What a year it has been and what a year it will be.

My big news for the year is that I moved to Shanghai, China on July 1st. It has been an amazing six months and I feel fortunate to be here at this time… so much amazing change and growth… so rapid and on such a large scale. I will not bore into the details here, but please feel free to check out my (sporadically updated) blog: http://cl8on.blog.com.

2010 in a nutshell…

The Good:

Shanghai, Friends (new and lifelong… and everything in between), Visa trips to Seoul and Hong Kong, Till Next Time Parties in SF, Job searches where you learn a lot and that end well (go Google!), Everyone who has helped make Shanghai my home AND who helped make San Francisco such a wonderful home, Weddings and babies… good life events, Chinese lessons

The Bad (although, nothing really bad this year, maybe just some things I wish I did NOT know!):

Boy band music (Backstreet Boys, NSync, etc) makes for really “good” karaoke (“You are my fire”), Confusing the words 苹果 (sounds like pingguo, means apple) and 朋友 (sounds like pengyou, means friend) while trying to impress girls (and just after them telling you that you speak Chinese very well), Angry Birds is inane… and really fun

2011 a look ahead…

Starting work on January 4 and I am looking forward to helping build Google’s team and product capabilities in Shanghai

Improving my Chinese… I have gone from level 0 to level 8 in six months… but there are 1,000,000 levels!

Building up the Shanghai Masters swim team

Continuing to make new friends from all over the world… and always making time for my existing ones

Much love and fondness… and of course a wonderful 2011!

Clayton

Tis truly a wonderful time of year… even in Shanghai. Much to my own surprise Christmas seems more visible here than in San Francisco. I have seen more and bigger retail displays around the various shopping centers than I did in even Union Square (.. though I do miss the outdoor ice skating rink). I hope the post-Christmas sales have also been adopted here (I need some additional winter clothes… it is cold for this California/Florida boy!).

In other news…

My parents made their first trip to China recently (just headed home on Tuesday morning) and we had a wonderful time together. I have been fortunate to have their support and faith throughout this China adventure, but I knew that they had anxiety over my being here and in some ways could not totally grok why I came here. Accepting the job (which I should be starting in early January) allayed some of their concerns, but I knew they were still concerned about how I was fitting in socially and what I am doing here.

They started their trip in Beijing with a tour of the usual haunts (Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall, etc). Their very first morning there (7:30am Saturday morning local time… nudge, nudge) I received a phone call. An amazingly enthusiastic and energetic Webster (my father… who I usually call “Dad”) called me from his mobile phone (he had purchased a SIM card at the airport) to tell me they had arrived late the night before. They thought the airport was amazing… the American embassy disappointingly prison like (they passed on the drive from the airport)… and the breakfast buffet at their hotel (the St. Regis) stupendous. (Anyone who knows my father knows that food is very important to him.. I am pretty sure that he ranks cultures by their cuisines… not a bad single factor ranking system.) He and mom’s enthusiasm that morning woke me up and set the tone for what turned out to be a great trip.

A few days later I picked them up at the airport in Shanghai, and we had about a week together. Their first day here it snowed (.. in Beijing people had expressed some jealousy that they were coming to Shanghai… where it was supposed to be warmer!) but we braved the elements and managed to some exploration. That night I took them to meet some of my friends (very small group) over hot pot (Chinese fondue). It was fun night and it was good for my parents to meet some of the people who I share my time with.

Over the course of the week in Shanghai they did a day trip to Suzhou (noted for its gardens), some local tours of different Shanghai neighborhoods and museums, and we did an overnight weekend trip to Hangzhou (noted for the beautiful West Lake, Longjing Cha (dragon well tea), and various Buddhist temples and pagodas). We ended up taking the high speed train to Hangzhou which travels over 350kph (~220mph). That is roughly 100m/second… amazing fast, smooth, and easy.

Net-net, they had a a fabulous time and left China with a much deeper understanding of her past, present, and future. I also think that they now dont feel quite so nervous with me here. They can appreciate what I am doing here and know that I am making my home and life here. Apparently being a parent involves a lot of worry… so maybe being a son or daughter means trying to alleviate some of those fears when possible (…but of course you have to live your life for yourself).

