Alumni
Diaries
A Trip to
Lanzhou
by Marie Wong
After I had left my
job in Singapore and moved body, mind and soul to Beijing, China, in a
bid to start a new life as an English teacher, I was invited to teach
SATs in Lanzhou, a little city in the western region of China. It was
the only city where the famed Yellow River ran through the entire city.
While most of the other Chinese cities were large and sprawling, Lanzhou
was the only one which was long and narrow.
The Lanzhou temperature featured soft mellow summers with delightful breezes, during
the early morning & late evening. Towards the evening, you could see the
willow trees along the side of the Yellow River dusted with a shade of
green, enhancing their natural color. People would sit to enjoy the
sound of the Yellow River gushing by, drinking beer, playing cards or
enjoying a performance.
 I was fortunate enough to be in town where the peaches were ripe and juicy. It was an
amazing experience to go to the countryside, where the Peach Orchards
were. There, lying ahead were rows and rows of peaches, the famed juicy
honeyed peaches of Lanzhou which are exported to every corner of the
world. Each little tree, no taller than I am, a mere 1.65m, was filled
with little pink peaches, peeking out of the branches.
By paying a minimal
sum, I was able to pick as many peaches as I wanted. The only condition
was that I had to bring home whatever I picked. That was too easy. The
most difficult thing was to stop picking each little pink ripe orb that
stuck out tantalizingly out of every corner I turned. I ended up picking
too many and carted back a truckload of them.
Somewhere between the peach picking and teaching SATs, I was able to visit the grasslands,
Sang Ke. It is located to the west of Lanzhou, at the top of the
mountains. It was an isolated piece of heaven, where the skies were
azure blue and the mountains seemed filled to the brim with jade green
grass. I rode horses for a full morning to the top of the lowest
mountain. At the peak, I beheld a sight that I never could forget. The
sky was close enough to touch peppered with wispy clouds, cotton candy
soft and when you close your eyes, you could hear nothing manmade. All
you could hear was the wind, the birds and the horses breathing. It was
a haven that we city slickers try so hard to achieve with our expensive
spas & yogic music.
At the end of the
trip, I was sufficiently rejuvenated for another round of Beijing City
Life. I returned albeit reluctantly to Beijing, extracting promises from
my kind hosts to not turn me away when I next returned. I envisioned
that "next" was an understatement. I reckon that “soon” would be a more
appropriate word to use.
Marie is a pioneer
student of SMU. Having graduated in 2004 in Business Management and
working for The Ascott Group for almost 3 years, she has decided to take
her chances in China. Leaving her job, she decided to pursue an MBA in
Peking University and to teach English in China. At every available
opportunity, she travels around one of the world's largest countries.
A Glimpse
of Life in Boston
By Shashank Nigam
Teammates from
Harvard, MIT and Stanford. Flexible-working hours. A job with loads of
responsibilities rare for a fresh grad. A skyline view to die for?
Sounds like a dream job? It sure is a dream job.
I’ve been working
with the Strategic Development division of Endeca Technologies in
Boston, US, for two months now. Endeca is a software company that
designs its own information access platform for large enterprises. Think
Google, but for large companies’ internal data. The platform is
designed to help people find, analyze and understand information in ways
not possible before with search engine, database and business
intelligence solutions.
I had some glimpses
of this great opportunity when I was being interviewed. During the nine
rounds of interviews I had last year with Endeca, while I was on
exchange at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, they interviewed
me in very refreshing ways: personalized cases, technical deep-dives,
pure strategy work and more. I learnt a lot about the company just by
observing the way they asked their questions. All interviews were
1-on-1. Not only was the technology that they’ve developed years ahead
of the competition (like Google!), they have very talented people at the
helm too. The latter was the tipping point for me to take up the offer.
How long would it take for me in Singapore to be working with a team
comprising of Harvard, MIT and other Ivy League grads?
Work is great, but
it is really the buzz in Boston that keeps me going. The epitome of
cultural buzz is Harvard square. Here’s what a typical evening scene
looks like: you see a young girl, less than six, publicly singing the
most popular Beatles classics in her own style, as her mother
accompanied her on drums and her dad on his guitar. The small which
crowd gathered around was mesmerized by the young talent’s voice and
confidence. Don’t get me wrong, neither is this child labour, nor is
this for money. It’s just the parents’ unique way of instilling
confidence in their child. Novel indeed.
Just around the
street, you see teenage guys enticing a crowd of almost a hundred, with
their nifty breakdancing skills. After an engrossing show of swift
moves, and many headspins and bodytwists later, they invited the crowd
to contribute as they wished with the donated funds going towards their
university education.
Just then, you hear
the sound of beautiful Chinese violin. As you walk towards the sweet
music, you realize that it is the same old Chinese man playing
the violin as the day before. He does it everyday for at least four hours, at the exact same
spot.
It is one of the most culturally exuberant places I have ever been to.
What I described above takes place every evening, not for money
primarily, but for the “fun of it”. There is also an area near the train
station exit called “The Pit”. Its arena-like appearance attracts
skateboarders and, more generally, teens from surrounding neighbourhoods
who are associated with countercultural movements. Right behind “The
Pit”, an outdoor cafe features always-busy tables for chess players,
including an old stalwart, with his everpresent "Play the Chessmaster"
sign. All this with a backdrop of world-renowned shopping, dining and
historical attractions makes a compelling proposition, for the locals as
well as the tourists.
And all of this, is just a glimpse of life in Boston.
Right now, I’m
totally loving the work and the lifestyle here. Let’s see what happens
when it starts snowing!
Shashank Nigam is a
2007 graduate of the School of Information Systems. He is currently a
Strategy Analyst with a Boston based IT firm and runs a local media and
publishing company in Singapore. He’s also a columnist for other local
publications.
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