The Shanghai Chronicle

Hong Kong

2009-11-16T12:41:00.002+08:00

Right before my birthday in September I had a work trip to Hong Kong. Since my meetings were on a Monday I decided to go Sunday morning to attempt a bit of tourism prior to my meetings. I went with a very vague idea of what to see with only my Lonely Planet as a guide.

Hong Kong and China have a strange relationship. A flight to Hong Kong is an international flight and Chinese citizens require a visa to visit. Hong Kong has its own currency, its own stock market, and a distinctly different culture than the mainland – for example most people speak Cantonese, not Mandarin. I knew Hong Kong was densely populated, on the coast with a series of islands, subject to typhoons and is supposedly an easy place to live as a foreigner.

After landing at the airport I took the train to the subway and then took a shuttle bus to my hotel. The first thing that struck me was how hilly it was – the bus kept going up and turning. Cars drive on the left side of the road – a hangover from the British colonial days which gave me the impression that we were going to crash periodically. There were “sky bridges” crosswalks connecting buildings and multiple layers with people everywhere. It was possible to cross huge distances without actually going outside, either underground or using the sky bridges.

After checking into my hotel I took the subway to the base of Victoria Peak and then hiked up to where the tram station was. The tram was really neat and went almost straight up to view of the harbor and a nice place to view the skyscrapers of the city. There was a pianist performing live music in the shopping mall at the top and I explored an English language bookstore there and people watched for an hour or so. Later that evening I went to dinner with a coworker and his wife in one of the bar areas of the city. People eat later in Hong Kong than Shanghai – we got there about 7:30 and no one was in the restaurant, but when we left at 9:30 it was packed – much more European than Shanghai.

My meetings went well on Monday and I took the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou that evening. Before I left I wanted to buy some English magazines because they are easier to find in Hong Kong. While at a small convenience store I bought several magazines – they then had me push a button for a “lucky draw.” I won – a huge stuffed animal! I couldn't really tell if it was a dog, a horse or a cow, but I looped it over my suitcase and went off to Guangzhou.

Hong Kong intrigued me. I'll be back.
G

Wuxi photos - Tai Hu

2009-11-11T12:33:00.001+08:00

The photos here took place during my second day in Wuxi. The nature was very refreshing and although there were people there were moments of solitude. We also almost got lost on our way back to the bus parking lot. While I have gotten lost in Shanghai it is a slightly different feeling.

Wuxi II - Tai Hu

That evening we went to a Wuxi show - unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but it was a type of variety show where there was singing, dancing, comedy, a magician and probably other things that I've since forgotten. While it was interesting, a large part of it occurred in Wuxi dialect instead of Mandarin. Humor is one of the most difficult things to translate in any language, but in Wuxi dialect I had no chance. Maybe someday.

Enjoy the shots!

G

Changzhou and Wuxi

2009-11-06T12:25:00.000+08:00

At the end of August I was able to get away for a long weekend to Changzhou and Wuxi – my first real trip off the beaten tourist path. The Chinese government has invested lots of money in high speed rail – “dong che动车” – which is similar to the TGV in France or the bullet trains in Japan. Several lines have been completed and the one that we took was one of them.

Changzhou & Wuxi - I

The reason why we went to Changzhou was actually because of a poster in the elevator of my apartment building for a dinosaur theme park. After looking at the advertisement for several months we did some research and it was not expensive, on the high speed train line and easy to get to. Since it was still summer season the theme park was open until 11pm and it was a great experience. There was a water park and lots of rides – not quite Cedar Point, but still a lot of fun. Plus, because we went on a Thursday there weren’t that many people there! We could go down the slides in the water park without waiting and most rides had a wait of less than 30 minutes. Eating Chinese theme park food was a hoot too – fried noodles anyone?

We capped off the evening watching the big closing illuminated parade and were the last people to get on our bus before it pulled away.

The next day we took the high speed train another 20 minutes and went to Wuxi. Wuxi is known for a huge movie/television set where they have recreated ancient temples and cities as well as Tai Hu – a huge lake with an island in the middle. They are trying to position themselves like Hangzhou (where I visited with Marisha and Arnel the famous West Lake) as a tourist destination. The pollution in Wuxi is pretty bad – although I have heard it has improved, so it still has room for improvement. However, the people were very friendly and I can see how in the future tourism should increase there.

The first day we went to the three villages movie set. We explored through the fake forest (with plastic flowers on the trees), saw a very impressive horse show reenacting a battle that took place between warring factions and wandered through a replica of the forbidden city – all by ourselves. The horse battle must have had over 100 participants and even though the voice over was in Chinese I got a pretty good idea of what was going on. There was also a fake army training camp where you could test yourself against different obstacles. I did ok with a couple, but the net across the big hole finally got me and I ungracefully came down backwards. The more I learn about medical care in China, the fewer risks I realize that I should take!

The second day we took a bus to Tai Hu and then took a boat across the lake to the Turtle Head island in the center. It is a bit of a nature preserve, except there wasn’t really that much original to the island – most of the temples and sites have been reconstructed, but just the same it was nice to be out of the city and see green again. I sat for a long time on a rock listening to the waves and thinking about Lake Huron. After a full day on the island we crossed back and visited one last temple on the mainland before heading back to the hotel.

I enjoyed exploring these two new places. While they were still major cities in the US definition – each at least a million people, the vibe was different. Prices were lower and the standard of living is also lower. Plus, I saw maybe 3 foreigners the entire time – so these are areas that don’t have the comforts of Shanghai – I don’t think I could find a foreign supermarket or a place to buy large size clothes and that is reassuring (unless you need to live there). The photos here don't include the Tai Hu pictures - will post those under a separate post.

Cheers!

Dragons in the city

2009-11-01T15:15:00.001+08:00

There are several elevated highways in Shanghai that provide faster access from north to south across the city. The major intersection of the north-south and east-west roads is visible from our office and I often pause for a second and view the lights and bustle as I refill my water cup throughout the day. Last week as I walked a client out, I showed him the view and he happened to have his camera.

This is what I can see everyday. The legend is that when they were trying to build the highways this interchange - which includes a pedestrian crossway and about eight layers of ramps and highways collapsed twice. They brought in a feng shui master who said that a dragon needed to be erected on the spot in the middle if they wanted to build the road. If you look at the pillar in the very center you can today see a beautifully carved dragon.

Not bad. 不错。

Phil Collins

2009-10-30T14:52:00.004+08:00

Today I decided to take a late lunch and headed to one of the many restaurants in our building to satisfy a craving I had. I ordered a very traditional Chinese meal - rice gruel with pork, tripe, salted eggs and meatballs and a side of Chinese broccoli. Trust me - it is an extremely tasty dish! As I tucked into my lunch I started humming along with the music that was playing in the background.

This in itself was not strange - you know I like music and like to sing and I am getting to the point where I recognize the really popular songs here. However, as I kept humming I realized that it was Phil Collins - the greatest hits! I'm not quite sure why he was chosen, but song after song played as I finished my lunch.

It was another one of those - I'm in China - this is strange - why not? moments.

I apologize for the two month pause in my blog. I will blame it on the fact that in the last two months I have been in Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Paris (France), Hefei and another city in Anhui province. I was the MC and spoke at three seminars and added another speech two weeks ago. I have just managed to catch my breath from the whirlwind and try to resettle.

Two years ago on Sunday I arrived in Shanghai. What a two year period.

Cheers!

孩子 (Children)

2009-08-31T09:32:00.002+08:00

At the end of July I was able to sneak home for a week where I spent two exhilarating days with Marisha, Arnel and their kids. One of the hardest things about living in China is missing Jadzia and Chie as they grow up. It had been almost a year since I had seen them and 5 and 3 year olds change every day. We had a wonderful visit that was too short as I didn't get my fill of sand castles, chalk drawings and "Tia" hugs.

When I returned to China within the next two weeks my good friends Ade and Nick celebrated the birth of their daughter, Adinda. I was the MC at the seven month ceremony back in June where Nick chose the "girl coconut" which turned out to be correct. :) I was privileged to visit them at the hospital and then last weekend at their house. Adinda's a beautiful baby with great skin and her father's ears! Congratulations to them.

Apologies for the delay in posting. I don't currently have internet at home due to a satellite TV snafu, but will try to be better going forward.

Cheers!

Black

2009-07-29T00:02:00.003+08:00

Last week Shanghai experienced a once in 300 year event. There was a full solar eclipse, best visible from China. Tours were booked to view this once in several lifetimes event and everyone from taxi drivers to hawkers in the subway were talking about it.

Unfortunately it rained in Shanghai on Wednesday morning, so I was unable to view the eclipse in its glory. I took the subway to work because of the rain and when I came to the surface it was pitch black - midnight kind of black- definitely not a typical weekday morning. I went up to my office building and slowly watched over the next ten minutes as it got lighter and lighter and then day continued.

I watched the news that evening and the city had taken unprecedented measures to control the effects of the eclipse. Streetlights were turned on, thousands of extra police and crossing guards were stationed, at airports planes operated under night protocols. All for an event that lasted in total about 30 minutes. No major accidents were reported and all were safe.

After viewing the switch from light to darkness I understand why in ancient times people feared the world was ending. The total lack of control and disappearance of the sun reinforces for me that there is something greater and reminds me how little my troubles affect the movement of the earth around the sun. A good lesson from the blackness.

An expert?

2009-07-03T20:30:00.001+08:00

Over the last month or so I've had the opportunity to record two podcasts for Mercer on China's healthcare market. I got to choose my own questions but the interview process was quite thrilling. That was one of the reasons I took the chance to come work over here – new opportunities. The link below lets you hear one of them if you happen to be curious as to how employers are approaching health management in China, feel free.

http://select.mercer.com/podcast/blurb/154116/

The Chinese versions of these were recorded by my colleague Rebecca. Even though I am getting more comfortable I'm nowhere near ready to record something like this in Chinese.

Happy Listening and Happy Fourth of July!

Multiple Layers

2009-06-29T19:17:00.000+08:00

At the end of June I had the opportunity to sit on a panel for Notre Dame Executive MBA students and serve as a resource as an expat who had relocated to Shanghai. I thought it was a panel anyway – the other individual canceled that morning so I was the sole representative for an hour of questions. After telling my story I was asked all kinds of things – some pertaining to my job in the employee benefits industry, some about pace of life, culture, differences, …

One of the comments I got was that things didn't seem that busy here – the restaurants are half empty and there weren't that many people. I tried to explain the levels here – that the best restaurant in the city isn't the one at ground level, but instead on the 6th floor of an office building or that in the subway there is a complete shopping mall that you'd never notice from the street level. I suggested that he come with me through the People's Square subway station at 5pm and see if he thought it wasn't crowded.

Today on my way to work I got another reminder of the layers in the city. I have walked to work almost every day for the past nine months (except for that month period with my knee), trying different routes but sticking mostly to the same way. As I looked up I realized that there was a complete set of bird cages on the second floor of a building looking kind of like they were for homing pigeons – with maybe 12 or 15 birds inside. There was a gentleman leaning out the window petting and feeding his birds. I never noticed that before even though I've eaten at the small restaurant just below.

It's a good reminder that it is possible to develop a comfort level and how normal changes over time. Any examples from you? Is there anything you don't notice now?

Summer musings

2009-06-24T22:33:00.000+08:00

After my wonderful trip to Toronto and Chicago (where I saw weather in the 50s), I plunged directly into summer after my return. Highs the last week or so have been in upper 80s and last weekend the thermometer hit 97 degrees. Fun, fun, fun! Between my now twice or thrice daily showers, I have reverted to the simple pleasures you find when it's warm including:

- Dresses - nothing sets up a summer day like a dress - casual, formal, they're easy and breezy. I may boycott pants until October.

- Ice pops – I have a set of the little pops like I did when I was a kid and I have been making them like a fiend – apple juice, grape juice and orange soda have all found their way in. Perfect on a hot day!
- Puddle jumping – I am now the proud owner of a pair of crocs which are perfect for stomping in puddles. When it’s 90 degrees outside who cares if you get wet!
- Out running thunderstorms – the other day I went to the supermarket in the evening and could smell the rain on the air but didn’t bring an umbrella. I hurried through my list and as I exited could feel the first drops starting to hit my cheeks as lightning cracked overhead. I hiked up my skirt, grabbed my bag in both hands and ran, the wind tousling my hair and pushing me. I made it in the door just as it started to pour.
- Lazy afternoons – I have spent several weekend days exploring – one weekend went to 上海文庙 (Shanghai Confucian Temple) in the late afternoon with the sun streaming down. It was almost deserted and so peaceful with a water garden and sheltered courtyards.

What do you like to do when the sun beats down? Do you venture outside or find things to keep you busy in the dark?

Happy Summer for the longest day of the year –

G

Seven month ceremony

2009-06-22T09:30:00.001+08:00

This weekend my good friend Ade celebrated the seventh month of her pregnancy with a traditional Indonesian seven month ceremony. Or rather, semi-traditional as it occurred in Shanghai using certain foods that her mom had brought from Indonesia and the guests were a multinational crew from all corners of the earth. Ade had asked me over a month ago to be the master of ceremonies and so I was also an integral part of this happy event.

Prior to the party, Ade and Nick had prepared a one page “cheat sheet” for me so I could perform my duties. They involved getting people’s attention when the ceremony was supposed to begin, giving people clues as to the appropriate behavior and explaining the meaning and custom of each of the six separate steps. Seven is deemed the perfect number in Javanese culture and thus after seven months it is appropriate to welcome the baby into the world prior to birth. I won’t try to include the Indonesian words here, but please find the major rituals below:

1) Blessings – Ade asked for blessing from her mother and Nick to welcome the baby into the world. It was very emotional part of the ceremony.
2) Ritual bathing – Nick and Ade’s mother both had to pour water on Ade in seven key areas. This happened on the balcony and Ade got soaked – she had to change her clothes after that. After getting doused, Nick broke the clay pot used so that it could not be used again.
3) Symbolism of birth – an egg was dropped down the front of Ade’s gown to symbolize easy delivery, then a string tied around her waist was cut by Nick, finally two coconuts (only symbolizing a girl and the other a boy) were hidden in the fold of her garment and Nick had to chose one. He kept trying to choose both, but eventually he selected the girl. We’ll see if it’s right! After that Ade had to change her clothes seven times. This was where the audience participation started coming in. I prepped the group that we were not supposed to like the first six wraps. As her mother wrapped them around I would ask, “So, what do we think of this one?” It was great, the crowd really got into it, booing, groaning, etc. When she finally put on the seventh wrap she got a resounding round of applause (even though it was the ugliest).
4) Cutting the coconut – Nick had to prove his power and chop open a coconut. It took him five strokes. I hope that doesn’t mean Ade will have five hours of labor! This also happened outside and our timing was perfect because just when it finished it started pouring.
5) Buying blessings with fruit salad – After changing her clothes again, Ade and Nick had to serve us a traditional fruit salad, but we all had to pay for it. This symbolizes that we were hoping that all the good points of each of them were given to the child. I passed out ritual coins and everyone ate the salad which we had to say we liked or otherwise it would be bad luck. The salad was good – no need to fib.
6) Cutting the rice – the final event was Nick had to cut a traditional cone shaped rice dish in two to signify that he would be a good provider. We all watched and applauded then helped ourselves to rice, meatballs and other Indonesian specialties.

Afterwards several people recommended that I go on the Indonesian seven month ceremony MC circuit. I’m not sure what the demand is in Shanghai – but if anyone is looking for an MC….
I feel blessed to be included in such a special event. All the best to Ade, Nick and the little one on the way.

Cheers!

Stars

2009-05-25T09:11:00.002+08:00

Chris came to visit this weekend. It was great to see him and hear how life in Yantai differs from life in Shanghai. Saturday night we went to dinner with friends in Pudong then walked along the Pudong side of the Bund. The weather was beautiful and the lights on the buildings sparkling and spinning. A man was singing and playing the guitar making our own soundtrack as we walked up and down talking about life and the changes that occur so quickly here.

Walking back to my apartment after a great evening I looked up and realized that I could see stars. I think it is the first time I have noticed them here. The big dipper was twinkling down among the lights of Shanghai. Even in Shanghai the stars are the same.

Next time you look at the stars think of me on the other side of the world and smile.

G

Seeing red

2009-05-12T21:23:00.000+08:00

It started with a pretty small comment a week or two before my mom came– “I think your eye looks swollen.”
Then at the beginning of April it progressed to – “Are you ok? Your eye is kind of red.”
I knew it was a major issue when the head of the Shanghai office walked up to me after mom left and out of the blue said, “你的眼睛怎么了？” (What's up with your eye?)

Thus began my third adventure with the Shanghai healthcare system.

As you know, my previous two experiences were not really planned – the knee happened at that party and the wrist as I tumbled to the ground after my client meeting. I used local hospitals and for the most part was satisfied with service and price. However, with my eye – I was a bit more skeptical and I had time to think about the process, procedure and potential problems. So, like many expats before me I made an appointment at Shanghai United Family Hospital.

My initial appointment was the Friday after my mom left. My Chinese teacher agreed to come with me and the two of us investigated the very western looking facility. I had made an appointment, got checked by a nurse, saw the doctor for a consultation; we determined I should come back next week for surgery and prepared to leave. I was starting to feel like Jasmine had come along for nothing until I tried to pay.

At the window they informed me that since I had direct billing, I did not need to pay anything. I accepted this and signed. Then I realized that I didn't have a receipt, a diagnosis form or any idea how much the cost was. Since I do have a deductible, I figured I should at least be aware of the cost. But when I asked for at least a receipt, no luck, they just kept repeating – “You have direct billing.” Jasmine and I pow-wowed in the lobby and finally she went back and said, “My friend needs a bill to show her company.” I got the receipt.

The following Friday (already feeling a bit under the weather due to a slight relapse from the flu I had in Sanya), I went back for my surgery appointment. Another friend went with me this time. We waited for a while and then I went in for the surgery. The procedure was very similar to one that I had in Chicago a couple of years ago, but took much longer due to the size of the bump. I exited wearing an eye patch, grasping some antibiotics but this time asked for the receipt for my company at the beginning instead of the end.

Almost three weeks later I am feeling much better. My eye is just about back to normal, I can wear my contact lenses again and I have now experienced another medical facility in Shanghai. Three times is enough. Let's hope this accident prone streak ends here.

Question – In my family we normally say things happen in threes – could be good things, bad things, funny things. This is my third experience. Have you had any threes happen to you lately?

Also - thank you to my loyal fans. I have had several comments and emails asking why I have not been posting as much lately. Work has been keeping me busy and with the eye issue looking at a computer for a while was pretty challenging. I pledge to do better moving forward.

G

15 seconds

2009-05-09T09:15:00.005+08:00

Two weeks ago I went to the Shanghai motorshow with a friend. It was enormous - 11 huge areas full of cars, parts, models and people - over 500,000 attending the show over the course of the week. The highlight though was that I was interviewed by a local news station while we were there.

After 7 hours of looking at cars I made it home around 7pm to receive several text messages that I was on the 6:30 news! Luckily there was a repeat broadcast at 9:30 which we recorded in the below. If you're curious I'm saying that I am for electric cars and that I believe this year and next year we should all start using them.

