Shiner to Shanghai

再見上海!!

2009-06-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Shanghai!!

Wow... the closing day finally comes. I literally just completed a marathon posting session. This journey turned into something I don't think Jim nor I could have ever imagined.

To begin he was here for 14 months, about 5 of which were without me. In the end I was here for a little more than 12 months, and spent 3 without him.

I say it very often, and will probably continue to do so, but I cannot believe it. It hasn't been as hard or scary as I ever imagined. I think my mom would attest to that fact from the two weeks she was here too. I've made some awesome friends and had the experiences of a lifetime.

Its funny to admit, but I am a bit hesitant about what follows: readjusting to small town life. I am essentially about to move from a mega city that has close to 20,000,000 back to a town of a little more than 2,000! A factor of 10,000!!

Jim has assured me its not that bad. I'm looking forward to the clean air I've longed to have in my lungs, the friends and family I have missed seeing grow and live their lives, and all the other sights, smells, tastes and sounds I've been away from for what seems so long. I have a feeling a lot of little things will make me very thankful and probably emotional.

One of my favorite songs on my iPod is by Josh Gracin called "I Keep Coming Back." I don't know if the song is on the radio, or if its well-known, but the lyrics in the chorus always make me remember the life I have in Texas and that is truly where I call home...

I keep coming back, Time after time,
No matter where I’m at
I can’t pretend
I’ve found something better than where I’ve been
Cause where I’m from
Is who I am
And no matter how far that I run
Yea I keep coming back

So my bags are packed (Please, Lord, let them be under 50lbs. Amen.) and I start the 24 hour travel session tomorrow.

Wish me Godspeed.

Goodbye SRC

2009-06-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!! That Winkenwerder girl is posting some pictures of her complex...

The sign beside the front entrance and my building. My apartment is behind the second tree from the left - which is literally blocking my balcony.

The big pool. There is a sandy beach area for kids to play on the far side.

Different view of the big pool, although it still does not portray the size appropriately.

Views of the inside of the complex from my friend Michelle's apartment.

My building is in the far back right.

Goodbye JinFeng Lu

2009-06-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

The road I live on and work on is JinFeng Lu, and I figured that it would be nice to put some photos up of my environment the past three months.

The intersection of JinFeng Lu & BaoLe Lu... the only light I pass through. But this isn't the busiest intersection.

These are the Chinese shops: there are restaurants, tailors, barbershops, think of it as downtown Shiner meets China - mom & pops places.

This is the 'expat section' of Jin Feng Lu: Pines Market, Rendezvous, ColdStone, Starbuck's...

Boxingcat Brewery (yep, they brew their own stuff), a local coffee shop (which supposedly has ties to the Chinese mafia), another local coffee shop, a local (legit) massage parlor...

... The monk, a few Chinese shops, a newly opened Subway restaurant, some 'other' massage parlors.

Peking Duck

2009-06-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I joined a few friends at the Hyatt on the Bund for a dinner of Peking Duck. It's pretty neat how they are prepared, but rather than launch into a diatribe, I'm going to let the folks at Wikipedia do my dirty work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_duck.

The lighting wasn't very good (or more appropriately, I didn't change my setting on the camera correctly) but the pictures follow.

A duck being roasted in the oven.

The chef preparing the duck before it was served.

Day 2 Classes

2009-06-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

My school runs on a rotating block schedule. There are eight periods: A through H. Periods A-D take place on Day 1 and E-H on Day 2. Easy enough. The fun starts in when you throw in the rotations... for ease of explaining, I'm going to list the days and order the lessons run in:

Day1A: ABCD
Day2E: EFGH
Day1B: BCDA
Day2F: FGHE
Day1C: CDAB
Day2G: GHEF
Day1D: DABC
Day2H: HEFG

Then the cycle repeats. The idea behind this madness is that certain classes are not always at an advantage when it comes to test days. It also helps if you are not a morning person who stinks at math (or a different subject), you don't always have math class first thing, only 1/4 of the days you have math.

Anyways, I meant to take pictures of all my classes, but the last class for my day 1 students arrived and I didn't have my camera. So I was only able to take a picture of my day 2 classes. The other sad thing about this is I only have two classes on day 2, so I didn't get a picture of my three day 1 classes at all. :(

So here are my day 2 classes.

Period G AlgebraII/Trigonometry consisted of freshman and sophomores and was a class of 18. (One kiddon absent.) This is the maximum size of a class at SAS and is extremely large for a math class, most of which are topped out at 14.

Period H Core-PreCalculus consisted of juniors and seniors and was originally a class of 11. The two seniors had already graduated so these are just the juniors.

Post-post-graduation

2009-06-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

The night of graduation I stayed at my friend Jane's place. The next morning we went for breakfast and shopping in downtown Shanghai. Below are some pictures from our day.

We went to brunch back at the place where my first birthday party was, The Closed Door. Below is the entrance to the restaurant... there is no additional sign. Interesting, the place is owned by the same people who own Cantina Agave. They also have a few other restaurtants that are hits in Shanghai.
A picture of the tree-lined streets in the French Concession.

Another similar to above. It was a gorgeous day, but by mid-afternoon was as sweltering as South Texas.

A building that my friend Jane loves. Just thought this was a neat angle, please excuse the power cord cutting the picture diagonally.

A very clean lane (alley) in Shanghai between buildings.

Teachers Only: Post Graduation

2009-06-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

After the graduation ceremony, there was a going away party for several departing teachers. We reserved the popular restaurant, Cantina Agave, for the whole evening. Cantina Agave has the best Mexican food in Shanghai, hands down. To give the place some credibility for all the hard-nosed-Mexican-food-snobs, let me add that this place also has two all important extensive bars: salsa and tequila; in separate locations. I did more damage to the salsa bar, than the tequila that night, but I did partake in a few margaritas. Left is a picture of me on the patio as the evening wore on. Below more pictues and descriptions follow.

My office mate, Pat, and friend Kevin talking out front. I imagine Pat making some silly tech joke and Kevin is laughing to be polite. J/K Pat. :P

How can you not love these two?? Drunk Peter and giddy Dachpian.

Sheryl was probably telling Dachpian something significant that he won't remember. I think this was before the man with the monkey came along. No, I did not drink so much to hallucinate a monkey. Just as there are people trying to turn a buck on the corner of any city in the states, the same is true in China. Apparently in this section of town, the old French Concession, men will have little monkeys they take around in hopes that drunken expats play and pay. No one pictured here (or writing this) played with the monkey, and I will not incriminate those that did.

Dachpian is sad that I'm leaving, or that his drink is empty, maybe both.

Graduation

2009-06-05T04:41:00.000-07:00

The graduation for my school was last Saturday afternoon at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. The ceremony lasted 2 hours, which isn't that bad as far as graduations go. We, the faculty, were recognized in a similar manner as college/university graduation: adorned in robes. Our robes were blue, whereas the students' were black.

I didn't get any photos of the ceremony itself, but below are some friends & me in the dressing room.

Myself, Emel & Michelle

Myself & Allan; we both teach core-precalculus and collaborate well together.

Castro & myself; I think he was delaying putting the gown on.

Celia, Myself & Emel

Dachpian... acting goofy.

Myself & Bob, a former bus buddy from when I rode the bus to work from Pudong.

American School End of Year Party

2009-06-04T07:02:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday the American School had our going away party in downtown Shanghai, which was organized by our HR Department. School employees from both campuses are invited. This year was the first year the event was at The Glamour Bar, one of Shanghai's ritziest bars on the Bund.

The Bund is the old concession-era financial district on the waterfront property on the Huangpu River. In days gone by this area was known as "Wall Street of the East." Essentially the Bund is what put Shanghai on the map to become the major city it is today.

The party had lots of free alcohol, and very little food, a bad combination for teachers at the end of the year. :) Luckily for all of us the next day was the Chinese Dragonboat holiday. Below are some pics of me and friends (their respective discipline in paraenthesis) from the event.

Emel (French & Spanish teacher, one of my office mates & best buddies) and Celia (Chinese).

Me and Javier Castro (Spanish & office mate.)

Me & Emily (Math department chair)

Hannah (2nd grade)

David Dachpian (Economics & history)

Jane (Biology) & Karen (elementary ESOL)

Castro & Emel

Got Pictures??

2009-06-04T05:21:00.001-07:00

As many may know, one of Jim's assorted hobbies is photography, and our adventure in China led him into a whole new level of the involvement.

Photo printing places abound here, as do framers. Through research and seeking recommendations from other expats, we found a printer and a framer that are in the top tiers of their traits in Shanghai. The additional bonus is that both of these services cost fractions of what they would typically run stateside.

We had several items printed and framed before Jim left and the first batch is pictured below. Jim did not get to see the results, so seeing these final products are a first for him too. Some of the items are not photos, but other art pieces we had framed.

Descriptions (left to right, in indicated row)

Top Row: Large silk scarf we bought at the Forbidden City in Beijing; two window boxes of Pudong skyline.

Middle Two Rows: Vertical Shanghai Sunset; two overhead photos of busy intersection we lived by in Pudong; (ivory mattes) two photos of interior of restaurant in Beijing; (green mattes) Chinese guards taking down the Chinese flag in downtown Shanghai & angled shot of Rachel looking at the happenings on a Beijing sidewalk; (Dark blue matte) Neat shot of Rachel at Shanghai World Finance Center - tallest building in China (aka my facebook profile pic.) (Light blue matte) old bicycles in Shanghai alley;

Bottom Row: Row of doorways & windows in Tibet; alleyway in Shanghai early one Saturday morning; 'reconstructed' terracotta soldier in Xi'an.

After Jim left, and the first shipment came in, we decided to get more...

Top Row: Large picture of Shanghai skyline, Pot on open fire in Yangshou.

Second Row: Framed Chinese Paper-cutting; Stairs to nowhere in Yangshou on Canvas

Third Row: Two Chinese paper-cuttings on mirror; Chinese Paper-cutting of Chinese woman's profile.

Birthday Party #2

2009-06-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

The week after my birthday, my friend Michelle and her family (Kevin, Maya & Cooper) had me over for dinner. It was actually a dual-celebration, for both a me and another of friend of their family. We had thai food delivered from a local restaurant and a Cold Stone ice cream cake. The entire evening was fantastic, as was the leftover Michelle sent home.

We were greeted at the decorated threshhold by our young hosts.

While dinner was prepared, mood music was played by one of our hosts.

The evening moved onto other forms of entertainment. Maya sang her award-winning Chinese song and dance, followed by a rendition of Cooper's wu-shu routine.

I'm really upset I don't get any other pictures of Maya - she is such a beautiful young girl, the spitting image of her mother.

Then we ate and had cake!! I will say that while I am not 7, I am prime, so the candle wasn't a total lie!

Kevin & Michelle have been great friends and have taken me in as a part of there family since Jim left. This was not their first show of hospitality to me, and they will be sorely missed. I hope that I can pay their generosity forward in the future and always cherish the memories they have allowed me to share with their family.

By Invitation Only

2009-05-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was my birthday... to celebrate Saturday night I went out to dinner with some friends at an Italian restaurant called The Closed Door. The place only holds about 40 people when filled to capacity, so you have to have a reservation. Our group of 10 took up about 1/4 of the restaurant. It doesn't look like a restaurant, but literally a closed door with just the street number on it: 808. It was raining outside so we weren't able to enjoy the open air patio, but it was still a nice evening.

The restaurant is located in the former French Concession of the city. We had appetizers, 2 bottles of wine, entrees and dessert. Of course my dessert (chocolate banana tart) was brought to me with a huge firecracker/sparkler ablaze. The plan was to go dancing afterwards, but I think the rain was wearing on everyone, so we all went our separate ways after dinner. Another friend of mine has birthday this next weekend, so we might go dancing then.

I didn't take pictures, but just thought I would let everyone know I had a good time for my birthday. If you're ever in Shanghai you need to try to make it to the place... it beats the socks off Olive Garden. :-)

Link to a listing for the restaurant: http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/dining/italian/has/lounge-cafe/?most_viewed=1

Fun Times at the Fabric Market

2009-05-18T04:24:00.001-07:00

One of the things that all the expats take advantage of out here is the fabric market. I've been travelling to that area of the town on the weekends to take care of the last items I'm having made.

We've had several items made including, cashmere coats for me, leather coats for both of us, and even the suit Jim wore to gala. Like most things in China, you haggle/bargain for the price as everything is negotiable, but sometimes you do want to pay a little more to have a nicer quality.

So this weekend, I went to pick up our "Chinese items." I had the name of a specific tailor on recommendation from a friend (and a copy of Jim's measurements). Below is the tailor's shop, his name is: Jim (his English name anyways). All the shops pretty much look like the one below. The other funny thing is that the fabric market is one of the few places in Shanghai where there is no smoking... I wonder why? Could it be because of all of the fabric??

