Tuesday, October 12, 2010

EXPO coming to an end

Absolut Bar at the Swedish Pavilion rooftop

It's now less than a month left of the EXPO, and guess who's heading out there today for a day of meetings. Yeah, that's right: Meeeee! Well, actually, I will be spending a lot of time there during this week, so today's not really any exceptional event.

I haven't blogged about the EXPO as much as I thought I would, mainly because I have not enjoyed it so much as a leisure sort of place. To me, the EXPO just means work and I normally don't blog about my job. Also, I don't really like huge crowds and long lines... but still. Some of the EXPO events I've been to have been a lot of fun!

I was thinking that I would give this opportunity to all of you who haven't had a chance to go to the EXPO, if there is something you'd like to know/find out before it closes? Some pavilion that you've heard of that's said to be "crazy" or something like that? Fire away, hit me with your questions, EXPO stories or EXPO advices... In less then a month, it will be all gone!

9 comments:

조안나 said...

Please post any photos of the pavilions you have! They all look so interesting!

I was sad to hear about all the lines everywhere, two people I heard went there had terrible experiences in the expo because they couldn't get into any of the pavilions they wanted to see. You're so lucky to have been part of making the Expo. I'm sure you've gotten to see things the average person would never get to experience! it will be a great story to tell in the future!

Jane said...

oh,,,,i would like to go,but seems no holiday this month now,,The weekend is too short for traveling in shanghai.

And people say you have to wait in line for many hours to visit one pavillion,that is horriable^^

GeorgiaNeko said...

Hello Jonna!

I am an 18 year old girl from London, my current boyfriend is 21 and Chinese...we both feel that we want to be together forever, and, as someone who's always loved asian culture, I'm happy to live there. I spent 3 months in China with my boyfriend and his family/friends this summer...I also visited expo but it was too hot and my friends got restless queing so we unfortunately didn't go inside many pavillions...I too speak Mandarin Chinese and also Japanese....Asian language study is a hobby of mine...my blog contains entries of my adventures in China and so on here:http://www.georgianeko.blogspot.com/ ...theres a huge question I've wanted to ask you for a long time, and that's, if you do, how do you blog on blogspot when within China?! my beloved blog is also hosted on blogspot, but I have yet to find a way to access and blog on it when there..;-; how do you do it?!?
about expo, for the amount of money spent on it and quality of the buildings, I can't see how they could demolish it so soon! they may as well leave it there! X3

If all goes as planned, I will be moving to China with my current partner permanently...so knowing there are other western girls such as yourself experiancing life in China gives me some more confidence with the whole thing!

hoping you'll get back to me sometime! - Georgia Thompson
long comment, i know!

Unknown said...

Thanks for offering to answer questions re the Expo.

Yes, please post more photos.

Please describe your work day at the Expo.

Are they really going to demolish the buildings? Are they going to let one or two remain? Any of the areas going to be turned into a park?

I heard that Hong Kong also has a pavilion there, but I have not seen too many pictures of it. Could you post some pictures of it? What is inside it?

Please post photos of what's inside the USA pavilion.

Are foods from all the different country served at the pavilions?

Photos of unusual foods?

Good music?

Is each pavilion staffed by people from that country? What language(s) do the staff speak? Their native language? Mandarin? English?

I have read that the staff at the French pavilion is rude. Could you give some examples? Do they insist on speaking French to everybody and not English or any other language?

Which country is the most polite? helpful? Beautiful? Fun? Unusual? Artistic? Creative?

That's all for now.

Thanks

Jonna Wibelius said...

조안나 -I actually haven't been inside so many pavilions as I got bored.. it's all like a huge advertisement for a country. But I'll post what I have eventually.

Jane -yup. Lining up sux!

Georgia -glad to hear u too have a big interest for Asia! And well done learning both Japanese and Chinese... THat's a lot of hard work!

I use a VPN server in China. That way I can continue to blog!

Chan -OMG... too many questions! I don't work at the expo every day. I am only there from time to time when there are events in the Swe pavilion.

But to answer some of your questions:

They are not going to demolish it all. The different pavilions are being sold to different Chi cities.

Not sure about any HK pavilion.

The US pavilion only has video clips of different famous Americans giving their greetings. Quite boring I've heard -but I haven't been myself so don't know.

Yeah many different pavilions have restaurant but they are all so expensive it's ridiculous.

I cannot speak for all pavilions but at the Swe pavilion, for instance, there are both Chi and Swe staff working as guides. The guides are often trilingual and super smart... a bunch of impressive people! Many Chi locals that work there can speak Swe. So cool. All Swe guides working there can speak Chinese.

I have been to the French pavilion once and then they weren't rude to me, but to my Chi workmate, pushing her out the door for no reason. So yes, I would say that the French staff are very rude!!

Although the French are rude people working at the other pavilions are quite nice, at least most people. Nordic pavilion staff are lovely, Australian as well, British.. no complaints! So I think that goes for most pavilion staff.

Allan Carvalho said...

Hi Jonna,

I've been reading your blog for a while... congratulations by the way.

Do you know the brazilian pavilion? If so, can you describe it?

Thanx

Unknown said...

your blog makes me want to visit Shanghai again! My first time was not long enough. There is so much to see in China. After my trip, I founded Pencils Up where we match English teachers from USA to teach in Shanghai. Perhaps our paths will meet soon! Keep up with the writing. Oh and I feel your anger with the grandma on the airplane floor post!

Unknown said...

Jonna, Thank you! You're the best!

Jonna Wibelius said...

Allan -I haven't been in the Brazil pavilion, but a friend of mine has been working closely with the Brazilian Expo team. He has very shared opinions about the management behind the pavilion (some corruption?) but said that it is now running quite smoothly.

Pencils -that's a great initiative that you have taken. And yeah, maybe see you in China sometime!

Chan - :)