iHaochi

Chinese American

Haochi Chen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:50:47 -0500

photo by ayblazerman, used under a cc-license

This past Wednesday I became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

That's all for now, thanks for tuning in!

TweetQuoter

Haochi Chen — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:38:47 -0500

So a while ago I read Amit Agarwal's "Screenshots: Still the Best Way to Embed Tweets in Web Pages" and thought, hey, maybe I will code up something so people can easily embed tweets on their website. I don't use Twitter that much but what the heck, I am not doing anything today anyway so I started working on this little project this morning while watching the original "The Karate Kid" for the first time (I don't like the movie at all).

It's a little pain in the neck to deal with the undocumented ImageMagick API for PHP at first, but I got that sorted out after a while.

For the time being, the project is being hosted on chen.vc (my other website that doesn't serve any meaningful purpose at the moment). To use the service, you simply have change twitter.com part of a tweet's URL to chen.vc. For example,

http://twitter.com/NatGeoSociety/status/15962947904

becomes

http://chen.vc/NatGeoSociety/status/15962947904

And then you can embed the tweet on your website/blog like this:

I think it's a great little service for people who embed a lot of tweets on their websites. In the future I might allow customizations for the image. We will see though.

note: I copied the background from Tweetie (now owned by Twitter).

P.S. I apologize for the lame title.

One Down, Three to Go

Haochi Chen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:25:47 -0500

After finishing my Economics and Computer Science finals earlier today, I am (un)officially done with my first year of college at the Ohio State University. The year has been pretty ordinary; there were ups and downs, but were mostly ups. :) Actually, scratch that, my life is, and have been full of optimism, so that empty glass right there will always be full of ~~water~~ milk.

Starting next week I will be interning at web start-up company VacationView. It is a Craigslist-esque website for renting timeshares. On my free time I will be working on my pet projects, OSUTrade and on the day of. OSUTrade is a (again, Craigslist-like) website for OSU students to trade (i.e. buy & sell) books, hence the name, and on the day of is basically one of those "On This Day"-type websites, but the goal is to make it more comprehensive (because history is awesome).

Summer doesn't start for another ten days but I hope you enjoy the the amazing Summer sunshine and of course don't forget to keep yourself hydrated!

On a side note, congratulations to my sister Danni who will be graduating from the Ohio State University this coming Sunday!

Viva La Spring

Haochi Chen — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:06:42 -0500

It's been insanely long since I last updated this blog, so I guess it's about time to clue you in on what I have been up to. :)

Every since I got back from China, I have spent most of my waking hours on school related activities (disregard the countless hours that went toward my hobby - "slacking"). I was pretty burn out by school but I can only blame that on myself for taking so many classes last quarter. I did get something good out of it though: I signed up for the Social Dance class so now I know how to dance - not very good at it, but at least it is no longer a stranger.

Not much interesting happened between January and mid-March. I applied for 4 internships but didn't get any of them. Two of them said I won't have enough time to dedicate to the projects, one said I don't have enough experience, and the last one still haven't contact me after the interview. The interviewer for the last one said the company will make a decision "by the end of the week" when I went to the interview two Fridays ago. I will contact them to see if I get the internship or not if I don't hear from them in a few days. Got to take the initiative, right?

Some time in January I thought it would be a good idea to spend my Spring Break in D.C. so I started planning for it. My girlfriend (Christina) was visibly upset that she wasn't able to go to China with me during Winter Break so I made sure that she's coming to D.C. with me this time. After many weeks of anticipation, the day finally came!

Washington, D.C.!!

United States Capitol

We landed on the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), hopped on the (free) airport shuttle to the BWI Airport Rail Station, and took the MARC train ($6/ticket) to the Washington, DC. Union Station. We didn't do much on the first day since we got to the (Capitol Skyline) hotel pretty late so we only went out to the closest restaurant (that's not McDonald's) to get something to feed our growling stomaches. We end up getting lo-mein at Grand China Carryout. The food is not bad and the staff was friendly, but I definitely do not recommend anyone going there, at least not that particular franchise because of the influx of ~~rude~~ difficult customers there.

The next morning we woke up earlier than usual to start our day in D.C. Christina thought it would be good idea to wear only a thin t-shirt, but I suggested that she should bring a jacket just in case, which turned out to be a very good idea because it was a little windy and chilly that day.

We started the day off by treating ourselves with the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Due to the close proximity to the U.S. Capitol from the hotel, we picked that as our starting point and go from there to see all the memorials, momuments, and museums near by.

Candid shot of Haochi in front of the National Gallery of Art, looking very uninterested although he suggested going there.

After the Capitol, we walked down the Madison Drive to the National Gallery Art. Being inartistic, I got bored very fast and left there very quickly.