Next is the Changshan (more commonly called an emperor's jacket) that I had made for Jim. Not entirely sure where he'll where it, but its a fun piece. (I editted the pictures with PhotoShop so the pieces would stand out.) The silk brocade looks red in the picture, but it's really more of a maroon. When I tried adjusting the tone of the color in the picture it made the gold look funny. The gold embroidery is dragons and an old horse-pulled Chinese caravan. Dragons convey power and represent masculinity in China and the caravan represents an elite status.

Finally, there is the qipao I had made for myself. It's a silk brocade with vertical stripes in black, chocolate, caramel, champagne and slate blue. The silk has gold dragonflies (again a symbol of power, but much more feminine) embroidered on it. I will probably wear this here to our school's graduation or end of year party. I'm hoping I'll have the oppurtunity to wear it sometime this summer. The dress doesn't look that nice in the picture, but fits nicely.

Want to know more on the Chinese garments? See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qipao & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changshan

New Record

2009-05-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

WhooHoo!! Two, I mean, three posts in one day! That is a new "Shiner to Shanghai" record!

I realized that at this point the blog could now be properly subtitled, "and Shanghai to Shiner," since my time is almost done here... This past week I bought my return ticket home. I depart Shanghai on Saturday June 13 at 12:25pm, and I am scheduled to land in Austin at 4:54pm on Saturday.

I only wish the flight would only take 4.5 hours. The total flying time is 14.5 hours and I have a 3 hour layover in San Francisco. The layover seems like a long time, but it won't be, since that is where I will have to pass through U.S. customs.

So here's to hoping I finish the last stint of this blog in good form. Stay tuned!

Electricity!

2009-05-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, when I took pictures of the road construction in a taxi, I also snapped this one.

Its a quintessential China moment - one of the many times of my days when I'm out and I see something, and just think to myself "What in the world is that all about?"

Usually, right after I think this, I remind myself that its not fair to call it a China moment. I think its just be because I'm totally engulfed in a culture that is not my own.

I don't know if it is possible to explain this feeling in any other way, but I thought about this picture over the past week, and thought it would be interesting to share with everyone.

Other possible titles for this post included:

Hey, what does this wire do?
No, don't touch that!
How many Chinese men does it take to...
Stealing in broad daylight.

Road Construction

2009-05-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

The area I moved to when Jim left China could be considered a suburb of the urban sprawl that is Shanghai. There are new elevated roads being constructed in this area, because there are plans to put in more railways, and I think one that will eventually connect Shanghai and Beijing.

Anyways, the changes that the local landscape has undergone since Jim left 2 months ago is unbeleivable. I no longer commute in on the roads with the contruction on it on a daily basis, so I really only see these changes on the weekends, and am always amazed at how drastic the changes are from week to week. I decided it would be neat to post some pictures of what elevated road construction looks like in China.

Disclaimer: I don't have any background in construction, so I'm sure some of the terminology I use will be humorous to anyone who does. This post would probably be much more informational if Jim were posting it - but he's not here - so you are all stuck with me. :)

First the buildings in the path of the new roadway have to come down, and the first picture shows a common sight, a hollowed shell of a building before demolition. I think this building used to be an apartment building. Along with the roads being constructed there is construction for a lot of new apartment buildings. I would estimate that the new buildings are at least 15 stories tall.

Next the 'legs' of the elevated roads are built. Scaffolding is errected as the legs are constructed. I think most of this scaffolding material is wood/bamboo.As the height of the legs increases so does the height of the scaffolding. The short legs are not as interesting or amazing.

Can you see the guy on top of the scaffolding on the right-most leg?

Panoramic shot of more tall legs.

Once the legs are done, other stuff is put on top of them with cranes. I don't know what these things are called, its just huge. I sure hope that concrete had time to set...

Then, more scaffolding! In this picture its some type of metal, as opposed to the wooden scaffolds used when the legs are constructed. I am almost certain that this scaffold is used as a support on which the forms for the roads are built.

View of the forms atop of the metal scaffolding. Notice the zig-zagging bamboo scaffolding running up along the metal scaffolding behind the light post. All the pictures were taken from inside a taxi. I couldn't crop the door out of this one.

Another view of the legs, forms and scaffolding.

View of part of the new road once the scaffolding is removed. That's it, I know my comments got shorter, but I think the pictures say a lot where I didn't.

Fragrance

2009-05-08T06:09:00.001-07:00

Tonight, my school's Performing Art Center (PAC) hosted Fragrance - an evening of traditional Chinese Dance by the Shanghai Dance Company. The production ran earlier in the year at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. The PAC puts on events like these in order to allow the school community to experience the local performing arts traditions that occur beyond the school gates. It also allows the American school to promote the culture and traditions of China, our host country. (Our school is non-proprietary and sponsored by the American Consulate, so essentially the school is a guest in China.)

Summarized excerpt from the playbill:
The piece takes it name from a translation of a classic Chinese poem written by Song Dynasty master poets Song DongPo and LiQing Zhao. Like the poem, the dances exemplify the rich history, refined style and diverse content that compromise the cultures of China whether it is traditional dance from Mongolia, the Korean and Tajike minority tribes or the Tang Dynasty.

The performance lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes and consisted of 11 different routines, most were traditional Chinese, but a few pieces were much more modern, but still had distinct Chinese charachteristics. Of course, since it was a live-stage performance pictures weren't allowed and my words could not begin to do the pieces justice. I think this has been the the best Chinese performance I have seen here.

"Cinco de Mayo" on "Dos de Mayo"

2009-05-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a long weekend in China. Friday, May 1, is when China celebrates Labor Day* [see footnote at bottom], so it was a national holiday. I ran some errands during the day on Friday and Saturday, more to come on that in the near future.

Saturday night, once I returned to Zhudi Town, my current outskirt of Shanghai, I went to The Monk. The Monk is a local bar that caters to the expatriate community and is the Zhudi Town version of Cheers, where "everyone knows your name."

The reason that we were all meeting is that the owner of The Monk, Ralph, a lovely gentleman, organized a Cinco de Mayo event. Ralph, being a businessman obviously understood the gains he could encounter by putting the event on Saturday May 2, versus Tuesday May 5. That said, I'm sure there will be a crowd at Ralph's establishment on Tuesday.

There was a mexican buffet and a hoppin' salsa band. I had a good time visiting and even got out on the dance floor for a little while. Being one of the few (if not the only) folks from Texas present, I was asked several times if I had my honky-tonkin' boots on.

I just found it ironic that I was celebrating Cinco de Mayo in China... more than 8,000 miles away from Mexico.

* Labor Day Information
Curious as to why our (American) Labor Day is observed as the first Monday in September, and not May 1 with the rest of the world? See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_day#International_Workers.27_Day If you follow the link, you can scroll above to see how different regions observe the holiday.

Follow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_day to find out more about our observed holiday.

Care Package

2009-04-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

I have not forgot about the pictures I've promised to put on the blog. I've had some problems loading the pictures onto the blog, and I sent my super-reliable-built-in IT support home to America. On top of that, the weather has been yucky here, and when there is a pretty day, I'm stuck in a classroom.

I received a care package from home yesterday. Most of the teachers have mail/packages sent the school for ease of delivery/pickup. Needless to say, I was giddy to see the package waiting for me in the high school mail/copy room. I felt like I was 5 years-old and got a letter in the mail from my Grandma & Grandpa Aschenbeck. Only instead of my name being written in my grandma's pretty cursive, it was someone else's penmanship on the USPS package : my husband's all caps writing.

So what does a girl who only have 2 months left in China want and need?

1) Socks. The few pairs of dress socks I brought with me in June and September are officially thread-bare. With some pairs, I was offering regular prayers of petition that they would not have a hole in the toes by the end of the day, followed in the evening with a prayer of thanksgiving.

2) Magazines. There are only so many times you can re-read a magazine, and all of the advertisements therein. When my mom visited in January she brought two, and I have fully exhausted those as well. Which magazines did I receive? Runners' World, Better Homes & Garden and Fitness. (Ranked in order of preference.)

3) My FHI flat-iron. Silly? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely. I bought a simple, cheap one back in the fall, and my hair suffered. It made my hair (especially the ends) dry and brittle - basically damaged. Not something a girl who is trying to get ponytail length hair back wants. I have to use the power converter with it every time, apparently plugging it directly into a socket with 220V could cause a problem.

That's all. A day later, I'm still just as giddy about the delivery.

Thank you Jim. I hope you know how much I appreciate it. ;)

Twisted

2009-03-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of a piece of art that was towards the front of our apartment complex in Pudong; it was on the path that we always took when we were coming in or leaving.

You can see in the pictures, it is surrounded by a small moat of water, and you can see the reflection of the piece in the water. At night, the lights would shine on the piece and the water would have a red tint.

I always enjoyed watching my perspective of the piece change as I walked by. I would try to 'untwist' the twisted piece.

For the other mathies reading this, I'm pretty sure the piece is topographically equivalent to a torus, not a mobius strip.

From another angle:

New Digs

2009-03-09T06:07:00.000-07:00

Jim is back in the land of free-flowing BBQ, enchaladas, Dr. Pepper, etc. and I'm in China through June. Wow, I could have never imagined that this would be a reality for us.

As Jim mentioned last week, I'm now living in a furnished school-owned apartment at the Shanghai Racquet Club, SRC for short. I decided to post some pics of my new place so folks will know what type of accomodations I'm living in, and maybe ease some of the fears/concerns friends and family may have.

The entry way...

The closet in the entry way. This is only one of three closets in the apartment.
The living room...
View of the living room into the kitchen.

Kitchen that includes a real oven, our old apartment only had a dish dryer.
View of the kitchen and the dishwasher, even though I have an ayi (chinese for maid.)

Laundry room, with a full size washer & dryer. The old washer only had a cold water cycle, and the dryer didn't have a heat setting.
The bedroom (with another closet!) The guest bedroom has a desk, a futon, the third closet, and is separated from my room by a set of sliding doors that turn into a wall.

My bathroom. There is another bathroom sans bathtub, avec stand-in shower, again not picture-worthy. I also have a balcony, but I'll have to take some pics during the daytime.

I'm really excited about some photos from our journeys we had printed and framed, and they should be delivered within a few weeks, so I'm hoping to have those on the walls for a little while before I ship them back to the states.

I'm pleased with the place, our other apartment was nice, but laid out in much more of a Chinese-style and the arcitecture may have been a tad too modern for my tastes. The SRC was designed in a more traditional western style.

That's a pretty much it for the picture tour of the apartment. I will take some pictures of the outside of the complex this weekend. All the plants are begining to bloom, I especially love the magnolias and the cherry blossoms.

I'm doing fine, work keeps me busy, which eases the adjustment. I also have a great support system of friend and colleagues. I will ask for two favors: if you think about me, say a little prayer (for well-being, continued sanity, health, etc.), and if you see my husband, please give him a hug for me. :)

Finally, here's one last photo of me sitting in the living room.

Coming home (one of us at least)

2009-02-23T03:50:00.000-08:00

A lot of people are curious about our plans to come home. And we finally have some details which will surprise most of you. As the title eludes to, one of us will be staying here for a while longer. The decision was hard but the opportunity is too hard to pass up. So, I (Jim) will be coming home March 8th and Rachel will be staying here until June. The main reason for the decision is the school really needs her to stay and finish the school year. They are offering her housing near the school and all of her new friends live nearby, so she has a great support group here. It also gives us another opportunity to travel again in Asia this summer.

Sorry the posts have been scarce lately. I still have some more pictures to post from Tibet and another city we visited. Stay tuned, that is my goal for this week...

Lhasa - Tibet Part 1

2009-01-16T22:27:00.001-08:00

Potala Palace
Originally uploaded by jimwink

Our next stop on our vacation was Lhasa, Tibet. Even though Tibet is part of mainland China the Chinese government keeps a careful watch of who enters or leaves Tibet. When we booked our trip we had to submit copies of our passports and work visas. The tour company then arranged to get us a permit to enter Lhasa. This is the reason why we went to Chengdu first. It is one of the entry points into Tibet.

Our first day in Lhasa was spent in the hotel, acclimating to the altitude. Lhasa elevation is about 3650m (11,975ft or 2.25mi). Everything we read about Lhasa told us that we will need a day to get adjusted to the altitude. We definitely needed it. I think we both experienced a little of every symptom from altitude sickness. But later that evening we started feeling better and even took a walk to the local convenience store.

