6 months of high culture (and Shanghai)
From the moment I landed (still with a hangover from Helsinki)
at Pudong airport on August 19th 2005 I just knew the next 6 months would prove interesting to say the very least.
Most of all the past 6 months have been fun. Non-stop -crazy, drunk, big breasted, ass shaking- FUN.
I will miss the unashamedly open attitude that people in Shanghai have. Everyone's there to have a good time, everyone's away from home and it's so easy to meet some very special people. I have met so many nice people in such a short time. Like my mates from Uppsala, or the ones I made in Brussels, the Shanghai-ists will hold a dear place in my heart.
Like you may have noticed on my blog, I'm not the kind of guy who goes on a culturally sound tour of a country as soon as he's there to find out more about the underlying feelings of the local population and how they intera..................................................................... sorry, but I'm boring myself here. I do not care. Simple as that.
I'm all about having a good time and the freaks only come out at night, so: I do too. All of my pittance that they dared call a salary was only spend on 3 things. DVDs for when I was bored, food to survive and ALCOHOL to remain sane. My liver (and lungs) are now de-toxing as we speak here in the Netherlands. Cutting down severely on both my death-sticks and talk-juice sure makes the world a less fun place. Or maybe it's the fact that I now live (for a few weeks only, phew) in a heavily Christian 25.000 strong Dutch village which has it's only redeeming feature the fact that I live 1 minute away from Angus Young? (AC/DC)
This makes me reflect a bit on Shanghai. The non-stop partying in Bar Rouge, Mural, Mint, Windows, DKD, Zapata's and 97 was just fantastic. So many special places and times. At the end of the 6 months,
- I was on a first name basis with the owner of BR
- drank 400 bottles of Carlsberg at Mural,
- smoked 6
shishas at Barbarossa,
- got drinks from girls at all the aforementioned clubs,
- saw
Mr. Windows leave the Jan An district alone only 2 times,
- heard the
Baron complain on how he got a girl naked (the one on the right) on the dancefloor at BR but didn't see it himself,
- made the 'Cane sniffer officially my Puta,
- got schooled in the ways on how to train women by
Daddy Digs, college professor,
- got greeted in Dutch every time I called
Rohit- got cooked for by some very cute and nice Russian,
Singaporean and
Estonians girls
- spend weeks at a time on the
tribal chicks couch. Am now a desperate housewives watcher because of her!
- introduced the
gay-boy to a girl I was trying to lay, that was a mistake, he moves quick!
- got hooked on Mild Sevens because of those cute
promo girls- sang massively out of tune at a Karaoke place. Twice.
- had shark, sheep that was alive two hours before I ate it, fish eyes, frog, something I hope was not dog and tons of rice.
Also some stats:
Days (in 6 months) without alcohol : 3
Talks to the porcelain phone : Also 3 (I think the two are connected, need to drink more)
Days smoked : 100
Packs smoked : 120
Girls dumped in my bed by drunk friends : 3
DVDs bought : 500
Money spent at Chinese NY : Don't tell me
Days spend outside Shanghai : 10
Number of times I used a swearword : Way too f**king much
Number of times I just shrugged my shoulders and said: "ah well, it's China" : 200
Number of visits from
Jani : 2
Number of days my Siemens collegues called him and I crazy : 200
Kilo's gained : 0 (yeah, baby!)
I have some other stats too, but this is a family blog. ;-)
In the end, I know I'll miss it like crazy. Some things will be better, like I'll be able to race again, drive bikes, go to Prague (Kenny, what's Stania's no.?) Barcalona (meeting Fede and Juliani), up north with Digs, meeting my old mates in Stockholm, Helsinki and maybe Tallin and St. Petersburg. Outside shot for this year: Kiev. And that's not counting the travelling I'll do this year for work. And I hate flying........... damn.
All I know is, I cannot wait to find a nice place in Duesseldorf, supposedly full of models and good beer. I met only 2 people from D-dorf these past few months, the guy was cool and the girl was drop dead gorgeous. Bodes well for the future.
Starting work tomorrow with one of the nicest , craziest
girls (in the middle on the pic, with the ciggie) I met in Shanghai. Cannot wait.
Back
After 6 months of Shanghai and one day of travelling, I am back in the real world.
A detailed play by play review of China is upcoming, and also I'll be looking forward to the future...........
Weekend
Well, my last weekend in Shanghai has passed, but true to form, it's been a good one.
Saturday had a good turn out at my party, then we went to Bar Rouge, Windows 2 and at 6am, I accompanied Manou to the Dragon club. Never been, good fun.
Sunday the Aiesec gang just hung out and watched Napoleon Dynamite and Triin and Carol's place. What can I say, women making you hang-over pancakes and bringing you beer while you watch a very funny movie? My kinda day. Was closed off with some hot-pot.
Monday was my and Ewa's goodbye dinner. Me and some girls went to the KTV after. Never been to a real Chinese KTV place, so it was a bit of an eye-opener. But all in all very nice, vene thought it was (again) throughly established that I cannot, and never will, be able to sing.
Now packing............
Last day at work (and final nights of debauchery)
Today's my last day with Siemens China. It's been a great ride, and I've learned a lot and met some very very nice people.
Now spending a week in Shanghai with no obligations, just to pack, shop, wander around, eat strange food and meet some people. But the first order of Business has to be: PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So here's my invite to my party this coming Saturday. If you're reading and think: hej, that sounds cool, I want to come you're more than welcome. European readers: if you get on a plane today, you don't even have to adjust to the jetlag. My rythem is such that I only come alive after Sunset.
