http://www.hesspoint.com

Here the card from the hotel I stayed in during my last business trip. Hilarious mistake! I swear it is not photoshopped (except the smudging of the license plate number).

On May 12th Sichuan Province was rocked by an earthquake that strong that even here in Shanghai our office building started shaking. The quake, the worst in 30 years in China, brought unbelievable suffering to the people in the mountain region of Wenchuan and Beichuan. Just now as people are still trying to get people out of the destroyed houses another strong aftershock hit the region. However where is so much devastation and calamity there is also hope, compassion and sympathy. Everyday many people are still pulled from the rubble alive by the many soldiers and volunteers who do not rest if there is any hope left and put their own lives on the line for those in need. Everywhere across the country and abroad people are donating money and goods.

If you also would like to donate please find the contact information of the Chinese Red Cross below:

Hotline: +86-10-6513 9999
Address: 8 Beixinqiao Santiao, Beijing/ 北京市东城区北新桥三条8号

Account information:
Account holder：中国红十字会总会

for RMB-transfers
Bank：中国工商银行 北京分行东四南支行
Account number：0200001009014413252

for foreign currency transfers
Bank：中信银行酒仙桥支行
Account number：7112111482600000209

I think I speak for all the foreigners who live in China that our thoughts are with those people in Sichuan right now, the victims as well as the many helpers, that they will get trough these tough times and get all the help that is needed.

Update: Jia Dong, one of my readers, send me this link with information for donation: http://www.tongji.net/Donation_Call.jpg

Update: A colleague just send me this. Very heartbraking: I don’t know… but I do know

Since many many years I use LEO Dictionary to look up English - German translations. For a long time I have searched an online dictionary for Chinese but never quite found something as well as LEO.

Now LEO has released their own Chinese - German dictionary which is exactly what has been missing for all those years. Thanks LEO for being the coolest online dictionary on the web

Recently a friend pointed me to a service in Shanghai that is very helpful. When you are not at home and you need an address you can send a text message to a service number in Shanghai with the name of the place and it will send you the address in English and also in Chinese characters if your phone is so inclined.

One service is Shanghai Callcenter and the other one is Guanxi.

Both websites do not really work but you can look up the basics.

As many of you (at least if you also live in Shanghai) might have noticed, Shanghai has 3 new subway lines since End of last year. Now there is a great new website to plan your trip through the big city jungle: explore Shanghai metro.

It calculates the quickest route and gives you the estimated time and fare. Very convenient. And of course there is still the unbeaten dd-map if you can read and write basic Chinese.

When I wrote the last post, this was all still fun and harmless. However since the last few days it has seriously snowed, more then since the last 50 years. One night it snowed 20 cm. It might sound not much but in a city where it snows once in 50 years, a few centimeters of snow bring life to a screeching halt. Thousands of travelers for the Spring Festival are stuck at train- and bus stations as well as at airports. In Shanghai even buildings collapsed under the 10 cm of snow. I am not kidding. And apparently there is more to come according to Shanghai Daily. This photo I took from my office yesterday. For more photos check out this gallery by Spiegel Online.

On the lighter side there is a very amusing thread in the schanghai.com forum called "Schnee Geschichten" where Germans in Shanghai exchange their experiences during these days. If you speak German, have fun.

Yesterday people in Shanghai experienced a rare weather phenomenon - it was snowing! As the city is hit by almost all kinds of weather during the year as rain, thunderstorms, typhoons and sizzling heat, snow almost never falls. As a proof I took some pictures with my cellphone camera:

Since we recently bought an iPod, I have gotten obsessed with podcasts. For all of you not familiar with this term:

"A podcast is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers." (Source Wikipedia Podcast)

In plain English Podcasts are a series of audio or video files, like a regular radio or TV show. Sort of like a spoken blog. You do not need to download each file but you can subscribe to a podcast via iTunes and new shows will automatically be downloaded when available. If you own an iPod, the podcast are automatically synced so you can take them on the road with you.

I stated to dig around and I came across several podcasts for learning all sorts of languages. As I am learning Chinese I checked out some Chinese learning podcasts. Among the many, I found 3 that I think are especially worth listening in to:

• Chinese Pod: This one is my favorite. It has lessons for everyone from novice to advanced level. As you advance the English gets replaced by Chinese more and more. In the end there is only Chinese (advanced). There are 4 hosts, Americans and Chinese who mix interesting conversations with learning new words and sentences.
• Chinese Learn Online: A little more serious then Chinese Pod, but non the less effective. This one is more serious and purely focused on learning the language. It also goes from easy to difficult with an increasing amount of Chinese speaking
• SWR2 Chinesisch für Anfänger: This one is for German speakers and focuses manly on beginners who want to learn basic language skills along with some Chinese culture. It teaches in 70 short episodes enough Chinese to survive in China. What makes this one special for me is that the two of the hosts, Mr. Baus and Ms. Gu, have been my teachers at the Sinicum in Bochum, where I learned Chinese. Both very good teachers.

As most of the podcasts have fairly short episodes, they are a great  way to learn some Chinese where ever you are - waiting for the bus, standing in line at the supermarket, riding the metro…

At the end I would also like to mention MandarinTube, which is not a podcast but also offers spoken dialogs, videos and much more to learn Chinese the modern way. You cannot take it on the road but you can use sometime at home or during your lunch break to learn some Chinese.

In this sense 学习，学习，再学习 - learning, learning and again learning.

For a foreigner living in China, getting a good breakfast can be daunting. I like Chinese food but let’s face it, porridge, dofu or dumplings are not exactly my type of food in the morning. Though not a big bread-eater, I do enjoy some fresh rolls in the morning with my coffee. In Shanghai it is slim pickings but if you know where to look you can find some good quality for an ok price (not cheap but ok). Here are some places:

• Paul - The famous French bakery chain. There are three stores in Shanghai, one at Xintiandi, at Shanghai Center (Portman Ritz Carlton), at Dongping Lu and in Pudong at Thumb Plaza.
• Abendbrot - A German bakery which delivers to your doorstep (at least in certain areas). If you are a larger group with regular orders they also arrange deliveries outside the usual area. For example we get a delivery every Friday to our office.You can order online.
• Carrefour - The French retail giant also sells some decent quality bread. However you have to pick the right one. If you pick the Chinese style they will be very sweet and soft (as all the other rolls you normally get all across town)

Surprisingly the normally well stocked Cityshop does not have a good bread selection.

While just opening up my Google Maps Mobile on my Pocket PC, I instantly realized that something has changed with the satellite images of Shanghai. All of a sudden our compound was not just an open field anymore but I could see the building I live in. Opening up Google Earth on my laptop confirmed: Shanghai got some new shiny pimped up satellite images. It was about time since the old ones where over 4 years old. At that time the Shanghai World Financial Center (which was burning today by the way) was not even started and Lupu Bridge was only half way built across the river. The new images I would say are between 3-4 months old and cover complete downtown Shanghai and also Pudong. So go and have a look for yourself!