nis

22.11.09

2009-11-21T05:14:00.000-08:00

the night sky

is black and red

and little white lights everywhere.

I know your light

is out there too.

somewhere far away

where I cannot touch

and see you anymore

please don't tell me

that you can't come back

tell me it was all a dream.

Brisbane Sky

2008-09-12T05:12:00.001-07:00

Brisbane

2008-09-12T04:41:00.000-07:00

mass studies

2008-08-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

www.massstudies.com

Beijing

2008-05-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

22.03-24.03

Trip to Beijing was interesting. We didn’t know about it until 2 days before, details not until the night before. Unsure of what we’re doing exactly in Beijing, full of plans and excitement, we leave at 8am in the morning. Turns out we are going with Max, and it seems to be some sort of a business trip..ok some quick points as the trip was not much of a trip to be honest.
Business class- who would’ve expected? it was so comfortable and the flight just seemed too short, didn’t want to get off.

the commoners are at the back...suckersss!

check out my leg room...aahhh

sweet service

Sightseeing- first impression of Beijing is that it’s polluted and grey, just like Chengdu. have not realised the scale of Beijing yet.
the Olyimpic stadia- water cube, bird nest, CCTV, the national theatre… have never seen so many large-scale starchitect projects, very exciting and fulfilling.. all are pretty amazing and it’s always so cool to see the buildings and spaces designed by big names in person…my favourite is the watercube the technology involved and the concept is brilliant, but too bad we didn’t get to see it at night in action…it’s like spotting a celebrity…yay! tianamen square(outside of it) we didn’t have time to go inside to see the tomb or visit the forbidden city, dunb…then ‘japanese’ lunch at a local mall which I actually really appreciated since we’d been having so much Chinese food….. sites r all far apart, what a pain! Beijing is huge.

CCTV tower-oma

The opera house aka. The duck egg or something?

I'm not sure of Paul Andreu would have been happy about this interior to the opera house..hmm.

The Watercube and the Nest

Inspiration is found everywhere..
Hard working men
Beijing underground...
What we saw of Tianemen square...Chairman Mao..

Met Roger at airport then 2 hour drive in a massive Cadillac jeep thingy, on Chinese motorway, through trucks, rain and flood.
Arrive at Langfang, Shengfang? Staying the nite at a 2 star lihua hotel. more like country motel. ok… Yet another banquet dinner meeting Max’s clients, introduction, and all that toasting bullshit that they always do. I HATE this toasting business, it’s the worst part of the job. It was cool the first couple of times but the more you participate at these dinners, you notice that people are fricken pretentious, they just do it to please themselves/the client or whatever…why toast someone when all you want is to work for them, you might not even like them? It seems so inappropriate but that’s how it works around here, that’s fine, but don’t expect me to go around toasting everyone and start dancing around in ktv’s.
wine after dinner, chat then sleep.

our '2'star hotel room

The country town was so cool...

Sunday- gross Chinese breakfast.
Boring meeting with the chairman guy of max’s 5 star lihua project…didn’t last long, but boring! can’t believe we’re waisting time in the waps near Beijing, and NOT in Beijing…
Site visit to the hotel construction site. Interesting to know how the Chinese go about the construction process. first time on a project site since 3rd year… good.
Banquet Lunch… nuff said.

Drive back to Beijing… not sure what to do because no one knows anything but we go to houhai where the hutongs are, sit at a café sipping terrible coffee and rest for awhile.
Drive to LAN bar by Phillipe starck…drinking the usual Jacob’s creek, amazing place… interior decoration at its craziest… fun, stylish, sophisticated, kitschy, humourous, starck. Even the toilet is so luxurious…Loved it.
Back to airport..amazing new place by Foster! seen so many great works by famous architects on this trip and although the whole motive of being brought here still pisses me off… Max using our faces/culture/english… the whole trip cost me 5 yuan, literally….sweet

Thoughts from work

2008-05-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

17.03.08
Last night I was working on the Xichang commercial villas, copying the style of this ugly image from another place (The request is now somewhat-European). It’s something I would never have designed myself, and to be honest copying someone else’s (nasty) image and presenting it as my own concept is something I definitely do not want to be doing for the rest of my career, which I fear is what Aodi likes to do. The funny thing is that this joke of an image will probably be better received by the chairwoman than something I have actually worked for.
I know that meeting the client’s taste is a part of the design business, I mean client satisfaction is very important. However the chairwoman’s tastes have so far changed from Modern International, Modern Asian, North European to Who Knows What. Aodi wants this project as it is a significant one, but as a design company I feel that they should be offering the client more options, to show them what we have do for them, rather than just playing safe and showing the same old ‘modern’ Chinese crap or whatever that they are building everywhere here. As a design firm they should have a stance that they are trying to accomplish through their clients and their design, and A@#$i lacks any of that. It all comes down to this bad management, not being organized enough to cohesively plan this design process/presentation so that we are showing the client our maximum potential as designers/business. For my own account, I feel that I can do more than just copy some bad-taste copycat building, I have more to offer to the company, not talking as if what I have to offer is the best, but if they have the international staff on board in order to ‘internationalise’ the company they should utilize our abilities, but they are stuck in their Chinese syndrome, the boss always ends up doing what he wants, and we all know that bosses are seldom right. What is the point of having capable people on board if you’re not going to use them.
That’s what I wonder about China when I think about staying, do I really want to this for the rest of the year, well I might consider it if I was getting lots of dosh(!!) for it. RB says take it all as an experience and what would you be doing if you weren’t here… well that’s true, I guess if I wasn’t here I might have been still looking out for that ‘right’ job with the company that has their confidence in design, and hopefully have been working there…or more likely working in a job that I could find ASAP and designing doors as Llllodjia says. China is definitely an experience, but I like to think that if I wasn’t here, I would have been making my landmark somewhere else… instead of wasting away doing ‘north-modern-european-asian’ shit. Today is the final presentation for Xichang, we’ll see how it goes…

We’re an hour late to the presentation. During presentation we are told to change the brick material which we were told to apply to our building. What the hell.

