Semester 7 Chapter V: Skateboards and Rants

Okay, let me kick this thing off with some political shit this time. Since that lovely Swedish girl Greta has gained some momentum and now travels the world spreading her message, lotta people are real quick to attack her in the name of the reason and good old balanced order of things. I’ve read so many articles from established commentators, journalists and politicians, heard people theorizing about who might pay her for activities. She’s too vegan or not vegan enough (yeah, she was once captured eating vegan food from a plastic box), she’s too extreme, too young, too disabled, you name it. So let me drop my two cents here... I honestly don’t give a flying fuck about any of those opinions and theories. I also do not believe that this system, as it is, is sustainable or cultivatable on any level. So no, I don’t think negotiating is an option here. I don’t think it’s okay to be “reasonable”, which basically means accepting the current status quo (which got us here in the first place and has all kinds of crazy implications in the areas of classism, racism, gender inequality etc.), and see if we can find some common ground with it (which we can’t). From the capitalist/conservative viewpoint, everything that questions the nature of the system is extreme or communist or whatever label they find scary enough. So yeah, how the fuck dare you talking about financial growth at this point? Do I think there’s any chance to win this thing? Not really... But it’s people like her who make me feel at least a bit optimistic... It’s people like Sanders or Corbyn that bring a bit of a reason to the debate here and there... And no, we cannot meet halfway with this system... This system is toxic to the core, it oppresses people, it destroys the environment, it fucks up this whole planet. There’s no halfway here... So you can keep on calling these people extremists, communists, or not reasonable or grown enough... You can keep on patronizing them, putting yourself on whatever moral or intellectual high ground (like you are entitled to any), but that’s basically all you can do. You are wrong, she is right. Sustainable growth my ass. When all of this comes crashing down, it’s gonna be too late to think this over. There’s no check points or game saves here. 

Aight, when I got this off my chest, let’s get back to the real important stuff. What the hell was I up this past week. Honestly, it’s been quite a lot. Me and some of my friends went for KTV, which was fun as hell. Old Town Road is my new KTV favorite...

On Wednesday, a friend from a Czech Republic had a layover in Shanghai which allowed him to spend about 6 hours downtown. I took up the responsibility of being a guide, and this whole thing turned out to be a pretty great day. We spent it all on bikes, going from the Bund to the peanut sauce noodle spot, then to the West Bund, Jingan, and eventually wrapping it all up in the Jingan Sculpture Park. I could do this shit for living...

The day after, some of my favorite girls over here asked me for a skateboarding lesson. We met up in the evening close to the skatepark by the West Bund with some snacks and drinks, and spend the couple of hours kicking, pushing, and talking. The weather is still beautiful in Shanghai and West Bund is a pretty awesome place to hang out at. Right by the river, these old renovated cranes all lit up, those massive bridges illuminated with light shows, many locals on boards and skates playing around... I got a feeling this wasn’t the last time us doing this thing...

Outside of that, I managed to do some school work, went out for a beer couple of times, and on Sunday, did bit of a picnic and petangue at Fuxing park. Spiced up by gin and tonic, and followed up by dinner at this Huaihai/Wanping Road Chinese restaurant...

So yeah, things have been good. It’s still love, positive vibes only, it’s still spending lotta time outside, lotta workouts, lotta cycling around.... And I’m like 2 days from traveling to Bangkok. And words cannot really express how much I’m looking forwards to that. The Golden Week is about to kick in here, so if you are in China, I hope you gonna spend it the best way possible. And if you’re outside of China, just keep your head up and stay away from bullshit. Cause bullshit sucks.

Highlights:

• Internet. China is really going hard this time around. I wasn't able to access the Western internet for like 2 days straight, and now it’s still pretty bad.
• New Kevin Gates.
• This new stadium I go to. I liked the one at Changping Lu too but this one is even more local and way less crowded

Semester 7 Chapter IV: Riders on the Storm

What’s good everybody. Another week has passed, some more shit went down and since you’re reading this, you know very well time has come for yet another chapter of your favorite blog. This past weekend was absolutely insane in terms of weather. Basically overnight, temperature dropped by like 15 degrees, sky got grey, rain poured like crazy, and as a cherry on top, pretty strong wind kicked in. As a matter of fact, last weekend marks my first experience of Shanghai Ferry not operating. Never seen that before...

Anyways, most of the last week was pretty nice. After many days of socializing and catching up, I managed to spend couple of evenings in my solitude at home. Writing, reading and checking out new releases. On Wednesday, some of my favorite vegans invited me to join them for a dinner at this Urban Thai place at Dagu Road. It’s not fully vegan – not by a long shot – but they do have some vegan options, and even though it’s a bit pricier, it’s totally worth it. All the curries, veggies, tofu...

Over the second half of the week, I managed to meet up basically with all my people over here. Hung out at my friends’ spot, drinking beer and eating some veggie stuff, trying out this Jiuhuar beer shop by Wuyuan/Wulumqi road... That one is actually pretty cool – they sell very reasonably priced draft beer, however, for whatever kinda reason, it takes them like 10 minutes to pour you one glass. Which makes an experience, that would normally be pretty awesome (as you get to chill outside on the pavement), quite annoying.

