Markus
in China.

many weeks have passed, many things happened. some more important, some less. i am gonna try to keep my blog updated more frequently now.

here are some pics of me like i am now.

the hair is already back. i will put in some details about the haircut-session later on.

work is still going well, although the customers are pretty troublesome.

i´m looking forward to visit Austria during Christmas. fortunately, somebody has to bring my car to the yearly inspection somewhen in the near future, and so i won´t depend on friends or public transportation. hehe.

as the company makes more and more profit, we have the chance to use our "social fund" more frequently 🙂

this time, our 2 social managers Eve and Andy chose "bowling".

we were about 30 people, divided in 5 teams. whichever team got the most points, won. the price was nothing, i think.

Eve shuffles names to build teams.

Armelle. Obviously she didnt expect me to take a picture of her.

Kathy, taking pictures of everybody.

the crowd.

Andrea. "almost" a strike!

JP in the middle, checking his score.

Hui Fang, preparing for the big shot!

Wesley and Daniel.

Benolt! aka. Ben aka. Benoit

LILY(Chinese, who speaks french with very cute english accent 🙂 ), Daniel and Kathy

the recent days were.. were.. how to describe..

Lovely
Intense
Long
Irresistible
Angry
Not Cheap
Desperate
Melancholic
A new experience
Rich
Keen
Unreal
Satisfying

anyway. one part of it remembered me of a teacher in school. he used to say "once is never. but twice, is one time too much". this time, i want to stick to his opinion.

this is my workmates and me, playing football. My workmate Wesley usually books the field for thursday 8pm – 10pm. 600 kuai for 2 hours, which makes 50 each if we can find 12 players.

earlier, we played chinese vs. westeners, but last time i was the only "老外" 🙂

basically i dont care about the race, but i have to say that westeners have more "will to win the game", which makes it more interesting.

Es ist besser, Genossenes zu bereuen, als zu bereuen, dass man nichts genossen hat.
Giovanni Boccacio

Ein Freund ist ein Mensch, vor dem man laut denken kann.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wenn es nur eine einzige Wahrheit gäbe, könnte man nicht hundert Bilder über dasselbe Thema malen.
Pablo Picasso

this blogentry contains no pictures for 2 reasons: you dont want to see them and i dont have any.

it all began in September 2006, when i had my last fillings in Austria. I remember very well, that the dentist there drilled so deep that it REALLY hurt. since then, i had a bad toothache every few months, which lasted some days and disappeared then.

this week, my cheek was also inflammed, so i had to see a dentist here in Shanghai. there, it turned out, that the tooth of wich i thought is the bad one, actually was alright. But the root of the tooth next to it was damaged due to the deep drilling in Vienna. thats why it died and i got an inflammation.

First, the doc tried to find out if the "bad" tooth was still alive. its was. so he made an x-ray picture and got a suspect. but he still was not sure, so he made 2 more x-rays and changed his mind. but to be ABSOLUTELY sure, he said he has to drill into the teeth and see if they are sensitive to cold.

It turned out that he was wrong again and he said: "well, that is very strange. you dont feel any pain? the probe is directly in the root canal. the tooth is dead. i have to show this case to my colleague".

and later, when anesthesizing (is that an english word? i mean "numbing"), he said "this will hurt. you can scream. its no problem. .. "

in all, i really can recommend http://www.cididental.com . they are all very friendly and take care of the patients. at least of me.

in 2 weeks i have another appointment to finalize a filling.

price?

1500 kuai for today.

800 of it is for the "complex tooth extraction".

210 for the x-rays.

150 for the basic check-up

and some money for anesthesia.

http://hypem.com/track/152305 – Jon Brion – Theme From Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

found while watching this on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_GBwuYuOOs

it reminded me of … about 10 years ago, when i first found the beauty of fractals. i bought a book and i remember very well when i found the formula for those objects. like the "mandelbrot set" and i was so disappointed because the mathematical formula for this infinitely complex object is so simple! f (z) = z ² + c

so i wrote a computerprogram and was fascinated by the results of a few lines of code …

by the way, fractals have a finite area, but INfinite circumference!

