Seoul was lovely, though we both thought it looked very much like any major city in the US, specifically San Francisco. By the time our trip was over, we were calling it San Francisco. We were quite lucky with the weather, which was gorgeous. A funny story though, we had trouble finding trash cans while we were walking around. We finally realized that it was because the US President was visiting. And when we got back to Beijing, our road was closed…because the US President was visiting. He’s a stalker!!!!!!!! Obama’s stalking us!!!!!

This was all over a week ago by the way, the entire Korea trip; we’ve been sick.

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 26th, 2009 - 12:53 pm
Filed Under :: photo albums

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Having successfully hopped, skipped, and jumped over to Korea for the sake of sorting out our visas, I thought I’d put down some of my thoughts on the entire process and Korea in general.

1) Everything’s expensive there, basically the same price as in the US, but in won, which makes everything looks horribly expensive because it’s just about 1,000 times more worthless than the dollar. So a can of pop will set you back 1,000 won…

2) Hotels, transportation, entrance fares, etc., i guess this means durable goods and services, cost the same as the US. Our hotel was 135,000 won a night and it wasn’t that good. Food’s thankfully cheaper, especially the good Korean food, with lots of yummy sides!

3) It is quite a short flight from China, so if you really need to sort out your tourist visa and get in on your next entry, it’s not a bad choice, though, as mentioned, expensive. It only takes like two hours, and there’s good public transportation from the Seoul airport. But it’s far! ICN, the new one, the only international one, is 75 km away from Seoul. It takes an hour and a half by public transportation bus, probably longer by subway (we didn’t want to try it), and supposedly an hour by taxi, but that’ll set you back 100,000 won, or 100 dollars.

4) Do take the subway to try to get around. The maps are convoluted, they actually try to draw the lines to scale and have every little turn show up, but they go everywhere, are quick, inexpensive, and relatively frequent, though not as frequent as Beijing’s. Seriously, the maps suck; they’re dense, they’re angular, and one map doesn’t look the same as the next so there’s no consistency and where a station was on one isn’t where it is on another. It’s just all wrong. And the colors all look the same to me…

Otherwise the subways are more than sufficient as a means of getting around; certainly better than LA’s ;)

5) They do all sort of speak English, sorta, kinda, not really. I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of going to an Asian country that I don’t speak the language in, this is why. It’s like, there’s lots of good looking street food, but I can’t ask if it’s vegetarian for Maria to eat. The good news is that the language is not tonal like Chinese, so you can read and pronounce it as it looks when written in English. The written language also looks pretty good; I think Maria and I had figured out some of the underlying patterns by the time we left.

6) We were able to get street food though, and very good ones: baked goods shaped like a fish with sweet red bean paste in it. The lady was making them on this huge, rotating waffle iron type machine with fish molds on it. We had been walking around for a while that night actually, looking for street food, unwilling and not ready to call it a night without more dessert.

7) In China, anyone staying the night has to register within 24 hours with the local police department; tell them you’re here, where you’re staying, give them a photo, etc. These usually last for as long as your visa allows you to stay in the country. So like good little foreigners, we had registered immediately when we first got there, and like good little foreigners, we had left the country before both our visa and police registration had expired. We assumed that this meant we had some leeway on the whole “24 hours, must be registered” thing, because technically our previous registration hadn’t expired. NOT TRUE! Apparently, it’s whenever you enter the country, you have 24 hours to present yourself to the local police department. Not that anyone gave us trouble with it since we were a full day late, but, well, I can see problems arising.

8) As far as personal updates go:

a) My IFC concert has been postponed due to difficulties in getting the required government approval to sing Handle’s Messiah
b) Renovations at my apartment may finally finish, next week; there’s light at the end of that tunnel
c) I’m not sure I want to work for my father anymore…but that’s a much more complicated matter that I’m not sure I want to touch upon here
d) My great uncle passed away Monday morning. He’s the first of my relatives to pass away for me, and the first funeral that I will be attending this coming Sunday morning
e) As great as this apartment is that I’m staying in, I’m not sure I want to any more either, considering that at some point my mother and her entire family will show up, and most likely for a lengthy period of time.
f) I am still sick. Blah.

