In addition to becoming reaquanted with the day to day life of a materials manager for a steel distribution company, I have been searching for my permanent apartment.  I am currently in a two bedroom ‘service’ apartment- meaning that the staff comes twice a week to change the linens and clean up a bit. The service apartment is serving as my temp housing as I figure out the ins and out of renting a place here in Shanghai.

I’ll compare it to finding a place in Chicago.  There is not really a craiglist here… or a Chicago Reader where you can input a zip code and a price range.  Instead, you have some rental agencies websites that will list out average apartment prices in various ‘compounds’ in different ‘districts’.  A district is like a neighborhood back in Chicago- Wrigleville, Lakeview, Logan Square.  I am looking in Jing’an, Huangpu and looked at a place in Pudong, which is on the other side of the river.  Jing’an is the more ‘social’ district, with lots of malls, bars, restaurants.  Huangpu includes the Bund and is where my office is located.  On a few websites you can sometimes input the monthly rent parameters and district you want to review, some you just sorta click on the links and look at the photos of ‘model’ units in the different buildings you are interested in looking at.  Of course all of the photos look fantastic and the rent seems reasonable.  When you inquire about a specific apartment its rented but they can show you one just like it… for a little bit more money.  Just like in Chicago.

I have seen about 7 apartments all through out my price range and I found one that had almost everything I wanted.  I decided that was near my office didn’t fit the bill- most of the buildings were old and small….. apartments that were on a high floor with a view that I could afford were older and not very well maintained, or only a one bedroom.  The two bedrooms range from 100- 120 sq meters… (900 – 1100 sq feet), which is decent living space- one bedrooms were only 60 sq m. – roughly 600 sq feet.  I saw some stunning, large, breathtaking views from Pudong, but they all felt a million miles away from the action.  I saw some small, dingy apartments on the low side of my budget.  The apartment I chose is a two bedroom, in the Jing’an district.  About a 10 min walk from the #2 Metro, and it’s two stops to my office.  It is about a 5 min walk from the metro stop to my office building. I have not yet braved the metro, but hey, I took the el in Chicago during rush hour so I know what I am facing….

The kitchens here in China are small and usually have a three burner gas stove with NO OVEN.  Chinese don’t bake.  They also don’t use dryers to dry their clothes- they hang dry everything. I saw two apartments with a dryer and an oven- the land lords must have wanted American expats. Oh, that’s the other thing.  The apartments are usually owned by individual landlords.  You might get one that is owned by a company, like a Hong Kong based realty company, but usually it’s an individual landlord.  So my kitchen is workable, I have a balcony and a little alcove where my washer is… two bedrooms, one is a master.  Two bathrooms- one with heated marble floors (oh, they also love marble floors here.)  Mostly a dark hardwood floor.  I saw this particular apartment during my first day of viewing and was tempted to sign for it then and there, but I decided to keep looking.  After a few more lackluster places I decided to go back and view it again, and said ‘I’ll take it’.  Even though it’s only on the 6th floor and doesn’t have a stellar view… it’s clean, well laid out, decent sized kitchen.  I will post pics soon.

I hope to move in this weekend.  Since my housing is part of my ‘package’ my company pays my rent directly to the rental agency.( Which is also good because they pay rent quarterly here… that means three months rent up front, along with the security deposit! That’s a lot of coin.)   I decided to go through the agency since my landlord doesn’t speak English. The agency gets a percentage of the rent as a ‘fee’ but this means I have a contact that will negotiate with the landlord and who is responsible for getting things set up like my satellite TV and internet, gym membership, etc.  He will also be my contact if something breaks with the apartment…

There is an Ikea here in Shanghai- two actually, so looks like I am going to be making a few trips there in order to set up my place, which isn’t a bad thing. I will be looking on some expat sites to see if anyone is selling anything like a rice maker, toaster oven, etc so I don’t have to buy it all new.  I will post pics of my place as soon as I get the key!