你好奥地利！

昨天中午我到维也纳.

我很高兴看我家庭和朋友。

因为睡觉在飞机不好， 所以昨天我很累。

虽然很麻烦，我企图写中文。

5：35 起床，读 lili的BLOG,写我的BLOG

9:00 弟弟也起床， 我们打电脑， 听音乐。弟弟没有真的咖啡， 所以我喝INSTANT咖啡。

12。30 我很饿，所以我点比萨饼。

13。15 妈妈给我打电话。

14。45 我见面父母，我们去Christmas Market在Schönbrunn, 看东西，

yes, we have the deal to write the blog in a different language for these 2 weeks, but i already wrote a chinese entry today, and english is just soooo much easier for me 🙂

after the christmas market i went home to my parents, where i got a delicious vegetable soup. later Papa brought me back to my apartment, where i met my neighbours Martin and Nina.

later, my brother Matthias´(longer goat beard) girlfriend, Ina, joined us.

around 10pm, Ina and Matthias asked me if i want to go out with them for a quick beer. we went to an irish pub, which is just a 15 mins walk from here. on the way, we called Lukas (shorter goat beard) and his gf Waltraud to join us(by the way, this was the first time ever that we 3 bro´s went out together!).

i was happy to have some austrian beer 🙂 and because i still had no time to go to the ATM and i have all kinds of money except Euros, Matthias had to invite me.

when i saw the foosball table i told Matthias, "lets challenge the winners!"(still thinking that i am now a pretty good player, due to months long training in the Big Bamboo). but when i saw the guys playing, i changed my opinion very quickly. i have to say, i have NEVER seen somebody playing so fast and accurate foosball. wow.

later we started to walk back(i live on a hill, so its not as easy as getting TO the pub). Matthias and Ina insisted on taking a Taxi, so they stopped one at half way.

In Shanghai, a Taxi starts at 11 RMB(1 Euro) and that usually is enough for a 5 minute ride.

In Vienna, the taxometer starts at 2,60 Euro and increases by 20 Cents every 270 meters OR 270 seconds. i hope i remember that correctly. anyway, we ended up paying 5 Euro for about 3 minutes. crazy.

—————-

now its time to get ready for the holy evening. have a shower and pick up Lukas, and then drive to my parents.

its a strange feeling somehow. on the one hand i am very happy to be here, where i come from. to see my family and my friends. but i also miss my dear Lili. :-*

it was christmas eve again. the same procedure as every year. but thats also a reason why i like it. its so traditional, so familiar. everybody wears some nice clothes. cookies on the table, the tree is decorated. presents are waiting under the blanket. christmas songs are playing on the radio, mama is preparing the food. as every year, we have a rich selection of good sausage, cheese, peppers, bread and eggs.

this one time in a year, mama buys coke, schweppes tonic water + bitter lemon and some red bull.

the dinner:

Lukas and Mama, checking out the most recent blog entries:

Yesterday at noon, Matthias was checking for coffee machines  on the internet. he would have bought one if the shops wouldnt have closed at noon. It was good, because it was his present from the parents(to make sure it works properly i already tried it 5 times today).

Lukas got 2 entry cards for cabaret and a big basket of fruits(Mama doesnt want to just hand over a envelope).

my present was a bill for the latest maintainence of "my" car. fortunately it was paid 🙂

oh, and also a book. "simply unbelieveable. unbelieveably simple". its a book about physics in everydays life. like how to survive a jump from 6000m, how to survive in the desert, an explaination of the thermodynamics of hugging or the reason why a pepper burns twice if you eat it.

its already Friday, one Week before i return to the far east and and to my Lili.

Friday. I couldnt say if the week passed quickly or not. As i said before, a strange situation.

