... is the snowball fights.
I work in an office park with like 30+ buildings. All of them are 3 stories high and they all have roof access. You can see picnic tables and umbrellas set up there for when the weather actually is decent. Until today, I never would have said that they're within snowball-range of one another. But guess what, they are!
As some co-workers and I were walking across the office park to and from the cafeteria, we all heard (and saw) a bunch of inter-roof snowball fights going on. We heard the yelling and the *thunk* *thunk* of snowballs splatting into the sides of building. So naturally, a bunch of co-workers and I joined in this time-honored tradition by gathering on the roof of our building and hucking snowballs at one another. The roof is split in two by a gap -- some developers gathered on one side and my group gathered on the other, and we flung away for like 20 minutes.
Then I noticed the people in the building next to us, who work for a different company, were out on their roof having their own mini-snowball fight. So I turned their way and fired a warning shot. Soon, the inter-office battle was joined. Unfortunately for the other company, they were not only outclassed but also outnumbered. It seems their co-workers were not as eager to fight as ours were :-) The other office mustered up a bit of offense, but I think it's clear whose side carried the day. Huzzah!!!
It was so much fun. No one really got hit, because, well, I guess because it's hard to wing a snowball accurately when you can't even feel your hands. Also, we all had big jackets on, and those somewhat limit the range of motion of your arms. But I did manage to land a couple good shots. And I didn't get hit. I also fell down a lot. And my shoes are soaked through.
So, all in all, it was your typical Saturday at the office.
Another interesting sight is the little snow-figures that have popped up all over the city. I saw at least a dozen of them around our office park, variously dressed with mittens and hats and such. (I feel for the humans who once wore them.) And also along the Shanghai S&TM metro plaza - there was a giant snow dog being walked by a tiny snow man. I WISH I had my camera. Maybe I'll bring it to the office with me tomorrow and take a lunchtime tour of the snow-office-park that our neighbors have created.
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
February 2, 2008
February 1, 2008
Zhege tianqi shi bu hao!
Sometime this morning it started snowing again - it did so for a couple hours and then it turned into freezing rain. With temperatures at exactly freezing right now, that means tomorrow morning, trying to catch a cab should be a breeze.
A breeze of ICE!
ha ha ha.
Actually it's quite fun watching the snow -- it's just no fun being IN it. I must confess - my fond memories of snow come from my school days in Maryland, where snow raised the question of school being cancelled. (The popular theory was that school was cancelled iff. the principal couldn't get out of his driveway.) I never really had to walk around in it - I just sort of stayed home and prevailed upon my parents (hi guys!) to drive me somewhere to go sledding, hang out at a friend's house, make me hot chocolate, etc. But most of all I just liked the look of fresh-fallen, undisturbed snow. I enjoyed tromping around in it, too. My dad would take me to the parking lot of the local warehouse store, where the snowplows had piled up the snow around all the lightposts, and I'd climb up on those piles as high as I could. I also have fond memories of sledding down the hill in our backyard and also this ginormous hill behind the local Hechinger.
Aww.
But dealing with this snow in Shanghai is far more annoying. I have no car, so I must walk through the slushy ... er, slush everywhere I go. Taking a cab is an option -- if you can get one. I must confess, the whole reason behind this post is that I just spent close to 45 minutes wandering north on Huaihai Zhong Lu after missing the last metro train at the Changshu Lu metro station. Finally I scored a cab, and the driver tried to play ignorant when I said Shanghai keji guan (Shanghai Science & Technology Museum). Or he might not have been playing - I hear the Puxi cab drivers don't like to go out to Pudong, and vice versa. And there was some girl, I think, standing at his window trying to convince him to kick me out of the cab. But I just kept repeating "Shanghai keji guan -- Shiji Dadao, nan" and playing the ignorant foreigner. He was talking to her and I got the impression he was saying "Sorry, I have this guy here who wants to go to Pudong. I don't like it any more than you do, but how am I supposed to kick him out? He doesn't understand me." Hahaha. Being a lao wai rocks sometimes.
So he takes me to Pudong, and I do a fairly good job of directing him in Chinese. The commands for left, right, straight, and stop are second nature to me now. Knowing those plus the names of the streets can get you (I mean, me) home pretty easily. I live near the Thumb Plaza and the Shanghai Science & Tech Museum -- all cabbies in Pudong will know those landmarks, but again this fella must work mainly in Puxi. So I had to direct him most of the way.