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 26th, 2009 - 12:42 pm
Filed Under :: china, reference
Tags :: funeral, reference, Seoul, tips, travel, visas

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So we have been in the country for 54 days now; our 60 day tourist visa (“L”) will expire next Saturday. We have to leave the country by next Saturday. Although there’s actually a little give on this if you overstay your visa; apparently it’s a $40.00 per day fine, but if it’s just a couple of days, you can usually talk your way out of it when going through immigration. As my father put it, the immigration officer has no real easy way to accept your money, and there are very long lines.

We were originally supposed to have switched to working visas (“Z”) by now already, but somewhere along the processing line, the ball was dropped and we’ll have to start that process over. Once that’s done though, we should be able to stay in the country for a year at a time, maybe even two depending on how we do the renewal. But that will have to wait.

We were going to try to extend our tourist visas. The longest you can stay in the country on one of those is 90 days, and we’ve only been here for 60. I went down to the local visa issuing bureau, another one of those monolithic buildings in architectural praise of the all mighty power of bureaucracy, and, if I gave them a good reason why I wanted to stay, they’d let me, for another 30 days. The problem with extending it though is that it will void my current multiple entry visa. I think something along the lines of you’re only allowed to hold one visa into the country at a time, and the extension will count as a brand new 30 day tourist visa. Now we don’t want to lose our multiple entries, because it’s convenient. Plus, on top of voiding our current visas, we need to have a domestic bank account, in our name, with $3000.00 on deposit, each. Granted we need domestic bank accounts in our name anyways, but there’s just not enough time to process all of this! And I have to wonder, what tourist would have a local bank account, in their name, and that much cash when you can just use any ATM to get money from your US accounts?

The other option was to get an “F” visa, which is for foreigners coming with intent to find a job, which lasts for six months. That’s its own bureaucratic nightmare, needing certified letters of invitation from a company, etc. The grand plan had been to take a 24 hour train down to Hong Kong, which counts as leaving the country for some reason, trying to apply and get an “F” visa while there, and failing that, just come back into the country on our next “L” visa entry.

Then we were thinking of flying down, because we don’t have enough time to devote 48 hours to travel.

Then the “F” visa option was starting to sound stupid and not worth it, and my father assures me he’ll have our “Z” visas squared away as soon as possible.

So now, we’re going to Korea! Woot? I’ve never been there, never had any plans to go there, know nothing about how to get there, what to do when we’re there, etc. But we did get a really good price on the airplane tickets. Unfortunately we were unable to book a flight there and back on the same day (it’s only a two hour flight to Seoul) due to the last minute nature of our booking. So we get two days and two nights in Korea. Again, woot?

To sum up then:
“F” visa: stupid.
“Z” visa: get it ASAP!
“L” visa: multiple entries, good, losing said multiple entries for an extension, bad.

It’s my fault, really. I should have been better on top of what was going on with our working visa process. Ah well. It’s actually a horrible time for me to be leaving the country right now. My restaurant’s renovation is nearing completion, so is my apartment’s, hopefully, I have two concerts to give within the next two weeks, and it’s my birthday. Ah well. It’ll be sorted. At least it’ll be a mini-adventure to Korea!

Edit: apparently Obama’s also visiting Seoul…….??????

