New Zealand Journal Part 2

Tuesday, 18th January 2005

So, eventually got into Auckland Airport at 12 noon, 35 hours after I got up the prior Sunday at 10am. New Zealand is 13 hours ahead of Ireland. New Zealand airport seemed [ ] – lots of décor with wildlife theme. Needed to declare any food/gear. Was absolutely knackered at this stage! Got through the long, hot, humid queue for passport control. Mostly Asians in this queue. Couldn’t hear much Mandarin. Got through there, got bag eventually and got through Customs. All they were worried about were my 3 bars of soap – they showed up in x-ray. Got out and changed money. Arrivals was very crowded. Looked outside and saw Airbus and decided to get it. First impressions – Green, bright sunshine, nice smell of cut grass. This was on way to Auckland. Auckland seemed not short of a few bob. Clean Streets, nice looking shops, lots of hills though! Reminiscent of San Francisco.

So found hostel (XBase Hostel). No Ciara. Was about to text when she jumps on me! Was a bit taken aback!! It had been 6 months since she left but it seemed like she had never been away when I met her there! So, we just went up to 1st Floor internet/TV area and chatted. I went up to the room after that – man they had a lot of luggage! Room was nice. Bunk with double on bottom, en-suite and TV. Tried to rest but difficult. Ciara and Connor came bank and she got me some Malaysian food – a thoughtful thing to do. So, got ready and went upstairs to kitchen area to eat. Nice fried rice and chicken thing.

So, we went downstairs to chat area to greet Connor’s second cousin Anne. She is an English Girl studying Chemistry Masters in Auckland University. Nice girl. She brought us to Sky Tower. Big souvenir shop underneath. Ciara was in heaven! Took lift up to top – glass bottomed for extra scariness. Views from top were cool! Saw sunset there and saw all the Auckland city lights after dark. The patches of glass floor were so cool! Loads of people afraid to walk on them!

After we went to an Irish Bar – O’Carroll’s. Had a pint of something – not so tasty. I was falling asleep at this stage. Got back to hostel and hit the sack. The people watching/singing Grease in the next room were a bit annoying. Slept okay but woke up very early. Very hot/humid in room.

Wednesday, 19th January 2005

Got up late-ish. Surfed web. Got 12 o’clock ferry to Waiheke Island. Big commuter-type ferry. Still knackered. Weather was dull, not very hot. Needed top on. Got to island – sun came out! Got the “Fuller’s” bus to village. Wandered to beach and sat on sand and watched kids digging holes in sand – a pastime over there!! Got bus again to same place beginning with W and then had drink in café. Then caught bus to Surfdock and had some (average) food in Malone’s Irish Pub. Dubliners music was good though! Came back on ferry – bloody windy!

Back to hostel and then got food in Food Alley. Lots of Asian food. Got my Mee Goreng with Chicken – tasty enough but a lot of food and only $7! Met Connor’s Irish buddy later in, guess what, another Irish bar. Dunno the name. Wrecked as well. A lot of talk about GAA!! Snore! No problems sleeping that night but still awake early.

Thursday, 20th January 2005

Got up for 9 and had shower and had my bran flakes and OJ and a bit of pineapple from an American guy. Checked out but waited with bags so the other 2 could go and get the car. Came back and loaded up the car and headed to Foodtown for food and booze (2 boxes of VB cans to be exact). Weather was dull at this stage with a hint of rain. Started the drive north, first across the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Main thing I noticed, a lot like Ireland but very hilly and roads very windy. Stopped off in Dargoville for steak sandwich in Blah Blah Blah Café. Town had that backwater vibe to it. Weather had picked up at this stage. Continued on to the W. Kaori Forest. A lot of tropical looking plants here. And could see the wide, straight trunks of the odd kaori tree. Got to our campsite and got 2 cabins. Bare and a little bit smelly but ok. We went off up the very windy hilly road to the walk area. Went to the 4 Sisters – 4 kauri trees right beside each other. After that, went to the big Kauri tree. Maybe 5m wide trunk. Very impressive. Went to the lookout point where you got a really impressive view of the whole forest. Lovely view of sun setting here. Went back and had our instant noodles and ham sandwiches and a few cans of VB.

