Standards

Inconsistency keeps people on their toes, or just frustrates them and keeps them from ever checking this little website.

Our Gaelic football club is now in its final preparation stages as the All Asia Gaelic Games approaches (Sept 25-26), and after a string of injuries to our veterans, we look to our young rookie class to carry us in competition. Kind of like the Patriots, but not really.

We were recently approached about writing for a new website in town called the Shenzhen Standard. The website is supposed to serve as a platform for business information and news regarding various aspects of life in Shenzhen. While it is still in its nascent stages, we have begun putting out some articles for them, mostly pom-pom waiving about how great China is and why Shenzhen is China's next hotbed for innovation, development, money, bla bla bla. Our involvement on the site has raised some interesting ideas that I'd like to talk about somewhere.

First, I'll be honest, I have reservations about the site. It is all good and fine, and has good goals, but I was initially bummed out by the blatant advertising not even thinly-veiled as news popping up everywhere within its pages (especially the homepage). Now this may sound pretty tame from a distance, but it is something that represents a greater shortcoming within the entire expatriate community out here. Now, I hope this advertising thing is short lived as expats like ourselves work to fill the website with meaningful, thoughtful content. This website is not alone either, there are a handful of expat run websites around shenzhen: Shenzhen Party, Shenzhen Stuff, etc, that are designed to help integrate East and West and create constructive environments for social networking and the like. The problem is not China.... it's the expats themselves. Poor moderation, low standards for quality, blatant disrespect for China in some cases, and a general negativity/hostility that is off-putting to many people, Chinese and foreign alike. I'm not saying this about the standard, but I feel with a name like that, it should hold itself in high regard, put only the best content forward, and keep things as professional as possible. I believe the same should be true for all expat run entities in Shenzhen and abroad in general. We have a responsibility, more than our fellow Americans back on home soil, to represent ourselves, our jobs, and our countries in the best light possible. Or hell, we should at least try to avoid looking the ignorant bastards that are so often portrayed in our own media (cough cough Q'ran burning).

I may be sounding a bit hot-headed, but I honestly believe that this kind of personal accountability is extremely important out here, especially in our increasingly transparent world, where internet personalities are universally accessible. Some times it is good and important to have a sense of humor, retain a biting wit, engage in a bit of jovial bashing, but know when to turn it off and put your serious-pants on. yeah... serious pants, what of it?

I'm having issues posting pictures, so no pictures of pants for display purposes... damn.

The second issue is much more minor and I'm guessing pretty well known. China cheerleading falls into a similar category as the last rant, but is one that is very important out here. Foreign dissent against China is not illegal per se, but not something I would recommend for anyone living out here who doesn't have some sort of diplomatic our NYT-level journalism clearance. This of course creates a double-edged sword for China. Let's say you have a foreign VC entity looking to get into the Sino-party that is Southern China. These guys are smart fellows, they read the news, they see the potential pitfalls that await as they've read in WSJ,Forbes, and various other financial news outlets. But even these highly esteemed news sources are subject to this cheerleading as well. The real picture is very hard to obtain without eyes and ears on the ground. I recently came across an article about doing business in Nigeria, and how, in an effort to show respect, someone will always say yes when asked if a particular task is possible. This is also true here, though perhaps not to the degree it is there. China-savvy people will have a general sense of this, but it is so difficult to understand that true nature of business-direction and action out here. We are dealing with our first handful of Chinese clients, and even as we show progress, competence and even surpass expectations, we are left scratching our heads when things do not go as discussed/agreed upon/signed upon. Frustrating? Absolutely. Important? Even more so.

I'm accessing this blog via a crappy tunneling website, so I cannot post photos or links. Shenzhen Standard can be found at: http://www.shenzhenstandard.com

Another Year

We have all been commenting how this summer, while admittedly hot, happened late this year, and has been considerably milder from the previous one. The biggest difference has been the lack of smog that seemed ever-present during the summer months last year. It is indeed a welcome change, and the foreigners have a great time speculating as to the cause, since Shenzhen will play host to the 2011 Universiade Games. Could it be the new charge to bring electric public transit vehicles into wider use? Perhaps it is the result of a concerted effort to reduce emissions across the spectrum (doubtful given the construction and manufacturing here)? Our favorite answer, and one that really isn't outside the realm of possibility: weather engineering to fuel advertisement for next year's games and help with the general perception of the city as it gets ready to unveil a host of new civic projects, including high speed link up with Central Hong Kong. Russia and China have both admitted to weather engineering, and as crazy as it sounds... actually it is crazy, but who cares, I'll take my sunshine anyway I can get it.

