Lapis Dreams

I had earlier posted some six months ago about how I got my Singapore colleague to buy us some kueh lapis from Singapore when they came to Shanghai.

 

Very soon after that, someone else came and we ordered another one.

 

By then, it was already quite sickening cos we aren’t big lapis eaters to begin with. It’s just something we cant buy here and therefore had a craving.

 

That was five to six months ago. In the deluge of friends who visited two months ago, we asked one of them to buy us one again since it’s been some time.

 

We haven’t finished before another one of the visitors brought another one as a gift.

 

There’s so much lapis now that I bring slices now on trips to eat on the longer flights since I don’t eat on planes anymore.

 

Kinda silly really. To get to a point of being sickened on something just because we don’t get this in Shanghai.

 

Stalled Market

I had earlier mentioned that I had started to open a shares trading account in Singapore.

 

There was a hiccup and the Central Depositary said I had to sign some documents in front of some official people.

 

So I arranged to sign them in front of the OCBC Shanghai employees since I was opening an account with them.

 

I was all prepared to courier these to Singapore when they said that they cant let me take them away. Anyone who takes these documents away must give them a receipt like a courier’s receipt. So in front of them, I called OCBC Singapore to ask them to arrange. They agreed.

 

Two weeks later, I didn’t hear anything and called OCBC Singapore. The VP said the documents are still in Shanghai. The Shanghai branch manager said no one arranged to come collect from them. I yelled at her and said if no one asked, you just let the documents sit there and you do nothing about it. She said it wasn’t her responsibility. Then she said the Singapore person has been liaising with was on leave. Then the Singapore VP said that it was the Shanghai person who was on leave.

 

I got pissed and yelled at her then called the Shanghai person again and yelled at her.

 

Singapore one called me back to say they’ve made arrangements to allow me to arrange a local courier to collect from the bank and then I courier it to Singapore myself. I yelled at her again to say that this was what I had suggested to them when they said they needed a receipt but they didn’t allow. Now, two weeks on, I missed the IPO of a company I wanted to buy.

 

Then I said to her in my calmest voice,” Please do me one more favour. Please call the bank again and ask them to destroy the documents because I don’t wish to open the account anymore.”

 

With that, I am now account-less again.

Politics of Group Chats

A lot, in fact, all of the new friends we got to know here are introductions from friends we go to know here. These friends, of course, were introduced from other friends.

 

It’s a continuous cycle. Vicious or virtuous cycle? I guess there are hits and misses sometimes.

 

A very easy way to introduce someone to your current group of friends is through the Wechat or whatsapp group chats.

 

The groups typically start off small. Typically two or three couples trying to decide where to eat. Then after the dinner, pictures are shared in the group. Then the next times we want to arrange something, we would use the same group and probably add more people.

 

More and more people will be added. Some new people and some people the entire group already knows.

 

At same point, the group will get so big that it becomes unwieldy to arrange dinners. It’s not every dinner that the same 15 will be able to attend or want to attend. Or worse, that you would want them to attend.

 

Imagine coming up with a dinner location that 15 people agrees to.

 

The way to go around this would be to form a new group.

 

Then the new group slowly grows and grows from there.

 

It has come to a point where I have multiple groups of varying sizes but largely the same few people and the differences between the groups are the fringe people.

 

Once, one of these fringe people suggested dinner one night. The problem is the very same group already arranged for dinner that very night in another group but said fringe person and his wife wasn’t in THAT group. So no one replied to his suggestion. Everyone just kept quiet. I felt both uneasy and amused. Haha. It’s kinda hard to keep a dinner gathering under wraps because at every dinner, there will be pictures taken of the food, people and then posted on wechat where everyone can see. So, at that dinner, we made a pact to only post pictures within the group and not post anywhere else. So conspiratorial.

 

Frankly, if it werent for Someone’s active socialising, I’ll be counted as a fringe person.  I don’t mind being invited to less dinners so that I can stay home to watch more TV but I guess it’s rather sucky to jio people but they are arranging another thing without you. Kwa kwa.

Group Traveling

I rarely like to travel in a group. Largely because I think it's a hassle to move from place to place in a foreign land and also a major pain to get a consensus on where to go, how to go, etc.

A group of people we hang out with in Shanghai suggested a day trip to Nanjing. Ordinarily, I would have refused. But because we made a conscious effort to explore more of China now that our first full year is behind us, and also since I bought a new camera, we decided to go along.

