30 Mar

01:00

Philosophy over a cup of coffee

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It's early saturday morning, Lisa is still sleeping and I'm sitting here with a cup of instant coffe of a questionable character and looking out our window. We've been here in China for some time now and time has really flown by. Next week is Qingming holiday and Lisa and I are off to Xi'an for a little cultural experience. Before we're off to our holiday we have to finish 50% of our thesis. I don't know if we're putting to much pressure on ourselves? We do have another 6 weeks to go before we have to submit our draft. We have a lot of expectations on our thesis and we have a lot of expectations on ourselves. But then again, ambitions has never been a bad thing, right?
 
Morning dew over a city that's slowly waking up
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China, Life in China,

29 Mar

06:30

The Facebook Effect

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For our thesis we're reading this book (amongst others) and it is really interesting! The guy is our age and his achievements changed the media landscape as well as the condition for human communication. It's so interesting we don't know whether this is work or pleasure!

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28 Mar

09:58

Easter

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Easter is, for explainable reasons, not really a big thing over here. Therefore we decided to bring a little easter joy into the office today.
 
An entire basket full of...
 
 
Candy! 
 
Although we haven't seen any kids begging for candy, and we reeeeally doubt that the easter bunny is going to find us here, we're starting to get into the easter spirit. It doesn't hurt that it's been almost 20 degrees warm here today too! 
 
 
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IheartChina, Life in China, easter ,

27 Mar

08:38

Survey

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Our survey is now up and running! To help us with our research, be sure to fill it out here: http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s.asp?sid=qdizxhghr9imwo5224426
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26 Mar

07:30

Progress!

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It feels so great that all our other courses are finished and we can pay more attention to our research. The past week has been quite hectic with many things to check off. And we are very happy to have checked off the background research for our research! Boring part done, now only the fun parts left!

Stay tuned for more details.

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25 Mar

13:34

Instagram

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Today we have launched Yabroad's Instagram account. 
 
 
 
12 likes in one hour. Not too bad, huh?
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China, IheartChina, Life in China, SMM, SNS, marketing strategies, social media, social media marketing, social media marketing strategies,

22 Mar

10:03

The Lotte Mart

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For our everyday needs we shop at the market right next to where we live or at some or the restaurants or stores on the streets outside. But when we need to buy essentialities like a bedside lamp or wine we go to the Lotte Mart. Lotte mart has basically everything you need, from computers, to clothes, to food. Also, they have really good cookies. 
 
So what do they have in stock? Fashionable shoes, of course.
 
 
The fresh fish section holds all from large piles of squid to fish heads. 

If you fancy something a little fresher you can pick your dinner from one of the fish tanks.
 
Frog tank
 
They also have a HUGE selection of tofu-snacks, as well as loads of candy, a five meter wide and 2 meter high shelf of soy sauce and fresh fruit and vegetables in heaps. 
 
Choosing can be tricky when you don't understand the labels. Coffee or coffee. Hmm...
 
Tonight we're gonna enjoy the heaps of cookies that somehow always seem to find their way into our cart. Tomorrow brings a well-earned lazy morning and some more work on our thesis. 
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21 Mar

11:11

Do's and Don'ts

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As we mentioned in a previous post, tipping in China is considered offensive. When it comes to do's and don’ts it differs between Chinese culture and Western. So, let’s get down to what everyone is wondering. Table manners. Today we’re going to talk about the use of chopsticks.

Don’ts:

  • twiddle your chopsticks
  • lick your chopsticks
  • stir food with your chopsticks
  • gesture or point with them
  • stick them in the center of the rice
 
Stay tuned for more Chinese ettiquettes!
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20 Mar

07:00

A day at the office

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Just a regular day at the office.
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19 Mar

07:30

Chinese cuisine

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For many people, one of the main questions when going to China is probably "what will the food be like?". 
 
To answer that question, here are some highlights we have found when browsing food stores and restaurant menus:  
 
 
 
Pork floss. Perfect for that morning freshness feeling!
 
 
Cucumber-flavoured chewing gum. If the pork floss failed to deliver.
 
 
Start off your dinner with some principal snow on the brain. Whatever that is...
 
 
Anyone up for some grilled ligaments?
 
 
 
 Need tongue? Sure I do!
 
So... Who's up for dinner?
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18 Mar

06:30

New week new challenges

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There’s a saying in Swedish that goes ”new week new challenges”. We’ve been working on a social media strategy, this week it’s time to review it before putting our plans into action!