The next morning we headed to our first historic site in Lhasa, The Potala Palace. Construction was started by the fifth Dalai Lama, Lozang Gyatso, in 1645. If you are wondering,(we did) the current Dalai Lama is the 14th. It is about 13 stories tall contains 1000 rooms, 10,000 shrines and about 200,000 statues. The Potala Palace was used as the central seat of government and as the winter palace by the Dalai Lama up until the Tibetan uprising against the Chinese in 1959. Since then, China has turned the palace into a museum. But as we toured the palace you still got a strong sense of it as a religious shrine. Monks still roam the halls and pilgrims still make offerings every chance they can.

Jokhang Temple
Originally uploaded by jimwink

After all the hiking and climbing at the Potala Palace we were starving. We then headed to place called Lhasa Kitchen for lunch. It was really nice, with English menus and English speaking staff. And the hot chocolate was the perfect way to warm up.

Our next stop was the Jokhang Temple on Barkhor Square. It is the first Buddhist temple built in Tibet during the reign of King Songsten Gampo between 605 and 650. It was to celebrate his marriage with a Tang Dynasty, Chinese princess named Wencheng, who was Buddhist. The name Jokhang means the 'House of the Buddha'.

Barkhor Street
Originally uploaded by jimwink

Surrounding Jokhang Temple is a circular street named Barkhor Street. And it is the place to be if you want to do some shopping. It is said that after the temple was built, due to its magnificence, it quickly attracted thousands of Buddhist pilgrims. A path around the temple was created by the pilgrims which has become the path known as Barkhor Street. Even today, pilgrims follow the same path walking around the temple in a clockwise direction, many with the prayer wheels. There was an added benefit to everyone walking in the same direction, it made it easy to negotiate pedestrian traffic. What a concept.

As usual, just click on the photos to see the rest.

Chengdu (where the Panda reserve is located)

2009-01-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

Chengdu
Originally uploaded by jimwink

Here is the first of many posts for our recent Christmas/New Years' vacation. It was filled with great and unusual food, icy road conditions and crazy taxi drivers among other things. Overall we had a great time. Our first stop on this adventure was Chengdu, near the center of China. It was our gateway into Tibet because visitors have to obtain a special permit to visit the area. We used an agency this time so they arranged everything for us. The name might sound familiar to some, as this was the location of the major earthquake that hit China earlier this year. In fact, the panda reserve that we wanted to visit was partially destroyed so our tour included a different panda reserve. We were still able to see the pandas up close and was able to visit the baby panda area. Unfortunately we were not able to take any photos of the them but I assure you they are very cuddly and playful. All the pandas we did manage to take pictures of were over a year old.

We spent a day and half in Chengdu with very little planned on the agenda. One evening we decided to walk around and see what kind of restaurants we could find. We popped into a couple of them and after looking at the menu (which we couldn't read in Chinese) we decided to head back towards the hotel. Soon we came across something promising. I don't remember the exact name but Steak was part of it. At this point we were both starving and decided to give it a try. Another factor that contributed to us going there was that the place was packed, and if a place scores well with the locals, then it might be worth trying. The menu was in English, the waiter could speak a little and the prices were really cheap. Rachel and I joked about the prices and little did we know, it does make a difference. So with a mix of our broken Chinese and pointing, we ordered what looked like steak and eggs.

After a few minutes our dinners arrived still sizzling on the iron plate with a cover. The server waits for us to hold up our napkins so the oil doesn't splatter all over us, then he removes the cover. Steam rises and reveals a steak, a fried egg and potatoes. It looks great. So we start cutting into the steak and find out why this steak costs about $6 USD. About 80% of it was just fat. What little meat you could find was scattered throughout. We both agreed that it was the worst steak ever. No pictures were taken of this meal...

Well, we hope you enjoy the photos of my favorite animal, the panda. Click on the photo to see the rest.

Christmas Vacation

2008-12-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

So it's finally here! Christmas Vacation, and we are taking full advantage of the situation! We leave tomorrow morning to go to Chengdu, Tibet and Harbin. Pretty much we are covering the entire width of China. We will return to Shanghai on the afternoon of January 1, 2009.

A special thank you to my dear friend Valerie for the best Christmas present ever... another post will follow later about that with pictures.

If we have access to high-speed internet at our hotels, we are going to try to use Skype to contact friends and family. But there is a big emphasis on the 'if' at the beginning of that sentence.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!!

Love, Jim & Rachel

Falling into a new routine

2008-12-17T04:19:00.000-08:00

We have settled into a routine of life since we are both working now. I had a funny experience the other day that is sort of the result of the monotonic pattern our lives have taken.

No one, not even the locals, trust the tap water in China, so almost everyone uses 5 gallon bottles. The only thing you can use the tap for is washing clothes, dishes and to shower. Everythng else you use bottled water for, even when you rinse your mouth after you brush your teeth. At our work places, you won't find water fountains that would be common in the states, but you have bottled water stations around almost every corner.

Since we have to use the 5 gallon bottles, we're never wasteful in our usage. The only problem is that we use more than 1 bottle of water per week, usually 1.5. So we don't have to worry about running short we keep three 5G water bottles at any time. We go to our apartment clubhouse (the management office) to order, pay for and set up delivery of the bottles.

We live in a large apartment complex. Speciffically we live at 1599 Ding Xiang Lu, Building 19, Apartment 1301. Yes, we live on floor 13, but thirteen isn't unlucky in China. Instead, four, 14, 24, etc are, because the word for 4 sounds like death.

To give meaning to this address let me say that there are at least 30 buildings in the complex, which each has 26 stories, and each floor in a building has 2 or 4 apartments per floor. I would estimate that about 1/6 of the buildings have 2-story apartments. At this point, the math teacher in me wants everyone to compute the minimum and maximum possible number of apartments in our complex. Hahaha...

Since the name of this blog is Shiner to Shanghai, its worth pointing out that there are more people who live in our apartment complex than do in Shiner. I'm not sure what the latest census results are for Lavaca County.... To add to the size of our complex, the developer is now in the process of building Phase II of the complex: it will be at 1399 Ding Xiang Lu and is almost equal in size to Phase I we live in.

So Monday night, after I got home from work I had to go order water bottles, a normal event in my life now. I was told they would be delivered by 7pm, which was more than an hour away. I was walking home from the clubhouse and walked into the building by catching the door from a family that was walking out. I held the elevator for a lady who entered the building behind me, and she was thankful. Once she was on, I tried to use my access card that was still in my wallet to access the other floors of the buiding. It didn't scan, which sometimes happens, so she scanned her card and hit the button for floor 21 and I hit the button for floor 13.

I stepped off the elevator at floor 13, and heard the elevator shut behind me. But it didn't look like our floor. I turned quickly to see what floor the sign by the elevator said, I was on floor 13. There was the sounds of a family resonating in the hallway from one of the apartments, which is typical on our floor. The smell of Chinese food, a normal smell on our floor, filled the air. I checked the sign again, still floor 13, but not our floor.

At this point, I start to think, "What's wrong? I'm in China. I'm in an apartment building. Is there a hole in the space-time continumum? Am I caught in a bad episode of The Twilight Zone? Or is it just that my flux capacitor is broke?"

I went to push the down button for the elevators, which were now on floors 21 and 6. While the one on 21 returned to 13, I waited anxiously, and tried to act suave. I tried to pretend like I was supposed to be there, like I was in control, all the while trying to ignore the thoughts that were racing through my head at an ever increasing rate. This entire act was for no one, as I was alone in the common area. The elevator arrived, I jumped on and hit the button for the ground floor. Once on solid ground I jetted out the front doors to inspect the building number. 26, not 19. I entered one building too soon.

I laughed it off as I continued what should have been my original stroll home. But I looked over my shoulder at the same time to make sure know one else was aware of my mistake. I was still alone, and felt confident that I had hid my own silliness.

The water arrived on schedule Monday night, but I honestly forgot to tell Jim about my time warp incident until Tuesday evening. He got a good laugh out of the situation. He almost made the same mistake once, but was unable to gain entry to building 26, and figured it out at that point. He couldn't beleive how long it took me to figure out what was wrong.

Hope you got a laugh out of it too.

Taxi Adventure in Xian

2008-12-17T02:26:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post about this and in the last post, Jim alluded to our taxi adventure in Xian during the first weekend in October.

So we arrived at the Xian airport after our flight was delayed in Beijing, we collected our bags and made our way to the taxi line in front of the airport. We had printed the address of our hotel in Mandarin from the website we used to book all of our travel accomodations to give our taxi driver. (A tip given to us by other expats in the past.) The airport was about 40 km from the town, so we were anticipating somewhat of a drive to get to the center of Xian where we where staying.

As we approached the front of the line, the driver at the front was really excited to see us - which should have been a sign. Like I said, we anticiapted a drive, but the fare of the cab ride should have been considerably less than a similar ride in Shanghai, since Xian is a smaller city compared to the major metropolis of Shanghai. We saw from the sticker on the back window that the initial rate was less than that of Shanghai's; Shanghai's base rate is 11RMB, whereas I think Xian was 8RMB. (I don't recall exact numbers, because I have waited too long to post this... shame on me.)

We loaded our things into the trunk, hopped in the backseat and were headed towards the walled city of Xian. After about 7-10 minutes from my seat behind the driver, I noticed something was wrong with the meter that was supposed to be tracking our fare: the amount the fare was increasing by was not constant. At first we thought it had to do with the rate at which the driver was travelling since most cabs in China accrue fares by distance (when your moving) and time (when you are at a standstill). Maybe the cab's velocity wasn't contant, but we on a highway... and the jumps were still too sporadic for this to be the case. Sometimes the meter would increase by 2RMB, others by 7RMB (almost the base rate!), or some other amount in that range. Jim couldn't see the meter from his seat so, I was calling out the intervals the price was increasing, and we were both trying to deduce a pattern or something logical from the sequence I was muttering.

Then I noticed the meter did not have a fa piao printing from it. A fa piao is an official government issued Chinese receipt, that are used by all businesses in China; they are also used by the government to collect business taxes. Businesses pay the government their taxes and in return are given carbon triplicate booklets for the fa piaos. Taxis are given rolls what can be thought of as 'official adding machine tape' to use in the meter which are used for the fa piao. In Shanghai if a taxi driver cannot produce a fa piao, you are free to leave the taxi without paying.

So at this point in the story, we are on a highway somewhere in rural China, but near Xian, trying to deduce a pattern for the meter, find a reason as to why there is no fa piao, and figure out what our next step is. We realized that we were at the mercy of this driver until we were closer to Xian.

When we did arrive in a more densely populated area, since Jim's Mandarin is a bit better than mine, he started to tell the driver that something was wrong with the meter. The driver started talking to Jim as if he were a native Chinese language speaker, and kept driving us to our final destination.

Jim told the driver to stop the taxi, and we would get out. The driver pulled over, started to talk to us and kept the meter running, which was now around 100RMB. Jim brought up the issue of the fa piao, and the drive showed us that he had pre-printed fa piaos, similar to what you get in restaurants.

We would have just bailed and taken our stuff, except everything was in the trunk, with our passports - the only form of identification we have in China. Jim kept trying to talk to the guy and I tried to keep my blood pressure low. When the conversation of broken Mandarin wasn't going anywhere, the driver called his 'boss' who spoke English and put him on the phone with Jim.

Jim explained the situation slowly and calmly, and the boss tried to tell us we were almost there and the toll would be no more than 150RMB. (Recall the meter is still running and is now near 110RMB.)

By this time, I had had enough and decided to try something else I had learned from other expats. I pulled out my cell phone and called 110. 110 is the Chinese 911 for problems that require the police's attention. 112 is for fire, 114 for the ambulance; there are others but those are the important ones to know.

Once connected, I asked in Mandarin for someone who spoke English, and I got someone whose English was a tiny bit better, but who quickly reverted to Mandarin. So I just said "Yingyue (English)" into the phone until I got someone did speak English. I briefly and slowly explained the situation, and the man on the other end asked me to put the driver on the phone. (Jim was still on the phone with the boss.) I handed the phone to the driver and heard the police screaming at the driver. I was handed my cell phone back and told the driver was going to drive us to a taxi park and we were to only pay 100 RMB.

Jim handed the driver's phone back to him. Having quickly conversed about the situation, we decided it was best to cut our losses now. At this point I think the driver had been shamed pretty harshly by the police and was happy to end the ordeal as well. Jim paid the 100RMB, collected the fa piao and told me not to exit the taxi until he had gotten all our bags from the trunk.

Jim got the bags, I hopped out and another (legitimate) taxi was pulling up behind us. We got in and rode the rest of the way into Xian and paid another 15RMB.

Moral #1: Be wary of excited taxi drivers.
Moral #2: Always know the number of the police in a foreign country.

