Reflections on a Year Abroad...again.

It's been almost two months since I left China, but I haven't had time to sit down and really write anything meaningful. To sum up the last two months really quickly, Christian and I left China the day after Christmas because his visa expired on December 31. We flew to Hong Kong where we left all of our suitcases in his company's HK office, then went on vacation for three weeks in Australia. We went to Perth to visit my pen pal, then flew to Sydney (where it rained the whole time we were there), Port Douglas (where we saw the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree National Forest), and Melbourne (where we chilled). We then flew back to Hong Kong, picked up our luggage, and then flew back to Germany on January 20. Then I saw an incredibly cheap airfare home to New Jersey, so after two short weeks in Germany, I flew back home for Chinese New Year for ten days, and then came back to Düsseldorf. This means in the last eight weeks, I've flown over 20,000 miles, which is basically half of the circumference around the world. Whew.

All of the luggage we packed up and brought back to Germany from Shanghai

It's finally all sinking in that I've really left Shanghai and I've now had the last eight weeks to really think about life there. Being back in Germany isn't nearly as weird or as big of a struggle as when I left Berlin and moved back to Middlebury, Vermont. For one thing, I admire the fact that Düsseldorf is so empty compared to Shanghai and it's just so quiet. I don't have to worry about getting run over when crossing the street (not like in China, anyway). People don't shout as much. The subway is so quaint -- the new U-bahn line finally opened this weekend after several years under construction and there's a whopping five new stations that opened this past weekend. Admittedly, I laughed about this because Shanghai opened 22 new stations and a few new lines in one weekend, and that wasn't even the only new station and line openings I experienced in the 15 months I was there. I do realize labor is way cheaper in China, plus the government can basically do whatever it wants there.

It's funny reading my reflections on a year abroad after my year in Berlin. Back then, I said I learned a lot about myself, like that I was more independent than I thought, my academic limits had been pushed, and I was more open to new experiences. After a year in China, it's actually not that much different. Again, I've discovered my independence; instead of academic limits, I was pushed professionally; and being open to more experiences? Duh. To add one more thing to the list that didn't exist in Berlin -- I've learned about myself in terms of identity, but more about that in a bit.

A Minority Becoming Part of the Majority

It's been awhile since I last wrote anything, and there have been times where I thought, "I should write about that."  But one particular topic that has come up time and again is my relationship to identity.  Being someone that went to a liberal arts college and has always been interested in the notion of identity, whether through media or external forces, living in China has really given me perspective.  So let's start at the beginning.

Let's play a game...where am I?  Answer: Just kidding, not in the pic.

Cultural Differences at Rock Shows

In the past two weeks, Christian and I saw one of my all-time favorite bands, OK Go, in Hong Kong and Shanghai.  Seeing them twice in a week made me think about why I sometimes go see bands multiple times on one tour -- even if the setlist is the same, each show is unique because of the crowd.  With this in mind, I thought about the fact that I've been to shows in multiple countries -- the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, and now this year, South Korea, Hong Kong, and mainland China (I count HK as being separate from the mainland).  So having seen OK Go in four completely different places (the US, Germany, HK, and China), here's a comparison of seeing shows in those places.

OK Go in Shanghai

Differences Between Expats & Immigrants

Ever since I arrived here in Shanghai, I noticed there's a huge expat community here.  The magazines TimeOut Shanghai and City Weekend are every expat's guide to the city; they review restaurants, put up the latest happenings, list events, and so on, all in English.  One common thread that pops up regularly is how the expat community is in a constant state of flux, mostly because people continually come and go.  This got me thinking about the differences in the terms "expat" and "immigrant."

I renamed this blog "Expat Hoch Zwei," which is the English term "expat" mixed with "hoch zwei," which in German means "squared."  Expat squared because I was an American living in Germany who moved to China.  But am I really an expat squared?

The Oxford Dictionary defines each as follows:

expatriate (noun) - a person who lives outside their native country.
immigrant (noun) - a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

I don't have images that would go well with this topic.  So here's an image from Zhangjiajie I took.