I am 'NOT' a fashion model_Beggar’s Chicken

2008-05-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

15.03.08

Sunday- sleep in! Need some stuff sent over from NZ as China is either cheap/crap or expensive/decent-ish. Visit to Maximus’ office- tidier than Aodi I suppose, but still average, looks like a really badly designed corporate office, not a ‘design’ agency. Clean, western toilets though!

Some sort of a strange photo shoot with a ‘famous photographer’ who very unprofessionally brought his spoilt son (who kept interfering with his dad’s work, trying to take photos, cried, was annoying in general. He was going to be treated to KFC after the shoot if he’s a good boy apparently…good to see his enthusiasm in photography, but it is evident that he is just a bratty, annoying product of the one child policy generation (ie a spoilt fat only child) for Max’s company profile/promotion. Strange we did not get told about this earlier, but apparently it has been organized with ZZ… but we don’t even work for Max?? This we realized was a bad idea later on and should have refused to do it but didn’t even realize it at the time….stupid! Now we are in some average-designed brochure to for Max’s company and we don’t even work for them nor have we been asked to do any work for Max as he promised… Had a look at some of Max’s projects, mostly hotels and some commercial buildings. Strong Chinese flavour/some modern aspects, he seems to be proud of them.

Beggars chicken for dinner, 1 hr drive out from Chengdu for this?? The clay-baked chicken was ok but all the other dishes were a bit too Sichuan-ese for my taste. Afterwards Lotus Palace in Jinly st for wines… outside is a tea house setting while inside is a kitschy club with live pop music! (for wannabe popstars as it seems, apparently this place is famous for producing them, which is pretty cool) Interesting Sunday night overall.

view from Maximus' office

Chengdu brightness

Beggar's chicken
All that red-Sichuan goodness

Lotus Bar

Pretty Jinli St at night...

Back in NZ

2008-05-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

So I've been back in New Zealand for about 3 weeks now... and as most people (hopefully) know there was the devastating earthquake in Chengdu 2 days after we left. We got away in time, thank god! Watching the earthquake on TV is hard because it's so strange to think it's so close to where we were only a few weeks ago, and I mean although the people I know are all safe, they were all affected by it in some way, and still are...it's so crazy and I'm so sorry that it happened...
However this unfortunate event and the aftershocks that follow through it means that our departure for the next 3 months are delayed, and I'm sitting at home waiting for news of what's gonna happen! I think they do want us back still, it's just a matter of when, waiting for the earquake stuff to calm down, obviously.
I think I would still like to give China another go for 3 months, then see if it is really for me...so yup in the meantime I'm just taking an extended holiday...all good I suppose...hmm. It's good to be back in NZ definately, although I miss the dynamics of China, NZ still is home and I love it here...In the meantime I'll take some time to post some of the other stuff I wrote while I was in China, cos now I have unlimited(!) time to do so...

Last night in Chengdu

2008-05-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

09.05.2008

This is our last night in Chengdu...thank freakin god. Need a break from China land. I've grown to like China, more than I thought I would, but yea so much has happened and so much going on in my mind that it would be great to have some time away from here. Plus gotta go back to get the piece of paper that I slaved 4 years for, finally.

What have I been up to since I last wrote on this blog? Well a lot has happened but kinda hasn't at the same time. Workwise, not too bad, another trip to Kunming was made, an intense weekend of working in a tiny, crappy hotel room, the presentation went ok it seemed but apparently the client didn't have enough budget for the proposals we made so not going ahead. a-huh, shouldn't Raoul have known about this beforehand? Anyway, apart from that we've been working to finish off the office so that we will have at least one project done here, oh yea and bloody JINKAI... The name alone makes me shudder with disgust everytime I hear it now, just as Xichang used to...argh. More to be explained on Jinkai later but basically the boss wants to make a weirdly-shaped floor plan building into an organic spiral building... something that requires exquisite engineering/thought/process/skills/basically impossible to be done at this place, ARGH!! Has been emotionally and psychologically draining 2 weeks or so, situations and circumstances have changed and a lot of thinking has been going on. Feel like I've aged 10 years in the last few weeks, I feel old and drained and middle aged and tired which is why it's good to be away.

There has been an offer for another 3 months of work in Chengdu. ( well we think there is an offer, yet to see the contract, but this is A#%#di after all, things are never on time/organised here) Basically RB has left for Shenzhen, so we're kinda left by ourselves to see how the next 3 months here go. The pay is still pretty crap but I guess it's one of those 'money or experience' kind of opportunity. Another chance to see if this really is the best opportunity we could ever have. Have some time to think and discuss with the family etc but I guess the ultimate decision is up to me.

NZ is apparently quite cold at the moment so it's good to be away from the heat, and will give me a clear head and focus. Looking forward to catching up with family, eating my mum's homemade food, catching up with friends and classmates at graduation to hear everyone's stories and share stories of dear china.... The last 3 months definately have been the most crazy, frustrating, fun, exciting, annoying, amazing, strange, FAN-tastic time ever...zai jien Chengdu, it's been interesting to say the least, until next time...

Raaaaaoul

2008-04-23T19:28:00.001-07:00

22.04.2008

Raoul is a bloody idiot…he’s the most indecisive, mind-changing, insufferable person I have ever met in my life, the most frustrating I hope to never come across someone like this again, ever… ok this is an exaggeration, he's a nice person, but as a Boss he's got a long way to go....
Today was a reasonably straightforward day at work until he came around, we went to the site of the new office and did some more site analysis (I know this should have been carried out way before but this was the first time we weren’t rushed and had time to make some proper observations…and apart from minor changes due to existing plumbing etc it all went well…until Raoul comes around mid-afternoon, has a brief look at the design, and decides that he wants to put in his 2 cents, yet again!