During the weekend, the weather shitstorm started. I still got to meet up with a friend on Saturday to check out an exhibition at Dumonteil Gallery at Hengshan Road. We did a dinner at this peanut sauce noodle spot (still tastes amazing), joined another friend for another exhibition nearby, and spent the rest of the evening at my friends’ spot.

On Sunday, I went to this event in Xuhui. My Czech friend had a booth over there, selling homemade bread, hummus, raw cakes and pesto. I ended up chilling over there for about 3 hours, eating like crazy. It was all so good.

Oh, apart from that, I discovered another local veggie market just around the corner from my building. Getting more familiar with my area every day. Still doing my workouts and runs, still cycling dozens of km on the daily, still enjoying my time over here. And I also got a ticket to Thailand for the next week – gonna spend a bit over a week over there and I honestly can’t wait...

Highlights:

• Carter V leaks – awesome.
• Dave Chappelle – the last Netflix special is hilarious.
• The new markets I go have all kinds of tofu I have not seen before. You gotta love China for this...   

Semester 7 Chapter III: Long Days, Short Nights

Hello world, here we go again. Shout out to all people out there pushing shit forward in any way. Just because... Checking in from sunny Shanghai, vibes are crazy good over here, and it’s that time of the week...

Let me start with a new spot I got for myself. Last Wednesday, I got in touch with my old agency and went to check an apartment close to Suzhou North Road. It’s a bit further away from my previous bases, but on bike, the difference is merely about 10 minutes. Prices are a bit friendlier, rooms are a bit larger, neighborhoods are a bit calmer and more local. Plus, I got a river flowing just around the corner and more importantly, a new area to explore in depth. All and all, I really liked the place and took it right a away. My home for another 10 months is secured.

The first half of the week, I was still staying at my friends’ spot taking care of the doggie and being terrorized by the cat. Managed to hang out with some of my peers at Changle Lu, went to the uni library couple of times with a noble aim to do some work (not really being very successful with that), running and working out. I’ve been also reading this book on how to write scripts and I’m having quite some fun with it. So who knows, maybe I’ll finally get into something beyond lyrics. I’m in my thirties after all, right?

The good thing about my new location is that it makes me cycle even more than before. And y’all know how much I enjoy that. So Thursday, I took it to Abbey Road for the first trivia night after the summer. We didn’t win (by far) but I had a chance to catch up with some of my dearest people. We followed up to Tap House after. Felt like I never left.

I also got a friend form the Czech Republic visiting for couple of days with her bf so Friday, we met up, some of my peers joined, we did couple of beers at Changle and then biked to Dada. Dada was celebrating its birthday, and god damn it, it was fun. Once we entered, lovely guys standing on the bar passed us some beers and shots, and kept up being generous for the most of the night. Unlike most nights in Dada, which usually targets electronic music and techno audience, this time it was like 70s rock. It was bizarre, it was fun, energy was off the roof. After that, we hopped on bikes again and wasted some more time around Jingan. Got home like 4am, great fucking night.

Saturday, I finally caught up with my sisters from Montenegro. More positive vibes, more homey feelings. We had a lunch at that awesome Chinese spot at Wanping/Huaihai Lu, grabbed a drink at Alimentari and went to another friend’s apartment to chill for a bit. Then we took it to Fuxing park to play some Monopoly with the rest of the gang (which only reminded me how non-competitive I am when it comes to desk game), and I wrapped up the whole evening with a dinner. Went to this awesome veggie place at East Huaihai Road, the visiting Czech friend joined with her loved ones, and my only Czech guy in Shanghai came with his girl too. On his request, I brought him some poppy seeds from my hometown (they are pretty hard to come about over here), and got home baked bread with some cashew cheese as a thank you. Fucking beautiful.

On Sunday, I rode around Pudong in the morning, did lots of online calls with my loved ones back in Europe, and in the evening went to this Alter party at seul&Seul by West Nanjing Road. First, I met up with some of my peers around the corner where we did some signature Family Mart beers. Got to the rooftop around 7... It wasn’t very good tho. The crowd consisted of some kinda upper normcore looking youngsters, that whole thing had this annoying wannabe poshy vibe, djs were mediocre at best (and I’m being generous here)... Finding out that everybody feels the same was thus a relief. Instead of staying there, we all went to this Turkish place at Found 158 for some sisha. Again, pretty awesome evening.

So yeah, I feel I’ve been mostly catching up with everything and everybody these past couple of days. And it’s been pretty awesome. Everything feels positive, everything goes smoothly, love is in the air, can’t complain about shit. Hope y’all doing great too, talk to you in a week. One!

Highlights:

• Locomotive Stadium of Shanghai Railway Bureau. Seems this one is the closes to my current location and I’ve already been there couple of times for a run and some workout. Very local but it has all I need. And on the way there you pass this massive fruit/veggie local market. Making myself at home over here.
• Doing selfie with a Chinese girl who thought I’m a movie star. Hadn’t happened before.
• Cycling. All the time. Everywhere. Love it.