(Thanks to a surprisingly efficient Chinese government censorship team, I’ve thrown in the towel. You win this time China. So, I’m forced to resort to blogging via email. A feature I’ve never used before and so bear with me as I try to get this to work. I’ve but only one shot at these posts, so… you’ve been warned!)

Just got back from China’s longest holiday of the year, the Golden Week. What I did during then is for another post; this one’s for the week running up to it.

This week was kicked off by China’s highly-patriotic National Day on October 1st. On or around this date, nearly every (!!!) Chinese person hops on a bus, train, plane, bicycle, friend’s bicycle to head to their homes to watch the National Day parade and festivities on TV. Only the hopefuls/thrill-seekers/idiots/me try to actually see it in person – which never happened, btw.

WaiGuoRen (foreigners) were constantly warned to stay away from the festivities. Security was at an all time high, especially this year, as a multiple of 10 years. Having heard that police had set-up a 5-mile no-go zone around the parade path, I opted to stay in the comfort of my hard, messed-up spring bed. Plus, I slept through my alarm.

But, boy, was it a sight to see on TV, while also being the ONLY thing on the government controlled channels. Countless blogs have covered the actual parade and it serves no purpose to describe it 10 days after the fact. In short, hundreds of thousands of personnel involved. However, my favourite quote from WSJ’s live blog deserves a little more recognition:
10:45 a.m.: Now come female troops, heavily made up. Wow, PLA girls in mini-skirts! Hu smiles and claps. Wonder what force that is? The karaoke troops? –Ian Johnson

(Pic 1 is here)
(Snagged from http://www.allstatedaily.com/)

Yup… I concur. Scary or hot? Both.

So, here’s what I saw in the days prior.

About two weeks ago, TianAnMen Square was closed and set-up for the biggest celebration since… who knows when. Bleachers were set-up for maybe a few hundred people and traffic was completely stopped. Note the fog that day and compare it to the picture above. On D-Day, it was blazingly sunny. Thought nothing of it at the time, but later found out that it was no coincidence.

Thanks to some nifty chemicals sprayed the day before, National Day was the sunniest day I’ve seen in Beijing since I arrived. Apparently, they tried the same thing during the 2008 Olympics, but have refined the technique quite a bit since then…

(Pic 2 is here)

Back on campus, almost daily practices were held for the students participating. About 1,000 students were selected to represent our school in the parade. Quite a sight!

(Pic 3 is here)

Not really related, but here’s a little tribute to my other home. Sort of. Which, by the way, probably tipped this post from passable to blocked.

(Pic 4 is here)

Happy birthday China! 生日快了！

大家好! ／ Hello!

One week down and I’m full swing into life here.  School’s finally started and apparently my Chinese was so terrible that they want me to start from scratch.  I want to shoot myself it’s so simple right now.  That being said, just like an MBA, the majority of benefits come from outside the classroom.

I’ve made considerable progress meeting new people and speaking Chinese at every turn.  Immersion truly works! Just in the past week, I’ve managed to figure out how to get all the basics (food, water, shelter) without leaning on broken English and getting horribly ripped off.  And, I’m able to hold simple conversations over a coffee or a beer.  Not bad for having spoken no more than 10 words a year for each of the past 10 years, eh?

Anyway, a quick glimpse into living situation here.  As a foreigner, quality of living is considerably higher than for that of the locals.  That being said… I’m still in China.

And I thought NY living was tight…

I can’t imagine a more efficient use of space

I live right by the track, which on some days (pictured below), you can hardly see through the smog to the other side

Mmm… meat on a stick = chuan ‘r; pronounced CHUARRR! Seriously, think angry. About $0.40 / stick.

Ahh, finally here and finally blogging.  It’s been about a week and I think I’m finally over the jet lag, finally over the culture shock (not really) and finally over the fact that I’m a fob here.

