introduction – Passion Blog

For this semester I wish to change my passion blog idea to something more relatable to me. My passion blog idea for last semester was to write something like a travel blog, the only problem was that some of the places that I was writing about, I have never been. More than anything else it was frustrating and difficult to write about.

However I am still debating the matter of what my passion blog should be about. One idea that I am particularly keen to is to write about how a college GUY should take care of himself. This idea would pretty much pertain to what he wears to how he takes care of himself in public setting. The only issue is, I am definitely not the best person in the world to discuss about what a man should act like because for one thing, everyone is different and I don’t want to end up being GQ magazine.

The other idea that I had was to write a food blog about specific meals or restaurants around campus. This would be simple to write about and sounds extremely delicious. The only fallacy being that it also sounds costly.

It would be great if I could get feed back about which passion blog idea the readers are more keen to.

Introduction – Civic Issue

My civic issue for this semester will be on the topic of higher education. The topic of education in of itself is extremely broad and often times the diversity of “education” creates unspecific conversations about the topic. I am choosing to only focus on one specific level of education, and most certainly one that pertains to me on a more personal level.

In our society today, the idea of higher education has not only gotten more popular compared to a few decades ago, but it has become so vital that I find it hard to imagine a person being successful without higher education. The increasing competitiveness of the world on a global scale requires those who wish to excel in his or her career to have a bachelors degree, or a masters degree, or PhD and so on and so forth. However, the civic issue of higher education is often times overlooked and casually approached in our global society. To be able to bring to light such an important issue will be my goal for my civic issues blog for this semester.

In which Josh shows you his adopted American hometown of Balitmore

baltimore_at_nightOne of the things that I have realized since moving to Pennsylvania is that state pride is as abundant in states outside of Maryland.
Maryland Pride, ney Baltimore Pride is something that can always be found once you pass the border to Maryland.
I love my adopted hometown, really and truly. We have a crazy sense of community and statesmanship that I can’t seem to find outside of Maryland. (Though I really haven’t been around to that many states yet.)

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Regardless, it brings me great pleasure to introduce you all to what I believe is the greatest state in ‘Merica, the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore.

Baltimore is the biggest city in the state of Maryland. Often called the city of neighborhoods, “Charm-city” is well known for it’s incredible sense of community. Although I don’t technically live inside of the city (I live in Baltimore County, about 20 minutes from Baltimore City) I work for Johns Hopkins Hospital in the city and I need to go to the city quite often. Home to 2.7 million people, Baltimore is the 20th most populace city in America. Though it use to be a largely industrial city, de-industrialization has lead Baltimore to become more reliance on the service industry and tourism.

Truthfully, the city is not the most flashy or attractive on sight. Major portions of Baltimore lives in poverty and much of the infrastructure in the less developed parts of the city still lies in ruinous conditions. But in the past decade a movement to rebuild and improve Baltimore has done an incredible job lifting Baltimore back on its feet. baltimore, contact, inner harbourIn the more touristy parts of Baltimore, like the inner harbor, people can enjoy first rate shopping, dinning and entertainment. Home to the Baltimore Science Center, the National Aquarium at Baltimore and many other sight seeing musts, the Inner Harbor is a great place to visit for both children and adults.baltimore-waterfront-blog1

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If you’re more in to sports, the city is home to both the Orioles (MLB Baseball) and the Ravens (Football) and from a first person perspective both stadiums are gorgeous. One of my favorite past times is taking the light rail and going to a baseball game with a few high school friends. The surrounding areas of  both stadiums are also great locations to take in the city since their both tourist destinations. Great restaurants like Aldo’s and Charleston aren’t very far from the stadium or Inner Harbor if you want to sit down to a fancy meal, just make sure you reserve a seat in advance.FogoDeChao-Direcotry One of my favorite restaurants is also located squarely in down town Baltimore, Fogo de Chao. Though it is part of a chain restaurant, Fogo’s is probably some of the best buffets I’ve ever been to. If you can afford the 50$ price tag I definitely recommend Fogo and their insane cheese balls.

ACF17362On the topic of food, I can’t fail to mention the infamous Baltimore seafood, more specifically our love for the blue crab. Crab cakes, boiled crabs or steam crabs, it really doesn’t get much better than seafood in Baltimore. The Corner Stable, a Maryland chain restaurant with locations all over the state is my personal favorite for crab cakes.

If you ever get a chance to drive through Maryland, I highly recommend stopping by Baltimore City and indulge in all to great food and entertainment the city has to offer. Although Baltimore isn’t perfect, we have a great sense of community and citizen ship to the city that more than makes up for faults.
I am very proud to call Maryland my home town (adopted).

