Tianzifang

Tianzifang: Finding little pockets of peace where one can escape the sights and sounds of Shanghai can be a difficult task at times. Last night a friend and I found one of those rare areas in a historic district called Tianzifang. Imagine a large square-shaped area, filled with modern boutiques, art galleries, and small cafes serving cuisines from all over the world. As you walk through the maze of paths, overhead you will see the traditional two-story Chinese buildings, each with some small business within its walls. Should you decide to stroll into a boutique you will typically find a relaxed store owner waiting to speak with you; last night we met Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Koreans, etc. It was a great chance to relax and enjoy an environment that fused historic Chinese architecture with modern boutiques.

San Diego Friends

Before I left for China, I spent one month living with family in San Diego. I randomly decided to attend a local Christian Chinese church one Sunday morning, and I met a nice couple who said they would visit Shanghai in August. This week I received a call from them and we had a chance to meet for lunch Thursday at Duck-King, a restaurant that serves fabulous Peking Duck. The interesting thing about the whole experience is the randomness of the who set of events. I randomly decide to attend church one morning, meet a random couple of happens to be travelling to Shanghai in two months, and then we reconnect half-way around the world.

Entrepreneurship Class

Entrepreneurship Life Club (Class 2): The kick-off class last week drew 41 people, which is significant considering that the life club classes are typically limited to 15 people. Despite the hot and sweaty conditions caused by packing so many bodies into a small space, the first class went successfully as we discussed Peter Drucker's Seven Sources of Innovation.

The second class had 21 students, fortunately, which made it much easier to have quality teaching and discussion about the topic of "Opportunity Recognition and Industry Analysis." Although the vocabulary is quite difficult, I think the students are motivated to learn the material quicker because the material is relevant and interesting.

On another topic, I'm feeling overwhelmed because I'm trying to do too much at once: teaching full time, preparing the material for the entrepreneurship class (usually an additional 10 hours per week), daily professional development (i.e. Grammar), working out 3 times per week, trying to find time to learn Chinese, meeting with friends, staying in consistent contact with my family and close friends, studying business, and trying to find a business to start next year if I decide to stay in China. I'm in a perplexing situation. On one hand, doing so many things at once spreads me thin. On the other hand, I'm energized by the opportunity to pursue so many things that interest me. Yes, I feel energy that I have not had for a long time, but I also feel like it's hard to relax sometimes. Perhaps that's just life in the big city, in the bustling metropolis of Shanghai; perhaps I'm starting to appreciate what young people feel here: like they're always working, always on the move, always trying to stay ahead of the competition.

Teaching Porter's Five Forces (ok...this was taken after class)

Students working in groups to solve a problem

National Identification: What does it mean to be Chinese?

When should an area be allowed to separate to form its own country? Given the recent conflict between Georgia and Russia, it has made me ponder the question of national identity. Do South Ossetia and Abkhazia have the right to separate from Georgia? What about Kurdistan and Iraq? What exactly defines national identity? A common race, religion, political philosophy, or a common history? During two of my classes today, we had a chance to explore this topic and the Georgian-Russian Conflict. Eventually, the discussion naturally gravitated towards a matter that strikes closer to home for my students (which shall remain nameless so this blog isn't black-listed). Anyways, we had a spirited intellectual exercise in a pseudo-state-run market of ideas about the philosophy and practicality of drawing country lines of a map.

Working Late & Olympic Party

Working Late. It's 2:15 am. I just finished the final touches on my entrepreneurship class that I will teach tomorrow, kicking off an 11-week exploration into the wild world of starting your own business. I've advertised this class for the past couple of weeks. It's fully booked and students said they are standing by to try and get a seat. I'm really excited about this course and I can feel the energy that the students have about the topic.

The late nights are becoming common. In fact, it's rare for me to leave before 11:30 pm because I usually stay late to prepare for this entrepreneurship class or read about business. For the first time in my working life, which is admittedly short, I truly enjoy what I do and I feel "in the zone" at work.
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Olympic Party. Last night was the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing. I didn't have any plans set in stone, so I decided at the last minute to throw a party at the flat. Twenty people packed into the flat and surrounded the TV. Beer was consumed, Olympics were watched, salsa was danced, and hang-overs were had. All in all, a fabulous night with friends!

Favorite Websites

Top Three
1) TED.org lectures ("Once upon a school," a personal favorite)
2) FRONTLINE documentaries ("The Persuaders," my favorite by far)
3) Positive Psychology (a lecture series that has influenced my life)

University
Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/
MIT's OpenCourseWare: http://ocw.mit.edu
Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner: http://edcorner.stanford.edu/
Knowledge@Wharton: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/
www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
Positive Psychology lectures by Tal Ben-Shahar: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k14790&pageid=icb.page69189

News & Business
www.bloomberg.com
www.businessweek.com
www.economist.com
www.nytimes.com
www.chinadaily.cn
www.chinastakes.com
FRONTLINE: PBS documentaries about a wide variety of topics: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/

Random:
Scribd: world's largest document sharing community: http://www.scribd.com/
Stock.xchng: free stock photos: http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml
TED - 25-minute lectures from the world's most brilliant thinkers gather each year to discuss ideas that will change the world: www.TED.org
Zamzar: free online file conversion: http://www.zamzar.com

Please email your suggestions to jjselleck@gmail.com.

Karaoke: How to Win Friends and Deafen People

Karaoke. A friend and I ventured out tonight to grab some curry cuisine and as we strolled down the road together, she pointed to our right and said, "Karaoke! Do you want to try it?" We walked into this open park area (about the size of a small football field) where tons of Chinese were spread out. In one area, people were dancing to the music of salsa, ballroom, and other genres. In another two areas, groups of 20 to 30 people were gathered around TV sets, listening to someone sing Karaoke. Only the street lights above and the TV's light allowed people to comb through the song book in search of a popular tune to carry for the crowd.

My friend spoke Chinese, so she helped me find the book with English songs. One by one, my number came up the wait list, and I finally had the microphone in hand. The beers I had recently consumed did help to quell some nerves, but my hands still shook and my voice still trembled as I serenaded my date with "Night and Day." The song quickly ended, I turned off the mic, and then the crowd cheered and started yelling something to me. "What are they saying?" I asked my friend, "they want you to sing again." Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. I lost enough dignity with the first tune, and now they want a second?

Quickly, I grabbed the song book and eventually came across a song that I knew well, "Joy to the World"...yeah, the one from Forest Gump. With a little more power in the belly, I was actually not nervous this time and I got into it. Near the end of the song, I put my arms around some lady and I got some people in the crowd to join me in the fun. I retired the mic, then promptly exited stage-left to the sound of applause--probably the kind you give a little kid when they try something and fail miserably.

We left the Karaoke area and went the dancing area to join the older folks as we salsa-danced the night away.

Key Takeaway: It's okay to karaoke, just make sure to drink more prior to doing so.