Suddenly I’m in Paris and Barcelona again. This time it’s for work.

I’ve heard of the sales seasons in Europe long time ago, and I didn’t think I’d have a chance to experience it. Now I’m here… shopped a bit (happily). The big word of “SOLDES” is everywhere in Paris, and I could feel the whole city was excited by the huge discounts. All the women were out hunting for their favourite items. What a scene!

And I’m now back to Barcelona again… during the World Cup final! But again, watching the FIFA game in Barcelona is actually a bit strange - because of the Catalyna and Spain tension lately. I’m not sure how many people in Barcelona actually wants Spain to win. What a complex feeling. Yesterday, one day before the FIFA final, there is a huge demonstration downtown BCN, urging for independence. Every country has its own problem - just like the Chinese saying that “every family has its own story”. This time, I’m living in a different area - rather than close to the hardcore touristy area of Passeig de Gracia, I’m near Placa de Francesa Maria. The feeling is actually quite different - comparable to the downtown-uptown feeling.

But every time I’m in BCN, it seems there are still things that I haven’t seen/tried before. The local districts/communities, the summer drinks, different beaches… I was in the middle of the Gay Pride Parade in Sitges this weekend! But I always wonder why the Pride Parade is always like that… people dressing up strangely, role-playing and SM, etc.

Meeting and work on Monday, then heading back to Shanghai Tuesday morning. It seems life is too short. Enjoy every moment.

One is the loneliest number.

Flew to Shenzhen the other day, spent 12 hours in total. Plane cancellation and delays. Came back from Shenzhen and had 1 hour delay, which is nothing. Then from Beijing to Shanghai, another 3 hours of delay. Lucky that time I could stay in the lounge and got something done. It seems these days flight delays are very normal. It seems that something is wrong with the China flight control system. I don’t understand. I still don’t get it. Well, like my new French friend said: This Is China. I guess I really have to get used to this. Just work around it when you can’t change it.

Next Tuesday will go to Beijing again and then head to Hong Kong. Mother was in town for 3 months, but it seemed that I never had a chance to spend any quality time with her. The day she went back to Toronto, I was in Beijing. I felt sad.

Finally, I’m the only one staying in Shanghai. Finally I’ve found a place to move in next week. Busy with work all the time, and it seems that the only time I could have a rest I feel strange about it. Feel so strange that I could sit down and type up some thoughts.

Guess I should get some sleep…

A couple of pictures from my trip to Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires - Law School

Buenos Aires - La Boca

It’s been over 3 months since I last wrote something here. The previous post of “Up in the Air” was actually not supposed to appear here. It was just a title, a thought, that was inspired by the movie of the same name.

I feel that I’ve been travelling constantly for the past 2 years. I’ve been always literally “up in the air” since April 2008, and sometimes I also feel that everything is “up in the air” as well. After April 10, 2010, I’ve formally graduated. I got asked about what I’m doing, where I’m working, and where I’ll be staying. None of these questions is easy to answer. Well, I’m sort of freelancing now, preparing for a project that will probably last for 5 months. The topic is quite interesting - related to the fragrance market in China. Do Chinese use fragrance (perfume)? etc. Where is my office? It’s totally flexible, but I will stay in Shanghai during this period of time. I know this route is quite different from what a normal MBA would take, but I just like the flexibility and the uncertainty (actually it’s more like a love and hate feeling). I want to settle in a place to concentrate on whatever I’m doing, but at the same time, I hate falling into the routines. Guess I’m always walking on the thin line, trying to balance these two types of tendencies/preferences. Some people say I don’t know what I want, but I feel I do know what I want, it’s just it may be a bit idealistic. Do what I love to do, and have a bit from both sides of the world. I’d rather be a generalist than a specialist.

In the past two-year time period, I’ve been to the most places, and exposed to the most different people and things. The intensity of it may be only comparable to 2000-01. It seems that every 7-8 years, I’ll make some radical decisions that feels kinda like jumping off the cliff. From other people and all sorts of tests that I’ve done, I’ve also learned about different facades of myself. I’ve also realized in order to move on to the next steps, there is still a lot for me to work on from inside.

From May 2010 and on, I believe it’ll be a different stage of life for me. I’d like to explore Shanghai (and China) a bit more. My love-hate relationship with China is a tough one. Sometimes I wonder why I came to China. Was in Beijing last week. Looking at the grey miserable sky, feeling all the pushing, rushing and shouting of People, I couldn’t hate this country more. But it is such a dynamic place that I wants to be part of it, and learn more about it.

One more week, the long distance will start. I will not use “up in the air” to describe relationship although it will be a tough challenge. At least now I’m landed in Shanghai. Just need to find a place to live, and set up the work station. As a warm-up, and due to the limited time I have, I restarted the food blog in a different way - if you can read Chinese, feel free to check this out.

回到上海。
感覺好像在外流浪了很久很久。

十二月十七日 - 二十日。葡萄牙里斯本真的是一個很舒服、很精緻的城市。

十二月二十日從BCN回上海，結果飛到Munich的時候因為雪太大，轉到奧地利去，結果誤了去上海的飛機。在Munich待了一晚，看到了聖誕的雪景。隔天飛到Frankfurt然後再到上海。折騰了差不多兩天終於到了上海。然後一個晚上後又再飛到廣州、曼谷，然後到柬埔寨的吳哥窟。第一天在柬埔寨的時候終於病倒了。很久很久沒有試過發高燒。而且還在柬埔寨。天呀。還好休息了一天後，感覺好了一點，在吳哥窟看了三天。很有特色、很美，只是每天回家的時候全身都很髒。看了三天的日出和日落，在Siem Reap的其他地方逛逛，再回到曼谷，感覺曼谷的服務態度真的不怎樣。T-shirt確實很便宜。。。在東南亞待了一個禮拜後，也不太想吃酸酸辣辣的、菠蘿椰子芒果的。可能是累了，就是想回家好好休息一下。在廣州和一些朋友吃了一頓好好地廣東菜。那是一家在天河區叫做‘有米氣’餐廳。很不錯。最喜歡他們的粥水枸杞葉。

昨天終於回到上海。有點傷風，要好好休息。看到很久不見的學友們卻沒有精神哈啦。

安頓調整。這是未來一個月的金句。

2010年祝大家生體健康！萬事順利！還有三位待嫁的新娘與夫婿百年好合。
2010年 - 紅色炸彈的一年！

還有十天，便啟程到上海。

巴塞羅那的天氣還是很不錯 - 比上海暖和，還有不像多倫多下雪。前天從摩洛哥回來，到了兩個城市、到過沙漠，拍了挺多照片。回來之後發覺時間不多，堆積的電郵、還沒開始做的功課、還有一些意外的事。最近都有一些意外的事，或是喜、或是憂。讓人不無焦慮、壓力。

多年前，E說要go with the flow；凡事不能勉強，但機會來了就要好好的把握。現在機會好像向我飄過來了，也許那是一個真的機會、也許那只是一段小插曲、最後可能也只是徒勞。但無論如何，我已經做了我應該做的，拿出勇氣接受挑戰，以後也只有盡力而為。

有太多的事不在我們的控制內。健康是其一，看到家人的受苦，也無力而為。只能嘗試說一些正面的話。事業、家庭，怎樣才能拿到平衡？

曾經有一段音樂在腦子徘徊，後來終於聽到那首歌曲，原來是戴佩妮的“之間”。