Our Visit to Xi'an

2008-11-30T18:31:00.000-08:00

Xi'an City
Originally uploaded by jimwink

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. To be honest, going through the pictures takes some time and we have just been lazy about posting them. Here are the photos from the last two days of our vacation to Beijing.

For this part of the trip we decided to go to Xi'an (shee-on). This is the home of the famous Terracotta Warriors. We ran into our first problem at the airport. For some reason the flight was delayed. Not sure what the real reason was, but it put us behind about 3-4 hours. So we landed in Xi'an a little after noon and after a crazy taxi ride, we arrived at the hotel. I'll let Rachel blog about the taxi ride. It needs it's own post. After settling into our hotel my first priority was making sure we had time to see the terracotta army so we scheduled to have a personal driver come and pick us up first thing in the morning. Then he could take us straight to the airport after we were done. I wanted to go early to try and avoid the crowds as much as possible. After everything was set we had the rest of the day to ourselves to just explore. First on the list was the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower which happen to be just across the street from where we were staying.
The Bell Tower was built in 1384 by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang as a way to provide an early warning signal to the town by rival rulers. It also marks the geographical center of the this ancient capital. The wooden tower is the largest and best preserved tower of its kind in China. It is 118 ft. high. It stands on a brick base which is 116ft long and about 30ft high on each side.

The Drum Tower located within walking distance was in 1380 during the reign of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and was renovated twice in 1699 and 1740 in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The intersting part of the design of the Drum Tower is that it is was built without any nails. The Drum Tower was used three times a day to notify the towns people. The first was at sun rise when the gates to the town would be opened. Next was at sun down to close the gates and the last was at midnight.

Terracotta Warriors
Originally uploaded by jimwink

The next day we set out for the Terracotta Warriors at 7 in the morning. The museum opened at 8:30 and I wanted to try to beat as much of the crowd as possible. We got very lucky and arrived early and was able to get some great pictures.
The story of the First Emperor is so fascinating. I had the opportunity to watch a special on T.V. about a month before our trip and learn about the life of the first Emperor and the amazing story behind why he wanted to build the life size army. Here is a more detailed look at his life on Wiki.

Also if you get a chance, watch the Discovery Channel special that I saw called 'The First Emperor: The man who made China'

Here is a short summary of his accomplishments. He is known as the first emperor uniting warring states into a single country which became what we know as China. Soon after, he established a system of weights & measurements, a common currency and a single written language. He also built the first version of the Great Wall and a national road system. As he became older he became more fearful of death. He felt that the people he conquered would come back to haunt him which lead him to order an army which could protect him in the afterlife, the terracotta army. He also wanted immortality, which his alchemists tried to give him, by feeding him mercury. They thought that mercury had special powers so it was mixed into other foods to make it digestible. This however just added to his fear and delusions.

Beijing Day 3 - Forbidden City & Olympic Green

2008-10-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

Forbidden City
Originally uploaded by jimwink

On our third and last day in Beijing we went to the Forbidden City and the Olympic Green. The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty from 1406 to 1420. It served as the home for 24 Emperors and their families over a span of 500 years. It took over a million workers to construct the 980 surviving buildings over an area about 180 acres. The city is surrounded by a wall and a moat. The wall measures about 25ft high. The moat is about 20ft deep and 170ft wide. The dirt that was removed for the moat was used to build Jingshan hill just north of the Forbidden City.

After visiting the Forbidden City we went north and climbed Jingshan hill. The view from the top was amazing. It overlooks the Forbidden City and offers a great view all around. After walking and climbing it was time for lunch. Rachel found a place in our guidebook but it looked too far to walk. We have tried several types of transportation methods while in China but this time we decided to try a rickshaw.

After lunch we headed north again, this time by taxi, to the Olympic Green to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. While no events were going on at the time it was amazing how much these structures have become such a tourist attraction. They were absolutely beautiful and must have been amazing while the games were here. Next stop - Xi'an

Click on the photo to see the rest.

Beijing Day 2 - Great Wall

2008-10-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

Great Wall
Originally uploaded by jimwink

On our second day in Beijing we set out for the Great Wall. It is about an hour and a half drive from where we were staying. We leave the hotel at 7:00 in the morning and pick up a few other people who signed up for the same tour that we did. After gathering everyone together we head north to the Simatai section of the wall.

The Simatai section is about 5km (3 miles) long and has 35 beacon towers. Each tower would accommodate between 10-20 soldiers. If any tower or part of the wall was attacked they would start a signal fire. Other towers seeing the fire would also start a fire and then join to defend the wall. In a very short amount of time several hundred warriors could be summoned to help.

The Simatai section was constructed under the supervision of Qi Jiguang, a famous general in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Also it is said that this is the only part of the Great Walls that still has the original appearance of the Ming Dynasty.

After spending a couple of hours there(not long enough but we were with a tour. Next time we will hire a driver), we went back to town and had the bus drop us off near Tiananmen Square. It was hard to say if there were fewer people but it was neat to see at night.

Click on the picture to see the rest.

Beijing Day 1 - Temple of Heaven

2008-10-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

Temple of Heaven
Originally uploaded by jimwink

After checking into our hotel and grabbing a quick lunch at a nearby restaraunt, we decided to try and visit something close by. Our hotel was on the south side of Beijing and the nearest tourist attraction was the Temple of Heaven. Just a twenty minute walk.

The temple was built in 1420 A.D. during the Ming Dynasty, to offer sacrifices to the heavens. It was built larger than the Forbidden City because the Emperors of the time believed they were the sons of heaven so the Temple of Heaven must be larger in size.

The Temple of Heaven is enclosed by a long wall. The northern part is in a semi-circle shape representing the heavens, while the southern part was built square to represent the earth. The northern part is also higher in elevation also emphasizing that it was closer to the heavens.

Click on the photo to see more pictures from the Temple of Heaven.

Upcoming Vacation

2008-09-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

Jim and I are getting excited. We have a 5-day vacation planned to Beijing and Xian the week of September 29 for the week of China's National holiday!

The first two days of the week are professional development days for me at school, so we're leaving on the morning of October 1 and return to Shanghai the evening of October 5.

Jim's trying to learn everything about the new camera (imagine that) before then so he can take awesome pictures. (No word from the camera market about the older camera yet.)

It will probably take us through the following weekend to get the blog and photos loaded to the website.

Camera News

2008-09-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

Jim's camera died. It wouldn't even power on. The battery was fully charged so Jim took the whole thing apart to try and fix it. He checked to make sure that power was making it to the circuit boards with a multimeter and checked the internal fuses to make sure they weren't blown. Everything checked out but it was still dead.

I wish I could have taken a picture of the dissassembled thing. Oh, but the irony involved. How can you take a picture of a camera, when your only camera is in a million parts? There were tiny screws and parts everywhere. I stayed at least 2 feet away from the coffee table for fear of bumping it and sending pieces flying and rolling everywhere accross the wood floors.

So this Saturday, as an early birthday present, we purchased a Sony DSLR-A700 for him. He is dorking out about the camera. From the recommendation of a friend, we were able to buy it at a camera market for close to $150 less than what's available in the states. It does have a serial number and its taking nice photos, so we're pretty sure it's legit.

While at the market, we found a camera repair shop, so Sunday we took the old camera there. Maybe they'll know something Jim didn't. The charge is about $45 dollars, if they can fix it and they would call if it costs more. It will be ready by next weekend, so we'll report back. Once fixed it will either become my camera, or we'll resell it on EBay when we return to the states.

The market also has shops where you can get photos printed and framing shops. We want to get a few printed and framed to hang in our house. We are open to receiving suggestions of photos you like from our Flickr site.

Our Flickr Site

Blog Status Update

2008-09-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. I realize the posting frequency has drastically dropped off. I understand that I am not holding myself to the level I should as self-proclaimed blog editor-in-chief. And for this I apologize.

There is however a very good reason for the sudden decline in posts... I got a job! In China! This may be old news to some, but I'm not sure if everyone was aware.

I am teaching as a semester long substitute at Shanghai American School in the outskirts of Puxi. I have two preps: Algebra2/Trig and Core Pre-Cal. The position is called a substitute but it's a full time position as I'm filling for a gentleman who is on medical leave through at least January.

So how does this contribute to fewer posts? Every weekday morning I leave the apartment at 6am to catch a shuttle bus 2km away from our complex. The shuttle leaves at 6:25am and arrives at 7:30 while the school day starts at 8:05am. The folks who know me know that in order for me to leave by 6, I'm waking up by 4:45. The nice thing is since Shanghai is east of Beijing, and all of China is in the same time zone (i.e. Beijing time), the sun rises around 5:30.

I pretty much repeat the same process in the afternoons, although the commute takes longer since we travel on Shanghai's busiest road: the Yanan Elevated Road. Think of it like I-35 around downtown Austin during rush hour. Fun stuff, only I ride on a 32-seat bus with some of my coworkers. The other really cool thing, I don't pay a single RMB to ride the shuttle, as the school covers 100% of the cost. But I usually take a taxi to the stop in the morning. In the evenings I walk or take a taxi, depending on how tired I am, and/or how the weather is.

I arrive home most days between 6-7, and I'm usually pretty tired. Then we cook dinner, and I like to try to workout at the gym. The experience has made me appreciate everything Jim did from January until May.

The school is pretty cool. It's the oldest international school in Shanghai. It first opened in 1912, but closed in 1949 due to the Cultural Revolution. The doors reopened in the 80's when the rest of China opened to the rest of the world. One of the school's goals is to be the leading international school in Asia by 2012 - some say it already is. It's an American curriculum (as the name says), but it has a very Asian face. The students are not Chinese citizens, but expats' kids. Mini Terminology Lesson - Jim & I are expats. It's from the verb expatriate: to withdraw (oneself) from residence in one's native country. Anyways, close to 60% of the school's student population is Korean.

If anyone wants to know more about the school, the website is: http://www.saschina.org/.

Guilin Vacation: Day 3

2008-09-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

Longsheng Rice Fields
Originally uploaded by jimwink

On the final full day of our vacation to Guilin, the weather and my health decided not to cooperate. We had thought that we would walk or ride bikes along the banks of the river by our hotel in the morning, but the early thunderstorms put a damper on those plans. The rain was followed by either food poisoning from a bad milkshake or a reaction to anti-malarial medicine for me. Needless to say, we kept indoors our hotel room reading books or snoozing.

At noon, we had arranged for a rental car to pick us up and drive us to the Longsheng Rice Terraces, a 2.5-hour drive from the hotel. (Ugg…) I was feeling better and the heavy rain had stopped. The drive was uneventful, but the scenery was awesome at the rice terraces.

The rice fields look different during each season of the year; the summertime is when they are green. The sky was a combination of overcast and foggy, but it was neat to see the fog move in and out, as we climbed around the terraces. We also saw some of the ethnic minorities that were featured in the light show from our first night in Guilin.

We did not actually make it to any of the “lookout spots,” as we did not allocate enough time for this event. We also both want to see the rice fields in the spring, when the rice is first being planted and the terraces are full of water. If we go back, we plan to stay at one of the guesthouses in Longsheng. That said, if anyone is up for the adventure, we’re willing to take you along!

Guilin Vacation: Day 2

2008-08-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

Li River Boat Ride
Originally uploaded by jimwink

On the second day of our Guilin trip, we first headed out for a motorized raft ride on the Li (pronounced Lee) River. After the 45-minute bus ride to the destination, we found that the scenery before us is featured on the back of the 20RMB bill. The raft ride was advertised as being a bamboo raft, but the Li River has a stronger current than the Yulong, so for sturdiness sake (and probably ease of construction) they use PVC for the raft and furnish it with bamboo chairs.

Lawnmower engines that were converted into boat engines powered the boats; the drivers would steer by placing the engine left or right in the water. This ride was not as peaceful as the ride when we had a gondola-like driver. The scenery was awesome, we saw: magnificent landscapes, people on the shores washing clothes, ducks on the water and banks, and water buffaloes swimming to name a few.

At the southern most point on our raft ride, there was a small market place set up on the shore. The neatest thing here was the fishermen who had cormorant birds on bamboo poles. The men (we saw only fishermen, no fisherwomen) tie the birds to bamboo poles and let the birds do the fishing. Jim was upset because after we took pictures, the man started asking for money. I told Jim we should just pay the 4RMB ($0.58) and be done with it, which we did.

