[Leaving Home] 
[Settling in
Shanghai] [Getting to Work] [Becoming Routine] [Western Contacts]
["National Day" Trip] [Meeting Folks]
[Plenty to Eat] [Downtown] [South by
Southwest] [Socializing] [Dance Fever] [Exchanges] [Business
Week] [North by Northeast] [Computer Crash]
[The Good and the
Bad] [Wrapping Up]
Dec. 14-15: Computer Woes – With my laptop shot, Yoshi and I call the manufacturer in Taiwan, the Chinese service office in Beijing, and the U.S. sales office. No luck. We hop into a taxi and go to the computer shops downtown, but to no avail. Determined, we go to Computer City but again nothing. We go home. Tom the finance consultant and entrepreneur comes over and takes me to dinner. The next morning, Jackie my T.A. and I go to the Shanghai Computer Factory but again without any success. Fenwick, one of my students, comes over and we again call Taiwan and someone promises to try to help and call me back with a solution. Being electronically handicapped has been hellish so far.
Dec. 16: Chrismas Party – Catherine and Dan, who run the Fudan Language Institute, host a Chrismas party for their students and instructors. I show up but decline to play the jolly fat man in red with white beard although I probably meet most of the description. Instead, I am talked into embarassing myself by participating in one of the games. But it’s Wednesday so, after a brief stop at Mr. Pizza, I join our guitar jam session.
Dec. 17: Management Education and Development in China – It is Jade’s birthday, so I bring her a small gift and card. Next to her office is the Nordic Center, which asks me to discuss my personal reflections on training managers in China for the new millenium. A big topic but I rise to the occasion. I have two hours to vent my frustrations and express my cynicism. In the audience are Kathleen, Maurice, someone from the Finnish consulate, a philosophy professor from a university in Wuhan, a couple of my MBA students, some of the Waiban staff, and of course a lot of students. I love the subsequent controversy that emanates from being provocative.
Dec. 18: Movie Night – I go to Tom’s office downtown and chat a while, then walk to the Portman. With some time to kill, I enter the Long Bar and meet Akif with some of his Turkish friends before heading up to the Marine House to watch "Six Days Seven Nights." After, I take a cab to the Bund for an assortment of Chinese snacks and brew.
Dec. 19-20: Birthday Weekend – Saturday morning I go downtown to meet my friend the manager of an international MBA program. It is a bit early so I stop at McDonald’s for coffee and hot apple pie, and watch a large group of children celebrate a birthday. Then I meet my friend for some shop talk, after which we go to lunch. I walk down fashionable Huai Hai Lu to buy some more birthday presents. Tonight is Marci’s birthday. She is a lawyer who is teaching English for Shanghai University and often joins our local activities. In the evening, we go to her place for some refreshments and then head downtown for some celebrating at Y Y ("Yin-Yang"), reportedly Shanghi’s in-disco. Just before midnight we toast Marci, then just after midnight we toast Maurice whose birthday is Sunday. I take Jade out for her belated birthday dinner, then we go to Maurice’s apartment to join in his birthday celebration with a lot more food. It is also Arnoud’s birthday, and he is having a small group over his place for French dinner. They join us later in the evening, too.
[Leaving Home] [Settling in
Shanghai] [Getting to Work] [Becoming Routine] [Western Contacts]
["National Day" Trip] [Meeting Folks]
[Plenty to Eat] [Downtown] [South by
Southwest] [Socializing] [Dance Fever] [Exchanges] [Business
Week] [North by Northeast] [Computer Crash]
[The Good and the
Bad] [Wrapping Up]
Copyright © 1998 Paul Miesing. All rights reserved. Please do not use without permission unless in the People’s Republic of China which does not enforce intellectual property rights. Revised on January 17, 2001.