Expo part 3: Magazine photography

After a full day at the Expo on Friday, I had to go back the next morning for work. The magazine's next issue is on the Expo, so I had to accompany the photographer to take photos of 45 of the pavilions.

Saturday's attendance hit a new record of over 500,000 people. There really wasn't any point in taking pictures, because there were just way too many people. The loudspeakers kept broadcasting wait times for the popular pavilions (4+ hours for Japan and US, 3+ hours for France and Germany, etc...). The European Square was especially insane. Even the wheelchair line for the Korean pavilion stretched around the block. Imagine if you can: several hundred thousand Chinese people, all doing Chinese things. Snacking on KFC, duck hearts or cucumbers; taking victory pose photos; napping on all of the benches; running towards the hybrid buses that are already packed to maximum capacity.

I don't know how the Expo workers do it. Gao laoshi and I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, but I did get to see the Asian and Middle East pavilions, which we didn't do on Friday. We did our best with photos, despite all the people, and now I have a picture of almost every single pavilion...

Some of my favorites (at least the outside, didn't have time to visit the inside). First, the good:

Angola.

South Korea. Their hangul theme was beautifully successful.

UAE. I don't always like Norman Foster, but this one I did.


The bad:
Belarus. This is what you literally get if you give 100 children crayons and told them to draw on a building. Literally.

Pakistan. It's simply a replica of the Lahore Fort. You can't tell here, but the top of the building is a giant Pakistani flag.


And the inexplicable:
Macau. Giant bunny lantern. The architect says it represents childhood memories and Macau's small size but lively spirit. Ok.

Iran. I looked up the English phrase and apparently it's a Persian poem by Saadi. But the English translation...

North Korea. Whoever placed this next to Iran must have a sense of humor...all the other Asian countries are in an entirely different zone.

What I do at work

Lately at the magazine office, I've been writing lots of English emails and calling firms in San Francisco, England, and New Zealand. The next issue is featuring "overseas Chinese" architects, but many of the architects they chose to interview are second or third generation Chinese. That's where the American intern comes in handy. I also had to translate my editor's husband's homework reading packet into Chinese...because that's where the American intern comes in handy.

At the architecture office, it's been more interesting and educational. I've moved on to the elevations for the Suzhou villas project. It's actually quite difficult...but I'm glad the boss has given me free rein over Unit B-6. The interior layout is ok, but I'm stuck on window placement and how to create courtyards/walkways.

The plan.

Started an elevation...but Chinese architecture has a lot of detail and decoration that I don't know, so right now it looks like crap.

Other than that, I do stuff for Mrs. Jin, like translate captions of postcards of her paintings or make Sketchup models to use for images later on.

A three story Hong Kong mansion (walls hidden)

Some project in Hangzhou. The master bedroom.

And in my free time, I make icons for my dock.

They're so beautiful.

Weekly Report 1: Stranger in the workplace

We have to keep a weekly report for an online class. Might as well throw it on here. I usually write an outline first in English, but this is the slightly fleshed-out version.

The first day in the office was incredibly awkward, for me and I think for everyone. First of all, the boss wasn't there, which left everyone else to figure out what to do with me, even though they didn't know either. One of the editors was the only one who welcomed me, cleared a desk for me, and gave me some magazine to flip through. The four other people looked at this strange, inexperienced, Chinese-American, and then turned back to their computer screens. I asked for everyone's names, which they gave briefly before continuing their MSN chats. The general feeling I got was disinterest.

At first, I was bothered by the cold welcome. But then I remembered my initial experiences with taking classes at Nanjing University, and how it took many weeks before people began talking to me as a peer. Americans are used to self-introductions and a handshake, or at the very least say hello. However, Chinese people definitely have a strong us-them mentality and a stranger in the workplace is someone that no one has any relationships with and therefore no obligations to. Until I establish my place as one of the group, things will be uncomfortable and coworkers will seem unfriendly.

A week after starting, one of my coworkers now chats with me occasionally. Of course, he is very Chinese male (not even going to get into that...other than he is a perfect example of Chinese misogyny) but it is good to not be ignored.

New internship

Back in Shanghai after an amazing break at home. It went by so quickly that it doesn't even seem like I left China. It's been raining nonstop the past week and will until the next week. What's worse, 梅雨季节 or plum rain season will soon be coming up. I've been told it'll rain continuously all of June and July. Good thing I'll be out of here in July!

My apartment:


But the important news, I am now working two internships. I found an architecture one with the help of a family friend, and so far I really like it. The boss is incredibly nice, the coworkers are friendly and talkative, and the work is interesting. I've never been told to design a Suzhou garden luxury villa before, but I am doing my best... the first day I just worked on conceptual sketches. It seems like they expect a lot of me, and with my obsessive need to excel in everything, I am really nervous.

Yesterday, the boss, two coworkers and I went to Suzhou to see the site. Our luck was off the whole day. The rain didn't let up for a second and it was freezing cold. Since I lost my toenail over the break (long story), I was wearing sandals which turned out to be a terrible idea...the site is basically undeveloped farm land with dirt roads, so I was running around in muddy fields all day. We got stuck in the mud for a bit when our boss tried to drive on a dirt road...poor Xiao Xu was covered in yellow mud.


We snuck into a construction site nearby. I guess this is the style we're going for--modern-day traditional Chinese.

We didn't get many good pictures because of the weather so the trip wasn't really worth it. What really made the day terrible was the 2.5 hour drive back turned into 5 hours. Half of that time was spent on a 10 km stretch of the freeway, where there was an nasty, inexplicable traffic jam.

