Shanghai

A couple of pictures from the Bund.

Last day of 2011

It is shocking to realize 2011 will be over very soon. I simply cannot look back to the year without feeling disoriented. Last 2 years brought me a lot of changes. 2011 is a big leap.
In addition, the big 40 is creeping up very quickly. The way to avoid judging myself is by... oh yes... investing in Kiehl's double strength wrinkle filler cream. I am expecting wonders.

Guilty!

Sorry, sorry, sorry...
Those DVDs are really good. First half of The Good Wife Season 3, The ides of March, ...

OMG! Chinese New Year already!

They immediately changed the elevator's music from Christmas to Chinese New Year. I don't know if I can handle a whole month!

Christmas

So, no tree this year. We did not get around to get one. It is actually not so important after all. It took us 8 years to finally had our first tree last year in NY. I consider this is my little help to the environment.

I finally sent out my Christmas message to everyone... Almost everyone. I believe I missed a few people. My email address books are not consolidated. I really need to do that - To-Do-List-2012.

I tried not to be negative with my message on my Christmas email. Well, it turned out sounding some sort of uplifting. I am getting replies from friends saying it was so touching and all that. I was writing it at 12.30 in the morning, trying to rush it out before everyone leave for the holidays. Then I encountered email issue with too many people on the list. So I spent another hour to fix the address lists and splitted into multiple mesages. I did not go to bed until 1.30am. Maybe my next career move is to become an inspirational speaker. Haha.. Yeah right!

Speaking on that, I had a moment of guilty last week during my traveling. I realised my job is doing nothing to help curb the environmental impact on global construction. I should start thinking my next move to be more active in promoting good design and construction practise that helps minimize construction impact on the environment. Seeing the sand and dust covering every cities in China is heartbreaking. Just with little effort in managing the process from everyone, we can make a difference!

Christmas in Shanghai

In a city bases on consumption, Christmas messages are certainly heard everywhere. And when I said heard, I mean literally you can hear them everywhere. Christmas songs in very shops, coffee places, and elevators. My head is filled with Christmas songs. For a country doesn't celebrate Christmas holidays, they did a pretty good job promoting it.
Costa Coffee shops have these cute Yule logs and Christmas mini cakes. So cute! Can't help but take a picture of them.

Weekend

I did a 30 hour turn around trip to HK to attend a high school mini-reunion. One old friend, Connie, returned to HK from Toronto to see her family. We have not seen each other all these years even though NY and Toronto is only an hour flight away. After 22 years, she looked the same, except with a husband and 2 beautiful girls in toll. It was a fun evening BBQ-ing with a bunch of people whom I haven't seen for many years. Even more special was that the BBQ at was at our old school. It was like when we were kids, except we are so 20+ years older.
Time flies by in truly alarming rate. I feel very lucky that we are still in touch. This year I am grateful for Facebook connecting the world. This year, 2 service fees were well spent: first one is the 50 bucks to become a Marco Polo member of Cathay Pacific, and the second one is the 100 bucks on the VPN service for my internet access.
After the BBQ, I also met up with an old colleague who has just moved to HK. Anne moved to HK just a month ago. It was surreal to be sitting at the Pawn Shop lounge and having a drink with her; only not long ago we were just in NY and even worked on a project together. I am sure she will have a great experience in HK. Since she is working at a well known hospitality design firm, we may even work together again in the future.
I had a great weekend. The high cost of the air ticket was certainly worth every penny.

3 Month Anniversary

I just realised it is my 3 month anniversary in Shanghai. In 3 months,
I visited Xiamen, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Putian, Zhengzhou, Yantai (today),
Dalian (today), Hong Kong, New Delhi and Agra.
I think I have got a handle on the job. It has its perks. I do enjoy people taking my words a lot more seriously. But i also have to be careful when I give my opinion. LOL!

Very cold!