Haochi knocking on the door hoping that someone will open it but it was futile.

Our next stop is the National Archives and Records Administration, where the original copy of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are kept. One of the most memorable thing about this place is that it has a gigantic front door which is probably for decorative purpose only. We thought it would open so we walked up all the stairs only to find out that we have to walk down and around to enter from the side doors.

Then we went to the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, and walked along the Reflecting Pool that led us to the Lincoln Memorial.

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial view from the Washington Monument

World War II Memorial

Washington Monument view at Reflecting Pool

Lincoln Memorial front view

Inside Lincoln Memorial

The last place we went to for the day was, of course, the White House.

I later found out that one can request to tour the White House but the requests need to be submitted 30 days in advance so we didn't get to go.

By the time when we are ready to leave, we were both tired and hungry, so we walked to Jenny's Asian Fusion to get something to eat. The food is good and price is reasonable so I recommend going there. There are also several sea food restaurants around there but I am not very fond of sea food so we went to Jenny's instead. After our lunch, we went back to the hotel to get some rest and planned on going to Chinatown later that night if it doesn't rain. However I fell asleep and didn't wake up from the nap till 8. Waking up early and walking the whole day sure makes my out-of-shape self tired!

The next day we started off at Chinatown. It was a little let down because I thought it would have more Chinese shops than the 5 Chinese restaurants. Either that or I didn't know my way. After Chinatown we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and on our way there we stopped by the National Museum of Natural History for a few hours and had lunch there.

As we leave the Holocaust Museum, the Sun started to set, so we went back to Jenny's again to have our early dinner, then back to the hotel and prepare for tomorrow's morning flight back to Columbus.

There are a lot of places that we didn't get to go because of time constraints but we are glad that we made use of our limited time in D.C. to go to the places we have been to and overall it was a fun trip. We are happy that we are back to Columbus as well, knowing that we will not be lost all the time like we did in D.C.!

[all photos by Christina Edens]

Almost Tricked to Beijing

Haochi Chen — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:29:35 -0600

Engrish: when you what?

I've been in China for about ten days now and things are good to me for the most part. In this post I will recap the things that have happened to me over the past week in my travel, and some of my thoughts regarding the rapid changing city of Taishan (the Chinese city I am at right now).

The trip itself didn't start out very well. When I was waiting for my flight in Chicago I found out that the guy who checked me in at the Columbus airport somehow managed to screwed up my ticket and gave me one that goes to Beijing instead of my chosen destination - Hong Kong. Good thing I found out about this mistake early, I went to United Airline's customer service and talked to a customer service representative to have my ticket fixed. After waiting there for over 10 minutes, he handed me a new and corrected ticket to Hong Kong, and assured me that I will be able to pick up my luggage in Hong Kong.

Despite his assurance, the fiasco didn't end here. When I went to get my luggage at the Hong Kong International Airport, I waited and waited, but my luggage never came, so I approached United Airline personnel for assistance. He checked his list of luggage tag numbers against mine but of course, my luggage's tag number is not on there. Well, there's obviously nothing I can do since my luggage is probably somewhere in Beijing, so I gave my contact information to the person and he said UA will deliver to me when they find it.

With 15 minutes left until the last bus leaving for Taishan (I checked online before going to Hong Kong), I quickly rush to the ticket counter to purchase my ticket. I asked two bus companies to see if they have bus to Taishan but neither has them. Fortunately, the very helpful lady asked another lady at another bus company and she said that they have one that's leaving in about 10 minutes, so I quickly paid for my HK$250 (~$35) bus ticket. I for sure don't want to stay the night at the airport after being strained in the airplane for over 14 hours!

On the bus to Taishan there was a businessman from Taiwan, a businessman from Hong Kong, and a college student from Northeast China. The trip was pretty quiet at first but somehow I became the center of attention. The conversation itself is not worth mentioning but the businessman from Taiwan commented that my Mandarin Chinese is not up to par and the Hong Kong businessman said that my Cantonese is pretty good. The student defended me saying that for someone from Guangdong and has been oversea for six years to speak Mandarin Chinese as well as I am is very good. :)

The bus ride was long and boring so I took a little nap. Once the bus entered the Taicheng (Taishan's downtown area), I was awed by the city's night scene, unable to recognize a single building. After getting off the bus at the Taishan Bus Terminal, a (motorcycle-cab) motorist offered to take me to my grandparents' condo for RMB$15 (~$2.2) but I bargained it down the RMB$10 (~$1.5). About ten minutes later I was outside my grandparents' condo.