Me: “I want one of THAT. *point*”
Vendor: “This?”
Me: “No… THAT. *emphatic point*”
Vendor: “OK. How many?”
Me: “What? I want one of THAT. I don’t understand you.”
Vendor: “*sigh* 3 kuai.”
Me: “What?”
Vendor: “*bigger sigh* *3 fingers in the air* 3 kuai”

That about sums up my days here thus far.  Finding basic sustenance is the most stressful part of my day, cause it just won’t cut it to avoid these situations.  Fortunately, I’m learning quick, sort of.  I’m now able to order somewhat competently.  But, the moment they venture off script, I’m done for.  A quick “wo ting bu dong” (I can’t understand you) and the awkwardness continues.

I’ve managed to see a little bit of Beijing already, but I’ll save that for another post.  For now, my favourite chinglish sign of the week. Now, I can’t laugh TOO hard, because I’m pretty sure that’s what I sound like when I speak here.  But, what the heck…

Wow, has it really been two years?

Nearly two years have passed since I first started this blog to mark the beginning of a new chapter of my life, moving to Boston and starting BSchool.  August 22nd was the date.

Two years later, business school is sadly finished and finished are my days in Boston… for now.  Who knows what might bring me back to the honey pot of intellect that is Boston.  But for now, New York City is my new home… or, rather, will be once I’ve officially moved in come January.

Until then, my home is Swiss.  Actually, my Swiss Army luggage… for the next few months.  More about that later.

The more pressing matter is the name of this blog.  It just doesn’t fit anymore.  Thoughts?

Ahhh Prague… Praga…. Praha… whatever you’re called.

Just like it’s name, my feels about Prague are a real mixed bag.  Depending on who I’m reminiscing with, I can either love it or hate it or just not care.  The city is beautiful, the people are nice at times and brutish at others.  But, one thing is for sure, it’s a photogenic city; so I’m happy.

The Old Town Square – A must-see because, well, everyone else sees it.  A real rip-off as is usual at tourist hot spots.  Beautiful, of course.  And, there’s interesting (yet expensive) snacks that resemble a churros meets pretzel.  But really, if you’re throwing this onto your itinerary, don’t bother, you’ll end up walking through this umpteen times along the way and there’s nothing worth setting aside time to see.

Case in Point: The Astronomical Clock.  What an astronomical waste of time (no pun intended)!  Tourist from across the world crowd around this to check out it’s hourly “show of puppets”.  Seriously, they make weird noises and move their articulated arms about… and that’s it.  Check it out on the half-hour when no one’s there… the mechanisms are cool, the hourly jigs are not.

Museum of Communism – Definitely not on any must-see lists and they don’t try to pretend they are.  Yet, this may just be one of the more interesting/educational sights I saw.  A small… very small… two room sized museum showing the rise and fall of communism in Prague.  Explains a lot.  Obviously, Prague’s no longer under communist regime as demonstrated by its love for Micky Dee’s!

But really, the main reason many people come to Prague… and by many I mean stags and stagettes… is for the beer.  Oh amazing ale’s that make you lust for more.  ‘Cept they’re so heavy that you can’t drink more than two.  Shucks!  Think Guiness and.. well yah.. it’s Guiness.. but not black… and it’s called Budweiser…. but it’s not Budweiser as we know it.  Confused?  Just drink.

Cesky Krumlov – After a few days in Prague, we ventured off to find the Budweiser brewery (see my previous point).  So we took a local bus to Cesky Krumlov.  Only problem is… we never made it to the brewery.  But, we did fall in love with this quaint town, with actual friendly Czechs, situated on the banks of a widing river.

We enjoyed meals by the fireplace and cooked on the fireplace.  Yum!

There’s no story to this picture.  I happened to have my camera on me when we rescued this snail from the scorching heat.

And, of course, can’t leave a new town without taking a jumping shot.  My little brother, Aidan (not so little anymore) doing us proud.

Pankrac Prison – And our last bit of history before we left was to check out the Pankrac Prison, where many died under German occupation.  There’s no denying that this was a fascinating yet horrifying visit.  Like I said in Vietnam, it’s scary to see what we can do to each other.

Prague Castle – And yes.. another “must see”.  In fact, you should see it, but don’t buy the tickets.  The best part of this place was St George’s Cathedral (pictured below).  And… it’s free to get in!  The rest of the castle you have to pay to play, but the Cathedral is what you’re coming for.

