The Wandering Monkey

Hello Folks-

I've arrived at my friends' home in the San Francisco area.  Today I spent most of the day asleep.  My friends have a two-year old, and after my own nap I spent the day playing with toy trains and giving airplane rides as such.  I also taught him how to use a screwdriver from the local tool set.

It is strange arriving back in America.  Although I have been gone to a foreign country for two years, when I walked in the house it felt as if I had never left.  I remembered the last conversation I had here, what we did that evening, and what Greg and Barbara were up to at the time.  It is as if Shanghai were just a dream, and no time has passed at all.

My friend Greg spent three years in Japan, and he said that it was just like that for him when he came back from Japan.  Upon his return, he always felt the same way, as if not a moment had passed and he had just woken up from a dream.  However, the perspective was not shared by the people he would meet.  They all said it seemed like such a long time, and said so much had happened, and it felt like it had been forever since they last talked.

There are several things I am looking to accomplish on my trip here, but the first and foremost of which is to gain perspective.  I have been living in Shanghai so long, I thought I would have reverse culture-shock upon arrival.  But that's not the case.  If anything, I feel like I'm at last able to breathe out after holding my breath for a long time.

I am looking to get a big picture of what's going on in the United States.  How have things changed, if at all?  How are people feeling?  Is there any excitement here?  How is the economy?  Are people working, and if so, at what salary and do they have an interesting job?

Over two years ago, upon my arrival in Shanghai, I wrote a small newspaper-like piece called The New Silicon Valley, in which I talked about my experiences here in Silicon Valley and what everyone did after the crash.  Greg was also in Silicon Valley at the time of the crash, but he had cashed in his stock options already and was able to buy a house.  He was married and an expectant father by the time I left the area.

After the Silicon Valley crash, there were two types of people.  Those who stayed, and those who left.  People who had purchased property most frequently stayed in place.  As predicted two years ago, although the income levels have still remained low, housing prices have continued to increase, so if you had a house it was a good idea to keep it.

Unlike Greg, I did not have a house, so I left, along with about half of the working professionals I knew.  So now it is interesting to compare the differences.  The primary difference is that Greg has a kid of his own.  Surprisingly, I found that playing with trains and such was actually kind of fun.  Others will vouch for the fact that I am a bit childlike in mind already, so perhaps it's not that much of a stretch.  But I can see the demands of parenthood in my hosts.  It's not an easy job, and it's not a job which ever offers a break, or a 'project completion date', or even an end-of-year bonus with stock options.  It's a job which continues ad infinitum.

But, back to the concept of re-adjustment.  The biggest change I have noticed so far in coming back is that I am tending to talk to the Chinese people I have met here.  I also realize that sometimes I know certain phrases and words so well that I don't think in English and translate it in my head, I think directly in Chinese and just understand the meaning.  When I was on the plane, Chinese people were seated on either side of me, and I spoke better Chinese than they did English.  So I helped them fill out the Customs and Immigration forms they handed out on the plane, which were only in English.  (Amazing how many official documents are only in English, when it's predictable that a plane from China would probably need Chinese...)

So tomorrow I go to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and get my drivers license re-created.  A long time ago in Shanghai I left my wallet in a taxi, losing my money, credit cards, and also my drivers license.  Up to this point it has never been a concern, though, because I've had no need or desire to drive in Shanghai.

There's a few other things on the "to-do" list while in America, including dentist and doctors' appointments.  Get some tax paperwork finished, and so forth.  Also, get a video tape of dances at the Dogg House, San Francisco's premeir swing dancing location.

On the personal side, see the family, visit with friends.  See how everyone's jobs are going.  See how things are with the married-with-children couples.  (While some of these kids are adorable and fun to be with, I can't imagine doing it 24-7.)  And also get a bead on the job market.  How much are jobs paying here?  What are they demanding from employees?  How hot is the old e-commerce market?

Ideally, while I'm here I will find an expat-package which would take me back to Shanghai.  But in some form or another, it's time to get a job.  If I plan to return to Shanghai without a solid prospect, I may have to delay my trip.  I do enjoy the place, but local job-seeking is not that easy.  The salaries offered local people are overall much lower than those offered expats for moving to Shanghai.

That's a bit of a silly notion, really.  Better to pay an Asia-inexperienced person in America to come to China than to hire an Asia-verteran who already lives in China.  But that is how it is right now, and I'm just playing the game by the rules they give me.

During my time in China, I have not once been able to read my blog.  China puts a lock on all blog pages, to prevent unofficial spreading of news.  However, now I'm back, so I'm going to take this large cup of coffee and read what I've written over the past two years. 

Goodnight, everyone,

Jim