Yesterday i went out shopping a bit and later visited my Aunt and Uncle.

After that, i went to my brother Lukas, who cooked a great steak together with Waltraud.

today, i will go to my friend Alex to spend the weekend playing computergames, talking about the good old times, drinking beer,red bull, espresso coffee, eating fastfood and trying to find the most efficient way to waste time 😉

i asked my other friend Joe, if he could lend me the computer i sold him half a year ago, but he needed it himself.

Fortunately, 2 years ago i sold my previous computer to Lukas, and he said i could borrow it 🙂

as every year (except 1999/2000), i welcome the new year with my parents and aunt+uncle in upper Austria. Mama and aunt Christine cooked one of my favourite meals, the "Schweinsbraten".

of course with a selection of Austrian beers:

its snowy here in Weyer. thats the view from my room:

my car is buried:

and thats me!

its Sunday evening and I am back in my flat in Shanghai.

Here are the last impressions from snowy upper Austria:

the flight was okay. I read my book and played PSP(thanks, Lili) from Vienna to Dubai and slept some hours from Dubai to Shanghai. Maybe that was not good. Since i arrived here, i am always tired and sleepy – need to find the rhythm.

Dear Lili picked me up fromt the airport. in the evening, we went to the Big Bamnoo, where we met half of the company. My boss Andrea had good news for me: The NET-Profit of the German account was miscalculated for the past months! i am very much looking forward to Monday when i will see the correct numbers.

Basically, everything is fine – except some troubles with the passport and visa. actually its just troubleSOME, because of the terrible burocracy. first, i have to register with my old passport(which i already did. acually my landlord had to go to the police station, not me). tomorrow i will pick up my new passport, then apply for a business visa, register at the police, apply for a new work permit, apply for a residence visa and register again.

but i think, after that, i will be fine for the next 10 years.

Its Saturday and the first week is already passed. This time, my jetlag strategy turned out to be good. On Saturday and Sunday i slept until the afternoon and on Monday i was ready to work.

the work-week began stressful. hundreds of emails were waiting to be answered and the marketing meetings also cost much time.

i gave my passport to the human resources department and hopefully i can skip to apply for a business visa first before my new work permit is ready. i will see on Monday.

the weather is mostly foggy but not too cold. due to the bad insulation of most buildings here, i still have to use the A/C to warm up the room. here a picture of the energy consumtion label 🙂

fortunately, even with daily use of 2 airconditioners, the monthly bill stays below 10 Euro.

after the recalculation of the net profit of the german account(i mentioned that in my previous blog), it turned out that DE had the third highest profit out of 9 accounts in the November numbers. And, to my very satisfaction, the first week of the new year started with DE being number 1 for the first time ever!

besides that meanwhile the incentives can almost cover my daily expenses(which are still high due to spending evenings in the bar), i finally see that the work i have done during the last 15 months was good. at this point i want to say a big "thank you" to my parents again, for the excellent and quick translations of many many product desctiptions. whithout their help i could never list all our new products to ebay on time.

Wann de Musik vuabei is
                                 Gibts nimma vü zum Sogn
                                 Do steht ma ganz allaa do
                                 Und fangt se an zum Frogn:

                                 Hob i kriagt wos i woin hob
                                 Oda hob i kriagt wos i vadien
                                 Wü i des wos i kriagt hob
                                 Oda wü i ganz woanders hin

                                 Wann de Musik vuabei is
                                 Is ois wos zum Sogn gibt gsogt
                                 Dann steh i do im Finstan
                                 Allaa mit ois wos mi obetrogt

                                 Wü i des auf wos i gspoat hob
                                 Oda is des genau des wos mi stiat
Wü i nua no zfriedn sei und oid wean
Oda gibts no wos des mi so richtig pockt und riat

