Tuesday was a holiday here. It's so weird to get a day off in the middle of the week. I seem to always end up going outside on the weekends (and holidays) when it is really hot outside. I think it's because I tend to chat with friends back in the US in the mornings. And then when they go to sleep, I get around to getting outside. And by then, it's around noon and sweltering hot.
That's how I managed to walk around during the hottest part of the day, trying to get money out of the ATM so that I can pay the rest of the deposit for my apartment and get the keys. I found out that I have a daily limit on how much I can take out on my Stanford account (about $3K HKD), which seemed a bit low to me. I went to a nearby mall and managed to get on their free wifi with my old computer that I was carrying around with me. I had planned to check my apartment to see if I can get any free wifi. I found the location of the nearest China Construction Bank and headed there because supposedly Bank of America won't charge me for using CCB's ATMs. But for some reason, it didn't work. So after more wandering around, I decided to find a salon to get my hair straightened. I found a street with several of them and walked into one.
The whole process took about 4 hours. I think I used up a tub of chemicals. They put three different chemicals on my hair and rinsed in between. There was careful blow drying and then flat ironing for an hour. I was getting tired just watching them do the work. It was about $40, which is really cheap compared to the US. The guy cutting my hair at the end didn't do a very good job though. The front part is a bit long and makes my face look long. Anyway, I'll probably get it fixed in a little bit, when I know what I want.
People are always confused what I did to my hair though. I always have to explain that I have naturally curly hair. My coworkers were like, did you get a haircut? Anyway, this is so much better. The humidity was making my hair very fizzy.
I made a lot of progress with my model at work today. I think I've finally got all the technical issues ironed out. There's a lot to learn in terms of learning to use the program. I really appreciate how helpful my coworkers are. They don't just answer my questions and leave it at that. They pose questions as well and we discuss. They understand that I lack experience and help me along. Anyway, really hope to get more involved in the project and not just make models in isolation. I've been keeping up with the work journal and I think it's really good to write things down as they happen.
A friend of mine posted a link to a very long but very interesting article about Asian Americans (mostly for guys): http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/ The article points out that there are not a lot of Asians in executive management. And I guess that's what I really want to achieve in life. I don't just want to be a staff engineer forever. I want to be in the upper management. Whether or not coming to Asia to start my career will help with this, I can't say. But at least here, I don't have to face the stereotype of being both Asian and female. I have some observations of how things work differently here than in the US. But I think it's too early to say for sure.
Anyway, I will have enough money tomorrow to get the keys. Can't wait to get the keys.
1 comment:
Oh Yeah, I remember having a RMB3K daily limit at the ATM. You have to wait 24 whole hours! As for your hair, you should try one of those websites that let you try on different hairstyles…(I know they exist for makeup and clothes, so they should exist for hairstyles!) so you can choose a good one.
That article is super long! I wanted to read a similarly long article on NYT about that flight at crashed…but became unmotivated when I saw all the numbered tabs. The Corner Office book you recommended actually pointed the same mistakes that inhibit women from climbing the ladder as the article mentioned.
If anything, this Yang guy (and Chua) has the stereotypical Asian proudness/stubborness. The comments left after the article sucks. I usually like to read them to find more insights but gave up after 2-3 of them. Instead of reflecting on all the frank stuff actually said and thinking of all the things left unsaid as a mental revelation of a man trying to tell us where he is coming from, the commenters seem to find his article too raw, ungrateful for the sacrifices of older generations, and casting an unappealing light to the community. ←see, that’s a result of that Asian pride, not willing to confront the flaws of the system, and thereby, promoting values that don’t work well in mainstream American society.
Anyway, you should continue making a note of how the Chinese system and American system works. I predict that in the formula for success, there should be more similarities than differences.
According the OKC Trends data, Asian people are quite popular for the dating scene. But there was a comment that it may be that Asian females are esp. popular…
Sorry for the long comment.
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