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 15th, 2009 - 7:40 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: adventure, bureaucracy, visas

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It was an early snowfall this year. Apparently it’s good fortune. If it snows in November, it means the next years harvest will be bountiful, or something like that. It came on real fast, completely out of the blue. Incidentally, the mosquitoes are quite hearty and are STILL around somehow. And it looks like it’s going to snow again, later this week. Now I like the snow, and I like the cold. Any excuse to wear a nice wool coat is fine by me. But I wonder if this was all my fault, somehow. My father had told me that the past few years there had been little to NO snow in Beijing. I had been quite disappointed actually, because I remember from my childhood that the city was beautiful in the snow. Now that I actually show up though, and now that I actually need to get places, wouldn’t you know it, and the snow starts coming down :)

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 8th, 2009 - 2:42 am
Filed Under :: china, photo albums

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(Sick)
So I’m sick, and have been for a few days. And I realize now that a good many of my blog posts begins with the word “So.” I wonder why that is…But I think it’s the weather.

(Weather)
It was like this when I was in New York; as the seasons noticeably change, I would get sick. This meant once when the summer months ended and winter began, and again when winter ends and it starts to warm. I probably got lucky the year and a half or so I was last in LA because there are no noticeable season changes there. But here, in Beijing, wow; it was quite warm when we first arrived, then all of a sudden, snow! Photos to follow incidentally. It’s been like that since the end of the month. It’s actually quite appropriate really, as November began, so did winter.

(Sick)
But I don’t like being sick. It throws off my sleeping schedule because I just sleep when I’m tired, and that happens at random intervals during the day. Other times I just can’t sleep because of the symptoms, like now. And in general, I’m just completely sapped of energy. I do think I’m getting better though. One of the good things about China is that most drugs are over the counter, including antibiotics. I’m taking those, and some other random Chinese medicine, to good general effect.

(Maria Runs)
Maria’s been getting more and more adventurous in her running lately. We’ve uploaded maps of her runs for anyone who’s interested.

(IFC)
I auditioned for and successfully got in to the Beijing International Festival Chorus! I was actually very nervous for some reason. I’m actually always nervous during auditions, never so during rehearsals or performances, but something about auditions rattles me. It looks pretty interesting, and the venue that they perform in is quite grand. They’re also very English which I find very amusing. The first rehearsal is tomorrow and though I am sick, I doubt I’m contagious, and I’d very much like to get back into the swing of things. Part of why I may have been nervous as Maria points out is that it’s been over a year and a half since I last sang. A pity really. I also hope to join their smaller group, the International Festival Chamber Choir. I don’t know much about hem yet though, but it seems like an added opportunity to sing and perform, which is always good.

(Updates)
As far as general updates go, I’ve been obviously a little bit absent from the renovation work going on at Connections Bar and Grill. Incidentally, the IFC people had heard of my restaurant! A testament to our current marketing scheme! I foresee great things in the future; this looks to be the start of a beautiful friendship! The schedule is still set though; we will open in one week. Next week will be the all important perfecting of our recipes, our new supply lines, and the hiring of new employees. As my father put it, I missed some of the craziness this week, but there’s plenty more next week, and it’ll all be mine. Yay. [insert sarcasm tag] I keep going over and over the operations of the restaurant in my mind, and it scares me.

You see, unlike in the States, where restaurant layouts make sense, apparently in China, regulations prohibit such things as a large open kitchen where one person can have easy access to all the supplies, utensils, plates, and cooking. You need a separate room, with its own wall separating it, for your dish washing and your produce preparation. This means that for one person to operate the kitchen in its entirety is for most intents and purposes impossible. That one cook will have to go to the “salad prep” room to get the produce ready, then go to the kitchen to cook everything, then go to the “dish washing” room to get the necessary plates before putting it all together. Apparently it’s a hygiene regulation.

So to get around this, I’m thinking we’ll keep the separate rooms because we have to, but just not use them. It just means there’s a lot of pressure on the cook, a.k.a. me, to make sure all the prep is done in the mornings and MOVED into the kitchen so that I won’t have to keep running back and forth between quite distant places…I’m thinking, down the line, once the restaurant is highly successful, a complete and utter overhaul of the kitchen will be needed. We’ll speak of this when the time is appropriate.