The next day I was in the elevator and one of my colleagues said, "I saw you on TV in the subway!" It appears that this story was also played on the TVs in the subway during Monday morning rush hour.

I am famous - at least for a little while - maybe 15 seconds of my 15 minutes. No autographs, please.

Cheers!

G

A Guest Post

2009-04-19T12:57:00.004+08:00

Written April 14, 2009

Greetings to those who follow The Shanghai Chronicle. Today I picked up the mantle of its first guest blogger. I am G's mother, and have been in China for two weeks and will leave tomorrow. We have had quite a time. I've decided to give a list of thoughts I've collected over the trip:

1. It's a very long flight when you add a five hour delay in Chicago. (From home to Shanghai took approximately 24 hours.)

2. Thrilled to see my daughter alive and well. (Deep down I knew she would be, but it's so good to touch!)

3. I met Ade, one of G's good friends. She's a lovely, happy person with a beautiful smile and sparkly eyes.

4. We had a wonderful Beijing hotpot dinner with Curt and Sara. I've decided Curt's a foodie. If you need a great place to eat in Shanghai, ask Curt.

5. I had my first pedicure and manicure at the same time... I felt like a kept woman with all that pampering. :)

6. Part of the program was a four night stay in Sanya, which is an island in the South China Sea. The resort and spa were wonderful. Thoughts about the stay:

- WILDLIFE - lots of dragonflies, butterflies, feral cats singing at 5am, the best was a Wall Tiger (壁虎 - a gecko) sitting next to G; she was not amused

- SPA - four hours of bliss, I know I'm a kept woman (thank you David)

- THE VIEW - a private coral bay, lovely mountains and a restful horizon line

- FOOD - simple and of course we ate too much

- PROBLEMS - Although covered and sunsprayed, I got sunburned. G on the other hand picked up some sort of "flu bug" (very nasty!)

We left Sanya whipped and spent the next few days recuperating. The apartment is great so we read lots, laid around and watched TV - she has English cable! There also were these wonderful peanuts with salt and sugar on them. I'll miss those (and my daughter) when I come home.

Today she went back to work [BOO HISS, but one must pay the bills]. My final test here in China is to walk by myself to her office. Map and cell phone in hand, I'm up for the adventure!

Signing off-

Mom

Hot Pot, Pedicures and Pools

2009-04-13T19:49:00.005+08:00

As you know, my mom has been visiting for almost the last two weeks. We have been having a great time meeting my friends, shopping and then had our trip last week to Sanya. I am very lucky that she was able to come.

The night before we went to Sanya mom and I got the works - manicures and pedicures (mom's first) and then went to dinner with my friend Curt and his wife Sara for Beijing style hot pot. Hot pot is one of those meals that because you cook it yourself really allows you to linger - which we did.

In Sanya our hotel was beautiful (mom is going to be doing a guest post later), but the swimming pools were absolutely fantastic. I went swimming every day, only limited by the last day when I unfortunately came down with the flu. Don't get sick on a tropical island. Starting to feel better now, but still not 100%.

Happy Easter to you all.

Spring cleaning

2009-03-29T22:09:00.003+08:00

We had a bit of a warm spell a couple of weeks ago, but the last two weeks have been on the chilly side with lows in the low 40s and highs in the mid 50s. Today was still chilly, but the sun peaked out and I finally took some "me time" for the afternoon. I headed up to my old neighborhood with the intent to get my hair cut and then possibly a massage and some window shopping.

The area where I got my haircut (Wujiang Lu) has had some pretty major changes happen and I knew that they were proceeding with knocking down some of the storefronts. Unfortunately, sometime since my last haircut my salon has also closed. I stood in front of the door forelornly for a while, then decided to try a new place. I had seen a sign for a salon close by and proceeded to find it. Alize Salon was on the second floor with a little boutique on the first. I paid considerably more (almost $12) for my wash, blow and cut, but James (or Jin) did a great job - putting shape back in my hair and awesome layers in the back. I am starting to be able to banter in Chinese and that made the afternoon even more enjoyable. Sunlight streamed into the pretty salon as we chatted and relaxed. I liked it so much that I bought a discount card. :)

I then walked home via one of the parks. The confidence that only comes from a great haircut added bounce to my step as I took in the city beauty surrounding me. The trees are in the "lace" stage and flowers are peeping up. I tried to take a picture, but my camera battery was dead. No matter - it was a great glimpse of spring. Dinner with a friend and then finishing up my taxes. Spring means April 15th is coming too.

Question - What do you consider your signs of spring? Baseball games? Twilight walks? Daffodils?

Mom comes on Wednesday. We head to Sanya on Monday, April 6th - Qing Ming Jie [Tomb sweeping day]. A week of rest. A week of family. Both much needed.

G

Americans shake hands

2009-03-18T18:35:00.002+08:00

Today, like many days I had multiple meetings. It was the first time for a long time that I wished that I wasn't an American.

Last Wednesday when exiting a client meeting I missed a step and fell flat on my face – or rather, flat on my hand. My shoe came off, my computer went one way, my purse the other and as I put my hand out to stop my fall my right side hit the pavement. I didn't know if my wrist was broken or not but after getting into a cab and talking with my colleagues I wound up going to the emergency room. It was the same place where I had the knee incident a few months ago – and I am much more familiar with the procedure now. Register, pay, see doctor who says get an X-Ray, pay for X Ray, get X-Ray, see doctor again, have him say it's not broken and I should take two weeks off work.

Right…

I took one day off work and have been typing with one hand for the last week. It slows down my speed considerably. Silly things like turning a door knob are difficult, which leads to my dilemma today. We had a meeting with a German client who stood up when he saw me and before I realized it grasped my hand with an incredibly firm grip. I nearly screamed in pain, but managed to choke it back and say, “How nice to meet you!” After finishing that meeting I had another, but this one was with a Chinese company (which normally means an exchange of business cards, but no handshakes). Lucky me, they all wanted to shake my hand. It was one of the limpest handshakes I have ever given. My father would not be proud.

Getting injured changes your point of view. Hurting my knee I learned that I typically put on my pants with my right leg first. Hurting my wrist I realized I typically put on shirts with my left arm in first. Who knew? It does feel much better over the last week, but I think I'm going to skip our team bowling outing this Friday. Just don't want to push it.

Hope you all are well. Those of you who know my mom please send her a safe travel shout out. She will be coming to visit me beginning April 1st and I am very excited.

Cheers!

One of those moments

2009-03-03T20:36:00.002+08:00

The last week has been crazy busy. I had my first business trip to Beijing – actually my first two trips to Beijing. It was great to meet all of my Beijing colleagues and over the course of four days I also managed to meet with 6 clients and prospects. I was home for a very brief weekend, and then Sunday night headed back for a key meeting with a client Monday afternoon.

The client meeting finished around five and I took a cab directly to the airport. There was only one cab at the building and the vendor we had been meeting with and my boss all insisted that I take the cab. I got into the cab, told the driver – “I'm going to the airport.” He asked, “Which terminal?” “I said – Terminal 3.” Then I said, “I'm very lucky today – my colleagues are very polite and they insisted that I take the cab. Sometimes it's good to be a woman.”

My cab driver cracked up. He started laughing really hard. Then it hit me. I think that may be the first time I've told a joke in Chinese. Score!

There is a phrase in Chinese, “越来越好” It translates to “Getting better and better.” I am. Slowly. Just one of those moments…

G

Are you fluent in Mandarin?

2009-02-22T10:33:00.003+08:00

This last week has been crazy for a lot of reasons - coordinating with some colleagues in the US has led to early mornings and late nights. I've also been called in to help manage a regional client, so getting up to speed has taken quite a bit of time. In the middle of all of this I had a client ask me straight out in an email, "Are you fluent in Mandarin?"

Although I have had friends ask the question, it's normally not direct like that and it took me aback. The first thought that flew through my mind was, "No way!" Then, though I took a step back and after a while composed the answer below:

“As far as my Mandarin, no, I'm not fluent. My listening skills are pretty good as I hear Chinese everyday, I can carry on a conversation, attend a meeting in Chinese and understand most of what is going on (60-80% normally depending on the topic and the speaker) although I normally use English when I need to clarify my points to make sure I am as clear as possible. I am still studying and continue to work on improving my overall communication skill in Mandarin.”

Initially I was embarrassed as I wrote the above, the perfectionist in me still has problems admitting shortcomings. Now, I'm not embarrassed at all. A year and a half ago I didn't speak any Chinese. Instead of looking at my faults, I'm going to focus on how far I've come.

Question - Any thing that you've done the same with? To looking forward...

Annual Dinner

2009-02-03T19:11:00.005+08:00

At the end of November my assistant asked me if I'd be willing to participate in my department's program for the annual dinner. She said that we'd be singing. I said yes, not really understanding (like a lot of things) what I was getting into. She neglected to mention that I would be kicking it off acapella. We wound up singing a song "Mercer Welcomes You" that we adapted from "Beijing Welcomes You," one of the songs that was very popular here due to the Olympics. It was an experience and now every single person in the office knows exactly who I am. I did get a round of applause though.

I hope you enjoy the attached video from the beginning of January. The actual song is quite a bit longer, but thought this gives you a feel for the event. One of my coworkers recorded it and it's not professional, but quite amusing.

Can you tell what languages my coworkers are singing in at the beginning?

Bored?

2009-02-03T18:39:00.001+08:00

(Initially written on January 26th)

When I was arranging my trip to Hawaii the flights were complicated. I have a series of meetings in Singapore after Chinese New Year, so my flights turned out to be Shanghai -> Tokyo -> Honolulu -> Manila -> Singapore -> Shanghai. I'm flying on three different airlines and as I'm discovering now, have a couple of nasty layovers. Right now I'm stuck in the Tokyo, Narita airport. I've already waited two hours and have two more to go and I am extremely bored.

I can't remember the last time where I've had the opportunity to be bored. In the exhausting day-to-day world in Shanghai, I typically fall asleep whenever I sit down and I'm not eating or working. One of my friend jokes that every time I see him I start yawning. I did sleep on the flight from Shanghai to Tokyo and probably will fall asleep on the plane to Honolulu as well, but for now I'm up and restless. I have books to read and my ipod, but can't seem to focus on anything. I did some stretches in a corner, bought some weird dried fruit and water at the duty free store, explored the terminal and still have two hours!

When's the last time you were bored? Can you remember it? What did you do?

Happy Chinese New Year to all! Happy 牛 year! 新年快乐！

Class Reunion

2009-01-17T19:48:00.004+08:00

While I was home for Christmas I got an email from my former Miracle Mandarin classmate Marina. She and her husband Marko (also a classmate) were back in Shanghai after a six month absence. We emailed back and forth for a while and then scheduled a brunch at my apartment for last Sunday. Attendees were Marina, Marko, Ade, Chris and me. Chris and Ade never took class at the same time but knew each other through me and both had taken classes with me, Marko and Marina.

It was a wonderful reunion, each of us with a significant life change since our initial meetings. I transferred to my new job in Shanghai, Marko and Marina got married in September, Chris will be moving to Yantai within the week and Ade is pregnant! We ate pancakes, eggs, bread (with nutella) and fruit and toasted the future with sparkling juice.

To the Chinese class which brought us together! To Shanghai! To Chen Zhuo(our old teacher)! To health! To good fortune! To being together now! To the future!

To all my readers - Happy Year of the Ox! May this year be the best year yet for all of us.

Proof

2009-01-11T18:04:00.003+08:00

When we were waiting in the hospital the night that I hurt my knee Ade snapped a couple of pictures of me after the doctor had given his diagnosis. The look on my face is hilarious!

In a bit of a knee update - my knee is feeling much better. The only thing that is still difficult is stairs, but I have much better range of motion now and by the time I head to Hawaii for Chinese New Year I should be good to go!

Cheers!

老外用筷子

2009-01-10T21:33:00.002+08:00

When I was taking Chinese lessons last spring we had to come up with an idea for a TV program. My idea was entitled “Laowai yong kuaizi” which roughly translates to “Foreigners Using Chopsticks.” It was to be a cooking show with different guests as they learned about Chinese cuisine. Maybe someday when my consulting career has ended I will invest some energy in developing this show.

I flashed back to that Chinese class one day this week while I was eating lunch. I had asked one of the interns to get me an order of Guilin rice noodles and was happily slurping them down in my office with bamboo shoots, mushrooms and little pieces of meat. Then I realized – hey, I’m doing all this using chopsticks. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even classify foods as “difficult to eat” with chopsticks – it’s just food. Something that was definitely a consideration 15 months ago no longer exists.

I crave noodles in the winter – the ultimate comfort food. There are so many kinds here – rice noodles, pulled noodles, Japanese style noodles (udon), spicy noodles… They’re good, filling and affordable - $3 is a very high price. I’ve even learned how to make beef and noodles myself at home.

So – I am a laowai yong kuaizi. :)

Question – What food or method of eating have you discovered? Eating with your hands? Using the spoon to twirl pasta? Anything that is fun or funny? Share!

In Transit

2008-12-31T16:01:00.001+08:00

Going home for Christmas is one of the hallowed rituals of Western culture. Last year I wasn't able to go due to work commitments, but this year I "crossed the pond" to spend a week with my family. In the process I learned the following:

1) Wheelchairs in the US are much bigger than wheelchairs in China and they have seat belts!
2) When you ride in a wheelchair going through customs is really fast.
3) Bulkhead seats really do provide more legroom.
4) Gate changes are the bane of the wheelchair traveler.

My Chinese teacher has a close friend who works for American Airlines, so on my way home she arranged for a bulkhead seat and wheelchairs at all my connections. It was great - the fastest I have ever moved through an airport. If only I could have controlled the weather too.

In Chicago, my flight was delayed for almost 4 hours with 3 gate changes. Flights were getting canceled left and right and a group of us became friends as we commiserated and shared stories about our holiday plans. There was a couple from Melbourne, Australia, a gentlemen from Moscow, me from Shanghai, a group from Southern California, a pregnant college student from Texas, some pharmaceutical reps who had been to Houston for a conference... all going home for the holidays. We bonded, shared snacks and made it as pleasant as possible. Overall, not a bad outcome.

Coming back to Shanghai I also dealt with weather in that my flight was canceled! Fog and thunderstorms resulted in moving back my departure one day. We got a 2am phone call Saturday morning announcing this so I had one extra day with my family which was unplanned but not unwelcome. The flights back went smoothly - I upgraded to business class, had two seats to myself and managed to sleep over 6 hours (a new record).

Question: Any travel horror stories or travel surprises/connections / interesting people you want to share?

Happy New Year! May 2009 be the best year yet.

G

Lucky me

2008-12-28T07:37:00.003+08:00

I'm a health care consultant working in China. I've given speeches on the Chinese health care and insurance system, I've helped clients with plan design questions and researched administrative procedures. Now I can add first hand knowledge of Chinese hospitals, emergency rooms and medicine.

Lucky me.

Two weeks ago Saturday while at a party, I thought I would demonstrate a yoga pose to some friends. I started prepping for it, transitioning my weight to my left foot, bent down and then collapsed on the ground. My left knee gave out with no apparent warning. My friends laughter (my balance has always been bad) transitioned to concern as they noticed my white face. Something was wrong.

I sat there for a while, had some water, then tried to stand up. No go. I got dizzy and leaned against the table. My fun night was over.

My wonderful friend Ade went with me to the emergency room. We went to Hua Shan hospital that was pretty close and I had been to a talk earlier in the week where the hospital director there had spoken about his hospital's prestige and excellent facilities. The driver dropped us off at the night entrance. I limped inside, in quite a bit of pain by this point while we tried to figure out where to go.

We found someone who told us that the international clinic was down the hall and to take the elevator to the 8th floor. Very slowly we made it there, only to discover that was the wrong location. I waited and Ade went back. They told her we had to walk across the campus to another building (in the dark). She threw a fit. Although we were hampered by not knowing the word for wheelchair, knee or accident in Chinese, she managed to procure a wheelchair and someone to push me across the campus to the "international" clinic.

Five minutes after arriving I was in the room with the doctor. I started, tentatively, in English to tell him what happened. "Can you speak Chinese?" he asked. I sighed, but between the two of us managed to explain the incident in Chinese. He gave me a brace, told me to wait until Monday and they'd schedule me for a CT scan. Cost of service - about $90

Monday I had my team ready - my colleague Ma Jian (who has been trained as a doctor) and my good friend Lily (Mike, her husband went to Notre Dame). They both agreed to accompany me. However, my CT scan had been pushed back to Tuesday. My leg, however, still hurt and I couldn't bent it. Ma Jian knew people at another hospital (Rui Jin); Lily picked me up.

First we went to the emergency room - the doctor there was very nice, but decided it wasn't an emergency and told me to wait for my CT scan on Tuesday. Cost of consultation - $2, which they refunded because they couldn't help me.

Next we went to see a specialist from Lily's connections (which meant waiting in the hallway of another building for a very long time). After he looked at my knee he determined it was a ligament or tendon problem - not bone, so he recommended an MRI instead of the CT scan. That meant going to another building where they scheduled me for an appointment the next afternoon. I paid in advance - consultation and MRI together was about $185.

Tuesday the drill started again; Lily picked me up and Ma Jian met us at the hospital. I got a wheelchair and was wheeled into the basement of the hospital. I'd never had an MRI before - they are very loud. The technician was startled to see a foreigner. He rattled off a lot of Chinese at me, then said, "DON'T MOVE!" I didn't.

Lily and Ma Jian managed to get another doctor to look at my film (after a 45 minute wait). He was flipping through the pictures making comments - all of which were negative. "Internal bleeding...tendon damage... ligament...swelling..." At that point he decided that if it was a serious as the pictures were showing I shouldn't be able to stand. Since I could he decided to examine me. He looked at my knee, bent it and proclaimed that I should wear the brace for 3 weeks, put Chinese medicine on my knee and I should be fine. I got the medicine (a poultice and pills for about $10 total) with Ma Jian's help and went home, thoroughly confused.

After all this, I think that I have an overstretched ligament in my knee, caused by the yoga move. It should heal by itself. The pain and swelling are almost gone now [2 weeks later], though I am moving really slowly and am not that stable. I am very lucky to have friends to support me through this process from both a language and cultural perspective.

Lucky me.

Question: Getting sick away from home is never fun. [Christmas 1999; my friend Christa; Austria - enough said] Do you have a story to share?

Happy New Year to all!

Notes on Business

2008-12-14T16:56:00.001+08:00

I’ve been in my new position about three months now and met with half a dozen clients and just as many vendors, had countless phone calls, given two speeches and worked more hours than I care to count. It’s been a challenge and many thanks to those I’ve forced to listen to me. I’m adjusting to a different work schedule, a different language, new colleagues and time zone differences. I can now direct dial Singapore and Hong Kong without looking up the access codes and I’ve talked to clients and colleagues in Europe and Africa. Mercer is a global company and working out of Shanghai it feels that way.

Today we had a meeting with an employer coalition that we’ve been helping at a multinational level for several years. However, this was the first time local Chinese HR was involved and we had a great turnout. The majority of the meeting was in Chinese, but I (the foreigner) gave the intro in English on the Chinese healthcare system and compared it to the current system and issues in the US. I even got a couple of laughs out of the crowd. It was great.