Chinese Meetup in Dublin!

This post is a bit overdue, but anyone who reads this blog will have come to expect that from me!

Way back when (some time in 2004 or 2005 I think), I tried to find stuff in Dublin for Chinese speakers. I came across something called meetup.com. This website lets people organise "meetups". Basically, groups for people who have a common interest. These groups meet up regularly to do what they do. There was a Chinese Meetup back then. I tried going to a meetup one evening. It was on in Bewley's on Grafton Street. I remember wandering around and not finding anyone sepaking Chinese. I didn't have any organisers' phone numbers, so there wasn't much I could do. I don't think they organised any more meetups after that and I think the Dublin Chinese Meetup sort of fizzled out.

I also remember that when I came back from China for the first time in the summer of 2006, Dublin Chinese Meetup still had no owner. People could register their interest in the hope that someone would organise a Meetup, but nothing seemed to happen Anyway, fast forward to the present, and a chap in Trinity (a bright Chinese PhD student) took it upon himself to rescue the Dublin Chinese Meetup, now called the Dublin Chinese Language & Culture Meetup Group. I heard about it from my friend, who runs the Irish Born Chinese Blog.

I went along, to what I think was the third such session. At that time it was held in Ron Black's on Dawson Street. It had been ages since I'd spoken any amount of Chinese, so it was fantastic to go in there and blather away in Chinese. I have been to a few since, and now they have changed venue to the less expensive Karma Bar) formerly Handel's) on Fishamble Street. The meetup is quite big now, and I reckon there were 20 or 30 people at it last time. It seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the week.

So, fair play to Liu Yu for organising it and ong may it last!

Scholarships for Studying Chinese in SWUFE, Chengdu

I was talking to a friend of mine, who teaches Chinese in SWUFE (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (西南财经大学)). He was telling me that the uni is offering 10 scholarships for people interested in going there to study Chinese.

I know this is a blatant plug, but I'm doing it since SWUFE was very good to me: the people working there are very committed to teaching and also are very welcoming and friendly. Class sizes were small and staff were always accessible and approachable. That's the way I like it. So many place are just blatantly after the $$$ and don't make any effort at helping students with issues. People at SWUFE always did everything they could for the students. So, I thought I'd mention their scholarship on my blog:

Scholarship for Autumn Semester 2009/10 　

SWUFE will offer full scholarship to up to 10 candidates for Autumn Semester 2009/10. Detailed information as follows:

• Full scholarship for one semester starting from September 2009, including full tuition (RMB 6,640) and application fee (RMB 400)
• Candidates should be fresh international students (first time applicants)
• Candidates should provide:

1. Filled SWUFE Application Form with all information accurately given,
2. Detailed Study Plan in China
3. Official academic transcript from the highest educational institute attended,
4. At least one letter of recommendation,
5. Personal CV

• Please send the above materials to:
  

Mr. Wang Binyu
College of International Education
Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
No. 55 Guanghuacun Street
Chengdu 610074, China

Limited places! Please apply soon!

我校在2009/10秋季学期提供留学生全额奖学金

西南财经大学将在2009/10学年秋季学期为新入学的外国留学生提供多达10名的全额奖学金。具体信息如下：

• 奖学金为一学期的全额奖学金，包括2009/10学年秋季学期的学费（人民币6640元）和报名费（人民币400元）
• 申请者应为首次申请就读西南财经大学的留学生
• 申请者应提供：
• 如实填写的西南财经大学留学生入学申请表

1. 详细的在华学习计划
2. 最后获得学历的学府提供的官方成绩单
3. 至少一封推荐信
4. 个人简历

• 请将以上材料邮寄至：

中国 成都 光华村街55号
西南财经大学国际教育学院
王彬宇

名额有限，请抓紧申请！ 　

New Zealand Journal Part 1

Back before this blog was born, I took a trip to New Zealand. I kept a journal for the 3 or so weeks I was there. A friend or mine, Angie typed it up for me. Some of my friend reckoned that it was quite a good read. So, I found the document on my computer and I ave decided to put it on my blog, in instalments. Some of it may not be terribly interesting or relevant. But here it is anyway:

Sunday, 16th January 2005

2pm flight Dublin to LHR. Nothing special. Arrived LHR. Business as usual going through Heathrow. Just got something to eat and got on plane. Got lovely bulkhead seat next to English couple on way to Longkawi. Flight full of Brits. Not many Malaysians there.

