Oli's Shanghai Blog

The college entrance exam is a massive moment in every Chinese student’s life. Take A-Levels, SATs and the International Baccalaureate and then heat them in a witch’s cauldron and you have the most high-pressure moment in the 18 short years that they have been on Earth.

大学入学考对于每个中国学生的一生都有着重大的意义. 把甲级考试学术能力评估考试和国际学士学位丢进巫婆的大溶缸，然后就有了十八年前所未有的高压生活。

Walking near Hongkou Football Stadium the other day, I saw a guy who SURELY was on his way to the exam…

走在虹口足球场附近的一天，我看到一个男孩，我确信它是在去考试的路上…

…he was even wearing the uniform!

他正穿着校服！

On my way back from work (no umbrella, Roxette very loud on mp3 player, smiling all the way) I was surprised to see a big group of people outside Costa Coffee, looking into a big hole. The big hole was dug by some people who are fixing pipes of some sort (I’m sure it’s Shanghai Expo related!)….anyway…then I saw what they were looking at:

在我下班的路上(没有伞,mp3里放的Roxette很响,开开心心地走着),我吃惊地看到一群人围观在Costa咖啡店门口看着一个大洞.这个大坑是一些为了维修水管之类的东西被挖出来的(我肯定一定和世博会有关!)…不管怎样…然后我看到了他们正在看的:

…a security van (the type that picks up money from businesses with shotguns) had driven up onto the path and…into the hole. Is a hole in the pavement is the new hole in the wall?

…运钞车(那种里面有人带着枪运送钞票的)正开在路上…然后掉进了坑里.难道人行道上的洞成了最新的提款机了?

One of the funniest (I don’t know why) moments in Shanghai so far was the first time I saw people moving shopping trolleys down an escalator. We don’t really have two-storey supermarkets in England (do we?), so the issue probably never came up (or went down)…

在上海最有意思的时刻之一（我不知道为什么）是第一次我看到别人在电梯上把购物车运下楼。在英国没有2层楼的超市（有吗？），所以可能永远也不会发生这一幕…

I didn’t think it would ever be trumped in terms of weird stuff…until…

瞎来来的事情看多了，但是还没见过这样的…直到…

…IF I CAN’T TAKE AN OPEN BOTTLE OF PEPSI IN, THEN GET THE HELL OFF YOUR BIKE OLD WOMAN!

…如果我不能带开过的可乐进来，那么你快从自行车上下来老太婆！

Here lies Michael Jackson’s life story, using the medium of the chat emoticon / symbol as inspiration.

这里是迈克杰克逊生平的故事，灵感来自于表情符号.

☻ – born
♫ – became ♔ of pop – $
☺ – died

☻ – 出生
♫ – 成为流行天♔ – $
☺ – 去世

Thanks to Jme’s grief for inspiration. You are not alone, buddy.

感谢J的哀悼给到的启发。兄弟，你不是一个人。

We’ve all thought about it at some point…what would you do if you could do ANYTHING in the world? Fly around the world? Star in a movie? Date a supermodel? Date two supermodels?

有时候我们总会想一些这方面的东西…如果你什么都能做，那在这个世界上你会做什么呢？环绕世界飞？变成电影里的明星？和超模约会？和两个超模约会？

Our favourite restaurant, Matsuri123 in Gubei offers the opportunity to write your wish on a piece of a paper, then offer it to the ’shrine of wishes’ (pin it to the wall). So what does China’s youth REALLY want to do? I think we all know, deep down…

在我们最喜欢的餐厅，Matsuri123古北店，它给你一个机会在纸上写下自己的愿望，然后放到‘许愿池’（挂在墙上）。那么中国的年轻人实际上真正最想做的是什么呢？我想我们都知道…