… you start a blog, move to China for eight months, the government restricts access to your dashboard, and you end up not posting anything for almost a year.

Haha, I cannot tell you how long updating my blog has been on my To-Do-List for. Obviously a lot has changed since my initial posts and I have lots of adventures and stories to share – I promise, I intend to get to all of that in due time. So don’t be surprised if you find dated posts spontaneously pop up as I go through old pictures/notes. But, in the meantime I share a few quick updates (for the sake of context) and then we’ll focus on the present and everything moving forward.

Here are a few key updates:
- I’ve been back from China since early March
- I’m now in Washington, DC
- I’m working as health care consultant for Huron Consulting Group – Huron Healthcare
- I’ll still be updating my “Expeditions” page, just expect to see a lot more domestic adventures for the meantime
- I’ll be updating my Free Fall (Tumblr) much more frequently!
- Also expect to see more policy and political content on here than in the past
- There will be spontaneous posting, no guaranteed schedule, so check back often!

Here’s a video that I posted on my Tumblr back in January, while I was still in China, because it summed everything up quite nicely annd it’s from a UNC professor!

Anddd lastly here’s a High-Five to you all for being awesome and back on my page .

Sept – 17th – 2010

I recently got involved with an opportunity that allows me to volunteer once a week at a local migrant school, “Fenfa Migrant School” here in Shanghai’s Putuo District.

Migrant Schools are schools that provide education to the children of the underprivileged families who migrate to Shanghai from within the country to make their living by providing cheap labor. They’re a critical element of China’s “education equalization” policy and the government is hoping to ensure that 100% of all migrant workers’ children become enrolled in some sort of school. Generally speaking- these schools are a new and mildly controversial concept. Some Shanghainese are unhappy with the fact that their “taxes” are helping to support the education of migrants when they feel as though their own children are not receiving good/as good of an education as the migrant workers’ children are.

I haven’t received a class placement yet, but I am extremely excited to begin working with these children. Our initial visit went really well , and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to help each other to simultaneously develop our language skills over the course of their academic year.

Check out a little bit of footage from the volunteer group’s greeting from the school’s principal and an afternoon English class.

Sept – 11th – 2010

If the people of Shanghai ever needed an experience to validate their stereotypes of all Americans being “loud and obnoxious” we certainly validated that when we competed in Shanghai International Citizen version of “The Amazing Race.”

Just like the show “The Amazing Race” our goal was to make it from Point A, to some unknown destination as quickly as possible by piecing together clues and accomplishing missions in order to get the hint for where the next destination would be. We sprinted through Metro stations, ran up escalators the wrong way, asked strangers for directions in broken Mandarin, and foot raced to the finish… all in the rain!

According to the rules we were only allowed to use our feet or public forms of transportation (i.e. buses and metros). Also, because the entire race took about roughly two hours to complete by the time we were actually done we were all pretty wet but also pretty well affiliated with the area.

But anyways, as usual- I can show you much better than I can tell you. So check out the video below to find out how well my team did and where we finished…

**Disclaimer due to the intense nature of the competition the footage is EXTREMELY shaky. Haha, bear with me [superemotions file="icon_razz.gif" title="Razzberry"].

Sept – 10 -2010

Since May 1, 2010 Shanghai has been hosting this year’s World Expo. Thus far this is a fact that has overall worked in my favor, simply because the government has gone to great lengths to significantly clean up the city in order to make it a more appealing/suitable setting for the World Expo 2010. For example- in the months prior to Expo the government placed roughly 4,000 more taxis on the road and even shut down a lot of the older factories that were greatly contributing to the air pollution and smog that one typically encounters while in Shanghai.

Needless to say China’s hosting of the World Expo has been a pretty big deal for all of Asia and China specifically. This is the first time a “developing” country has ever had the opportunity to host the World Expo and the Chinese are NOT taking it likely. With expectations of attendance ranging from 70 -80 million visitors and over 100 foreign leaders the Chinese have gone to great lengths to ensure that the Expo is as enjoyable and safe as possible- they’ve even employed the same security measures used during the Beijing Olympics.

Check out some multimedia after the jump.