Monday, 17th January 2005

Flight stopped at Longkawi. Ah, the familiar tropical tree-filled hills brought back memories. So did the heat when got off the plane! Around 31oC but like oven. I wanted to stay a while but Malay security women wanted everyone in transit lounge. Read a bit of my book there - quite funny. Got on board plane again. No companion this time except Malaysian Air-Steward who was a sound Liverpool fan. Going back there to KL brought a lot of memories back - both good and bad (but mainly good). I remember being so excited the times before! Anyway, got in and wanted to find ATM. Got the Skytrain to what I thought was the main terminal as I was told there was an ATM there. The place where I got off plane didn't seem so familiar. I remembered the 4 arm corridors feeding into central area with the little forest in the middle. Looked around there and saw no ATM. I then went back to the other Building. Only then did I realise that this was the main terminal - I had arrived at Domestic Arrivals. So back on Skytrain to satellite terminal. Walked around to trying to get a phone card. Didn't find ATM but got my money changed. Walked around upstairs. I had never been there before. Saw Starbucks, BK, Cheers, Malay food place and others. I went for food, to the Malaysian food place (which I originally thought was Chinese). Got nice Rasi Green Curry and eggplant.

Went for plane. There were a few more Malaysians this time. Got on plane. Was wrecked at this stage. Sat in wrong seat. Got into proper seat next to what I thought was the teenaged kid Osbourne (whatever the girl's names is!). Turns out, she was Dutch and going to NZ for cycling holiday. Penny dropped when she mentioned her husband. Well didn't look much like a woman. Crap looking ginger hair and a fat belly (and had no chest). Turns out she was an Amsterdam Police Officer (reminiscent of Harry Enfield). On my other side were some Malaysians. Turns out they could speak Mandarin so had good chat. They were 2 bothers. Was talking with one mostly. He was living in New Zealand. They swapped seats with Irish guy at window so didn't get to talk after that.

Well, had a few beers and drifted into sleep when was woken by some screaming child. Couldn't sleep after that. Played some Mario World to cheer myself up.

"Chinese Corner" in Dublni!

I'd heard about a Chinese Meetup in Dublin from a friend of mine, so I went along last Thursday. Basically, it's like “English Corner” in China: people who are learning the language can go to a place and practise the language with learners and native speakers. Been to many of them in China (English corners that is), some interesting, most not (more because of the lack of interesting conversation than language skill).

So, without any expectations, I hit off for Ron Black's pub in Dublin. I was surprised that there were so many Chinese people there, including one Chinese teacher who teaches in Trinity. I really enjoyed it cos I love speaking Chinese and it had been a long time since I actually spoke so much Chinese. It was like the flood-gates opened and out it came. Sort of like the time when I met an Irish guy in Dalian. I hadn't talked to another Irish person in weeks and it was so relieving to just be able to speak naturally instead of having to force myself into speaking “standard” English, to be sure, begorra.

The Irish people I met there had only learned a little Irish and I think they were a bit shy to try out their Chinese. That's the Irish for ya.

I hope these meetups continue. They are useful in a few ways: the obvious being to help people who are learning Chinese. However, they also give an opportunity for Chinese and Irish people to mix, which doesn't happen much.

I only with there way a 四川话 (Sichuan dialect) Meetup!!

images broken

I don't know what's up with the images. I used blogger to put in 2 photos in the previous post. In the past, it showed a smaller version of the image in the blog. Now, I think it's showing full size...

