....................................yeah that sucks.  Living is easy with eyes closed...so let me get back to where I left off.

    So let's see...been quite the week, lots of stuff happening!  Friday after work, we went for supper with Jon, and Tang from our work also joined us.  Tang is awesome!  Before Andi moved into my apartment, he was roommates with Tang.  Tang is a really cool dude who always has a big grin on his face and always makes sure that we are taken care of.      Sadly, of all the photos we have, we do not have one that features Tang, so I will make sure that gets taken care of.  If you're reading this Tang, I'd love to come out to your wedding next year!  Might be difficult, but I can try...

    Saturday morning we took the train to Beijing for the weekend.  Upon arriving, we dropped off our stuff at the hostel that we would be staying at overnight and then took off to the Beijing Olympic Center.  It was a cool area, even if the stadium is used for nothing anymore and the design was kinda meh (but that's swiss architecture for you right Andi?).  There were a lot of things there to sucker tourists to spend more money, but of course we aren't no stinking tourists.  We went to a park at the far end of Center and took a short stroll and a nap.  Afterwards, we went to Ghost Street (no ghosts, but red everywhere) for supper, in which we enjoyed a hot pot.  If you are not familiar with a hot pot...you order a batch of things (meats, veggies etc.), and put them into a cool-shaped pot to boil.  While not the best thing we had to eat, it was quite enjoyable and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  We went to 1001 nights later to enjoy some hookah and watch some belly dancing.  Beijing has tons of foreigners out and about, which is in stark contrast to Tianjin. 

    For Sunday, we made our trek to the Great Wall.  It was a..........journey to say the least, with mass confusion and people missing buses.  It took a LONG time to get out there, but we eventually made it!  As much of a tourist trap it is in so many ways, being on the wall itself is really cool and hard to describe.  The weather was incredible that day and has been since!  I have switched over to the spring jacket, which was a big moment for me.  I also finally used a squat toilet as well...but you probably didn't want to know that did you?  Well too late. 

    Anyways...so yeah....the wall was really cool, even if it took a long time to get back (big traffic jam due to pigs being on the highway...don't ask), we enjoyed a quality meal before heading back on the train to Tianjin.....only to face about a 45 minute delay on the train.  Not cool man.

    Monday was...Monday I guess.  Not a case of the Mondays, but just a lot of things going on.  BIG CHANGE!  Our intern entourage at Linky Sense has grown from 6 to 7 with the arrival of Raghda from Sweden.  It has been over three weeks since I arrived (the last intern to arrive before her), so the group dynamic shifts slightly.  Everything seems great so far!  Hope you've enjoyed your first few days here Raghda if you're reading this...

    Yesterday was...more work.  Surprise surprise!  At night, we celebrated Jon's birthday, who is now 1/4 of his way to 100!  Yay Jon!  We enjoyed some good food, drinks, and CAKE.  We bought a cake as well as others...which was a good thing as there were so many of us.  I must say, even if it is a bit biased, that our cake was superior.  Anyways, it was a great night full of birthday goodness!

    So what's coming up in the next week!  Shanghai!  I will be going slightly earlier for different reasons than the others (I leave for Saturday...why that is the case I will discuss later) until next Thursday.  So I highly doubt I will be doing another post until next Friday, but that can change.  Enjoy this post and don't forget to leave comments!  I highly enjoy your feedback on these posts and they keep me posting! 

So it's almost the weekend.  We are going to Beijing for the weekend, and we will get to see the great wall :)

Oh yeah, and bite me Paypal. 

So here is a short entry and a few pictures to make me feel better. 

    Why I made a lyrical line from a Steve Miller song as the title for this blog post...I don't know.  Guess it was the first thing to come to my head?  Anyways...it's true!  Time does keep on slipping, as I have been here for a little over two weeks now!  Where has the time gone?  Where to start...

    Since my last post...what have we been up to?  Last Thursday after work, Iliada, Andi, and I met up with Akio and Carmen for Gold Pizza.  It was delicious and satisfied my taste buds, as well as reminding me of food back home.  It was great to spend some quality time with them and catch up, as we had not seen them in awhile. 

    On Friday, everyone save for Elise and Kerim went to supper near the TV tower with Jon and Darlina.  Our table had a rotating middle and we ordered several dishes that were spun around constantly.  Very delicious, save for lemon grass, which ruins anything it touches.  We went to a small Korean bar after and enjoyed a few games of Rummy (a card game).

