Apart from his typical Western face and his not-so-good Chinese, people can find little difference between Dirk R. Thomas and a local Shenzhener.

Vice president of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, one of the world's leading hard disk drive suppliers, the amicable 51-year-old has made many friends in the city, 70 percent of them Chinese.

"I go out and meet people. Among them are professors, businesspeople, and white-collar workers, not all technological guys like me. Otherwise, talking to the same group of people all the time would be boring," he said.

He may go to The MixC shopping mall in downtown to eat dinner with friends, then catch a movie at Golden Harvest, go to the city's east coast to have a barbecue party, or take a leisurely walk in Lotus Hill Park at weekends.

Sometimes, he goes to see Chinese movies, which can help him "learn Chinese anyway."

Thomas found himself a tutor to teach him Chinese twice a week when he first arrived, but later had to give it up because of his tight work schedule. "Now it's mostly my friends teaching me when we hang out. But I got a bit of mixed up when one of them tried to speak Cantonese to me," he said.

Back at home in San Jose, California, the United States, Thomas watched a lot of American football, hockey and baseball. After three years in Shenzhen, he spends more time watching soccer, horseracing and badminton.

But Thomas does not drive in the city. "I don't speak Chinese, and could have a lot of trouble if I was involved in an accident. I drove at times in Hong Kong. Then, when I was back in California, I got a ticket for driving on the wrong side of the road," he said.

Despite spending most of his time in Shenzhen and Hong Kong over the past three years, he has also traveled a lot on the mainland, to cities like Hangzhou, Xiamen, Qingdao and Shenyang.

"I went to Shenyang in the northeast with several friends during the Spring Festival holiday last year. It's freezing cold at minus 20 degrees Celsius. I spent this year's Spring Festival in Singapore," he said.

Seemingly contradictory, Thomas likes spicy Sichuan food as much as sugary Hangzhou dishes, which is another proof of his willingness to try and accept new things.

"I've heard about the new concert hall in the city center, and am looking forward to going to concerts there now," he said.

Editor: Yan