Wann de Musik vuabei is
Wü i de Engeln singa hean
Wann de Musik vuabei is
Wü i vua Freid so richtig rean
Wann de Musik vuabei is
Wü i tanzn ois wia bled
Wann de Musik vuabei is
Wü i schrein so laut wias geht
Wann de Musik vuabei is
Wü i gspian, daß i mi gspia
Wann de Musik vuabei is
Wü i des ois zsamm nua mit dia
Wann de Musik vuabei is

As in November 2006, our boss invited to a company Karaoke. We went to the same place, "Partyworld", but this time, the room was much more filled. No wonder, we doubled our staff. this was not a big deal, because after the dinner, most of the chinese left 🙂

the evening before i charged my cameras battery, but, smart as i am, i took the camera but not the battery with me.

fortunately, J.P. was equipped. and thats why i can give you some impressions:

starting in the office: Me, Chris, J.P.

oh, yes, the german-account staff decided to show up in suits 🙂

The boss announcing that we are going to have fun 🙂

again, the promised beer on the bus was missing…

arriving at the ka la O.K.

good food.

the drinks are prepared.. hrhr.

Pete and me.

as last year, the company karaoke ended with a catastrophe, even if it was a different kind. i dont want to go too much into detail. the result is: i am single again.

the relationship just didnt work. maybe its me and i am too intolerant? or is it my european cultural education?  i just could not bear her lies, tests and games she plays with me anymore. could not bear she kisses other guys.

at some point of time i was seriously thinking about a future together. now, this problem solved itself and i finally decided not to have a chinese girlfriend again(yes, its not the first time that i say that, but i mean it. srsly).

the thing that upsets me most is, that i believed her again and again. and maybe i still know only half of the truth.

anyway, i am fine now. white, open-minded foreigners that can speak some mandarin really dont have to worry about being lonely in Shanghai 😉

i know it sounds swanky, but it reminds me of a quote, that a former colleague of the Excitation Department in Vienna told me: "Mit ana Freundin in a chinesische Disco gehn is wia Wossa ins Meer trogn".

fiinally, i became what many people thought of me anyway, if they didnt know me.

Here is part II of this years company karaoke. 

Switzerland + Austria

The chinese crew.

Pete and Christine in the "training room"

"Volare oh oh, cantare oh oh, nel blu dipinto di blu, felice di stare lassù"

caught and saved 😉

originally intended to be a sweet surprise after a while, this small pack of Mon Cheri found a new owner…

Here are some impressions of what happened in front of my window.

just a short entry concerning my second visit at the dentist. i got another tooth removed. this time it was not so easy. the doctor needed 1 hour to get the tooth out.

during the session he repeatedly told me "its all ok, its very loose, we are almost finished,… "

but what he told his assistant was more like "dammit, i cant get it out. its so difficult…."

anyway, now its over. well.. not completly. i still have to repair a tooth next to it and i can choose between removal or root canal treatment.

Friday noon JP, Chris and me left the office for a quick trip to Hangzhou. first we took the train into the wrong direction. (Shanghai RailWaystation (S) and Shanghai South Railwaystation are not the same thing). then bought the tickets for a train that arrives at the wrong station. well, still hangzhou, but far away from the center.

after 1,5 hours we arrived in Hangzhou. foggy weather and no taxis. we took the bus for 2 RMB to reach downtown. the bus has 2 doors. one to enter and one to leave. after 2 stations the bus was full(which didnt prevent more people from getting on the bus) and of course we sat next to the wrong door when we wanted to get off.

we walked around, looking for a cheap hotel. i said we should have a look at the lakeview hotel but the prices didnt quite fit to our budget. outside of the hotel, a woman asked us if we are looking for a place to sleep. we said "yes" and another woman guided us to a place that was cheap but didnt look trustworthy. so we decided to have a BEER and dinner at the korean restaurant.

we ordered kimchi noodles with garlic. the waitress asked if we want them to cut the noodles because they are very long. we thought "wtf? ok, we are foreigners, but we still know how to eat noodles with chopsticks" and declined the offer.

soon we found out why she asked. the noodles were so thin and hard to bite that it took us ages to eat them.

continuing our search for a hotel, we met that woman again. she brought us to a different place, and we agreed to pay 1000 RMB for 3 persons / 2 nights, which is pretty reasonable.