Chinese vs German Bureaucracy: A Comparison

The New York Times recently wrote an article about the Chinese middle class and the maze of red tape citizens here experience.  For example, the article talks about married women having to get a mandatory birth permit which actually expires after two years, and applying for student loans require as many as 26 official seals on various documents.  Although I've only been here for five months, I totally get that article.  And the funny thing is that I thought German bureaucracy was terrible.  It really isn't.  Here are some of my observations comparing the two, though of course this is only just scratching the surface.

Some of the paperwork required as a foreigner here in China.

Job Search & Interviewing Adventures in China

I've now been in Shanghai for about four weeks keeping myself busy by looking for jobs -- sending out resumes, going to job fairs, doing interviews, and networking a lot. It's definitely been a learning experience and at times has been surprising, frustrating, and enlightening. There are some commonalities between the United States, Germany, and China, like having to send a CV and cover letter, dressing for success, and all those other things you'll find articles about on LinkedIn. I wound up getting my own business cards printed here because I had read that handing them out here is more common than in the U.S. or Germany. I have to agree that this does seem to be the norm here, but as the last time I was on the job hunt was when I had finished my master's, it's a bit different selling myself with my work experience. But there are three things that I've noticed are very unique to my experience looking for a job here in China.

(As a quick side note, I don't have any fitting images to work with this entry, so I'm just adding ones I've taken around Shanghai because they won't end up with other blog entries anyway.)

Looking up at the Jinmao Tower in Lujiazui, the financial district of Shanghai.

First Impressions of Shanghai

I've been in Shanghai for a little over a week now.  I haven't even scratched the surface of this enormous city, but I do have my first five impressions.  So here they are:

1.  Shanghai is like living in the future.  

Or Blade Runner.  Seriously.  This is what the city looks like on a beautiful sunny day fairly free of smog:

The skyscrapers are so high, and everything is just so futuristic and shiny.  The Oriental Pearl Tower (the TV tower thing on the left side of the photo) sort of reminds me of what Disneyworld thinks the future should be like in Tomorrowland.  If you don't know what I mean, take a look at this picture I took in 2009 from Hong Kong Disney's Tomorrowland.  The Oriental Pearl Tower totally belongs in that weird idea of the future.  Next time I get around to taking a picture of the city at night, I'll be sure to post it since I'm positive it will definitely look like Blade Runner.

Some thoughts about moving to a new country (and packing for it)

As I enjoy my last day in Düsseldorf, there are lots of thoughts going through my head.  I remember the first time I moved abroad back in 2005 as a college student -- I actually sobbed to my mother for three hours.  Maybe more.  I recall wailing to her, "But why am I even going abroad?!  I feel comfortable where I am and I like it here!!  What am I doing?!?"  Nine years later, eight of which have been spent outside the U.S., I can only laugh at my college self and think, "How cute."  Because honestly, I wouldn't change the last nine years at all.

I have the feeling that in Shanghai, I will constantly be comparing it to my German experience.  I realize though that this is unfair.  Düsseldorf consistently ranks in the top 10 most livable cities in Europe, if not the world, according to the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.  On the other hand, China ranks as the number one country for expats according to the BBC.  But does living as an expat actually mean a good quality of life?  I don't think it necessarily does, but this will probably be one of the bigger questions I answer in China.

One thing that worries me about living in China is being Chinese-American, but my Mandarin is only so-so.  Of course, I'm eager to improve it, but there is an expectation that if you look Asian, you speak the local language.  It's a common problem in Asia that I encountered in Beijing, Tokyo, and Kyoto.  The attitude is, "Why don't you speak the local language?  You're Asian!"  This video sums up my experience really well:

Going to the Movies in Germany

On Friday night, I went to go see The Avengers because it was surprisingly released here in Germany a few days earlier than in the U.S.  I had only had the choice of watching it in 3D in English or 3D dubbed in German.  Obviously, I didn't choose to watch it dubbed.



