Signs Gone Wild: World's Yummy Drinks

Hm~ Drinks from all over the world? World's YummiEST Drinks? Who knows really. China is full of these little gems. Stay tuned for more as I discover them!

A Stereotype Long Lived

China is well known to all of us for many things, such as their long history, influence in scientific discoveries and their ability to copy virtually anything. What one of the most well known facts about China is that it has been the world's biggest source of cheap labor for many decades. Most of the world's biggest multinational corporations have factories here in the land of the Yellow Dragon making use of workers who can assemble and construct products very fast at a fairly small price. Sounds like a sweet deal right? For the multinationals at least it does. Maybe even for some of those workers who are able to live off of this small pay, but that would probably apply mostly to several years in the past. Times have changed now as more and more Chinese are getting well-rounded educations by exploring the western world or coming into contact with western culture in general.

One of these people is my own future spouse, an intelligent young woman who has done her fair share of hard studying, sportsmanship and part-time work as a student. Her English is at a very advanced level and has a deep understanding of western way of life and culture. Studying and living in England alone was definitely a big eye-opener for her. With all of this in mind, her hopes and dreams are that much greater than most of her fellow countrymen. Working for a foreign-owned company, though, has proven that despite her background she is still viewed merely as cheap labor. I am almost 100% certain that there are others riding a similar boat and I find that this stereotype should be broken. I am biased as I do not know the circumstances under which foreign owned companies treat their Chinese workers, but I feel that it is not fair nor respectful to assume that a certain person is almost trash because of his or her heritage and origin. More or less so when the company is run in the country in question.

More after the jump

Japan Nuclear Crisis and Us

Hello guys! I'm writing this to let you all know that we are both alive and well here. I know that the disaster in Japan right now has the entire world on the edge of their seats and it does appear that neighboring countries might be caught in as well. From my own research, the Chinese State Council has reassured that the country will not be affected by this crisis. Furthermore, they have conducted preliminary investigations on the east coasts and have found no signs of radiation but they will continue to monitor. I don't know much about radiation but I have done some homework and I remain optimistic that all will be well. Beijing is upwind of the disaster area so all is looking like we will be fine.

Unfortunately, due to some messages that have been spread to create panic, people are going nuts buying salt and "radiation medication". There is literally no salt to be found - unless you go on Taobao (China's equivalent to eBay), which has been flooded with salt sellers.

I will give an update when and if something changes, hopefully for the better. I'll also come into contact with the Greek embassy to see if the motherland has issued a warning of any sort. In the meantime I am hoping the Japanese will avert this crisis swiftly and hope they can recover from their misfortunes. I urge anyone with an iPhone/Pod/Pad to purchase Street Fighter 4 from the iTunes store. Capcom is putting the app up for 1$ and all earnings will be donated to support Japan's rescue and recovery operations.

New Beginnings

What a long strange trip it has been so far. With almost 1,5 years living in Beijing under my belt I already feel as though it has been at least 5! With the good times and the bad I've gained a lot from this experience and I will continue walking the path I've chosen for myself with even more confidence. Now I'm a few days away from returning to my home and I simply can't wait. I've missed my family, my friends and the cozy weather of Athens. I'm also looking forward to relaxing and regaining my focus. This is a good opportunity to reflect on what I've done so far and consider future possibilities for myself and my beloved Kimy.

What does this mean for the blog? Honestly, I don't know yet. I've been absent...a lot. Work has been taxing. Coming to terms with having less time to do other things that I enjoy is probably the biggest culprit. But now I have a much better grasp on managing my time and I want to focus on getting interesting and high quality content out there. Kimy and I have been toying with the idea of starting a language podcast. I have some more things that I would like to do as well. Regarding GMB (fancy acronyms in dramatic moments are cool) I've come to terms that it will probably never be anything more than just a diary of sorts. A way to sort of portray my life here in China. I'll continue writing here as much as I can but I feel that my inspiration will be a better fit for other areas. The only possible change I foresee is moving to Wordpress which I find to be a much more versatile platform.

Chinese New Year is almost upon us so I wish you all the best and hope to catch some of you in Athens after I arrive!

恭喜发财 (Congratulations and be prosperous)

An Inspirational Story

My boss showed me this article on the New York Times website a couple of days ago. An African-American man moved from Brooklyn to Beijing to teach English only to find himself buying the crumbling institution he worked for. Some may say that he is just mad, others may believe he has made a good financial investment and he'll make millions. I believe he is one of very few humanitarians who's struggling to keep a good educational establishment afloat because he cares.

My hat's off to you Mr. Cabo. Keep up the good fight!

Decompressing Subway Stations

This just in! According to this article on The Beijinger, Beijing Subway officials are planning on using limitation measures and tactics to relieve the congestion that plagues certain stations. While they are targeting a very small number of lines, I've been unfortunate enough to be using one of them! Personally, I don't see how such measures will make things any better. People here always find ways to bend the rules and do what they want, especially when their convenience and speed are compromised. But I can only hope that this might be a step in the right direction as I think it's just another one of those "we're doing something for the sake of doing something" tactics.

C'est la vie!

Ask the Greek: Mandarin vs. English - Battle for World Domination

Greek Man in Beijing proudly presents a new interactive column called "Ask the Greek". Here I'll be answering questions you might have about China and living here! Now, I haven't exactly fleshed this out entirely so I may be answering one question or multiple ones, depending on the topic. What I can say for sure is that it will be done on a weekly basis and you can e-mail me your questions at shinnkun@gmail.com. For the first post, I will just simply state my opinion regarding a certain belief that many people have about Mandarin Chinese. More specifically, there are many people and experts out there who believe that in a few years time, the Chinese language will overtake English as a global tongue. Personally, I feel there are many reasons to believe it is possible but I highly doubt it will happen. Not for a while, at least.

Mandarin Chinese is a language that has been developing for a very very long time. Much like the Greek language, it has influenced the mother tongues of other neighboring countries and has more than a dozen different dialects and forms that are spoken even nowadays. As a language it is very efficient, mainly because it doesn't rely on tenses (past, present and future). Furthermore, it is a highly contextual language, a fact which makes conversations in Chinese quite speedy at times. On many levels, Mandarin sounds like a pretty simple language to learn...on paper. The differences it has from the English language are great and herein lies the problem I, and probably most people, face when trying to learn it.