****

Speaking of building a life… I hosted my first party in Shanghai… a Christmas Eve Egg Nog Social. With many of my Western friends away, it ended up being a predominantly local event and for many (of around 25 partygoers) it was their first Christmas experience (beyond retail). I managed to find the ingredients to brew some egg nog which was generally well received (not quite as thick as we have in the States… but the taste was right). With the help of my tutor and friend, I even managed to put up a (fake) Christmas tree, lights, and decorations.

Twice during the party some fire works (from Fuxing Park?) were visible out my window and created an even more festive atmosphere.

It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many new friends from different aspects of my life (language classes, technology, Stanford, wine, and assorted friends).

My concluding thought on the evening would be that Santa Claus does come to Shanghai.. and in my case he delivered early.

As Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, “If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” Let me only add, that while I am up here I would be happy to give you a nice neck rub!

I ended up being in a position to choose between several very good offers with some very interesting companies (both local startups and multinationals (MNC)). Early in the process I decided that I wanted to go the MNC route because I thought it would be easier for me to adjust to (work) life and I wanted a little bit more security. In the end it came down to a decision between Microsoft and Google. It was very close, but I chose Google because the specific role was a bit more suited to my background and interests. In addition, the army of Googler’s I know should help me be more productive in a remote office. While I am really looking forward to starting at Google, I would like to mention that I left this process with a lot of respect for Microsoft. I met many incredible brilliant and wonderful people there.

Yes… this is my first time to work for a large company… and I am sure I will need to adjust to it (but I probably just as much as adjusting to China). For those of you who think I have lost my edge or taste for risk taking… keep in mind I am going to work for Google… IN CHINA. Feels pretty risky to me!

Not sure of all the details but I will likely start early next year (time to get work visa, etc).

… but this of course is not an end… this is the beginning. I came to China to work, to be involved with internet revolution going on here. I now have a horse to ride and ride it I shall.

I also realize how lucky I am right now (especially having job choices). I have recently been offering some aid to some new grads in the States looking for jobs. It is rough going and it makes me appreciate my opportunities.

In other news, I have been busy in the last month or so…

• Visa trip to Hong Kong (HK) and SZ
• Fun trip to Seoul with Alex (we left on the day North Korea attacked)
• Visit from my college buddy Reid (… and yes we did go see HP7 v1 at 12:01am on Thursday night!)
• Dinner with my friend and former colleague Hai (… the world is coming to me!)
• Lots of Chinese classes (… and it is starting to pay off. The funniest recent story is that when I was in Seoul, we went to a club. In general, Koreans marry young and so the only girls at the clubs are in their early 20s. I would ask if they speak English (I speak barely any Korean)  and many said no, but I would then ask if they speak Chinese… and they would say yes. My friends laughed as they watched a white guy speak Chinese to Korean girls in Seoul… as for Koreans learning Chinese and not English… welcome to 2010)

Overall I am incredible happy and ready to start working!

I am sad to say that my early career wasted this advantage. As opposed to listening, I would politely wait for my turn talk and then engage in “sequential monologues” and not meaningful dialogue. Over the last 9 years (and in particular in the 3-4) I have finally learned to listen… and I despite my mentors great advice… I would amend it to include “God also gave us 1 heart” (… I believe that my mentor would not frown upon this addition). To truly listen someone, you need to also use your heart to truly understand his or her problems… and want to help them solve these problems. The biggest difference between Clayton of 9 years ago and the Clayton of now is not his technical or analytical ability, but his ability to effectively listen, communicate, collaborate, and lead others.

In thinking about the people who I have seen be successful leaders, salespeople, customer support representatives, product managers, or in any position to influence others… for the most part they are all excellent listeners. There are of course highly successful people who are not great listeners (… my own technology industry is filled with people who are not good listeners… but that is worth a separate post), but I am reminded of another bit of advice given to me by a swim coach at a national camp I was able to attend: “Are you going to base your swimming career on the one guy with freak natural ability, or choose a path that all other greats have taken?”

So now you are thinking.. great Clayton… you learned skills that most of learned in Kindergarden… welcome to age 6. I would respond, “Thank you. It is wonderful to be here. I can not change where I have been or where I am, but I can change where I will be.”