In which Josh examines Dubai, and becomes intimidated

Lets just start with the difference Dubai has witnessed in the past

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The top picture is Dubai in 1990 and the bottom picture is Dubai in 2007. In 17 years, Dubai has become a major geographic landmark on the Persian Gulf. One of the wealthiest cities in the world, Dubai is quickly becoming a key city in global economics. Filled with some of the most amazing infrastructures in the world, including  Burj Khalifa the tallest building on earth, it’s important to realize just how far and how fast Dubai has come.

1500px-Dubai_banner_2Though many would say that Dubai was built on the wealth of the Emirates and their oil, I would venture that Dubai was built more on dreams. In particular, the dream of one man, Sheikh Muhammad. 394397164Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, and constitutional monarch of Dubai, Sheikh Muhammad now over seas the rise of Dubai. Started as a infrastructure boom beginning in the 1990’s, Dubai practically rose overnight from the sand in to a 1,600 square mile of buildings, sky scrapers, golf courses, ski  and infrastructure. Even man made islands and indoor ski slopes aren’t counted out of the loop, it’s no wonder the main economy of Dubai is based on its tourism sector. With real estate, trade, and financial services as its most valuable assets, Dubai’s economy is growing strong, especially after a huge financial decline in 2007. But this is a travel guide, so lets visit one of the most EXPENSIVE countries in the world.

Imagine a place where water is actually worth more than oil, now imagine that same place using an ungodly amount of water to power unnecessary luxuries, welcome to Dubai. From living unimaginable luxury to experiencing low class culture, Dubai’s extreme range of inhabitants allows visitors to witness and experience cultures out of the normality. But what this city is known for is luxury. 240px-Burj_Al_Arab,_Dubai,_by_Joi_Ito_Dec2007 Starting with Burj Al Arab, widely known as one of the best hotel in the world. I’m fairly sure you have seen this hotel before, a famed piece of infrastructure the Burj Al Arab looks remarkably like a sail. But the “World’s only seven star hotel” comes with  a price tag suited for that nomination, with rooms starting at $1,000 dollars per night to $28,000 dollars per night.

Do you get a sense of where we’re going with this ridiculous city? The luxury doesn’t end there however. There’s also Ski Dubai – a SKI SLOPE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING DESERT. 300px-Ski_Dubai_Slope

Remember what I said about water being expensive here? Think about how much ice would cost. The thought of the carbon foot print that ski slope leaves could give any environment freak an aneurism. 240px-Burj_Khalifa And we could hardly forget the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the entire world. I mean, these people just don’t know when to stop. At a height of 2,717 ft the Burj Khalifa took five years to build and is the shinning jewel of Dubai.

Mall of Dubai

As for shopping, Dubai is home to the largest mall in the world, the “Dubai Mall.”

If you are the son of an oil family from a nearby emirates, own a fortune five hundred company, or have the midas touch than Dubai is the perfect place for you.

I wanted to talk more about the food scene in Dubai, but unfortunately I couldn’t find many information other than the fact that the wealth of the city allows for cuisine from all over the world. Fancy cuisine too, with a Gordan Ramsey restaurant and five star world famous establishments. The simple act of googling Dubai food made my wallet lighter.9_17_Dubai_Dining_565x215_tcm233-805008

Gordon Ramsy’s restaurant in Dubai

 

It’s important to note that there is also an entire subculture of Dubai not built upon the wealth of it’s more fortunate inhabitants. With much of the population built upon the backs of Indian laborers and extremely poor workers from the middle east, a subculture of Dubai exists outside of the boulevards and paved streets. This is what I meant when I said that you can experience both sides of the extreme here. Like wise to their wealthier counter-part, the less rich and decadent side of Dubai is also an important part of the city’s identity. With their own cultures, traditions and food, these people contribute to the rich character of such an amazing city.

The next time you’re in the middle east and have a couple million dollars burning through your pockets, than perhaps think about visiting Dubai. Oh..and also don’t forget to take me with you

 

In which Josh eats raw fish, welcome to Tokyo, Japan

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I was born in China, but I’ve also lived in Japan for a number of years. This was due to the fact that my parents got their PhD degree’s in Sanco, Japan.
And so at the tender age of three, young Jiaxi Wei was plucked from the familiar grasp of MOTHER CHINA and was suddenly dropped in to the foreign and strange lap of Japan.