Looking back I thought I’d document the two most common conversation starters during the breaks.

Conversation #1:

Me: “Are you finding the conference useful?”
Client A: “Your Chinese is so good!” [This is normally spoken in English which I find ironic.]

Conversation #2

Me: “很高兴认识你。我看你的名片，你是经理吗？” [Pleased to meet you. I see from your card you’re the manager, right?”]
Client B: 你很漂亮。(You’re very beautiful.) [This one I’ve only heard so far in Chinese. The first time it happened I thought it was a one-off thing, but it happened multiple times now. I was trying to imagine what some of my female colleagues in the States would do if that happened to them during a meeting. My imagination only gets so far.]

Then the discussion will inevitably switch to why I came to China, how long I’ve worked at Mercer, etc. None of my side conversations actually talked about business, but I figure, eventually…
After the session we took two photos – one with the clients present and one with the vendors. Everyone else was wearing black or navy but I was wearing my dark pink jacket. I stood out for sure – in a good way. Watch out China! I’m here!

Question: Ladies – how would you respond to, “You’re so beautiful?” Gents – would you have the guts to say it at a business meeting?

To surviving!

G

Housewarming photos!

2008-12-07T10:00:00.002+08:00

As promised, attached are the photos that I have from my housewarming party. There were several friends who avoided my camera (Curt, Jasmine, Ade, Richard - you know who you are!), but this captures almost everyone who stopped by and shared the evening with me.

Housewarming!

I've just about recovered from the party now - my house is back in order, the leftovers have been eaten or stored away and now I'm looking forward to Christmas. I'll be back in the States in under two weeks.

Enjoy the photos!

Cheers-

G

What do you get when you have...

2008-12-02T21:36:00.002+08:00

- 27 friends
- 9 pages of lists
- 5 baguettes with 5 types of cheese
- 4 cakes (3 chocolate, 1 coffee)
- 3 weeks of prep
- 2 sous chefs (Todd & Chris)
- 1 awesome housewarming party

I threw a party on Sunday.
It rocked.

Ever since I moved into my new place at the end of September, I had been thinking about throwing a housewarming. My place is so big, it’s the perfect venue for a party and so after my things arrived I started planning to “warm my house” as one of my Chinese colleagues put it. I am blessed to have wonderful friends in Shanghai and everyone I invited came! There were 7 countries represented; friends from Kaien, or formerly from Kaien, Joy and Huang whose wedding I went to, my Chinese teacher, work colleagues, friends from random meetings…

The food was great, recipes and sauces from my friend Todd, a couple of my own dishes, cakes from Ade and Geoff; wine, cheese… what more could you ask for?

I didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday – I worked – but this Sunday was my ode to friendship and support. I could not live here without these people. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to host them and share this time, in this city, together.

A few of my favorite party memories:
1) Chris helping me prep and washing dishes with “Happy Holidays” in the background
2) Ma Jian cooking river fish for us all
3) The corkscrew getting stuck on the bottle and Rolf saying “Violence solves everything!”
4) Convincing a Chinese friend to try cheese and she liked it so much that she tried all five kinds
5) Sampling sweet Chinese warm wine with plum
6) Todd giving a “dumpling lesson” to my coworkers in the kitchen
7) Joy giving me a toaster oven. Now I can bake!

Question – What was your favorite party? I'll hopefully post pictures from mine this week.

I can’t believe it, but I’ll be back in the States in a little over two weeks. I’m only home 8 days, and only in Michigan, so it’s a really short trip, but I’m very much looking forward to it. To a great holiday season!

Cheers-

G

Red?

2008-11-19T15:14:00.003+08:00

I wore a bright red pair of tights to work yesterday. I think I may be starting to follow Chinese fashion.

A couple weekends ago I bought some new clothes at a very fashionable boutique. A pair of black velvet pants, a black cashmere sweater with a shawl attached that can be swept to one side, or in four other positions, a black ruffled shirt and a black structured dress with elbow length sleeves and pleats on the sleeves and at the bust. The unifying factor is that all of them were black. The sales girls (two of them) were incredibly helpful, bringing me over a dozen things to try on, necklaces, belts, shoes….As I was checking out with my purchases one of them disappeared, telling me to wait. She came back with a bright red pair of tights and told me that it was a free gift that I should wear them with my black dress. I looked at her and smiled and said – “But everything I bought is black, why the red tights?” She laughed and said, “Trust me.”

That was two weeks ago. The dress has been hanging in my closet, but yesterday I bravely put it on with the red tights. My cleaning lady complimented me as I left the house, then in the elevator, someone else complimented me. At work – I received five or six additional compliments. “Your tights look great!” “Beautiful color.” “Where did you get them?” Now that I think about it, no one actually commented on the dress, just on my legs.

The sales girl was right. At least in Shanghai.

Question – Any fashion stories? Things you thought were great but looking back you can’t believe you wore them? Share!

A big Happy Birthday to my dad for today!
Cheers-

G

Free

2008-11-08T22:33:00.002+08:00

The weather the last two weeks has been pretty nasty overall. Rain, fog, pollution, mist, wind … we’ve had the entire spectrum. Yesterday morning as I was struggling down the driveway of my complex I saw a pair of men’s underwear (boxers) by the side of the road. The picture that immediately came to my mind was someone stripping off their clothes and dancing in the rain, free from everything. The less romantic vision is that someone didn’t securely fasten the boxers to the clothes line and the wind had carried them away. I prefer my initial thought.

Question – Have you ever danced in the rain?

A Real Anniversary

2008-11-04T23:30:00.002+08:00

Yesterday I was walking back to the office after eating lunch when it hit me. I am living and working in China. This is real. This is my life.

I almost missed the moment in the normalcy of it. I was waiting to cross the street, thinking about my tasks for the afternoon, when I looked up and noticed for the first time in a while that I was the only westerner in the crowd. But, this time it was different. I was part of the crowd, just another worker heading back from lunch.

You may say, “Of course – this is real, you’ve been writing about it for the last year. If you’re not living and working in China, where are you?” and that would be a fair question. I can answer it this way. When I was teaching it was temporary – for the first time yesterday it felt permanent and I was okay with that.

It seems fitting that this moment of illumination occurred almost exactly one year to the day after I first arrived in China. The last year, as detailed in my blog, has been wonderful – full of friends, food, adventures, language, stretching and growing. As I contemplated my anniversary post I thought of lots of possibilities. Top 10 moments in Shanghai, best restaurants here, places to visit, things never to say as a foreigner; but instead of looking back, I’ve decided that I’d like to look forward. Here are my goals for the next year:

1) Get comfortable enough with my Chinese to give a short speech at an internal work meeting.
2) Ride the bus in Shanghai.
3) Learn how to cook one traditional Chinese dish well.
4) Visit one smaller Chinese city (less than a million people); travel to Hong Kong for pleasure (not business).
5) Develop a KTV (karaoke) repertoire of more than two Chinese songs.
6) Buy a bicycle.

Happy Anniversary to the blog and to me!

Questions – Do you have any goals that you think I should add to the list? Please share.

Cheers!
G

Three Strikes...

2008-10-28T20:16:00.002+08:00

Today I decided to skip my planned yoga class and head to my favorite spa to get a massage. The tension in my neck and shoulders has been returning since I started work again and it seemed like the perfect solution. It was a beautiful night and I bounced along ready to be kneaded and pressed until my shoulders relaxed and the tension drained away.

I arrived without an appointment, per the normal, but this time when I put in my request at the front for a body massage the receptionist just looked at me. I knew she understood my order because she then repeated it back, but instead of telling me to wait a minute or ask how long I would like, she said that they were booked. It was really disappointing, I was ready to spend the money, had cleared my schedule and now – no massage. Strike 1.

However, I had a back-up plan. Every day when I walk to work I pass a Spa 88 on the way. It looked very nice, probably more expensive than my preferred place, but still – a good retreat. Retracing my steps I entered and asked if they did body massage. This time the receptionist told me that they only service clients of the hotel, but I could get the price guide from the front desk. Strike 2. I explained that I live here and he said, “Oh, I can suggest a good place.”

Thus, directions in hand I attempted my third massage of the evening. However, the seemingly simple directions wound up getting me lost. At this point I was tired and hungry and after inquiring with a couple of security guards at various corners I couldn’t manage to find the place. Strike 3 - I went home.

I really am starting to dislike the phrase “不好意思” (bu hao yisi). The literal translation is “Not good meaning.” Contextually it’s kind of “Sorry to bother you” or “The situation is not good.” Or “I apologize for inconveniencing you.” or "I have absolutely no idea and you're a foreigner so I'm not going to figure it out because you wouldn't appreciate it anyway." People here use it a lot, especially tonight.

Question – What is your technique for coping with multiple disappointments? It seems like such a minor thing, but by the time I made it home I was wiped and my shoulders still hurt. What’s your preferred relaxation method?

On a lighter note, The Shanghai Chronicle has now been in existence for over a year! I’ve been contemplating the appropriate anniversary post and will hopefully post it this weekend. Thank you to all of you who’ve read and commented on my story here in Shanghai. Hopefully it will continue (with more massages) for quite some time to come.

Cheers!

Pajama Talk

2008-10-19T16:37:00.001+08:00

While I was home over the summer I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how men’s fashion labels are starting to launch new collections with fancy pajamas. Photos of the runway shows included guys wearing pajama pants, Henley tops, fancy slippers, big robes, etc. The article went on to talk about the challenges in the United States of getting men to spend money on pajamas and that most guys will sleep naked or in underwear and a t-shirt. That columnist predicted an uphill battle in sales and that the trend would soon diminish. As I’m re-acclimating here in China I think that those fashion houses should launch the pajamas here. Pajamas are everywhere.

Last week at dinner, Chris told a story about a friend of his who went to a wedding and after getting there discovered that she was very overdressed. One guest was even wearing pajamas! Pajamas at a wedding?

The topic came up again at another dinner I was at. One of the guys commented that he has started wearing pajama bottoms now for the first time in his life. They were a gift, he said, but he is considering buying some more because they are so comfortable. He’s been in China about a year. Hmmm…

When I walk to work in the morning and home at night there are always men on the street wearing pajamas. Sometimes it is a two piece number, the pants with matching button-down top and sometimes it’s just the bottoms with a t-shirt or a wifebeater. You see pajamas hanging from clothes lines and for sale in lots of shops, right in the front window. Lest you think this is merely a male phenomenon, there are also female pajamas all over, some trimmed with lace – lighter, summer models as well as flannel pajamas. The fruit and vegetable market by me is filled with people in pajamas. I don’t really wear pajamas myself – normally it’s shorts and a tank top or sometimes a nightgown, but if I am ever tempted to wear them outside – someone stop me!

Question – Where is the strangest place you’ve worn your sleeping clothes? Or, where have you seen someone wearing pajamas that made you do a double-take?

Cheers!

Meetings

2008-10-11T09:57:00.002+08:00

This past Friday I had five meetings, each with a distinct tone, each presenting a different picture which together represent my China.

The first meeting was a lunch meeting; I invited one of the members of my team to go eat so that I could find out more about her in a less formal setting. She picked a sushi restaurant and we sat at the counter, speaking English, about my history and her history. She’s almost done with her ASA and I gave her some gentle encouragement to take the last set of modules and finish. It was a low pressure situation, conversational, easy.

Number two was the monthly leadership call for China H&B- Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing and Hong Kong were all represented. This meeting was also in English and my role was to absorb current state and client lists and names for future reference. It lasted a little less than an hour which then flowed into meeting #3.

Meeting #3 was the monthly H&B practice meeting. All offices were represented again but the major difference here was that almost the entire meeting was in Chinese and it lasted 2.5 hours. My boss had told me before the meeting that it just didn’t make sense to conduct that meeting in English. I agreed with him – I’m one person in a group of about 40. In theory this is what I need to do to improve my Chinese. It also made it a very long meeting for me. I was able to follow what was going on and probably understand about half of what was said. I also learned a new word (yin xiang – impact/effect). To add to the pressure I had a speaking role, I had been asked to give a short presentation on the importance of peer review and peer review under company policy (in English). Talk about a tough crowd: 1) I’m speaking English, 2) it’s 6:45 on a Friday, and 3) there was cake to eat after I had finished. It went really well (thank you Kaien and my teaching training) all told, so after eating my cake I hurried to the basement of the office.

In the basement is a large health club which had been running a promotion for membership. I had stopped by earlier in the week to check it out and was supposed to have met my sales rep around 6:30 to sign a six month contract. He was still there and he and this personal trainer guy gave me the final sales pitch. All in Chinese, relatively low key, except that I was already running late for my last meeting. We ended by scheduling an appointment with the trainer on Sunday (his English name is Hero) to measure my baseline, discuss my goals and see how much I want to train.

I raced home – 18 minutes flat— and made it to my apartment at five minutes to eight. I was supposed to interview a prospective ayi (maid) at 8pm. Luckily, she was a little late. It turns out that she cleaned this apartment before, under the previous tenant last year, and she lives five minutes away. We’ve arranged for a test cleaning on Tuesday to see if we get along and then tentatively set up a schedule going forward. I had a little trouble with her accent (she’s from Anhui province) and she had a little trouble with mine. There was a lot of pointing involved, especially when it came to talking about tools that you need for cleaning, but I remember the first time Mollie (our ayi at the old apartment) came and how I couldn’t say anything to her. I’m also proud because I set up this meeting by calling her and actually talking over the phone, which would have been impossible a year ago. She left about 9pm.

Five meetings. What a day.

Question: Do you have a marathon meeting story? Share.

G

A Tour

2008-10-05T08:50:00.003+08:00

My new apartment is spacious and open and bright. It is furnished - beds, sofas, desk, chairs, but by no means full. There is definitely room to expand. This week I took some photos to give you a sense of my space for the next twelve months. Welcome to my home!

Virtual Tour - Living in South Shanghai

For those of you in Shanghai, the housewarming party will probably be at the beginning of November, after my things arrive from the States.

Hope you are enjoying the fall. The weather here has cooled down in the last week or so, but that means highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid60s. There were even clear blue skies here last week. No complaints!

G

走路 (On foot)

2008-10-01T16:18:00.001+08:00

One of the reasons that I chose my apartment is that it is very close to my office. Tonight I walked home from work for the second time, making my way along streets that will soon become very familiar. I skirted the touristy Xintiandi area and progressed into my neighborhood. I didn’t see any other foreigners and it was a beautiful evening – clear, crisp and everyone was outside enjoying the air.

I stopped into a convenience store to buy some more minutes for my cell phone and the cashier complimented me endlessly on my Chinese. I walked by a grandpa holding his new granddaughter and he stopped me and said, “Hello! Hello!” and I smiled at the baby and said, “Ni Hao! Ni Hao!” There are restaurants that I want to try (even though or maybe because the menus are all in Chinese) and clothing stores that look like they might have my size.

As I strolled past the security guards in my complex they said, “Ni Hao!” and gave me a big smile, really making me feel welcome. Each time I come home it is a treat, I know they recognize me and I’m already looking forward to seeing them each day. The vibes are good here. I think the only thing that would make it better would be someone to share it with. Any takers?

Next week is one of the Golden Weeks – this one for National Day, so I have a full week off of work. It’s more time to explore and get settled in. Maybe I will buy a bicycle.

G

Office Space

2008-09-29T15:54:00.002+08:00

Technically this is a lateral move from Chicago to Shanghai. My career grade stays the same (the ever popular “F”), benefits are comparable or a little better, etc. However, in terms of office space – Shanghai wins hands down. The Health and Benefits team moved into new office space on the 31st floor of their building over the summer while I was back in the States. It is a beautiful office.

I have…drum roll please…a window office with three live plants in it! Everything is new and clean, right down to the Mercer blue pencil cup and stapler. There are two visitor chairs, a large work surface and a filing cabinet included, although the paper storage provided is definitely less than Chicago. The bathrooms are lovely (a great improvement over Kaien). My keycard has been activated. I received my new computer and allowed 10 months of emails to load, which took 3 hours. I think I’m working at Mercer Shanghai.

Office hours are slightly different here – technically they’re from 9 to 5:30, but I think more realistically from 9:30 to 6 or 10 to 6:30. The office space is very quiet, the cubes are open style and so four people are working in each corner with their backs to the middle. The cube walls are lower – there is no overhead storage space which gives a different atmosphere, more hushed.

My boss is in the States right now on business, so I have a week to scope things out, get settled in and then I have a week off because of the Chinese holidays next week. It’s a good way to acclimate myself to the environment, take care of those endless details when you start somewhere new and remind myself what office hours mean.

The attached slide show shows you my office.

Office Space

Question – What has been your worst working environment? Why?
G

The Great Apartment Search

2008-09-19T18:35:00.002+08:00

I knew that finding an apartment would take a significant part of my time when I moved back to Shanghai. My friend Ade recommended a real estate agent and even before I left Chicago I was contacting her with my wish list. My wish list included:
- 2 bedrooms
- Balcony
- Wood floors
- Good security in the complex (preferably 24 hours a day)
- Within walking distance of my new job
- Under 10,000 RMB (about $1500) per month

I arranged to meet Jessica my first full day here to begin to look at apartments. At 10am on Wednesday, the 10th I met her in the lobby. She shook my hand and said, “Very nice to meet you – today we will see 12 different apartments.” I was slightly taken aback, but said, "Ok– let’s go." That first day we wound up seeing 15 different apartments. They were all over the city, but most all (except for 3) were within walking distance of my new office and met all my criteria. Jessica was good.

I was pretty jet lagged though and after looking at so many places, needed some time to evaluate. There are plenty of available apartments, especially those focused on expats because many expats left when the visa laws changed because of the Olympics. Rents have also come down lately which is to my benefit as well. On Thursday I walked the distance between my office and a couple of the complexes and decided that I would focus my search on the Laoximen (老西门) area of Shanghai. I contacted Jessica and we made another appointment, this time for Monday, the 15th. On Monday we saw 6 apartments in two different complexes – 3 that I had seen initially and 3 new apartments. The last apartment that I saw was bigger than the rest and slightly out of my price range. It had a window in the kitchen, higher countertops, three bedrooms (one set up as an office), 2 bathrooms, a balcony, a storage room. There was also a two bedroom apartment in the same complex that I liked as well and I was debating between the two. Finally, I told Jessica if we could negotiate with the landlord on the larger apartment, I would take it – if not, the other was already under my budget and I would take that one.

Jessica negotiated the three-bedroom down to meet my budget. It’s over 150 square meters (1600 square feet) which is double the size of my place in Chicago. The utilities will probably kill me, but it’s on the 22nd floor, is quiet, bright and really nice. There is a big supermarket at the corner, it’s close to the line 8 subway station and there is an excellent health club in the complex. As my former students would say, “It is a very convenient place to live.” 这个地方很方便。

China is still very much a cash-based economy, especially for deposits and initial rent payments. Needless to say, it took a while to get that much cash. At home it would have been so easy to just write a check, but not here. On Tuesday I put down a deposit and today (Friday) I paid the balance and signed the lease.

