Vienna Lopez

“Quai Diar!” that was what I told the taxi driver who was smart enough to understand what my broken Chinese meant. I left our flat at 11:30 am even though I know that the conference will not be starting until 1:30 pm. I didn’t want to be late. Wordcamp China 2008 is the first blogger event I’ll be a part of and so I didn’t want to miss any of it.

I arrived at Shanghai’s Fudan University’s main gate at around 12:00 noon. I went to asked one student which building/conference room it’s going to be held but he doesn’t know what I’m talking about and so he referred me to the guard who doesn’t speak one word of English. I stood there for a bit hoping to see any sign of Wordcamp like a banner or people wearing wordpress shirts but I didn’t see any of that. So I grabbed the next “I-can-speak-English” looking person and ask about Wordcamp.

Laura and her friend, Heidi stopped by and offered to help me. Their English were not good but they seem to be friendly so I continue explaining what I came there for. They seem to understand because they told me to follow them so I did. We walked for about 30 minutes but when I realized that we are heading to the students’ residence part of the campus, I stopped and ask them again if they know what I was talking about and they nod in assurance. But they took me to this small office—the kind where incoming freshmen go to ask what courses are offered in the university. They thought I want to enroll for a course!

I started to panic because Wordcamp’s registration is supposed to start at 1:00 at it was already a few minutes to 1:00. I kindly asked one the clerks if I can use his computer so I can show them what Wordcamp is because it seems that the words like “blogging”, “blog”, “bloggers”, “wordpress”, “meeting”, “conference” are not part of their vocabulary. When I got a nod from the clerk I immediately googled “Wordcamp China 2008” and showed them the site.

The site is written in Chinese. There was an English information page but it was not sufficient. Fudan University is huge and we were totally clueless because it was not mentioned which building or which road the Wordcamp will be held. After showing them the site, they still didn’t know where it is so we went out of the building without anything. I continued to walk with them while wishing to see a sign of Wordcamp but there’s none. I’ve seen a geeky white guy who looks like he might be interested in blogging and asked him about Wordcamp but he doesn’t have any idea what Wordcamp is although he blogs, he goes to Fudan University, he can speak Chinese, and such conference is something he would be interested in. He said he’s sorry and left.

I was almost crying because of desperation. Heidi was quiet the whole time but when she noticed my disappointment she brought her cellphone out and called one of her friends. She said that this “friend” works as a student assistant in the university’s computer department (that is what I understood from her broken English). Luckily, her “friend” knows about it and told us to call a number. That’s how we found out the exact place and from where we were, it would take another 45 minutes walk. It was already 1:15 so I told the girls that we should get a taxi instead. I got there at exactly 1:30 pm. It was scheduled to start on that time but it took a few more minutesbefore they finally started it.

I didn’t finish the whole thing. After Matt Mullenweg finished his part, I took off. I would have stayed if I can understand Chinese. The rest of the conference is in Chinese and I would certainly feel a like a big bother if I stayed and asked my seatmate to translate everything.

The keynote of Matt Mullenweg was worth it but I am still utterly disappointed about the fact that  the conference was so (in my point of view) unorganized. No fliers, no banners in boards within the campus. When I got in the conference room, there were like 2 banners there plus two on the hallway… it wouldn’t hurt if they would have placed one somewhere where people can easily see it….like the main entrance of the University. There’s one big banner outside the building but who goes to that building? The banner is not even visible from the road. It’s really no wonder why there were only 40 or so attendees.

I will write about Matt’s speech in my next post because it is something worth sharing. But right now, I just would like to say that those of you who experienced Wordcamp Philippines 2008, consider yourself lucky. I so envy you guys. Looks like you really did have a lot of fun.

