2. Hong Kong, in some senses, are similar to Singapore. Modern and ruled by people of chinese descent. I noticed two big differences, very positive differences in my opinion. First, the weather is sub-tropical, which means you can walk almost all year round around with a t-shirt, in the outdoor, without worried being cooked by the sun. I said almost, because they probably have a very grueling summer. That’s still 75% better than Singapore. Secondly, although most Asians are conformist, I don’t see it so much here. There are many different dress culture, confirmed by the eyes of Steph. Brand worship exists in a far lesser intensity. For me, of course my eyes are tuned to the usage of Apple products. I’m pleased to report that Hong Kong is an enlightened, liberated Android land. Forgive me for some hyperbolism there.

2. Shanghai women, rather like their reputation, are really more assertive and opinionate. To put it in another term that is more understandable, they’re more bitchy. Although, according to a chatter I overheard on the streets, if you’re tall, handsome and rich, you’ll be fine.

3. Unlike Beijing, where the distance between the rich and the poor are huge and noticable. The middle class has emerged in shanghai. Though still the minority, they’ll determine the future of China.

4. I was surprised that the Cultural Revolution didn’t ravage the cultural sites. More impressively, most European heritages were preserved. I came up with a theory that Shanghai is an unique city that was exposed to the Western culture earlier than others. This in turn produced an educated and thinking bunch, even in high places, that persevere during the Revolution. Of course, not having done any research, I could be totally wrong. Maybe there just weren’t fast enough in destroying everything.

5. Education is, obviously, the way of aligning the mindset of people towards the modern and rich countries. This will take some time. In the mean time, China seems to be doing something similar to Singapore, with its Chinese flavour. Huge posters and billboards are displayed prominently to encourage people to have more social civic. “Hand in hand, heading towards a more civilised society and modern country”, something in that manner to evoke patriotism. Announcements are given in supermarket and subways to ask people to not spit, to not throw rubbish and so on. I wonder however, whether such propangantic methods work. I saw a mom holding  a kid up to pee into a rubbish bin, in a high class mall. At least he didn’t pee on the floor.

Events that I referred to are the Arab Spring and the arguments within Europe and the States.

Democracy, in the end, is about the ability to express yourself as an individual. I can choose who I like and what I like. Within a well informed society, the opinion of the collective seems to be able to govern things properly.

As individualism continues its march into society, things become a little problematic. Individual opinion becomes more important than common good. Opposing for the sake of opposing, compromise is seen as sign of weakness. I believe this is main reason for the difficulty in implementing any changes in modern Democratic society.

At the other extreme, young democracy is dangerous as well. When the people are not well-informed, they are easily manipulated. In the end, the country is steered and ruled by elite, who may not have the best interest of the ppl in mind.

Seems that most Democratic country in the world are in one extreme or the other. In this scenario, other types of political structure, even the hardcore ones,  might emerge.

I really hope not.

Recently I read about an idea that might change my mind. By putting boys and girls together, it affects the learning process because they learn differently.

Girls learn with a “me too” mentality. When a girl answers a question, other girls will try to join in the discussion, doesn’t matter whether they know the answers or not. It’s a community process.

Boys learn with a “I’m better than you” mentality. When a boy answers a question, he establishes a sort of status by his mental aptitude.  If a boy knows the answer, he would brag and compete. However if a boy doesn’t know the answer, he will withdraw and stay quiet. It’s a competition.

This is not trivial for the learning process. It’s pretty established that girls and boys grasp different concepts at different speeds. By putting them together, a boy who doesn’t know the topic will be unwilling to join in the discussion process because his ego is hurt while a girl who doesn’t know the topic will be dumbfounded by the looking down and bragging from the guys.  As a result, boys speed ahead at the topics they’re generally good at while lacking behind at other topics. Vice versa.

In fact, this might even be the reason why some profession are so gender biased. In US, 25% of engineers are female. In Germany, it’s even worse at 10%.

