Alan’s Blog

I passed my driving test 2 weeks ago Yeah!!!! DMV (交管局） will mail me my driver’s license in 2 weeks. It will be my first driver’s license ever! How cool is that, though most my American classmates got their license when they were 16 years old. I will shop for a 98-01 Camry/Accord in the coming 2-3 weeks.

Last week was the MBA boot camp (intensive). So lecture from 8:30 to about 6. Three meals were served per day which is a very nice thing. We did four case studies, out of which, ,two were written case analysis.

btw. I quited my software engineer job in Shagnhai 2 months ago and come over to the U.S. to do my Master in Business Administration for 2 years.

南加州亚裔很多， 有不少比较正宗的中餐馆。 今天晚上吃小龙虾了， 很好吃。 他们最辣的一档叫fire in the hole. 想想有点淫荡， anyways。

UCI（加州大学）一学年有3个学期， 现在是第一学期， 有4门课（金融， 会计， 统计， 市场）， 加上公司的宣讲会， 职业发展办公室的讲座。 工作量还是不小的。 还好我以前在比利时学电子的时候学过统计，接触过一些会计， 市场。 目前还没有freak out：）。

这边运动条件很好， 我周五会去学校体育馆ARC（湖人队的科比布莱恩特会来健身）去练合气道。 指导老师是 Haruo Matsuoka据说是Steven Segal的老师。 这周是第一次课， 非常期待。

I’ve been ill since last Wednesday. Just low fever 37.7 C on Wednesday morning. But went to 38.2 near noon and I was feeling really badly. So I took a taxi and went to hospital. The doctor diagnosed me as upper respirtract infection (I hope I am getting the translation right here.) But I did not cough or anything, I was feeling a bit strange. Anyways I am not a doctor.

So some  Anti-inflammatory intravenous drip (hope well translated) in the afternoon. I started sweating when I got home in the evening, after that fever’s gone. The doctor gave two days drip, since the fever’s gone, so I had only one drip.

Sunday was pretty bad for me, since the fever was gone. I had too much drink on my roommate’s birthday party. I felt really sick! Yesterday, I had a company training. I started to cough. Now still coughing. I think I missed the best time to kill the virus. Now I just hope my immune system will cure itself. Otherwise hospital again…

Hope I get well soon. and hope I can sleep well tonight in spite of the coughing.

早上6点就觉得特别难受。 起来以后量了体温， 低烧。 于是在客厅沙发躺了会。 早餐同屋给我做了麦片， 还帮我熬了粥， 非常感谢。 到了十一点多也不见什么好转， 于是决定去医院， 一量体温已经38.2度。 到了医院医生问我发烧吗？ 我说嗯， 28度， 医生就乐了。 最后结论是上呼吸道感染。 开了三天病假。 回家吃饭来打点滴。 好难受呀。不过打完点滴感觉就退烧好多了。 吃了克感敏。  买了个西瓜， 吃了点， 水分多么。 明天接着打。

今天下班在家里附近吃了一份8块钱的青椒肉丝盖浇饭。 突然发觉我花了80个欧分（80 Euro cents）就解决了一顿晚饭， 而且味道还不错， 卫生也还可以。在欧洲简直是无法想象的。 80欧分也许能从自动贩卖机上买一厅可乐。 但是一顿饭， 至少需要3.5-5欧的。

昨天看了看当月的工资， 比我刚来上海时几乎翻了一翻， 可是我还是坐在那吃着廉价的盖浇饭。 感慨良多， 非常复杂的一种感觉。 吃完饭后走在上海夜晚的大街， 清风徐徐， 好不惬意。 想想很多人比我赚着多得多的钱， 每天吃着昂贵的饭菜， 却没有我开心。 为什么呢。 著名的心理学家马斯洛（Maslow）说过,  当人们满足了物质需求以后， 追求的就是被人的理解和精神上的肯定。而真正心智成熟的人， 快乐的源泉不在于周围的人对他的评价和外界物质的丰富与否。 当然， 这并不是说社会的肯定不重要， 而是一个人首先要得到自己的肯定， 而不是心情随着周围人的对自己的评价而变化（如：您真漂亮， 不做电影明星可惜了。 真是的， 这么简单都做不好， 小学生都会！你工作真出色， 简直可以做总经理了！等等， 等等）。 甚至有的人的心情会随着天气的变化而变化， 而真正牛B的人带着自己的天气出门。成熟心智的价值观和自我肯定， 是不随着自己在社会镜子（social mirror）中扭曲的影像而变化的。 就像成人看哈哈镜， 对哈哈镜中的形象不过是一笑了之。为什么有的人历经磨难， 出生贫寒， 却能坚强向上， 自强不息， 为什么有的人出生富裕，接受良好的教育， 却自尊心低， 脆弱敏感，心理学家也解答不了这个谜。