Tags: blog, blogging, wordcamp, wordcamp china, wordcamp shanghai 2008, wordpress

I was chatting with a friend yesterday and I mentioned that my husband is away on a business trip again and that I am bored. So yeah, Marcus went on a business trip again but unlike last time, this trip is only for a day (and a night). He’ll be back later in the evening. So anyway, I said that the fact that Marcus needs to go to these frequent business trips sucks. Then my friend asked me if I have other “feelings” about it. I gather that by that she meant; do I think Marcus is having an affair? I know it’s a totally innocent question. My friend just wanted to make sure that everything is fine with me. But now that she raised the issue, I thought about it and laughed afterwards. Marcus loves me too much to do that.

It’s a good feeling to be completely confident in Marcus and in what we have. A few weeks from now, we’ll have our first year anniversary and I can honestly  say that after a year of being married, nothing has changed. We are still like we were before. We still look in the same direction. Sometimes we also have some small misunderstandings but we always managed to fix these before that day ends. I can never be sure that we’ll be like this forever but based on how things are between us at the moment, I can say that we will last for a very looooooooong time.

Tags: family, home, personal

I feel utterly disregarded and taken advantage of.

I “HAD” a friend. I used a “past tense” because there’s no more friendship between us. She’s nothing to me now but a LEECH. Yes, that’s how I see her and she cannot change it anymore.

Now that I think of the past, I realize that she chose me. Why? Because I am married to an Austrian Engineer who is friends with other European engineers. Befriending me will give her contact  to my husband colleagues. She belongs to a very poor family but I didn’t look at that. I was actually amazed by her that she managed to finish her education. She seemed nice so I befriended her and was all nice to her. I gave her clothes just so she has something nice to wear to our dinners and parties. I treated her as a friend, taught her some things, build her up, invited her to activities, and help her in any way I can.

But she planned all this—to get into my circle and find herself a rich boyfriend. On our first meeting, I warmed up to her immediately and she was all nice to me (now, that I think of it… it was more like kissing my ass). Because I am naturally friendly, I invited her in our home and to some dinners we had with my husband’s colleagues. After a while, she finally met my husband’s good friend and after two nights of meeting him, they became a couple. It was all a shock to me how easy she was but i was naive. I didn’t think for a moment (only now) how cheap that was of her. After a month, she started it–she asked money from him. It was just a small amount and nobody minded but then it happened again and again and again and after 8 months, I can’t take it anymore. She’s obviously screwing him for his money. Why would she do that? Well because she has like 6 siblings back home and she needs to support her aging parents, send two younger siblings to school, plus support her adult brothers who have their own families but are without jobs. Imagine the weight on her shoulders?!? The aging parents and the young siblings I can understand but her older brothers? She earns 500$ each month. If she send 250$ back home, it’s already a big amount and should be enough to support her parents and two younger siblings (whom, I believe, don’t have extravagant life). The remaining 250$ should be for her, for her bills and personal expenses. In China, specially the city where she lives, 250$ is more than enough for a single person. If I were her, that’s what I’d do. I would do my “obligation” to my family but I would not and never will, tolerate the laziness of my brothers. I would not hold myself responsible for them and for their family and I would not have my boyfriend support them too.

But she’s different. She sees herself as the saving grace of the whole of her clan. When I finally told her that I can’t take her gold digging( I didn’t actually use those words but yeah… that’s what I meant) anymore, she got mad. I know for sure her boyfriend is not okay with the idea that she sends HIS money to her family back home. Her boyfriend is not exactly rich but is always happy and willing to support HER… only HER and not her brothers. I told her what I think. I told her that it is not right what she does. then she said I shouldn’t mingle with their money issues! Ha! Why she’d tell me this now? She is all sweet and nice every time she asks me for a favor. They (she and her boyfriend) asked me several times to deposit money to her bank account because they are not together at the moment. He’s busy with work and can’t be bothered to deposit money to his girlfriend’s bank account so they ask me to do it for them. Their money issues were never a secret to me and now she tells me I should not mingle with their money affairs! What a thick face bitch! I am not miggling with their money affairs! I am just saying to her that what she’s doing is wrong and I don’t like to be a part of it anymore because by depositing the money to her account, I feel that I am helping her in her gold digging project and I can’t take that!