    Saturday was St. Patty's day, and yes, we did celebrate it in Tianjin!  Firstly, we spent the late morning and afternoon in Yangliuqing Town, south of Tianjin.  Prying eyes everywhere (even more than usual) to see a group of foreigners walking around...guess they're not used to it there?  It's nice to tread off the beaten path once awhile and fully immerse ourselves in a place that does not follow under the "tourist" category. 
    After a few hours of wondering around, we came back home for a bit before heading out to celebrate St. Patty's day.  We went to Ajo, a western bar, to enjoy some Guinness and some food.  I indulged in a cheeseburger, which is the first one I have had in a long time.  Pretty mediocre burger, but it was nice to remind myself of home.  We met up (again) with Jon, Akio, and Darlina, and went to The Ali Babas, a bar full of expats.  A few games of King's Cup and several drinks later, we went to Sitong, a nightclub.  Once again, a lot of expats there.  Pretty similar to clubs back home, but we had good fun, even if 90% of the songs sounded the same.  Shutting off your brain for a few hours is good every once in awhile, and what better place than a nightclub?  Once we emerged from the club in the wee hours, it WAS SNOWING.  Yes...the thing I had left Canada to escape from had followed me here.  Granted, it wasn't very much and it's more or less all gone now, but STILL.  SNOW. 

    Sunday was a relaxing day to recover from the one before.  Sunday was a very special day, as Andi moved into my apartment!  There were fireworks and magicians and beer there...ok maybe not, just a game of Jenga.  Iliada and Elise moved into the REAL penthouse in the other complex, which takes up the entire floor.  They have now achieved baller status I guess.  With all the supplies and luxuries they now have, we went to the supermarket to pick up things that will allow us to cook there.  After quite a long time in the store, we picked up enough appliances and food to last awhile for cooking there.  We all pitched in in various ways to make pasta, salad, and chicken.  For our first made meal together, it was quite delightful, and will only get better.

    Monday rolls around, and we are back at work.  Pretty good day, and Andi and I picked up a gym membership after work at a nearby gym.  It will be great to keep fit while we are here, as that is always a struggle to do while abroad.

    So today is Tuesday and...now what?  Well, I broke my chair this morning at the office when leaning back too far, so now I have a better chair that makes me feel like the emperor from Star Wars.  Yay for me! 

    What's next for us?  I should get my visa renewal sorted out next week, we will go to Beijing this weekend, and we are planning our trip to Shanghai in the next couple of weeks.  Things are moving right along...and I think by now I 've said everything I want to say.

Oh yeah.  One more thing.

Andi is hence known as "The Unvisible Postman".  Don't ask. 

And the angry bus driver lady is now known as Susana. 

ByeBye! :) 

   

Hello again!  So I've been meaning to do this post for awhile now.

So what is a day like at work? 

Well...get up around 8 or so, eat my western style breakfast in my apartment (orange juice, yogurt, cheerios, and a banana with street food every once in awhile), shower and head down to the front gate of my complex.  There is always much activity in front of my complex...whether it's all the food vendors or the crazy traffic.  From there, a bus comes anytime between 8 40ish - 9ish.  Usually we get the angry bus driver lady.  She always seems to yell stuff, and we assume she is yelling at us foreigners.  I hope one day to make her my best friend in the entire world and melt her iron heart.  Or for all I know, she isn't yelling at us...but what she says, we don't know yet.  I guess when our Chinese gets better, we will figure it out. 

Anyways, our work is about a 5 minute bus ride away...we scan in (we do this several times a day), and head up to the fifth floor to the marketing department, where we (the interns) work.  As you can see, the office is very modern and everyone is very young! Everyone here is super friendly and have helped us a bunch, whether it's working on Chinese, figuring out my hot water heater, or what was going on with my cell phone bill (thanks Breanna).

What does work consist of?  So far, it's been assisting in translating various documents (such as FAQs) to "proper" English (as things get lost in translation), market research on various websites and products, as well as writing product descriptions for things such as dog products to car GPS systems.  Skype is always on (and I've probably chatted to you.  Yes!  You! ) as there is a lot of file transfers going on in the office and group chats on various things at work. 

