Semester 4 Chapter V: Spring Is in The Air

I hope I won’t jinx it but it really seems we are finally back on the spring shit for real. Temperature got somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees and even forecast says it should not drop anytime soon. Which is pretty awesome cause it means no more AC heating and no more cold in general.... A motherfucker gets to run with short sleeves now.... Plus this whole switch happens just in time for my dad to arrive this Friday... So weather-wise, I think I’m good again till like November... And man, that feels great...

So... The last week, I spent a lotta time in the library working on my dissertation proposal... I actually managed to do way more than I initially expected and I have last 2000 words to go... I hope I’ll be able to wrap it up today... After that, I’m covered and I can concentrate on more pleasant shit...

Outside of library, last week was pretty cool... Hanging out with the gang at the girls’ apartment, some drinks in bars... After a pretty long hiatus, me and my biking friend are back on our little gallery rides around the city too... Last Friday, we did the Powerstation and Madein Gallery... Plus some parks, walks... It’s cool being back on that once again and I’m sure we gonna make this thing regular again...

Later on that day, I went to this vegan potluck evening my vegan connect organized at her place. I’m 100% sure I said it multiple times already, but I really love these events. This time it was vegan pizza (with vegan cheese), some bamboo, muffins, purple potatoes, lotta fruit... I brought some black beans with pumpkin... Straight up vegan feast!

The weather is good enough these days for me to resume my occasional walks too... The anti-social in me really enjoys those big time... Just walking with no particular direction, absorbing the sun, not talking to anybody... Everything seems quite optimistic and pretty balanced these days. Another reason for me to move somewhere warm once I’m done here... All the clues say that I would be way better off in a place where winter just does not exist...

Highlights:

• So the three key buttons on my phone stopped working. This does not come off as a surprise given the fact what the phone has been through over the past almost two years. The rest of the display is still responsive so I downloaded this floating dot thing that kinda solves it. I’m gonna use this mothefucker until it falls apart, goddammit!
• Migos – Walk It, Talk It video. Didn’t really feel the track but the video really brought it somewhere else.
• Exhibition in Madein Gallery. This guy Yang Shen from Beijing... Really playful, disturbing and cyberpunkish paintings. This gallery is still among my favorite ones in the city.

Semester 4 Chapter IV: Hong Kong Vibes

So my Oklahoma reimbursement thing is turning out to be a complete nightmare. I’ll be happy if I  get like 50% of that shit because Chinese bureaucracy... Fuck that. I was trying to deal with that last Monday and Tuesday but the there’s really nothing I can do about that. The machine is just way to illogical and massive to be conquered. I’ll just wait and hope for the best...

Anyways, I managed to do this Hong Kong trip for about 3 days and it was really good. The city itself is totally incredible. So many skyscrapers... Unlike Shanghai, Hong Kong is not flat at all which gives it a completely different vibe, and since it’s surrounded by hills and mountains, it’s really not a problem to spend like an hour on public transport and find yourself in the middle of nature... So yeah, there were beers, there were walks, there were hikes, there was this tram ride to the Peak, visit of Kowloon Walled City Memorial... There was lots of great stuff... I really enjoyed this local veggie place in Central close to where I stayed and the black burger at Veggi Monster... God damn. Gotta say tho... Hong Kong is expensive as hell... Shanghai isn’t exactly the cheapest place on Earth, but it has nothing on Hong Kong. I’m talking 12 EUR beers, 10 EUR meals... And I’ve been told that housing cost is just totally fucking insane.... On the other hand, the fact it’s so English friendly makes it super easy to navigate through... Overall a pretty good experience, and since one of my friends has just moved there, there’s a good change I might repeat the trip sometime soon.

When I got back to Shanghai Friday afternoon, I got hit with winter bullshit again. The temperature dropped back to like 5 degrees which was a huge disappointment. According to the forecast, we should get back to 20 this Friday so you know... fingers fucking crossed. In the evening, I went for some beers to Papa’s.... However, this time we decided to switch it up and after like two cold ones, we went to try out this My Place joint which is also super close to my apartment. Large tap beer for 30 RMB, free pool table, some international people, good music... Definitely another option for future hangouts... Oh, and I was killing it at the pool... Like straight up beating asses...