But to be fair, I loved Japan. Like, A lot. Of all the countries that I’ve ever been to (which really isn’t that many), Japan is definitely the most beautiful. Regardless if you’re in the city or country side, in my experience no country is as clean and as good looking as Japan. People are genuinely nice here, like Canadian nice. It’s less of a factor that everyone is always happy go lucky and more because the Japanese culture puts incredible emphasis on being polite. If you ever ride the subway system in Tokyo, when a pregnant woman walks in to a Tokyo subway, there would suddenly be at least 10 empty seats on the car.
When I was 7, I had the opportunity to live in Tokyo with my pops. My experience in Tokyo was short-lived but wonderful, stuck in a cramped one bedroom studio with three people. But in all regards, Tokyo truly is an amazing city.

The capital of Japan, Tokyo is home to about 13 million people. The design of the city is quite unique, with 23 different “Wards” of the city. Each ward, acts almost like a city-state, partially self governing. I lived in the outskirts of Tokyo, what you Penn-staters might relate as someone saying they live “out-side of Philly.”
The city itself is well situated near the coast and is the economic center of most of Japan. Most of the city is home to merchant class, and walking through the city center you can see why Tokyo is known as the +Alpha World City. But there’s more to Tokyo than finance and money, to me Tokyo is an incredibly fun city.

For 7 year old Josh, Tokyo was a magical place that Dad might take you every other weekend to buy expensive gifts and eat crazy cheap street food. There is always something to do, whether it would be touring the city center to go to a karaoke bar with the family, it’s a hard case to be bored in Tokyo. 

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Shibuya Crossing

Starting with Shibuya, widely considered the Times Square of Tokyo directly in the financial district of downtown Tokyo. If your game plan includes shopping, Shibuya is the perfect place to start your Tokyo tour. Though it has to be said that Tokyo is one of the most expensive cites to live in, listed as the most expensive city in the world for expatriate employees.
As for me, I’m more interested in the local cuisine. You can obviously find first class dining in Tokyo from tastes all over the world. You can also find the best Japanese style seafood, caught and delivered at the world famous Tsukiji fish market. But for me, a city’s street food is what defines their culinary identity, and Tokyo does street food well. My favorite dish in the entire world is a simple Japanese street vendor food, Takoyaki. Small octopus filled pastry ball covered in fish flakes, Japanese mayonnaise and the works. Comparable only to Osaka, Tokyo food scene is vibrant and delicious. 

3Takoyaki Balls

After a long day of shopping and eating your heart out, the last thing you should know about Tokyo is that, it’s a very strange city. Weird and quirky, often even a little bit too weird, Tokyo is almost incomparable to American cities. 4From “Maid-Cafes” where young college age Japanese girls tend to a cafe style restaurant dressed completely in a french-maid costume (it’s so popular in Japan that you can almost thing of maid-cafes as the Starbucks in Japan), to Capsule Hotels where you can literally rent a hole in the wall, Tokyo is truly weird and wonderful.

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(Left – Maid cafe employee.
Right- Capsule Hotels)

A beautiful country, Japan does not disappoint its tourist. Clean, friendly and interesting, Tokyo is a perfect city to visit, just make sure you give yourself a budget when you do visit.

Next time we take a tour of my city, BaltimoreMaryland.

In which Josh goes back to his roots, Dalian, China

July 1st, 1995. A 7 pound baby boy was borned in the coastal city of Liaoning Province, China. It was here in this major sea port of northern China that one Jiaxi Wei made his debut in to this world.
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Dalian is my home city, and one that I am extremely proud of. Today, the city of Dalian is the financial, shipping and logistics center for Northeast Asia, not a bad role to play for a city, if I say so myself. And it’s no wonder why, located on the southernmost tip of the Liaodong Peninsula,  Dalian was the perfect seaport for trade between South Korea, Japan and South Asia. Economically stable and geographically sound, Dalian is  a cultural hotspot for locals and tourists alike. Speaking of tourism, this lovely seaport city is one of the three cities named “China’s best tourist city”, along with Hanzhou and Chengdu, recognizedby the National Tourism Association and the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

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Easily one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever lived in, from the bustling urban setting of downtown Dalian to one of it’s many gorgeous beaches, it is exceedingly difficult to be bored in this magnificent city.
Starting downtown, “Friendship Square” is a good starting point to examine the urban points of Dalian. Ever since I was a kid, downtown Dalian had always been bustling and alive. Neon signs lined the streets, and in places where traffic didn’t jam up, people would walk the streets window shopping or meeting up with friends. images (1)

It’s important to point out that the nightlife scenery in Asian is extremely different than in America. Walking down a busy road, it didn’t matter if you were a five star hotel or if you were just a local family mart, literally ever store in existence had its own flashing neon sign. It’s more than common to need sunglasses in the middle of the night if you were anywhere near the financial district in Dalian.Apart from city life, if you were looking more towards a relaxing getaway, Dalian has many of the highest rated beaches in China. Partially due to the fact the the district government puts more of an emphasis on tourism over many other things (for example education, which I’ve heard my parents complain about so many times in the past), Dalian’s tourism department go to extreme lengths to develop the beachfronts of Dalian. Some of the most famous beaches are Some of the most famous beaches are Tiger beach, Xinghai beach, Jinshitan beach and Fujiazhuang beach. 