But where I am really going with this (.. not that self-deprecating humor is not an admirable end of its own merit)… is to point out that many of you have some pretty major choices coming up in the US elections coming up. I am not going to tell you who to vote or which positions to favor, but I am going to ask that when you select your candidates you do think about one additional criteria…”Is this a person who listens?”

I am one of those people who does believe that the US is at a crossroads and that the decisions we make today will have large ramifications for our own country and the world. (BTW… now is not the reward or fault of Obama or Bush or Clinton or Bush or Reagan or Carter, etc… right now is the result of “we the people” and we need to stop playing silly finger pointing games and focus on solutions to problems… in others words, lets focus on “what needs to be done” not “who did it”). I believe that we need to elect leaders that listen.. not just to a single constituency or group… but to all the people. We need people that do not get lost in all the things that they hear, but are able to turn information to action… and realize that inaction is action too.

I trust you to make the best decisions available to you.

*****

On a side not, I would like to express my condolences to the family of Fran Crippen (http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/10/23/swimmer.death/index.html?hpt=T2). I did not know him personally, but recognize his name from several swim meets. In addition, I swam with his sister at the US National Junior Team Camp in Colorado Springs. I remember that during a test of 3000m for time she swam the entire distance butterfly (at altitude). Swimming is a close family and today we lost a brother.

With such a long lay off, I am not sure where to begin, but perhaps it is finally to talk about why I am in China…

I came to China because of no great dissatisfaction with my life in San Francisco. I do think I felt somewhat stagnant (but that may only be in retrospect), but that was clearly of my own making and well within my power to change in San Francisco. I came to China not because I was walking away from San Francisco, Silicon Valley, California, or the USA. If anything my love of friends, family, and life kept me there and made it incredibly difficult to leave. If it is a curse to love the people and experience you have in your life, then consider me happily cursed.

I came to China because I believe that the future is being created here and I believed that I could help create it. I now feel more confident about the former, but now a little less clear on the latter.

The rules here are different and are still being created. It is the type of atmosphere that Silicon Valley had in the late 90s (and for all I know a similar “dot bomb” may be in store), where every industry seemed to be wholly changed by the internet. Here though, the disruption is even more widespread (and not just caused by the internet… but by a rising middle class, increased urbanization, and a “re-forming of culture”) and goes across every industry from tech to retail to services to construction to manufacturing, etc. There is not one industry in China that looks like it did 10 years ago… and I prophesize no industry will look like it does now in 10 years. These disruptions create opportunity… but far from being a carpetbagger who is only here to exploit, I want to be a person who helps China grow and can understand her… and subsequently help others understand her. Oh, I am no non-profiteer or goody-two shoes (… perhaps in another blog post, I will explain why I think that capitalism does more to raise living standards than NGOs… but the reality is that both are needed)… I am here to make money, but I will do so in a way that benefits others as well.

As for the second reason I am here… to help create the future… well I am learning how to make that happen. I have written and discussed with some of you my realization that China is for the Chinese people. I do not begrudge them this fact.. but you will not find “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” on any statues in China… quite bluntly they have enough without the need to import them. In many ways, England is for the English, France for the French, Germany for the Germans, Russia for the Russians, India for the Indians, Korea for the Koreans, Japan for the Japanese, etc. It is only a handful of countries that do not define themselves by race and/or ethnicity (US (although there seems to be a contingent that would like the US to be a white, Christian society), Canada, Australia, New Zealand… and I am hard pressed to think of others). I should be clear that my Chinese neighbors and friends have treated me with a great deal of friendship and warmth, and I do feel like Shanghai is becoming my community (if not my home).

For a while after coming, I thought that maybe my role was to come to China, and be an observer and chronicler… but I have come to realize that this is intellectually lazy and selling myself short. There are plenty of LaoWai (pronounced Lao-Why.. and meaning westerners) that are here and are having an impact. I may never be considered Chinese (although one of things I love about the US is that a Chinese person can go to America and be considered American), but I can play a role in influencing and changing things for the better. I am now learning what I can influence and how to do so.