My landlord and her husband are both Americans and own a company that focuses on Balanced Scorecard Management Consulting. They told me that their initial company was bought out by Hewitt (after offers from Towers, Hewitt and Mercer) in China in 1997, but they think Mercer has better brand recognition now and is growing more quickly. What a small world. My main contact will be my landlady’s secretary (Tracy) who will take care of all the details. I think we might go out for a drink some time together too. We really connected over the last week as we waited for approvals and sat in cabs together babbling in a mixture of English and Chinese that many people would not understand.

I’ll be moving in sometime next week and am looking forward to decorating my place and putting some personal touches in it. When my things that are getting shipped arrive, it will really feel like home and I’ll be ready for visitors!

Please – come to China to see me! I’m going to be here three years (maybe not in the same apartment, but still, here) and will always have space for guests. Shanghai is a vibrant city – a good place to get over jet lag and serve as a springboard to the rest of China and the rest of Asia. You have time to make plans, so come!

Question – What has been your favorite or least favorite house/apartment that you’ve lived in? I love my condo in Chicago; we’ll see how this new place turns out. Please share.

Cheers!

Wandering

2008-09-13T19:33:00.002+08:00

Going back to a place where you once lived gives you a new perspective. The place has changed, as have you. Shanghai is a city of constant change and after my relaxing summer in Chicago, I’m not the same either. Today is cloudy with hints of rain in the air and after lunch with a friend I took a long, meandering walk back to my hotel. This wasn’t my neighborhood before and it won’t be after I move in a week or two, but the cooler air made me want to explore.

I saw children chasing their grandpa as he bicycled down the street. I saw a store called “Meat Puppets” (not sure what they were selling), I saw dumpling vendors and flower shops and cute little clothing stores. I smiled inwardly at the Shanghai men carrying their girlfriends’ purses. I stumbled across one of the Blue Frog locations (a western chain known for its burgers). I watched people buy moon cakes to celebrate the festival on Monday.

As I wandered I thought about why I came back. When I’m here I feel an energy – this sense that I can try anything. It’s difficult to describe. From the fashion to the food to the crowded subways to the relief on people’s faces when they realize I speak some Chinese, it calls to me. In being so different, I am more me.

I start my job in a week so I have one free week to wander (and find an apartment, get my banking set up, see tons of friends…) before the real world intrudes on my fantasy or the fantasy becomes the real world. 谁知道？Who knows? Anything is possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Birthday wishes go to my friend Joseph and my cousin Matt. It’s not Friday the 13th this year, but hope your birthdays were great just the same.
Cheers!

A Serviced Apartment

2008-09-10T09:33:00.005+08:00

Last night I was picked up at the airport by a Mr. Yun and whisked away to my temporary home for the next couple of weeks. I’m staying at a serviced apartment in Puxi, about a 20 minute walk south of the Mercer office while I get my bearings and look for a place to live. Serviced apartments are part of the typical expat experience in Asia – my apartment is bigger than a hotel room, with its own washing machine, living room and kitchen, but maid service every day, a concierge downstairs and other hotel perks like a swimming pool and fitness club.
My room is on the 30th floor with a balcony and last night was a rare clear night in Shanghai. I surveyed the neon lights around me and followed the moon across the sky, reveling in the energy and motion that is this city. I am extremely happy to be back.

Weight

2008-09-08T09:52:00.001+08:00

Today I finished packing for the big trip. I have two huge suitcases for which I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to pay an additional baggage fee. If you assume each is 50 pounds and then add my carry on, my computer and my purse, my luggage weighs just about as much as I do. That’s slightly scary. I’m really hoping that I can find a luggage cart at the airport!

Question – What trip did you take where you packed the most stuff? Those of you with children will probably win this one.

Thanks for the suggestions for blog title changes. I also got several emails with additional ideas. I’m mulling them over currently and will decide soon.

The next post is from Shanghai-
G

The adventure continues…

2008-08-28T10:57:00.001+08:00

About 10 months ago I opened this blog with my question about what I should pack for my trip. I got lots of great ideas – deodorant, a special occasion dress, chewing gum, a travel towel… I used all of that advice and as you know had an absolutely wonderful experience living and teaching English in Shanghai. My sabbatical has been a resounding success. Now, I’m continuing my adventure.

In just a little over a week I am going to be returning to Shanghai, this time on a three year assignment with MERCER, the company that I worked for in Chicago for over five years. I’m transferring to the Shanghai office and will be a “Regional Consultant.” I am excited to have the opportunity of being an actuary in China and apply my technical, logical, actuarial brain in this developing and dynamic country. People keep telling me that they’re living vicariously through me. Well, I’m enjoying being me too.

The last two months in the States have been a whirlwind of friends and family and cleaning and packing. I still am waiting for a couple of loose ends, including my visa paperwork, but I’m sure that it will all work out. I’ve gotten quite a few questions if I’m going to be continuing my blog. Right now that is the plan, but I will need a new title. It’s not “The Shanghai Chronicle – my experiences in China in 2007 and 2008” by “An Actuary on Sabbatical” anymore. It’s morphed into something new.

Question: What should my new title be? What advice do you have as I start this adventure again?

Cheers!
G

The Cruise photos

2008-08-13T08:55:00.002+08:00

This album is from the cruise and our tour of the Three Gorges Dam. I tried to comment on the water color and how it changed as we moved. One of many interesting things to look at. Enjoy!

The Cruise

2008-08-09T00:07:00.006+08:00

When I lived in Spain we used to make fun of groups of Japanese tourists who would come to Toledo, following their guides with a flag and crowding through the narrow cobblestone streets. At that time – over 8 years ago now, I decided that I would never be a part of one of those groups – following the leader, waiting for the bus and looking for the little flag. The last step of our China trip, I had to eat my words.

The cruise that we went on down the Yangtze River was gorgeous. The scenery and gorges called for photos as we drifted down the river. The first full cruising day mom and I went on the shore excursion – along with 80 of our closest friends. We had cruise ID badges, obediently waited for our bus, and were tagged after by the ship’s photographers (who were really cute) as we explored a temple at the top of the hill. Travel fatigue was setting in for me – the site was nice, but not the same magnitude as Xi’an or Beijing and I wound up with a lot of mosquito bites!

That day at lunch we met our dining companions for the next several days – a family from Egypt (mom, dad, daughter and grandmother). They were very interesting tablemates and had taken a trip to India last year that was very similar to ours two years ago, so we had lots of travel stories in common. Our table was always one of the last to finish meals as we shared stories.

As we went through each of the Three Gorges, there would be commentary over the public address system detailing what we were seeing. First we listened in English, then in Chinese, then in German which formed a cycle. I could understand the English, kind of the Chinese and kind of the German – so I felt like I could give the commentary by the end.
The second day we took another excursion in small boats that were rowed by local people up stream where our large cruise ship could not travel. It gave me a better idea of the size of the natural formations and our guide (once again we had cruise ID badges) sang us several folk songs. We sang “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” back at her and our oarsmen raced another boat, getting us wet in the process.

On the final day of the trip the boat traversed the locks at the Three Gorges Dam and then we were able to take a tour (with yet another ID badge) of the site itself. The size of the dam and the amount of water that it is able to control is astonishing. The dam will be finished next year – causing the water level to rise another 20 meters upstream. I heard numbers that the amount of power generated will be over 10% of China’s total. My sister found a technical book that explained the building and plans of the dam and my mom bought another that detailed the impact of the dam. It was a fitting way to end the trip with this technological marvel after we looked at the beauty of the gorges.

China is a fascinating country – the old and the new coexist. Ancient customs and traditions are being preserved (at least for tourists) as infrastructure and commerce are pushing on the boundaries set for the last 60 years. I want to see what happens in the next 60.

Question: Have you been part of a tour group before and followed a guide’s flag? Where were you? Was it voluntary? Tell me a story about your favorite guide.
I have cruise pictures to post and then one more post to wrap things up (and maybe begin again). Thank you for reading.

Chongqing photos

2008-07-27T06:27:00.001+08:00

Here is a link to my Chongqing slideshow. Enjoy!

Chongqing

2008-07-26T08:55:00.004+08:00

Chongqing is a city built beside and over rivers. There were about thirty bridges that crisscrossed the city with another twenty in the development stages. We probably crossed ten of them in our day and a half there and then when we got on the cruise went under another couple. The hills were steep – a completely different landscape than the other cities we saw. There were very few bicycles because of the hills and traffic seemed to move more quickly as well.

It’s never a good sign when your tour guide takes you to a museum, tells you to wait for a minute while he gets the tickets and then returns, saying, “The museum appears to be closed today.” It only happened once during our trip and it happened when we were in Chongqing at the Three Gorges Museum. Our guide, Richard, was very apologetic and thinking on his feet, suggested that we go to the zoo and see the pandas instead.

The Chongqing Zoo was amazing and we managed to see all seven pandas in residence. We arrived at feeding time, so they were out and active. One of the younger pandas was climbing a tree. Richard told us that when they’re young (until about age four) pandas are more active but after that they get lazy and pretty much eat and sleep.
The next day we went to Dazu Grotto about a 2.5 hour drive outside the city. We were winding through the rice paddies and were much more “off the beaten path” than the rest of our journey. Some of the roads reminded me a little of India, in that we were bouncing around the back seat of the car and were definitely ready to get out at the end. The intricate Buddhist carvings have been preserved very well and we were able to visit two separate sites. Since the site was so far outside the city it managed to survive the destruction of the Red Guards and really maintains a sense of history. I wonder what it would have been like when the pilgrims walked for days to pray there and the air was full of incense.

After our trip outside the city we headed back before boarding the boat that would take us down the Yangtze River. Before dinner we walked through a flower and bird market and marveled at the huge ornamental stones and urns. The smells of the flowers and calm evening made it a great transition to the restaurant. While there we had another excellent meal including a rice cake that was then covered with a pork stew. It was an enticing blend of crispy rice and creamy pork which we hadn’t had before and was one of our favorites.

After dinner we headed to the docks and the boat which would be the last step of our journey together.
Question – Care to tell about any travel mishaps? Did you make it somewhere only to find out it was closed? How did you deal with it? Share!
G

Reacclimating

2008-07-24T11:08:00.005+08:00

Tonight I went to meet my friend Annette and one of her colleagues from the Chinese Mutual Aid Association. I volunteered there for almost 6 months before I came to China. We caught up over iced chai and coffee and stayed until the coffee shop closed. Annette has been a faithful reader (and commenter) on my blog and has recommended it to other people as I found out.

As I rode the El home I thought about the questions I’ve been asked over the last couple of weeks. What do you miss? What do you notice about Chicago when you’ve come back? What have you been eating? I thought I’d take a break from my travel blog (Chongqing and the Yangtze Cruise) and answer some of them here.

The first thing I noticed when I got out of the airport was the blue sky. I didn’t realize the true amount of pollution in Shanghai until I came back. The sky is blue here, the water is blue or green depending on its mood and puffy clouds float above.

I love being able to drink the water from the tap, to eat raw salads and fresh fruit without peeling it. Mexican food here is awesome – I’ve had guacamole three times already in the last 3 weeks and bread is so good. Sandwiches, cheese, pasta – are cravings that I haven’t had in a long time. Desserts are too sweet, I got used to eating fruit or nothing for dessert and now when I try to eat cake or cookies or muffins it is too much. Prices seem so high, I miss the lady on my street where I could buy lunch for 10 RMB ($1.50) with rice, meat, tons of veggies and all fresh and good.

I’ve enjoyed riding the bus over the last couple of weeks – buses always intimidated me in Shanghai. But, Shanghai’s subway is head and shoulders above the El here. Maybe when they finish the brown line/red line work it will improve. I hope. Driving is fun – the streets are so much more orderly than China. People follow traffic laws and wait for pedestrians. My little car is happy to see me and just passed its emission test this week, so it’s good to go for another two years.

My condo seems so luxurious. I have so much stuff! I’ve been sorting and recycling and tossing things while the mood holds. My brother was a great caretaker. Cooking and cleaning and being domestic have taken up a lot of my time since I’ve come back from DC. Hearing Spanish all over and being able to understand it and having conversations with everyone here in English is so much fun. I am talking everyone’s ears off – my doormen, the garage guys, my dry cleaners, the guy who sells me newspapers in the morning….

Above are a couple of pictures of my apartment here so you can make the comparison yourself.

Question – What do you notice about your place when you come back from a trip?

Cheers!

Xi'an photos

2008-07-19T04:07:00.003+08:00

Xi'an

Above is the link to my Xi'an photos. My favorites in this batch include dad and I posing with the fake warriors, mom and Anne dancing in their booties and dumplings (and dumplings and dumplings....)

Enjoy!

G

Xi’an - Booties, Buddhas and Dumplings and Walls and Warriors

2008-07-16T10:41:00.007+08:00

Xi’an was a nice contrast to the bustle and politics of Beijing. After getting off the plane we were met by our guide Sally and headed straight to our first destination, a Han Dynasty Mausoleum with wonderful views of small warriors, clay pots and other artifacts. The statues were naked (and anatomically correct) and Sally explained that in the time of the emperor they would have been clothed in silk and armor and put into place. This is different than the famous Terra Cotta warriors that we would see on the second day where the armor and clothing were made of clay. The museum was very well done with glass floors so you could walk directly over the pits under excavation, but the most amusing thing – by far – was the bright blue booties we had to wear to protect those glass floors.

The next destination was the Wild Swan Pagoda, a working Buddhist temple in a park closer to downtown. Most everything has been recently renovated, but it was pretty to look at and get reminded of the Buddhism I learned in India. Unfortunately the tower was closed because it had been damaged by the earthquake which occurred in May.

For dinner, at the suggestion of our guide we went to a dumpling banquet and Tang Dynasty show. We were served 14 different kinds of dumplings over the course of about an hour – everything from pork dumplings shaped like little pigs, fish dumplings with tails, fig dumplings, fried dumplings – dumpling soup, the courses just kept coming. After getting stuffed, we watched a great show with singing, traditional musical instruments and beautiful dancing and fell into bed exhausted and full.

Day 2 Xi’an - Walls and Warriors
Our second day in Xi’an was damp. It never rained hard, but it rained steadily pretty much the entire day. We started at the city wall. It is one of the few in China that is still complete, delineating the borders of the old city. If the weather were better we could have bicycled on the top, but instead we just took the opportunity for a couple of pictures. Since my sister never did learn how to ride a bicycle, she was very relieved that it was raining.

Before visiting the actual warriors we visited a factory where they make reproductions of them. It was interesting to learn how the process worked. For example, the heads are made separately and then inserted into the necks because if they were made in one piece they would explode in the kiln. Mom succumbed to the “garden size” statues and bought a couple. Then we visited the actual warriors. My grandparents had the opportunity to visit Xi’an in 1984 when there was little more than a tent covering the warriors. Now there are three main pits with enclosures and museums. The number of figures is overwhelming – close to 6,000 between the pits. It was special to be there and think of Grandma and Grandpa covering the same ground. As long as someone remembers you – whether you leave a huge tomb full of warriors, or just memories with people who love you, you continue.
Our final tourist stop was to visit the mosque in the old part of the city. It was a mosque but entirely Chinese architecture which was unique. Anne finally got to do some shopping in the bazaar and we all ate this dried peanut paste – kind of like the inside of a Butterfinger candy bar as we walked through the streets.

That was Xi’an. I’d like to go back and ride a bicycle on the wall and maybe eat some more dumplings. I’ll post links to photos in the next day or two.

Beijing photos 2 and 3

2008-07-14T08:00:00.003+08:00

The following links are to two more albums containing the rest of our Beijing pictures. Album 2 has various locations - Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Cloisonne Factory, Drum and Bell Tower and Hutong Tour. Album 3 is exclusively photos from the Great Wall. There are some things that inspire you to take photos and the Great Wall is one of those for me. I tried to put captions on to give you a little more detail and insider info. I know there are a lot of photos, so browse as you wish.

Beijing - 2

Beijing - 3

This past Friday I finally received my FSA at the Fellowship Admissions Course in Washington, DC. It was the cumulation of over seven years of exams and really a truly great event. This next week since I'm back in Chicago I hope to post the rest of our family trip including Xian, Chongqing and our Yangzte River Cruise.

Cheers!

Beijing pictures - part 1

2008-07-11T10:04:00.002+08:00

Beijing - 1

This slide show links to pictures at the Summer Palace, view of the Olympic venues, the Temple of Heaven and from inside the silk store where mom purchased her quilts. More pictures to come, but thought I would post a few to get started.

Question - Which is your favorite picture? I have several - I like dad and the dragon, I like the family picture in front of the Temple of Heaven and many more, but what is yours? Why? What did it make you think about or notice?

Cheers!

G

Beijing: Do you need to go to the happy house?

2008-07-02T11:35:00.005+08:00

June 17 – 20
We collected our luggage at the Beijing airport and met our guide, May. The question above was the first thing she asked us. I’ve never heard the bathroom referred to in quite such a way. She continued to use that phrase the rest of the day. I know four different words in Chinese for bathroom, but I think “Happy House” is my favorite.
It was a busy first day. We visited the Summer Palace where we marveled at the Long Corridor, enjoyed the lake and saw a short musical performance.

On the way back we drove by the Olympic Village and saw the Bird’s Nest Stadium for the Olympics. It’s impressive on TV but even more impressive in real life – modern lines but an ancient shape. There are 88,888 seats and the opening ceremony will start at 8pm on August 8, 2008. Eight is a lucky number here. People pay big money for telephone numbers and license plates that include 8s. The Olympic organizers aren’t leaving anything to chance.

The second day we got to sleep in until 9 o’clock and then headed out to explore the Temple of Heaven and the Forbidden City. The Temple of Heaven includes a huge park where in the mornings people come to dance, exercise, practice instruments, play cards. The weather was beautiful and we would have been happy staying there all day, but when you have a guide, things keep moving. We had a little time before lunch, so we went to a silk factory. They showed us the stages of a silk worm and we got to attempt to spread out a layer of silk that would be used inside a comforter. I don’t think we’ll get hired anytime soon because our layer developed a hole. Mom was very impressed with the silk quilts and bought three and Anne and I bought some silk tops.

After a huge lunch, we headed to Tiananmen Square. We saw soldiers and tourists and the big portrait of Mao hanging there. May told us that it’s replaced once every year. Crossing the square, we then entered into the Forbidden City. I have seen Versailles, visited the Vatican, explored castles in Spain but the immense scale of the Forbidden City took my breath away. The emperor had complete power and the palace was built to instill that symbolism into the hearts and minds of his subjects. Five toed imperial dragons are everywhere. I tried to close my eyes and imagine how everything looked when it was furnished – full of luxury and courtiers and concubines. We spent several hours there and ended in the gardens before exiting to the street and our waiting coach.

Day three was the Great Wall at Mutianyu about two hours outside of the city. On the way we received a demonstration of how to make cloisonné. After the demonstration, we made it to the wall. May suggested that we take a cable car up and back, but Chris and Matt had told me that there was a toboggan run, so we all took the cable car up (posed for the required pictures) and then mom and dad went back down and Anne and I hiked several towers to the toboggan and zipped down the side. The day was slightly cloudy, but you could still see the wall continue to the horizon line. One of the great wonders of the world and I was there!