Click the picture above to see more for photos from the expo’s African Pavilion.

A bit of video from the expo + African fashion show.

Lastly, if you (like myself) had never heard of a World Expo or are very unfamiliar with them, then you might find this Wikipedia Article interesting/informative. Ironically enough these World Fairs have been held in the United States more than any other country in the world, and yet many of us never even knew of their existence/significance… interesting right?

Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

All the best,

Emeka

Sept – 9th – 2010

From the very moment I landed in Shanghai and began making friends with some of the local Shanghainese people, everybody had been immediately asking me whether or not I had already gone to the materials markets. My response was always an apathetic “No”, simply because I had already seen materials/fabric markets while in Singapore and Thailand and I had never been that impressed- either the prices were too expensive or the craftsmanship was less than desirable.

However, one weekend, I did decide to allow a few friends to convince me to accompany them to one local market, and the experience was certainly unlike anything else that I had ever encountered while in any other Asian country. Not only were the prices remarkable but the craftsmanship and the amount of variety were incomparable to anywhere I’ve ever been- even in the states.  The specific market was called the South Bund Soft-Spinning Materials Market and it was a three-story goldmine full of various fabrics/materials/tailors and anything else clothes related. The market was also packed with foreigners and locals searching for the perfect store/stall that offered just the right mix of tailoring specialties and fabric selection to custom make the latest clothing items that they had dreamed of and spotted in one of their favorite Italian designer magazines. The whole time I was there all I could think about was how crazy my mother/sister would probably go when I took them there. You could honestly literally find ANYTHING there from sequined tutus to cashmere top coats… so who knows what those two women would be capable of coming up with.

Needless to say, after exploring the market I decided that a hands-on experiment was in order, and that I had to get in on some of the action…

Check out the video below to witness what I saw first hand and see how my experiment went:

Sept – 8th – 2010

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of dining at arguably Shanghai’s best Sichuanese restaurant: Ba Guo Bu Yi. This was definitely an experience.

Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China that is another one of the major industrial centers in Shanghai along with Beijing or Shanghai. However, unlike these other centers Sichuan is a bit more traditional and maintains a bit more of their own unique identity (read: less international/globalized).  The Sichuanese pride themselves on maintaining their culture and as a result they have become extremely well known for their own type of cuisine- “Sichuan Cuisine”. Sichuanese Restaurants are characterized by their prominent use of spices, garlics, and peppers… but mainly spices. As a fan of spicy food, needless to say, I was very pleased with my meal that night.

The meal, like most meals in the nicer Chinese restaurants based on my experience, was served community Lazy Susan style. So essentially, the 8-10 of us seated at my table decided what we each preferred to eat the most, made sure that we had a good balance and no overlaps, and then proceeded to rotate the tray and share each other’s orders… as tacitly as

possible. No worries- I wont even pretend to act as if I knew/know everything that I consumed that  night, I pretty much tried at least one of whatever was rotated in front of me without regard for how unfamiliar I was with the animal/body part that it was described as. However, I am certain that at one point I consumed a pretty sizable portion of pork knuckles and corn dumplings. Tasty.

But aside from the great good, the main highlight of the night was the “Bian Lian” performance that I was fortunate enough to enjoy. I’ll spare you the history lessen but essentially “Bian Lian” is a type of magic or “face changing art” where the performer, usually a male, performs dances and gestures all while simultaneously changing the mask on his face. Its another major part of Sichuan culture that has been in existence since the 1700′s and preserved within families through the men by the fathers passing the skill down to their sons.

I know it may seem a bit corny, but it really is AMAZING. Check out my video here to experience it with me firsthand- pay attention to the masks!

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Emeka

So, today while I was out idly wandering around, I noticed another guy who looked just as  confused and helpless as I did. I said “Hi” to him and he eagerly responded back in broken English:

“Oh!! You speak the English!!”

—- Right then and there, I knew I had made a new friend.

His name was Vlaad, and he was actually looking for a place to buy laundry detergent so that he could wash his clothes. As it turns out, I was coincidentally looking for a bank and for where the area’s version of Franklin St. was (I know, its the Tarheel in me). So, this was our fair exchange: we would idly wonder around the area together as a tag team until the other accomplished their mission. It sounded fair enough.