对了。。。(which is Chinese for changing subjects)

I have been spending my time and energies on the following…

• Language, language, language: The World Expo (currently in Shanghai) has the saying “Better City, Better Life”. I have modified this to my own ends… “Better Listening, Better Speaking, Better Life”. Yes, I think listening is more important than speaking (which probably conflicts with my thoughts from 10 years ago… I am not getting older, just better!). I had a manager and mentor several years ago tell me, “God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason”. (Stepping off the soapbox) My language has really improved. I finished up the classes at FuDan and have been taking 13 hours/week of private instruction. I am working with two lovely tutors who are excellent teachers. Still very far to go, but I am pleased with my progress and the conversations and experiences that progress enables.
• Jobs: Excellent progress being made. I cant remember if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I picked up a part time job ghost-writing for a book on Chinese Social Media. I have learned so much from it and this has given me such interesting insight into the internet here (probably worth a post all its own). I wont be included in the book’s credit (the life of a ghost writer), but I will certainly send out a link when it is available. The search for a full time job is ongoing. I have received a few offers that I turned down. I am currently considering a few other offers, and I have some last/late stage interviews scheduled. I suspect that I will be gainfully employed by mid-November. I kind of have the chance to re-invent my career here in China and I want to make sure that I learn from my mistakes in the past (… which are probably too long for a blog post… that my require a book… but as the saying goes… “good decisions come from wisdom… wisdom comes from bad decisions”). I am actually really excited to jump back into work and collaborating with great people on valuable problems.
• “Work and play they’re never okay/To mix the way we do”: In a nutshell I have been meeting as many people as possible. Many of these are business, many of these are pleasure, and many are both. This is a place that is all about connections (locally called “guanxi”). In addition to connecting with people, I have had the opportunity to connect a few people. Good way to feed the karmic cycle. In some ways the highlight of all this activity was last week at my friends’ Bobby and Kathleen’s wedding. (Total side note… it is so awesome to be around a couple that is very much in love… there every move is like a dance with each other. I saw it at the wedding and a few days earlier when I had lunch with my FuDan teacher and her boyfriend). They hosted an afterparty at M2 (one of the best clubs in Shanghai), and I found myself surrounded by so many people who I had come to know and really care about in Shanghai. It certainly didnt hurt that many of these people were beautiful women, (and it was effectively an open bar!,) but I did have a sense of belonging to a community. Certainly not as strong a community as I had in SF, but I was pretty happy after only 3 months here.

So minus tons of interactions and wonderful new meetings, that is where I am at in Shanghai: happy and progressing towards my goals and dreams.

Our opposing force has established quite a defense. There defenses run in some cases 8-1o people deep. As our line comes to a quiet stop, we survey the entire force before lining up against our specific foe. Our objective is clear, make it out before the window of opportunity closes. Their goal… to make it on before said window closes.

Before the gates of hell open, there are brief looks from people on either side. Sizing up the competition to decide who is strong, who is weak, and who will break. I am several layers of people from the front and some early movement proved useless to move me to the front line.

Suddenly the gates open and with no hesitation both sides rush. I am initially stonewalled as several folks remain frozen and do not push forward. I swing my hips to go around them, only to be immediately face-to-face (or really his face is in my chest) with a recently boarded passenger. I firmly push by him. There is no time to turn around and check if my blow was mortal or not, because I find myself once again face-to-chest with another one, and then another one, and then another one. Finally I manage to find the gate, only to see it completely blocked with people heading in different directions. I do not have time for this nonsense. I see a small clearing on the right (the left is choked with the enemies ranks still surging forth). My gaze is followed by one such enemy and I see him begin to push his way to MY spot. With the grace of an ox, I take one step to the right and use it as momentum to push my fellow Exit Army member. My timing is faster than the gentlemen on the other side and I and the girl who I pushed are on the other side. She does not turn around to thank or scorn me… she has to run to Line 2 and join the Entry Army.

Wait for Halloween (which is not really practiced in Shanghai)… I plan on dressing up like William Wallace from Braveheart (face paint and all), and scream FREEDOM when I make my surge. I may get a friend to video tape it!!