There's a roundabout near the end of Shiji Dadao as you approach the metro station - and I think it confused this guy, haha. I don't blame him - it would confuse me too if it was the first time I saw it. I kept saying "straight, straight" but of course in a roundabout, that means "bear right while turning left and look out for the name of the road you just got off of, which will be on your right." Hahaha. Luckily we made it okay. I was even able to educate him. As we made a left onto Dingxiang Lu, my street, I pointed across the way and told him THAT'S the Shanghai Science & Tech Museum. This is just like the time I educated a taxi driver about where Zhangdong Lu is (that's where my office is, and it's way the hell away from anything else in Pudong).
Anyway, I was out in Puxi having dinner with the guys from Void. They're having a ruckus at The Shelter Saturday night and they invited me to eat some dinner with them tonight. We went to Jishi, which is a really good Shanghainese place just off Huaihai. Getting a taxi from the Hengshan Lu station to the restaurant was pretty tough as well. I was waiting outside for about 10 minutes. One guy stopped, rolled down the window, and was like "Where you going?" I think he was an expat because he had no accent, haha. I told him where and he goes "80 kuai". I was like, uh, NO WAY. Tai gui le. So I waited 3 more minutes and got a non-scam taxi ride for 12 kuai. Haha.
This taxi driver was really crabby. He was brusque and harrumphing when I said okay, not only turn left onto Tianping Lu, but look for 41. I admit it was tough to see the numbers on the sides of the buildings, given the dark and the wind and the snow. But he did. Then he tried to pull the "my card reader's broken" trick. So for those who don't know, in Shanghai you can get a farecard, like a debit card, that works by RFID. You hold it up to scanners on the bus, metro, taxi, etc. and it deducts the proper amount from your card. It's a really kickass system. Except sometimes taxi drivers will say their meter's broken and they can only take cash. I think this is so they can pocket the money from the ride instead of giving the cab company its cut, or something like that.
So, knowing this, I kind of protested, like, no, shua ka, shua ka which means "swipe card." I then switched to mei you le, mei you le ("I don't have it") referring to cash. (Which, I must point out, was a lie.) Still, he refused to budge. So at this point I make as if to get out of the cab, and he grabs my arm and is speaking very angrily at me now. Again, I'm the dumb lao wai -- wo ting bu dong, wo ting bu dong. Hahaha. Finally he flips the card reader down and -- SURPRISE -- it's not broken after all.
Amazing how that works, eh?
So yeah, good times in cabs, man. For real. This weather brings out some crazy people, lol. I'm not even going to write about the cab driver I had from my apartment to the Shanghai S&T just to get to the metro this evening. That was just frustrating. I need to learn the word for "metro station" or something -- because when you say Shanghai keji guan, the cabbies take you to the musem itself -- which is great because you can walk inside, down some stairs, and end up in the metro station. Unless it's nighttime and the museum is closed, so instead of walking through the musem, you have to walk around it which sucks because it's precipitating like mad. Luckily I know a shortcut to the plaza from Yingchun Lu so I had her drop me off there instead of outside the locked doors of the museum. Hahaha.
And just for good measure, I have to complain about Chinese again. I got a text message from a friend today. If you translate all the Chinese words into English, the message reads:
Okay, that's enough whining, I'm going to bed :-)
A breeze of ICE!
ha ha ha.
Actually it's quite fun watching the snow -- it's just no fun being IN it. I must confess - my fond memories of snow come from my school days in Maryland, where snow raised the question of school being cancelled. (The popular theory was that school was cancelled iff. the principal couldn't get out of his driveway.) I never really had to walk around in it - I just sort of stayed home and prevailed upon my parents (hi guys!) to drive me somewhere to go sledding, hang out at a friend's house, make me hot chocolate, etc. But most of all I just liked the look of fresh-fallen, undisturbed snow. I enjoyed tromping around in it, too. My dad would take me to the parking lot of the local warehouse store, where the snowplows had piled up the snow around all the lightposts, and I'd climb up on those piles as high as I could. I also have fond memories of sledding down the hill in our backyard and also this ginormous hill behind the local Hechinger.
Aww.