The final day in Beijing was a little more low-key. We actually spent over an hour at the post office because mom decided that the three quilts she bought were too heavy to pack in her luggage. My mom also found some great holographic Olympic postcards that they agreed to mail on the day of the opening ceremonies. We wrote 福禄寿 (Happiness, Prosperity and Longevity) on the cards to be sent next month. Other activities included lunch in the home of a woman in the Hutong district, a bicycle rickshaw ride, the obligatory tea ceremony and visiting the large drum tower that used to be used to signal the time of day for the city. That night Anne and I went exploring down one of the pedestrian streets and bought too much in the Olympic store.

Beijing was a success. It is full of history and government – a mix of new and old. My Chinese allowed us to find a laundry outside the hotel and order dinners and navigate the subway system. After four days there, we were ready for the next city – Xian.

I will post more pictures later when my parents and sister get back from Hong Kong. I have some, but want to share all of them with you.

I’m back in the States now, so hope to see you all soon!

Eight Hours in Nanjing (with apologies to Chris)

2008-06-12T07:16:00.005+08:00

I have only woken up voluntarily at 6am a handful of times since I’ve lived here, but last Tuesday in the spirit of adventure I rolled out of bed, threw on my clothes and headed into the misty morning towards Shanghai’s main train station. The streets were hushed as I walked to the subway, but the train station bustled with people as I made my way to the 7:38 express train to Nanjing.

The ride itself was fairly uneventful. The man next to me fell asleep and wound up putting his head on my left shoulder (despite constant shrugging) and my right shoulder got soaked when someone put a wet umbrella right above my head. Other than that – no issues.

When I told people I was going to Nanjing, to a person, they all said, “Alone?!” And I would laugh and say, “Of course! It’s a Tuesday, I’m not worried, I’m a grown-up and I want to take a trip.” Traveling alone is so different than traveling with someone else. You’re not tied to another schedule, another stomach, but you have no one to share the views with or take your picture. Nanjing’s train station is located next to a very pretty lake and park. I headed out to take a peek and noticed the light rain falling. The rain became my companion for the day, following me to each of the sites. We suited each other well – my mood was subdued and it kept many other people from being tourists so it provided me a private tour of sorts.

Because of the rain, my first destination MingXiaoLing was almost deserted. I walked the grand pathway to the tomb almost alone, wondering at the carved stone elephants, lions, unicorns and other animals. It’s on a high mountain above the city. I could hear no cars and smell the rain on the trees. I wandered for almost two hours and then attempted to take a bus to the city center. The very nice man at the bus stop assured me that the #9 would take me there, but after 25 minutes I got off and took a cab to my next destination – The Nanjing Holocaust Memorial.

The Memorial was recently renovated and just reopened in December. It is striking and elegant, hopeful and horrifying. At one point walking through the exhibition hall I thought I was going to vomit as I stared at the skeleton of a young woman whose head and pelvis had been pierced by nails prior to being shot. Over 300,000 people died during those weeks and the museum is at the site of a mass grave of 10,000 people. At the end after all the horror is a calm reflecting pool and magnificent statue for peace. There were paper cranes everywhere as the rain continued to fall.

A second bus ride (I had to try again) led me to the city center where I found a late lunch. I then explored the Confucian Temple and its grounds. Turns out I went through everything backwards, ended at the beginning, but I saw lots of neat things including examples of traditional crafts. I posed for pictures with a little girl whose parents wanted to remember the strange foreigner in the glasses and with a woman from Guangdong who couldn’t believe I spoke any Chinese at all. By accident I heard a traditional musical performance and got an almost solo demonstration. The statue of Confucius in front of the temple was so kind and wise, very approachable. I had someone take my picture next to one of his disciples (Duanmu Ci) who is the philosopher in charge of languages. Figured a little good language karma (I know, that’s the wrong religion) couldn’t hurt. After wandering around the bazaar I eventually took the subway back to the train station, ready to go home.

Questions – Do you like to travel alone? What’s been your favorite solo trip? What did you learn about yourself?

My parents arrive today (Thursday) and after spending a couple of days in Shanghai we will be traveling together until the 28th. The 29th I’ll be heading back stateside, so it might take me a while to update the end of the trip. Maybe I will have them do a guest post. Hope you all are well.

G

If I were you...

2008-06-07T12:40:00.004+08:00

Asking for advice – it’s something we do all the time without even thinking about it. Last night I consciously asked my friends here the following question:
“Give me advice! What should be next for me?”

Let me back up a bit.

Last night was my going away party. My ticket home is June 29th, but my parents come on Thursday and with the Dragon Boat holiday and scheduling, I decided to throw it last night. I invited my friends to one of my favorite places, the Party World karaoke club by Jing’ an Temple. As you know, I love to sing and so it was an easy choice. I’ve been to a couple of other places, but this one has the best selection of English songs and as I can only sing 2 songs in Chinese (with a cheat sheet), that was paramount.

Despite a slightly rocky start – the volume of the music kept getting softer for some reason and Curt had to leave just about as soon as he got there because of a work emergency, everything worked out great. Jane serenaded us with current Chinese pop. Geoff and I reprised our hit “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and added “Rocky Mountain High” to the mix. We all embarrassed ourselves by knowing the words to a Back Street Boys song. Sean did Blondie’s falsetto to perfection. Todd and Karen sang several ravishing duets at the front of the room and we chilled to “Day Dream Believer.” Then, for the grand finale we all stood up, abandoned the microphones, and sang Sinatra’s “My Way.” Iain attempted to use my camera to videotape this, but unfortunately (or rather fortunately), it didn’t work.

As we sang and ate and drank, I passed around a small notebook, with the first page stating what I mentioned at the beginning: “Give me advice! What should be next for me?” It moved from person to person, collecting in the process – a limerick from Sean:

“There once was a lady named Greta // Who really could not have been better // At K T V // She made a fool of me // And now I wish that I’d never met ‘er!”

A quote from Karen: “Yesterday was history, Tomorrow is the future, Today is a present!” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Functional language from Amber: “In my opinion / To be honest … maybe you should consider a future in singing.”

The resounding themes in the 12 entries were follow my bliss, have fun, stay in Shanghai, travel, open a KTV bar, enjoy the present and work towards finding happiness. Good wishes, good friends and singing – what more can a girl ask for?

Wrapped up the evening by taking a jaunt to the corner on the back of Geoff’s new electric bike and then since I didn’t have to get up today, went out to a couple of clubs with Sean where he cheerfully carried my dictionary (present from a friend) and tried to get me drunk. Didn’t succeed really, but the DJ at Shelter was phenomenal. Great pulsing beats – dropped in bed about 3am. Good party overall.

Question: It’s pretty obvious, I think. Give me advice! As I finish this chapter in my life, what should be next for me?

I expect a lot of comments on this one. I know you’re still reading, right? The blog will continue at least for another month or so, but there will be a break when I’m traveling with my folks. Then we’ll see what happens.

Faces of Kaien

2008-06-05T20:59:00.003+08:00

When you start a new job you have lots of questions. Who will I work with? Where will I work? What are the bathrooms like? Will I like the people I work with? How much time will I be spending in this building? Will I like my job?

When you finish a job you have a completely different set of questions. How in the world did the last seven months go by so quickly? Will I ever have to do an English Club again? Why did the women's bathroom never have any paper towels? How do I get used to not seeing these great people everyday? What was the most important thing that I learned here?

I'm at the end now. May 31st was my last day of work at Kaien. Seven months exactly since I left the US on Halloween. Over the last seven months I have taught English, but I have also learned about myself. I know now that I'm capable of talking about anything for 45 minutes. I learned how to describe how to pronounce the "th" sound. I know that fourteen, forty and fortieth are very difficult to tell apart. I've gained confidence and board skills and learned how to monitor a room. I have come to appreciate having two days off in a row and that in the US if there is a three day weekend you don't work on one of the weekend days so it's really a two day weekend. All of these things I will take with me into the future.

I wouldn't have learned nearly as much without the people that surrounded me during this experience. My fellow teachers, managers, the sales staff and receptionists really supported me. At the beginning Charlie, Chad, Curt and Erica made my transition into the crazy Shanghai world much easier. Erica trained me and helped me buy my first cell phone. Curt (my old manager) picked me up after the health check before my visa process. Chad and I ventured out to Carrefour together and Charlie just projected confidence about everything which made me feel much more comfortable. Amber then came back from Australia and fit into our core group. We made our own rules and laughed and ordered too much take out together.

The Chinese teachers also helped and spoiled me. Rose bought me dice from a street market so I had a game that my students could play while I tested them. Maria was my language exchange partner who was the one that I called for silly things and help and laughs. She encouraged me to send my first text messages in Chinese. Jane with her unending puzzles and jokes - some of which I swear had no punchline.

At the new year I had a new manager, Jonathan, and after Spring Festival a whole new corps of teachers. Geoff, Karen, Iain, Richard - we've had a great three months as our ranks grew and more classes started and we worked and complained about hours and "non-native" thinking. For a long time, no one left, just more people starting and so you forget that teaching in Shanghai is a transient pursuit and people come and go.

And two weeks ago Chad left, and last week I left and in a month Charlie will leave and... the cycle continues.

I am planning a big karaoke party for tomorrow night and just about everyone has promised to stop by. It's a fitting way for me to say "再见！" to this group of friends because I truly hope I will see them again. Shanghai has me hooked - let's see what happens!

Kaien Friends and Faces

Enjoy the photos of the people I referenced above and some I didn't, but all are connected in some way to Kaien. I have tried to write captions that capture something about each person, so don't forget to read them!

Question - What is your biggest pet peeve in your current (or former) workplace? The no paper towels in the bathroom in Pudong was definitely one for me. Share!

G

Wake Up Call

2008-05-29T08:03:00.005+08:00

The sun in Shanghai rises incredibly early - at the moment it rises about a quarter to 5 in the morning. Since my roommate went back to the States I've been waking up earlier and earlier, then dozing until 7 or 8, whenever I force myself to get out of bed. Part of it is I'm not used to being in the apartment alone, but part of it is the fact that the sun is up and my body clock tends to sync with the sun.

China is on a single time zone, "Beijing Standard Time." I've heard a couple of theories about this: 1)It is a holdover from the days of the emperors and since the emperor was in Beijing that was the official time; 2)Mao insisted that since all people were equal in China, everyone should have the same time.

Like anything, there are pros and cons. You can schedule a meeting with representatives from anywhere in the country and not have to worry about time zone changes. There's also no daylight savings time, so as far as programming computers and clocks it is more straightforward. Train, bus and airplane schedules don't require conversions because "local time" is the same everywhere. But, if you live in Tibet in December the sun won't rise until almost 9am. Talk about going to work in the dark!

I love late summer twilight but since it the sun rises so early it gets dark about 6:30pm. I remember late summer evenings as a kid, softball games ending at 9pm in twilight, long walks for ice cream, sitting on the hill waiting for the fireworks to start at 10pm. It's a different rhythm here.

Question: What do you do when you can't sleep?

Happy Belated Memorial Day to you all! No holiday here, obviously, but this Sunday is Children's Day and a week from Sunday is the dragon boat festival. Then that week my parents come!

Cheers!

G

Red Tape

2008-05-22T10:24:00.002+08:00

One of the people I have met here works as an auditor for one of the big accounting firms. He told me that Chinese people feel very comfortable going to the police or to the government. If there is a problem, it is much better to go to them with the problem and work out a satisfactory solution on both sides instead of trying to conceal it or correct it on your own. This is almost a 180 from the views in America and he said his first six months here it really made his head spin. It was a difficult concept for me to grasp at the time, but I have developed a theory. The police and government here really are public servants. It is to their benefit, and yours, to keep everyone happy – even those foreigners who are living here. Since rules change so often, there is more space to tweak or bend them a little bit to complete a deal. It also helps if you speak a little Chinese.

When you live in China, you must register at the police station. I remember the walk behind my realtor at the beginning of my trip, as I tried to keep up and absorb where I was going. At the time the police station was a very overwhelming place – there were no lines and I had to use my elbows to prevent several women from getting in front of me – and the man who led me there spoke no English. The result of the registration is your “pink paper” – also known as your Temporary Residence Permit. I then used that to convert to my Residence Permit, which I have had ever since.

Due to the Olympics, China has been changing their visa policies. Certain types of visas, including F visas, are no longer available and durations have been shortened. Some of my friends have had problems or have had to go home to renew visas. Luckily, I haven’t had to worry because my work visa “Z visa” is one of the hardest to get and I pay taxes so there is no desire to change those rules but as I come to the end of my trip I must convert to a tourist visa. That’s an adventure for next week.

Two nights ago when I was getting home from work about 10:30pm there was a policeman at the front door of my complex on a motorcycle. He stopped me and handed me a half sheet of paper with some English on it. It basically said that I needed to go to the police station to register for a Temporary Residence Permit and gave three possible reasons why. I read it, thanked him, and went home. Then I started to think – could I have done something wrong? Possibly, with the way the rules keep changing, you never know. The next day I texted one of my coworkers who had recently gotten a new permit because she had moved and she told me what I needed to bring – pretty standard stuff – copy of the lease, copy of passport, copy of visa…and she said I needed a passport picture. That one I didn’t remember and I didn’t have any pictures left, so I had to procure more pictures.

My Wednesdays are very busy, so I didn’t have time to go to the station, but at work I made all my necessary copies and also got 9 passport photos made at the subway station. I was ready. At work, I asked my friend why they needed pictures now and she realized that she had typed the wrong thing in her text message. She apologized profusely. As I only paid 20 RMB for all 9 photos (about $3), it wasn’t a big deal and now I have lots of photos.

This morning I got up, ate and then prepared to go to the police station with my copies, the slip of paper and my passport. I headed out of the complex and at the side gate there were two police officers. “Passport, please” said one in English. Then, the other in Chinese said, “red paper.” I had everything all together in a folder, so I just pulled it out. They looked fairly surprised. I answered in Chinese and so the conversation switched into Chinese at this point. They asked me my building number and my apartment number, wrote some things down on a slip of paper and then told me I could leave. In my broken Chinese I asked if I still had to go to the police station as I pulled out the notice. They said no, I didn’t have to because I already had my Temporary Residence Permit (at least a copy of it) and my visa was fine.

The slip of paper must have been given to everyone who looked foreign that day, even if all of your paperwork was in order. The younger police officer was very friendly, he even walked me to the main gate and we talked a little bit. He asked why I was in China and where I planned to travel to after my job was finished. He then verified with his colleague at the main gate that I needed to go to Pudong to transfer my work visa to a tourist visa and that I should bring several things with me and that as long as I went before my work visa expired it should be a very easy conversion.

I didn’t go to the police station today.

Question – When have you gotten tangled in red tape? Football ticket lottery? Driver’s license? Passport? Travel papers? Share your story.

“I just thought it was really windy!”

2008-05-18T22:01:00.002+08:00

“I felt dizzy, then strange.”
“Did you hear there was an earthquake?”
“My wife’s office got evacuated.”

All of the above were reactions that I heard on Monday, May 12 within a couple of hours of the earthquake. I personally didn't feel anything, but Shanghai did feel the aftershocks and if I had been teaching that afternoon, the building was evacuated because it was swaying by about a foot. From what I heard if you were above the 10th floor at the time you could feel it, if not, you couldn't. I was taking my Chinese classes on the first floor of a building, so my reaction was, “Really?”

I kind of feel like I missed the big event, but am glad at the same time. There were no deaths in Shanghai, but at this point over 30,000 people are dead, over 200,000 are injured and another 10,000 are reported missing in Sichuan. A quake of 7.9 (it was initially reported as 7.8) is huge. The news is full of pictures and some of them are truly horrific. China has just declared three national days of mourning for the dead beginning tomorrow. During these days the Olympic torch relay is going to be postponed, there will be moments of silence and other events. The television is full of fundraising programs for the victims. There are already two separate competing songs for the tragedy that are being shown constantly on television and red donation boxes are sprouting up everywhere, including in my apartment complex.

Watching a country reunite in the face of a tragedy is something unique. It also causes me to marvel at the power of the government over the media. Sometimes the same program is playing on five or six channels simultaneously. Freedom is relative here.

Question – What tragedy do you remember witnessing? What questions did you want to ask at the time? How did your community react to the tragedy?

Thank you for the emails, comments and kind words after the deaths of my grandparents. I appreciate and am comforted by your concern and prayers.

G

A Tribute to Two Travelers

2008-05-05T08:36:00.002+08:00

As long as I can remember, my grandparents were telling me stories about their travels. They traveled extensively within the US and in the 1980s and 1990s extensively abroad, eventually going to all of the continents except Antarctica. While on their trips they bought rugs, baskets, fabric, jewelry and other handicrafts that were unique to their destination city. Each souvenir had a story and each time we went to the house in Frankenmuth we would hear one, "When we were in Egypt we..." "The time we went to Russia..." "I remember that I wanted to try bungee jumping when we went to Australia, but..."

As I got older, I would learn about the trips before they went instead of after. Before heading to Greece my grandmother asked me what souvenir I wanted. The movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" had recently come out and I told her, "Bring me back a handsome Greek man!" She smiled, but a couple months later when I saw her she presented me with a small statue of a handsome Greek man in traditional Greek clothes. We laughed and laughed.

When they traveled they most often took bus tours and the people that they traveled with became part of the story. "The Sari Group" was the people they traveled India with and one of the members was very good friends with two up and comers in the world of politics at the time named Bill and Hillary Clinton. For many years after the trip the sari group rejoined from corners of the United States to tell of more stories and tell of more travels.

My grandma always had good packing advice when I started traveling abroad. Her list of necessities always included a roll of toilet paper and a roll of duct tape. She told me that you could fix anything with duct tape and the TP normally came in handy somewhere. Another tip was to take your oldest underwear on the trip and then after wearing it, throw it away so you had more room in your luggage for souvenirs. Makes sense right?

My grandparents traveled to China in the mid80s. Since then my grandmother has always said, "China is the future." So few foreigners were in China at that time that their group was the center of attention where ever they went. There was one woman with long red hair and whenever she sat down on a bench or at a restaurant people would form a circle around her to stare and touch her hair. I remember a story about my grandfather eating an entire bird that was presented to him at a banquet (bones and all) because that was how to eat it. Another one was that they went to a high school auditorium to see school children do a performance. The gym smelled strongly of paint and when they left they realized that the walls had been freshly painted only minutes before they came so that everything would be neat and clean for the foreigners. A lot has changed since then, but I still get stared at occasionally, even in Shanghai, and as you know from my blog, eating interesting things remains possible.

Last week, both of my grandparents went on their last trip. My grandfather passed away on April 27th and my grandmother passed away on May 1st. My grandmother was a huge fan of my blog and would clip articles about traveling from her newspaper and send them to me while I lived here. I received the last one on April 29th. The travelling gene must be hereditary and the stories and example my grandparents set have influenced me. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa.

Question - Who has encouraged you to travel?

To my grandparents and to you all:

May the road always rise to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

and the rain fall softly on your fields.

And until the time that we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hands.

-An Irish Blessing

A Snake

2008-04-27T20:59:00.003+08:00

“I really want to try snake,” said Marina. “I’ve heard that it’s very good.”

