Posts Tagged "china"

At the Austrian Party

Posted by vienna on Oct 28, 2008 in People and Places | 0 comments

My husband has never been in Austrian Expat Party until yesterday. Last Sunday was Austria’s National Day so the embassy held an Austrian gathering on Monday evening. We knew about the party weeks ago and hubby was so looking forward to go there. We even planned to go there in our traditional Austrian clothes but he chickened out a few hours before the party so I needed to shop for another dress.

The party was OHHH—-KAYYYY. Food was great but I would have enjoyed it better if we were sitting down while eating. There were no chairs! There were these high and small rounded tables for people to gather around and drink but that was all. When dinner was served, people have to wait for their turns so they can have a part of the table where they can put their plates down. That was really disappointing for me more so because I was wearing a pair of high-heeled shoes.

I was not very comfortable in the party but I thought it was okay because I am sure that most of the people there were also uncomfortable. Sure, they tried to mingle with each other but they leave the conversation as soon as one comes and butt in. haha. It was all too shallow for me. I am glad that the group (me, my husband, and his colleagues) stayed together the whole evening. There were people coming to the group to have a chit chat but none of them stayed long.

It was actually kind of nice at the beginning because there was a free flow of wine (haha) and people were really nicely dressed. It was not my kind of party….it was actually a little bit phony for my taste but it was altogether kind of fun because I get to observe people in their phony moments (wink).

Wohnen in Shanghai

Posted by vienna on Oct 23, 2008 in Other Tongue | 0 comments

Die Stadt in der ich lebe heißt Shanghai. Ich glaube jeder weiß wo Shanghai liegt weil Shanghai eine der größten Städte der Welt ist. Sie hat 6,218 Quadratkilometer Landfläche und ungefähr 22 Millionen Einwohner. Shanghai ist eine Megastadt und in der kann man fast alles finden. In Shanghai gibt es viele Kinos, Restaurants, Museums, Theaters, Diskotheken, Universität, und Einkaufszentren.

Ich finde Shanghai sehr interessant weil diese Stadt so viele Gesichter hat. Shanghai ist eine Mischung von altem and neuem China und man kann in Shanghai viele Einflüsse aus westlichen Ländern sehen. Viele Ausländer wohnen hier und jeden tag sehe ich Leute von den verschiedenen Teilen der Welt. Ich mag Shanghai und ihre weiten Strassen, ihre hohen Wolkenkratzer, und ihre beschäftigten Leute.

Unsere Wohnung ist in einem Wohnblock direkt am „Century Park“. Mein Mann und ich wohnen in einer schönen Wohnung im 14.Stock. Unsere Wohnung hat zwei Balkone, zwei Schlaffzimmer, zwei Badezimmern mit Toilette, ein großes Wohnzimmer, eine moderne Küche, ein Eßzimmer, und einen kleinen Lagerraum. Von unserem Balkon, haben wir eine gute Aussicht auf den „Century Park“. In unserem Wohnblock, gibt es ein großes Wellness Center mit Swimmingpool und es gibt auch viele Restaurants in der Nähe. Von unserer Wohnung braucht man ungefähr fünf Minuten zur nächsten U-Bahnstation. Das ist für mich sehr bequem. Ich mag die Tatsache, daß es eine U-Bahnstation gibt weil ich den starken Verkehr auf der Strasse mit der U-Bahn vermeiden kann.

Wir sind seit vier Monaten in Shanghai und bis jetzt gefällt es uns noch gut.

Before Going to China

Posted by vienna on Mar 17, 2008 in People and Places, This and That | 2 comments

I am back from Beijing and a few days of not being able to blog left me tremendous amount of work. Updating nine blogs is not exactly a walk in the park so I probably will skip some of them. I got sick for a few days too so that made it more difficult. It must have been the terrible smog in Beijing that gave me a terrible nasal and throat irritation.

For those of you who are planning to visit China, here are some of the things you need to bring other than your camera and things that are normally in your luggage.

A little pocket dictionary: I don’t know how much this is going to help you but just expect the worst. Think that not a lot of Chinese can speak English. If you are going to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, you probably won’t need it unless you’ll drive with the taxi.

Medicine: In China, there are all sorts of medicines for all sort of sickness but you can never know if you are buying the right one because 99% of the medicines in pharmacies have Chinese names and the dosage instructions are in Chinese too.

Ointment with Eucalyptus or Mint smell: You’ll probably want to dab this on a small part above your upper lip every now and then. Why? Let’s just say… this smells a lot better.

Once, you have these you should be ok. Now, when you arrive there are some things you have to be careful about. China is a shopping haven because every thing comes in a cheaper price especially if you have nothing against fakery. You’ll find just about anything from Old Navy to Chanel. But be careful because they also fake money here. Check the money they give you (change from taxi drivers and vendors) if these are real bank notes just to make sure that it’s real even if the person handling it out to you seems to be the most trustworthy person on earth.