly about two hours.  When I got there, I was unsure what I wanted to do exactly, not the best idea, but not the worst.  Luckily, as I mentioned before, I had an local Hangzhou'er take me around and explain the history of Hangzhou to me.  I forgot to mention, I took a 3-people tandem bike ride. I'll have a video of it when I do my next vlog.

Nanjing:

Hot, Hot, Hot, along with a nagging mom.  The city is not what I expected, it's a lot more developed. Fun fact of the day, the 2014 Asian youth Olympics will be hosted by Nanjing.  Anyways, I spent two days looking for a suitable apartment.  I'm not too pick, but the most important thing I looked at was a clean and decent sized bathroom.  After the fifth apartment, I loved the bathroom,  new and clean.  I had to have the apartment. After about an hour of discussing price and other conditions, it was settled.  The price isn't ideal but I had to have it.  I'll have picture or a video tour of my apartment soon. I have a cell phone and bank account.  All I need is to register with the police office for a long term resident or whatever, and I'll be an almost Chinese citizen.

I'll be leaving for Shenzhen in a few days, so I'll be sure to take lots of picture.  Bungie jump on the 26th!!! There definitely will be a video and pictures of that.

School is starting up for all my senior friends, sorry I can't spend our senior year together.  Have a great start of the semester everyone!

-MC

Chinese Recreational Running. It Exists!

Hi there everyone!

Well I haven't died of heat stroke yet. It has been around 40 C the last three days in Shanghai, that's around 100 F for us white American folk.  I've gotten smarter since I've been here.  I'm learned to not run at 2 in the afternoon, but instead at around 6 when it's much much cooler.  Before you say anything about me being crazy stupid for running in 100 degree weather let me do something explaining on the Chinese environment.  

1. I run in hot weather to get a sweat on and I think it builds mental toughness... bad choice I know.

And 

2. There's an opportunity cost with running outdoors in China.  Early mornings and later evenings are some of the cooler times during the day, making it ideal to run outside right? Wrong! Those are actually the times when it's the worst to run because there are way too many cars, constant traffic jams. It's literally like LA. 

And, if you didn't know Shanghai isn't known for the great air quality, in fact most of China's air quality is well below par.  So you have the choice of run in "cooler" weather with chance of respiratory problems or die of heat stroke.  Neither sound too appealing to me, but I have to continue my marathon training some how.  (FYI I get motion sick on treadmills so that's out of the question)

This is something to keep in mind in America for those runners.  Afternoon run are normally easier because of less traffic and if the weather cooperates it makes for a nice afternoon workout.

Speaking of running, since I've being running the last two days (during the evenings), I've seen some recreational runners.  I was amazed.  I think between the two day I saw a total of 5 runners.  I'm glad to see that I'm not the only crazy asian in China that runs outside.  I'm slowly learning the road around where I live so I can actually try and take a scenic route instead of following the long boring straight road to the metro line station. 

My mom is coming in a couple of days, so I might be a little busy and not have time to write much.  I'll try to get a video blog up soon, and I'll get some footage of me on a run and show you guys Shanghai from my perspective. 

-MC

Collectivism Dating: modern day arranged-marriage

I'm not sure if it's because I understand the language now that I can communicate and Chinese society is much more transparent to me or its just that China is evolving and I'm just now seeing it in action.  I want to say it the combination of the two.  I mention this because I partake in certain Chinese social apps, such as Renren (Chinese Facebook), Weixin (imagine Instagram plus texting), and finally Momo (means like Stranger-Stranger).  From these apps and personal experiences with them, Chinese culture is completely different from what I imagined only a few years ago. 

It's hard to believe the culture in China is becoming more Americanized, and more specifically I want to focus on dating/relationship.  From how people date all the way to the marriage ceremony itself, everything seems more westernized. When I first started learning about China, I was so naive and simpleminded about the culture, and thought it was so traditional.  After about a year of making some Chinese friends, my mind was like boom (Imagine the AT&T commercial, the infinity times infinity one).

One of my friends recently got married in China and as I was looking through their wedding album, I asked if they did a traditional Chinese wedding.  She replied most people in Shanghai just do the western ceremony now with an asian twist.  Its just like socialism with a Chinese twist but apply that to a wedding. I don't even know all the customs and norms of an American wedding, I'm scared to imagine all the customs and traditions of a Chinese wedding.