以前看动画片电影《南方公园》（South Park）的时候， 甘地和希特勒一样是在地狱里的， 当时十分不理解。 按照中国文化， 好人理当有好报， 先苦后甜， 甘地为印度人民的解放奋斗了一辈子， 死后应该在天堂享福才对呀。 当前的流行文化非常讲究以结果为导向（做的什么工作，职位， 有没有房子， 有没有车子。。。）， 却忽视了在各种结果的可能性之间人所拥有的选择。 快乐的源泉往往不在于选择了哪个结果， 而是拥有了选择的权利和为选择结果负责的勇气。 现在终于理解了。 在地狱与天堂之间， 甘地拥有的是选择， 而他选择了地狱。他也许属于天堂， 可是他没有贪念天堂的舒适， 而是选择了在地狱来考验自己的高尚。同样在炼狱中的希特勒与甘地， 希特勒承受着地狱的痛苦， 他为他在人世间的恶行付出了代价。 如果有人去采访甘地， 你猜他会怎么说呢？ 我猜他会说， 我在这儿挺好的， 我很快乐。

此文仅仅是我一点点的胡思乱想， 请不要对号入座。 如果对您有什么启发， 我深感荣幸， 如果没有， 就当我在胡说:P.

Just moved to the new place last week, exhausted.  Since the labor cost here is low, so it’s still easier or cheaper to move here than in Western countries.

My new room is small but sweet. Located in one of the better neighborhood. Reasonable price. I’m sharing it with a few other tenants working for big companies. So Hopefully we can have some good time sharing this good flat.

终于租到了一个比较合适的房子。 从一家人手里转租来的。 二房东他们工作不错， 也比较好相处， 小区环境很好， 物业也很好。 希望能租房愉快。

真tm难以置信。 今儿中国区CEO正在给我们开会， 椅子开始摇晃， 还以为自己要睡觉， 结果不对， 娘的， 在地震， 大概摇了有1分钟， 大家才反应过来。 开始走消防通道。 走的那个慢啊， 33层楼走了10几分钟， 大家都好像不着急， 我那个着急啊。 后来才知道震中在四川， 几乎所有省会城市均有震感。 川大同学用手机拍了一段视频传到了网上， 真彪悍啊。

相反王建硕的公司撤离速度那个快啊， 我们公司真是太欧洲， 太老化了， 根本不能适应亚洲的速度嘛。

shit, earthquake in Shanghai. My first time experiencing an earthquake. We evacuated from 33th floor. I feel people are really not prepared for such disaster. People were basically walking the fire stairs…I was really worried but couldn’t move faster. The news later said the epicenter is in Sichuan province thousand miles away from shanghai, almost all major cities in China can feel the earthquake. Prime Minister Wen just landed the earthquake province after I got off work. They will have a sleepless long night there tonight. I wish them all the best. Hope everything will be all right. 88 days count down to summer Olympics on 8th Aug…

房东把房子卖了， 五月底就得搬家。 唉， 本来想在这边久住一段时间的。 不得不又要找房子了。。。找房子是费神费力， 还费钱。 在上海这种1600万常住人口的大城市， 找到自己的一片地儿怎么这么难呢。。。哥们要求不高， 离漕河泾30分钟以内， 有办法去地铁一号线， 2300块/月， 2室， 不要顶楼和一楼， 全配就行啦。

My landlord sold her apartment, which means I am looking for an apartment in Shanghai again, not easy job…anyone who has tried to find a decent place with reasonable price (2000-2500 rmb/month) knows it.

My hosting service company is moving their data center…Back online next week:). See you folks then.

李宇春出名还是有原因的。 今天这首歌《差生》尽然莫名的感动了我。 虽然我从小到大都不算差生，但是却很能理解不被承认的心情。 请别因为他人的眼光放弃自己的梦想！

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I have to confess that I didn’t get high ratings often on writing classes in Chinese when I was in school until the last year of high school when I had to prepare for the college entrance exam. Recently I started to understand the importance of writing. So I think writing more often is a good idea. For my own good. I think I’ll keep writing in both Chinese and English, depends on my thinking process.

By Aug 2008, I will be back in China for 3 years. It’s been a exciting and somewhat difficult experience. But I have learned a lot about my own country. It’s been doing me a lot of good. If I stayed in Europe, it could be harder for me to adjust to the life here when I return later.

It’s still hard for me to judge where exactly the opportunity for China is since I only worked for two employers, and they are both Dutch companies. I somehow feel starting up business should be the best idea. Chinese government has some program to promote business created by Chinese student returned from overseas. I looked into some of the specifics in the program and made some contact. I think with the right people and right project the success factor is quite high. Keep watching and keep looking. And of course, more importantly, start doing and learning by doing:).