Tanned and rested.

Just the state I like to be in after a beautiful, relaxing vacation. This time was no different. We wandered off to the South of Spain to immerse ourselves in beautiful Marbella located in the Spanish region of Costa Del Sol. Aptly named. For it was HOT HOT HOT!

Averaging in the mid to high 30’s, air conditioning was a must and the fact that we had two pools within 50m was just gravy. Oh! And don’t forget about the roof-top deck for those evening BBQs!

From there we moved on to Cordoba for a day and then Madrid for another week.  Too many stories to share, so here’s a few photographic highlights from the trip.

We had many-a-fish on this trip.  The fish were fresh and oh so yummy.  Plus, nothing like getting your natural omega-3’s from the shores of Costa Del Sol and home-cooked!

Unfortunately, it took a few unlucky fish to be sacrificed before we learned the art of flipping.  This was attempt #2.  Attempt #1 was too gruesome to photograph.

We tried to see a football match but unfortunately all the local teams had finished their seasons.  So, we opted for a little more traditional sport, Bull Fighting!  We found an amateur contest and bought some outrageously expensive tickets, but boy was it worth it.  Takes a little to get over the inhumane-ness of it.  It really is an unfair fight.  But, definitely an experience and perhaps a must-see.  Haven’t decided on that yet.  A young boy and a young girl were the matadors du jour and they put up a decent show.

Neither was able to earn the prestigious tail, though.  If, after the fight, the El Presidente throws up three white flags, the matador gets to keep the bull’s tail (makes good oxtail soup!).  Two gets both horns and one gets just a single horn.

We also made a side-trip to the rock that the UK still owns.  And after visiting it, I can see why Spain is in no rush to repatriate it.  It’s really a rock with a Marks and Spencer and other random shops I’d expect to see in a Harry Potter movie.  The one saving grace?  It’s the closest point to Africa, so that’s kinda cool.  We got pictures of Africa commemorating the closest I’ve ever been to the continent (not the country, still haven’t found that on the map yet ).

Obviously, food continues to be a highlight of any trip I take.  And so… Churros!!!  Yummy awesome goodness covered in sugar and then dipped in thick, thick hot chocolate.  *drool*

In Cordoba, we stayed just a single night, but long enough to do some damage shopping and sweat off a few pounds checking out the Alcazar Castle and Roman Bridge.  Pretty cool… pretty hot.  Honestly, can’t remember much about this particular sight.  The fountain was cool… it kept me cool.

Right next door was the Roman Bridge.  You guessed it, build by the Romans… still standing.  Quite a feat, I might add.

And a true testament to how hot it was… people were ditching shoes left right and center.  Well not really, but there was this suspicious pair of boots just sitting there.  Spontaneous combustion?

So really, the most important take-away from this is to get a place with a/c.  It’s a must.  Then you can do brotherly things like kicking ass in chess…

We did it!  Two years of grueling, heart wrenching, stomach turning, liver destroying work and those three letters are mine!  This episode has been brought to you by the letters: M, B… and A. Oh… btw, only one of those descriptive phrases is actually correct. In June, nearly 400 of us 2009 Sloanies walked across the stage and took ownership of a very, very expensive piece of paper.

Fortunately, there were a few other things that came with the paper. 1. I got to parade down Mass Ave with a ridiculous number of ridiculously smart people. And I’m not just talking about Sloanies, we probably averaged it down a tad.  We’re talking about rocket scientists, astro physicists, here…

2. I got a chance to catch up on my Economist, Business Week AND Wall Street Journals… plus a few games of sudoku.  The trick is to put your cap on towards the back of your head and voila… you’re attentive!  I keed, I keed…

3. I got to add yet another jumping shot to my collection. This time, there were no re-dos and it’s for sure one-of-a-kind.

Now, of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without the help of some highly important individuals.  And so, a big thanks to my Mom, Dad, Aidan, and Eloise.  And Daphne, of course!