I apologize for my lack of recent updates. Life is going fast and I am managing to keep my head above water… most of the time. Here are some recent thoughts:

• Pajamas: I once called my father’s father “Papa Jones”… an oddly formal title for a decidedly non-formal family. My brother, in a demonstration of his tremendous wit and observation powers, noticed that he liked to wear pajamas (and I am talking about the old school pajamas… button down long sleeve shirt and matching pants) and shortened “Papa Jones” to “PJ”. This is apropos of nothing except for the fact that Shanghainese LOVE to wear their pajamas. I am told by my Asian friends from other provinces and countries that this is a Shanghainese thing only, but I seem to remember some pajama wearers in the village of my driver when I visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Every night I go out and see men, women, and children wearing pajamas on the street. In some cases, the men do not wear a shirt and pull their pajama bottoms above the belly button of their large bellies. It is fascinating to be in such a large city but still see country manners at work. (Not putting down country manners… I know who my people are.)
• Passed: So I passed my Mandarin (Level 0) class! Without being too self congratulatory, I have come a long way. I have managed to go from 0 to 1 (on a scale of 1,000,000!), and it is nice to progress. I find that I can understand most basic conservations (provided people talk slowly) and I am getting much better at distinguishing sounds. I have started my second month and the composition of the program is much different. In July, it was mostly North American (USA & Canada) and western europeans. It was many foreign-born but ethnically Chinese kids (average age 16). This month it is mostly Japanese and Russians and slightly older (college age). In fact, in my current class (Mandarin Level 2!… no I did not skip a grade, but Mandarin 0 is really Mandarin 1) I am the only non-Japanese/non-Russian. I am also the oldest by probably 8 years! The good side of this is that the only language I share with my classmates is Chinese (to be fair… most of them speak some level of English). It forces us to work hard to communicate and share with each other before/after class and during breaks. The Japanese in particular are really good with Chinese characters (Japanese characters are similar but different), but struggle with pronunciation (not saying that I do not). Because I stick out, I have somewhat become… not a teacher’s pet, but a teacher’s guinea pig. The teachers are both really good this month and so I do not mind.
• Snoop Doggy-Dog Needs to Get a Jobby-Job: More progress on the job front. I was actually offered a job, but the company is based in Beijing. I am finding that there is more tech in Beijing than in Shanghai (closeness to the government is important here). Plenty of stuff here in Shanghai, but more in Beijing. The plan is to fly out to Beijing in a few weeks and meet with the principals there. I find it a little uncomfortable to be offered a job without having actually met them in person (or them meeting me in person), but it is a good company that has a strong reputation. Before that figures itself out, I have also taken to do some interesting work for a local Shanghai company focused on Chinese social media. They are currently writing a book on the subject targeted at Fortune 500/Global 2000/MNC (multinational corporations) marketing teams. The co-founder and primary author is a western (white) guy who has been in China for 15 years. The book is in English and I am helping to ghost write a few chapters (no… my Mandarin Level 2 skills are not good enough to ghost write in Chinese!). It is an interesting opportunity for me to learn more about the Chinese market. In addition, it is good to gain a local reference and he has been kind to offer introduce me to his vast network. Other things in the works too… so I am feeling good about this area (but will feel better when I cash my first paycheck).

I head to Seoul again tomorrow for Visa reasons. I will spend the night and then head back. While I like the excuse to travel, I am working on getting my visa status changed so that I can stay in country longer than 30 days. The Shanghai Expo has made that more difficult than it was a few months ago, but we will see if I can.

SUBJECT: Hello from Germany where they play pro-darts on TV

and then replay it in slow motion.
Here’s my little breakdown of week one, Erik I know how these are for
you so just print it out and read at your convenience. I’m out of the
hotel on Thursday or Friday so I won’t have regular phone/email for a
few weeks until it gets turned on at my apartment.

It’s been a roller coaster first week here.  First, I’ll start with
all the good news, like I found an apartment, I’ll send pictures soon.
It’s bright (6 skylights) and big (90 square meters, almost 900 feet).
It’s pricey by Berlin standards but close to work and just super
darling. A five floor walk up (88 steps) so all that come to visit,
pack light. It’s a converted attic it’s not tall person friendly in
parts, but it has a balcony with views over the rooftops of Berlin.
It’s in Steiglitz/Friedanau, in the southwest corner of the city. It
has a built in kitchen, which in Europe means cabinets. Today I bought
a fridge and a washing machine for under 500 euro for both. In Germany
(and much of Europe) when you move you take everything, kitchen
cabinets down to the light fixtures. I looked at a few places that
just had the faucet and sink and THAT was the kitchen. My place has
space for a dishwasher but at the last minute I decided no, so my
dishwasher dream has been foiled again, it’s been over 10 years
without (minus the two weeks I enjoyed the one at Rhode Island street)
so what’s another two? My address is Heesestraße 19, 12683 Berlin. You
don’t put apartment numbers just my last name.