Have a great week everyone!

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17 Mar

12:00

Hot pot

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Hot pot is the most beloved part of Chinese food culture. Friends, families, etc share a fondu-like meal consisting of nudels, meat, vegetables, etc over long conversations and laughters. 
 
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15 Mar

08:03

In Nantong...

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... you can join old ladies dancing in formation on the street at night

... you offend people if you tip them

... it's colder inside than outside

 

 

... you can by your clothes at A&M and carry it home in a Dior bag

 

... t-shirts carry deep, but totally confusing, messages

... you have to bring your own toilet paper if you want to tinkle

... life is simple and food is cheap

 

 

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13 Mar

09:18

SPSS Wednesday

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Today we're conducting a pilot study for our thesis. That means a day full of SPSS, coding, cross tabulation and lots of coffee.
 
 
 
 
We are researching how a company works with social media marketing strategies on Facebook from factors such as post frequency, follower interaction and content. In summary, we want to see which factors affect the level of follower interaction on a Facebook like-page.
 
 
 
 
It's really interesting to see how different strategies lead to different results, and we hope to be able to see a relationship between these factors, even though this particular study is quite small. 
 
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11 Mar

17:34

A Shanghai Night

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We took this weekend to do a little exploring in our new city. Shanghai can be described in one word, crowded! And of course very very beautiful. We got to enjoy the city skyline from a fantastic lounge called Jade on 36, which is on the top floor of hotel Shangri-La. Grooving Tiffany was singing and we ran into other Swedes with the most interesting stories.
 
I can really recommend Jade on 36 for anyone who visits Shanghai. I think I might like it even more than my all time favorite place 230 5th ;-)
 
Crowd at Nanjing Road
 
 
Lisa and the Skyline 
 
A dream for a jazz-lover like me
 
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08 Mar

07:30

Women's day!

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We've had a quite productive week, as before mentioned we've focusing on getting into our daily routines and besides that we've been able to structure up our thesis and develope our thoughts. The most interesting we did this week was a SWOT analysis, which resulted in a 5 page report as well as a Prezi presentation (yes, we're one of those...).
 
Today's Women's Day in China and we're being treated with half the day of as well as a gift card at the local supermarket. Thank you Yabroad!
 
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06 Mar

15:39

Update!

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It's about time to tell you what we have done here in China so far.

We got here, after almost a 30 hour trip because of delays in Moscow. Since we were delayed we missed the bus that would take us straight to Nantong, and because we had three HUGE bags plus our cabin bags we had to take a taxi. The trip from the airport to Nantong is normally about 1,5 hours with a car, however it took us a bit longer...

Our first taste of chinese air

The guy who picked us up didn't speak a word of english, and had a car about the size of a peanut, with Tom and Jerry painted on the side. Getting our bags in the car was like a giant game of tetris. During the ride he jabbered on in chinese (we answered in swedish which made him look really happy), drank cupious amounts of tea and stopped at every intersection to look at the signs. Despite that last precaution ha added about ten km to our trip with every turn. We thought we would never reach our destination. Thankfully, after about two and a half hours we got to our place and even got help carrying our bags up the six flights of stairs. We see the driver at the gates to our neighbourhood sometimes and he always looks really happy to see us. Now that we know we made it here alive, we're really glad to see him too! 

For the last days we've just been learning how things work at Yabroad and started working on structuring our thesis. We've been to dinner and to the gym with the people we work with, and so far everyone's been really nice! 

Lunch in the park outside the office
 
 
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05 Mar

14:42

How to get a taxi in China

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Find a car that looks kind of like a taxi.

Wait for the driver beside the car for a couple of minutes. In the meantime you can look at funny fruits at the market or practice avoiding being run over by a tuktuk or two.

When the driver arrives, show your notes of chinese characters that says where you want to go. Smile and nod.

When the driver looks confused and points to the distance, smile and nod more and point to the car.

Get in the car. Smile, smile, smile.

Gradually realize that the car is quite fancy and in fact doesn't look anything like a chinese taxi. At all.

Doubt yourself and everything you know. Keep smiling though. Can't back out now!

Get out of the car at your destination. Realize you've just tricked a nice chinese man into driving you to where you wanted to go in his own car.

Wait for hilarity to ensue.
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05 Mar

14:37

Every journey...

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... starts with a stamp or two.
 
 
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China, Chinese Culture, IheartChina, Life in China, Shanghai,