10 minutes after arrival, the hotelroom phone rang and a lady advertised 3 very BEAUTIFUL women that would like to give us a "massage" for 100 RMB / 45 minutes. we declined.

after Chris bought 9 more bottles of beer, we prepared ourselves for the nightlife.

though not even 200 kilometers from Shanghai away, Hangzhou is very different. Not many foreigners and very "chinese style" bars and clubs.

we started the next day with a breakfast/lunch at a japanese restaurant and a BEER.

then we bought the return-traintickets and had 2nd breakfast at the "DQ". like many other small shops, the idea is great(selling hotdogs) but the staff just doesnt know how to handle it and the service is bad.

after a refreshing coffee at starbucks, we took the boat on the Westlake to visit some islands. fortunately, the bigger one had a shop that sold BEER.

back on the mailland we went into a bar to plan the evening while having a JUG of BEER. back at the hotel, it was again Chris to buy 9 bottles of BEER and some "Rohscheibn".

this time, we were better prepared and checked out the biggest club in town, the "SOS". i have to say, i have been to a lot of clubs in Vienna and Shanghai but i have NEVER seen such a big club, with shows (fire, barkeeper, dancing,…) all the time. and all that without any entry or wardrobe fee. very impressive!

3 am, back at the hotel, Chris and me found that meanwhile we were both immune to beer.

Heute gibts keine Fotos – die muss ich erst noch aus der Firma mitnehmen. JP und Chris haben ja auch noch eine Kamera voll Bilder aus Hangzhou.

In der Firma läufts immer besser. Ich hoffe, dass der Deutsch Account innerhalb des nächsten Monats die Führung übernimmt, was angesichts der letzten von mir vorgenommenen Änderungen realistisch ist.

Montag und Mittwoch lerne ich jetzt chinesisch. Ich habe schon genug Zeit "verschwendet". Wenn ich die Sprache hier nicht lerne, dann sicher auch nicht in Österreich. Die erste Stunde war gut, glaube ich.

Nach meiner letzten Beziehung hatte ich eigentlich den Glauben an eine funktionierende Beziehung hier verloren. Daher das Motto "Single sein und Spaß haben". Aber.. ich bin kein Playboy. Schlussendlich fühle ich mich doch nur in einer fixen Partnerschaft wohl.

Ja, ich bin ein vernünftiger und rationaler Mensch. Aber das letzte Wort hat noch immer das Herz, und nicht der Geist. So ist es nun mal.

Was ist richtig und was ist falsch? keiner weiß es. Aber wenn ich das tue, was mich froh macht, und es niemandem anderen schadet, kann es nicht so schlecht sein.

happy fools day, but this is true: on the weekend we moved to our new office, which is just across the street. This is actually the first "real" office. 500m2, and finally the two pods (english and latin) are together again. i like it very much.

here is my workplace:

the latin pod(France, Italy, Spain and Germany):

English Pod(UK, USA, Australia, Ireland, Canada) and the Boss-table in the background

Product sourcing (PE) and Accounting in the background

Chillout-Zone

Fishtank(no fish so far).

the last week was escorted by daily pain. i know its my own fault – i should have gone to the dentist much earlier. i already mentioned that i removed 2 teeth, that grew where there was no space for a tooth. so i could not clean the teeth around, which had decay as a result. 3 of 4 teeth were already fixed, but the 4th was already too damaged. last time the doctor said, i should come again asap and decide whether i want to remove it or have a root canal treatment.

starting on thursday, that tooth hurt like hell. painkillers were already useless. on saturday i fell asleep after 5am. the next possible appointment was today, on tuesday.

who knows what a "root canal treatment" is? at this point, i want to say that everybody has the choice NOT to read that blog.

well, first, that tooth was numbed. then he began to drill a hole. the hole has to be drilled until the END of the root, which is about 20-30 mm deep. then he sticks needles inside(both root canals). i could not even close the mouth. the dentist said, we have to do an x-ray to make sure we reached the end of the root – with the needles inside ofcourse.

a quote during the treatment, while i was shaking on the chair: "Pain? Strong pain? Good! That means we reached the end of the root canal!"

anyway. since then i am painfree. next week i have to go again to finish it. and maybe i will have to have a crown on it later. if i can afford it.