It's very cold. Not temperature cold. It is a damp cold that makes it feels colder.
And of course, Jim came back and the first thing he figured out was the heating. In fact, it took him 1 second looking at the pictures on the control to turn on the heat. The Chinese Architect didn't even bother to try and went ahead and bought heaters. The jet lagged white dude took care of it in a second. Classic!
Also, we got new computer and router today. More purchases. We are really starting to settle down.
But of course, the landlord is now looking to sell the apartment. Hope that no one is interested in this inefficient floor plan and it won't sell. Hehe. I did my part taking down the place today when they brought a potential buyer.
Speaking of home, we went to a beautiful home of two new friends. They live in this old Shanghainese style house and beautifully decorated the space. Fabulous!

Jimbo Justice is coming to town!

Jim is returning tomorrow. Yeah!

Spending, spending, spending.

Finally, I found myself a free weekend and in the mood for some shopping. Saturday morning, I headed straight to Ikea. I am pleased to report that things are a bit cheaper at Ikea Shanghai comparing to the US. It has great collections of kitchenwares. I was there for bedside lamps, and came out with candles, vases, hangers, plants, extra towels, etc. It was satisfying!
Well then, Bronwen told me a website for Shanghai shopping where one can use debit cards or cash on delivery. How timely as I was thinking of getting a heater. Shanghai apartment doesn't come with heating in general. Next weekend is going to be really cold. So, I think I should be prepared. So, I rightly hopped onto the website and bought 2 small heaters, and a small iPod docking speaker on the side.
As I mentioned it is going to be real cold next weekend, I need to get a turtleneck just in case my shipment doesn't get delivered in time. (oh yes, my shipment has arrived a long time ago, except I didn't have the time to arrange the document for delivery. Finally, it should be coming very soon. But I should be prepared, right?) So, I went to my favorite Muji and picked up a turtle neck and a sweater.
On one of the local Shanghai English magazine, a few local places were featured as Christmas gift ideas. One particular caught my eyes. It is Golden Button for custom shirts. For USD$26, you get a custom shirt. How can I not go check it out. When I got there, they have some ready made ones for USD$13. But It took no time for me to shift right into custom. The tailor measured me, and said my neck is too small for shirt size 41 and my arms are longer for size 40. How perfect for custom shirts! I ordered 3. Let's see how they turn out.
I restrained myself just around the corner where there is the custom shoes shop. I saw a pair of Ferragamo monk strap with an Oxford front a couple of days ago. For RMB 1350 (USD$212), should I have them replicated?
Then I had a cool hair cut. Including a photo here so that you can remember how I look.
This past week was a busy week of dining out. I went over to Pudong Shangri La twice last week. Once was to pick up my oldest friend Mary, who was visiting SH for work. We went for a drink at the Ritz Carlton's rooftop bar for a drink before heading to Park Hyatt's 100 Century for dinner. Another night, it was drinks and dinner at Shangri La again with my new friend/colleague Serina, her husband and her visiting friends. I also had dinner with Mark Hayes one day during his business trip. It was so great to see these familiar faces. Friday night was Shanghainese food, and Saturday night was with Bronwen at a local French place. A busy week!
Anyhow, next week Jim comes back!! It is so exciting. A lot of planning to do for Christmas, New Year, the big 4-0, and Chinese New Year.

Sunset view from the office.

A quiet Friday in the office.

December

It is already December. I can't hardly believe. A year of change for me. Today, the cold weather finally arrived in Shanghai. Walking down the street in the chill cool reminded me of how much I love the fall and early winter weather in New York.

Hazy Sunday

Not me... It's the Shanghai skyline. This is a picture from my balcony.

I had my second Thanksgiving dinner last night, hosted by Paul and Teresa from M Moser. The home cook food was pretty amazing. The Mac n cheese was so good. It came from Teresa's friend Chris. Serena who hosted the party at her apartment made this awesome pumpkin soup with a little dash of curry powder. It was delicious.