But dealing with this snow in Shanghai is far more annoying. I have no car, so I must walk through the slushy ... er, slush everywhere I go. Taking a cab is an option -- if you can get one. I must confess, the whole reason behind this post is that I just spent close to 45 minutes wandering north on Huaihai Zhong Lu after missing the last metro train at the Changshu Lu metro station. Finally I scored a cab, and the driver tried to play ignorant when I said Shanghai keji guan (Shanghai Science & Technology Museum). Or he might not have been playing - I hear the Puxi cab drivers don't like to go out to Pudong, and vice versa. And there was some girl, I think, standing at his window trying to convince him to kick me out of the cab. But I just kept repeating "Shanghai keji guan -- Shiji Dadao, nan" and playing the ignorant foreigner. He was talking to her and I got the impression he was saying "Sorry, I have this guy here who wants to go to Pudong. I don't like it any more than you do, but how am I supposed to kick him out? He doesn't understand me." Hahaha. Being a lao wai rocks sometimes.
So he takes me to Pudong, and I do a fairly good job of directing him in Chinese. The commands for left, right, straight, and stop are second nature to me now. Knowing those plus the names of the streets can get you (I mean, me) home pretty easily. I live near the Thumb Plaza and the Shanghai Science & Tech Museum -- all cabbies in Pudong will know those landmarks, but again this fella must work mainly in Puxi. So I had to direct him most of the way.
There's a roundabout near the end of Shiji Dadao as you approach the metro station - and I think it confused this guy, haha. I don't blame him - it would confuse me too if it was the first time I saw it. I kept saying "straight, straight" but of course in a roundabout, that means "bear right while turning left and look out for the name of the road you just got off of, which will be on your right." Hahaha. Luckily we made it okay. I was even able to educate him. As we made a left onto Dingxiang Lu, my street, I pointed across the way and told him THAT'S the Shanghai Science & Tech Museum. This is just like the time I educated a taxi driver about where Zhangdong Lu is (that's where my office is, and it's way the hell away from anything else in Pudong).
Anyway, I was out in Puxi having dinner with the guys from Void. They're having a ruckus at The Shelter Saturday night and they invited me to eat some dinner with them tonight. We went to Jishi, which is a really good Shanghainese place just off Huaihai. Getting a taxi from the Hengshan Lu station to the restaurant was pretty tough as well. I was waiting outside for about 10 minutes. One guy stopped, rolled down the window, and was like "Where you going?" I think he was an expat because he had no accent, haha. I told him where and he goes "80 kuai". I was like, uh, NO WAY. Tai gui le. So I waited 3 more minutes and got a non-scam taxi ride for 12 kuai. Haha.
This taxi driver was really crabby. He was brusque and harrumphing when I said okay, not only turn left onto Tianping Lu, but look for 41. I admit it was tough to see the numbers on the sides of the buildings, given the dark and the wind and the snow. But he did. Then he tried to pull the "my card reader's broken" trick. So for those who don't know, in Shanghai you can get a farecard, like a debit card, that works by RFID. You hold it up to scanners on the bus, metro, taxi, etc. and it deducts the proper amount from your card. It's a really kickass system. Except sometimes taxi drivers will say their meter's broken and they can only take cash. I think this is so they can pocket the money from the ride instead of giving the cab company its cut, or something like that.
So, knowing this, I kind of protested, like, no, shua ka, shua ka which means "swipe card." I then switched to mei you le, mei you le ("I don't have it") referring to cash. (Which, I must point out, was a lie.) Still, he refused to budge. So at this point I make as if to get out of the cab, and he grabs my arm and is speaking very angrily at me now. Again, I'm the dumb lao wai -- wo ting bu dong, wo ting bu dong. Hahaha. Finally he flips the card reader down and -- SURPRISE -- it's not broken after all.
Amazing how that works, eh?
So yeah, good times in cabs, man. For real. This weather brings out some crazy people, lol. I'm not even going to write about the cab driver I had from my apartment to the Shanghai S&T just to get to the metro this evening. That was just frustrating. I need to learn the word for "metro station" or something -- because when you say Shanghai keji guan, the cabbies take you to the musem itself -- which is great because you can walk inside, down some stairs, and end up in the metro station. Unless it's nighttime and the museum is closed, so instead of walking through the musem, you have to walk around it which sucks because it's precipitating like mad. Luckily I know a shortcut to the plaza from Yingchun Lu so I had her drop me off there instead of outside the locked doors of the museum. Hahaha.
