Christmas has come early for you! (If you want a Google Wave invite for Christmas) (提前发送圣诞礼物啦！（如果你想要Google Wave邀请）)

I think I was the last person to get access to Google Wave, however now I have it I want to use up ALL of my invitations to other people before it become OPEN and everyone can use it!

我想我大概是最后一个得到Google Wave邀请的人，不过我现在有了然后我想用所有的邀请给大家，在它开放以前，每个人都可以用它！

So if you want an invite, just leave a comment here saying so (as well as a joke) and then I’ll add you. If you don’t want an invitation, feel free to leave a joke here anyway!

所以如果你要邀请，只要在这里留言（或者说个笑话），然后我就会加你。如果你不想要邀请，那就在这里讲笑话吧！

Happy Christmas! (nearly)

圣诞快乐！（差不多了）

ps, it takes a while after the invitation is sent to arrive (like a week) – be patient!

ps, 在发送邀请以后要过一段时间才能收到（大概一个礼拜）- 耐心点！

Welcome to Shanghai (上海欢迎您 )

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of an eye-opener for me. A new colleague arrived in my office, and it’s made me cast my mind back to the first few weeks of my time here in China.

前几个星期算是让我小开眼界了。一个新同事来了。很多情景让我回想起我刚到中国的那几个星期。

I was super-excited when I arrived in Shanghai 20 months ago – so excited that I totally ignored nearly all of the faults which, to newcomers, are often obvious.

20个月前到上海的时候我超兴奋-由于太激动了以至于忽视了很多对于一个新来的来说很明显的不足。

The air-quality was atrocious (it’s ok, just hold your breath!), the weather was uncomfortable (that’s what aircon’s for!) and the hygiene of some places, like restaurants, leave a lot to be desired (but McDonald’s in Shanghai is so cheap!).

空气质量恶劣（只要屏住呼吸就没问题了！）天气不舒服（那就是为什么要有空调！）还有有些地方的卫生，比如餐厅，还有很大的提高空间（可是麦当劳在上海非常便宜！）

The one thing that was undeniable, however, was the friendliness and welcome of the people. Everywhere I went, I met people who were more than happy to show me around, give me info and generally help me out – which is why I’m so suprised whenever I see people who are clearly NOT friendly – like this girl:

不可否认的一点是人们很友好。我去的所有的地方，我见过的所有的人都很乐意带我转转，给我信息并且帮助我-这也是为什么当我看到那么明显的不友好的人会如此惊讶-比如这个女孩：

What sort of welcome is that for a lonely fresh-off-the-plane expat? I was considering having a word with her and trying to let her know that it’s not polite to be so abrupt with people…until I saw the front…

对于一个孤身来此的外国人这是哪门子的友好？我正想告诉她这样对人不礼貌而且非常鲁莽…直到我看到前面…

…now that’s more like it! Welcome to Shanghai!

…现在才像话！欢迎来上海！

New Year’s Eve countdown 2008/2009 in Shanghai, China (2008/2009年新年除夕在上海，中国)

Here’s a video of the New Year’s Eve countdown, filmed by me on location in Shanghai, China!
这是除夕夜倒计时的一段录像，由我拍摄于上海，中国。

The night was…well…madness. In a very, very good way.
那个晚上非常的……疯狂。非常非常愉快的那种。

Happy New Year!
新年快乐!