Buddha Cave
Originally uploaded by jimwink

We ate a late breakfast back in the town and then headed back to Yangshuo to go on a cave tour. The cave we toured, features two paths a dry cave and wet cave. The cave is called the Buddha Cave and it gets its namesake from one of the first formations you see, a large Buddha. When we entered the cave we were told to put hard hats on (understandable) and take our hiking shoes off and put house slippers on (what?!?!). So we did as the Chinese do and put on our vinyl slippers. A French couple was also on the tour with us, and they were as stunned about our required cave apparel as we were. After about 5 minutes in the cave, we realized this was a very Chinese experience, as this type of tour would never be approved for tourists in the states. OSHA, the ADA, or some other governmental agency, would have major objections to tourists crawling through tunnels 2.5 feet in diameter, scaling down formations 5 feet tall with only a rope.

While conquering these feats, the tour had a photographer who would snap photographs. So for instance while trying to navigate down a stair-like rock formation, the flash would go off and blind us at the most inopportune time. When we reached the end of the dry cave, we found out that the tour was not circular in nature, but an out-and-back course. Thus, we now had the opportunity to do the opposite of every action we just did.

Eventually the slippers made sense, when we started the path into the wet cave and we were walking through waters anywhere from ankle-deep to upper calf-level. The water was clear and cold. Not sure if we would drink it though.

Jim slipped at one point, while telling Rachel to be careful of her footing. He scraped his elbow and knee, but the camera was OK!! At the end of the wet cave, there is a mud pit; the locals call it a mud bath and claim it’s good for your skin. They jump in with their bathing suits; we decided not to.

Of coarse at the end of the cave tour they tried to sell us pictures. Jim did a little bargaining and was able to buy the whole set for 30RMB ($4.36). Instead of burning a CD though, they put it on one of our memory cards. Click on the pictures to see the whole set. Enjoy!

Guilin Vacation: Day 1

2008-08-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

Yangshuo Vacation
Originally uploaded by jimwink

The aforementioned mistery vacation was to Guilin, China. We left Thursday evening and returned Monday afternoon, which left us three days for intense Jim & Rachel play time.

Guilin is in the province of Guangxi, and the area where we stayed is called Yangshuo. Our hotel was the Li River Retreat, and was about 2km out of the town of Yangshuo.

So the first day after breakfast, we met up with our tour guide, YuLing, and headed out. We rented bikes, rode through Yangshou and made our way to the Yulong River. The bike ride was nice, even though the sun was already scorching. We stopped along the ride for photo oppurtunities.

At the Yulong shore, we took a bamboo raft ride downstream. The raft driver (who navigates the raft like a gondola driver does a gondola) put our bikes on the back of the raft, and we sat in rinky-dink bamboo lawn chairs in the middle of the raft. There were some small 'waterfalls,' and on two of these the embankments we were passing over was too long for our driver to just push us over. So Jim & I had to step off the raft and help edge the raft over the edge and hop back on before it went over. The guide would hop on at the last minute. Anyways, on our first hop off the raft, I almost had a nice swim in the Yulong because I started to slip on the algae present.

At the end of the raft ride we met back with YuLing and rode our bikes to Moon Hill, a scenic outlook spot. You can see Moon Hill from various parts of Yangshuo, but we heard it was great to see from the top. So we walked up the 800 steps to see it. The funny thing about this is when you pay to go to the top of Moon Hill, you get a 'dedicated' tour guide to go with you. From our observations, the prerequisites for becoming one of these tour guides listed below:

1) female.
2) at least 65 years old.
3) able to scale 800 steps faster than most Westerners/toursists.
4) able to carry a 1 cubic foot styrofoam cooler full of assorted beverages while completing #3.
5) constantly fan your tourist while completing #3.
6) some conversational English (desired in order to sell goods from #4 and offer rest brakes to the whimpy tourists).

The guides were very polite and helpful, teaching us various Chinese words for things we didn't know: bird, butterfly, tree, etc. An interesting note about the beverages they carried: the price varied with where you wanted to buy it. Two bottles of water at the top of Moon Hill was 20RMB, whereas two bottles back at the bottom at the end of our trip was only 10RMB. I guess that's a pretty basic lesson in the Law of Supply and Demand.

After Moon Hill, YuLing took us to a local restaurant where we sampled the local fare: beer fish. We enjoyed the meal, especially after the busy activities of the day. After our late lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get some R&R before our plans that evening.

Impression Liu Sanjie
Originally uploaded by jimwink

In the evening we headed to the Liu Sanjie lightshow, which is performed at least once every night, employs 500+ people and showcases how the local minorities live off the land. The entire show takes place on bamboo rafts or floating docks. The man who choreographed/directed this show was also responsible for the opening ceremony at the Olympics. Needless to say the show was fascinating; we tried to take pictures to capture the moments but this is one of those experiences that photos cannot fully encapsulate. That said, if anyone wants to go see it, I think we would both be game on going back.

Coast Bike Ride & Craving Comfort Food

2008-08-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in July we headed off on a bike ride for the coast. The roundtrip was about 52 km, or 32 miles. The ride took longer than we expected, but we didn't really have a clear path laid out. Rather we just found our way around different neighborhoods as we went. The Shanghai summer heat may have slowed us down too, but we took plenty of water breaks to stay hydrated.

We have more pictures from the trip, click the picture to the right to see more.

After the bike ride, we were both pretty famished and craving a good 'ol home cooked meal. But I was not about to lift so much as a finger in the kitchen. So that evening, we hopped on the metro and headed to the far west-side of Shanghai, HongCiao. We had set our eyes on a restaurant called Bubba's Bar-B-Q. We reasoned that even though the restaurant caters Texas-style BBQ, it would be hard for it to measure up to our standards, but still worth a shot.

The food was good - Jim had brisket and I devoured a half-rack of pork ribs. ... The real reason we made the journey: we heard rumors that Bubba's served bottles of Shiner Bock Beer. Jim said if we could find Shiner, he would even drink one. Those who know how little alcohol my husband consumes, know how much of a statement that is. :)

Alas, the Shiner beer at Bubba's was fictional. Later while surfing some expat websites, Jim thinks he may have found a venue that serves the dark brew, so we plan to investigate this claim as well. If we are unsuccessful, it will be one of my first indulgences when we return for 2 weeks in late August. Heck, I'll probably indulge even if I do find it over here.

This is a photo of a little boy who was riding the metro on our way home from Bubba's. He was a cute youngster, even with his mini-emperor haircut. He would stare at us, but look away whenever we looked at him. Eventually, we were able to start a game of peek-a-boo with him. Obviously, I am wanting to show of my ever-increasing Photoshop skills with this photo too.

Lost in Translation

2008-07-28T05:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I followed up with our Chinese teacher, Flora, about the death threat I received when I was shopping at the market with my friend Suzanne. At first Flora was a bit confused by why the sales girl would have told me that, then she realized what the salesperson meant to convey.

Apparently it has to do with a Chinese phrase that doesn’t translate too well to English, as the direct translation is very close to “I kill you.” What it is supposed to communicate is:

“You are my friend and I am offering you such a great deal, that if you do not take me up on it I will have to kill you, because you have clearly lost your mind.”

Flora reassured me that the phrase is only meant figuratively, not literally. She also commented that the sales girl must not have a very good command of the English language since she used the very direct translation. Flora is very adept at explaining the details (or what we consider idiosyncrasies) of the Chinese language and culture. Flora rocks.

Shopping, negotiating… and having your life threatened

2008-07-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

Negotiating a good deal when shopping in China is always culturally acceptable. The only places you really can't negotiate are stores like supermarkets, book stores, department stores, etc. But even then, the worst that can happen is that they tell you “No,” and you are forced to decide if you want to pay the price on the sticker or not.

To me negotiating feels totally unnatural, and it has taken awhile for me to feel comfortable at the markets. The only things we heavily negotiate on in America are vehicles. And here, securing a purchase price for an everyday item can turn into that sort of fiasco. It feels wrong to ask for a lower price, even if I know they are marking up the price 300-600% if for no other reason than that I’m a lăowài (foreigner).

Negotiations last for several rounds and, the general rule of thumb I’ve heard is to start at 10-15% of their asking price (or of the price that you think is reasonable). From there you work your way up to a price you’re comfortable with paying. It’s typical for negotiations to get heated, which does not put a ceiling on my already environment-induced elevated blood pressure.

Last Wednesday, my friend Suzanne and I were out and about Shanghai, and we had some extra time on our hands so we decided to hit one of the markets. Suzanne has been here since February, knows where various markets are and is excellent at negotiating.

We went around looking for deals and heard “Lady, you want purse, bag, watch…” to no end. Towards the end of our trip Suzanne spotted a boutique-like shop and saw a dress in the window she liked. While she tried the dress on I perused the racks. And then the sales girls speaking very good English swept in on us: Suzanne’s dress turned into four more, and I went from looking to trying on 3 shirts, and a pair of trousers.

We decided on the items we liked and negotiations began. The main sales girl, we’ll call her Mei, was upset because we didn’t want to buy everything we tried on. Suzanne’s negotiations weren’t going as well as she would have liked, so she dropped out of the game. This is a common tactic; if they really want the sell they will drop the price to get you back in negotiations.

But Mei turned her attention to me and my simple tunic. She started trying to sell me the top for 710 RMB, or just over $100. I laughed at her offer and told her that it was not that nice of a shirt and offered about 30 RMB ($4). Her rebuttal was that it was real silk and her priced dropped not more than 20 RMB. I told her it was not real silk, but more like a gossamer. Then she told me that I didn’t know what real silk was. Insults are common in the process, and you just have to know how to play them.

I told her I did not want the top and started to leave. Mei then blocked my exit to the store, but she started to negotiate with me more, dropping her price now in increments of 80-100 RMB. She kept asking what my ‘final price’ was, I was inching my price upwards in intervals of 5-10. When I reached 65 RMB ($9.52), I decided I had enough arguing and enough insults and that it was time to leave. But she blocked me again! So there I was, being blocked in a store by a Chinese woman who weighed no more than 105 pounds. I really would have had to knock her down to get by her. Suzanne is watching all of this from her post outside the store.

I told Mei I needed to go, as I had somewhere else to be. Mei told me that, “If you don’t buy this top, I kill you.” Wow a death threat, I was in total shock. A split second later I see Suzanne who is now in stitches, and then I realize that this too is part of the game too. So I told Mei, “No, I’m bigger, I kill you if you don’t let me out of the store.” Mei was irked off and was still asking me for my ‘best price’, hers was around 200 RMB.

At this point another sales person (she said she was the store owner) stepped in and started to appeal to me that the price I was offering would not cover their cost of purchasing the shirt. I told her fine, that they could sell the shirt to someone else, but I was not going to pay more. Negotiations went on a little more with this woman, but guess what … I got the top for 65 RMB!

Below is a picture of my newest purchase. The picutre doesn't do it justice, so I'll try to get a picture of me in the top sometime.

Suzanne said I drove a good deal.

The difference between 65 RMB ($9.52) and 200 RMB ($29.29) seems small, especially considering the turbulent past the Chinese have endured. At times, you have to wonder if it is worth your time, as the above adventure took at least 35 minutes. But they don’t lack business sense; they will let you walk away if your price is too low.

Part of it too, is how much are you willing to play the game too. A German mother/daughter came in the store after us, and Suzanne said she heard the mother settle on 400 RMB for a pair of sandals.

In the end I always wonder… Did I overpay? If so, how much? And, how many washings will my shirt survive? But this is an experience, which I can say I am definitely having.

Dragon Boat Race

2008-07-18T07:44:00.001-07:00

Dragon Boat Race
Originally uploaded by jimwink

This particular event is not held during the same time as the national Dragon Boat festival but instead is a competition between the companies in our business park. AMD had two entries in this years event but unfortunately one team had to drop out, which I was a part, because everyone couldn't agree to a practice schedule. Oh well. It was fun to witness the event and cheer on our co-workers. Click on the picture to see the others in the set.

Here is a little history about the national Dragon Boat festival held every year.

Excerpt taken from here

The festival was gradually derived from all of the suggestions and the story of Qu Yuan is certainly the driving power to make it a great festival today.

Like other Chinese festivals, there is also a legend behind the festival. Qu Yuan served in the court of Emperor Huai during the Warring States (475 - 221 BC). He was a wise and erudite man. His ability and fight against corruption antagonized other court officials. They exerted their evil influence on the Emperor, so the Emperor gradually dismissed Qu Yuan and eventually exiled him. During his exile, Qu Yuan did not give up. He traveled extensively, taught and wrote about his ideas. His works, the Lament (Li Sao), the Nine Chapters (Jiu Zhang), and Wen tian, are masterpieces and invaluable for studying ancient Chinese culture. He saw the gradual decline of his mother country, the Chu State. And when he heard that the Chu State was defeated by the strong Qin State, he was so despaired that he ended his life by flinging himself into the Miluo River.

