Greek Man in Beijing

Signs Gone Wild: World's Yummy Drinks

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:05:00 +0000

Hm~ Drinks from all over the world? World's YummiEST Drinks? Who knows really. China is full of these little gems. Stay tuned for more as I discover them!

A Stereotype Long Lived

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 03:42:00 +0000

China is well known to all of us for many things, such as their long history, influence in scientific discoveries and their ability to copy virtually anything. What one of the most well known facts about China is that it has been the world's biggest source of cheap labor for many decades. Most of the world's biggest multinational corporations have factories here in the land of the Yellow Dragon making use of workers who can assemble and construct products very fast at a fairly small price. Sounds like a sweet deal right? For the multinationals at least it does. Maybe even for some of those workers who are able to live off of this small pay, but that would probably apply mostly to several years in the past. Times have changed now as more and more Chinese are getting well-rounded educations by exploring the western world or coming into contact with western culture in general.

One of these people is my own future spouse, an intelligent young woman who has done her fair share of hard studying, sportsmanship and part-time work as a student. Her English is at a very advanced level and has a deep understanding of western way of life and culture. Studying and living in England alone was definitely a big eye-opener for her. With all of this in mind, her hopes and dreams are that much greater than most of her fellow countrymen. Working for a foreign-owned company, though, has proven that despite her background she is still viewed merely as cheap labor. I am almost 100% certain that there are others riding a similar boat and I find that this stereotype should be broken. I am biased as I do not know the circumstances under which foreign owned companies treat their Chinese workers, but I feel that it is not fair nor respectful to assume that a certain person is almost trash because of his or her heritage and origin. More or less so when the company is run in the country in question.

More after the jump

Human beings are human beings regardless of where they come from or what they believe in. I'm going to spare you the anti-racist commentary by just simply saying "if we are all cut we will bleed red". Certainly there are the little things that make us all unique, quirks that annoy some and elements that the rest of the world just flatly doesn't get. But we are all the same at our core, and that holds true for the value of the time we put in to our jobs. I'm not just talking money here, though. There are many variables and most of them more tangible than others that determine the monetary value of a person's work. A job is supposed to give you more than just that since we all spend a great deal of our daily lives doing work. Being empowered and playing the role of more than just a mere "pawn" in the business chess board is probably one of the most important feelings that any workplace can give a person. The reason is quite simple; money isn't the end all. When people feel that they can make a difference, they try harder and push themselves by showing their real potential. They think, feel, design and create. If all one would do on a daily basis is punch in, get the job done and then punch out then that person's job is no more fulfilling than flipping burgers at McDonald's.

What happens here in China in the majority of foreign owned companies is pretty much the same deal. The train of thought these "entrepreneurs" (I'll explain the quotation marks a bit later) and multinationals is that the Chinese do not require that much money to survive so it's cost effective to run businesses in their country and hire them. Furthermore, we western people believe we have a better understanding of how business should be done so there is nothing to be learned from the Chinese. They are probably thinking "They had themselves locked away from the rest of the world, so what do they know?" I disagree. A fresh perspective on things coming from minds who are new to this stuff can go a much longer way. Or maybe that isn't the problem at all, and here's where I explain the "air bunnies".

There is no real entrepreneurship in just opening a business and doing what everybody else is. Being an entrepreneur is about innovation and risk. To put it in my own country's words being an επιχειρηματίας (a person attempting something) means to επιχειρώ (to attempt). So the conclusion I get from this notion is that these entrepreneurs are coming to China to play it safe.

What does this mean for young people like my future spouse? There is no real future in most foreign owned companies, not for Chinese people. There is still a huge stereotype that needs to be broken before any real progress can be made in this issue. Of course on the other hand more young Chinese with well-rounded educations should step forward and take the reigns for change.

Japan Nuclear Crisis and Us

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 09:04:00 +0000

Hello guys! I'm writing this to let you all know that we are both alive and well here. I know that the disaster in Japan right now has the entire world on the edge of their seats and it does appear that neighboring countries might be caught in as well. From my own research, the Chinese State Council has reassured that the country will not be affected by this crisis. Furthermore, they have conducted preliminary investigations on the east coasts and have found no signs of radiation but they will continue to monitor. I don't know much about radiation but I have done some homework and I remain optimistic that all will be well. Beijing is upwind of the disaster area so all is looking like we will be fine.

Unfortunately, due to some messages that have been spread to create panic, people are going nuts buying salt and "radiation medication". There is literally no salt to be found - unless you go on Taobao (China's equivalent to eBay), which has been flooded with salt sellers.

I will give an update when and if something changes, hopefully for the better. I'll also come into contact with the Greek embassy to see if the motherland has issued a warning of any sort. In the meantime I am hoping the Japanese will avert this crisis swiftly and hope they can recover from their misfortunes. I urge anyone with an iPhone/Pod/Pad to purchase Street Fighter 4 from the iTunes store. Capcom is putting the app up for 1$ and all earnings will be donated to support Japan's rescue and recovery operations.

New Beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 07:35:00 +0000

What a long strange trip it has been so far. With almost 1,5 years living in Beijing under my belt I already feel as though it has been at least 5! With the good times and the bad I've gained a lot from this experience and I will continue walking the path I've chosen for myself with even more confidence. Now I'm a few days away from returning to my home and I simply can't wait. I've missed my family, my friends and the cozy weather of Athens. I'm also looking forward to relaxing and regaining my focus. This is a good opportunity to reflect on what I've done so far and consider future possibilities for myself and my beloved Kimy.

What does this mean for the blog? Honestly, I don't know yet. I've been absent...a lot. Work has been taxing. Coming to terms with having less time to do other things that I enjoy is probably the biggest culprit. But now I have a much better grasp on managing my time and I want to focus on getting interesting and high quality content out there. Kimy and I have been toying with the idea of starting a language podcast. I have some more things that I would like to do as well. Regarding GMB (fancy acronyms in dramatic moments are cool) I've come to terms that it will probably never be anything more than just a diary of sorts. A way to sort of portray my life here in China. I'll continue writing here as much as I can but I feel that my inspiration will be a better fit for other areas. The only possible change I foresee is moving to Wordpress which I find to be a much more versatile platform.

Chinese New Year is almost upon us so I wish you all the best and hope to catch some of you in Athens after I arrive!

恭喜发财 (Congratulations and be prosperous)

An Inspirational Story

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 03:20:00 +0000

My boss showed me this article on the New York Times website a couple of days ago. An African-American man moved from Brooklyn to Beijing to teach English only to find himself buying the crumbling institution he worked for. Some may say that he is just mad, others may believe he has made a good financial investment and he'll make millions. I believe he is one of very few humanitarians who's struggling to keep a good educational establishment afloat because he cares.

My hat's off to you Mr. Cabo. Keep up the good fight!