Because of my motion sickness and probably being too used to having my travel expenses paid by the company, I typically would choose the more comfortable option to travel. Nanjing is a 75-minute train ride away and I usually take first class seats but since everyone wanted second class seats and even though we didnt have to sit in the same class, I decided to go along with second class so that I dont appear like a prima donna. The difference between first and second class is S$18 per way per person.

I usually like a planned itinerary wherever I go so I did some research on the distances of the two attractions we wanted to go so that we can travel more efficiently. I guess because it's a holiday, everyone is a little more chill so my itinerary wasnt used. Instead, the first thing most of them wanted when we emerged from the train station was to look for Starbucks. There wasnt a mall beside the station so as we wandered along the streets, I thought we would take a taxi to one of the attractions. But nooooo, for some reason, they wanted to take the MRT. It was 3RMB per person for MRT and 25RMB for four people in a taxi. Double the cost but just a S$2.40 difference.

It was at this point when I realised that this was a roughing out trip.

We alighted at the station for the Sun Yet Sen Mausoleum. Go check out the number of steps to the top. I did. So when I saw touts wanting to drive us up at RMB10 per car for four pax, I thought it was a steal! But they were afraid the touts will kidnap us to sell us away. Valid point.

Then one of our merry troop wanted to walk up! I was aghast!

Thankfully, it started to drizzle so we quickly made a decision to take a buggy up, rather than walk up. Cost of buggy: RMB10 per person.

But a troop member noted how far the buggy took us, she said it was the best RMB10 she spent. I could only smile.

The rest of the journey wasnt as rough because everyone was sapped after the mausoleum that we took a taxi back to the train station. Second class seats back to Shanghai.

Of course, the silly thing at the end of the day was the Nanjing on that day, topped the most polluted cities in China.

15 June

15 June marks the tenth anniversary of my working life.

Ten years ago that day, I started work at my first job.

I dropped an SMS to the boss who hired me, saying:

“Hey XXX, today, 15 June, marks the anniversary of tenth year in which I started work. Which means that 10 years ago today, you gave me a chance at XXX and I will always be grateful for what you've done for me. Take care and I hope to catch up soon.”

His reply was typical and short:

“Let me know when you’re next back in Singapore and we can catch up.”

Ten years. Time seemed to have flew by.

It was actually quite a surreal the way I got the job. My job applications to the traditional big firms and statutory boards weren’t getting any hits and it was at this time when XXX sent an email to my university asking for interested applicants. Although it was a somewhat different industry, I applied because I was somewhat desparate.

I remember thinking the office of this company must be really lousy and small because the boss conducted all his interviews in the restaurant of the nearby hotel. I know it was all his interviews because I saw someone leaving before me and then when it was my turn to leave, I saw my uni sch mate after me, also waiting to be interviewed.

I was right on both counts – the office was small and lousy.

The “office” of the boss was a mere partition. It had a door but it’s like a toilet cubicle door. You can throw something over to hit him. I remember being disappointed that my office isn’t in the CBD like what I imagined it’d be like. I remember going to the CBD to meet my friends for lunch and being amazed at the tall skyscrapers and the hordes of people there are during lunch hour.

I also remember being concerned how much lunch cost each day and wondering when I’d be able to pay off my university tuition loan.

Thankfully, we didn't stay in that office for very long. But we moved to the other side of outside CBD. I still wasn't getting a break on office location. I was thankful that at least my desk in the office was in front of a wall so that I could surf and MSN at my leisure.

We moved again for the second time after some time and this time, I was able to get a bigger table and a corner seat even.

Throughout my first job, I remember over-working a lot. I remember flying even more. As I look back every once in a while, I am thankful for the opportunities accorded to me, a heartland boy, to see the world.

Green Fingers

Sometimes, I just love the way the Chinese use similar sounding words to convey their meaning in a somewhat poetic way.

Macs

Saw this a Macs the other day.

Burritos and you tiao! Wow!

Nondescript

It's one of those lull periods when there's nothing much happening in my life worth blogging about.

Sometimes I feel bad when you readers check out and leave disappointed that there's no new update but sometimes there's really nothing to talk about and it's a bit of a chore to log into VPN, then think of something to write then log onto Blogger. It's much easier to watch TV.

It's a bit of a lull in China. Economy is slowing down and therefore business is slowing down. Im not sure whether I'll be able to make my targets this year. We'll see.

On the company front, I mentioned earlier that we have a new President. Along with a new President came a huge restructuring of the corporate office in Singapore. With the "restructuring", the position of EVP of Sales and Marketing and CFO were deemed redundant. Both of them left in a jiffy.