Election Time

The Local and European elections will be held in Ireland tomorrow. As you'd imagine, there are election posters everywhere and people canvasing all over the shop. I haven't been in Ireland during election time in years. What drew my attention was the multi-racial candidates on offer. In the past, all you could see were fat white fellas in crap suits with even dodgier heads on them. Now it's different. Although not foreign, a guy who in the same class as me in primary school is now a TD (member of parliament for our non-Irish readers). His father is Indian and his mother Irish. he's Irish himself and has grown up in the area. Now, we have a number of foreign nationals running for election. Some are independents, howver there are also a few on the tickets of the main parties. I took these pictures on the way to work today:


I don't know how well these guys will do against the locals. I can see 2 reasons why they might not succeed: 1 is that they are not locals so some may feel they might not know much about local affairs or culture. The second reason is good old-fashioned racism. Many won't vote for them simply because of the colour of their skin. We've come a long way but we've still a good distance to go yet.

He Blogs Again

I always seem to start blog posts with a clichéd "long time no blog" line. So no need to do that this time :P

I thought I'd get my ass in gear and write something in my blog. The name of the blog is sort of inapt for where I am now. I came home in August 2008, tried to find some sort of job in Ireland connected with China and/or the Chinese language. It seemed that most of the few jobs available were pretty much looking for native Chinese speaking call-centre people. I also looked for jobs in the IT sector and landed one with a well known American company. I've been doing that since October. I think I am pretty lucky to land a job like that, especially cos Ireland is in the firmly stuck a long way down the shitter in terms of finances and jobs.

I think I found it hard to adjust to Irish life at first: the fact that nobody understood me when I spoke Chinese (actually probably the same as when I was in China), the lack of Sichuan food, the over-indulgence in alcohol, the crappy weather (allegedly Ireland didn't even have a summer in 2008). However on the plus side, there are friends and family, good old Irish food like snack boxes and sausage rolls, and of course, the alcohol!!!

I landed home just before the poo-poo hit the proverbial fan. Then came the Freddie Mac/Frannie Mae (love those names) and the rest of the start of the financial crisis. The news here was just depressing: job loss after job loss, factory closure after factory closure. It was all doom and gloom. Then came the banks, and the drop in retail sales figures and then to top things off the government in all their wisdom slapped on a tax levy and increased VAT. The result of this was a mass exodus of shoppers north of the border, the weakness of Sterling catalysing this phenomenon.

Now it's June. There are not as many factory closures per week as before (maybe there aren't many left to close) but the banks are still in rag order. I don't think we've seen the bottom yet.

Talking to people in China last year, a lot of them didn't really feel the recession pinching. I think that has changed now. I've heard of factory closures and job losses. Their economy isn't growing as fast as before probably hugely affected by the fall in exports. However, they are probably in a better shape than we are in Ireland, cos I don't think their banks were let run loose as they were here. Maybe China will be bailing out Ireland in the same way they are bailing out the US!

There probably hasn't been much of a point/direction in this blog post. But at least it served the purpose of firing up my brain and prompting me to write something!

Finishing Up In China

The 3rd of the camps I taught finished on the 10th of August. There was another camp on the 13th, but they had enough teachers for that. I decided to spend my last few days in China in the place where it all started – Dalian.

Although it was a shame to leave Beijing in the midst of Olympic fever, it was also nice to get away from it all! On arrival, Dalian seemed small and provincial. Well, in fairness, most cities on earth would seem small and provincial when compared to Beijing with its sweeping, wide streets, shining new towers and sheer massive sprawliness.

Seemed like nothing Changed there. I stayed with Jason, one of the lads I used to play music with before. Stayed in the exact same room as I did the year before when I stopped in Dalian on the way from Korea to Chengdu. A few bars and cafes have opened (including the much-touted Brooklyn, whose proprietor is the ever-popular and all-round nice bloke, Wayne Hou) but overall, Dalian is pretty much in the same state in which I left it last year.

Spent a few days catching up with old friends and having a few beers, even taking in a beach party, where I happened to meet a lot of people I knew from my time there. I also bumped into a few people I knew on the street – wow Dalian is small! It’s a good spot, Dalian but I still think Chengdu edges it by a nose. Chengdu would be the perfect spot if they moved it beside the sea!

It was back to Beijing again for a day before I would catch a flight home on the 20th. The new terminal in Beijing airport is yet another impressive jewel in the Beijing crown. It seems a lot brighter, airier and spacious that the other terminals. And it has Burger King!

This time leaving China is different from the previous times. Before, I knew that I would definitely return. This time, although I really want to come back, it is not certain that I can. It will depend on job opportunities.