All these need to be studied more carefully before it can be seen as common wisdom. Coed education has its many advantages that can’t be ignored. It’ll be interesting whether a way can be found to combine the best of both worlds.

Just this week, Steph went to China while I went to Spain for business trips.

After trying unsuccessfully calling home, I called my Sis in US to tell my mom in Malaysia through Skype to pick up her phone. Then I called again, from Germany.

If this is how it is for my generation, I wonder how it is gonna be for my children’s generation.

The more the merrier does not apply when it comes to the perception of food in Germany. Many years ago, a German king specified that Beer can only be made out of 3 ingredients – water, barley and hops. Although no longer valid, this is still followed by many German brewers, and they made darn sure that everyone knows about it. Even if the law was made out of economics reason, many people that I know cite this as the reason for the tastiness of their beer.

Well, I disagree with reasoning, but I definitely agree on the conclusion.

I guess it’s universal that when it comes to juice, for example, the purer the better. In Germany, this kind of perception apparently spreads to other areas as well. This might also explains why most Germans dislike fancy stuff, from fancy packaging to fancy financial products. They mostly prefer to stick to basics. Less is more.

Something to note if you want to market some products in Germany.

I still feel extremely thankful about it. Within a month of my application, I’ve been given a job in the same company as Steph. As the region is not known for abundant job opportunity for electrical engineer, I was preparing myself to the thought of travelling up to 3 hours a day after we get married. With a little bit of luck (blessings really) and a little bit of insider connection (they call it a dual career), I can now worry about other things instead of the mind numbing travelling. I’ll start in August as a project engineer (finally!). Let’s hope I’ll be good in it.

As I mentioned just now, I can now start worrying about other things. It’s sad yet true that we are seldom satisfied by what we have, right?

The more I see, the more I know, the more I read, the more I listen, the more I realized that the truth, the best way, the most logical conclusion is almost always somewhere in the middle.

At the same time, it’s also true that being in the middle will seldom bring one anyway far.

It might not bring you success in business. There’s always a product better in one category. Case in point, Apple has style and look, Android has functionality and flexiblity.

It might not bring you success in politics. There’s always a party who’s willing to cut more taxes, hug more trees, bring more/less foreigners in, even though each of them, in their extremes, does not make the country a better place. One modern solutions is to form coalitions, but that’s another topic.

It most certainly won’t let you appear on tv or in the entertainment business (including sports). A poacher striker or a solid defender gets paid much, but one who can play both position, gets paid twice (or more) less.

I do want to strive to be balanced in my life. To not take one position stubbornly and resolutely refuses to change. But I also know that in world, fame, power and wealth is obtained by being right. Perhaps success, in this was, is simply achieved by taking a position (any one) and bring it all the way.

Identity is defined by its uniqueness. Perhaps in my pursuit of a balanced life and a balanced mind, I am redefining what success is as well. Perhaps in my eulogy or on my tombstone, someone would label me with the oxymoron term:

“The most balanced person in the world”

A typical Malaysian joke, on the other hand, has a lot to do with the cultural understanding. Most of the time, it’s about a certain stereotype of a certain race, even bordering on racism. At other times, it’s about how broken our English are, which really can be funny sometimes.

Perhaps due to my lack of exposure to the German humor, I cannot yet categorize their type of humor. I remember long ago my German lecturer told me that foreigners usually don’t appreciate their kind of jokes. But just as the British humor has a bad reputation in USA, it’s probably just due to a lack of understanding. Perhaps I should really start to read up some German jokes.

If asked about what joke I like, it’d be smart jokes. I define them as jokes that are not clear at first. It requires an understanding of the subject and is usually subtle. As a comparison, it is the total opposite of Jim Carrey style of slap stick jokes.

Then I realized that maybe this might be due to pride. “If I laugh at a smart joke, I’m showing how intelligent I am, a reflection of my character.”, so thinks the Ego in me. This is similar to the appreciation of art. It is basically the rich man’s way of showing a superior taste than other “mortal beings” around them.

Interesting how jokes can be so “unfunny” once you analyze it deeper.