Last week before RB and ZZ left for Italy we decided together with Raoul the final spatial arrangements for the office and we had it all OK’d, yet he decided to make some more changes today. It’s not even big changes, because it’s not hard to change stuff but the point is that I don’t even think that he thought these changes were necessary, he thought as a boss, he can’t just let us do the work, he’s got to tell us what to do, and of course his idea we should carry out because he is the boss, we must do as he says. F*&*^n hell. He just felt the need to say something and change whatever we had done, just for the sake of it. They are stupid changes, they don’t even make sense and have no real purpose whatsoever, but we must change according to him, we tried to argue with him that time for his personal changes are over, we had it all done, no changes, but he would not have it, and we pretty much have to deal with it… after all this is the office for his company and he is paying for it, but still its fuckin frustrating that someone is this adamant about his own thoughts and must have his way. Stupid Chinese boss syndrome, so over it. I mean he doesn’t mean it any harm he does all this with smiles and empty talk about teamwork, but he’s the one who doesn’t know anything about teamwork, we all try but then he comes around and just goes over everything that everyone else has done. I can’t imagine working in this environment longtime, things have got to change if he wants us to come back because fuck this, I’m out because I’ll just be wasting away doing ‘Raoul’ designs, not learning anything just doing boring, gay things that Raoul wants to do. He has no sense of teamwork, he cannot listen to other people’s ideas and he is just so stupidly stubborn…he is like a child, he will only have his own way. This is so not the way a boss should be, yet there he is. The other designer just do whatever he says because they are shit scared that they will lose their job if they don’t. But you can tell that they are so over it, but they won’t do anything about it. It sucks watching them go through with this, at least we have other places to go to, china is not our last stop if it doesn’t suit us, but this is all they have for them and it is shit. We as internationals came to A&*di to change these things around here but with a Boss like Raoul it is not as easy as it seems…he knows all of this but he just cannot let go. He can’t let others think for themselves, he doesn’t let them design…well there’s no point really because he will come around at the end of the day and just change everything anyway, and I think the others have realised this by now. F^&*k working like this for life. So we half agreed that we will make the changes whatever, but it’s just so tiring dealing with him…he’s emotionally exhausting because he’s so into it and you just know that it’s so stupid but you can’t do anything about it, you just end up trying to argue, get nowhere, get exasperated and just end up doing whatever he says. This has to change for A&*di, it’s not just China, this is A&*di. Welcome to A&*di.

p.s. The following day, (yesterday) we had a meeting with Raoul...in conclusion, he's just a work-crazy, spastic, insecure boss who doesn't know how to trust people and how to let others do work as well... he knows all this very well and wants to change, but doesn't mean that bringing these changes is easy for him. Like I said, he's a nice person...and he knows that his way of running the business is not the best for him or the company. We'll see what happens in the next 2 and 1/2 weeks, Farz said Talk is Cheap, which is SO true especially here... so they can only talk so much, I want to see some proof that changes are coming, or at least trying.

Recent Shenanigans

2008-04-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

21.04.2008
ARGH!!!!

I know I am supposed to catch up on the past events but really need to VENT!!!
Today was another frustrating day at work. First of all, when we went into the administration to check whether they had contacted the Sun Dynasty group (the site of the new office) to double check the parameters for the plumbing etc, they hadn’t done it.. this information was very crucial to us to finalise the design, we asked them this on Thursday so they had like 4 days to sort this out, but being the useless bunch of stupid girls they are, they obviously hadn’t even tried, and only when we hassled them a few times they tried to contact the building management… well it was all well until we discovered that we didn’t have a proper translator for today!!!

Jia, Raoul’s daughter who was supposed to be available for us on call until we got a new translator, was unavailable today when we really needed her, so this was no good… we talked to Mr Lee who is the services expert, with the help of a fellow designer Fong who has little English… with Fong and the on line translator we kind of communicated to Mr Lee and solved the problem…thanks technology! This Mr Lee was an on to it guy thankfully and he understood the problem and what we were talking about so it was ok, but it would have been better to have a proper translator on hand so that we can get everything crystal clear! When we addressed the problem of having no translator to Raoul he once again kind of ignored us and walked away… WTF??? Ok so we were a bit frustrated at this situation (as you would be, having to work in an environment where you can’t communicate to the others) He obviously got frustrated himself and didn’t know how to address the problem when we confronted him, and when he didn’t have any comebacks or remarks like he usually does (because he KNOWS that he’s wrong but can’t/won’t admit it) he just goes away… this is our boss, he acts like a child when he doesn’t know what to do.

I feel like we’re the only adults in this unorganised environment, these people need to sort themselves out before trying to improve the company or anything! Sick of people that ignore problems, people who are stuck in this damn boss syndrome because it is so stupid, the boss is obviously not always right, but everyone is just so scared of losing their stupid face they just choose to live with it and just complain/cause problems behind other people’s back. BE HONEST! Problems will always be there no matter what so deal with it, find the best way to solve it. This boss thing is starting to get me, especially when it’s a hopeless case like Raoul, honestly it’s hard to think what can be done about it as we’ve tried so hard already. No wonder people like Li undermine Raoul because they know how to, and Raoul is too scared/afraid of confronting Li’s faults because he is scared of losing face. Geez! Get over yourselves…!!! At least Li will say his mind (or he pretends to, don’t know how to trust anyone around here)… This is actually a good life lesson I guess, how not to run a business and how not to treat to other people and how not to deal with problems... only china will teach you this, so I’m just watching, observing and taking it all in.