Last night, a group of eight of us went to dinner. The core group was my Chinese class (Marko, Marina, Ade, Michelle and me) but I invited a coworker and one of her friends and Ade brought her husband as well. The original plan was to go to a restaurant in Pudong that Marina had found where the specialty was snake. Our intent was to get a fairly large group together because the minimum order was two kilograms and we weren’t sure if the taste would be to our liking. Plans changed and we wound up going to Yunnan Lu – one of the famous food streets in Shanghai.

The live fish, chickens and snakes were outside on the sidewalk in front of each restaurant and hawkers tried to encourage us to choose their restaurant. We didn’t see any other foreigners on this street and after checking out each shop we finally chose one. There were two snakes in the basket and between the 8 of us managed enough Chinese to select one. The handler got it out of its cage and right in front of us clipped the head off with a pair of scissors. The head landed at my feet. It was quite an event. Then we picked some live shrimp from another tank and after much deliberation headed upstairs.

There was no English menu, no pictures in this place. We ordered lots of food – the obligatory Kung Pao chicken, Hangzhou style beef and peppers, fish smelling eggplant (much better than the name), fresh spinach, broccoli, spicy tofu, the shrimp we had selected and a huge bowl of rice. At the end of the meal we then had a cold salad that was snake skin and then finally the snake. It was deep fried and coated in some kind of spice. Not bad really – not sure how something deep fried is good for your skin, but overall a very satisfying meal.

We split the bill and after paying had 35 RMB left over. We decided that we’ll save the money for the next time we get together to try something new. We’re not sure what to try next.

Question: What food do you really want to try or what food should I try while I’m here?
I can’t believe that I’ll have been here six months on Thursday. To use one of the idioms that I teach – “Time flies!” Hope to hear from you all soon.

The Rain Begins

2008-04-08T21:37:00.003+08:00

Today has been a rainy day. Umbrellas are sprouting like the tulips you see in Chicago in the spring. Rain is a season here and residents of Shanghai take their umbrellas seriously. Most are the golf umbrella variety, very sturdy and large with long handles. Almost none of the umbrellas are black - I see pink and purple and blue and yellow, stripes, polka dots, lace.

It is said that Shanghai men are the best men in China to marry because they do the cooking, the cleaning, carry their wives and girlfriends purses, etc. One lesson that I've taught multiple times at school is on dating and relationships. I asked the question: "What's the worst thing about being married?" One of my male students answered, "Having to clean the floor." He was Shanghainese and had just gotten married six months ago.

The moral of this story is that Shanghai men are very comfortable with their masculinity. Today I saw three businessmen, all dressed in suits. One was carrying a bright purple umbrella, one a striped pink umbrella and the third a blue polka dot umbrella. It made me smile.

Question - What do you like to do on rainy days?

东北人

2008-04-05T22:20:00.002+08:00

What do you get when you combine four New Zealanders, two Germans, two Brits, an Australian, an American and a Chinese person?

Dinner tonight at an excellent restaurant called Dong Bei Ren (东北人 or North Eastern People). My classmate Ade organized the event to which the above crowd gathered to celebrate China and the departure next week of Josh, one of our classmates, back to the UK. We ate and drank and overall had an excellent time. North Eastern food is different than the Cantonese food that we eat in the United States - there is an emphasis on potatoes and root vegetables that you might not expect in Chinese cooking. This restaurant is known for its pork ribs which we ordered. They were so big that each person was given a plastic glove to hold the rib with and so we gnawed and nibbled the meat as if we were at a Renaissance fair.

The other specialty of this restaurant was the singing waitresses. Our waitress sang us songs from the North East of China and after some prodding also sang us a song from the south of China. We were sharing a room with another group of about 10 Chinese people from the North of China and they had a great time laughing at the foreigners in the room and we had a great time watching them as well.

Overall it was a great night. Chinese food is meant to be shared and this was a great night to do so. We were stuffed when we left and the cost per person (including drinks) was 60RMB. Not bad for about $9.

Question - What is the best restaurant you know of to go with a big group of people? Why is it the best?

Cheers!

The Beauty Salon - Part II

2008-04-01T21:18:00.005+08:00

In my previous post about the beauty salon, I neglected to mention that Arnel, Marisha's husband also decided to get his hair cut. Men get the same treatment as women with a half an hour shampoo/scalp massage and then a haircut. Arnel's haircut finished much sooner than Marisha's and I think he started to get bored. Before going to the salon he had joked that he was going to dye his hair and as he waited his resolve strengthened. He decided to get red highlights.

It was an incredible process. The pictures below document the experience:

At one point there were five stylists standing around Arnel making sure that everything went well. I'd imagine that the highlights are pretty much gone by now - almost two months later, but they will be one of my favorite memories in the hair salon.

Also - I got my hair cut last week for the first time since the kissing stylist incident. Luckily the guy who made the move on me wasn't there and I was able to relax and enjoy my haircut. The stylist in the picture with Arnel is the one who cut my hair last week.

An Exercise in Futility

2008-04-01T20:28:00.003+08:00

Ever since I've gotten here, my mother and grandmother have been telling me to go to the fabric market and get clothes made. I put it off until the last couple of weeks, but have had coworkers and friends get custom made shirts, pants, overcoats and other things without incident. Last Tuesday one of my coworkers said he was going back to get some shirts made so I asked if I could come along. I brought a pair of black pants that I have that fit perfectly for them to copy because I had heard that they could copy anything.

I had given away the card of the shop that one of my coworkers had recommended, but there are three floors of different shops and after looking at a couple we settled on one on the third floor. I gave them my pants, picked my material - a navy blue with a small pinstripe - and lining and after some hard bargaining agreed to a price of 100RMB for the pants with the promise that they would be ready on the following Friday.

On Friday Chris and I went to the fabric market together under the presumption that my pants would be ready. We wandered a bit and then headed to the third floor. I saw the sales girl's face drop as I walked in which is never a good feeling. The three people inside started arguing in Chinese and I could follow the conversation. They were saying - she could come Saturday, Sunday, they're not here today, what should we do, what should we say? They then flat out told me the pants weren't there and could I come back tomorrow. I work all day Saturday and Sunday and told them as much. They then asked if they could deliver them to my house. I said no - if they're not right, then I would still have to come back and I didn't feel like dealing with that.

We settled the issue by saying that I would come back Tuesday (today) for the pants. Thus, after Chinese class today I hopped into a taxi and headed down. Guess what happened? I made my way to the third floor and saw what appeared to be a deserted booth. I waited a minute and the salesgirl came back. Her face fell.

Let's say that there were several more phone calls to the boss about the girl with the black pants. They then told me to "Wait a moment." The pants weren't done again. At this point I was worried I would never see my old black pants again. When you're 5'10'' in China you can't just buy pants off a rack and not having my black pants for a week was limiting my wardrobe options even more so than usual. Then, the boss showed up with my black pants - but not the new blue pants. We had the discussion again - they're not ready, can we send them to you? We'll deliver them to your company, to your house, to your...

So now I was negotiating with the boss. Once again I explained that I didn't know if they were done correctly. He finally said to me: "I will bring them to you myself. If they don't fit I will give you your money back." We settled on a time of 8pm this evening.

At 8:15 my buzzer rang and I let my visitor in. He handed me the blue pants. They looked really good - the inside was copied, the pockets, lining looked okay. I tried them on.

They were three inches too short.

He tried to convince me that that was the length of my black pants and they had copied it. I put the black pants back on and showed him. His face fell. He made a telephone call, then asked me to take the black pants off so he could measure them. He looked at the hem on the blue pants - it was about an inch and a half. He reached into his wallet and gave me my money back.

All of that work, all of that time - wasted. Before he left he tried to convince me that for 10RMB they would turn them into capri pants for me. I don't know about you, but navy blue pinstriped capris would be pretty hard to pull off at work and are probably a mite formal for around the house. I turned him down. He left with the pants.

I won't be recommending this shop. Chris has ordered a suit from another shop. He is supposed to pick it up this weekend. If it is successful, maybe I will try that shop - but not for a while. I need to rebuild my energy after this exercise in futility.

Q - Ever had your own exercise in futility? Please share.

Hope you all are well. A silver lining in this is that almost all of the transactions in this story were conducted entirely in Chinese, including one telephone call. Today is my five month anniversary of being in China and I am extremely proud of how much I have learned here.

Cheers!

In Transit

2008-03-19T13:25:00.002+08:00

When Matt came to visit over Chinese New Year we walked all over Shanghai. Here is a collection of photos that show our travels by foot and by subway. The comments in the slide show give you background on where we were at each place. Experiencing a place on foot is completely different than seeing it through the window of a car and is my favorite way to get the feel for a city.

Streets of Shanghai During Chinese New Year

Question - Where is your favorite place to talk a walk?

Cheers!

The Beauty Salon - Part I

2008-03-15T20:11:00.003+08:00

Sometimes all it takes is vocalizing something to make the opposite come true. When Marisha and Arnel were here I commented that most Chinese men aren’t interested in western women – especially very tall western women. Serves me right for saying that!

One of the things that Marisha wanted to do while she was in China was get her hair dyed. Since she’s had the kids she has been cutting her hair herself and I made it my mission that she get some pampering during her visit here. I took her to the same salon that I went to back in December that I’ve been to before – great cuts, attentive service and low prices. Since I had gotten my hair cut two weeks earlier, I just sat in one of the chairs and translated for Marisha (and Arnel) as necessary.

My Chinese has been improving steadily, but by no means am I fluent. Conversations with people who don’t speak English, like my cleaning lady or the salon boys, are punctuated with, “Ting, bu dong” – “I hear you, but I don’t understand.” Hence, the comment I made at the beginning – it was a slow afternoon at the salon and one of the stylists made it his job to amuse me. It started with, “Do you have a boyfriend?” and progressed to “It would be very convenient if you were my girlfriend” to “Will you kiss me?” It was all in good fun and I would have been prepared to leave it at that, but before we left I had to go to the bathroom.

My new friend (see the picture above) followed me, ostensibly to make sure that I made it down the long hallway and around to the toilet. He then waited for me and when I was done attempted to pin me against the wall and take the kiss which I had refused in the salon. I was rather taken aback and managed to do a slight sidestep, give him a hug and speedily exit.

The post script to this story was one that evening last week when walking home from work I was waiting to cross the street and a guy on a motorbike pulled up right in front of me, pointed directly at me and then the back seat of his bike and said (in Chinese) – “You, sit right here!” Definitely unexpected.

Now that I have been proved wrong, I just have to find the attractive Chinese men who are interested in tall Western women.

Question – Ladies, where have you received your strangest pick-up lines? This has to be one of my strangest although I did get a marriage proposal from a random guy on North Avenue beach a couple of years ago. Gents – what’s your strangest pick-up line that you’ve actually used?

Public space

2008-03-13T13:35:00.002+08:00

Last night I finished work a little early (around 9pm) because I was testing a class and testing doesn't take the entire period. The weather was warm - mid60s or so - and I was walking towards the subway station when I suddenly heard music. Normally this would not cause me to pause, but this was ballroom dance music and I was walking down one of the biggest streets in Pudong, Century Avenue (or Shiji Da Dao). Looking around, in the square across the street there were about two dozen couples waltzing together, enjoying the evening under the street lights, twirling and dipping. Now all I need to do is find a partner.

Question - Where's your favorite place to dance?

Chinese New Year at Yu Garden

2008-03-12T22:42:00.004+08:00

On New Year's Day (February 7th), Matt, Chris and I went to Yu Garden - one of the main tourist attractions in Shanghai. So it seems, did most of the Shanghai population. The garden and surrounding area were absolutely packed with people. The attached slide show is our recordings of the day and experiences. The photo that I have chosen for the cover is Chris and my favorite photo - Chris took it while we were on the bridge of 9 turns. It is supposed to be lucky to cross the bridge because bad things cannot follow you as you cross the 9 turns. I don't think anyone could have followed across the bridge with that many people on it.

Chinese New Year at Yu Garden

I have many photos to post from New Year's as well as Marisha and Arnel's visit. I will post them as I can. Unfortunately I have had the flu the last couple of days and am still recovering.

Question - These are pictures from Chinese New Year - what are some of your New Year's traditions?

Cheers!

Photos from A Day in Suzhou

2008-02-24T22:21:00.003+08:00

Matt was kind enough to let me post some of his photos here from our day. He took many more than this, but I whittled it down to present these. It was a great day that is captured here.

A Day in Suzhou

Enjoy!

A Suzhou Story

2008-02-18T21:08:00.006+08:00

"I LOST MATT - I AM HOPING HE IS ON THE TRAIN. THE LAST 20MIN HAVE BEEN CRAZY"

- text message sent by me to Chris on February 17, 2008, 8:02PM

Yesterday Matt and I went to Suzhou - home of beautiful gardens, pagodas and monuments, about a 45 minute train ride due west of Shanghai. Suzhou is on the route from Shanghai to Nanjing, so there are lots of trains that go there. We took the 9:15am express train there in luxury - the seats were about $4 each and were nicer than business class on an overseas airplane. Plenty of room to stretch out, individual pillows, and a total train time of less than 45 minutes. It was a great start to the day.

Suzhou is a smaller city in China, only having 5 to 6 million people. In the past it was one of the most important cities in China because of it's silk production and until the last 200 years was must more important than Shanghai. Suzhou was part of the Silk Road and Marco Polo called it the Venice of the East because of the intricate network of canals and bridges throughout the city. Suzhou has the reputation of having the most beautiful woman in China and the Suzhou dialect is praised as being the language of poets.

Our guide "The Lonely Planet" said that there were five tourist buses that for 2RMB would take you to most of the sites and they left from the train station. Unfortunately, no one could tell us where the buses were. We went from one side of parking lot to the other, across the road and back, all the while being hounded by vendors selling maps and others who were trying to sell us very expensive boat tours. Matt finally bought a map and after purchasing it realized that there was absolutely no English on it at all. We finally boarded a bus, but the driver shooed us off when I asked if Tiger Hill was one of her stops. At that point, after spending most of an hour looking for the correct bus we gave up and took a taxi.

Tiger Hill was incredible - there was a long uphill walkway from the entrance flanked by drums and gongs. People were hitting the drums and gongs that sounded almost planned - a very happy sound. After some observation Matt and I realized that each year (rat, monkey, snake, horse, etc.) had a gong and a drum and people were hitting them for good luck with the new year. We found ours and followed their example.

The main attraction at Tiger Hill is a very tall brick pagoda that is leaning - the Chinese tower of Pisa if you will. It is very impressive and the scenery in the gardens is pretty remarkable. Because of the focus on rocks and water, Chinese gardens are beautiful year round, even in the middle of February. Also remarkable is that we didn't see any other foreign tourists. None.

After exploring Tiger Hill we headed to the second most famous location in Suzhou, "The Humble Administrator's Garden" which is a World Heritage Site. It was hard to believe that this was the humble administrator's garden. It was huge! There were at least two separate lakes, numerous pavilions, a museum explaining the different concepts in Chinese gardening as well as documenting other gardens in Shanghai and southern China.

Pushing on, we then visited the city's silk museum and then climbed to the top of the tallest pagoda in the city. The steps were steep, but the views at the top gave us a chance to see the city. After that we got into a bicycle rickshaw and our driver pedaled us to the twin pagodas, unique because pagodas are normally single structures. We had this last site almost to ourselves and the trees were just starting to bud, perfuming the air as the sun began to set.

Since we had tickets for the 7:17pm train, we went to dinner at one of the restaurants in our guidebook and had the traditional sweet and sour fish from Suzhou as well as local long beans, cold roast duck and fried rice. The food was excellent and we congratulated ourselves on a day well spent as we walked quickly back to the train station.

Our train was actually running 35 minutes late, so we settled into the waiting room with probably 200-300 people and began to unwind. When the train was announced we joined the rush of people heading down to the platform and tried to stand where we thought our car would be. Unfortunately, we guessed wrong and when the train pulled up we had to run to the other end of the track. Our car, car 11 was absolutely packed and the conductors weren't letting people on as some people tried to get off. Another conductor told us to go down to car 10 and get on there, but when we got there it was the same story so we went back again.

Almost everybody else was on the train except us and about half a dozen people in front of us. There were elbows and shoving and I finally got almost on and then a man with a piano tried to push in front of me. I smashed into the woman in front of me and managed to get ahead of the man with the piano at which point I turned around and realized that Matt was gone. He had been right behind me and I had absolutely no idea where he went. I couldn't move - I was stuck between a woman with a very large suitcase and the man with the piano. As I was standing there, trying to get from the hallway to inside the train car, the train started moving.

Needless to say, this was not the luxury train of the morning. I was slightly in shock as I showed my ticket to the attendent and he made the woman sitting in my seat move. She took it well enough, pulling a portable stool from underneath the seat and sitting right next to me on the floor. As I sat down, I considered my options: 1) Matt was on the train somewhere else and 2) Matt was on the platform in Suzhou. It was at this point that I sent the text message at the beginning of the entry to Chris. I decided to stay in my seat, hoping that if he was on the train he would eventually show up because his seat was supposed to be right next to mine. He never did.

Chris and I exchanged several more text messages - Chris tried to call Matt's cell phone from our apartment, we tried to figure out how to send an international text message - nothing. The default position was when I got off the train in Shanghai I would stand on the platform and start yelling his name. The ride home was about an hour and 15 minutes and the time passed very quickly.

To complete the story - Matt had managed to get on the train, he had realized the train was about to leave and run back to car number 10. He then had the honor of being the last person on board the train and a space by the door to stand for the hour and 15 minute trip. He said his car was so full that there was no way he could have traversed the length to get to car 11. Let's just say I was more than a little relieved to see him standing on the platform waiting for me when I finally got off in Shanghai.

Q - Have you ever lost someone when you were traveling or were you ever lost? Especially in the days before cell phones, it's a scary proposition. Share your stories!

I will try to post an album of Suzhou pictures as well as pictures from Matt's arrival and travels in Shanghai with us earlier during Spring Festival in the next week or so. My Chinese classes have started again and so my time is much more limited now, but I want to share them since Chris and Matt took such great photos.

Cheers!

The Year of the Rat

2008-02-12T21:20:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year to you all! Chinese New Year has been an event - a week long celebration of family and friends. Our friend Matt has visited us since New Year's Eve (February 6th) and both guys took a lot of pictures. I didn't. I'm (as you probably realize by now), more interested in capturing people than things. Both guys have agreed to let me make copies of some of their pictures and when I do I will post them for your viewing. One benefit to being the one without a camera affixed to her face is that I am the subject of many of their pictures, proving beyond a doubt that I was in China for New Years. Here is one picture I took of the two of them at Yu Garden to prove that Matt really did visit:

This year is the Year of the Rat. Most of the decorations make the rat look more like a mouse and I think the Disneyland here is taking full advantage of the connection. I even saw some balloons with Mickey and Minnie on them. Rats are seen as good animals here and there are many stories about how the clever rat managed to manipulate the other animals so that it would be first on the Chinese zodiac. Rats are supposed to be charasmatic, charming and manipulative. I am a Monkey, so the Year of the Rat looks pretty good for me depending on the website you choose. One that we have had a lot of fun looking at is:

http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/Rat.htm

This website also assigns an element to different years to coordinate with your year of birth and really gets some characteristics dead on. For example - I am a metal monkey: "Persuasive and passionate, this Monkey is a warm person. He is successful due to his innate determination and ambitious nature. He works hard to climb the ladder of success and prefers to work alone. They are loyal employees, always prepared and tactful with answers and upper management. In love these Monkeys are just as loyal as well as loving and affectionate. "

One thing that we had the opportunity to do was go to dinner with my friends Mike and Lily Chiang and their children. When I first got to China they were wonderful, making sure that I had everything I needed. We stuffed ourselves on dumplings, rice, soup and veggies and then Lily bought us cream puffs to take home. Below is a picture of me with their family in the metro station. It's been pretty cold here for Shanghai so we were looking for a warm spot to snap a photo.

