TSD Day372: Shaghai-ed: Last Day in Shanghai – 仁者好山，智者乐水

Today marks my last day of the NOC(NUS Overseas College) program.

I am leaving for Singapore tomorrow morning. While packing my bag,

I had a strange feeling that I never felt before…

The Cycle…

I can still remember myself coming into this apartment in July 2007,

getting ready to take on anything in my way… Throughout this year,

I have been through and grew from a variety of incidents and learning

along the way to where I am now. (Not that I am very experienced,

but I guess I have became much better.)

Now that I am packing my bag, I could feel what my seniors felt while

they were packing their bags to go back to Singapore. This strange

feeling whelmed up inside me and I have to admit that I dropped a

tear or two. It’s the feeling of leaving what you have built up here

behind…

What I have learnt:

– Ask at least 3 persons on ANYTHING you are unsure

Especially useful on directions. Never trust completely what one person

says. even if the person means no harm, he/she may not know enough

information to give you the full picture.

– Patience

You have to live with the bureaucracy here in China. because the

system is like that and the people are very used to the system…

of waiting for a long time for procedures to be done.

– Negotiate

You can negotiate just about ANYTHING in China! Simply because

of the fact that everything allows some flexiblity. even in the

interpretation of the law. That is why, we can bargain for the best

price for products. You can even talk your way round getting a

cheaper fare for taxi rides. I feel that is a good thing about China…

if you know how to leverage and not get leveraged.

"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." Dale Carnegie

– About Shanghainese (In general)

They tend to be very fast paced and inpatient (on the contrary

to the above point). They are also very goal oriented, which is very

much like me, getting things done is a must! hehe! And!

Shanghainese people are very pretty! (REALLY!)

Farewell Dinner (Thanks Yvon!)

Had the farewell dinner at Pin Chuan. Really great food! luckily we

had the 50% discount voucher! hehe! and it became pretty afoordable.

I would reccomend the food! great taste! good price… if you have the

voucher, that is… haha!