Loudai

2008-04-18T23:40:00.000-07:00

15.03.08
Today we met Dee at the Chengdu bus station, and caught the bus to Loudai… not sure what this is yet, Dee says a touristy place where it’s famous for lots of yummy food? She is quite determined to try the famous ‘Crying Jelly’ there, apparently named so because it makes your eyes tear because it’s so spicy…! I have an unpleasant feeling that this ‘spicy’ dish will no doubt feature the infamous Sichuan pepper spices…

Chengdu Bus station

The bus to Luodai is about an hour ride, we are luckily seated at the back but some latecomers unfortunately have to squat on small stools in the aisle…Dee says that this is usually illegal, but the bus driver is just trying to make some extra cash.

Today it is drizzling with rain, the rain in Chengdu must not be as polluted as I thought, as not many Chinese people bother with umbrellas. It’s not heavy rain, but I thought more people would use umbrellas… The bus ride is very bumpy and rather like a rollercoaster, but eventually we arrive safely at a small town…it seems rather deserted and I’m wondering what we’re doing here, it doesn’t look much of a destination at all… however, as we walk through more muddy alleyways, pass some dodgy looking toilets and turn a few corners, we suddenly walk into a flood of people walking up and down a long street of small shops and vendors of various goods and eats, and it feels like a totally different town.

This is the Luodai markets. It's like Jinli street except bigger, more Chinese and more raw…there are people wearing flower bands on their heads which looks pretty, and lots of strange and delicious snacks waiting to be tried.

There are lots of colourful shops selling thousands of little trinkets, I am tempted to buy some but Dee says let’s look at other places and compare prices! The asian women really know how to bargain, I should have this nature in me but I think having been raised in NZ it is not really a skill of mine…

The rain dampens the mood a bit but we tried to keep trucking. We tried many different kinds of food, like fresh coconuts, deep fried whole crab (eat the shell as well), spicy venison skewers, vege pancakes, spicy chicken wings and the ‘famous’ Crying Jelly…

It was indeed immersed in those distinct Sichuan spices, and I couldn’t handle more than two bites of the mouth numbing spice…the texture of the Jelly was strange, but most of all I cannot stand the Sichuan pepper flavour. It’s not the hotness, but something funky about the Sichuan pepper flavour which I can’t tolerate…on the other hand, the deep fried crab was rather good. So in conclusion, some were good but some pretty awful! So had lots of fun browsing shops and snacking all day at Luodai, after that we went to visit the Sichuan Normal University which is where Dee lives and studies. This university is apparently famous for beautiful, stylish girls, and cheap, tasty foods? The campus is big and there are so many people there even though it’s a rainy Saturday afternoon, but like most other places in Chengdu the buildings look very institutionalized and characterless, only colours there are, are the grey of the buildings and the green of the vegetation.

The thing you can’t escape from China is, that wherever you are, there are so many people there with you. You can’t get away from people, whether you are in the city or the country. Every bit of space seems to be occupied by people, and sometimes I just want to look somewhere and see just the scenery and no people. I am not a phobic person however the number of people here does sometimes make me feel claustrophobic even when I’m in a big open public space.
Dee’s dormitory did not sound pleasant by the way she described it to us previously, and having visited it only confirmed it… 8 bunk beds in a tiny room, with about a 1.5m gap between…and a smelly squat toilet and a small balcony with washing basin outside. The room is jam-packed with 8 people’s worth of stuff, it’s so crowded and so small/dirty compared to my spacious bedroom I had in my first year of university. Dee’s been here for the last 3 years, and I don’t know how she manages it…she says they pay very little, but I wonder if there are any students in NZ who live in these sorts of conditions… It makes me feel very lucky to be a New Zealander once again, me who complained about the occasional moth in the showers in the hostel, while these girls have to collect their daily supply of hot water in a thermos to wash themselves in who knows where. The living standards vary so much here in China, but I guess when you think about it realistically, with 1.3 billion to feed and house, not everyone is going to be able to live in nice clean houses. Nevertheless, I’m so happy that Dee is going to Australia!
We met two of Dee’s friends at ‘Southgate’ the place where most students go to have cheap dinner on weekends. We went to a small Chinese restaurant, and had non-spicy but delicious dishes… after a day of eating spicy foods, my stomach wasn’t feeling to well… so I stayed away from the Sichuan inspired dishes tonight… Today was quite fun for me, and it’s good to know that there are places all around Chengdu to explore, which I should be doing more often…but everyday I spend here makes me think about whether I really want to stay here or not, and I still can’t decide… besides the actual work and lifestyle of China there are personal things to consider and it doesn’t make it any easier. Chengdu can be fun if you know where to go I guess, and if you know people. Making friends is harder that I thought though, perhaps I should join a language class…

Friday Night Chengdu

2008-04-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

14.03.08

Work was rather slow today… was working on a second concept for the new office, then of course a new project given at 3pm, due for Monday’s final presentation for the dreaded Xichang. This time we are only to come up with an aesthetic image, pretty much just copying the style of the photograph we have been given and apply it to a new but similar building… the townhouse featured in the photograph has tall arch gates and stone walls, along with flame lit outdoor lights and other things kitschy…seems that the Chairman’s taste has changed once again, from Modern, to Modern Asian, to Modern European, and now who knows what. This client-driven mode of working is not efficient, Raoul always changes the work according to his taste or the clients, wasting the work on a project that he doesn’t even know he’s going to get. Oh well, work is work!

Follow the leader...

