Supper

Shelly, Axel (new Dak guy living in Hong Kong) Mina, Cooper, Mike H, Sheena, the Dak driver Mr. Huang, and me at supper. Beijing duck is the best!

Mr. Huang drives us to work every day, takes people to the airport and picks them up, runs parts around or errands, and drives visitors around to the sites. He puts in a lot of hours! He didn't speak any English when he started, and is doing very well. Dak has a teacher come in every week and teach to all of the workers, and has another class for business English for everyone in the office. This morning Mr. Huang said, "Would you like to go to the Baileman?" and we all were amazed that he said it perfectly. I think he is a very dilligent student.

Shopping with Mike and Mike

Mike Hyde and Mike Cooper (Jon's boss before Dan) came to Shanghai last week. They have a Vortec project at an American high school in Pudong. Thursday the girls took them shopping and out for supper at a Cantonese restaurant. We went to Yuyuan Gardens, which is old but totally redone. Pretty touristy but OK. Mina taught them to bargin well - one lady told Cooper he must have lived here a long time.

Mina (my Chinese teacher too!) me, Mike H, Shelly, Cooper and Sheena.

Street scenes. I just had the point-and-shoot, so had to set it on a garbage bin to get these shots. I used my business card holder to prop the camera up at an angle.

Hair Washing

Life here happens on the streets - cooking, eating, games, etc. Also personal grooming. This girl was washing her hair. Judy said that you used to see it all of the time. The guy was just staring at me as I was taking photos. That's not unusual - we are taught in the USA that it's not polite to stare, but it's not taboo here. White people, especially big blond people or girls, get stared at a lot!

Boots

Lots of people have been asking about poor little Boots. She is out of kitty-jail and we have her back. She was pretty pissed off at us for a couple of hours, but she got over it really quickly. She now rules the apartment. Boots hasn't eaten for a few days - the only cat food in the grocery store is the crappy commerical stuff and we just ran out of the food we brought from the USA. Her concerned mommy called the vet to see if they had Science Diet - and they do! So she should be happy and eating again tomorrow.

We think she liked the house better but she's fine! She skids all over on the wooden floors chasing her mousey, and there are no birds to watch now. She has such a hard life. :-)

We met Nay and Jonis, who used to live on the 26th floor and had two cats. They were playing on the balcony and one went over the edge. Poor thing. It actually almost hit a security guard below. Nay was heartbroken. We really don't want that to happen to Boots so we are very careful when she is on the balcony. We think she knows how high up she is, but she is still curious about looking out.

Here she is enjoying our new rug.

Night shots

Here are a couple of shots I took using a long exposure and my new tripod.

Shopping scenes

These are a couple of dragons that Jon would like to buy to take home. They said they were 18,000 yuan though! That's before bargaining though. The photo is from his camera phone. both of our phones have 2 megapixel cameras on them.

This is Xu Jai Hui, the electronics market. (It sounds like "Shoe Ja Hway.") This is just part of the bottom floor. It's in a building that is in the shape of a soccer ball, and is just massive. You can buy anything electronic here. I bought a tripod, headphones, and Jon and Dan bought their new phones here. Later they realized the phones were smuggled in - they were told to come back for the reciept the next day, then they refused to give them a reciept.

Saturday Outing

After our bedroom furniture was delivered, we went to the Fabric Market. It's four floors of hundreds of small shops that custom tailor anything you'd like. Here Jon got 3 shirts, for 125 yuan each. He also had a summer suit made and I had a traditional Chinese-style shirt made. We also got a duvet cover. We pick them up next Saturday.

Next we went to People's Square to check out the new LED display that a competitor put in. It is really horrible. The color is very bad, the modules all need to be calibrated, and their control system can't control the whole thing. BUT - it's cheap. Jon is texting Dan about the display here. The building in the background has terrible feng shui, and we heard that it's had many deaths and suicides!

Soon we got caught in a downpour! This is right after it. We went to Haagen-Dais to enjoy some ice cream while we waited for it to let up. People's Square is the Times Square of Shanghai. Many things are still neon so there's a huge market for LED displays.