I knocked on the door and my grandmother was already awaiting me. The first reaction my grandma had must have been "Who is this guy standing outside?" because the first thing she said is how different I look in person now compare to the Haochi six years ago and the photos of me she has seen over the years. I walked inside as my grandfather was walking out of his room; I quickly walked up to him and gave him a BIG hug. My grandparents, of course, asked the whereabouts of my luggage and I told them my side of the story. My grandfather also said that my appearance changed so much that he wouldn't have recognized me had I walked pass him on the street. Once everything's settled, my grandfather called my aunt who lives a few minutes away to take me out to get something to eat since I haven't had a meal since the last meal I had on the airplane.

My aunt and I walked down to the street eatery and I ordered two servings of La-chiang-foon (literally means stretched intestine rice noodles but it does not contain any animal intestines; its name derives from its supposedly resemblance of stretched intestine after the water-powder mixture being stemmed to a noodle-y state and rolled together). After that we walked back to my grandparents' condo where I showed them videos I recorded for them and random photos I have taken. After that, being almost 1am, I retired to my room to get some much needed rest.

My first day in China started with going to Yum-cha (literally means drink tea, but it's more like going to breakfast, usually with a group of people) with my aunt and her daughter. On our way there I noticed that people do spit on the ground as well as spitting on the floor inside buildings. It's practiced by men and women, and old and young alike, which I find rather disturbing. Anyway, the breakfast itself was satisfying and cost us about RMB$60 (~$9). After that, we went to shop clothes for me since United Airline was holding my luggage hostage. We went to several dozen clothing stores but most of the clothes they sell aren't of my liking, being very fancy, unlike my minimalistic approach toward cloths. I had a hard time looking for a pair of jeans as well since the clothing stores pretty much only carry skinny jeans while I prefer looser ones. Ugh. I finally found two pairs of jeans and two t-shirts.

I wore one pair of the jeans the next day and later that day I found a hole in the jean pocket - fantastic.

During the first dinner with my grandparents we planned some of my activities for the week, basically having dinner with relatives. I was probably having jetlag in the first week that I usually get sleepy around 7 o'lock. This concludes my first day in Taishan, China.

On the second day I went to visit my elementary school. The school didn't change much besides a little renovation here and there. I guess I've finally out-grown my elementary days because when I saw the little kids screaming and running in the hallway I found them rather annoying. I guess they are just kids being kids. I also found two of my teachers back in the days in the teacher's lounge. The good thing is that they were both once my favorite teachers, but the bad thing is that we didn't get to talk much since they appear to be busy grading homework so I excused myself and continue wandering the school like an obnoxious tourist (a teacher kept eyeballing me).

I believe that on the third day the weather drastically changed from warm to cold, so I stayed at home for the whole day, watched T.V. and hung out with my grandparents. Most other days I spent most of my time wandering the city, mostly about Bu Xing Street (Pedestrian Street; phonetically it sounds like Incapable Street or About-to-Die Street). One of the days I walked up to the Hong-Dai Tower, a 30-something story tower on a mountain opened for tourist sight-seeing for a small fee of RMB$5 (~$0.80). On the top of the tower, one of the most noticeable things is the dozen large real estate projects being developed all over the city. There is a huge contrast between the overcrowded old parts of the city compare to the new condo-buildings and houses. All over the city there are many street artists, beggars, street vendors selling all kinds of delicacies and accessories.

The booming economy in China and the building of two power plants in Taishan attracted more foreigners here than ever. While still uncommon, but occasionally one can still see a foreigner here. I was walking down the Pedestrian Street yesterday when I saw two tourist looking foreigners and I approached them because I really had nothing else better to do than filming random things. In our conversation the two strangers revealed that they are engineers from France, currently working on the nuclear power plant in the city. I guess I should have asked them for contact information but on a second thought I don't want to appear as a weirdo. Plus, I like having one-time-serving friends as much as regular friends.

In the last two days I went to see my relatives and had lunch/dinner with them. They were all nice to me and I am glad to see them after so long. Yesterday a group of about 15 friends from my elementary class gathered together and had dinner. I had a great time and it was a pleasure seeing them. It would have been better if more could have made it but realizing that a lot of them are preparing for Gao Kao (the college entrance exam in May) I am glad to have 15 of them show up.

Something that upset me is the decline of Hoisan Wa (Taishanese language) in business setting in Taicheng. While it still dominates but I feel like it's losing grounds to Mandarin Chinese. Not that it's a bad thing but as someone who was born and raised in Taishan I feel that the decline of Taishanese in Taishan itself is somewhat a bad sign signifying the beginning of an end of the language. I feel like that the language will vanish within a few generations but then again, I am no linguist.

With ten more days left, I will value the rest of my time here and spend time with my grandparents. I will continue to explore the city and journal my travel here. I have many photos and videos that need to be edited but I will upload them once I get back to the States.

Early Happy Holidays!