Tonight we went to the Shamrock for dinner, was looking forward to the Tomato Soup which I saw on their menu on line but they didn’t have it there, so settled for Spaghetti Bolognaise…It was pretty good... (but this was my first pasta in China so might not have been.) We’ve been to a few expatriate hangouts now, I find these places strange because everyone seems to know each other, and have their little ‘cliques’ Before I thought oh there’s not many foreigners in Chengdu, they must be friendly however this proved to be quite the opposite, everyone seems to be immersed in themselves…hmm. Strange place. Went to a department store which sells Prada Boss etc, it felt like a department store in Japan (except for the squat toilets, in Japan there would’ve been Bidets but this is Chengdu!

at 'Teenie Weenie'

Bits and Pieces

2008-04-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

16.04.2008
Little things from the first month or so...

Our apartment on TZLu..

hmm... a local cat in a cage...

Chunxi Lu, where the riches

and rags are side by side in its extremeties.

Pretty street shot of Yulin

Not so pretty, street butcher

Toni and Guo... perhaps a franchise of Toni and Guy? not! It sure doesn't cost as much (15RMB=full service haircut incl 2 washes massage and senior hairdresser)

If you get hungry from all this excitement you can always find tasty bullfrog at your local supermarket...

China, Indian food, Tibet

2008-04-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

13.03.08

Today was another fun day at work, working out spaces for the office. It’s amazing how fast the ‘concept’ design progresses over just a few days, when at school this would be a 4 week project! I have more or less resolved the first design, and can’t wait to get started on another one tomorrow. It really is satisfying designing for people and for a proper brief (which I must write up properly some time) although I keep reminding myself that I must not be too precious about the work, as RB puts it. Which is true, obviously not all that I design is going to be useful/likeable/feasible. So I try to keep an open mind about it all while trying to do my best.

A funny thing I must say about our working situation is, although the Company is trying to bring new management system to the design process through ‘teamwork’ I feel that our little twosome is not really able to achieve that on our own…most of the time so far we are working on our own, working on our own concept then presenting it to see which parts work best. Now this is ok, but I feel that I’m left to do my own designs, and not that much team work is applied here apart from some discussions. It’s a different scenario I guess with the limited work we are able to do due to the language barrier, but I still feel more communication/collaboration is needed between the Chinese designer and our own little ‘international’ clique, for example it was a good team effort when Farz designed the exterior of the villa, while I did the interior. At the moment, we are working on one concept each… I don’t know, I’m still learning over here so I just do my job!
We also had a good chat with our Chinese translator Dee about life and other things, just anything and everything… it’s good to hear a Chinese be so honest about things and innocent at times, as Dee is. The Chinese are very ‘shy’ although this is a lame excuse for the office people now that we have been here for 3 weeks, and no longer strangers. Dee is different, she opened up to us on our first few days and I feel that although at first we are still getting to know each other, now we trust each other enough to talk about serious things. She has a very Chinese perspective of life but in a young and refreshing way. She is serious about life but finds humour and beauty in it. She is a bright girl and I really hope her time in Australia is going to benefit her and fulfill her dreams. I’m going to miss her when she leaves.

After work we went to ZZ’s because her friend Maximus who owns an interior company specializing in hotels all over china, wanted to see our work to see if we’re suitable to do some part time work for him. The prospect of more design work is of course always appealing, so we head over there and show Maximus some academic projects from university and some work we have done for the Company already. He seems impressed, he has 3 exciting hotel projects hopefully coming up his way so I’m excited and hopeful that we’ll be able to do concept design for him! It’s quite nerve racking showing other people your work, you never know if they are going to like it or not. He seemed to like it, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked, so yay!
Off we went to an Indian restaurant called Caracas for dinner… of course the chefs were all Chinese, but the taste was quite authentic (speaking from a non-indian pov) and it was a very nice break from Sichuan cuisine! Curries, fragrant rice and garlic naan…beautiful. there was a little monk boy begging among the people dining, which was strange. Should monks be begging? and Why is a little boy begging? Times like this I really wonder about China. Then off to the Bookworm for a bottle of Chile wine (not as good as jacob’s creek I’m afraid) and talking about Tibet and other things. Maximus is partly Tibetan and seems to know a bit about the culture, its somewhat matriarchic culture, and the Tibetan race being one of the 3 superior races as appointed by Hitler among other things, (hmm) which he shared with us and was quite interesting. I’m really interested in Tibet also and hoping for a chance to visit there one day…

p.s. All this is just before the Tibetan riots...more to be revealed about Maximus later...

Hitting the 3 week mark

2008-04-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

11.03.08
At the moment we’re working on the fitout for the new office. X-Lake is put aside for now, I hear that the final submission is on Friday however not much we can do about it, seems that Raoul is taking care of it. X sounds like a goner, not much hope of getting the project it seems, but perhaps this will teach Mr Raoul. (in a non-arrogant way) to re-review his managerial skills!

I guess the difference between working on the X-Lake villas and the office fitout is, for we were designing purely for the client(the mouth-clicking billionnaire), purely aesthetic (which was what was required)… with keywords such as ‘modern asian’ with a bit of ‘modern european’ and even ‘north american’ at the last minute, one can imagine the look of interior design that comes under such headings…therefore I would be embarrassed to show anyone what I produced for this part of the project, modern asian interior decoration- this was actually hard because it is perhaps the first time I have ‘decorated’ an interior using furniture and materials, and it is a discipline on its own. Maybe I have bad taste, I’m not sure because I don’t really know much about this area. Within the short time we had for this deadline it was more about getting the work done, and I do hope in future I’ll get another chance at this, it was actually quite fun… but interior decoration as a discipline is to be discussed later on.