Legend says after people heard he drowned, they were greatly dismayed. Fishermen raced to the spot in their boats to search for his body. Unable to find his body, people threw zongzi, eggs and other food into the river to feed fish, so hoped to salvage his body. Since then, people started to commemorate Qu Yuan through dragon boat races, eating zongzi and other activities, on the anniversary of his death, the 5th of the fifth month.

Zhujiajiao Bike Ride

2008-07-06T01:27:00.001-07:00

Zhujiajiao Bike Ride
Originally uploaded by jimwink

Rachel already told you about the first part of our trip in an earlier post (pudong to puxi). Keep in mind that we had already ridden 20km by the time we reached the start of our group trip to Zhujiajiao. Zhujiajiao is a water town about 45 minutes west of Shanghai. After we arrived, the tour guides unloaded our bikes, made sure everyone had water, their lunches and we were off for another 25-30km ride. Rachel started out great but it was soon apparent that the morning ride was just a little too much for her backside to endure. She toughed it out though and in the end appreciated how much fun it was to go site seeing on bike. The beginning of the ride was really muddy so I didn't have my camera out but there was an incident where Rachel fell off the bike and almost ended up taking a swim. I think at this point Rachel was ready to quit but she knew the only way home was to get back on the bike and finish the ride.

Click on the picture to the right to see the rest of the photos.

Happy 4th!!

2008-07-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a Happy 4th of July, from China. I've thought more today about what the day really means than I think I ever have in the past. It has been weird, being in China today knowing that this day means something to me that most Chinese would probably not understand.

Today I joined some friends in Puxi learning how to play Mahjong - playing with tiles is totally different from playing on the computer. From my first experience of the game it seems to be very similar to dominoes, if not a little more involved. For more information see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majhong. Just incase anybody is wondering, I didn't gamble, we just used chips to keep score and in the end they meant nothing. I didn't do too bad considering it was my first time.

I met some new ladies too, and after the games this morning a group of us checked out some of the market places. I still get overwhelmed when I step inside one of these places because there is so much merchandise.

One of Jim's American coworkers is throwing a 4th of July party tonight that we will leave for in a little bit. They are supposed to have BBQ and fireworks. I'm looking forward to the BBQ, but know it won't compare to Uncle Andy's. I am really excited about the fireworks, since this is the place that they were invented. They sell them year round here, the Chinese culture uses them for celebrations well beyond those classified as national holidays. I think it is common for them to use them at weddings, after the birth of newborns, etc. From what Jim has said the stuff that vendors will sell to any guy on the street here is amazing. I wonder if they will have sparklers...

I hope we get to take some pictures. I also still intend to post pictures from our bike ride last Saturday.

So again, Happy Fourth of July & God Bless America!

Pudong to Puxi & Our First Chinese Offense

2008-07-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we signed up for a guided bike tour in Zhujiajiao, a small neighboring town of Shanghai. Jim had been on a different ride with the group before (see posts from May). The group was to leave the meeting place in Puxi at 10am on Saturday, so Friday night we mapped out our bike route to the meeting place. We left Saturday morning at 8am, figuring we were allowing ourselves plenty of times to bike to Puxi.

We phoned ahead when we realized we were going to be late, which in the end was only 15 minutes. So what led to our tardiness? Neglecting the facts that Jim was almost side-swiped by a crazy taxi driver, and I was almost the hood ornament for a black sedan, there was one event that set us back the most.

We were stopped and issued tickets by a policeman for riding our bikes on Beijing Lu (Lu = Rd), a road that is not supposed to be traversed by bikes. Sure there were signs with a bike and a non-smoking-like slash through it, but seriously, who looks at signs when travelling the streets of Shanghai? We thought about just taking off in a different direction for about 30 seconds, but then came to the consensus that we didn’t want to be fugitives on the road in socialist/communist China.

There was another Chinese person that was getting a ticket for the same offense, but when the cop started to write our tickets, we drew a crowd of locals, and I felt like part of a circus act.

Another Chinese man approached and helped the officer translate. He told us that the police officer was a very nice and good man and was doing this for our safety. The police officer was upset too because we didn’t have registration numbers (I think like a license plate) for our bikes either – we haven’t figured out where to get those yet, but we will. By the end of the event, the translator and the police officer both said we were there “pengyou” or friend.

When the officer asked my name, I replied, he rolled his eyes and he just handed the notepad directly to me. The same happened to Jim. We paid our fees to the police officer: 5 RMB each ($0.73). We received our tickets (mine is shown below) and receipts, and were allowed to continue our paths as long as we walked our bikes while on Beijing Lu... We cut a street north and hopped back in the saddles.

The ride to the meeting place turned out to be right at 20km = 12.4miles. Up to this point, the most I had rode in one event was about 18 km. So I was still looking at the 25 km we had signed up for with the group.

We just hope there is no court date associated with this violation, because we have no idea how to proceed if so. We’ll ask our Chinese tutor tomorrow, just to be safe.

And the winners are...

2008-06-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

The winners for identifying the unknown plant, listed in order I received the responses are: Kristin, Lyndsie & Josh. Turns out the plant is an elephant ear, a type of caladium.

Byproduct of the Rainy Season

2008-06-23T07:14:00.001-07:00

Late May through June is the rainy season here. The nice thing is that as long as the rain hangs around, the heat stays away.

This past Saturday evening the rain had let up for a while, so Jim and I decided to go out to eat. We went to a restaurant/sports bar that one of Jim’s colleagues highly recommended. We decided to sit outside and enjoy the evening and stay away from the Saturday night crowd. The food was good and we’ll probably go back.

Anyways, it turns out that large quantities of rain brings the same thing to eastern China that it does to south central Texas… mosquitoes. Ginormous mosquitoes. Jim noticed them while we were waiting for our food, and then I began to scratch.

We finished our meals and hung around still talking. We didn’t feel the need to take off; I figured I was still itching from the bites I had already received - not that I was having all the blood in my body sucked out by blood-thirsty predators. I brought insect repellant with me to China, but the thought of using stuff didn’t cross my mind before Saturday night.

So below is a picture of my blood-drained scarred calves from today, Monday. I do apologize for them being so white – I hope no one is blinded while reading this entry. But at least they’re not hairy!!

Just incase anyone is worried about Jim, he did get some bites, maybe three, four tops. What can I say, I’m too sweet!!

Sprucing Up the Apartment

2008-06-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

Street vendors are a common sight here in Shanghai. I’ve seen the guys selling plants and have wanted to get some, but the problem is always how am I going to get the plant back to the apartment.

On Friday, Jim came home and told me that there was a plant-vendor outside our apartment building. We perused the selection on his bicycle-powered plant shop, and decided on two plants, a peace lily and another unknown-to-us species, both pictured below.

We ended up paying 100 RMB ($14.54) for both, a good deal for some Westerners. Through our limited Mandarin, and some good charades, we did communicate with the salesman that the unnamed plant does not require direct sunlight.

If anyone can tell me the name of the other plant, I’ll bring you a reward from China… Maybe some chopsticks or some other token for your hard work.

I realize that I may have created questions about the means of transportation of the street vendors, so I’ll try to get some pictures for future posts.

Becoming a Permanent Resident of China (Parts 1 & 2)

2008-06-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

Part 1
Most Chinese visa’s are only valid for 60 days, and in order to stay longer you have to either (a) leave the country and return (b) or apply for permanent residence. My visa is multi-entry and is valid for one year from the date I received it, but still only allows me to stay for 60 days. I was lucky to get the multi-entry visa when I did because China is tightening the requirements due the Olympics. Jim had the pleasure of completing this entire process first.

In order to apply for permanent residency, you have to have a temporary residence card first. So the first week I was here, I had to register with the local police department in order to become a temporary resident. Apparently I was supposed to do this within the first 48 hours of being in the country, but there was a mix-up in getting the paper work all together. Instead, the process was completed in about 72 hours, so for about 24 hours I think I was an illegal alien in the People’s Republic of China. (Sshhh… don’t tell.)

Part 2
AMD helps with the entire process and they arranged for me to have my medical examination this past Wednesday… this was a fun experience. My appointment was at 8am, and I was “Patient #5.” I had to supply my passport, three passport-sized photographs and Jim’s company’s business license for being over here.

The exam started with me changing into a hospital robe (booties over my shoes) and putting my stuff in a locker. From there they took my height and weight, and collected a blood sample and took my blood pressure (112/77 – even after having my blood drawn). I had an ultrasound, and they asked me if I ever had any surgeries. When it came time to have my vision checked, they tested to see if I was color blind and to see if I could tell which way the E’s were facing. From there I had an EKG and a chest x-ray.

All of this happened in “a hospital,” and all the other patients were going through the same stuff I was. It didn’t feel like a hospital, but like a hallway with a bunch of exam rooms off of it. Remember I was patient 5, and it didn’t seem that everyone else was going through in the same order I was. I think the women might have been following one path, and the men a different path. From comparing notes with Jim, we did have the exact same stuff done.

Jim compared the process to cattle being herded. Personally, I felt more like a mouse trying to run in a maze, because there was no clear order.

It was explained to me in the Culture Shock class that this is the legal avenue that the Chinese government uses to check if those applying for residence have HIV or AIDS or not. Apparently, a positive test result is the only thing that will have your application be denied.

The results of my exam will be delivered to the apartment next Tuesday. From there I will take: the temporary residence permit, my passport, my marriage license, my exam results, more photographs and some cold-hard cash to some government office to apply for the permanent residency. Like I said, this was a fun experience.

Culture Shock

2008-06-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I went to an AWCS-sponsored event called: Culture Shock Shanghai. The event was from 9am – 2pm. The lady who taught the course has been in China for right at 10 years, and I believe she did one/two semesters of college here too. She is one of the partners in a small firm that offers cross cultural training. Their website is www.occam.cn.

The course topics included: The role culture plays in our lives; How culture shock affects us, and strategies for success; Understanding China: Geography, people, language, government, economy, society, and history; How does Chinese culture influence behaviors?; Guanxi and Face; Successful relationships with Chinese.

Anyways, the course was very helpful. It is great to finally have some frame of reference for dealing with the Chinese and understanding their perspective. Rather than go into explaining everything full-force in this post, my hope is to incorporate some of the concepts in future posts to give more insight to the situations.

AWCS

2008-06-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Early last week, I found out about an organization for expatriates in Shanghai, it’s called the American Women’s Club of Shanghai (AWCS). So to describe it, I’m cutting and pasting their own description from their webpage:

The AWCS is a social non-profit club focused on enriching women’s lives while living in Shanghai. The Club supports social functions such as monthly luncheons and coffees, cultural day tours and evening events as well as soft fundraising for local community outreach groups in Shanghai.

If you are interested in knowing more about them their website is: http://www.awcshanghai.org/index.html.

During the summer months, the club sort of becomes more dormant because a lot of the ladies return to the states with their children. That said, on Wednesdays, they do have a weekly Summer Coffee Morning. So last week I ventured off by myself using the buses and metro (subway) to find the ladies in Puxi. I felt a bit like Little Red Robin Hood – wandering through an unknown location to find a place that was supposed to offer me some comfort.

I tackled the bus and metro systems like I have been a major city dweller for years. After correcting the error of wandering the wrong way on one of the streets, I found the meeting place. Before I even left Pudong, I figured the worst case scenario was to become lost, hail a taxi and have them deliver me to the coffee shop. I was glad that didn’t happen. It was a nice event and even nicer to interact with a group that I felt more connected to than the Shanghainese.

The ladies were all pleasant, but maybe not my typical crowd. When talking to another acquaintance, she summarized the group as “Veteran Expat Wives,” which is pretty accurate. They are definitely full of information about the city and willing to share it, which is nice to a newbie like myself.

There is another girl, Suzanne, who I feel as though I have much more in common with and is closer to my age. She has been in Shanghai for about 4 months and only recently found out about the AWCS. She has sort of taken me under her wing, and after today’s coffee she and I went to lunch and then did some shopping at one of the pedestrian malls. We ate a Japanese-style noodle house, where we both had the lunch special (including iced tea) for $6. At the pedestrian malls the most common phase you hear is “Missy, you want watch/purse/bag/shoes/etc. I give you great deal.” So I got to practice my “Bu yao” (don’t want) quite a bit.

Suzanne is traveling to Beijing next week, but I figure I’ll still go to the coffee and maybe explore the Xintiandi neighborhood of Puxi more by myself.

IKEA Stuff

2008-06-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the larger IKEA items that led directly to the Rogue Taxi Driver incident. I’m proud because I assembled them by myself.

I think Jim was impressed with my skills too.

Jim's Haircut

2008-06-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today, Sunday, Jim got a haircut at a different salon than where he usually goes. He typically would pay about $27 but today he paid $8.60. Both of those prices include the tip too. Here are his before and after pictures. I wanted to take photos for laughs, in case the haircut wasn’t as good, but it turned out OK.

