Oli's Shanghai Blog

Gym merges with estate agent? (健身房和房产经济联合了？)

Oli — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:20:52 +0000

I ~~often go~~ own a membership to the gym opposite my office, and it’s really nice. Even though it doesn’t have a swimming pool (oh, Terra gym, I miss thee) it’s clean, modern and has loads of running machines with TVs in the dashboard…

我是我们公司对面的健身房的会员，那里很好。虽然没有游泳池（一兆韦德…我想念那个地方），可是很干净，现代而且有很多仪表器上带电视的跑步机…

…but sadly, they couldn’t afford the extra 50rmb for a sign proofreader – unless they are actually moving into property development?

…但是悲哀的是，他们付不起50块让别人教对一下指示牌-除非他们真的想转行发展房地产了？

Kobe Bryant is good at basketball (柯比擅长打篮球)

Oli — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:27:20 +0000

Ok, there…I said it. After spending the best part of the last 2 months watching the NBA playoffs, it feels weird not having Kobe, Lebron, Dwight, Sir Charles and even Reggie Miller available every evening for my entertainment pleasure.

没错…这是我说的。在过去的2个月看了NBA总决赛最棒的部分以后，在每个晚上的休闲时间看不到Kobe, Lebron, Dwight, Sir Charles甚至是Reggie Miller，都会觉得很不习惯。

China’s affection for Kobe is deep – they don’t seem to have developed the hatred of ‘great’ players yet (see: Cristiano Ronaldo) just because they’re good. The day after the NBA Finals were over, I saw that the posters at the Hongkou Football Stadium basketball courts had been re-done. Pretty cool:

中国对于Kobe的喜欢更加强烈-他们貌似还没有对其他讨人厌的‘最佳’运动员产生兴趣（比如：Cristiano Ronaldo），因为他们很好。在NBA决赛结束的第2天，我看到虹口足球场篮球场的海报重新做过了。相当的酷：

It says: Always determined (Determination never gives up)
上面说的是：决心永不停止决心永不停止决心永不停止

Epic Christmas gifts #1 (牛X的圣诞礼物1)

Oli — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:55:23 +0000

My Christmas was ruined due to the mystery of the disappearing umbrella. Ibby, my flatmate, managed to buy me EXACTLY what I wanted – a high quality umbrella with a kick-ass traditional Chinese devilish mask on it. So on the first day of rain, I went to grab it…and it was gone.

我的圣诞节被毁了。因为伞的神秘失踪。Ibby,我的室友，买了我最想要的给我-一把很好的伞状在一个中国京剧脸谱的瓶子里。然后在第一个想用它的下雨天，我到处都找不到它…没了。

I searched all over the house, but to no avail…someone (or some evil spirit) had removed it from the house…and it was never to be seen again. I’ve nearly dealt with the pain now (nearly 7 months later), but in dealing with the pain I forgot about a truly EPIC gift that Oytun received from Vivian…and now I think I’m ready to share it with the world.

我找遍整个屋子，可是徒劳…某人（或者某个妖怪）已经把它从屋子里带走了…然后再也没有见到过它。我差不多已经从痛苦中恢复了（大概7个月后），可是在与悲痛作斗争的时候，我忘了另外一个更牛的礼物，是Vivian给Oytun的…现在我准备好了拿出来跟这个世界分享。

Don’t touch it! It might be a booby trap! (sorry)

别碰它！可能是个大波陷阱！（不好意思）

Gaokaooo! (高考!)

Oli — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:33:20 +0000

The college entrance exam is a massive moment in every Chinese student’s life. Take A-Levels, SATs and the International Baccalaureate and then heat them in a witch’s cauldron and you have the most high-pressure moment in the 18 short years that they have been on Earth.

大学入学考对于每个中国学生的一生都有着重大的意义. 把甲级考试学术能力评估考试和国际学士学位丢进巫婆的大溶缸，然后就有了十八年前所未有的高压生活。

Walking near Hongkou Football Stadium the other day, I saw a guy who SURELY was on his way to the exam…

走在虹口足球场附近的一天，我看到一个男孩，我确信它是在去考试的路上…

…he was even wearing the uniform!

他正穿着校服！

Chinese security van very stuck in a hole in People’s Square, Shanghai (中国运钞车卡在上海人民广场路上的沟里)

Oli — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:20:26 +0000

On my way back from work (no umbrella, Roxette very loud on mp3 player, smiling all the way) I was surprised to see a big group of people outside Costa Coffee, looking into a big hole. The big hole was dug by some people who are fixing pipes of some sort (I’m sure it’s Shanghai Expo related!)….anyway…then I saw what they were looking at:

在我下班的路上(没有伞,mp3里放的Roxette很响,开开心心地走着),我吃惊地看到一群人围观在Costa咖啡店门口看着一个大洞.这个大坑是一些为了维修水管之类的东西被挖出来的(我肯定一定和世博会有关!)…不管怎样…然后我看到了他们正在看的:

…a security van (the type that picks up money from businesses with shotguns) had driven up onto the path and…into the hole. Is a hole in the pavement is the new hole in the wall?