Another oddity out here. Smaller bedrooms do not necessarily mean smaller AC units, and while this may sound delightful on the front, it is actually a bit of a problem out here. Last summer our assistant caught a cold on two occasions for forgetting to bring her AC to a normal level before dozing off for the evening. Many people complain of similar immune responses, and one that I have encountered in my new bedroom: dehydration. But Chris, haven't you been known to enjoy a few pints in the evening and also play two sports over there? Yes and yes, but it is in fact something that is reality out here. It sounds rather trivial but add dehydration to a UV index of 10, and heat indexes consistently over 100F, and you've got to be slightly concerned. Honestly, who'd have thought one would need a humidifier in a tropical locale in the middle of the summer.... go figure.

Dog Days

As with summer anywhere, things tend to slow down a bit productivity is eased, daydreams are focused on beaches and sitting beneath shaded trees, and getting out of China. Offices with proper (see: excessive) air conditioning will curb this natural tendency a bit, but cannot stifle it completely. Such is summer in Shenzhen. This year the summer has come much later, and thankfully, has not been nearly as smoggy. I credit China's weather engineering departments with the nice conditions.

Business is plugging along, and there is little if anything new to report other than yet another apartment that I am calling home. Landlord's do not seem to keen to honor contracts if they can break it in a way that benefits their short term (see: wallet) interests. Ours sold our unit and moved us to another location, which to our delight is nicer, larger, and has a HD flatscreen with speakers. This of course means I've been playing video games in my downtime instead of reading, as a good expat is wont to do.

What else to say really? Hope to get back to the States soon, looks like I'll be out in China for a bit longer. Anyway, here's a picture of the gang at our friend Isaac's birthday party in Hong Kong a few months back

Hiatus

Nope, not Haiti, hiatus.

I have not written here for some time due partly to a lazy demeanor regarding this blog, a trip to the US, and a return to China that has seen some seven day work weeks with hours that are reminiscent of college finals library hours. Could I have faithfully updated? Absolutely. Did I really want to? Not a bit, though I thank the small handful of followers that comprise the people I should actually be calling on a consistent basis, throwing my recent life onto the internet has not been high on my list of things to do.

I can most certainly say this about China, and our time here. The honeymoon's over. The savings are dry, and the horizon is exactly that... a horizon.

I'm not sure what I've written previously, but the education enterprise we set up was a statistical failure despite some promising student numbers and reviews. True Wind, our consulting firm, has been absorbed into a larger company that deals with management and strategy consulting, and my freelance design has netted one logo for an aspiring author and board member here in China.

I am now living in my third apartment with two chinese roommates, and very well may be moving again this week since our landlord has decided to sell our unit and relocate us to another, albeit nicer, apartment.

We've had birthdays come and go, weddings fly by, and several fellow expats have left china for humbler, better things (they came here for the bigger and better).

As a group/company/team whatever you want to call us, we are sitting on several potentially large projects. I may have mentioned bits and pieces back home, but our strict NDA's disallow me from saying much else. What I can say is that we are going to get taken for a bit of a ride on the fee side of things. And we are working to make sure that this will benefit in the long term. I may seem ok with this only because fees here are really villainized, and contracts with chinese partners are only worth the paper their written on and may be abandoned at any time really. It is therefore our aim to settle for the small but manageable fee, and maintain an amicable relationship with both sides, while securing very realistic future work.

If it all sounds a bit vague, that's because it is, welcome to China.

On a side note, most of us here are excited the World Cup is over and that we can return to our normal sleep schedules. on a sider note, I was recruited to join a rag-tag group of soccer misfits for a 6 a side tournament on Sunday, against 8 other teams from the city. None of us are sure how we pulled it off, but 8 games later, we emerged victorious, undefeated, and winning the championship with a penalty kick struck by yours truly. rock and roll and sore muscles everywhere.

China things

I've just landed in the States and have completely given up trying to sleep on these flights anymore. Good times, but take this entry with a grain or two of salt.

If you've met an expat living in China, you'll probably here of something called a China-day. This can manifest itself as China-week, China-month, or the elusive and saddening, China-year. There are certain frustrations out here that are commonplace, traffic in all shapes and forms (walking, bicycles, cars), general differences in common sense, and completely different standards for acceptable procedures. Anyway, a China-day (in my opinion) is a day when many of these minor irritants are compounded, along with any other frustrations that occur normally, like say...Mondays. It's funny, a bit ignorant, and generally an acceptable response to "how are ya?"

Not all of these quirks and nuance of China are annoying. Back during the All China Games that we hosted recently, several of us noticed that the port-o-potties, or port-o-squatties as we feel they should have been named, were manufactured and patented in the US, in Minnesota of all places. Long-winded sentence aside, it was something that made you scratch your head and then just shrug in acceptance: China is full of some weird stuff, one example being portable squattie toilets manufactured solely for Asian countries, by an American manufacturer... gotta love it.

