my local bike shop(s)

I haven't had any bike troubles yet, but if and when I do I have a few options just steps from my apartment for getting it fixed. There are so many people who ride bikes here that bike shops are easily found. These pictures are of two different bike shops on my block. I can't decide which one looks better.

What do you think?

-mk

venturing out in my new 'hood

I'm a long way away from Williamsburg, Brooklyn so I'm realizing day by day and my new neighborhood ain't American. My walk to work in the mornings begins with a view of this lovely smokestack behind my apartment building. I then cross a street with 8 lanes of traffic. I walk when the lights are green and stop between lanes to let cars/bikes/buses/trucks screech by on either side of me. This used to wake me up in a hurry but by now I'm used to it. Then I walk on a gravel road that has been torn up (presumably for construction?), over a bridge, and through a little "park" before arriving at my office.

I miss everything about Williamsburg... even the smelly bodega around the corner from my apartment-- the one on havemeyer street with the obnoxious cat that would hiss and claw at my dog in the aisles. How can that be? I hated that place, but here I am missing it. I think I'm remembering only the good things without the bad. In any event, I think it's time I got acquainted with my new 'hood here and made it my home without trying to compare it to anything Western.

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paint so environmentally friendly fish can swim in it

I went shopping for good quality paint for my apartment, a more difficult task than you would expect. A lot of paint used on the walls here, even in nice places, will actually come off on you or your clothes if you brush up against it. I found this Nippon stuff-- it's actually the same paint we used to paint my new office at work. I just brought the extra cans home. This brand is apparently so environmentally friendly that fish can swim in it (or so it advertises). I'd give them 10 seconds tops. Honestly though, it does have less smell than any paint I've ever used and my walls look great. Well, mostly. I probably shouldn't have used green, blue, and yellow paint in such a small place. It's a very bright apartment fo sho.

-mk

spotted: gossip girl in china

(gossipx.cn is a popular Chinese gossip girl fan site with spoilers, lookbooks, and show gossip)

I never would have guessed that Gossip Girl would be a huge hit in China. But I'm here and it is. Everybody talks about Serena and Nate and the headband Blair wore last week. Perhaps the most interesting thing I've heard/read about Gossip Girl here came from an interview The China Business Network did with Tom Melcher, the founder of Kemeixin (www.kemeixin.com), an American-owned education counseling service in Beijing. I've pasted an excerpt of the interview (see below) where Tom talks about how Gossip Girl (and movies like Animal House) affect the perceptions and expectations that Chinese parents and students have about studying abroad in America.

[TCBN interview excerpt]

TCBN: As a way to conclude our conversation today, when we talk about schools or your own counselors’ ability to convey a sense what the reality will be like on the ground for students in the U.S., conveying an understanding of America, American life for them, what is cliché these days and what are you finding most impactful, that really you can see it registering in their minds, like I’m getting a sense of what I am going to encounter when I get over there?

Melcher: Well, put it this way the number one TV show among young 17-24 year-old women in China is “Gossip Girl.” This is a show that is not available in China, it’s only available through pirated versions online. Truly it is the number one show in that demographic. If you ask any young, hip, urban Chinese woman, she could tell you exactly what’s going on in the lives of those “Gossip Girls.” Any society outside the United States sort of sees the U.S. through the prism of Hollywood, and that is a perfect example. And that is set in a school, so of course there expectations are it’s going to be like that. But there have been other movies, the most notorious is Animal House. There are many Chinese kids and families that come to me and said “is Animal House true?” And I always smile at the question. When I first came to China twenty-something years ago, there wasn’t even enough of global awareness to ask the question, they just assumed it was true. But now I am delighted by this question, because it shows that people are much more discriminating consumers, and they understand there is some real possibility in fact it may not be true. And they are coming to somebody who they are in a position to trust and asking for a real take. So these stereotypes exist, but it’s exciting to watch how quickly society is progressing and how much more discerning Chinese consumer are about education.
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I think students who come to the USA for high school with Gossip Girl expectations will be sorely disappointed. We had one exchange student in my Fairborn, Ohio high school. He was from Korea and I guarantee his prom wasn't a masquerade ball and his weekends didn't involve dancing at A-List clubs. Can anyone actually relate to Gossip Girl?

-mk

how i found out my apartment is a 7th (not a 5th) floor walk-up after signing my lease

So, after signing my lease and carrying four suitcases up my stairs to move in, I decided to actually count the flights of stairs up to my apartment. My unit number is 501. I assumed I was on the fifth floor. But after counting, I realized the numbering is wrong. The floors go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 but there are 2 more floors stuck in there with no numbers. I'm actually on the 7th floor! This picture is of the open bike parking lot in my building. This is the actual "second floor."

It's not as bad as it sounds though because some of the floors have lower ceilings than the others. Nate nearly has to duck in the hallways of floor 2 and 3. I used to live on a 6th floor walk up in Manhattan and that had way more steps. Sounds like a classy place you want to come visit, huh?

Ha I wouldn't use the term luxurious, but I'm really enjoying my new place so far!

-mk