Decompressing Subway Stations

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:59:00 +0000

This just in! According to this article on The Beijinger, Beijing Subway officials are planning on using limitation measures and tactics to relieve the congestion that plagues certain stations. While they are targeting a very small number of lines, I've been unfortunate enough to be using one of them! Personally, I don't see how such measures will make things any better. People here always find ways to bend the rules and do what they want, especially when their convenience and speed are compromised. But I can only hope that this might be a step in the right direction as I think it's just another one of those "we're doing something for the sake of doing something" tactics.

C'est la vie!

Ask the Greek: Mandarin vs. English - Battle for World Domination

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:56:00 +0000

Greek Man in Beijing proudly presents a new interactive column called "Ask the Greek". Here I'll be answering questions you might have about China and living here! Now, I haven't exactly fleshed this out entirely so I may be answering one question or multiple ones, depending on the topic. What I can say for sure is that it will be done on a weekly basis and you can e-mail me your questions at shinnkun@gmail.com. For the first post, I will just simply state my opinion regarding a certain belief that many people have about Mandarin Chinese. More specifically, there are many people and experts out there who believe that in a few years time, the Chinese language will overtake English as a global tongue. Personally, I feel there are many reasons to believe it is possible but I highly doubt it will happen. Not for a while, at least.

Mandarin Chinese is a language that has been developing for a very very long time. Much like the Greek language, it has influenced the mother tongues of other neighboring countries and has more than a dozen different dialects and forms that are spoken even nowadays. As a language it is very efficient, mainly because it doesn't rely on tenses (past, present and future). Furthermore, it is a highly contextual language, a fact which makes conversations in Chinese quite speedy at times. On many levels, Mandarin sounds like a pretty simple language to learn...on paper. The differences it has from the English language are great and herein lies the problem I, and probably most people, face when trying to learn it.

Alphabet vs. Characters

I spent about 6 months teaching English here in Beijing and the most common question I received from my students was how they could improve their use of the language and vocabulary. The best answer I could give them was actually reading books in English, because, not only is there a huge selection of topics they can choose from to make the experience more enjoyable, but they could go back and repeat highlighted sentences until they get it. Reading is key when learning a new language and this is where English has the upper hand; it has an alphabet. The advantage of using letters, as opposed to a set of mixed lines and shapes, is that one could see the words they are reading fleshed out. All it takes is to learn how each letter sounds like. Sure there are rules, like most of the time the letter "e" when at the end of the word is silent or "u" may have a different sound on several occasions but in the majority of cases, each letter has its own pronunciation. Here's an example:

爱 = Love

This character, when spoken, stands for "ai" which means "love". If I were just learning both languages, it would probably be a lot easier for me to read "love" as opposed to memorizing the character 爱. It gets messier when you discover that these characters start looking alike in some cases and may even have no relevance to one another.

Essentially, an alphabet is a code that contains a short amount of characters that can be placed in different combinations to form words. The English language has 26 of them. I have two books from which I try to learn Chinese characters and they contain 3000 of them, and that's not even scratching the surface. Of course a lot of them are not used anymore but even if there were only 1000-2000 it still is quite a lot to memorize and master.

Tone Differentiation vs. Word Differentiation

One of the greatest hurdles one needs to overcome when tackling the Chinese language is that tones play a crucial role in getting your message across. There are 4 tones and depending on which one you use you could end up calling your mother either "mom" or "horse". A common joke here in Beijing goes on about a foreigner going to a dumplings restaurant and when attempting to ask the waitress how much a portion costs, he gets slapped in the face. This is because the specific question, when pronounced differently, could sound like "how much per night to sleep with you?" A lot of Chinese jokes actually come from such play on words and it's no coincidence.

This has been one of my greatest banes when trying to speak Chinese, and quite possibly the one thing that hinders my practice. Getting tones wrong can often lead to confusion or laughter. Of course there are cases where one can be left a couple of kilometers from there destination because the taxi driver didn't understand, but I digress.

Going back to the mother/horse paradox, one can argue that learning to say "ma" in two different tones sounds a lot easier than learning two different words of greater length. But "ma" has five ways it can be pronounced, with the easiest to identify being in neutral tone. It is used at the end of a sentence to indicate a question. Tones can take a long time and a lot of practice to get a grasp on cause it's not just about remembering the actual word, it's getting your mouth to actually pronounce it in different ways on the fly.

Language Efficiency

Mandarin Chinese undeniably is the champion of efficiency compared to English. The language places a lot of focus on getting the point across with clarity and simplicity. English speakers have a tendency to (for lack of a better word) "beautify" what they want to say. This happens mostly because in Western countries it is considered inelegant to repeat the same words often. So an English speaker needs to employ a big vocabulary, various sentence structures and grammar "dancing" in order to have best speak their minds. The Chinese just simply say what they have to say, even if it means repeating a word multiple times. Speaking Mandarin is all about context. Once that is established then it's smooth sailing from there on.

I believe many might argue that the fact that Chinese is so contextual can often lead to misunderstandings or other issues thus killing the efficiency. Honestly, I do not know of any statistics that show how often the Chinese misunderstand each other compared to, let's say, the British. It might be true but then again I've often found that I had to reword myself when someone didn't get my point during a discussion in both Greek and English. It all boils down to different people's minds and how they process information, but I digress.

The Final Verdict...

Based on this really narrow-sighted post the winner seems to clearly be the English language, but is it really so? In my mind it would take a real life experiment to come to any sort of concrete conclusion. This experiment would probably need to consist of people who have never spoken a "western" or "asian" language so as to have no previous experience with either language's rules, words, structures and writing systems. These people would have to undergo some language training with both in order to determine which one is easier to learn and possibly master.

Personally, I feel that English holds the advantage of being more easy to learn by a wider array of people across the globe. The alphabet is definitely a plus as is the fact that English words are practically everywhere. Any person can find a lot of opportunity to learn and practice English. The sheer fact that so many countries have English as a standard class in their schools just makes it that much more widespread. I feel that Mandarin still has ways to go before overthrowing English from the globally used language throne.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Remember to send your questions in at shinnkun@gmail.com for next week's "Ask the Greek".

High Voltage: You stay Classy, Beijing

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 06:51:00 +0000

I like Beijing a lot. I really do. It's a city that still holds many secrets for me to uncover even after over a year's worth of living here. One of the most interesting of these legendary mysteries of the East, for most people at least, is the way Chinese people behave and interact publicly. Most are quite familiar with the Japanese who bow, present themselves in such a formal way it boarderlines to the extreme and tend to apologise deeply even for the slightest of errors.When it comes to the Chinese, though, you're dealing with the exact opposite, and this is where most of my gripes are derived from. I find the Chinese to have an extreme lack of courtesy. Now I don't mean this statement as a comparison to the Japanese. I haven't been to Japan yet, sadly, so I can only use my possibly misguided and ill-informed idea I have of the way they behave. I also do not believe that people should be so courteous and considerate, they have to apologise by bowing 100 times in a row yelling "I am so so sorry for bumping into you". But I do believe the line needs to be drawn somewhere and quite frankly I feel that the average Beijinger has yet to do so.