So those of you know I landed an expected the hard work was over, as
most of June and July was spent frantically packing up my house and
affairs in San Francisco. I expected the relocation consultant to pick
me up and cart me, princess-style, around Berlin. Ahh, and what do we
all know about expectations? They get dashed, madly dashed!!! Britta
was a big disappointment, disorganized and frazzled and unable to
answer basic questions. The first place she wanted to show me was
astronomically priced (by Berlin standards) and 4 rooms with a
solarium. And in the suburbs. Anyway, by the end of day 2 I was crying
on the phone home having the first of many “Oh what have I done….”
moments. Thankfully, the Good Lord provideth, and Wednesday night I
met Martina, a fellow coworker at BBIS who also moved from San
Francisco this summer. We had been corresponding over email as she
wants to learn Spanish and we agreed to trade Spanish for Deutsch
lessons, she is originally from Cologne, Germany, so a native German
speaker. Thursday she came with me to see 3 apartments, and Friday 3
more, and translated the entire time it was amazing. Friday I found
the place the landlady is muy simpatica and gave me the keys right
away no deposit which was awesome. For those of you who’ve experience
old world efficiency, here’s a fun little moving quagmire: I can’t
register with the local authorities until I have an address, I can’t
get bank account until I register with local authorities, and I can’t
pay rent or deposit on a lease until I get a bank account. Are you
following this? I paid her cash.

Besides finding housing, everyday is a mild victory ie: I was able to
buy my daily bus/train ticket (eine Tageskarte) without just staring
at the bus driver and repeating over and over “I speak no German”
(variation: I speak bad German). Every day has started with a long bus
plus train ride into Berlin. The hotel is by the school, which is in a
suburb (Kleinmachnow) in the southwest. So imagine commuting from
Morgan Hill to see apartments in SF. Let me reiterate: Berlin is huge.
Like LA huge, but bigger. Second, even though it as a spic and span
U-bahn (underground) and S-bahn (above ground) train lines, and buses
that are scarily on time, it takes awhile to get around. So looking at
apartments in various districts takes a lot of time and a lot of
walking. Those of you who have had to search for apartments (about 90%
of my friends) know the whole routine.

Besides that, I’ve been practicing situational ethics and robbing from
the breakfast buffet (paid for by school) to have snacks and lunch
during the day, as far as I’m concerned it’s a moral gray area. Food
is actually decent once you get into the city, Berliners love street
food, you can get veggie pad thai and french fires with curry sauce
and lots of variations on pretzels. Sunday I went to an outdoor market
at Mauerplatz in the northeastern part, there were bands playing and
all sorts of flea market type things for sale.

anyway, hope you are all great, I miss SF and family/friend a lot but
I hope to see some of your friendly faces here. It’s been hard but
each day is easier. Seb and Benjee invited me to visit them while they
vacation in the south of France, I am going on Friday for a week to
get some rest and relaxation before school begins August 23rd.  We
have teacher in-service the week of the 16th. Look for me on skype as
Kika Jonsson or download google video chat, and once I have regular
internet we can chat face to face. I’m going to try and begin my
outdoor pool tour of Berlin, first stop is the Olympic Stadium from
the ’36 Olympics, I’ll bring a gold home for all of you!
xo
Kika

On Friday night I went to Muse (one of the happening night clubs here in the city) with Bobby and some of his friends (who are starting to become my friends). Xiaowen was able to come too (we met via Steve Garrity… and she had met Bobby at work in Shanghai several years before… and contrary to her experience, not everyone who went to Stanford is a Mayfield Fellow!). This had the makings of a brilliant evening. With the exception of standard Friday night taxi scrambles, it certainly started that way.