A shot from the X-Lake project

For the new office we have created the brief ourselves from our experience here, looking at current design offices, and from the list of ‘spaces’ required by the Company. Basically we are trying to create a better environment to increase productivity as well as make people enjoy working here. From the surveying of the designers at the office, it seemed that the designers want better working conditions, so we have been working on the right track. This project is working well because of following the systematic design process: we brief, we look at the problem, find some concepts, check that this is what the client wants, confirm, then design. So far we are working on the spatial layout/configuration of the various spaces of the office before getting too much into the aesthetics of the design. Within a strange shape floor plan which costs between 13000-14000rmb per sq m, the challenge is to utilize every sq m efficiently so that no space is being ‘wasted’ while creating a working space which looks good, works well spatially and reflects the presentation of a design agency. This project is good because we are working towards solving a problem logically then aesthetically, instead of trying to meet the bad tastes of a filthy rich client who wants to make her billions into trillions. Money money money.

View from the new office

China is the place to be right now, if you want to make money. there’s so much of it. RB and ZZ tell us of all the possibilities that could happen if we stayed in China, determined to make it. I’m still thinking. I’m not sure if I want to make money right now. I just want to do some cool designing, and enjoy life. I’m only 22 and have just finished at uni. I’m not sure if I’m ready for life-changing decisions yet… well I have made one by coming too China, this took months of thinking and I’m not sure if I’m ready to do another one. we’ll see. Money or no money? Money’s good. But right now at this point of time in my life I’m not sure if I want to commit myself to making serious money yet…I know I’m very lucky to be in this position and maybe I’m stupid for even reconsidering this… But I’m a simple person and I don’t really have big ambitions for it yet, although it would be nice. It’s only been 3 weeks. We’ll see.

Two cats chilling...I wonder what their dilemmas are.

Neither Laowai nor Chinese

2008-04-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just a thought...

I was born in South Korea. I went to kindergarten and elementary school in Korea, learning maths, English, the piano like any other normal Korean kid… in 1997 my family immigrated to New Zealand, I was 11 at the time when we moved to NZ… So I know a little bit about being in a place where I don’t speak the language and learning ways to fit in/ be a part of the culture.

I learned English pretty quickly (more of a necessary survival skill of life rather than learning for the sake of it) and being a 1.5 generation Asian in the NZ culture it took me a while to come into grips of what my identity is…I've had my moments of trying to fit in too much in the Kiwi culture, it’s only in the last few years I accepted that I AM a Korean in a NZ culture, it’s no use trying to be too white, (a banana) I realized that, obviously I am not fully white, inside and out…

However NZ was easy compared to this, because obviously I look Asian, so no matter what I did, where I was I was an Asian in a multi-cultural, dynamic community… Here in China it’s different. I look Chinese, people speak mandarin to me, but I don’t understand. Tim Pu Ton!! (I don't understand!!) It frustrates me when they speak mandarin to me and I don’t understand a word of it, and they stop and look at me like I’m stupid, and I feel like an idiot.

When I’m on the streets I blend in with the Chinese, which I must admit is nice most of the time, as I like to blend in. For laowais, I’m just another Chinese face among many others. This can be handy depending on the situation, I don’t get as much (in fact, any) attention as the caucasians get here in Chengdu, therefore I won’t be a prime target for muggers (yay) but when comes a time when I need to speak with other people about life in China/Chengdu (like now would be good!) I am just another Chinese person. Appearances do matter a lot, take it positively or negatively, no matter what some people say. Because of my appearance I’m instantly Chinese, despite there being many other Asian ethnicities besides Chinese out there. It is hard to find my ground, not being this or that. Maybe I should just find some Koreans here...

Afterthought: Funny thing is I’ve always been told that I look Chinese, even by Koreans… in fact many Koreans even in NZ would not talk to me because they think I’m Chinese. So the chances are that the Koreans here will think I’m Chinese. Go figure.

Spot the 'hanguodu'

Settling in

2008-03-27T22:46:00.000-07:00

View from the new office

The next day we went to visit the site of our new office. The Company is planning to purchase a whole floor of a newly built office building, and we went to check out the place...the overall construction is nearly finished, and this means a new job for us.. office design! very cool, it will be much better than the one that we're in at the moment. The new office will be on the 15th floor overlooking Chengdu, I can't wait to design a cool office for the designers there and have a better working environment. No squat toilets in the new office!

Another floor of the building... yikes

New office site... all exposed concrete surfaces at the mo, which could work out nicely as a finish...

I feel that the concept for the new office should reflect a modern, international, progressive creative agency which the Company should strive towards, in order to differentiate itself from other chinese architectural firms. At the moment it is just another boring office, where people are bored of their mundane work and the less than favourable working conditions, but hopefully with a new office which is a better place to work for the employees, the work will improve and people will be happier, therefore being more efficient and productive. It's what design is all about, to solve problems and to make life better through design, and for the Company to be able to do this in practice, they need to achieve it from within the people first then this will come through naturally in their work, through design. Through a comprehensive design we change/influence their working systems, and through that the whole culture of work at the company, and the quality of design it produces will reflect this.

That night we had homemade seafood jaoizi for dinner (dumplings), thanks to ZZ and Ricardo who slaved over making these yummy treats while F, RB and I worked some more...this also instantly made life better through its deliciousness...yum!

Good morning Chengdu

2008-03-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

Our first morning in Chengdu was a very foggy one indeed... from our apartment we couldn't see much beyond the nearest building...I've read about this fog/smog problem here but it is actually quite extreme.