At noon, we head down to the cafeteria for lunch.  Meals have more or less been the same, with slight variations.  Rice is always there, as well as potatoes, lots of vegetables, tofu, chicken, beef, pork, fish, and soup.  I have had no issues with it so far, and I enjoy the simplicity of it...so far. 

Once 1pm hits we head back to work...on the first floor of our building, there is a snack shop that is open during lunch that stocks a number of goodies that I indulge in every once in awhile.  More work for the afternoon, and then when 540ish rolls around...we have a couple of options.  We can grab dinner here at the cafeteria, whether to take home or to eat quickly, or we wait until 6pm and head out after work.  Tonight, for example, we will head into the city to eat some supper. 

I feel like I'm rambling here, so I will wrap things up.  It's hard to believe that two weeks have already passed since I left home.  Things are going awesome so far and the more we get settled in and familiar with each other, the better it will be!  We are a great group and have a lot of fun...and there will be more interns arriving shortly!  Very excited and curious to see how things will turn out with their arrival. 

So this weekend...Andi will be moving in with me, as the company wants the interns together, so there will be a housewarming party for that.  We have found a bar on Saturday that will celebrate St Pattys day, so we will traverse there and have a good night.  Next post will be sometime early next week to give an update of how things have been going here, amongst other topics, such as driving and different aspects about Chinese culture.  Take care and enjoy!

Hello again.  So now that I all got all the pictures sorted out, I feel I can now make this blog post.  Anyways...

So how have things been?  They have been swell.  Outstanding.  I got my swagger back about a week ago, so I've been in a great mood all the time more or less.  Nothing is set in stone, however, but for now, things are just rolling.  Work has been going really well!  I love the office, the look to it, how friendly everyone is, the lunch and dinner they provide, the angry bus driver woman who brings us to work each morning...there is much to discuss!  In the next day or so, I will do a blog post about work and more what it entails.  For now, I will continue writing about other things.

So what have we been up to as of late?  Things have been a bit of a blur...so it's hard to say.  Thursday night (I think), we went to Helen's which is a western style bar, and met up with the other interns who are Tianjin for different internships.  It's a nice place to go to every once in awhile to enjoy some western food and a western feel...it does a pretty good job at it!  Most of the people who were there were locals, so it was an interesting mix. 

Friday after work, we went back to my place (the penthouse, as it has been referred to), and we sat around playing the sticky head game...for lack of a better name (that's what google shows), where someone rights a name of a person (fiction or non-fiction) on a sticky note and puts it on your head.  You then ask a series of questions until you can get it right.  It's great fun and it was another good bonding session with all of us. 

Saturday was a bit of a split day...Elise and Kerim went to Beijing in the afternoon for the rest of the weekend, some went shopping, while Andi and I went to go to the ocean...or at least attempted to.  More research should have been done because there really wasn't a good way there, but it was somewhat amusing and we had quality bro bonding time.  Later that night, we went to Jon and Akio's (other interns here) and had a few drinks and went out for awhile.  All in all, it was a fun night, even if the wind was howling and made things incredibly cold. 

Sunday was another split day for awhile, as Iliada and Andi went to go make dumplings with Breanna from work, and Kerim and Elise were still Beijing.  Nghia and I took this time to sleep in a bit and I caught up with some quality time on Skype with the parents (HI MOM AND DAD) before we headed to the city center.  We found a little alleyway in the shopping district with some smaller restaurants that were cheap and soooo tasty...I don't know why it was, but it was quality stuff.  We met up later with Andi, Iliada, and Kerim and went to the Ancient Culture District, which was very cool and...ancient.  Afterwards, we took a look at the Tianjin Eye, which is very cool!  We will definitely head back there in the future as a group to go up on it. 

Monday after work we went to a gym we found with reasonable rates...it's pretty funny that just a couple of levels down there is a KFC.  We tried it out and it seems like a good place, but we haven't decided yet if we want to go to it.

So I think I've run out of steam now as far as typing goes...I'll let the pictures posted do the rest of the talking.  I will posting again in the next couple of days about how things are at work here, and other various quirks that exist in China.  再见!

I'll leave you with this groovy song...youku is what we used as there is no access to YouTube here. 

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQ1NTk0NTY0.html

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I guess this entry is really long.  Here are pictures to provide a TLDR of various things going on. 