I started to do some flirting with the girls at our table… which increasingly includes me speaking in Chinese. My accent is kind of funny and elicits some giggles, but people generally get what I am saying (or at least pretend to). My favorite mix up of the night… I wanted to say “my friends” (Wo de pengyou), but slipped up and said “Wo de pingguo”… which means “my apples”. An odd look or two and I quickly corrected myself, but we all got a good laugh. After doing a little dancing, I was about to ask for a beautiful young lady’s number when I reach for my phone and… NOTHING! That’s right I got pick-pocketed on the dance floor (and the phone was in my front pocket). Very upsetting, but at least I did not let it ruin the night… it would however kill my weekend.

The phone was lost, but I at least was hoping to get my phone number back. Not that many people have it, but enough recruiters/managers/etc have it, that changing it would be a pain. I spent nearly all of Saturday at 3 China Mobile locations trying to see how they could restore it to me, but for a variety of things that were my fault (I had not registered the number with my passport and had not kept some info when I bought it) and some horrible operations decisions they were not able to confirm that the number was mine.

I decided Saturday night that if I could not get my number back, that I was going to switch to China Unicom for their 3G service (I need to write a future post on the importance of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and worldwide mobile technology coherence… the former China does not have, the latter it sort of has). On my way home from swim practice I happened to come across a China Mobile store and decided to try one more time. Success. It took one more iteration, but armed with 10 phone numbers that I had called and 3 calls to Chinese friends to confirm that it was my number, they were able to give me my number. I dropped by a local cyber mart and picked up a cheap nokia phone to use while I figure out my next smartphone (likely one of the following HTC devices… Desire, Legend, or Wildfire… see how I can negotiate with sellers on price).

(BTW… I think the reason that it worked on Sunday was because it was August 1st. My incomplete understanding is that China Mobile does not have real time access to phone call history, but creates a call report at the beginning of each month. “Luckily” I lost my phone near the end of the month. I have now registered the number to my passport, so if there is a next time, I will not have this problem… so I think.)

On the downside, I lost my old phone that I got from Google I/O 1.5 years ago (kind of a collectors item) but I was considering replacing it in a few months. I only ended out about $30 for the new SIM card and Nokia phone. When I get my new smartphone, the Nokia device can be used by visitors (which is good news for you Sprint and Verizon customers). Definitely will need to be more careful next time I am on the dance floor… maybe need to wear tighter pants (which makes me look European).

Some other random thoughts/observations:

• Follow up on Korea trip: As several people pointed out, Korea has some interesting proclivities. Namely it has the highest incidence of plastic surgery per capita in the world (with the possible exception of Columbia and/or Argentina). Less breasts, but more nose and facial surgeries than the US. I guess even Koreans have trouble living up to their idealized aesthetics.
• Speaking of Korea and some of my earlier thoughts on design… With all due respect to Korea and Japan, much of their aesthetics were originally adopted from China (did you know that Kyoto…the Imperial capital of Japan.. was based on the original capital of China… Xi’an?). So why do Korea and Japan have one aesthetic and China such a different aesthetic? Call this a theory, but I think the 20th Century (with the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Civil War, Japanese Occupation, Civil War, Cultural Revolution, etc, etc) basically destroyed the traditional Chinese elite. It was these elites that influenced so much of Korea and Japan. With the elites out of the way, China’s middle and peasant classes were in a very unique position to all of the sudden define convention and style. Whereas the middle and peasant classes of Korea and Japan had a traditional elite that they wanted to emulate, the Chinese re-created their own thing. As a result Chinese style is much more mass led and not elite led.
• My ability to read characters is more highly developed than my ability to speak or listen at the moment. Characters are “easy” because you can just memorize them… speaking and listening requires me to use my brain in a way that I have not previously. Right now, I am training my “infant brain’ to create and recognize sounds that it was able to ignore for 31.5 years. I can hear someone speaking but my brain is used to throwing away most of the tone information (or at least interpreting it differently). Now it is integral to actually understanding what is being said.
• Things are going well on the job front. A number of job interviews the past couple of weeks (and into this coming week). There is a notion of “guanxi” that roughly translates into building friend networks. I help you or your network now, and you can help me or my network in the future. That descriptions makes it sound sinister, but it really reminds of Southern hospitality. Sure there is an expectation of help in the future, but I always have believed in that anyway. Needless to say, that finding a job is definitely the result of me building some guanxi… thank goodness for good friends to help me get started.
• More to come… including “Scene from Shanghai Subway or Braveheart?” and will I finally get around to explaining what I am doing here!