We caught a taxi to work which was an experience because firstly we didn't know where work was, so we had to show a card which had the address on it.. and hoping it will take us there! Anyway we made it to work, and I can't quite remember how but managed to find ourselves in our office... The taxis are crazy in Chengdu and they rush and beep and change lanes in the blink of an eye it definately is a necessity that I'm not too keen on...Quick look around the office then we decided it was time to have a bite to eat, RB and ZZ took us to a local expat cafe, the Bookworm:

It's a cool little place which is quite the hub for the local expat community, and gets busy with live music and people in the evenings... I had fried beef noodles there which was quite nice, but I saw the others had some average western meals which I wouldn't want to pay for... hmm.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly, Ricardo, Farz and I brainstormed ideas about the X-Lake project, a multi-million dollar lakefront resort deal which the company is punting for. It was actually a shock to me to be working straightaway so quickly, and concepts are so much harder to come up with when you're put on the spot. I was amazed at the speed that we were expected to be working in, I'm more in grips now but still surprised at how speedy it is in China. You snooze, you lose I guess. We had been briefed 'briefly' about the project beforehand, but to be honest it was harder than I expected...I don't know why, it wasn't any different at uni, we were given a brief, then went away and did some research then by that night or the next day started to think of some concepts...it seemed so natural and easy at the time, this is the same process of design but I'm not sure why I freaked out so much I think it might have been the first day at work thing, maybe it's just getting used to the environment. I hope so. I'm eager to do come up with some brilliant concepts and do some awesome designs, but I need to relax a bit more I think. But it was quite fun working with the other two, it felt like a real design environment, in our little office anyway, apart from the 20-odd CAD operators working away outside, not knowing the first thing about design. I dont' mean for that to sound arrogantly, but it's just the way they've been taught and all they are expected to do at work.

After some hard work and discussions, it was soon time for dinner: RB and ZZ took us to a Hong Kong-style hotpot: now the experience of a hotpot will be revealed later but this was quite different to the Sichuan hotpot. The restaurant was somewhat modern with black interiors, but they had decorated it with pink balloons (why!!)... there was a pot in the middle of the table and in it some sort of a mild-flavoured broth, in which you cook vegetables, meats, seafood, noodles etc... actually the waiter prepares the food for you, one ingredient each time, so it was really nice to try different fresh foods, and it never seemed to end, by the end of it we were stuffed...

So hotpot was fun and delicious, I really recommend this HK-style...not sure about the Sichuan tasting one.

So far Chengdu has been busy and fascinating; everywhere you look there's something to see, everywhere there's people, work is so new and different from uni and I am both excited and challenged by it, every meal is a feast and a treat, and every moment is so different and new and memorable. This is a comment that is often said between us: Welcome to China!

Back to the Beginning

2008-03-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Foreword to the post: I started the blog when I first arrived in China but due to the 'Great Firewall of China', I wasn't able to start blogging until just recently... so I'm starting from the beginning.

Long story cut short, I'm a korean-born New Zealander, I finished my studies at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in Interior Architecture at the end of 2007. What a relief it was to be finished, and eager to gain some experience in the real world, by some chance or fate I found myself in Chengdu on a 3 months contract with a friend from uni.

It was a difficult and scary decision to make, as I've never thought of coming to China before, maybe to travel but was completely unaware of the opportunities here. We were recruited by RB, an experienced architect who works with a Chinese architecture, engineering and 'design' firm, and that's who we're working with for the 3 months... The chairman at the Office felt that he needs the help of some international designers to bring international influences to his company while competing against other Chinese firms, so we are here to 'internationalise' the company. It sounded like such an awesome first gig for a recent graduate (about to graduate soon) so I made my decision to come to China... and so much has happened every since we got here.

Chengdu airport- first steps into Chengdu

On the 20th of February we made our journey here and after about 15 hours of flying and a stopover at Singapore airport we arrived in Chengdu...My first impression of Chengdu was that it was really grey and foggy, surprisingly not cold but otherwise rather quiet... I guess airports don't really give the best impression into the city, but I'm not sure about how I felt the first time, the bleakness of the airport (it wasn't very busy) and the saturated, almost grey scale colours of the city certainly was unusual, and I neither felt really happy or sad, it was kind of a neutral feeling compared to the mixed emotions before flying out from New Zealand.

We soon met ZZ, we'd met her in NZ before so it was good to see a familiar face...ZZ and Maximus (a friend of ZZ) drove us into the city and to Caroline's apartment, as ours was being cleaned for us.

Seeing Chengdu for the first time- so many new apartments, so many cars and people

I called home then we stayed there and chatted while waiting for our apartment, all this time I'm trying to grasp the fact that I'm in China, but being with people who speak English it's not quite real for me yet... At the time moment it feels as if I've arrived here for a holiday, but no doubt that will change soon as we're to start work tomorrow! Time travels fast and soon it was time to go to our apartment to drop the bags off... It's a cool 2 bedroom place which would be rather expensive back in NZ, has a big lounge and a nice view out to Tongzilin Lu which is nicknamed 'Europe City', because of its european inspired buildings and upper market status. This is our home for the next 3 months!

Chengdu and Sichuan province is famous for its food so dinner was our first opportunity to try it...

Dinner included Mapo Tofu (famous in Sichuan), Cold & spicy vegetable noodles (soon to become a favourite), shrimp noodles, fish, beef dish, ham& tofu, vegetables, frog legs (!!) etc etc... In a Chinese style dinner so many dishes are ordered and end up leaving a lot of it... seems to be a waste but RB and ZZ say that's what we're here for so they can order many different dishes and we can help them eat it... haha -.-

hello fishy...

The dinner was delicious and surprisingly I wasn't tired from the long trip... the excitement of being in another country and the excitement of starting my career here I guess. We were joined by Ricardo who's in China for 1 more week, then the five of us went to a nearby cafe for some wine and to get to know one another, the start of many more wines and chats. A different crowd to the people that I'm used to being around with, so I'm still a little bit nervous and uneasy but they try their best to make us feel at home here. This is the beginning of an amazing experience...here I am in China, and day one passes as fast as it began.

A Typical Day at the office

2008-03-20T03:42:00.000-07:00

07.03.08

9.45 arrive at the office

10.00 set up computer, check email

10.05 open the existing plan for the new office, open internet explorer to research some cool designs

10.15 still waiting for web pages to open, thanks to the pathetically slow internet

10.40 Ooh apparently it’s the International Woman’s day today, 100RMB bonus for all the ladies yeeha! They should do this in other countries! I've never heard of this...