Other Chinese New Year memories that I hope to expand on later - fireworks and firecrackers being lit in front of our building and hitting our window, getting carried along by the mob at Yu Garden trying to cross the bridge of nine turns, walking through the market and narrow streets after we found the fabric market was closed, Matt buying so many DVDs at the DVD store, eating Hot Pot and being the only customers in the restaurant, following the woman who decided to make it her mission that I found a milk tea, negotiating for Matt's rolex, burning incense at Jing'an Temple, the views of the city from the TV tower....

Question - What is your sign (Chinese or Zodiac)? Have you ever had a horoscope really predict your day or year? If you don't believe in horoscopes - what's the strangest horoscope you've ever heard?

Thanks to you who responded to my last post. I am glad you are still reading. Xin Nian Kuaile!

Weather or not

2008-02-02T15:53:00.000+08:00

The weather in China over the last week has made international news bulletins. I have gotten several emails asking if I was ok. I am fine, although hundreds of thousands of people have gotten stranded in train stations and in some areas of the country there are shortages of oil and power. Over the last week we have gotten about four inches of snow in Shanghai. That may not sound like a lot (especially to those Chicago folks who got a foot yesterday), but this is the most snow that Shanghai has had in over 15 years. The city has no snow removal equipment and all of the street cleaning is done the old fashioned way with brute force - shovels, boards, brooms and the occasional mop serving to clean the streets. This morning I woke up to another 2 inches of wet, sticky snow and slid my way to the train station to go to work.

An entire generation of Shanghai children is learning how to build snowmen and throw snowballs. One day on our way to Chinese class Chris and I saw at least three different sets of people taking their pictures in the snow. Later that day, I made Chris take the following pictures of me.

I also took a photo out the window of our apartment.
This photo was taken before the additional snow last night, so pretty much everything is white at this point. One of my coworkers is from Australia and she had never seen snow before. Having someone else experience snow for the first time is really special.

Part of the reason that the snow is causing so many problems is that next week is Chinese New Year. Everyone is going home for the holiday, so millions of people are traveling in this week leading up to the festival. I am not - my plan is to stay in Shanghai and take pleasure in doing nothing for awhile. Also Chris and my friend Matt is coming and we will be touring him around Shanghai. I'll put up pictures from Matt's visit in the future.

Q - I'm not sure if anyone is still reading my blog (except my parents), as my comments have dropped off sharply as of late. This time, if you're out there, please post a quote or funny story that I can use to inspire myself on these gray winter days or post your first memory of snow or your best memory of snow.

Also - an FYI, yesterday I finally successfully bought my hand lotion. One thing down, many more to go.

Cheers!

Photos from "The End of a Class"

2008-01-25T19:27:00.000+08:00

As promised, attached is a link to a slideshow with some pictures from my level 3 final dinner. I also have a short video that one of my students took as well. Looking at these pictures makes me remember why this was such a good class.

Q - If you listen carefully to the video, you'll hear me say, "What's going on?" - Ever had a moment like that?

Enjoy!

Level 3 final dinner

A Drugstore Discovery

2008-01-21T19:38:00.000+08:00

Every once in a while, something happens here that reminds me how much I haven't learned yet. It has been very cold here - mid 30s and my hands are starting to get chapped. I have a small bottle of lotion that I brought with me, but it's just about gone, so I decided to go to Watson's and purchase some more. Watson's is a drugstore chain and it has a lot of foreign products - I can buy Oil of Olay body wash, Colgate toothpaste and even Nivea hand lotion - at least in theory.

Going to the store takes a lot of time - I don't know the word for lotion, so my method is scanning each aisle and then looking for specifics. I eventually found the lotion aisle and a bottle of Nivea intensive hand lotion. It was just over a dollar, so I decided that I would buy it. Then, I had to find the cash register which wasn't too difficult and stand in line. Chinese people don't really like to wait in line, so it is necessary to stake a claim to a spot of floor and defend it with your elbows or coat and prevent other people from getting in front of you. The "line" was really long, but after about 15 minutes I finally made it to the front. I handed the clerk my bottle of lotion and she let out a sigh and handed it to another attendent. He looked at my bottle of lotion and said, "You get different, this test."

It seems I had managed to choose the "tester" bottle of lotion out of all of the bottles. Of course, it was clearly marked "tester" in Chinese, but unfortunately the characters for "tester" haven't been among the 50 or so that I've memorized thus far. I think in the States if this had happened they would have offered to go get me another bottle, but not here. They just pointed to the back of the line. I had waited for nothing.

At this point, I had had enough. I had already been in the drugstore over half an hour and was batting zero. I left without the lotion. I'm sure this'll be funny some day - I remember the time we completely confused a clerk in a Spanish supermarket in the candy department when we said that we wanted to buy esponjas instead of esponjitas (sponges instead of marshmallows) - but at the moment it's just overwhelming. And my hands are still chapped.

Q - Any frustrating stories about your trips? Amusing ones would be appreciated.

Hope to hear from you soon.

The end of a class

2008-01-12T20:07:00.000+08:00

Last Wednesday night I went with my level 3 class to dinner because they asked me to go and I said yes; not realizing at the time that they really don’t speak that much English and my Chinese is pretty minimal. Luckily my Chinese co-teacher Rose, went with me, but the students put us on opposite sides of the table, so that took away my ability to have a translator.

Teachers are granted a lot of respect in China. The importance of education cannot be underestimated. Small children (7 or 8 years old) attend classes on Saturday and do homework for 3 or 4 hours a night. My students are all adults, but they work a full day and then come in for a three hour class two nights a week, or they give up a Saturday or Sunday to study. It is impressive.

These students were a special group that really seemed to like each other and it was such a great thing to see them in their element – in control of the situation. One of the younger students (he is 24, Tony, same name as my brother) took charge of most of the ordering and it was so neat to see him so in charge. He ordered a fish dish and they brought him the fish live in the bucket to see and he just nodded that it was fine and they cooked it. I was sitting next to him and I’ve never had that happen before, but it was normal for him.

I ate duck and fish and tofu and vegetables and bamboo shoots and salad and soup and shrimp and ribs and.... there must have been over 15 different dishes by the time we were done. Luckily my chopstick skills are now pretty good so I didn't embarrass myself in front of my students.

During the meal I started thinking about these people. In the states they would be my coworkers, my friends, my colleagues and here they were my students. They are engineers and doctors and secretaries and salesmen. Some of them were older than me, some the same age, a few younger. We probably would be friends. Someday when I work internationally they could be my colleagues.

The evening ended. Two things I learned –
1) Chinese dinners last a long time – this one was over three hours
2) Don’t play drinking games when the person explaining the rules does not speak much English – it’s a deadly combination.

The next morning I learned another Chinese word – the word for hangover.
Q – Any interesting foreign dinners in your past? Please share.

ps - If I get emailed a copy of the class picture we took, I will post it.

Who ya gonna call?

2008-01-04T16:44:00.000+08:00

Our gym has been a good reliever of stress with its unique musical selections. A couple of weeks ago Chris commented that he had never heard "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" followed by "California Knows How to Party" by Dr. Dre. Today I was riding the stationary bicycle listening to my ipod when I realized that a semi-familiar melody was blasting out of the speakers. It was a techno version of the Ghostbusters theme song. Someone must have remixed it for a club and here it was in my local gym. I turned off my ipod and pedaled along to the music until the song ended and Bryan Adams singing "Everything I Do (I do it for you)" took over. Despite my nostalgia for high school dances, I replaced my earphones and continued my workout.

Q - What's the strangest song you've heard in a normal place? Or rather, what normal song have you heard in the strangest place?

New Year Musings

2008-01-03T13:40:00.000+08:00

I have been in China just over two months now. Happy New Year from Shanghai! The majority of my New Year's Days I have spent in Jackson, Michigan, watching lots of football on TV. I must admit not seeing any football this year was very strange, but I'm sure the games will be there next year for me to watch.

The past few days I have been thinking about the freedom that living in a foreign country grants me. In Shanghai, almost all employees work overtime, people change jobs often, hundreds of new people come to the city every day. My students find the chapter on the workplace very useful. One chapter is entitled "Are you stressed out?" which merits a resounding "Yes" from almost everyone. Yet, when they ask me the same question I answer, "No."

Why am I not stressed out? I am working 21 hours a week with an additional 8 hours of prep time and studying 15 hours of Chinese a week. I'm doing language exchanges, going to dinner with friends, braving the bank, the post office, the supermarket and the gym, studying Chinese, working on my blog - so many things, but I'm not stressed. Why?

As far as I can tell, there are two main reasons:

1) I know that my time in Shanghai is concretely defined. My contract is through May 31st - my work visa is through May 31st. This gives me the ability to pick and choose what I like about the culture and the food and the people and know that I am going back to the States in the middle of June. All of my courses last 8 weeks - if I don't like something, it will change in less than two months.

2) Here I am responsible only for myself and don't need to worry about the long term effects of my actions. If I make a mistake or social gaffe, everything I do that is strange here is categorized as something "foreign." "Oh - you don't like to eat tripe - you're a foreigner." "Why don't you have soy sauce in your home? Oh, you're a foreigner." "Why are you taking pictures of our street? Oh, you're a foreigner."

It makes life a lot simpler. When I was in Spain I was worried a lot about "doing the wrong thing." but now I have mellowed and am more accepting of my own shortcomings and willing to accept help from others. Isn't that the first step of a 12 step program? I am a _________. I need help.

This acceptance is one of the things I was looking for by taking this sabbatical by removing myself from the ordinary. Mission accomplished.

Q - Have you had a trip where you were able to redefine yourself? Where were you? Who were you with? How long did you stay?

Cheers!

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beeeeeeep

2007-12-29T17:49:00.000+08:00

is the sound that the occurs in the Shanghai subway just before the doors close.

I ride the subway almost every day here. I work in Pudong which is about 5 miles away from our apartment and on the days I'm not working I'm going other places. A ride on the subway costs 3RMB one way (45 cents), with a volume discount each month if you use your transit card for more than 70 RMB in charges. Normally I travel during off peak hours due to my nights and weekends work schedule, but today I got to experience the joy of riding during rush hour.

The Chinese government mandated that, since New Year's Day is on a Tuesday, if employees wanted Monday off, everyone had to work on Saturday. Saturday, therefore, turned into a normal work day. Because everyone had to work, I was not supposed to teach (all my students would be at work), so my manager told me I didn't need to arrive until 9am for a training class. This put me smack dab into the middle of rush hour as I tried to get on the train at 8:30. After watching two trains pass, too full for even Chinese people to get on, I summoned my courage and pushed my way onto the third train.

Elbows, knees, backs, bags - I was completely smashed between a pole and three people. At the next stop, even more people got on. My Chinese teacher used the following example in one class, "America has a lot of trees, China has a lot of people." I agree and I think 50% of them were on the subway with me this morning.

Q - What has been your worst experience with public transit? Today was far from the worst I've had, once in Chicago my bus driver got lost and when I was in Europe we had some fun adventures with buses too. Share your stories.

Thank you for all the Christmas wishes and a very Happy New Year. Cheers!

A Christmas massage

2007-12-25T19:09:00.000+08:00

More than I expected, Shanghai loves Christmas decorations. Everything from the bag at the bakery across the street to the displays in shopping malls seems to show Santa Claus (complete with reindeer) and Christmas Greetings. In almost every shop, employees wear Santa hats - from McDonalds to Carrefour. There are Christmas lights, Christmas music (with Chinese lyrics) and I had the day off work today.

That said, this is a secular event and it is not a holiday for 99% of Chinese people. There are no nativity scenes or messages of charity and goodwill. China has imported the "stuff" but not the real meaning. In the absence of the religious message, I have been pondering what makes Christmas truly special and is it possible to have an enjoyable Christmas on the other side of the world. After today, my answer is a resounding, "YES!"

Our holiday started last Friday when we went to dinner with one of Chris's colleagues my friend, Jonathan. Then on Saturday we met up with two other friends for Japanese curry and ice cream and Sunday was the KaiEn Christmas party. On Christmas Eve we went to a party thrown by one of our Chinese classmates, Natalie, and really enjoyed ourselves - rolling in about 1am, tired and happy.

For Christmas day we cooked a big American breakfast - eggs, pancakes and bacon and invited our upstairs neighbor Liz to share in the festivities. She provided two additional chairs and plates and forks. We have an entire set of chopsticks but never did get around to buying forks. Eating pancakes with chopsticks is almost impossible, as we found out. After she left we concentrated on relaxing - and I got a foot massage. One hour of bliss, including a short shoulder massage and scalp massage (for 75 RMB approx. $10). I drifted in and out as Masseuse #3 worked on my feet and thought of my friends and family who have supported me through this great adventure.

Christmas is about people. It is possible to celebrate anywhere because it is not the candy canes or the Santa hats that make it special, but the memories and stories that grow. The slideshow that I link to below shows some of the new friends I have made here who are helping me experience this wonderful city. I hope you enjoy it.

Christmas 2007

Merry Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad to you all.

Cheers!

你们好!

2007-12-17T13:54:00.000+08:00

你们好! 我们学习中文。每天我们去学校由脚。我们的类总共有5 个人。

Nĭmen hăo! Wŏmen xuéxí Hànyŭ. Mĕitiān wŏmen qù xuéxiào zòu lu. Wŏmen de kè yígòng yŏu wŭ ge rén.

Chris and I have been studying Chinese for just over two weeks now. It is amazing the number of words and phrases that I can now say and remember. On the street I can pick out bits of conversation instead of everything being "blahblahblahblahblah... blah blah." It is amazing.

Our school is called Miracle Mandarin and initially we signed up for a four week intensive "survival Chinese" class. Class is every weekday morning from 9-12 and the school is very close to our house. We have three classmates, Marko and Marina are from Germany and Natalie from France. Our teacher, Chén Zhóu is from Beijing and she is an excellent teacher. Taking classes has made me realize two things: 1) Now that I am teaching as well, I have a greater appreciation for teachers and she is one of the best - enthusiastic, helpful - leading the lesson so easily that we don't realize how much we are learning. 2) My English students are amazing! Taking any class for three hours is difficult, but I can't imagine doing this at the very end of my workday instead of the beginning.

Mastering another language is one of the best feelings in the world. I knew that I had mastered Spanish when I began dreaming in Spanish when I lived in Spain. It's funny - now that I'm learning Chinese, random Spanish words and sentences keep popping into my head. For example "I" is "wŏ" in Chinese and "yo" in Spanish. Today I was saying something and "yo" found it's way into the middle of my sentence. It is the same part of the brain, I'm sure. I'm not sure I'll be here long enough to master Chinese, but it is a good goal.

We have been concentrating on spoken Chinese and the pinyin. Simplified Chinese characters are the first entry at the beginning of the blog, pinyin is the roman alphabet translation that you see below. Today we started to learn basic strokes for characters. I'm excited to learn, but it is overwhelming as it is so different from English. Thus far we have had elementary lessons on our family, buying things, bargaining, going to different places, etc. All of us in the class have decided that we will enroll for a second month at the school. After that, Natalie is going back to France and Marina and Marko want to enroll in a university program, so I'm unsure what will happen. I know I want to continue to study, but the time and place are TBD.

I feel very lucky to have such a good group of classmates. Natalie is throwing a Christmas Eve party at her place next Monday night. Chris and I both have to work, but we're going to come for the end of the party and eat dessert and celebrate the holiday with our new friends. I'll make sure to take some pictures.

Q - Have you studied another language or do you speak another language? Any funny stories? How did you know when you finally understood what was going on?

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday and hope to hear from you soon and in the new year.
圣诞快乐! Shèng dàn kuàilè!
Merry Christmas!

G

The characters and pinyin at the beginning of this entry read: "Hello! We are studying Chinese. Every day we go to school by foot. Our class in total has 5 people."

After Six and a Half Years...

2007-12-08T21:15:00.000+08:00

I just received the news that my PD plan has been accepted. I have completed all of the requirements to become an FSA (Fellow in the Society of Actuaries) save the FAC (Fellowship Admissions Course). Right now I am planning on taking the FAC after I return from Asia, but will have to contact the Society to establish the particulars.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me during this process, especially my parents, Derek Guyton - my PD reviewer and exam mentor for many sittings, Lisa Black - for making sure I had my priorities straight when I started work, Tony Mateja for rearranging my schedule so I didn't go crazy, Valerie Nelson and Ben York - for giving me study materials and lots of great practical advice.

Wow.

G

Five pairs of shoes

2007-12-07T13:44:00.000+08:00

I got back from the gym on Wednesday to find five pairs of shoes outside my door. One pair was Chris's, but I didn't recognize the rest of them. I added my pair to the pile and opened the door slowly to reveal Chris, both of our landlords, an older lady wearing a red coat and a younger guy behind the TV.

After a round of "Ni hao, Nimen hao. [hello, hello]" I looked at Chris. He shrugged. I shrugged back.

Earlier in the week we had told our landlords we didn't understand how to work the DVD player and we thought it was broken. This was their solution. Chris had told me earlier while I was at the gym the landlords had appeared bringing their friend in the red coat. The three of them had brought a manual for the DVD player and were reading it, trying to get it to work. They had then disappeared, telling Chris that they would come back later. About ten minutes before I arrived home, they had come back with the younger man who was now behind the television trying to get the DVD player to work. As I was watching this spectacle, another person knocked on the door - another younger man who talked to man #1 behind the television. The two of them proceeded to starting switching the cables around for the next 15 minutes or so.

At this point, we had five Chinese people in our apartment and me and Chris - that's 7 pairs of shoes outside the door. The two younger man managed to get the sound to work, but still no picture. I was starting to get antsy because I needed to take a shower before I went to work and there was no way that was going to happen with so many people in the apartment. Eventually the picture popped in the screen, complete with Chinese subtitles. I have never been so happy to see "Family Guy" before. It was great.

Within five minutes of the DVD player working, all 5 of our visitors were gone. The two younger men disappeared very quickly, but I managed to convince our landlords and their friend in the red coat to pose for a picture with me before they left.

Q - What has been your greatest technological victory? A new cell phone? Wireless internet? An automatic garage door opener? How did you conquer it?

Thanks for all your comments and emails, I've been battling a cold the last week and hearing from friends and family makes all the difference. Cheers!