As some of you know, this is my third trip to Shanghai.  I was here 21 years ago when I was sixteen. I came with a group of fellow NMHers to study Chinese for a summer at FuDan University.  That trip was so very long ago it’s almost impossible to compare the Shanghai I see today vs. that Shanghai of my teenage summer abroad.  I will see that I remember I count the number of other foreigners, besides the foreign students at Fudan, on one hand.  As a foreign student, we stayed in our own gated compound and if you want to bring a local student into the area, they had to sign in at the gate.  We didn’t have air conditioning in our rooms and we used the normal Asian squat toilets.

Now- every where I look there are other foreigners.  We have our own bars.  I was at an Irish bar in the French Concessions area last night.  I hear that there is a Sam’s Club in Pudong, along with an Ikea, a sporting goods store, and a mall that has H&M.  Being an expat here has become pretty easy- the best thing I have seen yet is an app for your smart phone that will send a text of a destination’s address to your phone in Chinese so you can show it to your taxi driver. There really is an app for everything now.

The time I was here was 12 years ago with Ryerson.  I was here for two weeks- one week was spent touring around China with John.  We were both amazed that they scaffolding was all bamboo – during that boom period if China the largest concentration of building cranes was located here in Shanghai.  They are building things still, but not like crazy.  But you can still locate bamboo scaffolding.

Instead of bicycles being the most preferred method of transportation like last time, it is not electric scooters.  They look like the normal scooters you see in the states, but rather than running on gas, you literally plug them into an outlet to charge them up and away you go.  They are fast and quiet!  People drive them on the sidewalks, in special scooter lanes, where ever there is a gap- someone will try to drive their scooter there. A night, some don’t have headlights so you need to be extra vigilant less you be creamed by a dude whipping down the street.  Somehow scooters don’t have to obey any traffic laws.  They can run red lights, ride on the sidewalks, be on the wrong side of the road.  And I have seen only a handful of people riding them wearing helmets.  I know that before too long I will be involved in a crash with one of these silent little machines.

There is not as much spitting as I remember.  My last visits I felt like everyone was just spitting all the time.. now, not so much.

It is just as smelly.  As a co-worker said, you can walk down one block and smell about a thousand different smells.  Some good, like scallion pancakes, some not so good like garbage and nastiness.

I’m going to attempt another run tomorrow AM, the weather has cooled down a lot in the past week.  I head to our Kunshan plant next week for a few days. It’s hairy crab season- a local lake crab that is supposed to be a Chinese delicacy, and I hear Kunshan is a mecca for hairy crab lovers.  I’ll be sure to take a picture of that if I eat any…..

That phrase applies to so many things.  This time, I am referring to drinking bai juo… or ‘white liquor’.. tastes like a cross between vodka, everclear and moonshine.  It can be decent, like the stuff that was ordered last night,  or horrid.. like Dark Eyes vodka which is what you will get when you order well liquor.  It’s tradition to welcome  someone to China that each person at the dinner ‘toasts’ the guest of honor with the greeting of ‘gan bei’ or basically “bottoms up”.   Great.  There were 12 people at the dinner.  12 co workers. They said it was better to get my first one over with in the company of friends… I have to take their word for it.  Through out the dinner, which was traditional Chinese style where a dish is shared with everyone, so you end up tasting about 15 dishes, that get passed from guest to guest on an enormous lazy susan. That contributes to the buzz because the food comes out  s l o w l y… you have no time to build a base before they start to sneak up to you and you stand, take hold of your tiny little shot glass that holds the clear liquid heat, touch the other persons glass and slightly bow, then bottoms up, chug your bai juo.  I held my own last night.. woke up this morning with a little bit of a hangover but not as bad as I feared.. I do think that they went easy on me.   I hear when I visit the steel mills they won’t be so nice.

After a hot, sweaty and humid run along the Bund Saturday AM I ventured to the YuYuan shopping bazaar in search of the famous xiao long boa, or steamed dumplings made with pork.  They are a famous Shanghai snack and at the YuYuan gardens people will line up and wait for over an hour at times to buy some of these tasty little treats.  I thought that I had left early enough to beat the crowds, but I am quickly learning that there is no such thing as beating the crowds in Shanghai.  As I walked around looking for the shop, I was struck by how many kiosks were selling the same cheap trinkets- shoes, bags, chops, ‘jade’ bracelets…. After about 3 loops around I finally found it, got in line and awaited my turn. As I approached the counter, this Chinese guy cut in front of me!    No way!  I attempted to intimidate him- I asked him “what are you doing?”  he replies “I’m with them” – motioning to the people in front of us.  I said “Really?  Those are your friend?  Say hi… ” he attempted a different tactic.  “You speak English?” (in English)  I ignored his question and continued to attempt to shame him into getting to the back of the line, but it didn’t work. Damn!  I guess I better brush up on my curses in Chinese.