As we wandered about we told each other about ourselves. Vlaad shared with me that he was a 20 year old from Russia. He speaks Russian, limited English, and no Mandarin (something we clearly had in common). Vlaad moved to Shanghai to get his undergrad degree at East China because he said schooling in Russia, Moscow in particular, was too expensive and very corrupt. He told me that he had always dreamed of completing college in either China or the United States, and China was cheaper so he came here. He said he narrowed it down to these two places because he was certain that he would get what he paid for at these places (an education) whereas in Moscow or other countries he may be disappointed or tricked out of his money.

I can only imagine how much courage, persistence, and resilience such a decision must have taken. Especially considering the fact that he was a single-child living solely with his mother. I was inspired.

After a few hours of conversation and confusion we found that we had already accomplished all of our goals for the day- so we exchanged contact information, and then went our separate ways.

Expect to hear more about Vlaad in the future.

Here’s some video I captured during the day. They don’t call East Shanghai the “Garden University” for nothing (its beautiful)! Meet Vlad.

Cheers,

Emeka

**SN: I apologize about the quality of the video. I’m currently working on finding different software to use to edit my video content, in order to ensure that the HD quality is maintained throughout web uploading. If you know of any good programs for somebody on a PC please recommend them!  … I’m also working on capturing better video, haha.

So I’m currently in Shanghai… safe, sound, and settled. This is the beginning of a new chapter (cliche, I know) but I’m excited to start it and see what I can learn from this experience. I’ll be studying and working at East China Normal University so this should certainly be an adventure.

In other news, I’m going to make my site public today. This site was partially created with friends and family in mind, so while I’m away should be a fun a way for me to keep everybody updated. More specifically, I actually added a Travel page that may be accessed by rolling over the “About Me” section or by clicking here. It’s not quite complete yet, but it will have to do for now. My hope is that I’ll be blessed with the opportunity to travel to more places and see more things during my lifetime, so this is where I’ll keep track of everything. It’s pretty much a Travel Blog within my website.

Take a moment to check it out- any feedback will be much appreciated.

…Twelve hours makes a HUGE difference, trust me I know.

Around 4PM on Tuesday I received an e-mail to my cell phone reminding me that my plane was set to depart at 6AM the following day. That was no big deal… … … other than the fact that  I was mistakenly under the impression that  my flight would be leaving at 6PM and NOT 6AM!  So, about 0.2 seconds after reading… and then re-reading the email (still  around 4PM) I jumped into panic mode and rushed to finish up any last minute details that needed to be completed before all of the important places closed. (read: I went to the bank, post office, etc).

Needless to say Tuesday was a sleepless night.  I wasn’t fully able to bid farewell to friends and family the way I would’ve liked to due to the rushed nature of things; however, I was thankful for having the opportunity to stop by NCSU to say bye to my brother. While I was with my brother I figured it would be an opportune time for me to give him my iPod for him to update considering the fact that he DJs on the side; and because I figured I would need some entertainment for 24 hour long trip the next day. (Read: Mistake). Knowing my brother I should have seen this coming, but I didn’t-  so instead of the underground/diverse/different/GOOD music I had grown accustomed to having on my iPod… these artists were all replaced with the latest Waka Flaka/Travis Porter club bangers. Like I said- I should have seen this coming.

Picture with Parents at RDU

Anyways, I finished packing and made it to the airport at 5AM Wednesday morning to catch my 6AM red-eye flight to Shanghai.

My flight went from RDU to La Guardia (NY) to Detroit to Shanghai for a total commute of 24 hours. The stop in Detroit was not on my itinerary and was completely unexpected; in fact it was actually almost the death of  my entire trip. We experienced a delay in departure from La Guardia due to the cloudy weather at the airport, and when we finally arrived in Detroit a lady at  the arrival gate was telling everyone attempting to connect to the flight headed to Shanghai that we were all too late and that the plane had already left. However, just as I was beginning to accept defeat and was heading to re-book my flight- by the grace of God I heard a last call announcement over the intercom instructing somebody ELSE to head to Gate 54 before the flight to Shanghai left. Naturally, I picked up my carry-on without hesitation and sprinted over that way. Fortunately for me it WAS the right flight and I just barely made it! … Everybody else on my NY to Detroit flight… not so much [superemotions file="icon_cool.gif" title="Cool"] … I mean [superemotions file="icon_cry.gif" title="Crying"].