Better late than never

One of the best parts about being out here is the chance to get into some good sport. The Gaelic Club out here is great fun, and everyone agrees it's nice to have one night a week to get away from people talking shop and sharing pints, and have a good run around. It helps that we're not terrible either. Despite the fact that I hadn't heard of the sport a year ago, I was lucky enough to get to a half-respectable level. I mentioned our trip to Thailand in October and the wonderful time that was for the All Asia Gaelic Games, not knowing at the time that it was in fact the largest amateur sporting event in Asia. Pretty neat.

Anyway, a few weeks back Shenzhen hosted the All China Gaelic Games, and competed with teams from all around, including the big three, as well as some lesser known cities. A few of us spent the entire day before the games literally assembling the goals, chalking the fields and building all the advertising billboards. I mean we literally put together the entire tournament, it was pretty impressive to witness how the guys on the team arranged factories to build out goals, put together player packs, organize hotels, and various entertainment venues. Pretty neat process, but to the better point, Shenzhen came in second overall, upsetting several cities (Shanghai included) and nearly defeating Hong Kong in a really great match.

It was a great little weekend. hmm.. I guess that's all for now.

Sabbatical

Wow, it's been too long.

I have not been traveling into Hong Kong much lately, and the Great Firewall is strong as always, but I managed to connect.

While my last post may have painted a distraught and frustrated picture of my life out here, there is more to it. Yes, everyday we work hard to try and make something of ourselves out here, and yes, things don't materialize the way you'd always like them to, but we are far from feeling defeated. TWC is taking on a whole new life, and I cannot discuss much about the details, but the way business is done out here has required us to tweak and modify.

On a personal note I am beginning to resign myself to the fact that I will never be able to escape my artistic side, however unpolished it may be. I had a mentor in high school who pulled me aside one day after a classroom critique. We were nearing graduation and I had a brush with a full on final project failure when a 6 foot sculpture I was making began to fall apart due to poor engineering foresight. Long story short, i spray-painted the abomination, carried it around campus and took pictures of it... artsy pictures, and handed in a photo project instead of a sculpture. How I got the grade I did is beyond me, but my teacher thought it was commendable. He told me that despite my best efforts I would be making art my entire life, and not the art that some consider sports radio, or deception, or statistical modeling to be, real art, which is scary. Real artists study art, live it, make careers out of it, and very few are successful. It is an extremely competitive field that discourages scores of less-than-exceptionally talented young artists from ever considering an art school or graphic design major. I may be naive, or just dumb, but that's always been my take, art isn't worth the effort to make a career out of it, it should be a hobby.

My lack of real world experience out here has relegated me to art. Websites, logos, brochures and the dreaded powerpoint presentation are my new 9-5 routines. I cannot say that I don't have an opinion since I consciously used the word relegated in the previous statement, but i am apprehensive about the tone it may set for me out here despite the fact that I enjoy a small bit of it. How it will affect my China experience will remain to be seen, but it's paving a new path out here, one that I am walking down without bias hopefully.

Everyday I'm humblin'

I'm no Rick Ross, but that's neither here nor there.

VPN is (sort of) working at the moment, so let's get this up before it decides to shut itself down again.

Not everyday out here is difficult, in fact many aren't. As the three of us prepared ourselves for the transition into China, I wanted to keep everyone's ambitions grounded, and maintain a realist tone in our group of eager and ambitious go-getters. I warned that the trip would test the limits of our friendship, our bank accounts, and our patience, and that of these, none were guaranteed to hold up. Having said that, in the back of my mind, I was as ambitious as the others, and secretly imagined things would be ok.

It is certainly not easy, and while many days are smooth, the ones that are not good link together, forming arduous rough patches that test all three aforementioned issues we were worried about. I always write about payday here, and perhaps with too much hubris, or to tell myself things are going well. In fact, things are not horrible, we are all still friends, and my patience has matured over the last year, but it has been as difficult as I warned myself it would be. Every aspect of our business(es) has faced hurdles, and left us frustrated at some point in time, and every time we seem to devise a solution to either fix the issue, or at the very least, offset the damages. It is making us stronger, smarter, and for some of us, a bit more grounded in the reality of this kind of life. It is not all victories, as I had predicted, but the losses, the frustrations, as much as you can prepare for them in your head, are still just that.... frustrating.

Originally we planned for a 6-month minimum time slot out here, that has since been extended and tomorrow marks my completion of one full year here. It is looking like that will be extended another year, and how I feel about that is irrelevant really, as we have a duty to fulfill out here, and a responsibility to remain and see this through. It is not all bad, far from it, but it wears on a person, and I believe makes them stronger. Learning your weaknesses is important, overcoming them or correcting them is the true, and most difficult goal.

I miss Boston, America, and everyone I've had the honor of calling my friend in the last few years. I hope to return again in May for a couple weeks.