 

After ordering my two orders of dumplings I found a little spot to sit and snack on a few, them headed home.  I walked to the gardens, which was about a 20 min walk, and man, on the way home I was tempted to hail a cab! It was soooo hot.  I got in, put the dumplings in my new acquired tupperware and decided I needed a nap! I settled in on the couch, fired up Hulu and pulled up my new favorite show “Wilfred”.  I few episodes and I was ready for my snooze.  I awoke, got ready for the pub crawl and headed out.

 

I was amazed at how many expats from all different countries were at the bar.  It’s an expat bar- a nice one called Brix.  I met students from Finland, the states, business men and women from Belgium…. after a few drinks at the bar (it was the first stop on the crawl) we boarded the bus and were off to the next bar.. a few drinks there… another bar… some  the club- G Plus.  It was a decent club, it was nice to get out and dance!  Then home….spent the day recuperating rather than braving Ikea.  I was told that it was crazy busy on the weekends so I will attempt it tomorrow night after work instead.  I was told that people go on the crawl often.. there was some regulars – they were younger so I am sure they can handle drinking like fish and staying out until all hours of the night way better than this lady can.

 

I have been in Shanghai for one week now.  Overall, the week has been great.  My Chinese is coming along (I actually used it today on the phone at work) and I am getting around the city- albeit on foot and tourist tunnels.  I have yet to brave the metro.

Took a different route to work today- was walking along and I started to see people with little baggies of food and what looked like to be my favorite Shanghai street food – scallion pancakes!  I had been craving one since I got back and now I was hoping to find the source of those tasty little fried yumminess.  I learned my last time in Shanghai in order to get the good stuff, look for the lines.  People lined up usually means the best grub.  I cross a street and there was a decent line in front of a stall.  I looked.  There they were!  The woman serving them up was slicing them up with a big arse cleaver and weighing the pieces (odd, last time I remember just buying one) but I got in line and waited.. she got to me and kinda made a motion to cut a slice for me… I said “Da yi dian”  ‘a bit bigger’ and she cut it, weighed it, bagged it and off I went. Happy as a lark.  Fridays used to be ‘yummy bagel’ day in SD, a bagel with cream cheese, tomatoes, cukes and onions topped with salt and pepper,  before out favorite deli closed down….. and now Fridays will be ‘cong you bing’- or pan-fried scallion cake day.   I also was tempted by another crowded stall that had a ton of yummy looking treats and I snagged a sesame coated fried rice flour balls with some red bean paste inside along with a stuffed cake with pork and scallions… I ate that bad boy as I walked the rest of the way to work. Yum. Once I got home I consulted my new fav book “Not Just Good Food Guide – Shanghai” for what other tasty treats I might be able to grab at the street vendors… I may have dog-eared a page or two.

Tomorrow, after a longish early AM run along the Bund (gotta run off all the fried yumminess I have been scarfing down) I am going to venture over to the Old Town area, YuYuan Gardens, and attempt to find the steamed pork dumplings, or xiao long bao vendor. ….. where the wait can be over an hour to get these tasty little buggers.  Then, if I am feeling up for it, I will meet up with some co workers for the Drunken Dragon pub crawl….. yeah.   A bar crawl in Shanghai with a ton of other expats.  I also emailed the hash house harrier (HHH) groups here in Shanghai to get some more information.  If you don’t know who they are- they are a drinking club with a running problem.  My running buddy Jessica is a hasher and man, it sounds like a blast.  A trail run set by a fellow hasher (called a hare) with beer stops along the route, followed by more beer at the finish… hmmm.. sounds like a good way to get to know other runners here in Shanghai, no?