After the jump I will take you for a ride into what I consider the blacker side of Beijing and its society. Bare in mind I am expressing my own opinion here. I've heard the line "Oh but this is Chinese culture" or just simply "This is China" one too many times and I still do not agree with it. My girlfriend, born and bred in Beijing, has never shown any signs of such lack of consideration for the people surrounding her. Nor have the rest of the locals I interact with almost every day. So, yes, expect a good amount of ranting and opinionated statements this time.

Enter at your own risk!

Queue? What queue?

I can count about four to five occasions where I have been cut in line while waiting for my turn for anything ranging from purchasing movie tickets to getting my public transportation card recharged. I still distinctly remember waiting patiently in a relatively long line to go watch a film and a guy cutting Kim and myself because we didn't move to the ticket stall the nano-second it was available. Where I come from, that sometimes can even get your rear end kicked to next Saturday. I really don't see where the culture is in that. It's downright rude. I surely did not go out to have someone give me an example of how being slow in China will cost me my turn in line. I spoke up with a tap to the shoulder and of course the gentleman did not retaliate and let us go through. But a lesson was learned there for sure: be quick or be cut...in line.

From Hell's heart I spit at thee!

Okay, maybe not at "me" exactly but rather the ground. There hasn't been a day gone by where I haven't heard the sound of a throat gobbing, may it be on the street or even in the peaceful office I work at. It's everywhere literally and it's not just the older generations. Nor just the young males. No, no, no...Picture the last well groomed and quite attractive young lady you've seen on the street recently. Now imagine her taking a huge gob, its sound echoing distinctively everywhere, and unleashing it upon the world. Not so pretty now eh? It's not so common but there are young ladies like that who will spit loud and proudly. Honestly, it makes me cringe but I've made a game out of it. Every time I hear someone gob the very bowels of their mouth I imitate their noise as synchronised as possible. Yeah, I'm mean but it's the only thing that's keeping me from unleashing my rage through a series of Greek profanities.

It's all Greek...er...Chinese to me

The Chinese have a tremendous tendency to just converse with each other in their native language regardless of whether or not their company actually speaks it. My company's staff, bar one person, is quite capable of carrying out a decent conversation in English quite effectively. Yet, every day at lunch time, full blown Mandarin is flying all over the place. Now I don't mind this so much, as I like to eat in peace during work, but then suddenly my name pops up. Personally, I don't appreciate people talking about me in a language I don't understand well enough. The Chinese, though, don't seem to mind this very much. It gets sillier when we're out with Kim's friends and I get left out since I can't really contribute to any of the conversations. I have to admit, I've learned to live with this one quite patiently.

The long arm of the salesman

This is purely a rant about store employees and street vendors. They love grabbing you by the arm to get your attention. It's for this reason we no longer go to Zhongguancun, Beijing's largest electronics marketplace. The second we walk in there, employees from various booths and shops start grabbing us to check out their wares. One of my American friends here lives right outside a wide corner where a ton of street vendors flood it with their items. Let's just say, coming and going from his house is always a test of how many of them I can discourage just by putting on my "touch me and you lose an arm" face.

After living here for over a year I've developed a tolerance for a wide array of rude acts and disgusting sounds. It helps to have a sense of humor too. I know I'm ranting and no matter what happens, Chinese society isn't going to change for me. But I stand by my opinion, that the "This is China" line is just an excuse to walk around in society without caring much for ones surroundings. In fact, I call out for some more opinions on this. Even the haters.

Guess who's back...?

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:33:00 +0000

Yeap! It's me again! Back to tell more tales about my epic adventures in China! Oh don't look at me like that. They are epic! Oh...you mean where have I been all this time? Right...Well you know how it goes. You get a job, you make some money, you rent an apartment and before you know it your filled with responsibilities that turn your whole world upside down. Work has been hectic, especially with so many things my boss needed done before my trip to Greece. Even more so, getting my life in order. Nevertheless, I'm still here and with more tools to enhance the blog even further!

Check in after the jump!

Video Log
It sort of dawned on me that I have been talking about so many things that are sometimes hard to just put into words. Sure I've got pictures going and all but in our time and age I feel that video makes everything even more bright, colorful and noisy! So I'll be featuring video casts some time in the future. Now I have to warn you it will be awhile because I have to decide on topics and experiment with video editing before anything else. I welcome all suggestions for the time being!

Podcast
As a person who likes sharing with others (Of course I do!) I feel it's wrong to be learning a language that's becoming more and more mainstream and not have my readers get in on some of the fun. Kim and I are working on a podcast that will do just that, give byte-sized Mandarin Chinese lessons to all you lovely people. As with the above announcement, I am not promising when this will happen either. Again, experimentation, topics, yada yada....you get the picture.

I'm keeping this short but I will be back with more "Sweet and Sour" and other juicy stuff from the land of the Sleeping Dragon. 'Till then stay tuned!

Cheers!

Spring, where art thou?

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 03:38:00 +0000

大家好！

Doing my thing once again giving you all the "hot" updates from Beijing. The weather still refuses to do us a favor and make everything nice, warm and flowery as good old fashioned spring tradition dictates. I still walk out of the house with the usual shirt-sweater-jacket combo, which I'm kind of sick of these days. Seems like the weekend will bring us temperatures around 20 C but I'm not going to hold my breath just yet. Hope always fades last though right?

I've got a few updates for all you faithful readers so click the jump!

Finding an apartment has proven to be trickier than I thought. Kim and I work on sort of opposite sides of the city so attempting to balance that is a real feat. We've settled with sticking to an area that is located on Line 10 of the Beijing metro as it is the most convenient one. I have set the end of this month as the target moving period. Let's hope something good turns up by then.

In other news, my boss announced that I will begin a kindergarten teaching placement in May. He wants me to work there for 3 months so I can get a "feel" for the business. I was hoping I could actually skip that as I like the office work I'm doing so far but I guess nothing can be done. So pretty soon I'll be working with "little people" that aside from a few things won't be understanding what I say. Body language is king though!

I've been working on a couple of projects lately mainly dealing with blogging and web development. I want to move this blog into a more personal space that can be accessed throughout the world. Currently Blogspot is being blocked in China and other places. So I'm diving into the world of Cascading Style Sheets (or CSS for short) and other web development tools. The process will be slow though given that my time is limited due to work. I also have another blog in the works that will be related to the magical world of games. I know that for most this isn't a topic of interest but for me it's an opportunity to get involved in that industry even if it's not significant at all.

Finally I would like to thank all of my readers whether you're big fans or just occasional readers. I know you are out there but I would also like to see you and hear what you have to say. If you have any questions, ideas, requests or just want to say "hi" then all you need to do is leave a comment. I am always checking the site and I would be more than happy to discuss anything you have in mind regarding China and my life here. So don't be shy!