And just for good measure, I have to complain about Chinese again. I got a text message from a friend today. If you translate all the Chinese words into English, the message reads:
You this weekend have work?Which of course means:
Do you have to work this weekend?It's rough going when you (I mean, I) can maybe understand the words people are using but not the phrase they are trying to say. So that's one thing I definitely need to focus on: the order and succession of words when you want to put together sentences. Even when I do hear something correctly, it still takes me several seconds to translate, in my head, from Chinese to English. I'm not really complaining, after all, I haven't even been here a month. I shouldn't expect to be fluent just yet. But still :-)
Okay, that's enough whining, I'm going to bed :-)
January 28, 2008
Let it Snow
While I'm still thinking about it, I want to document this random encounter I had outside the metro stop on the way home. First, we got let out of work at 3 PM because it had been snowing all night and all day. w00t. It really is beautiful, but my shoes are soggy and mushy from walking in all the slush :-( Everyone is saying how rare this is and how it never snows in Shanghai. I must say I feel very lucky to be here for this, except by "lucky" I mean "sodden." Haha. No, really, I haven't seen snowfall like this in about five or six years. And I haven't gotten out of work/school for snow since my internship during winter break 2000. I can't wait to walk outside tomorrow when it'll be nice and frozen from the overnight chill! And whoopdie-doo, it's supposed to be like this for the next week.
So I had an earlier-than-expected tutoring lesson with one of my co-workers (yep, I've got two tutors) where I spent half an hour trying to say zao and zui correctly. Yes, it's that tough :-) It's all about where you put the tip of your tongue. Also I have realized that I'm forcing it too hard because I want to say it correctly. Often the extra effort causes me to flub a pronunciation. So I'm trying to relax more when I speak. But I did impress my coworkers this morning by grabbing some food from the snack table and saying Zhe ge shi wo de zaofan. ("This is my breakfast.")
But anyway, outside the metro plaza, I walked past three guys building a half-formed snowman. I laughed and asked Ne ge shi shenma? And they answered "Zhe ge shi snowman!" Hahaha, that was great. So I laughed and was walking away, then one of them starts going "Golf! Golf!" I was like -- wtf? Golf?? So he runs to his van and draws the door open. I'm thinking great, I'm gonna get wrapped up in a carpet and smuggled out into the countryside. Hahaha, not really. But the dude pulls out this giant golf club bag from the backseat. Of course, now it was time to say Bu yao.
Ah Shanghai - where anyone, any time will try to sell you a golf bag.
All this snow really makes me want to not leave the house ... I think I'll join the gym tomorrow. Since I took the tour on Thursday, the membership guy has been calling me nonstop asking me when I'm coming back. I really do want to join, and the price is good, so I will probably go tomorrow, assuming they're open.
So I had an earlier-than-expected tutoring lesson with one of my co-workers (yep, I've got two tutors) where I spent half an hour trying to say zao and zui correctly. Yes, it's that tough :-) It's all about where you put the tip of your tongue. Also I have realized that I'm forcing it too hard because I want to say it correctly. Often the extra effort causes me to flub a pronunciation. So I'm trying to relax more when I speak. But I did impress my coworkers this morning by grabbing some food from the snack table and saying Zhe ge shi wo de zaofan. ("This is my breakfast.")
But anyway, outside the metro plaza, I walked past three guys building a half-formed snowman. I laughed and asked Ne ge shi shenma? And they answered "Zhe ge shi snowman!" Hahaha, that was great. So I laughed and was walking away, then one of them starts going "Golf! Golf!" I was like -- wtf? Golf?? So he runs to his van and draws the door open. I'm thinking great, I'm gonna get wrapped up in a carpet and smuggled out into the countryside. Hahaha, not really. But the dude pulls out this giant golf club bag from the backseat. Of course, now it was time to say Bu yao.
Ah Shanghai - where anyone, any time will try to sell you a golf bag.
All this snow really makes me want to not leave the house ... I think I'll join the gym tomorrow. Since I took the tour on Thursday, the membership guy has been calling me nonstop asking me when I'm coming back. I really do want to join, and the price is good, so I will probably go tomorrow, assuming they're open.
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