I will bring my camera on Monday to take some pics of the street vendors and the goodies, along with what I see on my way to work…..

On Tuesday I started my first day at Ryerson China.  The service apartment/temp housing that they put me up at is about a 20 min walk, as long as I don’t get lost.  Which I did.  Even though I walked to the office as a dry run on Sunday… I still got a little turned around, but with my trusty map and a lot of perspiration, I made it.  Did I mention it is hot and humid here?  Well, it is.  And this chick who just spent the last 3 years in a very arid San Diego was sweating like she had just run 10 miles. Ok, maybe not that much.

My office is in a building called the Cross building on FuZhou Lu. It’s a nice high rise, the offices are on the 18th floor with some KILLER views of the Pudong area. I walk in, and greeted with a “Hello, you must be Miss Colleen”.  I was shown into the office.  Handed some water and brought over to my area… my cube.  It’s not even a real cube, like a open quad.  But, I can deal.  After about 10 min my new boss Jeff arrived and we started setting me up… laptop, etc.  We met for a little bit to talk about the department and some challenges we are facing, went back to my cub  and started working.  I had some spreadsheets to review and analysis to run… ah just like old times. Except my pricing extra sheets were all in Chinese.  I managed… it wasn’t too bad after I figured out how to read them.

Turns out I used to work with an expat in the Shanghai office, Kiril, who didn’t really care for the procurement group in Chicago after Ryerson bought Integris. But he learned we are not all that bad after about 4 scotches at McCormick and Schmidts one night. Boy was he suprised to see me there! I tell you, the world, especially the working world is a small, small place.  Always make a good impression ’cause you never know who you might work with again one day. We laughed about the good old days over some Japanese curry for lunch.

Then back to the office, some more work… and before I knew it- 5:30 and time to head home!  I stayed a little late looking at apartments and then packed up.. walked home in the cool night air, marveling at the sights and sounds and sometimes the gnarly smells.  When I got back to my apartment building, I decided to walk around a bit and I found the larger grocery store… ah… produce.  I picked up a basket and started loading up with some bok choy, garlic chives, garlic, broccoli, apples… and then this woman came over and basically took my basked from me after I greeted her… turns out she weighs your produce and prices it… but… I wasn’t done shopping for produce!  This means she followed me around the little area and weighed each thing I selected…. wtf? really?  Do I look like I am going to dash out of the store with my 7 yuan worth of apples? After that weirdness I decided to look around some.  Found the western food section- um, sour cream and onion Pringles anyone? Coke Zero? Yes please!  I also found the Tide for when I brave the self laundry tomorrow night.  Yeah, I need to get into my apartment so I can do simple things like laundry.  And cook….

Day two – I made it to work with out getting lost and with out sweating like I was running 8 miles…. some more spreadsheets… and then it was lunch time.  Went to a sandwhich place and had a proper LARGE salad… yum.  Lettuce. Roughage. Chicken breast. Heaven.

After we finished lunch the guys I went with, an office mate and two guys from the internal audit department from the main office in Chicago, decide to go for a walk… we walk into a shopping area and are immediatly accosted by people showing us placards of knock offs/bootlegged purses, watches, etc. My office mate decided it would be fun to actually take the lady up on her offer, so around the corner, down the street to the ‘shop’ then up some crazy tiny stairs to the third floor where the bootlegged goods were stored.  Burberry, Coach, Prada, Rolex… you name it, they had it.  The fun part is once I busted out my Chinese… then the bargaining begins… “tai gui”  too expensive.  And there she goes!  I was prattling on like I had just gotten out of Chinese class… told the girls that me and the office mate Alfonso live here, but the other two were from Chicago.  Asked them if they had some Coach purses, that I liked big bags cause I had a lot of stuff to put in it… man, I had fun. Alfonso speaks a little Chinese so we played good cop bad cop… he would say “that should be 200 yuan” they would say “700” and I would say, “yeah, I don’t need another one” – “Give you the speak Chinese discount” and I would say “still too expensive”  we would look at something else.  When we finally left, they chased us down and offered us 200 yuan for the large Burberry.  By then I decided I really didn’t need a fake bag.  But boy oh boy, did I have FUN!  The Chicago guys were like “Man, you busted out some Chinese back there! You were just going on!”  Ha!  (pats self on back).  But I still can’t read a menu.  As soon as I find my tutor I am going to learn all about Chinese food and how to read it, and order it, and buy stuff from the places with no English menus!