High Voltage: Don't want to know how you are

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 07:34:00 +0000

Welcome to the first post of High Voltage, a column where I will be introducing all the wonderful culture shocks I come across. As you all have probably realised by now, Chinese culture is greatly different to that of western countries. The gap becomes even more apparent when you start actually studying their language, and more specifically their greetings. Think for a moment how we usually start our conversations:

"Hello, Mike! How are you?"
"I'm fine, Pete! How about you?"
"Not too bad."

Click the jump to learn an interesting fun fact.

That little bit of conversation above does not occur in China! There, I said it. The Chinese do not want to know how each other are feeling. It comes off as strange. In cases where people are quiet familiar with each other even the "ni hao" is completely scraped. The Chinese go straight to the point. Of course in the west we also tend to not use the more formal iterations of greetings but between friends we do still use some way of initiating a conversation, such as "hey!", "yo!" or for Greeks "ela re!".

I've also noticed on several occasions that even "good byes" are not used. Now, honestly, this did happen to me once or twice with Kim's best friends and I was left staring into space thinking "that was awfully rude!". But in reality it is not so at all. It's kind of hard to get over it really as greetings and farewells are embedded into my DNA. I believe it's probably a way for the Chinese to distinguish between formalities and we all know that between friends being formal will lead to negative consequences.

Regardless, it is really mind-boggling when people don't say "hello" and "goodbye" but if you do encounter a Chinese person who seems to skip them, don't take it the wrong way.

Hi-ho! Hi-ho!

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:02:00 +0000

大家好！
Greek man is back bigger and better than ever! I apologise for my absence but I can say that it is clearly justified. As of last week both my oriental significant other and myself have stepped into the light of professionalism. Our lives have pretty much turned upside down as we have to adjust to a different lifestyle. It's possible that I will need to make a short trip to Hong Kong for visa purposes at some point. Should be fun. All that's left now is to go apartment hunting and make all the necessary plans that come with living on our own. So, yeah, I'm pretty much swamped with things to do. But have no fear as I will be bringing up several new posts during the weekend! Stay tuned for a new "Sweet and Sour" and much more!

Take care~!

Sweet and Sour: Skewered Delights

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:00:00 +0000

大家好！

Greek Man here with the first installment of "Sweet and Sour", GMB's column regarding all the fine things you can eat in China. And what better way to kick it off than with something all Greeks are familiar with: skewered food! That's right, not only do the Chinese love skewered meat, they skewer EVERYTHING. From vegetables to bean curd (tofu) to...bugs!?

Click the jump to find out more!

Here in China 串（chuan = skewer) is one of the prime traditional "fast foods" that can be found literally everywhere. There are restaurants that specialize in chuan but you can also find tons of chuan food stands at fairs, events or even just on the street as you go to work. It's cheap and very gratifying because you can mix a wide variety of skewered foods, combined with some noodles or soup and a nice bottle of beer.

Yeap! That's a chicken foot flipping the bird.

Speaking of variety, I did mention above that the Chinese skewer everything and I do mean it. A few days ago Kim and I along with a friendly couple, went to a Temple Fair in the Haidian district. There were tons of different food stands and a lot of them had chuan as well. The most striking of all the things they had of course were the skewered bugs. Yes, there are people here that eat bugs. Namely scorpions, ants, cicadas and more. Sadly I neglected to take a picture so just picture a full-sized black scorpion with a wooden stick going through its body. Cultural differences can be really shocking sometimes eh?

Despite that, though, I highly recommend to anyone visiting China sometime in the future to hit up a chuan place. Check out the picture below for some of the delights we had after the fair and I'll catch you up next time for some Korean BBQ!

再见！

Happy Tiger Exploding Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:38:00 +0000

大家好！新年快樂！
It's officially 2010 for the Chinese and the year of the Tiger is upon us! Best wishes to all for the new year! It's a very fun time of the year to be in China right now because the Lunar New Year (or Spring Festival as they call it) is one of the most important Chinese holidays. A whole week of visiting family, partying with friends and...playing with fireworks. Yes that is correct! Since the bell tolled on February 14th at midnight Beijing has turned into a battlefield of sorts with all kinds of colorful and loud explosions filling the air. Yours' truly also participated in the fun and all I have to say is "4th of July, eat your heart out!"

Join me after the jump!

It is well known that the Chinese were the ones who discovered gunpowder and made the first fireworks in history. For centuries the making and firing of these fun and colorful boom-booms have been part of China's tradition. I can tell you for a fact that they enjoy it a lot as well. From the moment the first "rockets" were fired it has been non-stop at practically all hours of every day. The ones I find fun and annoying at the same time are the ones I call "machine guns". Check out the photo of Kim on the right for reference. Those bad boys once lit become a series of fast firing mini explosions. They are fun to light but a nightmare when you're trying to get some quiet.

Check out the pictures below to see the Greek "terrorist" with his lovely Chinese counterpart in action!

(Note: Yeah I know its sloppy but bear with me until I find a better way to show pictures here.)

Time to Grow

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:17:00 +0000

大家好！
Greek man here reporting from...Greece! Been here for about 4 days now for some time with family and friends. Kim's coming in on the 29th too so I'm pretty excited. Can't wait to show her around Athens and stuff.

I've been sitting around a lot lately so I got into some thinking of how I can improve the blog and make it more fun. So far I've followed the standard procedure of just writting about the things I do as they come to mind. But I feel that this isn't really enough to really capture the marvels of this incredible experience I'm living through.

After the jump I'll be breaking down what I'm considering.

So for starters I feel that there are so many topics that I can work with that are also part of the things that most of you (my readers) are interested in learning about. Things like the real chinese food, city life, places of note and how a western person is able to adapt to all of these. So instead of cramping all of that stuff into generic journal-type of posts, I will break them down into several columns that I can post on a weekly basis.

Sweet and Sour
This is a column I believe many people would like to read about. The idea is to present Chinese dishes that I try. I would also like to present how the Chinese adapt our own western delights into their own preferences. Some might wonder, for ezample, what McDonald's and Pizza Hut might be like. All of this will be neatly packaged in this "tasty" column.

A Picture's Worth
This probably speaks for itself and it's been something I wanted to do for awhile. Given, though, that I forgot my camera in Greece I never really got down to it. The idea is simple. Take a lot of pictures and just bring them up here for all to enjoy.

Shock of the Week
Regardless of how long a time you might spend in such a different country like China, there's always going to be something new and "shocking" that will catch your attention. I run into such things all the time but after awhile they stop being so shocking so I forget to talk about them. This is what I intend to do with this column through pictures and some comic relief.

Finally, I got some ideas for a podcast and video log to share my progress with the language and give you an even better taste of what Beijing is like. This will come in time given the resources. I got more ideas to improve the blog. Just wanted to share a few of my fresh thoughts.

Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:29:00 +0000

大家好！
Greek Man here with a slightly different topic. I recently saw James Cameron's Avatar and I thought I would share my thoughts on the film. As you all probably know by now, I'm a major sci-fi and fantasy buff. Naturally I would go check out a film like this one. And besides, it's James Cameron!