Here the invite. Won't you join?
Hi all,
Like many of you know I will not be gracing this lovely city much longer and therefore I want to give you an opportunity to bask in my presence one last time.
As I'll feck off on the 24th only one weekend remains. So I'm thinking to just spend this coming Saturday (the 18th) in a drunken haze. Sounds good? You're more than welcome then to join me!
Where? My appt. The address I'll send as an attachment. When? Whenever you feel like showing up. I'll start early! But for arguments sake, by 19.30/20.00 my ayi should have cleared out most of the bodies left over from that satanic orgy I hosted yesterday. Damn Estonians.
I'm in Building A, appt. 23D. Not hard to find and only a 20 kuai taxi ride from ppl. square. Also possible: Lujiazui station (line 2) exit 2 and take line 85 right in front of you. The 3rd stop on Pudong Avenue itself is my stop. No more than 10 mins.
Because:
A: I cannot (ie. am too lazy) to cook there will only be things like crisps and peanuts.
B: I'm Dutch (ie. cheap AND poor) there will be some booze, but not nearly enough for the clochard-like intake some of you manifest so any alcoholic contributions will be greatly appreaciated.
And after the clock turns twelve some pumpkins will be conjured up and changed into VW Santanas which will transport the cool people (ie. the ones still standing upright) to a nice club.
Hope to see you all there,
Niek
P.S. Please forward to anyone who is:
1. Fun
2. Has nice boo..... personality
3. Has a basement full of alcohol which needs to be gone by next week
Twitching
9 days to go
(till I can drive again)
Cheers!
I look like a twat (as usual) but this is a normal pose for me, isn't it? Taken by Trang at the Siemens Chinese NY party.
Also, had *the* most expensive cups of coffee ever today when I stopped by at the Colombian coffee store of my salsa teacher, Monica. Her shop is in a tourist area and today of all days they closed it off in order to charge 50 kuai (5 euro) to get in the area. The coffee itself was a lot more reasonably priced and the quality was ace. So very much worth it. Highly recommendable, and I hope the franchise will branch out to Europe soon.
My kinda humour
Just to show I am indeed an arsehole with weird humour and the philisofical side of mine was just a blip on the radar:
Translation:
Fokke and Sukke (yes, the names are chosen on purpose) do the CITO test (Test done by last year primary school kids in NL to test their intelligence)
"A cartoon-row leaves Copenhagen with a speed of 3 kms per hour.........."
"At what time does it arrive in Teheran?"
:-)
Copyright jadajadajada with www.foksuk.nl
Human nature
Like the rest of the world, Shanghai (or at least the Lao Wai) is also buzzing with the worlds' events that seem to happen on a daily basis and how it will effect how we live.
This whole cartoon business let to a very interesting discussion I had yesterday with Philipp and Jendrik (2 Siemens mates) regarding how religion has shaped society, our values and most of all: how we perceive humans and their characteristics.
Jendrik watched from the side (with a few choice comments) when Philipp and I (both coming from an Catholic background, but I do not believe anymore, whereas he does) took on different viewpoints to discuss the basics on how we chose to follow our paths. Very simply said, I think everything is just coincidence and own choice, whereas he thinks there is a guiding force which (can) help people if they allow it to.
Also my viewpoint that we're just animals who're able to drive and think up cool inventions went rebuked by "There has to be a reason why we are here and we rule the earth above the animals". Also the human ability to forgive and second chances came into play. Let's just say I'm more of an Old Testament kind of guy, whereas Phillip goes for the New.
All highly interesting, and enlightening. But the most important point I'm trying to make is this: Neither of us was trying to change the other's mind. Neither of us got angry when we disagreed. And neither of us saw fit to insult each other's viewpoints when there was a considerable gap. We talked to exchange ideas and to understand, not to convince.
In my other discussion with Muslims, Hundu's, Jews and Protestants this has always been the case as well. If some 20 something guys holding a beer talking while having a Pizza can do this, why can't the people that are supposed to lead us?
Why is that so bloody hard?
My new anthem!
Many thanks to Katrin for sending it to me. :-)
Jeder Mensch der liebt nunmal stolz sein Heimatland
Darum lieben wir, ganz klar, unseren Rhein´schen Strand
Wo der Alte Schloßturm steht da sind wir zu Haus´
Weil es ohne Bier nicht geht rufen wir ganz schnell heraus:
[Chorus]
Ja, sind wir im Wald hier? Wo bleibt unser Altbier?
Wir haben in Düsseldorf die längste Theke der Welt, jajajaja
Ja, sind wir im Wald hier? Wo bleibt unser Altbier?
Wo ist denn der Held der mit seinem Geld die Runde bestellt?
Machen wir ´ne Herrentour an die schöne Ahr
Trinken wir Burgunder nur, das ist sonnenklar
Spätestens um Mitternacht ist die Sehnsucht groß
Nach dem Glas vom Altbierfaß und der ganze Verein singt dann los:
[Chorus]
Translation : "We're not living in the middle of the woods are we, so where's my damn beer?"
I like this town already!
at Pudong airport on August 19th 2005 I just knew the next 6 months would prove interesting to say the very least.
- made the 'Cane sniffer officially my Puta,
- got schooled in the ways on how to train women by Daddy Digs, college professor,
- got greeted in Dutch every time I called Rohit