I had lots to do over weekend but I managed to chill a little bit too. I feel quite refreshed and this week, I really wanna figure out my dissertation proposal... So more library, more reading, more responsibility, more fun... Once I’m done with this, I’m gonna slow down on everything...

Highlights:

• XXXTENTACION - ?, Rich Homie Quan – Rich As In Spirit.
• Waiting in line for an hour to get to the fucking Peak Tram in HK. Never doing this shit again ever. The view was kinda worth it tho...
• Almost no internet censorship in HK. Sometimes I really miss that.

Semester 4 Chapter III: Ain’t No Stoppin’

Okay, so I’m back to the city I’ve been calling home for the past year and a half, and fortunately, these days Shanghai is getting all nice, warm, sunny and generally optimistic. Before I go any further, let me sum up the rest of my bizarre Oklahoma stay. I did super long walks to get the vibe of the city and man... I can't imagine living there for a week. In addition to the absence of sidewalks and pretty much any kinda outdoors life, the place is way too far from anything I expect from a city. There are these huge areas covered only by small households – no cafés, no shops, no parks. All is private, “no trespassing” signs (and you best believe all those motherfuckers are armed), no benches – nothing. They got crazy amount of churches all over the place with signs in front of them calling against abortion, trashing anti-Israel viewpoints, and of course praising da lord. All these big ass cars, all these burger and tacos joints... There’s like drive thru versions of pretty much all businesses so people don’t have to leave their vehicles at all. This one time, I bought a beer in a liquor store, found these remains of what used to be a house, sat on a piece of wall and just wasted time to see how it feels to do that shit over there. Now, besides me, there were only homeless people  hanging out across the street. Spending time outside, drinking and just walking around is one of my favorite things. In Oklahoma, it’s an activity reserved to homeless and criminals. It was a great experience but honestly, I was kinda looking forward to get back China.

 

As for the cool places over there, I like the city underground, which is this small network of tunnels underneath the city center with art exhibitions and info on city history. The memorial of 1995 city bombing is nice, the park across the street from the Devon Energy Center building is also pretty cool – with swans, lake and lots of green. They have one 100% vegan restaurant called The Loaded Bowl which is quite amazing, and also this Holey Roller joint where they do delicious vegan donuts. So yeah, there are spots. But seriously... Like 2 days and you’re straight.

The way back was kinda shit, cause I had an overnight layover in Chicago. Oh well. The flight back to Shanghai was aight as stewardesses were willing (again) to provide me with some complimentary liquor. Couple of tiny bottles of Jack, some beers and acceptable food made it bearable. I got to Pudong Airport last Thursday (March 8^th) around 2pm, hopped on a subway, dropped my shit home and went straight for this dinner thing organized by my supervisor. It was like a meet up of students responsible for the school’s social media, but we didn’t really talk about that for long. In the evening, my bro had this b-day party in Papa’s which nice. I got shitfaced with beers and Johnnie Walker and headed back to my bed. Which felt really good.

I had lots to do over the weekend but I managed to drop by at another birthday party of one of my classmates and I also booked tickets to Hong Kong. I’m doing this little spontaneous trip over there this week and I’m pretty excited about it. Gonna tell you all about it (well, some of it) the next blog. So yeah, I’m back on my routine here – gym, runs, cooking – all the basic shit I enjoy and I didn’t really get to do over the past couple of weeks. And the weather... Wherever I end up after China, it’s gonna be somewhere tropical. I’m done dealing with cold.

Highlights:

• Lil Wayne – Vizine & PRhyme 2.
• Oklahoma sweatshirt I got in this hipster shop to commemorate my epic trip. I also managed to lose my uni hoodie tho. You win some, you lose some.
• Got tickets to Zhangjiajie for me and my dad who’s coming in like two weeks. That’s gonna be dope as hell.