Sam, Alex and JP… probably discussing something about the new ebay template.

Yasin. King of hardware and Java development.

The DE-account manager… always busy… sometimes working.

The french guys (Charly, Bertrand and Xavier, always left to right)

our fish tank! since 2 weeks the fish stay alive. 

masters of the numbers(accounting) and human resources.

accounting files and our entrance. its a glass door with 2 locks. if locked from the outside, you can’t open it from the inside.

chillout zone. smoking is prohibited – so i don’t use it.

English pod. Manager Peter Wang on the left hand side.

one of the many pillars. used to write down some important tasks, overviews or to play hangman in case the internet is down.

Gio and Justin. Finding about 50 products a week and answering product questions as good as they can!

The big meeting room.

JP, Charly, Xavier and Bertrand in the CAM(customer awareness meeting).

English pod, 2nd row of tables.

Once more: the French

Product entrepreneurs.

Armelle and Eve, in charge of Product Management(and disapproving RRCs).

"hmm… how can i maximize the profit?…"

Italy(in the middle). Valentina and Michele.

Thursday night i left to Beijing, to visit Jiajia. I arrived at the HongQiao Airport very early. At 19.30 i left the restaurant to go to the security check. I understand that security is an important issue, but was it really necessary to grab BOTH of my 2 beloved BIC lighters?! the guards didnt want to discuss and i was in a hurry, so i had to leave them behind…

on the plane, i was shocked a second time: no beer! so i tried to play some games – every seat had a touchscreen! unfornunately, no game worked.

we arrived on time and i was very happy to see JiaJia waiting for me at the exit.

we got up pretty early at around 10 am and left the hotel to have a good starbucks coffee at what was once Asia’s largest shopping mall.

oh, now i remember one more thing: my first bad experience with Beijing’s taxi drivers: we got off at the airport-shuttlebus station and stopped a taxi. JiaJia told him where to go, but he said, thats in the other direction. of couse she told him where to make the U-turn, but he said we should leave.

after the coffee we took a taxi to the summer palace of emperess "Ci Xi"(correct me if i am wrong). i think she sold HongKong and Macao, to build a great "Summer Palace" for herself! and we visited that palace.

yes, i should have known it in the first place… going to Beijing on May 1st is not such a good idea. everybody is on holiday and goes sightseeing. the summer palace was very crowded and also not very interesting.

later we went to another shopping mall, had a look and enjoyed a "blizzard"(ice cream) at DQ:

still very crowded, as you can see:

here i noticed another difference to Shanghai: nobody tried to sell me watches or bags, and nobody was begging for money! so reaxing!

furthermore, altough i was 1000 km away from the city where i live: i can understand the language much better! its a bit hart to describe. Beijingnese speak the "standard" chinese(Mandarin), which is completly different from shanghainese, and they often use a tone, which is seldom heard in shanghainese. its the "er"("儿"). sounds like if an american says "Mars" (just the AR).

Also the city structure is different. in shanghai, there are lots of high towers, with 50 or more floors. Beijing is more flat(as far as i could see), but the buildings are still big(wide and deep).

Here is a picture of the tiny beijing subway map:

they have 4 lines: 1,2, 5 and 13!

we took the subway to get to an older district. i liked it very much!

In the evening, we met her friend (… sorry, i forgot the name) + french boyfriend. we rent a boat and drove around on the lake for an hour(including traffic jam at the bridge!