I don't really care for 3D movies.  I've seen only 3 that I can think of: Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Avatar, and The Avengers.  Here in Germany, 3D movies are more expensive to see like everywhere else.  And like everywhere else, you also have to pay for the glasses.  My boyfriend and I used a Groupon deal, and we still had to pay 9€.  Moreover, here in Germany if a movie is over 2 hours long, it's considered "Überlänge," or excessive length (basically, a long movie).  And that means you'll add on another Euro to the movie price.  So for a 3D movie, you're already paying 2-4€ extra because it's in 3D, plus another 2€ for the glasses, and then if it's over 2 hours long, add on another 1€.  Basically, to see a movie in 3D, you're paying an extra 7€, which is around the price of a 2D ticket on discounted days.

Here in Germany, movies that are two hours long are broken up in the middle of the movie and there's a break.  I'm not kidding.  It's like an intermission right at the climax that isn't meant to be there.  Thankfully with the transition to digital projections, the projectionist hopefully tries to pick a less climactic scene to insert the break (around the 90 minute mark), whereas with analog, the break came at the end of the first film roll.  It's slightly better, but not by much.  I ask myself, why the heck am I paying an extra 1€ for the theater to give me a break?  I'll pay them the extra 1€ to keep the movie going and not have a break because it ruins the movie's pacing.

When I saw The Hunger Games a few weeks ago, the break seemed to make sense and was taken right before Katniss goes into the arena.  OK, great, it made sense.  But the projectionist somehow messed up the projection's settings in the second half and the colors were completely desaturated.  I don't think they noticed because they didn't change it.  It annoyed me completely because everything was just too cold, there was way too much blue in the picture.  You might argue, "But in the arena, maybe that'd be better because it's not supposed to be a warm, fuzzy place, right?"  NO.  I want to see the movie the way it was intended.  Yes, I could've gotten up and said to the manager that the colors were wrong, but then I would've missed out on whatever happened.  So either I miss what happens completely, or I deal with crappy colors.  It made me annoyed that I paid for a movie and the projectionist is so incompetent.

That brings me to last night at The Avengers.  After the break, the projectionist couldn't figure out how to turn the picture on.  So there we were, listening to everything that was happening, but not seeing it.  It took the projectionist a good 5 to 10 minutes to realize it.  Then they took an extra 10 minutes to figure it out while we sat there looking at a white light on the screen.  All seemed to work well afterward, and then the picture cut out again.  The projectionist wound up figuring it out and rewound it to the point where it had cut out, but seriously, way to ruin the pacing of the movie and the element of surprise.  I don't understand why I'm paying so much money for a movie when the theater can't do its job and show it right, including the break.  People can choose if they want to go to the toilet or not, or buy more snacks or not.  Why the heck should everyone else have to take a break?  I don't want to have to pay so much money to ruin a good movie.

On a side note, I miss seeing movies with Americans.  Americans react to movies.  For example, when I went to see Bridesmaids, a lady next to me said outloud, "Oh no, she di'nt!" during a particularly gruesome scene.  During X-Men First Class, the guy behind me commented, "Daaaaaaay-mmmnnn," during a climactic and visually impressive scene.  And when I went to see one of the Harry Potter movies at midnight, people cheered and clapped and hooted. None of this ever happens while watching a movie in Germany.  People barely laugh aloud during comedies.  They might smirk or quietly giggle to themselves at most.

"Daaaaaaay-mmmnnn!"


Some may think it's annoying when people react to the movie.  I personally have no problem with it as long as it a reaction to what's happening and not some idiot making comments about which characters from the book are on screen (that happened during The Hunger Games. The guy was like, "Oh!  That's Foxface!"  Thanks, I knew that, shut up).  It's part of the experience seeing a movie in the theater with other people, even if you don't know them.  When I saw a Harry Potter movie here on opening day, I cheered ("YAAAY!") when the Warner Bros. logo and the title appeared, and someone actually shushed me.  There wasn't even anything happening on screen.  And can I stress it again: it was opening day of a Harry Potter movie.  Talk about lame.