Phillip choosing the next Bieber song.

Surprisingly, I actually made my first Shanghainese friend on the flight from Detroit to Shanghai. He was a really cool 10 year old kid named Phillip. We were seated next to each other for the entire plane ride and bonded over the hilarious in-flight movies and his adoration of Justin Bieber. I enjoyed having a bit of companionship for a little bit, and I have to admit I was a little sad when the plane landed and our new friendship came to an immediate end. Back to being solo.

By the time I arrived in Shanghai it was 7PM and dark! I was a little bit worried about how I was going to navigate my way out of the airport to my housing but fortunately there were signs in English as well as in Mandarin. As soon as I got my luggage helpful sketchy people were coming up to me offering me expensive taxi rides- fortunately I had read in my guide book that I should ignore these people and only use the Taxis in the Taxi Line outside of the airport (*pushes up nerd glasses*).

After a while I finally found a taxi and made the hour and a half commute, through the heavy traffic and downpours, to my temporary housing where I will be staying  until my real building is ready for me to move in.

More to come soon!

Experience the adventure with me by watching this brief video I made during my travels.

With so many of my friends (including myself) entering new phases in our lives I often find myself having different versions of the same conversation over and over (and over) again. These conversations generally revolve around  realizing and embracing the concept that time is quickly passing us by and that none of us saw it coming! [Now, this isn't to say that I'm growing tired of talking about the same things - because each conversation usually has its own unique perspective and is further affirmation and motivation for me to (for lack of better words) "get on my grind."]

So this recent coming to terms with how “old” I already am… coupled with my other recent realization that I was RIDICULOUSLY far from being the person that I want to be hit me pretty hard. I realize that I was so startled by this string of epiphanies for a number of reasons… but most importantly because it raised the very blunt question: “Well, when are you going to become this imaginary person that you want to be?”

Now, what may be perhaps the most shocking aspect of this all, is that I’ve realized that a LOT of us have forgotten exactly who it is that we want(ed) to be! The more I speak with friends and think about this concept myself, the more clear it becomes to me that many of us simply fall victim to this whole “life comes at you fast concept” and get so caught up in merely keeping our heads above water that we forget to continue to swim upstream in hopes of reaching our “golden shores.”

So this motivated me to create for myself what I would like to call… “An Achievement List” … (for lack of better/more-catchy wording). Conceptually its similar to a bucket list and yet very different, because I view a bucket list as things that you’d like to do on your last breath before you “kick the bucket.” Whereas a bucket list may be a list of spontaneous events like “going skydiving”, “attending the world cup”, etc. “An Achievement List“, by my definition, is composed of the achievements that you would like to accomplish during your lifetime. Things that you would have to work towards… not just events that you can go and participate in.

So, I wont bore you with my entire list but just for the sake of giving an example I will list a few of the items on my Achievement List below.

Emeka’s Achievement List

(*in no particular order)

1. Learn to speak multiple languages and communicate solely using these languages in their respective countries of origin
2. Become a teacher for low-income and disadvantaged youth
3. Learn to fly a plane and get my Private Pilot’s License

It’s also important to note that there is no limitation on the number of things that you may put on your achievement list, and you can always come back to your achievement list and add more goals. However, you are discouraged from deleting things from your achievement list.

With all of this being said what do you think about the concept of an achievement list? Whats on yours, and where do you keep it? Are you making progress or taking strides towards accomplishing the things on your list, and how often do you go back to your list to check your progress?

Thanks for reading, I’m interested in reading your comments…

Until next time,

Emeka

Social networking sites are dope, and its no secret that I’m a fan of them (read: see sidebar). However, recently as I have encountered various types of “social networkers” it has caused me to reflect on my use of these services. As a result I’ve come up with the following brief list of guidelines… what do you think?