But, really, when I said earlier that there were other benefits than just the paper, what I really meant was this:

All the brilliant friends I’ve made over these past years will pay huge dividends that far exceed the tuition.  You guys are the smartest, most interesting bunch of people I’ve met.  You rock!

Stay tuned for the next chapter of “a vancouverite’s adventures in… “!

Every Wednesday, our class frequented a small, no.. very small, dive-bar at the foot of Beacon Hill and also conveniently 50 paces from my front door.  It’s name was Beacon Hill Pub, referred by all as “BHP”.

BHP is like any other dive-bar.  Smells like old sweat and beer.  Decrepit old tables and stools.  Cheap beer, including the infamous Brubakers ($3 for way too much Brubaker).  But, there’s one small twist that makes it our home for the past… who knows how long.

Chalk night!

If you walk into BHP, you’ll notice that each and every brick on one side of the bar is covered with names from the previous graduating MIT Sloan class.  This year, was our year.  And so on June 3rd, we went at it with buckets of chalk.

Each year, over a hundred graduating Sloan MBA’s sneak off to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to spend nine days on the open water spreading the Sloan brand across the many islands and ports.  Nine to ten people to a yacht, we sail in the mornings, snorkel in the afternoons, nap in the evenings and party all night long, then rinse and repeat.

Everything is organized by the students from the trip plan to the meal plan to the booze plan.  Take a short ride with me as I recap this AMAZING trip.  The trip I’ll always remember – and if you know me, it must have been good!

On Friday, May 22nd, about 120 Sloanies flew in from various places to meet up in St Thomas, USVI.  But first, we stopped in Charlotte, NC to wait patiently at the airport bar at 9am.  Amazingly, Sloanies weren’t the first to the bar.  But we were a close second.  Alas… no photo-op there.  Suffice to say, we were just getting warmed up.  Keep reading…

Later that day, we arrived in the USVI in time to rush and catch the last ferry to the BVI.  A quick view from the plane!

Two custom check-points later (future travellers take note): one in USVI (! aren’t we still in the US?!) and one in BVI. We made it to our boat, checked it out, sorted out all our gear and the excitement began.  Our boat was a 47 foot catamaran, fully-equiped with a generator and air conditioning.  A generator, you ask?!  Just wait and see… we had a plan.

The sun had gone down, but Bobby’s supermarket (THE primary grocer in the islands) was hard at work delivering our food… and more importantly, our booze.  About 10 cases of beer and about a dozen bottles of rum later, we were loaded up.

Gawd we over-ordered.  Or so we thought.  Little did we know, we’d run out in three days. Whoops?!

The next morning we waved goodbye to real showers and solid ground and set sail.  Oops, but how rude of me.  Forgot to introduce the crew and our fearless skipper, Morgan, and our beautiful chef, Julie.

“Captain” Morgan

“Executive Chef” Julie (left)

Oh… and our boat name?  “Juggernaut B*tch” – from this popular viral video.  Introducing the Juggernauts!

“Indecent” Indy

“Pringles”Jean

“Irene” Eileen

“Token White Boy” Rick and “Shady” Sandy

“Hatan” Ketan and “J-Pow” Justin

and… me… “Joh-dan” Jordan

Now that the characters have been introduced, on on to the trip.  We started with this…

and more of that….

and more…

Which created many opportunities to.. uh… nap, making this a popular view.

Also making the next mornings feel like this…

Each morning, Captain Morgan would be the first up and start the boat out to our next destination.  On the first couple days, we’d be up at around 7am or 8am.  By day four, it was around 9am or 10am.  By day seven?  Captain Morgan would be driving solo until at least 11am.  With some of us even missing the mid-day sun.

Though we snorkelled every day, I don’t have any underwater shots to share, but here’s a few beauties from above sea level.

And, of course, this wouldn’t be my blog without shots of the most important part of the trip.  FOOD! Thanks for “Executive Chef” Julie, we ate well and ate A LOT!  Her home- yacht-made guacamole was an instant hit.  In fact, word of this amazing guacamole spread across the fleet.  But due to an island shortage of avocados, it was strictly for Juggernaut consumption only!

Here’s a sample of the many good eats we enjoyed!