As I mentioned earlier, I partake is various forms of social media in China.  I've been here less than a week, and I've managed to join a group chatroom.  Didn't take long until, I was forced into a relationship, I call it collectivism dating. Haha. Luckily she's cute.

Kidding aside, I feel like dating in China is kind of a mess, there's this dichotomy. With the internet, dating has become this convenience thing.  It's like I haven't left America, I'm just in a much dirtier, polluted, Chinese filled America.  Maybe that's why I feel at home.
For those who don't know Chinese: simple translation: 麻将哥，that's me, and basically the group leader wants me and her to be together. Haha : )

I feel like there's lot of aspects of American culture that has influenced Chinese culture.  We all know of hook-up buddies and one night stands. Apparently, they exist in China too (not from personal experience, strictly from reading and hearing about it from friends).  I used to thing that was strictly an American/Western thing, guess not anymore.  Casual sex is ok now in the middle kingdom (I guess).  You learn something new everyday.

Well time to get my day started, breakfast and what not, and maybe find a 小二 haha. I'm getting a facial later today, my first one ever.  I'll have updates and maybe something pictures too.

-MC

Landed and Jetlagged

I'm here in Shanghai, China alive and well.  The flight was one of the most relaxing flights I've ever been on.  I must thank my mother for getting me the business class ticket to China.  Best thing about it is B & B, priority boarding and free booze. Ha! When I asked for an adult beverage, I asked to stewardess if she needed to see my ID, and she, of course, said yes.  Carded at 30000ft, awesome.

As I was flying into the airport, I was looking out the window and saw a lighting bolt strike about 400-500 yards away from the plane. Scary and amazing sight to see.  I was lucky to my aunt's apartment before the rain came, and I managed to get a short run in.

So my reverse jetlag strategy didn't work out too well, and I'm still a little thrown off with the 12 hour time difference.  At least I have work to do when I'm up early in the morning and I get to see the sunrise. 塞翁失马。 That means a bad thing doesn't always mean its bad thing and vice versa for a good thing.

I already miss everyone at home, but I'm really enjoying my time here.  Even being here in China, it still hasn't hit me that I'm gone for a year.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well, I'll probably do a Vlog sometime next week, but uploading might take awhile because of the slower internet over here. I'd love to hear back from all of you. So comment below or Facebook me.

-MC

Oh Herro Oh Herro!

Hello All!

So I'm not officially in China yet, but this is my first post to my new blog dedicated to my year abroad in China. So here it goes!

My first flight is in about 6 hours, and I have yet to sleep.  I'm trying a reverse jet lag strategy, if there is such a thing.  Everything is packed and in the car and I'm all ready to go.  It still hasn't hit me that I'm leaving the country for almost an entire year.  I think I'm either so used to traveling or I've just psyched myself out to the whole idea of being gone for a year that it won't phase me.  Either way, I'm still really excited about this opportunity and the adventures that lie ahead.  

So advice for anyone packing for a long trip, make a checklist of everything you need before you start packing. It serves two purposes: first you get a clear idea of thing you need and how much and two helps prevent overpacking.  I found myself overpacking and when I attempted to slim down, my mother insisted that I need this and that.  We actually got into an argument about coats and sweaters. Apparently I need an outfit for every weather outcome known to man.  

Here is a portion of the blog for thoses who didn't know I would be leaving America for a year:

I've been studying Chinese since I was freshman in college, and sometime during my freshman year I was interested in joining the Chinese Flagship Program at IU. After I joined the program, I've been working toward this goal of living in China for a year using the language at Nanjing University in Nanjing (Think of it as the midwest of China). After a semester there I'll be doing an internship hopefully somewhere else in China.  So that's the gist of the program and what I'll be doing for the year.

I have an address for where I will be during the first 4-5 months in China, but I'll share that later when I get to Nanjing. And, I want to give thanks to all the friends who took the time out of their days to spend some time with me before I left.  It really means a lot to me, and I will miss all of you.  

This is the first of many posts of my year in China! Come back for updates and pictures of my trip abroad. 

-MC