What Social Networking Sites Should Be	What Social Networking Sites Shouldn’t Be
A way to connect and catch up with old friends An avenue to share ideas, stimulate thought, and provoke action A way to meet others with similar interests An opportunity to document memories and events A tool to increase/create a web presence for your business or organization	A way for you to obsessively and vicariously live through the memories and experiences of others. A tool for misleadingly showboating yourself

… Among other things, I’m quickly learning that the key to successfully blogging… (or being a successful blogger) is to write down whatever it may be that you have to say as quickly as possible, before inspiration is lost.

[DUH].

Well, that is NOT what I did today; however, lets hope that this entry still accurately captures my original sentiments from when I first gained to create this post.

[The story begins].

At some point or another as I was trying to beat the internet this afternoon [read: aimlessly wondering from hyperlink to hyperlink] I came across a character known to many as “Judge Roy Moore.” I imagine were I an avid student of law I would have been much more familiar with this judge’s story and background; however, I’m not- and if you’re like me- neither are you. So, to save you the Google search Judge Roy Moore is notorious for being sued several times by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) for having monuments of the Ten Commandments on display within his courtrooms. As an aside: he won the first case, lost the second case and was later removed from his position of Chief Justice of Alabama as a result of refusing to comply with the court rulings and remove the monument. Therefore, it goes without mention that Judge Roy Moore is an old school, conservative, Republican. Although I could go on and talk about this issue alone for pages… I’ll leave that option up to you in the commenting section.

[Keep in mind that this is only where the story begins].

So… although I found this case quite interesting to read about, what I found even more thought provoking was the poem that Judge Roy Moore emailed out to friends (supposedly) in the aftermath of his removal as Alabama Chief Justice. I will not post the poem in its entirety here; however, it may be found in my Free Fall and I will include the relevant snippet below:

“From sea to shining sea, our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God’s love and a need to always pray.

…

We’ve kept God in our temples, how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool, and Heaven is His throne.”

Now, clearly these are a loaded 2 stanzas. Now, say what you wish about the rest of Roy Moore’s poem (hate it/love it, because I’ll probably agree) but I AM CERTAIN that we can all agree that he just might be onto something very critical in these two stanzas. He’s asserting that we as Americans/people have lost our moral compass and that we have somehow allowed our religious beliefs (whatever they may be) to take a more subtle role for the sake of more political motives.  What a heated debate! America is supposed to be all inclusive regardless of beliefs/religions/cultures/backgrounds/etc. … and yet our nation was founded strongly on religious tenants- is it even possible to balance the two? … Again I’ll leave this conversation for you to hash out.

[The story continues].

For fear of “Casually Digressing” too far, I’ll move right along. You see, this poem by Judge Roy Moore, reminded me of yet another poem by a more distinguished poet… Dr. Maya Angelou. The great Dr. Maya Angelou also feels as though we have lost our moral compass; however, in her poem “The Black Family Pledge” she issues a challenge to us as a race to to do better.

“Because we have banished the God of our ancestors, our children can not pray.

Because the long wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing, our children cannot hear us crying.

Because we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering, our befuddled children give birth to children they neither want nor understand.”

Whew! Talk about POWERFUL. Do you see how they’re saying similar things? Do you dare doubt their accuracy in these assertions? They’re both referencing the dilapidated state of our religious/moral backbones in modern day America AND the repercussions that this deteriorated state has/will lead to.

I am certainly not one in any position to pass judgement, and it is certainly not my intent to dare tell anybody that one religion is better than another. However, regardless of which religion it is that you believe(d) in, I do believe that in modern day society we are taught/influenced to only practice or show our religious beliefs in our pre-designated “once a week Holy spots” (i.e. church, synagogue, mosque, etc.), and I do believe that this has lead to our moral deterioration as a nation. For example, in speaking to those as little as 2-4 years younger than me, I feel as though I notice a shocking difference in their mindset as compared to my own. I realize that I may just be speaking with the wrong younger people, and that this may simply be because many are at that stage where they are, for the first time ever,  discovering their values and beliefs. BUT, I would be a liar to say that I was not worried for our future generations. With “children birthing children” and with a major movement away from the various religious backgrounds in which many of us were properly raised I am less than optimistic that we’ll be able to promise our future generations some of the same innocent memories that we took for granted growing up.