The point method fails

2007-12-03T22:50:00.000+08:00

I have been ordering most of my food by pointing since I've been in Shanghai - hence the meat on a stick and the fish soup, and most of the other dishes that I've eaten on my own when there has not been a Chinese speaker with me. However, I have been learning food words with my language exchange partner, and have learned the words for pork, chicken, beef, rice, noodles and a few others. This weekend, I attempted to order beef soup with noodles.

I was at work and so during the morning break one of the assistants at work ordered for me. I told her I wanted niu mien (beef noodles), which implies soup. She looked at me a little strangely, but then I pointed to the soup, at which point she started nodding her head vigorously. I paid her my money (8 RMB, about $1.10) and went back to class.

During lunchtime, there was a large container of soup sitting at my desk. I opened it up and looked inside, noting that it appeared to be beef. When I stirred it with my chopsticks I noticed the beef looked a little strange - kind of furry. At first, I didn't think much of it, but when I tried to eat a piece it was incredibly chewy, kind of like eating pure muscle. I started to avoid it, but continued to eat the noodles and vegetables and peanuts out of the soup. One of the other teachers stopped over and commented that my soup looked good, so I showed him the meat. He started smiling and said, "I think I know what that is."

I had been eating tripe soup.

Tripe is beef stomach. I had never eaten tripe before and had never really intended to eat it here. I attempted to eat one more piece after we labeled it as tripe, but it just didn't go down. I finished the rest of my soup and continued with my day.

Q - What is the strangest thing you've eaten? Did you know what it was before you ate it? Was it good?

A side note- I can't believe it's already December. The weather here is in the 50s, down to the 40s at night with cloudy skies most days. People keep saying that it gets colder, so I'm a little nervous and am thinking about buying a space heater. In our apartment the heating comes from the air conditioning units which are all positioned high on the wall. Great for air conditioning, but since heat rises, not so good for heating. Hopefully it doesn't get too much colder here. Hope (most of) you are enjoying the weather in the Midwest!

A Shanghai haircut

2007-11-29T22:46:00.000+08:00

I have been in Shanghai for four weeks today. I can't really believe how quickly the time has gone. That said, I desperately needed a haircut. My cut when I left Chicago needed to get touched up every 5 to 6 weeks and I was pushing six weeks now. With this goal, I decided to get my hair cut here in Shanghai.

Getting my haircut has always been a sensory experience. In my opinion when someone washes your hair and cuts and styles it, it is one of the most pampering experiences possible. I have had my hair long and had my hair short and short hair allows many more visits to the salon. My stylist in Chicago, Sam, is phenomenal and as my hair was getting longer I kept thinking about her and how easy it is to pick up the phone and make an appointment. Here, it's not so easy.

When I met other female teachers I would inevitably ask them where they got their hair cut. Two of the teachers who actually live in my building recommended the salon where they have been getting their haircut for the last 8 months. They have made friends with the stylists and said that it was a great experience as well as being very affordable. With that in mind, Liz, one of them, said that she would go with me to the salon on Wednesday to help me out and translate for me.

I have never gotten my hair cut where I haven't been able to talk to the stylist at all. When I was in Spain I spoke enough Spanish to keep up with the customary gossip - the weather, celebrities, etc. Here - nothing. I'm starting intensive Chinese classes on Monday, but that didn't help yesterday at all. Liz was kind enough to translate - I told her as long as I didn't have bangs and no color, I was fine.

The stylists and staff at the salon was great. It started with washing my hair, but they did it in the chair, not over a sink. I got a great scalp and temple massage at the same time. Then they rinsed my hair over the sink as I laid down on what looked like a recliner. Next the head stylist and a special friend of Liz's approached me. Liz passed on my instructions and then had to head to work, so I was on my own. Allong (I'm not sure how to spell his name) was very methodical, working over each section of my hair. I had told him I wanted it shorter, so he carefully shaped it. I watched, silent as he went through each section.

It was a very long haircut. I sat down in the chair initially at about 1:15 and I didn't finish until 2:40. There was only one skirmish - after Allong had finished the cut, he wanted to permanently straighten my hair (I think), but I refused. I haven't washed my hair myself yet, so maybe that was a mistake, but he blew it straight and I am very happy with the results. The cost for this haircut? 30RMB, about $4. Judge the results for yourself:

Question - Where have you gotten your best or worst haircut? Was color involved? How much did it cost?

Keep your comments coming. Hope all of you are having a happy holiday season. I think I'm going to need to download some Christmas music from itunes soon.

Cheers!

You want to buy a bag? Handbag? Gucci - Prada....

2007-11-25T19:37:00.000+08:00

In honor of Black Friday, I thought I would comment on shopping here.

Anywhere I walk in Shanghai I am approached by men (and a few women) carrying plastic cards about the size of an envelope. "Lady - You want to buy a bag? Come, take a look, cheap! Gucci, Prada. Come, take a look. My shop, come over here." They point to an alleyway or other dimly lighted corner and show me pictures of their merchandise on the card. Some are aggressive, others will step aside if I shake my head. There is not a single word that means "No" in Chinese, so I am left nodding and saying, "No, no" or sometimes "Xie, xie (thank you)" as I hurry by. There are people everywhere here.

Last Thursday I went to a market at Chi Pu Lu, which one of my fellow teachers has christened "Cheap Lou's." It is five stories of endless booths that are maybe 8'x10'. The three of us were the only foreigners in sight and every single booth owner seemed to have something that we needed to buy. There were some great sweaters and coats (all in dollhouse sizes) and an endless parade of handbags, sunglasses, scarves, shoes and other things. If you show interest they will open a fake wall in the back of the shop and lead you in where the "real" merchandise is kept. I made a great purchase - a blue leather handbag that says Tod's that I can throw over my shoulder for 100 RMB (about $14). After I purchased it I realized that my normal fall coat is bright red which doesn't really go with the blue purse, but I don't care. It's a yummy bag.

Friday night I went to one of the outdoor markets with Robyn, a teacher trainer at the Wuyi school where I have been spending my weekends. The goal was to find a wallet and purse for her. We did not succeed, but the people were very nice there and I am getting much better at understanding numbers. In fact, I was talking to one of the Chinese teachers at work and she said that my numbers are very good, but they sound Taiwanese. Paul - if you're reading this, you did a good job!

On Saturday after work I went to Super Brand mall, one of the many malls in Lujiazui which is in the Pudong new area close to the school. The malls here are incredible. There are restaurants and stores that are two stories inside a single store. This store had a huge Christmas tree at the entrance and there were families taking pictures as children squirmed. My mission was to purchase some warmer clothes. In my packing list I had not included a sweatshirt and only two sweaters. Even though it was in the 60s today, within a week or two, highs should be in the 40s which merits warmer clothes.

I was nervous as I approached the mall because I wasn't sure if anything would fit. Well - I did find some clothes that fit at two stores H&M and UNIQLO. I have shopped at H&M in the States and discovered that I am an XL in China. At UNIQLO, which is a Japanese chain, the same deal. I purchased a sweatshirt and a turtleneck respectively. I haven't been an XL at home for quite some time due to the changing sizes but that is fine.

Buying clothes in another country is one way to truly feel part of the culture even if it's just a sweater or sweatshirt. I still remember purchasing my ZARA coat when I lived in Spain and how stylish I felt. I hope to feel that way before I leave Shanghai. Fashion here is something else. Very short skirts and hot pants with leggings are popular. On the subway I might see girls in heels in skinny jeans with tunic topics and multiple layers or laborers wearing their blue uniforms and heavy shoes. One day I saw a woman who was wearing flannel pajamas and two girls wearing rubber rain boots even though it wasn't raining. There is always a parade of men in suits or blazers and people in uniforms for work. The colors are much brighter here, you can buy basic black for sure but there are reds and yellows and greens and blues and pinks and grays.

This is a culture on the move. Retail therapy is practiced here, whether you are bargaining in a street market or shopping at an upscale mall. You are expected to touch and try and ask questions and learn about your purchase.

Q5 - What has been your favorite purchase in another country? Clothing, souvenirs or something else?

Please post your comments. I really enjoy hearing from you and don't forget to keep in touch.

Cheers!

A Little Tourism

2007-11-17T19:30:00.000+08:00

The last week has been very busy, but a different kind of busy than my first week. I have started teaching and teaching and planning lessons have taken up a lot of my time. I work all day Saturday and Sunday and then teach a couple of evenings during the week. It is definitely a challenge, but very enjoyable as the students are highly motivated to improve their English and really seem to like attending classes.

In my free time, I have started exploring Shanghai - bit by bit getting more familiar with it's neighborhoods and attractions. On Monday I went to explore Yu Garden which is an example of classic architecture in Shanghai. My idea of a garden has been expanded by the visit because there were no bedding plants or orderly collections of flowers. Instead, it was a walled garden with various buildings on different hills and a collection of lakes and paths that went up and down over the terrain. After I went there I walked through a couple of the huge markets and just looked at different merchandise. I still do not feel prepared to bargain, although I'm sure that will happen soon.

On Tuesday I headed south to Huai Hai Road which is the ritzy shopping street - the Michigan Ave of Shanghai. I wandered through the boutiques trying to find a park labeled on my map. When I finally found it, it wasn't that impressive, but on my way back to the apartment I stumbled upon a beautiful park that was very near one of the elevated roads. It was calm and peaceful, with a waterfall and grassy bank where people were eating lunch and enjoying themselves.

Another day I spent exploring an area of People's Square in downtown Shanghai. I walked through the park and then approached the Shanghai museum. Instead of trying to absorb the entire museum I focused on three of the collections - the history of chinese money, ancient seals that were used by powerful individuals through the dynasties and the calligraphy gallery. I think the money exhibit was the most interesting, but there are many other galleries to see. Since we live within walking distance, I will most likely return.

Thursday was a great day. Chris had the morning off and the two of us explored another area of People's Square park and then went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. The museum was one of the best museums I have ever been to. They had a huge display of the entire city that you could approach from a catwalk overhead. It was truly massive. There were also exhibits on how Shanghai has changed in the last twenty years. I think someone who knew the city in the 1980s would most likely not recognize it now. The amount of change is almost inconceivable. Then, they have an exhibit on the planned changes to Shanghai over the next 10 years. The Expo in Shanghai in 2010 is serving as the catalyst for much of the change. For instance, they plan to add 6 metro lines in the next two years. I will be interested to see how the city changes over my stay.

They also had a special exhibit called "Nuestras Ciudades" which was an exhibit from Spain on women's voices in shaping urban planning in Spain. It was phenomenal - there were 100 booths, each about the size of a door and you walked up to each with special headphones and could hear the spanish. English and Chinese translations flashed across the bottom of the screen. I could have spent all day there, but had to teach in the evening, but probably listened to about a quarter of the voices. There were architects, gallery owners, shopkeepers, children, students, interior designers - everyone talking about the space in a city, how it is used, why it is important. There were women from Bilbao, from Sevilla, from Barcelona, from Madrid - the entire country. As I wandered through that exhibit I forgot (for a while) that I was in China. If the exhibit is coming to a city near you, I would highly recommend it.

The Apartment in Puxi

Exploring Shanghai

I have attempted to include a link to my google pictures so you can see our apartment, some shots of Yu Garden, some shots of the People's Park and some that Chris took in the Urban planning museum. Hopefully the post works and you can see the links. If not, please let me know and I will attempt to load the pictures in another way.

Q4 - I was highly impressed by the Urban Planning Museum. What has been your favorite museum or favorite museum exhibit? Where was it? Why? Share your thoughts!

Your comments are great, please keep them coming. Also, if you want my mailing address, shoot me an email and I will send it to you.

Cheers!

On Food

2007-11-09T19:30:00.000+08:00

Despite the food on a stick incident that I wrote about last time, I have had some excellent meals over the last week. I would be willing to bet that the Chinese invented fast food. There are so many stands selling all kinds of things - peanuts and crackers, meat on a stick, noodles, fruit drinks, dumplings, fruit, .... A culture that snacks. I hope I don't come home 20 pounds heavier. One thing I've tried is a dish that Shanghai is famous for - pork dumplings with broth inside. They are tricky to eat with chopsticks but really really good. My grandma is always saying that pork tastes different from when she was a little girl and now that I've had these dumplings I agree. They are savory and moist, a meatball wrapped in a dumpling with broth. Super good.

Another thing that I've had that was kind of by accident was a fish soup with a ginger broth. Last night I felt like soup, so I saw some people through a window eating soup and went in and pointed at it. It was excellent and I brought leftovers home. The fish was a white fish and there were pieces of ginger and mushrooms and seaweed in the broth. It hit the spot.

Spain girls - it is the season of mandarinas [clementines for the non-Spain folk] here - there are street vendors selling them everywhere, today I even saw a small truck with the entire payload full of mandarinas. Great citrus boost and so fresh and it reminds me of Spain.

One other thing I've had a lot of is a drink that they call "Milk Tea," it's a room temperature mixture of tea and milk with tapioca balls inside that you drink through a fat straw. I was addicted to Starbucks chai in the US and I think I may have found a new addiction here. It's the perfect midafternoon snack.

So, question #3 - what has been the best food that you've eaten while on a trip? Tell me about the perfect bistro in Paris, or the roadside stand where you had barbecue in the south. Share your food story!

Cheers!

Getting settled

2007-11-05T13:51:00.000+08:00

The last three days have been incredibly busy. It feels like I have been here for a very long time and it's really been only 96 hours since I landed. I'll try to hit the highlights thus far.

Friday - I took a walk in the morning away from the hotel and found the location of the school where I will be teaching at. It is in Pudong which is the new area of the city. Then, I went back to the hotel to wait to hear from Lilian who is in charge of new teachers. She called right around lunch time and then we went and looked at apartments for the rest of the day. The initial location we looked at was in Puxi, close to the school that Chris is going to be located at, but it was a little shady - the beds didn't have mattresses, the table was missing, the windows were dirty - not the first impression I was hoping for. The next five places were in the Pudong area, three or four metro stops away from where I will be. The apartments got progressively nicer, but it felt like living in the suburbs and I didn't think that was the vibe that I was looking for. We had gotten on the metro and bought our tickets to head home when the real estate agent got a call saying there was another 2 bedroom in Puxi to look at and asked if I wanted to go. At this point it was about 5pm and I almost turned him down because my jet lag was really kicking in, but I decided to give it a go. The last apartment was great. Good location, two bedrooms, there's a couch - mattresses on all beds, etc. I decided that it would be perfect. Location map is below.

Then the negotiations began. Since we're not staying a year, it required a lease with different terms. The price went up, the price went down. Then the agent's commission was discussed. My chinese is so minimal I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Negotiations, contracts, etc. lasted until 8:30. But, at the end of it, I had keys to the apartment, a promise that the hot water heater would be fixed and an appointment with my landlords on Sunday evening at 7pm to give them the remaining $47 that I owed them. It was quite a day.

Saturday was my first day of training. I had to be there at 10:30, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to move my stuff from the hotel because I had woken up at 4am (more jet lag). I ate breakfast at the hotel and they called me a cab. I had my address and the hotel communicated with the cab driver and I thought we were good. Wrong.

For some reason the cab driver thought I was going to the airport (probably because I had all my luggage with me). He kept saying "Airport, airport." When I realized it, I started saying "Puxi, Puxi" (the area where I'm living) but he kept driving the wrong direction. Eventually I said "Feng Yang Lu, Feng Yang Lu" ("Lu" is street - Feng Yang is the street where I live) and he finally turned around. With that adventure, I just made it to training on time.

Training was fine, Saturday is a very busy day at this location, but Erica (my teacher trainer) helped me purchase a cell phone at lunch. It is very tech savvy - a skinny little Nokia that probably could do everything. Unfortunately I haven't figured out the voicemail yet, but I can make and receive calls and text messages. I'm not sure that I can receive international calls though.

Saturday night I met Mike Chiang who's an ND grad and in charge of ND relations in Asia. He took me out for a great dinner and then I met his wife Lily and the two of them took me shopping so I could purchase a comforter, a pillow, some towel and a hair dryer. They were so welcoming and warm and have already come to my rescue again (more to come). I rode the subway home with my purchases and using an international phone card, was able to talk briefly with my folks before falling into bed.

Sunday - more training, this time at a different branch, People's Square. Yup - I got lost. Was almost late, again, but walked in the door right at 9:30. People's Square is the biggest branch that they have here and it is very nice and because it was Sunday, much calmer. Training lasted until 4:30, so it was a full day. Food here is so cheap - for lunch I had beef and peppers with rice and it was 10 RMB which is about $1.30. Tons of food and really good. When I got out of training I decided to walk down this food street close to the apartment. It was teeming with people, all kinds lined up snacking on different things. I chose one booth that was selling some type of (I thought) meat on a stick. I purchased one and took a bite. Not exactly my taste. I don't think it was meat, but if it was, it was certainly like nothing else I have tasted. Didn't finish it.

Then I met my landlords at 7, as we planned. Well, of course it couldn't be that simple - they came and I paid my remaining 500RMB (TV and the $47) and then they started pointing at the hot water heater. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I could tell the hot water wasn't working, but I thought I had to turn something or press something differently. I finally, after almost 15 minutes called Mike and had him translate for me. The hot water heater is supposed to be fixed today (Monday) now, but he arranged for me to take a shower at my landlady's house. I got off the phone and they stood up and were like - let's go and I was kind of startled, but grabbed my towel and shampoo and followed them to their house, about 5 minutes away, across a freeway.

Today, Monday I had to register at the police station, pay the commission to the real estate agent, come back, get the internet set up and I had to go to the bank too. It was crazy and it's only 2 pm here. Tonight I'm going to observe another class at People's Square. Tomorrow is my demo teaching set up and then I'll find out my schedule going forward.

I don't have a question this time - but any comments you have on my crazy experience or examples of your own culture shock in another country would be much appreciated. Hope all is well.

http://www.smartshanghai.com

The adventure begins...

2007-11-02T06:30:00.000+08:00

Well - I've made it in one piece and with all of my luggage. Last night I successfully purchased dinner and am looking forward to seeing the city in daylight. For the next week I'm staying in a hotel in Pudong, near where I will be teaching. Today on the agenda is purchasing a cell phone and starting to look for an apartment - tomorrow my training begins. I will post more once I am settled in. The question this time is:

Q2 - What is your most memorable (good or bad) hotel experience? [The one I'm at now is in the middle - stayed at better and worse, but I certainly have a couple of interesting stories.] Share your comments!

Cheers!

Preparing to Leave

2007-10-24T07:55:00.000+08:00

Preparing for a trip is always stressful, especially when going somewhere that I have never been before. This week is preparation week - changing addresses, getting a flu shot, cleaning my apartment and brushing up on my Mandarin. As you all know, I'm leaving for China next Wednesday, October 31st (also known as Halloween), with a direct flight from Chicago to Shanghai Pudong. I'm excited and nervous and ready to get moving.

The intent of this blog is to post my thoughts, stories and hopefully pictures during my stay in Shanghai over the next several months. To get you started on this adventure, I have posted a couple of links including my school and the Shanghai Wikipedia entry.

I thought a fun way to make the blog more interactive is that I will ask a question of you at the end of each entry. Please post your response so that everyone can see!

Question 1: What is the most important thing that you have ever forgotten to take on a trip?
(Hopefully I won't make the same mistake.)

Best wishes-