I left work on time and headed home… I wanted to cook some dinner.  I had bought some tofu and wanted to attempt my first stir fry in Shanghai.  I boiled the water for my buckwheat soba noodles, cooked them up, drained them added a little oil to prevent them from sticking and some chili soy sauce for flavor.  Got out the wok, heated it up, added some oil and holy crap… smoke city.  Good thing my little one burner kitchen stove has an exhaust vent! Once I figured it out and managed to only semi burn the tofu, I stir fried up the bok choy and garlic chives… tossed every thing over the soba noodles, put it a bowl, sprinkled on som McCormick’s garlic/ginger/chive dried seasoning mix and that was dinner.  And damn, it was GOOD.  I gobbled it all up.  The tofu was awesome, esp since it only cost 1.60 yuan… yeah thats a 25 cents US.  I can handle that.

Tomorrow I shall get back into the running routine…. I want to attempt a longish run along the Bund early Saturday morning, so I need to shake the rust off the legs tomorrow.  Treadmill here I come!

Howdy y’all.  I survived my first day in the office. But first I will tell you about my trip over to Pudong…..

I decided on Monday that I wanted to head over to the Bund again and to check out the Pudong side of the HuangPu river.  Laced up my bright green Brooks trail running shoes since the cute pink Puma’s didn’t make the 50lb weight limit cut at LAX and off I went.  Walked down to the Bund no problem and attempted to find a western grocery store that one of the travel books I bought claimed was in the basement of a building along the main drag.  Silly me didn’t write down the address, I thought it would be obvious, nope.  It wasn’t.  I couldn’t locate it.  Bummer.  I was asked how ever to take this Chinese couple’s photo in front of a posh looking store front and when I counted in Chinese “one, two, three”  (Yi, Er, San) and snapped their pic they told me my Chinese was very good.  When I politely said, “no, it’s bad” they asked me if I worked in Shanghai, to which I proudly answered “correct”.  And off I went.

The nice lady from Atlanta I had met in Subway mentioned the “Bund sight seeing tunnel” and asked if I had been on it… to which I said ‘no’ on Saturday but Monday decided I would check out. Wow.  It was like a bad Disney fun ride crossed with the tunnel at O’Hare with the neon lights… you get in this little car and it drives you under the HuangPu as a disembodied voice makes statements that are supposed to coincide with the light show you are seeing… statements like “red hot magma”  and “asteroid show”.  I chuckled the entire ride……   the good this is the ride dumps you out right near the Pearl Orient Tower.  I thought about going to the top of it, but when I saw the price – 160 yuan (24 USD) – I was like “ai ya!” translates into “hell no”. So instead I made my way to the “Super Brand Mall” to see what I could see.

Lo and Behold.  First store I see?  H&M… now I was really glad I saved that dough so I could go and buy me some clothes!  As long as they had American lady sizes. Which they did! SCORE!  I also checked out some other stores like Sephora (way too pricey, at least H&M was close to what they charge in the US).  I actually ended up buying a dress in another store, after telling the girl that the make up on the dress wasn’t mine, her asking if she found me another one would it be ok, and me saying yes and buying the dress ALL IN CHINESE! I think I was more excited about that than the dress.  But the dress is cute.

After my shopping trip I headed over to the JinMao tower, which houses the Hyatt along with the supposed highest/tallest bar in China and the latter was my destination.  Just like at the Hancock Tower in Chicago, you can hit the Signature lounge, buy a cocktail rather than paying the entry fee to the observation deck.  At least that was my plan… and it worked!  After a few different elevator rides… one to the hotel lobby on the 54th floor… another to the 85th floor and then another to the 87th floor and finally the bar!  I had a very lovely dirty martini.. followed up by a ‘signature’ cocktail that included Tanquery 10 and some lime juice.  As the lights came on in the city below me I headed back to the Bund.