10.50 I can here the distinct voice of Raoul (it's an alias: aka 'madman' our Chinese boss), must be back from Kunming… sound stressed

11.05 Raoul walks into the office, dressed up in a suit. Instantly I think uh oh… he announces “This afterlong (noon), Xichang” after a few exchanges we understand that it means that we have the presentation for the Xichang project, this afternoon! (which was supposed to be on Monday, then postponed to next week, now it’s today)

11.15 After a shock recover, start working on the images… nearly finished but was gonna work on them more and make them better in the weekend… rush rush, I hate to rush…

11.30 Can here more loud noises from Raoul, no doubt telling the terrified/frustrated Chinese designers to do this and that in the limited time that we have…

Lunch at work- this time of the day calls for its own blog at some stage...

The afternoon meeting is likely to go on for about 3-4 hours, Dee our translator has been called in to translate for us, she was taking a week off to prepare for her important exam at Uni…
On top of all this radical decision made today, our kiwi boss RB is in Shenzhen for the week, coming back Sunday. He will not be present for the meeting, and did Mr Raoul realize this…? Another clash at the management is to be expected but here’s the bottom line: Another day at work= Another stressful day, just do your job, be prepared for anything, and most of all don’t get involved in Chinese office politics...

The presentation/meeting aka. the Mr Raoul show complete with soundtrack by Chairwoman Tsup, tsup..

The whole thing was a one man deal. Raoul fumbling around the computer looking for files, talking for 2 hours, then another hour argument/discussion between Raoul and the billionaire client( who clicks here mouth like 'tsup, tsup' everytime she talks, along with her 'fashion student' daughter who talks like a man, whose voice is so deep I honestly have doubts whether she's really a girl or not, I mean they have so much money that I wouldn't be surprised if she were actually a man before, but got a bloody good/expensive plastic surgery! ) designers coming in 30 min late with last minute stuff that didn’t even present… along with our designs that didn’t get presented. It really is a performance and you would not know what I mean by this unless you experience it yourself. This is my first job as a designer, but even I know that presentations to the client should not be like this...it is embarassing, frustrating watching him and to be honest, sometimes boring as I don't understand Chinese and the interpretor can only tell you so much.

Raoul needs to let everyone participate in the progress of the projects instead of just telling them what to do, only to find out that the clients aren’t even happy about it… At the end of the day we asked him if we could all be involved with the things that the client wanted us to work on, he says that sounds good, but most likely we will have to adjust to his directions… Questioning whether we will get the project or not, we’ve had 3 chances so far…

The problem is really him, all the other designers are wanting to collaborate in the design process, except that it just ends up being him calling all the shots…It's the Chinese Boss syndrome. He's the boss, the word. He’s all hao hao yaodi yaodi however this needs to be more than talk. we’re talking serious business here, and he’s going to lose it/all of us if this carries on.. this is not the way to run a design business, even if it is China… it’s neither productive or enjoyable. It’s stressful for everyone…

Chunxi Lu-shopping district

But life in China is good despite little things… I mean the work certainly is interesting and exciting, the lifestyle is also. However the extremeness of this country is still hard to get used to… I’ll never forget the blind family begging or the streets or the kid with bruised/battered legs on Chunxi Lu crying for help, across the road from all the Gucci and LV boutiques…life for the poor is hard in China, where as the rich live for the money and consumerism. I don’t know much about socialism or communism but the ‘equality’ for everyone is lost among the Gucci bags through corruption and the love for material goods and money, and it makes you think where you fit in among all this… where is the ground for the middle class? You are either poor or rich in China, even if you started in the middle you must find yourself in one group or the other… and I guess I find myself unwillingly/unknowingly in the rich group just from having come from New Zealand…I’m sitting in an Expat café paying 20 RMB for a carrot juice...in China this will buy me 80 dumplings from a street store, enough to feed me for a few days, but in New Zealand currency this is actually cheap for a carrot juice.

China makes me think in every way possible and sometimes I do think it would be easier to live at home but then experiences and moments like this makes you really wonder where you belong in the world…

Grey Chengdu

2008-02-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

The first morning when I woke up and looked out the window, I could not see much, because of the intense fog/smog overclouding the view of the roads... probably couldn't see 20m ahead... I read that Chengdu doesn't get many sunny days at all, which is very different from NZ...I will have to get used to this, just like everyone here is used to it. So this is a snapshot my first grey morning in Chengdu, looking out from our apartment window:

As I have the internet connection finally sorted out at home I will be updating my blog regularly, starting from day one. So far work is great and challenging, and getting used to life in China. Even managing to say a few mandarin words, but the accent is very difficult... zai jien!

First Impressions

2008-02-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

Chengdu is grey, Chengdu is food, Chengdu is China... for me, Chengdu is the start of an adventure, stepping into this relaxed(?!!) city of teahouses and spices, Chengdu is where I start my career in the design/architecture industry. I never thought I would be living in China, but here I am. I arrived in Chengdu via Singapore at 3pm, Wednesday the 20th of February... almost exactly a week ago! I will be staying in Chengdu until mid May, working at an architectural design firm here...I hope to learn and experience a lot of things from this trip, well what I've seen so far has definately opened my eyes... this is the opportunity of a lifetime for a recent design graduate, gaining valuable experience in the architecture industry (in China, who would imagine!), but I also hope to gain life experience as an individual, finding out more about myself, and see where I fit in(or not) in this global world. First impressions of Chengdu: grey, dusty, wet, cold, loud, tongue-twisting mandarin, spicy food, crazy driving, but above all, very 'Chinese'.