My mouth is watering again looking at these.  They tasted as good as they looked too!  Muchos thanks to sous-chef Jean!

Oh, and before you think sailing is THAT easy.  We did have to burn a few beer calories once in a while.  For instance, cracking open a beer, walking to the cooler and… turning a handle.

Check out these natural leaders. “Harder Justin, harder… that’s it… little bit more… perfect!” (TWIS!)

And after doing that for a little while, it was back to the beaches.

Yes, we ONLY stand in groups of five.

Finally, on a couple nights, we put that generator to good use.  Behold!

That’s right… Rock Band on a boat! Yup, though we’re not all Engineers, a little bit of MIT managed to rub off on us still.

Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did! We’ll definitely do this again.  Reunion anyone?

And… to my sponsor.  This blog has been brought to you by…

“Wally the Destroyer”

Though many tried and failed, no one managed to ride Wally.  Undefeated to the end of the trip, he took a steak knife to the dorsal fin and that was the last we saw of him.

Thanks to all of those that made the MIT Sloan BVI 2009 trip a success.  And thanks to the many memories I’ll have with me as we all go our separate ways!  Cheers!

(From May 11-15… ugh so late…)

The last month at Sloan was quite literally a month of “lasts.”  Everyone was alluvasudden nostalgic and doing everything they could to savour and do just about everything.  So, we set out to assemble a week of events, which would assemble all of our favourite hangouts in one epic week.  Epic.

MONDAY: Muddy Mondays

The Muddy Charles is Boston’s nickname for the beloved Charles River.  The Muddy Charles is also the name of the graduate student run bar on campus.  Quite frankly, it’s a bar of last resort for many of us, ranking at about the same level of Character’s Pub at the Marriott.

Truth be told, I’ve only been to the Muddy less than a dozen times in my two years.  In fact, I’ve never been to the Muddy Charles on a Monday.  In fact, I don’t even think it’s called Muddy Mondays.  But that’s how we’ll justify going there on a Monday.  And that’s that.

Headcount: Easily over a dozen.

TUESDAY: Middlesex

Ahh.. Middlesex.  The club easily recognized by the troupe of breakdancers that dominate the front section of the dance floor.  The club easily recognized by the eclectic clientele it attracts from across MIT and Harvard.  Quite easily, the smartest club goers out there, yet not always the smartest dressed.

Headcount: Five.  Not bad for a Tuesday.  But we’re bound to do better on Wednesday.

WEDNESDAY: Alibi, then (of course) BHP

At this point, the word started to get out.  Tweets were flying, Facebook status updates were roaring, word-of-mouth was up.  This was going to be an epic week.  Five of us were keeping true to the five-day-streak goal.  More were going to join.  And, boy, did more join.

We spread the word to meet at Alibi at around 10 and then wander over to BHP at midnight.  By 11, Alibi was overwhelmed with Sloanies in our BHP-ready attire.  As the hour-hand hit 12 and the Alibi cougars began to arrive, we took our debt-burdened wallets to BHP, where our dollars stretch a little further.

Headcount: Over 30 at Alibi; the usual 150ish at BHP.

Meet the crew of Tiger’s.  Rawrr… (paw action).

W-C!… still trying to leapfrog “watercloset” in urbandictionary.com

THURSDAY: Benny Benassi at The Roxy

Mmm… I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.  Actually no.  Benny Benassi was AMAZING.  What an awesome way to spend the last big Thursday out.

Headcount: One table of 10 troublemakers.

Look at these stunners…

Note Indy’s confused smile as he realizes he’s in a girls-only shot

We can’t help it… if there’s a star, YC’s gotta be there.

Here too, Indy’s smirk appears in the “funny face shot”

“Hurry up… I’m hungry.” – Shady

FRIDAY: Disorientation at Tommy Doyle’s

Following our traditional “re-orientation” session to get us ready to return to the real world, the party moved to Tommy Doyle’s to hear the Rolling Sloans one last time.

Headcount: Who knows?  Sloanies galore!

The Rolling Sloans for the last time!

Five-for-five completed! Epic!