Travel Blogs

I found an interesting article about "The Lost Girls" - three girls who took a year off from work to travel around the world. They have a very popular blog. http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content//article/2007/02/28/AR2007022801647.html Check out # 7 in the article. In Myanmar, they discovered Blogspot was blocked (just like in China!) They went around to the shadowy alleys, asking for a hook-up! And found it. I haven't seen their site yet but hopefully will check it out Monday. http://lostgirlsworld.blogspot.com. Some of their photos are amazing - I'm sure their blog is too.

http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2007/06/are_you_the_ugly_american.html Today driving home from work, Dan was talking about going to dinner at a nice German restaurant last week and have a group of Americans who were extremely drunk, causing a huge scene. It not only Americans that make mistakes traveling to other countries (though perhaps we exhibit these behaviors more than others) but the list is a good thing to review from time to time. I just try to look at everything as though it is just different. For example: We think Western toilets are great and squat toilets are disgusting. In China, Western toilets aren't seen as clean - I believe it's because you touch the seat. (not 100% sure though.) Is there some way to really tell which side is correct? Nope - it's just a difference so you just deal with it.

Jon has been in Beijing all week. Today he kept having to push his flight off later and later, but he is making it home! Tomorrow our master bedroom furniture will be delivered, so we will finally get a king-sized, soft bed! yay! :-) China is still a cash-based society, so we need to have the furniture balance in cash when it is delivered. It is about 13,000 RMB. The largest bill is 100 RMB, and you can only withdraw 2,000 RMB from an ATM. It is like having to pay for something in $20s. Since the rainy season just started, the stain on the office furniture isn't drying as quickly as usual so we have to wait until next week to get that delivered. Or at least that is what the company told Judy!

Sunday Shopping

Sunday we went to the Antique market. It's most fakes and we have no idea what really would be old, so we just assume everything is fake. Lots of old-looking trinkets. We bought an old camera and a door knocker.

Across from the Antique Market was a Pet Market. Animals of every kind. They have big plastic aquariums - Jon will probably get one. They seemed very cheap! But nice and well-built. Notice the guy in his pajamas on the right. That's pretty common to see. Everyone sits around, smokes and plays games in the markets.

Pet crickets - they are more like huge locusts. Dan said they are sold to fight. They don't fight til the death; one just backs down. He said after it backs down it's fighting days are over because its spirit is broken.

We also found some more waxberries! The last one we had were too old and very bad tasting. I examined these closely and tried one before buying them though. Good thing we have our hepatitis shots.....

So I be a Hooter's girl (actual lyrics)

Monday and Tuesday all of the sales people were in Shanghai for sales training. Everyone went to Hooters for some wings and beer. The Hooter's girls dance here - they stood up on stools and did the YMCA, they did the chicken dance (with some of the guys at the table, only they sang "I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck, so I be a Hooters girl"), and they danced to "Keep Your Hands To Yourself " by the Georgia Satellites (the Chinese girls were very impressed that Dan sang and played air guitar to the whole song.) The slogan is: Hooters makes you happy.

Since they do the embarrassing birthday thing, everyone said it was Larry's birthday...

Aileen, Louise, Judy, Lin Lin, Kelly and Grace having a good time singing to Larry.

Peering down below

These were taken from our balcony today using my 300mm lens. These are the bits of old Shanghai between the new skyscrapers. Soon there won't be any old stuff left, at the rate construction is going now.

The houses straight below us - I actually put my camera over the balcony and leaned over to take this!

Toastmasters

I discovered I can just email posts to my blog. However, it doesn't support photos. I may be able to get around that using Photobucket. We'll see.