As I walked along the Bund I noticed that there was full moon.. hence the Moon Festival holiday.  I wished I had a better camera as I attempted to get some pics of the buildings at night, the moon and the throngs of people out walking and enjoying the night air.

Hello All!  Greetings from steamy Shanghai, although I am sure it could be much hotter.

First off- I want to say I am not a writer, nor a ‘blogger’ for that matter, but wanted to start a blog so that my friends and family could experience my new adventure with me since my access to facebook will be limited at best.   This is my first time attempting a blog- and I hope that I am able to post often so that you may get a glimpse of my new life here in Shanghai.

Now that we have that out of the way- where to begin?  Let’s start at LAX.

I left Thursday afternoon, just one day after my last day at Callaway, which didn’t give me too much time to think about what I was embarking on- the entire process has been somewhat rushed, but I think I did it on purpose, that if I stopped and thought too much about what I am doing I would be frozen with fear… or maybe not.

I bought the Economy Plus seating- which was well worth it as it turns out I had all three seats in my row to myself. This allowed me to stretch out and get some sleep- maybe 5 hrs worth.  Then, I watched a few movies, “Bridesmaids” which was very funny… and then “Pirates of the Carribean 3″ which was eeehhhh……  throw in some bad airline noodles and you have my flight to Shanghai.

Arrived at the Pudong International Airport, changed some money, threw my luggage onto a cart (they are free in China) and rolled myself out to greet the driver that Ryerson sent for me, Garrision.  My new boss Jeff allowed Garrison to take his mini van which was great since I had a few pieces of large luggage that wouldn’t fit in a normal American taxi, never mind a Chinese taxi!

The ride to my temp housing was about 45 mins, traffic was pretty light. I checked in, the bell hop brought my luggage up after almost getting stuck in the door of the elevator because the duffle bags were so long… and walked into the 2 bedroom apartment.  Yes, 2 bedroom since I will be getting a roomate by months end.

The pad is pretty decent, only bummer is the kitchen.  I have one ceramic hot plate that serves as the stove, but also have a microwave….. guess I will be looking for my perm apartment sooner rather than later so I can get my kitchen set up!  The view however from the living room is awesome… both during the day and at night.  I will upload pics soon!

After a shower I  ordered some room service – broccoli and garlic, fried noodles with vegetables, and 2 TsingDao beers… it was a lot of food so I was happy to have left overs for the next day.

I woke up at a decent time on Saturday, after arriving in Shanghai Friday evening.  I bought a map from the hotel front desk, and off I went in search of some breakfast.  I walked a few block and happened upon… a 7 11!   Yes, 7 Elevens are all over the place here… so I bought a coffee drink, Nescafe milk and coffee- cold in a can and a yogurt. That was breakfast, and then proceeded to wander towards the Bund.  That’s the main drag in Shanghai, along the river.  They have a nice pedestrian walkway for tourists and it looks over at PuDong, where the Pearl Tower is along with the JinMao building, the tallest building in Shanghai (where I think I might venture today).

Still being a little hungry (the 3 oz of yogurt were not cutting it) I kept walking until I saw a guy carrying… a Subway sandwich… no way!  I decided screw it, I was hungry.  Even though it felt like I was cheating, my first real meal in Shanghai being western food.  I had a 6” turkey on wheat.  It was tasty.  The shop was filled with tourists, and a nice lady from Atlanta sat next to me and we chatted for a bit.  She told me that she hadn’t seen many other single female tourists walking about, and I told her that it was my first day in Shanghai and that I had just moved here… she gave me a card and I told her once I got my work email set up I would send her an email and the next time she was in town for business maybe we could get together.  I think that I am going to attempt to gather lots of business cards and network with other expats or folks that visit Shanghai often.

I walked some more, down NanJingLu- the main shopping drag – and witnessed some crazy lines for the Moon cakes- today being the Moon Festival (which is why I am not at work).  Not really sure what the moon festival is, I imagine I was taught the significance at some point in my 8 years of Chinese, but it didn’t stick.  Walked into a department store in search of a loo… and it was an Eastern toilet when I did find it.. yes, the kind you squat over.. .and yes, you need to bring your own toilet paper, thank you Starbucks napkins in my purse.  I then found the nearest Starbucks, on the 3rd floor, to replenish my supply as well as purchase some Via coffee singles since I don’t have a coffee maker in my apartment.  Man, those things are pricey here!  Well, then again, I thought they were pricey in the states.