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If you were to ask me one thing that I really miss about living in Dalian, the quickest and most honest answer I would have is, FOOD. Amazing culinaryimages (2) delights from across Asia, some of the most delicious (though acquired) street food you’ll ever see, and quite simply the best seafood in the world, there are obvious pro’s to being a wealth and diverse coastal city. With influences from Russia, Korea, Japan and the rest of China our food is incomparable. Regardless if you’re looking to sit down at a world famous restaurant or if you just simply wanted to spend a couple yuan’s at a less than sketchy street-side food vendor, we have everything to offer.

The next time you find yourself traveling through Asia, I implore you to visit one of the most beautiful and delicious cities you could ever find in China.

RCL : TED talk brainstorm

Begin the presentation with something humorous.
It’s a smart phone, easily relatable and almost everyone in America has one.

There is a chronological order to the presentation. You can start off as the invention of smartphones, back to 1992. This part of the presentation will get real old real fast so move fast, steady and get out of this zone. It’s going to be sort of statistical, find a way to get the information on the screen, give it a few seconds and move on.

Remember your time frame, at least three minutes no more than five.
Remember the last time you did this, five minutes turned out to be so much faster than you had originally thought.
give the beginning and the initial statistical part of the presentation no more than a minute.
Breaking it down, you have about four minutes to talk about how the smartphone has changed our lives, the Pros and Cons and where the future is headed.

Use your research wisely, since this is just such an insanely broad topic it’s going to be hard to find the necessary information that you NEED to keep.
Be brutal about this, unnecessary, even if it is interesting = trash.

How has the smartphones  changed our life.
“Imagine, waking up to an actual alarm clock. Not having the ability to instantaneously text someone about what they want to eat for lunch. Imagine – the bathroom break with out angry birds, the sheer horror of it all.”

 

concerns – too long

too broad, even in my research, boil it down to something
brainstorm that later today

-visuals should be a synch, I’m not going to worry too much about that.

end the talk with a call to action, go for 1 day without your phones. Shut down everything for a Saturday and just see how much work you’ll get done.

In which we visit Sydney, welcome to down under

What do you think of when you hear Sydney? Personally, it’s usually, “P Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney,” that and fantastic sea food. sydney

Either way, we’re taking a look at the city down under this time, and surprisingly the history and culture of Sydney was much more interesting than I had originally thought.

State capitol of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia,  Sydney is home to more than 4,500,000 cosmopolitan and international residents. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural hub of Australia.

Originally inhabited by aboriginals, Sydney did not have any contact with the western world until the 1770’s. Later colonized by the British to gain control over the Southern tip of Asia, Sydney became the first British colony in Australia conquered by Captain Phillip in 1788.

The city of Sydney is entirely surrounded by National Parks and beautiful seasides, including my personal favorite beach in Australia, the Bondi Coast.australia-bondi-beach
Sydney is a cultural hub of activities within the city itself. From the famous “failed” opera house (the design wasn’t how the architect had wanted) to a world famous harbor side, there seems to be an amazing variety of things to do in the city. In fact, it is ranked the 2nd best city in the world in the 2013 AnholtGfK City Brands Index, consistently being a high-ranking city in terms of quality of life.
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When it comes to food, Sydney has high regards for it’s brilliant seafood and “Barbie.” From the interesting local cuisine of it’s indigenous origins to the melting pot of  tasty eats from it’s diverse cultural make up, the food in Sydney looks and sounds incredible. Where else in the world can you find “Bush-Food” and roasted kangaroos to  fresh pacifica seafood and…Marmite…
I’ll include an annotation to a short video of a famous australian chef Guy Turland as he shares the city of Australia and prepares a Sydney-esque seafood platter.
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Click the picture to go to the video.

All in all, very interesting, and beautiful city. It’s no wonder people regard the Sydney as the crown jewel of Aussie Aussie Aussie. (oy oy oy)

Next time, we go north.

In which we travel to…Almalfi Coast! welcome to Italia!!

