Chinese crutches

Hello everyone back in Seattle.  I guess I'm writing this right at the end of the term so I wish everyone good luck on exams.  Here is a picture of the progression of Shanghai from old to modern to mega-city.

So what's new in Shanghai?  Well, unfortunately I found that the only crutches available in the local hospital are still too short for me.  I'm going to a school called CEIBS here and was part of their cursed soccer team.  In just 5 games our team got a broken ankle, a chipped tooth, 12 stitches above the eye and a strained ligament.  I was the strained ligament.  So our team has successfully completed an overall assessment of the Shanghai healthcare system.  Anyway, we did win the tournament so are the best MBA soccer team in Shanghai.

My classes have been super interesting mostly because of my classmates.  CEIBS is a small school and half of the class goes away on exchange which means there are about 65 other exchange students from Canada, USA, South America, Spain, Hungary, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia etc.  A group of Mexican students organized a great American Thanksgiving for all of us.  We imported a real turkey (they don't have turkeys in China) which cost about $150 but it was worth it. We also had another event where we went to watch the Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup and saw Federer lose and Andy Murray crush Andy Roddick.

It is also interesting the number of large companies that are recruiting at CEIBS.   I read a stat that about 480/500 Fortune 500 companies are in China right now.  So there is a large demand for management that is fluent in English.  So although, China is also feeling the financial crunch, my Chinese classmates are still receiving many offers from companies desperate to improve their Chinese presence.  And the salary offers are rapidly approaching the level a US MBA might look to receive.  Unfortunately for me, the companies also need native Chinese speakers...  and that's not me. 

The city of Shanghai still amazes me.  I visited last December and saw a huge half finished building in the new downtown core. Well, just a few months later it is finished and is the 2nd tallest building in the world next to Taipei 101.  And  a few days ago, the started on a new building that supposedly will be taller than Taipei 101.  So three of the tallest 7 buildings in the world all within walking distance.  Actually a little scary considering the events in Mumbai last week.

I haven't travelled so much other than one bike trip from Shanghai to Hangzhou.  (360 km)  And that was a very interesting trip.  You can ask me in January when I come back about getting lost on the freeway and then my tire that fell off.  But as I left the downtown core of Shanghai and rode through the countryside which is basically the world's factory I gained a different perspective of China.  Namely that there is no public garbage control when you leave the city limits.  So everyone just throws garbage on the ground and lets it rot there.  I remember stopping for a snack at a farm and saw a stream full of garbage. Just about the stream full of garbage were the vines from all the vegetables that the farm was growing.  Makes me think twice about the food I eat in the restaurant.

Anyway, I do miss my time in Seattle and will take any Qmeth notes that people are thinking about burning.  See you in January!!

Geoffrey