So anyway, she got mad and accused me of being envious of her because according to her, my husband does not let me do what she is doing now and that my husband is only good looking—that’s all. And to make things worse, she told a group of friends and acquaintances that I am like this. Was fuer eine Schlampe! (What a bitch!)

For one thing, I only told her what I think because I was hoping she’ll see it the way I do and will probably change. She cannot do this to her boyfriend because if they were to be together forever, they have to think of their future too. I didn’t tell her boyfriend because I don’t want him to think badly of her or of me for telling him about it. I talk to her directly about this but she’s the way she is—a gold digging bitch who will use anybody to get where she want, want she wants, when she wants. She has ambitions—to build her parents a house and send her siblings to school. Those are not bad. But I hope she’ll do it by herself and not depend on somebody to do it for her.

So now you understand. She is a leech. She shits on me now because I am no use to her anymore.

P.S. This post is unedited and uncensored. I dont normally curse and say bad words, but i think you’ll understand.

Tags: people, society, stangers

I found an old video of us making music at home. My father-in-law, Hans, is a hobbyist musician. Hans is a nice and funny guy. He’s always making jokes and funny faces. He plays the accordion but he can also play other musical instruments like keyboards, guitar, and drums. He has a regular job and he also used to earn decent amount of money from being a musician but early in spring of 2007 he got an accident. He was cutting some woods and somehow the machine he was using malfunctioned cutting three fingers of his right hand. Right after his accident and until now he feels that playing accordion or the keyboards will never be as easy as it used to and everybody can understand why.

Benjamin is Marcus’ younger brother. At the time of this video, he was 13. Like their father, Benjamin is also musically inclined. He’s currently studying how to play the trumpet. In this video, he plays the acoustic bass guitar. He doesn’t have formal lessons on how to play it but somehow, it was sounding okay.

We did this video last June 2007 just a few months after Hans’ accident. Marcus and Lia (their mom) were the ones videotaping us. I am not used to being video taped so you’ll notice my uneasiness all throughout the video.

It was a simple song with just four chords. When Hans heard me sing it and play it with the guitar, he suggested that we do it all together so we did it and the outcome is of course nothing close to professional or practiced performance but it’s nice and it show candid setting within the family.

Tags: family, home, music, videos

I am not a big sports fan but surprisingly I did enjoy following the recent European Masters Football Tournament. It was not the game that lured me into watching almost all of the matches but it was the people who are passionate about football and their team.

I was amazed by how the people showed their support to their national teams –they painted their faces, hang their national flags (anywhere), wore patriotic shirts and funny national costumes, invented cheering songs and rhymes, paraded on the street, etc. I also remember seeing several mobile homes in the autobahn obviously being driven by sport enthusiasts from all around Europe driving to Austria (and Switzerland) to witness their teams play… not to mention the reported number of private jets landing in Vienna Airport causing major air traffic and several flight delays. And I don’t know how true this is but a friend of mine was in a train with some Italian football fans and they told her that they have quit their job (because their boss didn’t give them a longer leave of absence) just so they can follow the tournament. How crazy and extravagant!?! So really, Europeans are all out when it comes to giving support to their team.

I chose to root for Austria and my husband who is not a sports enthusiast himself was also influenced to root for his national team but when Austria was eliminated, he lost interest right away.

So anyway, after watching Austria’s first game (where they lost), I was (still) convinced that they’ve got a chance (to go up all the way to the semi final at least) and they’re not as bad as the Austrians themselves claim. The Austrian national team has the reputation of being one of the worst national teams in Europe and they only qualified to play in tournament because they were the host nation but they’re really not that bad. Their defense is excellent! If only they were also trained to score a goal (haha) and not just to stop the other team from making a goal… they would’ve made it. (I could go on and on about my opinions on the games but I am sure that you wouldn’t like to hear football analysis from someone who knows too little about football so… :-l

It was cool to be in Austria during the EM but it would have been cooler if the Austrian team won or if Austria won their match against Germany at least.

Tags: austria, people, places, society, travel