Disclaimer: Jim has not seen the pictures below. He got me a copy of Photoshop Elements 6.0 for my birthday and I have been playing with it a lot. I don't think Jim has ever wanted his picture to be taken at Glamour Shots... I may temporarily lose posting privileges for doing this.

Rachel's Bike

2008-06-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Jim and I went to the Giant bike shop in Pudong to get me a bike on Saturday. On the way there, we walked with Jim’s bike so we could both ride our bikes home. The part I haven’t mentioned is that there was an 80% chance of rain on Saturday.

So while we were shopping, it started to rain – hard. When we finished we tried calling for a taxi several times, but the lines were all busy. After waiting for the rain to let up for over 30 minutes, we decided to just go for it.

At first, I was scared to ride, because of the rain and the crazy drivers. Remember the markings on the roads are merely suggestions. But the nice thing about Shanghai is that most streets have dedicated bike lanes, which most drivers actually observe. The streets were pretty empty, so we were getting some funny looks from the people in shops lining the streets. But by the end of the ride, I was waving at them and exclaiming “Ni Hao!”

Here is a picture of us soaked on our balcony after the ride, and a picture of my new bike.

Rogue Taxi Drivers

2008-06-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Jim's last day of vacation, we went to IKEA. On the way there we took the subway, which, luckily for me, posts every stop in Pinyin, the Chinese-style of writing that uses Arabic letters. Jim also helped me get a "transportation card," which is a debit-like card that I can now use for any subway, bus or taxi.

Fast forward to the end of our IKEA shopping trip...
We were loading up some of our larger items onto the cart and were starting in the direction of the checkout lanes, when we were approached by a man with very broken English carrying an IKEA delivery service brochure. Now, we were planning to use the delivery service to have some of the larger items delivered back to the apartment so we could take the subway home, so we started conversing with the man. About a minute into the conversation, we realized he was wanting to charge us a rate comparable to what IKEA charges customers who live outside the city (120 RMB = $17.30). When we told him we were Shanghai-based, he told us it would cost more because we live in Pudong.

Quick Geography Lesson: Shanghai is divided into two parts by the Huangpu river that runs through it. 'Pu' means river, 'dong' means east, and 'xi' means west. So Pudong is to the east of the river and Puxi is west of the river. We live in Pudong, and IKEA is in Puxi.

We argued with him that the rate inside the city was the same, regardless of which side of the river you reside, as it stated in the brochure. At this point, he started to tell us that the rate included shipment of our goods and us. Jim was trying to communicate with the man in a mix of English and Chinese, when I realized exactly what the guy was... a rogue taxi driver!! I stopped Jim and told him that the man wasn't employed with IKEA, rather he was an illeagal taxi driver. He was just trying to rip off what he thought were stupid Westerners. Jim realized what I was saying and we told the guy we weren't interested and started to walk away.

The faster we walked away, the faster the guy's price dropped. He kept trying to close the deal as we waited in the check out line, which ticked me off even more. In the short time I've been here, I've become somewhat accustomed to being stared at, but with this guy haggling us, even more people were staring.

So we checked out and went home. The checkout process was enough of a hassle that we skipped the delivery service and found a 'real' taxi to take home, which as it turns out was the best thing to do.

Here's a breakdown of what our choices were:

Real Taxi Ride: 55 RMB = $7.94.
Illegal taxi driver's original offer: 120 RMB = $17.30
Illegal taxi driver's final offer: 70 RMB = $10.11.
IKEA delivery & Subway: 72 RMB = $10.40.

I know it's only change, but every penny (or RMB) counts, right?

Illegal taxi drivers aren't uncommon here, we had a similar encounter at the airport on Saturday when we arrived. We were walking out of the terminal with all of our bags, and almost immediately we were engulfed in a sea of taxi drivers making us ludicrous offers to go back to our apartment.

The flat rate they "promise" isn't the only problem, since they aren't licensed with the government, they may or may not have meters, which may not be correctly callibrated.

So the next time you're in China, keep a vigilant watch for rogue taxi drivers!

A Visit to the Jin Qiao Market

2008-06-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon, we made our way to the Jin Qiao (pronounced Jin Chow) market, which is about 2 miles from our apartment, and Jim introduced me to the bus system. As mentioned in an earlier post, buses are one of the cheapest ways to get around - one way costs 2 yuan, which is about $0.29. Since it is the most economical form of mass transit, it usually means that there is standing room only. But on Sunday afternoon we were actually able to grab a seat on the way home.

The market place is very similar to that of Thumb Plaza. It has a Carrefour and several restaurants. It also has a store called Pines which specializes in stocking western goods with astronomical mark ups. For example, Pines had the McCormick seasoning packets (taco seasoning, meatloaf seasoning, gravy mix, etc.) for around $2.50 each. Now don't be fooled, these are the same 1-1.5 oz. packets that you find in the spice section of any grocery store in the states.

They also had a wide array of imported beers. That said, I haven't seen any Shiner on the shelves yet. :(

Jim says the other thing about Pines is that they don't consistently restock the shelves with the same items. So if you love {insert hard-to-find item name here, i.e. Kraft Mac & Cheese}, and you see it there one day, you better buy it then.

We walked out of Pines with saran wrap and fresh-cut green beans. Apparently, French-cut green beans are more common here and Jim knows I prefer the fresh-cut, so we indulged on the last 2 cans they had in stock. :)

Safe Arrival

2008-05-31T22:48:00.000-07:00

Jim and I arrived safely on Saturday in Shanghai around 2:30pm. The flight to Shanghai went as well as any 14 hour flight can go. I really wanted to call some friends and family to let them know we arrived, but since it was 1:30am Texas Time, I decided to hold off on the phone calls. (Texas Time is equivalent to Central Standard Time, but I like the ring of Texas Time better.)

A special shout out to Bobby Kneifel for taking us at 2:30am on Friday to the Austin-Bergstrom Airport so we could catch our 6am connecting flight to Chicago's O'Hare.

My first 20+ hours in China have actually been very western-like. Last night, since there wasn't much food at the apartment and neither of us felt like cooking, we walked to Thumb Plaza, a local market place, and had Papa John's for dinner. We shared half of a large pepperoni pizza and brought the other half home. The pizza was good and very similar to the what we have in the states, although I think it might be greasier.

This morning we went back to Thumb Plaza for breakfast and to do some grocery shopping. We at a Cafe du Monde, a restaurant/coffee shop that originally started in the French Quarter in New Orleans. I thought it was interesting that they have Happy Hour every night. :)

We did our grocery shopping at the Carrefour, which is a French version of a Super Wal-Mart. We did a lot of our shopping in the 'international foods' section, which included items from the U.S., France, Italy, Japan, etc. The annoying part is that they cover the nutritional information on the packages with stickers in Chinese, so I guess I won't be watching labels that closely. Jim had told me that there was a wide array of toilitres available here before we left, and sure enough, I was able to find Pantene shampoo and conditioner, Neutrogena face wash, and Oil of Olay body wash. Yeah!

The hard part too is that everything we buy we have to carry back to the apartment. It's only about 0.5 mile away, so the distance isn't bad. It is just different than throwing all the bags in your trunk. We have some cloth shopping bags for carrying the items back, and Jim usually takes his super duper Swiss Army backpack to carry the heavier items like milk, juice and larger canned goods.

We are going to take the bus or the subway to go to the Ikea in Shanghai in a little bit to see about finding some hangers, storage bins, etc. The bathrooms in the apartment don't have much for storage, and anyone who knows me knows I need storage. After that, we are going to go to a different market that is in the opposite direction of Thumb Plaza. Apparently it is very westernized also. I really want to post what stores are at the plazas, but I figure if I don't, they can be topics of posts when I go exploring when Jim goes to work.

I think it will be a wise investment for me to get a collapsible push cart for when I go shopping by myself. Truthfully, I was scared about the idea of shopping by myself, but even after our first trip, I'm feeling more confident about the process.

Xicen Bike Ride

2008-05-16T20:04:00.001-07:00

Xicen Bike Ride
Originally uploaded by jimwink

Over the May 1st holiday (Chinese Labor Day) I joined a group for a nice 35-40km bike ride next to the Xicen canal. It is about a 45 minute drive west of Shanghai. The ride was mostly flat but it was a great day for a relaxing ride. And it provided many photo opportunities as you can see from the photos. Click on the photo to see the others in the set.

The exciting part of the trip came when it was time to go home. We arrived back at the bike ship around 6:00p.m. and I decided to ride my bike back home. The trip home included a trip across the river which I had not done by bicycle yet. I was told that I would need to find the ferry stops and take the ferry across. To make a long story short - I spent three hours trying to find the ferry stops or finding a taxi that would take me and the bike back across the river. I was ready to give up and find a hotel for the night, but finally, one taxi driver agreed to take me and the bike.

Earthquake

2008-05-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Just wanted to let everyone know that I am OK here in Shanghai. The earthquake hit near the center of China around 2:30 in the afternoon. I was at work and my co-workers and I never felt it. Our building is only 3 stories high but people in high rise buildings reported they could feel the building swaying. I found this map on-line which shows where the epicenter was and I marked where Shanghai is located with the arrow.

Fishing

2008-04-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

I have not been fishing here yet and would probably would not eat anything that I caught, but for some it is a way to get food on the table. My bike ride to work brings me next to this river and along the way I have a seen an interesting fishing method. I plan to ask my Mandarin teacher how to ask if they have caught anything to see what they say.

Notice the man to the right. He is pulling up the catch of the day or in this case an empty net. He would pull up the net about every ten minutes or so. The best part is, no bait is needed. I am not sure what the sign says but I would guess it says 'No fishing allowed' or 'Do not swim or fish. Polluted water.'

Delayed & Cancelled

2008-03-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

These are the last two words a traveler wants to hear when you are checking in but ones I encountered during my last trip. In mid March I was able to take my first trip home to spend at home and to do some work in Austin (not to mention visit the local Mexican food restaurants). The trip home was great. Rachel was off for a couple of days for Easter, so I planned my off days during the same time. The weather was perfect and overall was a much needed taste of home.

So, where does delayed and cancelled come in? Well, on my trip back to Shanghai my wife and I headed for the Austin airport at 2:45 A.M. so I could check in at 4:00 and leave at 6:00 A.M. The process starts at the self check-in terminals which is where my problems started. Right away the machine tells me that I need to wait for an attendant to help me. When one finally arrives they take my passport and head towards a computer terminal and after a minute I was informed that my flight from Chicago to Shanghai was cancelled. OK, I thought, flights are cancelled all the time and I'll just get rerouted. Sure enough after a couple more minutes I was presented with a couple of options. The same flight for the next day was already full so I could wait for two days and take that flight or I can switch airlines in L.A. and take China Eastern to Shanghai. It would put me in Shanghai a few hours later and I would lose my frequent flier miles but I would still get there during the weekend.

The flight to L.A. was a few hours later so they issued Rachel a no-seat boarding pass. It was just a pass so she could go through the security check point. We ate breakfast together and then she was off to a friends to get some sleep. My flight to L.A. was on time and all I had to do was check-in to find my new gate number. The gate was 120 and my ticket said the flight would leave 12:30 P.M. It was only 10:45 and I had some time so I ate lunch at the airport. After arriving at the designated terminal I found the flight time had changed to 1:30. No problem, it's just one more hour before a 14 hour flight. As 1:30 started to approach I expected they would start boarding but soon after there was another announcement. "There has been a delay of the flight for a special reason", was the announcement. "Please go to Gate 110." So everyone heads towards gate 110 where we see the sign say that the flight has been delayed until 3:00. Gate 110 was just a holding area. I guess they weren't sure when the plane would be ready and they needed the other gate for flights that were still coming and going.

During the wait a few people had found out that the flight was delayed because one of the engines had a problem and they were waiting for a part to come in. We soon got another update that the flight was now delayed until 4:00 P.M. and then again to 5:00 P.M. About 5:30 P.M. the final word for the day came in and they said the flight was cancelled for the day. Please go out to the check-in area for new instructions. After standing in that line for almost another hour I found myself with a voucher to the local Hilton hotel where I would staying for the night. The new flight had been rescheduled for the next day at 3:00 P.M.

Well I get to spend another day in the U.S. but I was pretty much stuck at the hotel. For a hotel stay it was pretty nice. The meals were paid for and they offered buffets for dinner, breakfast and lunch. I didn't have to worry about transportation since the hotel used a shuttle service.

After a restful day in L.A. and a large western style breakfast I was ready to get back to Shanghai. I stood in line again to get my new boarding pass and while waiting I heard the dreaded words again 'the flight has been delayed until 4:00 P.M.' Here we go again, I thought. Luckily I packed enough clothes in my carry on luggage to last me for a couple of days if the flight was cancelled again. I recognized several people in line who didn't plan so well. This time I decided to pull out the laptop and do some work to pass the time. 4:00 P.M. soon approached and yes you guess it, the flight was delayed again until 5:00 P.M.