Before I begin, I would like to point out that first and foremost that everything I state here is my own personal opinion. You are, of course, welcome to comment. Also, I am obligated to inform you that there might be some major spoilers here and there but I'll try and keep it at a minimum. If you want the movie to be a complete surprise though, do not read after the jump. xD

So to start off, I'm going to say just one thing: WOW! That pretty much sums up my entire impression because I really thought it was one of the best movies I've seen for at least the past five years. Why?

- Solid story
- Amazing CG and special effects
- Memorable characters
- Highly imaginative elements (creatures, environment, etc.)
- Good and convincing acting/voice acting

The whole movie is a spectacle that takes you on a wild trip to a beautiful place filled with vibrant colors, floating mountains and giant trees.

Many will argue that the story is not unique and it borrows too many elements from other movies, the likes of Pocahontas and Ferngully. I agree, it's not something entirely new but it's solid. There are no loose ends, everything that needs to be explained is explained more or less and, most importantly, it doesn't try to be something more by over complicating things. Some also go on to say that this is just "another tree-hugger flick" that's all about loving nature. I don't believe in the derogatory meaning of "tree-hugger" because there is simply nothing wrong with loving our planet and its environment, and yes the movie is trying to deliver such messages. ***SPOILER ALERT START*** Personally, when the humans were about to open fire on the Hometree I was at the edge of my seat thinking "Wait, their really doing this? Somebody stop them!!" If you really felt nothing at that point, then I guess you don't feel that burning all our forests is wrong either.***SPOILER ALERT END*** There's not much more to say about the story really, because it's pretty much straight forward. For some this may be a deal-breaker, but in all honesty I've seen so many movies that attempt at doing something different and fail miserably either because they end up with a bunch of loose ends that may or may not be tied (unless they are gunning for a sequel) or because the film makers tried to cram inside way too many elements.

From a technological standpoint, this movie is a gem. The CG used is, I believe, by far better than Transformers 2. They have managed to create an entirely new world with its own animals, plants and people. It's not just the high quality of the graphics but also how it all manages to blend in perfectly with the live actors. Kim and I saw the regular version since the tickets 3D were being sold for double the normal price. After we walked out we both agreed we needed to see it again in 3D. ***SPOILER ALERT START*** I definitely want to experience all the flying scenes in 3D. Those were by far my favorite. ***SPOILER ALERT END***

I'm not going to go into anymore details really. Just go see it. I'm sure that most people really enjoyed it. Whether you are a sci-fi fantasy buff such as I, or just enjoy good movies I feel that it has a little for everyone.

Zai jian 2009...you won't be missed

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:09:00 +0000

Ni hao everyone^^ Happy New Year! Ah~ Smell that? It's the air of 2010. A new fresh start to what we all hope to be a better year. I send out all my best wishes to my family, whom are currently in Florida and I hope they are having a blast! I love you all and miss you more than anything. Can't wait to come back on the 20th. Oh yeah, did I mention I'm returning to Greece for 3 weeks? Yeap! Also, my best wishes go out to my all my friends back at home! Missing you guys loads too! Sorry I'm not on MSN frequently but I'm doing my best.

So what about my new year's? Well, I spent it with the three lovely ladies in the picture above. After some less than awkward conversation blended in a mix of broken (on their part) English and hideously broken (on my part) Chinese I taught them some really basic poker. We had a lot of laughs! It was a great start to what I'm hoping to be a better year. 2009 was just...meh. As for my resolutions, read after the jump.

For starters, I'm not one for resolutions really. Maybe because sometimes I tend to not follow them and other times I just plain change it all up along the way. So I decided that this year will be no different. I'll make them and then whatever will be will be. It's worked out for me so far. I'm alive, I'm healthy, I have an amazingly supportive family, I have the most fun friends in the world, I've got the best girlfriend I can possibly hope for and, most importantly, I'm me. I like me. And these people like me too. So why change? If it ain't broke don't fix it, right? Well ok, there's always room for some improvement and tweaking. I'm not big headed nor some elitist jerk. But I do have the confidence that ME as ME can go a long way.

First off, I plan to stick to one of my most crucial changes. I will not smoke anymore. I've been doing it for awhile now and I plan on keeping it that way. Ever since I got over that 1-week-hump of frustration (the horror!) I can safely say that I feel happier, stronger and, believe it or not, more stress free. Now of course it ain't over 100% yet. I still can't brush off completely the smell of that sweet...ahem...disgusting smoke every time I have a smoker standing next to me puffing away. I also cheated. Yes, I admit it right here for all the world to see. I bumped a Marlboro Light's from one my Korean classmates. I was ashamed and disappointed in myself. But the fight goes on! I urge you all to do the same. Especially YOU (you know who you all are). This is a resolution I will darn right stick to.

Second, I will try to think more outside the box. What does that mean? Well, it differs from situation to situation really. For me here it mostly means, I will not look at my degree and think "Hm, I will be a manager". In all honesty, I don't want to be a manager in another person's company. Why? Because in most cases those managers end up losing their souls. They become mean evil dictators because they have to play by rules set by someone else. I'm a firm believer that each person should stand by their own beliefs and resolves. OK, I've taken this too far. My point is I won't lock myself down to just what a piece of paper says. I'll find my path by expanding my field of vision.

Third, and I know my bro's gonna scoff at this yet again, I will find the discipline I need to finally learn to play SOMETHING on my Epifone Les Paule. I know I know shame shame shame and I should be thrown into the deepest darkest pit for letting such a beauty sit there without being caressed and loved. Seriously, I don't know what it is but I get extremely discouraged very quickly. Maybe I haven't found the right way yet. But I haven't given up the search yet.

Forth, and this is for me exclusively really, I will be a way better fighting game's player. I love the scene and watching players here just gave me that urge I had back when I was part of the Greek Dojo community. I don't care if I become the best or what have you. I like playing Street Fighter and others of the sort. Their fun games and be a very interesting hobby if you get into them a little more deeply then just mashing away buttons (which undeniably can be fun as well).

Fifth, I will lose more weight. That's pretty much all there is to say about this. I'm still not where I want to be (believe me I'm pretty far off) and I'm pretty sure my trip back to Greece is gonna set me back (Curse you Simply Burgers with your unbelievably juicy and delicious...burgers!)

Finally, concerning social networks and my...not so social "behavior" the past few months. I have managed to find a general pace in my life here so from now on I'll be doing some more posting. But I also have a few things in mind I want to do for the blog. I won't say now but whatever I end up doing I hope you all will like.

So that's it from me for now! I'll catch you all on my next post!

Yannis

Student and Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:42:00 +0000

Hola everyone^^ Greek Man is back with another update from Beijing! I'm going to give you an update on what's been going on with my life here. The goods and the bads! So I recently started working as an English teacher. I teach 2 times a week here at the university. It involves mostly improving the English of the professors. It's fun really because the class is lighthearted and I get to perform more like a stand-up comedian rather than a teacher. Three times a week I conduct English training sessions at a five-star hotel in Chaoyang District, where things get a little more professional as you can clearly see in the above photo.