I have a bit of work to do for the magazine this weekend. Have to research "overseas Chinese" architects for them to interview, which doesn't really make sense to me... they don't care if the architects are third-generation and/or have never been to China. They told me because they have a Chinese ancestry we want to include them in our magazine. This is such a Chinese mentality---once Chinese, always Chinese.

Day 1 at Designer and Designing

I went to work today.

Well, I am using the term "work" loosely...more specifically, I sat around for 5 hours on my computer, flipping through magazines and reading stuff online. When I met the chief editor yesterday, she didn't know who I was or what program I am coming from. (hmm Jian laoshi, how are you doing your job?...) She also clearly didn't know what work I should do and just told me to "participate". The other editors don't know what to do with me either, so they cleared a desk for me and told me to continue reading to familiarize myself with their magazine.

They had their workplace Chinese New Year lunch today. Free food that included cold kidneys and papaya steamed with frog ovaries. Surprisingly delicious? The boss passed out 红包 and I got one too, despite not having done any work yet.

But I found out how I got this internship. Turns out one of the old interns, Jessie, was once Jian laoshi's student in Shanghai, and she also did research at the same center an OSU flagship student did last semester. Jessie was the one who got me the position, because obviously the boss had nothing to do with it. And Jian laoshi then tried to sell me on how amazing being assistant editor to the magazine would be...hahaha. The employees today were talking about architectural magazines. Xiao Yu made the analogy of El Croquis being what a graduate student would read--and Designer and Designing what an elementary student would read.

Since there is nothing for me to do, I've set a few goals for myself. Learn how to use Adobe Flash and Dreamweaver. Redo the magazine's website (this may be a little ambitious, but I have 4 months). Start research for my honors thesis. Do a lot of reading on architecture.

Still, I really wish I was doing architecture work, even if it's just drafting, because I know at an architecture firm I would actually be useful and valued. Here I may just end up wasting table space.

Shanghai life

Phase 2 of China: Internship in Shanghai.

Moved to Shanghai on Tuesday. Thanks to Miles and his apartment search, I am living in a studio-ish apartment--basically a 25 sq. meter bedroom with a shared kitchen and bathroom. We are literally next door neighbors. Our complex is just a few minutes walk from the city center and the environment is pretty nice. My flatmates are German, Swiss, Australian, and Chinese, and they seem friendly so far.

I definitely feel like I am living in a big international city. I see foreigners everywhere, places are cleaner, Starbucks every square kilometer. But of course you still have the Chinese 特征: construction everywhere, spit on the ground, jaywalking at every corner. It's a change from Nanjing, which although crowded, was still relatively quiet and "traditional" China. Hopefully these next few months I can find my own niche here and make friends.

Freeeee from studio

Final architecture review was this morning and it went infinitely smoother than last time. The teachers really didn't have much to say, but it was overall positive. The dean didn't give me a hard time like last time, thankfully. Still, it's a huge shame that we spend so long preparing materials and are given a total of 15 minutes to present and then discuss our ideas... another reason why grad school in China feels like undergrad in the States. Sigh I kinda feel like I am sleep-deprived, malnourished, and stressed for no reason.









Review may be over, but new wave of stress from papers...on a more positive note, I have an internship. I'll be working as the assistant editor to the Shanghai architecture/interior design magazine 《设计家》or Designer and Designing. According to Jianlaoshi, it's supposed to well-established, covers new design projects, and interviews famous architects. Not sure which famous architects he's talking about... On one hand, it sounds great--at least on paper. However, I won't be developing any architecture-related skills which is kinda why I signed up for this program...I strongly suspect I will be translating articles for the next 5 months for little pay. I guess it's a good chance to learn other workplace skills, and I am really interested in graphic design and print media.

Just made a batch of tea leaf eggs. I'm trying hard to finish food in my fridge, but the condiments may be a problem.

Seriously gotta get at least one good night's sleep.

2% of my life has now been spent in China

I’ve been here almost six months now. I get along fine most of the time, but occasionally melancholy hits hard and the people I’d normally call up to chat with are on the other side of the world. So I end up wasting large amounts of time on my computer because I can’t summon the energy to do real work, which of course only comes back to bite me in the ass later. I have three end of the term papers to write within three weeks, which normally wouldn’t faze me in English, but in Chinese, my cognitive and writing abilities are reduced to that of a Chinese fourth grader. Or maybe a really good third grader.

No word from any employers or Jian laoshi about internships. If I get stuck with a lame internship where I don’t even get to draft but just make copies then… I don’t know. I've wasted that 2%.

Search for internships

Jian laoshi came last week to update everyone on their internships and pretty much everyone has theirs figured out, either from him and his connections or the students finding the internship themselves. But for me... he has nothing.

Architecture students generally graduate first before doing an internship. Typical pay is a few hundred kuai a month--if you're lucky to get paid at all, that is. If students intern while getting their undergrad, oftentimes it is through the school and the school pays the company to take them in. Those internships usually last maybe a month or two and you can imagine what kind of tedious tasks they have.

This is all very bad news for me, because 1) I don't have a degree, 2) I'm looking for a salary where I can actually live off of, and 3) I am from the US. Jian laoshi talked with a few employers and they were all uncertain about my abilities, especially since I don't have a degree. Miles always says my skill levels make my Nanjing classmates look like 5 year olds trying to scrawl with crayons... of course he's exaggerating, but I do feel that I know just as much if not more than my classmates--and I've only had 3 studios to their 10.

Spent half a day looking up and applying for internships. It’s a tedious process and every job posting I look at wants people with degrees and work experience. I sent off my resumes and work samples to several companies though--hopefully they reply.