Yesterday I went to a Toastmaster's meeting. http://shanghai585.freetoasthost.info/index.html It was near People's Square. I was the only American. There is a guy named Warwick from London that started the club - I think we are the only native English speakers. I met Beate, a German lady, who just happens to have friends in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. AND - she's actually been to SF to visit. It is such a small world!!!! Most of the other people are Chinese, but I think there are a couple more expats. The meetings are all in English though. Everyone was super-friendly and excited to be there. It seems like a very good group of people and they also get together informally fairly often from what I know so far. The President of the club, Lucy, and several other officers expressed how excited they were to have me and how much I could help everyone with all of my knowledge.

It's hard to know how sincere compliments are. "Face" is very important here, and sometimes I think they are trying to give me face by saying that. Almost daily I get told how beautiful I am. How are you supposed to respond to that? I certainly don't think that I'm any more than average. And I'm definitely much fatter than all of the girls in the office!! (OK, actually than the vast majority of Asian women.) The sales girls told me that I am thinner than when I was there in January. They also told Jon he has gotten fatter. That is pretty brutal honesty!

A couple days ago we bought the 3rd season of LOST. The show got over about 2 weeks ago, and the DVDs aren't going to be released until December 11th. The piracy is so bad here. All of their videos have Chinese subtitles and sometimes it's bit difficult to navigate through menus in Chinese, but I've been able to figure it out so far. The remote also being labeled in Chinese does complicate things though. :-) LOST is certainly not the High-Def quality as the show is though. We may just buy it at home too, since we have the 1st and 2nd season boxed sets already.

Balcony Views

We overlook a girls' school - the only one in Shangahi and probably in China. (according to Gina, an engineer here who attended this school.) They do excercises every morning.

Closer view of the most interesting buildings we overlook.

Shanghai Scenes

There may be more bikes and mopeds than cars, but I'm not sure.

Everything gets carried on bikes! These chickens were probably the most unusual thing we've seen so far. They were alive, but not moving at all due to the blood rushing to their little brains!

Laundry is always hanging everywhere. The washers are so small! The dryer is the same machine. It seems no air gets blown in the dryer - everything just heats up, then requires ironing. Hanging is a better option.

Balcony View

Taken from our apartment on an unusally clear day. Usually the pollution hangs in a gray cloud over everything.

We're here!

I'm surprised I can get onto this site! Everything is in Chinese, but I am familiar enough with the menus that I think I can get by. The other night I tried to show Sally and Lisa my blog and it wouldn't load, so I'm not sure if this is a fluke or not.

Jon, Boots and I arrived in Shanghai Thursday afternoon. The rules on importing pets have changed, so we had to leave Boots with customs at the airport. We had to pay 2000 yuan ($250) to have her quarentined for 7 days. The girls there were really nice - we hope that she's OK. They showed us photos of the brand-new facility and the food she'd be given. It didn't have wheat guten (the recalled stuff) so it should be OK. We feel guility just leaving her but there really wasn't anything we could do.

Friday we spent a few hours shopping at IKEA for dishes, pots, pans, garbage cans, and the numerous items you need for a home. Hanna and Henrik, you'll be happy to know that IKEA is the same here as everywhere else, including the fact that it has a Swedish food store. The thing that would probably shock the Swedes is that smoking is allowed in the cafe though.

Yesterday our table and chairs were delivered. It's really nice and in the Chinese restaurant style, meaning it is round and has a lazy susan on top. The food is put there and people spin it until they get what they want. Every dish is typically shared.

We ordered our office and master bedroom furniture yesterday. It's not going to be here until the 23rd though. That's a bit disappointing. Those rooms are pretty bare.

We're settling in quite well. We just wish Boots was here too! We've spent a lot of time cleaning and putting things away. It's amazing to look out the windows and constantly have a birds-eye view of the city.

Friends and Farewell Parties

Amanda, Dave, Jon and I ate at Applebees one afternoon. Dave's living in San Francisco now.

We and Brad and Niki went to Cubby's Tuesday for a last beer. Our present to Brad was a very nasty alcohol from the Czech Republic that he loves after a long night of drinking. :-)

Garrett, Elly, Dave, Jeremy (not pictured) and Jon take a shot at John and Megan's wedding.

My family had a going away party for me on Memorial Day.