All of this and much more after the jump!

These days I get to experience both sides of the educational coin as I am both a student and a teacher. I'll have to say that it can be handfull at times teaching someone a foreign language and the amount of patience needed is great. I kinda understand now how my two Chinese teachers must be feeling everytime I get a tone wrong or I don't remember what a letter means. :-p It's a rewarding experience, though, and I'm getting a lot out of it. First and foremost, I'm finally taking care of myself in a more adult manner. I found these jobs on my own, bargained my salaries (not so much) and signed my contracts. I'm feeling quite proud of myself at this point and even if things do go wrong I still won't regret it. Teaching seems like an ideal way to kick start the "grow up" process in me as it is something I did extensively and to this day I consider it one of my greatest "feats" (survive 6 years with little rascals running around and you'll call it a feat as well).

Of course they are not all that as jobs. They both have their ups and downs. The university, for one, is giving me a low pay per hour with very few hours per week. But I think the classes here are more fun because the students actually chose to take them. They ask questions, they laugh, they respond and most importantly they understand me most of the time. This could be because they are teachers themselves too of course. On the other hand, the hotel job feels a little more stale. I have two kinds of classes, advanced and basic. In both cases I was told they know at least SOME English. They are not complete beginners and that holds true for the advanced students. The basic though are another story. In these classes I have a mixed fruits selection of students ranging from almost absolute beginners to "yeah I understand some England"-like ones. This is were I get a questionmark above my head, cause I'm not dealing with the cleaning crew but with phone operators and receptionists. How can one be in the hotel business without at least some knowledge of English? I do understand that the average Chinese person has no almost need at all for English but this is a five-star hotel in one of the best areas of Beijing. But that's not really where my frustration derives from. It is that this job is training, not teaching, which means these guys are having English shoved down their throats with little to no interest in it whatsoever. And I can tell you for sure it is a pain at times. Only two days ago I was helping a restaurant hostess with her pronounciation of the word "thousand" and I could just feel her anxiety. Almost felt like she wanted to punch me for not moving along to someone else. But ok, that's how life is. Pay is good so I'm not gonna moan any further.

So everyday is a busy day for me really. Aside from my classes and work take the bus and meet up with Kim. Also have to practice my Chinese writing which I need to do a lot really. Feels like I'm back in elementary school writing "A" 100 times to get it right. Only these "A's" have a lot more lines and curves. But it's fun. Didn't really think I would go so deep into the language. I'm loving it so far! Still trying to communicate for the bare necessities is still proving to be a difficult task at times but I'm getting there.

Next week is the national celebration of the Republic of China so we're going to have 8 days of rest and relaxation come October the 1st. Yay^^ Could use some extra sleep really. It's come to my attention that the university wants me to move on the above floor in the dormitory for some reason. Something about new students coming in. Won't get my hopes up about them being western though. :-P

That's it for now! Take care all of you!

Video Games Live in Beijing

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:30:00 +0000

Yo party people~! The long wait is over and yes I am finally posting about my experience at Video Games Live here in Beijing. I’d like to apologise to my readers for my disappearance and delay of this specific post. I recently started working as an English teacher along with my Mandarin studies so it’s been a little tough trying to get used to all of that. So without further ado I present the Greek Man in Beijing report on VGL!

Video Games Live is probably every game “nerd’s” dream concert! An event where beloved tunes from our favorite pass-time are performed by a live orchestra and take us back on that magical journey we experienced for hours upon hours each day. The idea was created and produced by video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, with the latter being the orchestra’s maestro. Tommy acts as the host of the event and also participates in some pieces by playing his guitar. All I have to say is that they are both geniuses and the whole idea is just pure awesomeness! I did have a few gripes of course but we’ll get to that later.

As you all probably know, I’ve forgotten my camera back at home so I only have two pictures from the event here in Beijing, both taken from my less than stellar cell phone camera. So the venue is the Capital Indoor Stadium which is quite huge. I’m not sure which Olympic event took place here but it’s a very nice stadium. Kim had booked some really decent seats where we could see the whole thing. My first gripe came here and it was about the screen where all the game videos were shown. It was just too small really. It was a problem when trying to read the subtitles when a video game designer was talking in Japanese. Fortunately Hideo Kojima spoke in full English. Yay~! But besides that the rest of the videos could be seen just fine. Maybe next time they could add a bigger screen or multiple ones throughout the venue. So the lights go down and after a few introductory comedic videos the screen displays two familiar lines going up and down with a dot bouncing between them. At the same time the orchestra was simulating the sounds of Pong in sync with the video. Absolutely brilliant I have to tell you. And so begins a journey back to my past! For the next 2 hours I was between the ages 5 and 16. Hearing the orchestra playing the theme from the very first NES Super Mario Bros was one of my favorite moments. I could literarily imagine myself back when I was playing the game. The best part of all was when all the crowd started clapping along with the music.

The performance of the Metal Gear Solid music was one of the most epic moments. The whole effect of the live orchestra along with the acoustics of the huge venue just made it all feel so grand. Tied in along with scenes from all the MGS games on the screen it was from out of this world. I was also really moved when I heard one of my absolute favorite video game themes of all time: the intro to Chrono Cross. That song always felt like it came from an epic journey and made my mind travel. Hearing it live from a full orchestra was just priceless! Now here is where I’ll give my other gripe, or maybe just a semi-gripe really. There was a lot of Blizzard promotion going on. Not that I didn’t appreciate hearing music from games that are yet to be released (Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3) but ok having them split between sections of the concert felt more of an advertisement. Well I guess they do have to make some money as well right?

So after a trip down memory lane they decide to close with the music from Halo and that’s where I thought “Don’t you DARE close it like this!” No, I am not a big Halo fan and I don’t get the hype. It’s just a shooter, kay? :-p Of course they didn’t cause the entire crowd brought their hands together for an encore and what an encore it was! “One Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII! Enough said guys, really! If you play video games with the same passion as I do and don’t know this song then go play FF VII. One of the best RPGs ever made with some of the BEST game music ever performed.

So, yeah, I had an awesome time and I have Kim to thank for that! Best birthday present ever! :-D If you ever get a chance to see a VGL event and you like video games then I suggest you go see it. It’s an experience you will never forget!

Peace out all^^

"Ni hao" from tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Hey all^^ I'll have to apologise for neglecting my VGL report. Things have been moving quite fast lately...and I've just been lazy about it. Promise to get it up soon. Just a quick update. Tomorrow's my first Chinese class! Woot~! Can't wait! The Korean students arrived on Monday. There seems to be only two guys and the rest are girls. That's gonna please Kim a lot. hehe I got to meet some of them today while we were at the hospital getting our physical examinations done for the Resident's Permit. So far I know I'll have 3 classmates in the beginners level. That's pretty cool considering I had noticed some Koreans already spoke Chinese and I started to fear I was the only newbie.

So I guess from tomorrow it's "ni hao" for me! If you don't know what that means, just look at the kitty!