As far as renovations go at my apartment, I think we’ve hit a snag. Apparently it’s out of my hands, as it should since these are my mother’s renovations, but I think they’re doing it wrong. The plan was to rebuild the sun-room, this nice, enclosed patio type space on the second floor. There was some water damage because the roof was leaking, so they were supposed to tear it all apart, and redo it. Well the tearing apart went fine, but it looks like they’re walling up the windows! They’re just turning it into…a room. I doubt that’s what my mother had in mind. The problem with informing her is that this construction is already way behind schedule; they were supposed to be done by November 1st. And now if it looks like they’re doing it all wrong and will have to do it again but correctly, it’s just going to take even longer, and I just can’t wait for the day where I won’t have to worry about construction workers trampling through my home!

I think that’s all for now…I’m going to sort out some beautiful photos of Beijing in the snow and upload them next.

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 8th, 2009 - 2:26 am
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: apartment, Connections Bar & Grill, International Festival Chorus, renovations, running, sick, snow

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Ingredients:

• 200 g (.46 lbs) extra-lean hamburger patty, pre-formed, individually-wrapped
• 1 sesame bun, preferably frozen
• Shredded white “cheese”
• “Pickles,” otherwise known as ZhaCai, literally “Pressed Vegetables” (no dill was harmed in the making of this pickle)
• Garnish: 1 lettuce leaf, sliced tomatoes and onions
• Seasoning: Salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, red cooking wine, cooking oil

Equipment:

• Spatula
• Saute pan and lid
• Stove
• Microwave
• Pizza oven

Directions:

• Season both sides of patty with liberal amounts of Seasoning
• Put patty in saute pan on high heat
• Cover with lid to cook
• When bottom looks “done,” flip, cover, and repeat
• When both sides look “done,” put in microwave for 1-2 minutes at your discretion
• Put back in saute pan to cook away any excess liquids that may have escaped while microwaving
• At this point, put sesame bun into pizza oven to defrost/toast
• Sprinkle top of patty lightly with “cheese,” then put into pizza oven to melt
• Wait 2 minutes for everything to finish in the pizza oven
• Place patty between sesame bun, top with Garnish, and you’re done!

To serve:

• Prepare a small pile of deep-fried, frozen french fries
• Create an elaborately European, but small, side salad, complete with vegetable “towers” and hash-patterned drizzles of dressing
• Arrange everything delicately in quadrants on a square plate
• Provide an individual crock of ketchup

Promise: This will NOT be how I serve my new hamburgers at Connections Bar & Grill. I just wanted to show just how far we’ve come and in such a short time.

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 4th, 2009 - 3:15 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: business, Connections Bar & Grill, food

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This post consists of rambling observations on 1) Chinese law and Chinese lawyers, 2) Maria’s fascinating work in Beijing that she doesn’t regret at all getting snookered into accepting, and 3) Maria’s disinclination to work (“I have a plan, and this isn’t part of it!”).

Shortly after arriving in Beijing, I responded to an ad seeking teachers of legal English. “LegalCo” promised a light schedule and a few bucks, and I thought it might be interesting. LegalCo deals in teaching professional skills, law firm p.r., translation, and lawyer placement; I toured their office; I discussed with them my suitability for their available position (they had me penciled into their schedule before I even showed up, as it turns out) and I started doing things with them. They asked me to give a short talk on a topic of my choice within the field of Legal English to a promised audience of 100 students at one of China’s most prestigious universities, and I agreed. Thereafter they asked me if I’d like to tag along to a visit to one of China’s leading domestic law firms and dinner. Sounds good!

I probably spent too much time preparing for the lecture. I’ll return at some later date to the “Chinese people don’t take a schedule seriously” idea, but suffice to say that although they wanted to make sure I could fill 40 minutes, they still had to tell me to stop talking. Dude, I was on a roll, I had (legal writing!) powerpoint slides left, and I was enjoying listening to myself talk. :) I am a grammar fanatic, after all.