Deciding  that I was done for the day, I headed back to the apartment…but wanted some fruit and snacks.  I wandered the streets near the apartment building/hotel and found a fruit vendor.  The local vendors don’t speak English so I was able to use my rusty Chinese to ask her what was good to eat, pay, and get change all in Chinese.  I was pretty darn proud of myself.  On that high, I ventured into the little grocery store across the way and bought some more snacks… and another TsingDao beer, Coke Zero, pea snack (like the ones that I gobble up from Trader Joe’s!!! ), some Chips Ahoy…… I was set! I was walking home, and came across a larger grocery store, literally catty corner to the apartment building, so I went in…. Noodles, tofu, milk, more instant coffee all came home with me. Along with some oil, soy sauce, chili paste to cook with. My meager little kitchen is coming together and tonight I will attempt to cook my first meal in Shanghai.. tofu, noodles, and maybe if I find a veggie vendor some stir fried veggies.

Got home, heated up my left overs, cracked my beer… and watched some movies on HBO… which is in English with Chinese subtitles.  I have a feeling by the end of the month I will have seen “Eat Pray Love” about 18 million times.

Yesterday, I unpacked some of my clothes, not all of them since I brought ‘winter’ clothes and got my self somewhat ready for my first day of work, which is tomorrow. At about 5 PM I headed over to Xintiandi – “new world” which is the newer tourist area with Western bars and restaurants.  Also when I was looking online at possible apartment locations, ‘near Xintiandi’ kept popping up so I decided to check it out.  I found it pretty easily- it is only about a 10 min walk from my current place and right off of People’s Park.  It reminds me a Western outdoor mall- lots of western shops and cafe’s…. and pricey!  I opted for the Paulner Brauhaus… I wanted a good beer!  And I got one, an expensive one at that.  A large glass of wheat beer cost me 12 American dollars… that is 78 yuan.  YIKES!  That was my entire trip to the grocery store!   So I enjoyed my costly beer with a cup of cheese soup.  Decided if I was going to pay the cost on my credit card to convert currency I might as well get another beer…. As I was sipping my second beer and reading my book on Shanghai the bar was finally starting to fill up.  I had asked to be seated in the bar area, ’cause in the States there is where you sit if you are by yourself yet want to strike up a conversation with someone.  Well, that’s hard to do if no one else is at the bar! The bar started to fill up one by one and the gent next to me asked if there was anything good in my book- turns out the guy is from Kerry, Ireland and the last time he was in Shanghai was 15 years ago, kind of like me.  We talked about how much it has changed, how he lived in Beijing with his wife for years…he told me that the expat community here in Shanghai is very supportive so I shouldn’t have too much of a hard time getting acclamaited. Also turns out that he did a home swap with a co-worker and he lived in Carlsbad for 6 weeks!  Small, small world.  We chatted through my beer, and called it quits when the cover band started to play bad jazz music. He wished me luck on my new adventure and we parted ways… and I forgot to ask for a card!  Darn it!  I can’t wait to get my cards so I can start handing them out.  I walked back to the apartment building, and called it a night.

So that’s what I have been up to my first few days in Shanghai.  I will create some more posts later on about my office, what I have noticed has changed in Shanghai since my last two visits, etc. in future posts.

Some other things to note:  I am on Skype, so all you folks with an iPad 2, iPhone 4, etc can download the Skype app for free and talk to me if you care to… colleen.cahill4 is my user name.  When I am in the apartment I tend to leave the Skype on so I can tell when someone is calling… so far it’s just been John and I talking for hours…. which makes the transition easier. My cats don’t know what to make of it.. they can hear me talking to them but don’t see me… but I like to see them and give them virtual belly rubbings…

Thanks for checking out my ramblings… as my girlfriend Pia used to say my letters to her from college were more like streams of thought than well structured paragraphs……   if you have suggestions of what you would like to hear about or see, please let me know!

-Colleen