One such friend, Christine Tarn from San Francisco, recently traveled to the Sudan on a medical mission to assist an orphanage. She sent out a recap of her time there and I asked her if I could re-publish it on my blog.

- Antoine de Saint-Exuper

I have been misquoting this for years (and mis-attributing it to Alexander Pope), but a few days in Korea inspired me enough to look it up and get it right.

Chinese-style (or at least Shanghai-style) is a reaction to being humbled for so long. The explosion of colors, over-the-top designs, glitter, and bling can be blinding. Some might think it gaudy or ostentatious. It probably is, but I see it as such a celebration of what the people feel they have accomplished… and what they are going to accomplish… that I can forgive some of the youthful wild exuberance that penetrates the clothes, skyline, and makeup.

Seoul on the other hand never went through a cultural revolution and never lost some of its cultural identity. The economy and people’s lives have certainly improved but not at quite the rate that China has experienced. As such, she is far more thoughtful with her style and stylings. Alex and I stayed at the Park Hyatt which is a beautiful building designed both internally and externally to exemplify Antoine de Saint-Exuper quote. Lines and shapes are simple, but the impact is soothing and satisfying. Materials are wood and in simple earth and shade tones. I finally see the Korean and Japanese aesthetic that has inspired such men as Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison.

In no place is the difference more evident than in the way women dress and present themselves. In Shanghai you see much more bling and too much make up in loud tones. I love this statement of self expression and fierce independence (one of the nice results of Mao and the Cultural Revolution is that Chinese women are less beholden to traditional Confucian standards). In Korea, however, women dress with simpler lines and less make up. It is a very elegant, effortless look. I wish I had the design vocabulary to describe it better (or pictures to show), but trust me… it is intoxicating.

No plans to move to Seoul (or Tokyo for that matter), but I definitely appreciate their style and look forward to learning more about it.

As for my activities in Seoul, Alex and I ended up spending quite a bit of time enjoying the city and visiting with some of his friends (he lived here for a year in 2009). In particular we met up with two sisters for drink and dinner (not exactly a double date, but a very nice time).

I also went to a booking club. Before righteous female indignation rises up from those who know what a booking club is, let me explain for those who may not know. It is uniquely Korean phenomenon where men go to a club, rent a room that includes alcohol and food, and wait for girls to enter the room. Women on the other hand enter the club (of their OWN FREE WILL) and are led to different rooms by bookers (men hired by the club to introduce them to a room of men). There they sit and drink with the guys in the room… and can leave at any time they want (which in some cases can be after mere seconds). From here they are taken to a different room (to be fair … they are kind of dragged… but not in a hurtful way). This seems to be the equivalent of speed dating but the men get to stand still while the women rotate. I actually found it to be quite efficient and an effective way to meet people. I ended up meeting several girls who spoke okay English and we were able to have a pleasant conversation. In most cases they were very embarrassed and it took some gentle prodding for them to feel comfortable to speak with me (and in some cases they ran out of the room in giggles at my awkward “Aun Yong” (hello in Korean)).

While I can appreciate why women might find this to be an unacceptable arrangement, I think it is far more harmless than many other forms of entertainment. I would have enjoyed it more if I was fluent in Korean.

Please feel free to disagree and be upset with me if you will, but I am quite comfortable with my experience and behavior.

A few interesting observations from my experience:

• Koreans follow an interesting line of questioning.. before learning my name, I was frequently asked “how old are you? what do you do?” Initially, I thought that maybe they thought I was old… but I was assured that this was standard questioning and that 31 was not considered too old.
• Koreans like to drink… I knew this going in, but they confirmed their reputation as the “Irish of Asia”
• The youth (or at least who I spoke with) do not really want to unify with the North. They recognize them as Koreans, but feel that they are very different. (Interesting when compared to East/West German attitudes of several decades ago).
• I went to a spa and alternatively plunging your whole body in hot and cold water is quite refreshing.
• At the spa, I also got a massage where the girl covered my back with warm, wet towels and then stood on my back and massaged with her (magic) feet. It actually felt excellent and combined with the point above, led to a wonderful afternoon.