I've given links on the side for other blogs to look at for people also doing internships here in Tianjin.  Be sure to check them out!

Hello Again.

So I think I got this blog all figured out now in the layout and whatnot.  I am happy to say the last couple of days I have not gotten sick at all or felt feverish or anything, so I am more or less all caught up and adjusted with things here. 

The last few days have been victory after victory.  My unlocked phone that I brought from home had issues with SIM cards here, but after about an hour of tweaking and googling solutions, I managed to get it to work!  Afterwards, I celebrated with a nice hot shower, as I also figured out how to get my water-heating tank in my place to work.

So about my place...I have a few photos below...it's quite spacey, and currently I am the only one living there, but that will change soon enough.  Lucked out with a fridge (some of the other interns were not so lucky), having a descent bed and room.  Bathroom smell is now dealt with via air fresheners, and I'm probably also getting used to the smell as well, although it's not like I am in there that often.  I picked up some cereal, bananas, and yogurt for breakfast that is a little more like home.  While it is far from the city center, there are plenty of bus choices nearby that are very inexpensive in comparison to what it costs back home. 

After work, we never go home right away, but head around the city a bit.  We have explored around, and managed to find a gym that we can make use of (amounts to about $10 canadian/month), and have received Chinese lessons the last few days.  On Tuesday, we went to a cafe in the Magnetic City and had a lesson with Jerry, who is a very cool cat.  Yesterday after work, we went into the city to a KFC (no, I didn't eat anything) and met up with some of the other interns: Akio from Calgary, Jon from Buffalo, United States, and Ilyana from Russia.  They have all been here quite a bit longer than us and are working different internships.  We met with some of their friends, and had another Chinese lesson with Mancy (if you read this, thank you very much once again).  It's a good spot, and it's funny that just above the KFC is the gym that we will probably use. 

Not sure what else to talk about at the moment...I just write as I go and don't proofread at all.  Anyways, in the next post or so I'll show and discuss more about work, what I do, and what it's like.  The weekend is coming up soon and there will be a lot of fun adventures for us to experience during that time.  So with that, I bid thee farewell. 

Hello there.  So I've had issues with getting access to my wordpress blog, so I've switched over to weebly, which I must say is much better.  Anyways...

So I have been here for 5 days now, and things have been quite the blur.  I arrived late Friday night in Beijing, and my buddy from AIESEC, Iris (who is a real sweetheart) picked me up from the bus station in Tianjin and took me to a motel for the night.  After a great sleep, she picked me up the next morning to get my phone and internet set up, and then took me to my apartment.  It is very spacey to say the least (I will put photos up of the place in a future post) and currently do not have a roommate.  I met the other interns for my internship at LinkySense: Elise from Canada, Andi from Switzerland, Illiada from Greece, Nghia from Denmark, and Kerim from Germany.  It was great to have everyone here before me, as they are well-versed in the area and helped making adjusting that much easier.

Which brings to the issues of adjustments...my body is almost fully recovered from all the wear and tear of travel and living in a completely different area.  Spending time with the other interns has kept me busy and moving, which makes adjusting here that much easier.  It also makes sleeping at night much easier...I more or less fall on the bed, maybe check my laptop for a bit, and then get a good night's rest. 

On Sunday, we went to Beijing for the day, and had quite the experience there.  We took the high speed train from Tianjin, took what felt like a billion transfers on the Beijing metro and buses, had an amusing incident with a street vendor, and going to the Temple of Heaven.  It was very cool to say the least, and we will defiantly be visiting Beijing a lot during our time here.

Work at Linky Sense is awesome!  We have a shuttle bus that picks us up from our complex and takes us there in about 10 minutes.  While it is somewhat far away from the city center, the facility is top notch!  Linky Sense is an ecommerce company that sells primarily furniture through various channels across the world.  They have hired multiple interns, from various areas around the world to get a better focus on that aspect of the world.  Some of us are doing things for the english channels, while others are doing work for other languages and cultures.  Everyone is very young here and very friendly, and we are provided lunch and dinner which have been great so far! 

There is much to discuss and post about, but for now I wil end this post.  It seems very disjointed right now, but that's more or less how my last few days have felt.  Take care and I hope you enjoy the blog!  You can email me at [email protected] or reach me on skype@ paul_lopushinsky