One of the most popular destinations for tourists in Italy, Almalfi Coast offers exactly what you would look for in a getaway to Europe. Lush landscapes, perfect Mediterranean ocean view, and best of all the best sea food Italy has to offer.

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Since I’ve never gone here, I wouldn’t considered this a “travel guide,” more like research fascination.

Almalfi COAST, is off of the COAST of Italy, kind of a duh moment. Almalfi is the name of the sea nymph that fell in love with Hercules, visitors often go to the coast to pay homage to the beauty of the nymph. This kind of makes sense, the first pictures I found online were beautiful sea scape portraits with the gorgeous Italian homes lining the cliffside, the coast is truly a place of amazing beauty. Almalfi has a rich history within Italy, beginning as a Roman refuge against barbarians, it later grew in to one of the most important port cities in Italy.

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But in the more recent years, Almalfi’s place in Italy has been a profitable tourist trap. Deemed by UNESCO “an outstanding example of a Mediterranean landscape, with exceptional cultural and natural scenic values,” the coast was awarded a coveted spot on the World Heritage list in 1997. It’s the sort of luxurious place that begs its guests to sit in the comfort of an  lounge-chair facing a panoramic view of the ocean, while sipping on authentic home-grown Italian wine.

One of the fun facts I learned about Almalfi was how it was one of the coasts that was it was one of the primary allied beachheads invaded during the Invasion of Italy during WWII. Random interesting facts like these is what I love about the idea of traveling the world, there is a history in every location, you just have to know where to look.
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The other thing that I want to focus on during our “stay” at Almalfi is the gorgeous seafood prepared here. Along with fresh marine life and authentic Italian cuisine, Almalfi is famous for it’s production of lemons. I’ve always loved Italian food but the thought of authentic Italian cuisine along with  some of the best seafood I’ve ever seen is making me salivate as I type. Seriously, look at some of these photos. Not that I don’t “LOVE” our dorm food, but this doesn’t seem very fair.
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Click on the fish to see a youtube video of one of my favorite chef, Gennaro Contaldo, cooking on the cliffside of Almalfi.

The incredible history, breath-taking views and extraordinary seafood of Almalfi Coast can beckon travelers from anywhere around the world. You can be sure that this gorgeous Italian hideout has already been added to my bucket list of locations I want to visit around the world.

In which we take a look at the cultures of State College

Incorporated as  borough on August 29th, 1896, State College PA was originally founded to be the accompanying borough of the formal Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania. A classic example of a college town, State College relies  economically on Penn State University.state college

“Happy Valley” actually has quite a rich culture outside of being a social hangout for PSU students. Starting from a residential population of and a student population of 110, State College is now home to more than 104,00o people. The streets, as you can probably tell already from living here, is always bustling with people going shopping or hanging out with friends. Best of all, State College is extremely safe, which is one of the reasons my parents even decided to send me here. In fact, it’s voted the third safest college town in America.

I really have not been here long but now is a good time as any to share all that I have found about State College.

The food is great! If you know where to look. Not so good if you are just on a night crawl with some friends and looking to grab a cheap bite, though we do have plenty of stores for that too. That being said, let me just share all the great cuisines that I have tasted so far. 
College Ave offers the famous Waffle House, which if you haven’t gone yet, why the heck not? waffleBehind the Waffle house is Chipotle which is always the right answer, not matter what your looking for. A little down the block is the Corner Restaurant  if your looking to impress a date that’s definitely a safe bet. Moving out of College Avenue, other notable mentions are Chen’s Mongolian Buffet and Nihao Chinese Buffet. Both these places offer great food at a cheap price, though it might be more than a little walk to get there. If you do have a car though, they’re both definitely worth the trip.

On the social end of things, there’s a reason why Penn State is the 9th party school in America, we know how to have a good time. Any night between Friday and Sunday, heck any night of the week you can pretty much always find a part around  frat row. But if that’s not really your scene then there’s plenty of places to socialize outside of campus. THe shopping is endless between all the different shops on College Avenue alone, which might explain why there’s exactly $1.56 in my bank account right now. If you smoke than I would recommend chronic town a little college ave, there’s great music even if you’re not into hookah. No matter what kind of social even you’re looking for from bowling to laser tag, I am more than positive State College will have everything you need.

There is actually quite a lot more to this  over 100 year old town that I live in. It’s more than just a small college town PSU students go to have a good time, it has a rich history and provides for the students of PSU more than we really realize. I’m starting to realize how blessed I am to have such a great community to surround myself in. arts-fest

Next time, we finally take to the globe :D.