So yes, whenever I am home in the United States, I go to the movies so that I can get the lovely reactions from the fellow moviegoers.  Not to mention eating buttered popcorn.  I miss that too.

Watching American TV in Germany

A few weeks ago, The Oatmeal posted a comic about streaming Game of Thrones (due to copyright, I can't actually post it on my blog, so go look at it before you read the rest of this).  The essence of the comic is that there is a dilemma to watching shows legally: watch it on Netflix or download it on iTunes, purchase it through Amazon, stream it on Hulu or the HBO site, or just download it illegally.  The dilemma is when the show is unavailable on legal sources like Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and Hulu, and HBO wants you to have a whole subscription in order to watch it.  At that point, you can either wait until Hulu/Netflix/other services has it, or you can download it.

Living outside the United States poses a similar problem.  I myself prefer to choose legal means to consume media and pay for everything because I think that the people involved with the media production deserve to get the money (though yes, I do realize that they only get pennies and it's the executives and other people not actually involved in production that get the biggest portion).  However, it's problematic when shows are a season behind here in Germany because the shows need to be dubbed.

And that's my biggest problem.  I would love to have a service like Netflix here, but the majority of services don't offer the choice between watching something in the original version and the dubbed version.  It's so stupid because it is so easy to have different files with different audio tracks -- look at DVDs!  I also can't buy/rent/stream things through the American Amazon or iTunes because my IP address is obviously from Germany.  I could pay for an American proxy server, sure, but I'm pretty sure there could be some legal hangups there just as much as downloading.  So even if I want to watch something legally, I might have to watch it dubbed if I watch it online.  Otherwise, I have to wait until the DVD comes out and that takes even longer than in the U.S.  DVDs can come out possibly two seasons after it airs in the U.S.  Can you imagine trying to not hear about how Lost ended while waiting for the DVDs?  It was a near impossible task.

Here in Germany, it's not even just limited to watching TV shows.  I can't even watch videos on YouTube that have music in them, including official music videos from the artists.  (Trying to find Lady Gaga's video "Marry the Night" in its entirety was annoying.)  Thanks to GEMA, official music videos can't be streamed over YouTube because it would be too expensive to have to pay for every time the video is watched.  Even for big acts like Lady Gaga.  It just frustrates me that OFFICIAL VIDEOS are even blocked!  It's not like it's some schmuck that uploaded a poor copy of the video.

How is it that in this day and age of interconnectivity we are still unable to figure out connections like this?  I guess part of it is the SOPA/PIPA/ACTA type bills that try to prosecute servers which have uploaded files.  Watching the debates of the SOPA/PIPA bills was simultaneously amusing and sad because none of the sponsors seem to really have an idea how the internet works.  But listening to them also just made me think that copyright laws are completely out of date.  They don't take into account that the world is more connected and that technology is changing the way we consume media.  Copyright laws had problems even back in the day of video tapes and cassettes and yet those are still the same laws with minimal change that are policy.  I think copyright law should be scrapped and rewritten anew and take into consideration that interconnectivity is inevitable.  Not only that, but companies are losing even more money because of these restrictions.  I would like to believe that people other than myself would pay for available services to watch shows in broadcast quality.

Surprisingly, two shows I watch regularly allow people abroad to watch them on their websites: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  I don't know what exactly their deal is and why they are accessible, but I watch both shows on the sites directly and even sit through the advertisements.  Sometimes the ads are geared towards someone living in Germany, meaning, they're in German, but sometimes they're clearly ads for an American audience for products that don't exist here.  But that's ok.  Because they are available here NOT DUBBED or shortened or anything, I feel that my loyalty to the shows is even more so than with others who refuse access.  So kudos to Comedy Central and Viacom for allowing fans outside North America to watch these shows.  Everyone else should follow their example.