Peace out^^

Yannis

Culture Shock for Dummies pt. 2

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:45:00 +0000

Hey everyone^^ It's time for part 2 of the Greek Man in Beijing's "Culture Shock for Dummies". As we explored in the previous post, language is basically the one main barrier that can "shock" one into oblivion. Even with a few new found revelations I've had, such as using sign/body language and smiling, there are still many difficulties when communicating with people here. Ever since I moved into the university accomodation I've had a good few moments where I was just dumbfounded. Found out about them right after the jump!

The accomodation has an office and a reception desk for emplyees that are supposedly here to help us foreign students with any issues we may have. And I say "supposedly" because I am living in a building that is for FOREIGNERS, meaning people who are not from China therefore it is not a given that we speak Chinese. You can imagine what the puzzled look on my face was like when I found out that none of these emplyees speaks any English at all. That's right! Nada, zero, nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm amazed really. Anyway, I'm not gonna question this since it has become clear to me that English is possibly a not so great necessity for the Chinese. This matter is generally debatable too but we'll get to that some other time.

So I'm sitting in my new room minding my own business. One of my first nights alone too. While reading some headlines on the internet, the landline phone of the room starts ringing. Now I'm wondering who it might be at that hour. It was way past office hours for the university. So I'm feeling a little sketchy about it. I pick up and in order to avoid confusions I say "Hello" and not "Ni hao" (needed to establish my lack of Chinese proficiency). The woman on the other end not only starts going on and on about something in full Mandarin but it was at full speed too! Like, excuse me, did you not hear me? Foreigner here! I take a firm stand, interrupt her with an initial apology (didn't want her to waste her time or breath) and say clearly "I do not understand. Can you please say this in English?". There was a moment's pause and then her answer "oh! I'm sorry." and CLICK, hangs up. Beautiful. Picture it if you will. Now it could have been a wrong number of course but my money's on someone from the accomodation office. The reason is the next story which happened not even 2 hours after the phone incident. I get a knock on my door. In an attempt to buy me some time to get some pants on I yell "I am coming!". Instantly, yes instantly, another knock. "Yo! I'm coming!" in an even louder tone. Again knocking. Whether they liked it or not I had bought the time I wanted so take that! HA! Anyway, I open the door and there is one of the employees, binder and pen in one hand, a little gadget on the other. Chinese ensues again at full burst. By this time I'm seriously considering saying "Hey do I look like I understand, let alone be able to catch up with that speed?!" But I chose to be the perfect gentleman and just smile, wait for her to pause or stop and explain politely "I'm sorry I don't understand". She looks to her right, apparently towards the receptionist and starts saying something to her. After a brief answer she shoves the gadget in her hand on my forehead. After a short beep she looks at an indicator and writes something on her binder. By that time the receptionist had come to my door as well and that's when I started pointing towards her binder asking "What is that?" Simple question right? I mean, you did just measure something (obviously my temperature but boundaries well respected make for good relationships) without me even understanding what you are doing. Again they try to explain in Chinese. I give them a quick nod and say goodbye. I quickly grabbed my trusty "Chinese for Dummies" (and then you were thinking why I chose this title huh?) and attempt to construct a sentence asking "did you take my temperature previously?" After consulting my significant other as well I storm out of my room and made my way to the reception. I smile and give her my full question in the most broken of Chinese accents ever. I was fortunate enough that she understood me at once and replied yes. She tried to explain furthermore that this is a check up they have to do everyday which I had Kim translate for me later.

So you might be thinking that I'm ranting here when in fact I find all of these incidents quite amusing. It's funny how a university that wants to bring in people from the west, doesn't have at least one staff member that speaks English in the foreigner accomodation. How exactly now is all of this culture shock you may wonder. It's more or less a conclusion I've reached myself: they know some English, they just don't feel comfortable using it. I find it hard to believe, with all of the job ads seeking English teachers from the west that I see on the net on a daily basis, that anyone under 30 years old doesn't at least know a few simple words. Since the Chinese could feel embarassed quite easily, they prefer to avoid showing they know English all together. I could be wrong of course and by all means I'm not trying to sound pompus. To me it has become a well known fact that even in Greece there are a lot of people who don't know English that well...or maybe even at all. Even despite the fact that it's been in all school curriculums for the past decade at least.

Wanna hear some "good shocks" now? I'll have to admit that the Chinese are very active people. Especially as they get into their old age. Every single evening I've been out all parks are full of people engaging in various activities, such as playing cards and Mah Jong (spelling is doubtfull), exercising, dancing and practising Tai Chi. I've even seen them practising weapon forms. It's a really cool sight to behold! Granted, not all of them are really good at it, mostly doing it for health reasons, but it's still an awesome notion. These people literally thrive on good health. From the way they eat to the things they do on a daily basis. It's contageous too. I for one have never been a big fan of eating breakfast. I just had my usual Greek frappe coffee and that was it. Now, not only do I have my most important meal of the day but I have my in-between-meals fruit as well. I already feel like I'm losing weight too! :-D

So these were my first "shocking" incidents and observations. From here on out it's gonna be full reports on specifics. Next post is gonna be on Video Games Live which is tomorrow! Expect many photos (from cell phone camera).

Enjoy your weekend!

Yannis

Video Games Live on the Horizon

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:41:00 +0000

I probably have the best girlfriend in the world! No joke. She knows exactly what I like. The proof is what she got me for my birthday: Tickets to Video Games Live this Saturday! It's one of the biggest gaming events in the world and it's the first time its happening in Beijing. So I'm pretty stoked about it. The event is a live concert where an orchestra plays a huge variety of classic musical pieces taken from video games. There will also be lasers everywhere and monitors showcasing games. This year's event will also have music from Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 which are still not released.
Check out some videos from past VGLs after the jump.

Below is Metal Gear Solid music performed by the orchestra. Hideo Kojima, the creator of the series, appears on the monitor.

Some Final Fantasy VII epicness

Who can forget the unforgettable music from Sonic the Hedgehog?

...Or Super Mario Bros.?

It's gonna be an awesome day! Plus it's gonna be the first major video games' event I go to so I'm extremely excited! Stay tuned for an after event report!

Stay heavy y'all!

Yannis

Culture Shock for Dummies pt. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:56:00 +0000

Holla everyone^^ The Greek Man in Beijing is back...finally! *crickets* Oh come on...sad panda. I must have been at least a wee bit right? :-p Sweet~!

So it's been well over 10 days since my last post from the Dubai airport. That was definitely the longest 6 hours of my life. Especially the last hour just wouldn't go by. As I waited for my gate to open I would successively doze off with my head dangling only to wake up instantly and then rinse and repeat. Fortunately, though, I had no problems sleeping during the flight so that went by pretty fast.

I landed in Beijing and went through a few lines for health inspection and immigration. Those went quite smoothly. Getting my luggage was a drag cause they were practically the last bags to come out. Just my luck really but it was worth the wait since I came out of the baggage claim to be greeted by a warm hug! :-)

Here I am now! In the land of sweet and sour sauce and kung fu masters. This is gonna be a big wall of text so strap in nicely and click below for more.