That shocked me somewhat and for many moons, I actually wondered if I'd have a job the next day. It's a rather daunting thought really. With me being a sole breadwinner and a housing debt to repay, it's not a good time to lose my job. I guess there's never a good time to lose your job. Haha.

It doesnt help that things have been slowing down.

So there you go. My first entry for some time and it's rather heavy.

Summer Breeze

It’s the summer.

Summer means more tourists and more sleeveless.

Saw this Chinese tourist at the Bund posing like she’s holding one building in her hand. 

Although it’s late at night, my eagle eyes caught sight of something. 

Yes, unshaven underarms. The picture isnt very clear as I had to stand quite far away and zoom in with my cell. Another reason to get a kick-ass camera.

Pregnant

My secretary is finally passed her first trimester.

I can literally see the color back in her face. It's kinda scary really that the difference is so stark.

But now that she has officially announced to the company, she gets one day a month off to go for check-up.

Then i just found out that one of my oldest friend in China is pregnant too. Second child. She's into her second month and she's suffering big time.

And then I also found out another friend is pregnant too.

Wow... seems like 2-3 months ago today was a good time for copulation.

Arty Farty?

I don't consider myself an artistic person.

But for some odd reason, I like to take photographs. I remember one particular trip to Har Par Villa with my mum and my sister when I was maybe 10?

After we developed the pictures, only I appeared in all the pictures. That was because all those pictures that I had taken of my mum or my sis were too blurry.

I guess that should have dampened my ambitions to pick up a camera ever again.

But it didn't.

I remember taking the camera again and randomly taking pictures of what was outside my house then.

When my mum eventually saw that the film was all used up, she went to develop the pictures. All she got were pictures of trees, the block beside us, the MRT station, etc. I got a whacking big time for that. I remember that very vividly.

I guess that should have dampened my ambitions to pick up a camera ever again.

But it didn't.

I have been wanting to buy a kick-ass camera and pick up photography classes but never gone down to doing it due to time and cost, but now that we are going to France, the impetus is there and I have decided to go buy a camera and then find some place to pick it up with some lessons or whatever. W00t!

Water Politics

Now that my secretary is pregnant, I have resorted to filling up my own kettle when I’m more free.

Filling it today made me think back of the time when I was at my first job. The water in the office was from a water dispenser thing that had a 20l bottle that you’d have to up-end and stick in from the top.

Back in those days, I was the most junior person, so I was the de-facto guy to do this. 20l isn’t that heavy but the entire bottle has not grip so it’s kinda unwieldy.

Then as I rise up the ranks, I do not have to do it anymore because there are more junior people around.

And then now then I have risen even higher, I actually feel a little embarrassed to ask other people to do it so I end up doing it myself again! It’s like the Bank of Singapore commercial where the boss changes the blown car tyre with his driver and then at the end of it, they gave a knowing smile. Quite gay if you ask me, by the way.

Hmm.. Dilemma..

Was invited to this networking event for Singaporeans the other day.

 

I was on their mailing list for some time now but I never bothered to go.. until now. SATAY!! NASI LEMAK! The dilemma is that i have to actually talk to strangers. Bleah.

Even though Someone's friend is in Shanghai during this time, I have decided to go to check out the food. Hee hee. 

Cups Cups Cups

In my ever growing collection of cups, especially in the office, I bought this recently. It's made of 紫砂 and because it will soak in the tea's flavour, you're only supposed to drink one type of tea with it and drink other types of tea with other cups.

I like the words on the cup.

Visitors Gloare.

Someone told me that the wife of the Laundry guy is coming to Shanghai in a week’s time. I didn't give it too much thought.

Like I said before, it’s the June holidays and there are a lot of visitors!

Upon further discussion, I realized that it isn’t the Laundry guy’s wife but it’s actually Someone’s ex-colleague with the same name and she’s actually going to stay with us! Someone has taken for granted now that I will agree to anyone staying over because she has stopped asking me but has now changed to simply informing me.

My in-laws left earlier this week and soon after Someone’s friend will come stay with us and thereafter Someone’s ex-colleague. In fact, their timings overlap such that the ex-colleague needs to stay in a hotel for one night because the friend is still staying here on her first night.

I also just found out that our neighbor for our apartment in Singapore is also coming to Shanghai for a holiday. Heng he’s a guy, so Someone hasn't offered for him to stay over. Maybe, just maybe, she will offer to do his laundry. 

If all these talk and schedules on visitors is confusing you, you arent alone too. I actually have to put it in my Outlook schedule to know who's coming when.