The day itself took forever, though. I was promised 250 yuan for a 30-40 minutes talk. The campus itself must have taken over an hour to drive to (in one of the LegalCo’s vehicles). Not to mention that it was pouring rain…anyway, the day began with me subwaying across town, walking to the car of the main employee I deal with at LegalCo (whom I’ll call S), and driving around trying to find this Australian tax lawyer, R, who was to give the talk at the Chinese law firm (on negotiation skills). We eventually found R, made it to the firm, found an elevator that would take us to the right floor– after some false starts, and got set up for his talk. The room filled with Chinese lawyers, most apparently no older than myself (although maybe the Asian gift of enduring youth affected my perception of their age). Many of the girls were dressed like American high school students. Sparkly dresses, tiered skirts, novelty shoes. What? The guys mostly wore jeans and dress shirts. I was wearing full formal suit-skirt and pumps, R was in a decently formal suit, and S at least wore wrinkled khakis. Even though I wasn’t on the schedule, a few people had questions for me too. I really wish I could understand the introduction that people give for me (in this case, by S). The law firm presented me with a neat little gift, formally presented, which turned out to contain a chunk of lucite with a dragon seal –functionally, a business card holder. Pret-tay nifty! Chinese paperweight!

Next step: after dropping off R, we drove to the University. The U has two campuses, one quite close to where I live. This was at the other campus. S admits he is not a great driver, and traffic was horrible, and the weather was also quite bad. We had picked up C, a Chinese law firm partner, at the law firm, so S and C and I drove first to the wrong town by accident and then to the right town, and to a fancy restaurant near the U. We had good food, a somewhat … inelegant meal, in terms of conversation, as I speak only English and C speaks only Chinese. S did some interpreting, but mostly went back and forth between speaking to his two guests. It was a neat place, we took pictures, and entertainment was just starting as we were leaving. I expect it was quite expensive, although of course I didn’t see the menu or the bill. Our event was supposed to start at 7, and at 645 we were still at the restaurant. Sigh. People just aren’t concerned with schedules? They also didn’t let me know when the bill came, and didn’t let me contribute. Apparently I’m the invitee, and it’s the inviter who pays. Plus they don’t let people who are just starting out, which apparently includes me, pay. Okay, for now! I only owe a thousand people already …

By the time we made it to the U, we were several minutes late and the room looked restless. It was packed, though, and no one looked like they were ready to give up their seat. A few people were standing against the back wall, too. We had some technical issues–resolved, and one of the speakers didn’t show (a guy from the British consulate supposedly was on a business trip). Whatever. Regardless, C and I got a million questions, and we didn’t end up leaving until 3 hours after we got there. Can I please go home now?

We packed S’s car with two more people, who we then dropped off (they have something to do with LegalCo…I think…they were never properly introduced). I got home so freaking late. So…30-40 minutes, eh? I returned home more than 11 hours after I left.

S is an interesting fellow, and he and his colleague D have explained to me their views on the Chinese legal system at some length. It is clear that China is in a transitional period, as western ideas of the rule of law and the desirability of avoiding corruption are gaining some ground, but the old ways prevail. Sounds like bribery is the way it is.

S also mentioned that he didn’t think it’d be hard for me to get a job in a domestic or international law firm. I told him: no hurry. For now, I’ve accepted a job as a “legal associate”–a very loose, part-time gig for Sean’s dad’s co. Still, I’m doing some legal work, and it’s very interesting. It is *not* California litigation (read: I have no experience in this area). So I am happy, but I am not actually content. I wasn’t planning to work here. I am supposed to be studying. As things are going, I think it unlikely that I will be happy with my GMAT score if I take it on the day currently scheduled. (Ignore, also, the fact that I don’t currently feel like going to business school.) The plan was to study, do my apps, learn Chinese. These things have *not* been my focus since showing up in this fancy city. I need to re-think, prioritize, and maybe even buckle down and work hard or some shit. Most unpalatable.

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Posted by maria j. g. on November 1st, 2009 - 11:40 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: business, china, Chinese people, lawyers, rambling, rant

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