Quite a lot has happened since I got here and in all honesty up until now I've had mixed feelings. It's really quite different going to another country to visit than it is to stay for a good long time. The impact of being in a country where most people don't speak English is probably the hardest of them all. Of course this worried me quite a bit since I knew that at some point I wouldn't have Kimy holding my hand and walking me around. But, hey, I came here to learn another language so I guess I'll just suck it up and take this opportunity. It can be quite funny at times trying to communicate really. So far I've had tons of laughs in a variety of lost-in-translation moments. Kim and I went out with her friend Lu and her boyfriend (who's name I can't spell but the translation is "Prince"). Now I knew Prince had next to zero English skills but he has a passion I can relate to: football. He's a big Arsenal fan and he seems to know a lot about European teams. To my surprise he even knew Greek teams, Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. Heck, he even knew one of our scorers back in the 2004 Euro, Charisteas! So communication between us was pretty much along the lines of "Christiano Ronaldo?", "Good player! *thumbs up*". We even managed to comment on Arsenal's recent victory. It got even better when he asked me if I ever played Starcraft. That literally lit my face up! :-D On the flipside comes the interesting part of the evening: talking with Lu. Now Lu is better at English than Prince so there shouldn't be too many problems there right? Ha ha ha! Funny story. Kim went to the bathroom at some point and Lu asks me "How many people in your classroom?". I was flabergasted for a second cause I had no idea what classroom she meant. My Chinese class? The English class that I was gonna teach? But wait I haven't started with those yet. So I ask "You mean in my Greek school?" she nodded yes so I smiled thinking I know how to say numbers in her language so I answer "San shi wu (35)". A moment's silence and then laughter from both Prince and her ensued. I'm completely stumped at this point. Kim comes back and finds us in this linguistic mess. Lu explains to her what we disussed and she tells me "She asked you how many people will be staying in your room at the university". I just laughed my butt off there.

So lines of communication can get distorted. But if you get into the proper channels things can work out. It's all a matter of perspective really. So far whoever I've interacted with has been easy going and lighthearted. If words do not make sense, then smiling and laughing does. And this is exactly what they are like here. They are happy people. One just needs to get into the spirit of their culture. Admittedly for most it could be hard since there are a lot of restrictions that the Chinese impose on themselves. I prefer to see it more like a form of politeness. In the west (and especially Greece) we tend to over-try to act cool and confident which often leads to us making spectacles of ourselves or even worse, insulting others without even knowing we did.

Am I enjoying China so far, you may wonder. Despite the language barriers I'll have to admit it's been fun so far. I haven't been to any bars or clubs so far. Not really my scene but might happen if the mood strikes me. I've seen one movie at the cinema. GI Joe! lol yeah ok I know but it was the only English speaking movie we could handle. Surprisingly enough if you exclude its title it wasn't a bad action flick. The theatre was great with good audio and video systems. It was kinda weird watching the movie with Chinese subtitles but overall good fun. Was a pleasant change to not see an exaggerated anti-piracy ad going off in my face (watch a movie in the UK and you'll know what I mean).

Eating here is amazing really! There are tons of choices ranging from Chinese and Asian food to good old fashioned fast food places to street vendor-style finger-food. They got KFC, McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, Haagen Dazs (I'm boycotting them). But the best is checking out their own cuisine. So far my absolute favorite is Peking Duck, the real stuff. Not the crispy duck bs we drool over in the west. Trust me, Beijing is worth visiting just for the duck. It's just...awesome! :-D Korean BBQ is pure win as well! You get to cook your meat on a stove in the middle of your table. Mix with sauces and vegetables, get some cold noodles too and your in for a grand treat! Don't get me started on Chinese Hot Pot too cause then I'll be talking forever.

Probably one of my favorite parts of the evenings here, though, is walking around the streets where every sidewalk is covered in street vendors. In their majority they sell copycat stuff like watches, glasses, CDs and DVDs, books and handbags but it's really quite fun just looking around. Reminds me of some streets in Athens the only difference is that they don't pack their stuff once police shows up. :-p

I'm gonna stop here since it seems the wall is growing. I'll be back with part 2 soon enough so stay tuned.

Peace out all^^

Yannis

Not so pleasant flight

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:29:00 +0000

I have one thing to say right now: I love Emirates airlines! I mean it! I walked into this amazing plane where every single seat had it's own screen, all clean and tidy with headphones,blanket and pillow. Very pretty hostesses eager to serve travellers with smiles. Dinner was amazing, I had chicken with mustard sauce complete with salad, desert and white wine. Next thing I know I'm watching "Fast & Furious" and episodes of "My Name is Earl", "The Office" and "Friends". They even have a controller and a huge collection of games for you to play. Naturally, after all this fun and excitement (and 2 shots of Jack with my brother pre-flight) I get sleepy and am ready to doze off. So here's my predicament...

The guy sitting on my right (stuck in the middle, darn luck of mine) has already dozed off and is snoring as though bolts are going through a garbage disposal unit! He was making a huge variety of strange noises in his sleep. And ok, he's just loud so what? Well my friends this guy wasn't your usual "mr. SnoresOnceInAwhile". He had consistency and full continuity! Naturally I didn't get any sleep while my loud friend was peacefully in limbo throughout the majority of the flight. So here I am now in Dubai airport. It's 5:42am local time and my next flight departs at 11:00...fun...Worst of all, I just noticed I forgot my digital camera at home! GRRR!!

Anyone wanna give this lonely traveller some advice as to what to do for the next 5 hours? Should I sleep? Drink?

All My Bags Are Packed...

noreply@blogger.com (Yannis Vatis) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Or sort of. Still have to actually do the packing. Today is my last day before my flight to Beijing. It's kinda scary really but exciting at the same time! It kind of feels like I'm ready to climb an unknown dark mountain peek. But, hey, that's what an adventure should be like, right? If you always know what to expect it's just not as intriguing. So just like a young bold adventurer on a mystical journey through the writings of a highly imaginative fantasy author (I'm geeky like that, so sue me) I take up my own sword, muster my own courage and I begin my own story. It may not be easy for there are many slimy ghouls and fire-breathing dragons that will present themselves along the way. It's up to me to stand up and slay them.

So yeah, I'm still in the packing phase (last minute runs in my Greek blood) and in all honesty I have no idea how I'm gonna fit it all. I got tons of clothes, sheets, cables, Playstation 3, books...AAA! Thankfully mom's gonna give me a hand with all of that so no worries! :-D What's really giving me a headache is thinking about me carrying around my laptop and guitar in Dubai airport for 6 hours. Ugh, don't wanna picture it right now. Oh well, it's only for a day (close to literally).

I'm gonna keep this post brief and pictureless (I'm being lazy, yeah). I'll be giving you my next update from Beijing. Enjoy what is left of the summer season!

Peace out^^

Yannis