…运钞车(那种里面有人带着枪运送钞票的)正开在路上…然后掉进了坑里.难道人行道上的洞成了最新的提款机了?

Things you don’t expect to see in a supermarket (你不愿在超市看到的事情)

Oli — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:03:36 +0000

One of the funniest (I don’t know why) moments in Shanghai so far was the first time I saw people moving shopping trolleys down an escalator. We don’t really have two-storey supermarkets in England (do we?), so the issue probably never came up (or went down)…

在上海最有意思的时刻之一（我不知道为什么）是第一次我看到别人在电梯上把购物车运下楼。在英国没有2层楼的超市（有吗？），所以可能永远也不会发生这一幕…

I didn’t think it would ever be trumped in terms of weird stuff…until…

瞎来来的事情看多了，但是还没见过这样的…直到…

…IF I CAN’T TAKE AN OPEN BOTTLE OF PEPSI IN, THEN GET THE HELL OFF YOUR BIKE OLD WOMAN!

…如果我不能带开过的可乐进来，那么你快从自行车上下来老太婆！

Michael Jackson’s story using emoticons (用表情符号讲述的迈克杰克逊的故事)

Oli — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:42:53 +0000

Here lies Michael Jackson’s life story, using the medium of the chat emoticon / symbol as inspiration.

这里是迈克杰克逊生平的故事，灵感来自于表情符号.

☻ – born
♫ – became ♔ of pop – $
☺ – died

.
—–RIPRIPRIP——-
.

☻ – 出生
♫ – 成为流行天♔ – $
☺ – 去世

Thanks to Jme’s grief for inspiration. You are not alone, buddy.

感谢J的哀悼给到的启发。兄弟，你不是一个人。

If you had one wish… (如果你有一个心愿…)

Oli — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:48:07 +0000

We’ve all thought about it at some point…what would you do if you could do ANYTHING in the world? Fly around the world? Star in a movie? Date a supermodel? Date two supermodels?

有时候我们总会想一些这方面的东西…如果你什么都能做，那在这个世界上你会做什么呢？环绕世界飞？变成电影里的明星？和超模约会？和两个超模约会？

Our favourite restaurant, Matsuri123 in Gubei offers the opportunity to write your wish on a piece of a paper, then offer it to the ’shrine of wishes’ (pin it to the wall). So what does China’s youth REALLY want to do? I think we all know, deep down…

在我们最喜欢的餐厅，Matsuri123古北店，它给你一个机会在纸上写下自己的愿望，然后放到‘许愿池’（挂在墙上）。那么中国的年轻人实际上真正最想做的是什么呢？我想我们都知道…

How to contact me in China at the moment

Oli — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:09:26 +0000

Since 9pm last night, access to a number of Google products, including Gmail has been disrupted in China.

There are conflicting reports as to why, by whom and for how long. Techcrunch was fast to report the situation (see their Twitter sceencap for a little suprise!) -> Censorship 2.0: China Blocks Google Search, Apps, Gmail, And More and Danwei offered a fast response (some might say too fast?), then a just as fast retraction (some might say too just as fast?) and then a just as fast as fast half-un-retraction – AND GOOGLE’S BACK – OR NOT – previously entitled ‘Google.com blocked in China’.

People (mostly on Twitter) offered some solutions to circumventing the blocks, including:

Yauba – anonymous access to Google – http://www.yauba.com
Sneakme.net – web proxy that supports flash – http://www.sneakme.net

What this means for me right now is that I don’t have access to Gmail (temporarily), so if anyone needs to contact me for whatever reason (hot pixxx) then you can send to

djod at djod dot co dot uk

, or direct message me on Twitter or Facebook.

Otherwise, let’s hope this is resolved soon…before I lose any more sleep!

A year in Shanghai in photos (Part 2/2) (在沪一年图片集(下篇))

Oli — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:56:58 +0000

If you haven’t seen Part 1 of my ‘Year in Shanghai in photos’ then why don’t you have a look by clicking here -> A year in Shanghai in photos. If you have, bravo! Here is part 2 of this piece which will SURELY give me some sort of literary (or at the very least photographical) award:

如果你还没看过我的’在沪一年图片集(上篇)’,那不如你先在这里点来看看-> 在沪一年图片集. 如果你看过,耶!这个下篇里的作品一定能让我获得一些文学奖之类的(或者一点点摄影方面的):