I was completely expecting the flight to be cancelled again when around 4:45 they said they would start boarding. It didn't leave at 5:00 but we were on our way to another terminal this time by buses and we were up in the air around 5:45 P.M., finally!

If you are counting it was 2 cancellations and 6 delays. I finally made it Shanghai, Sunday evening around 11:00 P.M. and back to the apartment around 12:30 in the morning.

To put a cherry on top of the whole experience I discovered that I left my charger for my razor at home. Back to Carrefour tomorrow.

Transportation

2008-03-07T20:45:00.001-08:00

Transportation is one of the things that I think most people take for granted. I know, I sure did when I was home. It is very convenient to get into your car and just go to the places you need to. Here in China, I have had to resort to other forms of transportation. Keep in mind that a trip to the store usually means a trip back home first to drop off the goods before venturing out to the next destination. It seems like I spend a lot of time just traveling to and from home to get things done. But with so many trips I have had the chance to experience each form of transportation and have some conclusions for each.

Taxi: Small 1-6 passenger sedan. Fast and lightly armored.

Pros: Readily available when it is not rush hour or when it is not raining. Fast, if traffic is light and will get you closest to your destination.

Cons: The most expensive form of transportation. A trip to work about 10km will cost around $4.00.

Bus: Multi-passenger carrier, heavily armored.

Pros: Very cheap - about $0.30 a ride. Fairly reliable. You can expect the bus to be at the stop around every 10-15 minutes. Less often on the weekend though.

Cons: Very crowded during rush hour and when it rains. Limited range. Must switch buses if you want to go somewhere further away. All the signs are in Chinese characters so if you can't read it you have no idea where it goes. I have taken a bus from work which was headed in the right direction just because I couldn't get a taxi. Luckily one of the stops was at a nearby subway station.

Subway: Fast and efficient. No need for heavy armor.

Pros: Fast and inexpensive. Can expect another train within 5-7 minutes. Reaches many parts of the city. Not subject to traffic jams so time is of minimal concern.

Cons: Will get you close to your destination but you may have to rely on a secondary form of transportation to get there. Usually very crowded.

Bike: 1-2 passenger with no armor.

Pros: Very maneuverable and fast. Most roads in Shanghai have very large bike lanes so it is easy to avoid traffic jams. If I use the bus, subway and shuttle to go to work it takes about an hour to get there. But I ride I can usually get there in 25-30 minutes. Very cheap to maintain and use.

Cons: No defense against wild taxi drivers or buses. Easily stolen if not locked to something permanent. No protection from the weather. Bring rain gear and another change of clothes.

A picture of my bike. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . These kids found a fast way down the stairs.

文可吉 – Wen Ke Ji (My Chinese Name)

2008-03-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

With more and more companies establishing businesses in China it is very common for Chinese poeple to take an English name. Most receive a name in school but some choose to change it when they enter the workplace. Last week my collegues started putting together a list of Chinese names for me. Names here are based on Chinese characters and so, have special meaning. In China your family name always comes first so the first part of my Chinese name sort of matches my last name (the first letter, anyway). Here is the meaning for each part and the pronunciation.

文 means gentle; (pronounced - wun, sounds like one)
可 means nice; (pronounced - kuh, similar to wun but with a k and drop the n)
吉 means lucky; promising success; opportune; favorable (pronounced - jee)

wun kuh jee - The real pinyin is wen ke ji

Apartment Tour

2008-02-19T06:04:00.000-08:00

Well this post doesn't have a lot to do with China, in a cultural sense, but I thought some of you might like to see where I am living now. I have also been sick with a bad cold the last few days and didn't go out much, so this is all I could think of to post this week. The apartment is about 126 sq m. (~1350 sq ft.) It has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths and came mostly furnished. I still had to buy a few pots and pans and had to wait for some stuff that we shipped from the U.S.

. . . . . . . . . . .
View of the front door. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .View from the front door.
Yes, I do take off my shoes everytime I come in now. It's amazing how much cleaner the floors are when you do.

. . . . . . . . . .
The living room. The dining area is to the left and the hallway to the right.

Killer Ants on Animal Planet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The dining area

. . . . . . . .
From the hallway the first door on the right is the kitchen. To the left is the office.

Second door on the left is the bathroom.

Second door on the right is the second bedroom. On the balcony you can see the washer and dryer arangement. It has the capacity for about 3 pairs of jeans at a time so washing clothes is almost an every other day necessity.

The last room is the master bedroom. In the right photo you can see the dining area again. To the right is some more closet space and another door to the master bath.

Happy New Year! Chinese sytle

2008-02-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important and celebrated Chinese holiday. As I mentioned before Spring Festival is the time of year for people to go home to visit family, reflect on the previous year and celebrate the New Year. And boy do they celebrate! The Chinese definitely know how to put on a fireworks show and they make sure you know who invented the things. Starting early last week you could hear the distinct sound of firecrakers around town. To me, it seemed normal. People buying fireworks before the actual holiday and they just can't wait, so they set off a few of the little ones just to get by. As Wed night approached, the sounds of firecrackers, quickly changed to fireworks. At first, the show seemed kind of sparse, just a few here and there.

I had to go to work the next day so I decided to go to bed around 11:00. Well that never happened. As the clock drew closer to midnight, the more the fireworks were being launched into the sky. The noise would echo and bounce off the buildings. I thought this must be what it would like in a war zone. Some of these are exploding right next to my window! It has been a week since that night and they are still going off. I wonder if I can buy stock in a fireworks company before the Olympics. What a show that is going to be.

These pictures really can't grasp how fast and how loud the fireworks were exploding all around, but I hope you get the idea.

Every apartment complex and business has some kind of fireworks show. This was the view from my apartment. Notice the bits of flashes in the distance also.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This one is from the Nissan dealer across the street. Notice how small the people are in the lot below.

. . . . .
These were set off right next to my window about 30 meters away (100ft for you westerners).

Snow is fun for some - a real pain for travelers

2008-02-08T03:57:00.000-08:00

We had about a week of snow in Shanghai and for the most part it has been a lot of fun, especially at work. But for those traveling for the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival is another name for it) the snow has caused all sorts of problems. Most people in China go home for Spring Festival and the most widely used method of transportation is by train. But with all of snow the government here has been overwhelmed and under prepared for such weather. Sure they have plenty of people to handle the work but not enough resources like snow plows, salt, vehicles that can drive in snow, etc. A lot of people are trying to find other ways to get home like taking the bus but most of the major roads between cities are at a crawl because of the congestion. Approximately 170 million people go home for Spring Festival. The U.S. has about 270 million people in it. So imagine more than half the U.S. population trying to travel a week before Christmas.

Around the apartment complex

On top of the roof at work. Our Director challenged the teams to make the best snowman during lunch hour.

Here is our snowman. Modeled after the Olympic bear.

The winner! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drinking a cold one.

Bowling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Death to Intel.

Snow - xuě 雪

2008-01-30T23:48:00.000-08:00

Snow in Shanghai is very rare. Especially the amount of snow that has been falling here this week. Some of my co-workers have said that Shanghai hasn't seen this much snow in over 50 years. Last Saturday it started to snow but it didn't stick to the ground much. By the next morning though, most of the grassy areas had a thin layer of snow which was just enough for the kids to make snowballs and snowmen. Here are some of the pictures.

Kid kicking snow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Notice the kids made it here before I did.

Snowman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Snowman with long arms.

Family building a snowman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A confused bird. *&$#%

A very happy dog playing with kids.

Shopping at Carrefour

2008-01-26T05:04:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in a previous post the Carrefour is pretty much the same as a Super Wal-Mart. The main floor contains all of the non-food items like clothes, sporting equiment, appliances, etc. The floor below is the supermarket. Shopping for groceries has been interesting. As expected I knew I wouldn't find a lot of the normal foods I have become accustomed to finding at my local H.E.B, but it is even more of a challenge here because everything is written in Chinese. If you find something you might like to try you just have to try it. I try to find the smallest bottle or bag to sample it. So far I've had pretty good luck.
The most challenging part of shopping here in China has been trying to ask someone where to find things. I didn't bring my alarm clock because I knew China used 220V for power and I could just buy one here. Well walking around Carrefour for almost 20minutes I still couldn't find the alarm clocks. At least not the kind I was expecting to find. I finally decided to try and ask someone and through the use of some carefully crafted sign language and me making an audible sound of an alarm the woman finally understood what I was looking for. After I was shown where to find the clocks, it was a location I had passed by a couple of times. It wasn't because I didn't notice it but it was because all of the clocks were either analog (with hands) or it ran on batteries. Hmm. I didn't bring mine because of the power difference and now I'm faced with buying one that doesn't even plug in. Oh well. I picked one that had a thermometer built in and speaks to you when you hit the snooze button. I still don't know what it's saying, but hopefully I will soon learn.
Another thing you have to consider when shopping is the amount of stuff you can carry. Since I don't have a car here most of my travels are either by taxi or just walking. Even with the taxi you still have to be able to carry your stuff in one trip. This really limits the amount of stuff one can carry. Maybe this is a good thing. So far I have only purchased things I really think I need.

First Impressions can happen twice

2008-01-22T04:27:00.000-08:00

The flight to Shanghai was fairly uneventful. Mostly because I had stayed awake the night before and slept for most of it. I stayed up to try and help get over the jet lag early. It seems to have worked. I haven't felt sleepy yet during the day and feel pretty good overall. The title for this post is my challenge to the cliché of not being able to have a second impression. During the flight I was really nervous about what was ahead of me and thought a lot about the life I was leaving behind. After arriving in Shanghai and leaving the final check point of Customs, I finally found my colleagues from work. It was really great to see a familiar face again. 20+ hours of flying, stewards and terminals can feel like an eternity. As we left the warmth of the airport terminal I suddenly felt the chill of Shanghai winter. It was raining a little which just adds to the cold feeling. Even though I had experienced this kind of weather from my previous trip to Shanghai, this time it was different. This time I knew I would live here long enough to experience all four seasons. It is an impression I won't forget.

Ryan and Annie had the key to my apartment and took me there by way of Taxi, my second First impression. It's not so much the taxi itself but driving in Shanghai altogether. The only real way to experience it though, is in a taxi. Taxi drivers here drive like we would want to at home. Signs, lights and lanes are merely just suggestions. Horns are required to let the other guy know 'hey start moving' or just a polite tap to let someone know he is there. If the driver can sneak the nose of the car into a spot then it is yours to take. The taxi ride is a definite must for tourists. Along the way Ryan mentioned that there was a surprise waiting for me at my new home. Two other co-workers (Mo & Yushi) from my previous trip met us there and had setup dinner for me. They had ordered Papa Johns pizza with salad, bread sticks, chicken wings and apples. It was a lot of food, which was great, because I didn't have anything in the fridge yet, so the extra became lunch for the next day. They had also gone to the local Carrefour (similar to Wal-Mart) and purchased a few starter items for the apartment. They bought items like dish soap, laundry detergent, pens, toothpaste and even a pair of house slippers (they were too small for my feet but I really appreciated it). Now at home, eating pizza, I was ready to call it a night and start my first full day in Shanghai. My next post - shopping at the local Carrefour.

Packing my stuff

2008-01-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

On Jan 11th the movers came and picked up my belongings that I wanted to ship to Shanghai. The shipment should arrive about a week or two after I get there which means I will have to live out of my suitcase for a little while. At least the apartment my company provided is ready for me to move into. Staying in a hotel is ok for short trips but having a place to call home will be really nice. Today is Jan 16th and the last day I have to pack the rest of my things . I have a feeling I will be buying another suitcase tomorrow to hold everything. My next post will be from Shanghai. Hopefully there will not be any stories about weather delays or missed flights. :) Catch you on the other side (of the world!).

Dec 2007 Summary

2008-01-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

To give everyone a recap of what led to this move, here is a brief summary. My company (AMD) opened a research and development center in Shanghai, China during 2005-2006. Without going into a bunch of boring details this new center is growing fast and they asked me if I would like to move to Shanghai for a year and help train and work with the team there.

It was a hard decision to make. Rachel is teaching at a high school and leaving early would leave them trying to find a replacement in the middle of the school year. We just couldn't do that to the students or the school. So we decided that I would go and she would join me later during the summer.

So far things are moving right along. The apartment is ready, my passport is updated and I have all my vacinations (total of 11 shots over a three week period) OUCH! We are still trying to decide what to bring or just buy in China but by next week all of the decisions will have been made.