Thus, it is up to us to do something about it….

[Stay Tuned].

How many times have you been in a situation where you’ve thought this would all be so much bearable if I didn’t care? Perhaps it was a job interview, an internship placement, grad school admissions… or just simply anytime that you thought you were on the verge of what could potentially be “bad news.”

Would it add more years to our life to adopt an “I don’t care”/lackadaisical attitude, or is there actually some sort of value associated with putting ourselves through the pains such stresses.

I play around with the idea in this “poem” … if you’d call it as much. Definitely a thought/work in progress. This is a new/different wordplay for me though, so all input or feed back would be greatly appreciated.

. . . It’s a “Free Fall,” follow the link.

Well, now that introductions are out of the way and we’re now more/less well acquainted, the next important thing in every relationship (at least according to these Dr. Phil books) is to establish some sort of consistency. In other words, this means that ground rules need to be set, so that we all know exactly what to expect from each other. . . after all, whats worse than being disappointed right?

Therefore, because I care about you all so much and would hate to be the one to disappoint you- I figure that its only fair that I devise my own list of ground rules to hold myself accountable to.  However, do keep in mind that technically, I do reserve the right to edit/delete/add rules at my own disclosure. I know… its unfair… but think of it as… well… actually, don’t think of it- let’s just dive in.  [superemotions file="icon_wink.gif" title="Wink"]

1. I will not blog simply for the sake of blogging; rather I’ll only blog when I have something to share.
2. I will not post anything if I don’t have anything of  additive value to say.
3. I will not post about sports, fashion, music… for my interests/perspectives on that check out my Free Fall.
4. I will not obnoxiously blog for popularity or internet notoriety.
5. I will embrace the blogosphere, haha- meaning that I will respond to all comments and participate on other blogs.

Mmmm… thats all for now,

OkBye.

Welcome to my site.

If you’ve ever blogged, or written anything for public consumption before, then you’re already well aware of how daunting a task it typically is to simply begin. Furthermore, if you’ve ever been placed in an unfamiliar environment or had the please of making a new acquaintance then you are also well aware of the importance of making a solid first impression.

With that being said…

Hello, I’m Emeka. Welcome to my page. As some wise person once said [insert deep and moving quote about honesty here]; therefore I believe that it is only appropriate that we begin our relationship with a clean slate, and with our confessions.

Here’s mine: “I’m a Selfish Blogger”

By that, I don’t necessarily mean that I’m a selfish individual with a blog (which I most likely am) … rather, what I mean is that this site will be slightly different from other blogs that you’ve become accustomed to.

Most other bloggers are at least courteous enough to inform you what the theme for their site will be, what their interests are, and what you can expect to read from them. Whether its fashion, gossip, music, news, etc. the reader typically knows what they’re getting themselves into when they enter the site. However, because I’m a “selfish blogger” this simply will not be the case here. I’m far too inconsiderate to make promises and guarantees that may limit the scope of what I’m allowed to type simply for the sake of satisfying the expectations of others.

Rather, this blog will  entirely focused on me, my thoughts, my experiences, my life etc. This blog will serve as a tool and as a release for me. I’ll use it to systematically organize my life in such a way that years later the “old me” will hopefully be able to come back and laugh at the “young me,” as well as a tool that will hopefully strengthen my level of discipline and communication skills.

All of this being said, although this blog is primarily for me, I DO invite you to engage, interact, and participate. Comments, “likes”, retweeting, etc. will all help me to develop and grow as a person and as a blogger… So I look forward to growing and learning with you.

Whew… who would’ve thought… it does feel better to tell the truth; go figure.

Anywho…  I’ll be back, sooner than later. In the meantime, make sure to connect to this site via the Google link or through the email subscriptions on the right sidebar.

Thanks for checking in.

Enjoy.

Sincerely yours,

The Selfish Blogger