3rd and final Thanksgiving meal today. I should be turkey'ed out by the end of this afternoon.

A few visitors this week. It will be nice to see everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish all my friends in the US a very Happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is always special to me since the first year I moved to NY. The first one was hosted by my graduate school friend, Liana. A lovely Canadian decided to celebrate this American tradition and invited all international classmates and others who weren't going home. I still remember we all sat on the floor and sharing her first time turkey and many pies from everyone.
Since then, many delicious meals, seeing the parade from my West 74th Street, battled the traffic to go upstates to the Bott's farm, and finally hosting Thanksgiving at home in the last couple of years. It is all great memories.
So, here I am in Shanghai. First email on this Thanksgiving day was from my immigration lawyer telling me that my Green Card was finally issued. How ironic. It would be a big celebration if I were in NY, probably at the Bott's toasting to this long drag-out process.
Instead, I'm heading to work and going as Julia's guest to some random new friends' home for dinner.
So, friends, have an extra piece of turkey for me. :-)
Happy Thanksgiving.

My first signing ceremony

Within 12 hrs of getting back from Melbourne, I was on the plane again
to Fuzhou for project 1's Model Room review on Tuesday, project 2's
planning review on Wednesday, and some in-between reviews for project
3. When they get me, they want every last drop of my brain juice. Last
night, if I didn't insist that I have to go back to the hotel to work
on their projects, they would have kept us until midnight. The fact
was I did work until midnight, and then up at 5.30am to finish the
work before the car came to pick me up. Crazy! I thought I left design
so that I don't have to put in long hours. WTF.
Luckily, today's meeting was easy. In the afternoon, a contract
signing ceremony was scheduled for project 1. I have picture, but I am
not sure if it is appropriate to post it. It was sweet to attend my
first Chinese style contract signing ceremony in China. They take that
seriously here. There were banners, flower arrangement, photographer.
Chairman also said that a separate party should be held when they host
the big concert with a famous Italian opera singer coming to perform
at the new theatre they built. I personally think that it should be on
the date when they get to fix the model room for 2nd review. That will
be an occasion for celebration, considering how bad the first review
went.
Chairman said to my development colleague that I am awesome. He said
Hilton should make sure I don't leave, unless I am joining his
company. Hehe! A pat on my back... Yet not enough for dealing with
some of the crap in the process.

Oh... I remember what I hate in China.

Those people have no sense of time and agenda. They expect you to work all day all night. If I didn't speak up and said that we have more work to do when we get to the hotel, I bet you they want more meetings with the Chairman, for nothing, until midnight.
I miss working in a civilized world.

Heading "home"

I am sitting at the lounge in HKG airport waiting for my flight to Shanghai PVG. It doesn't feel like going home at all. This trip was far too short. And I am heading back to an empty apartment in Shanghai without Jim waiting for me. It just doesnt feel right. No friends in Shanghai waiting for me to share my trip, pictures, etc. So depressing. Maybe I need to buy myself something at the airport to cheer me up! :-)

Melbourne

It was a really short trip. I forgot how extreme the weather could be
in Melbourne. One day it was shorts and T-shirt, the next day is cold
and windy.

My cousin Joseph and his wife Eeleng had a wonderful wedding. It was
simple and fun. They are off to a 6 week honeymoon. Who on earth can
take 6 weeks off? When can I take 6 weeks off?

The only friends I had time to catch up with were Paul and his wife
Kirrilly. The surprise was that Tonny Sadha happened to arrived in
Melbourne today for a couple fo days with his sister. I went to his
hotel and had an afternoon coffee with him. What a great little
surprise. The world is so small these days. Who would have thought I
get to see him in Melbourne?

Back to Shanghai tomorrow. And off to a business trip immediately the
next morning. I am already longing for next weekend when I have back
to back Thanksgiving plans. I can't wait for the turkey!!!

Picture was taken from the executive lounge of the Grand Hyatt. A
beautiful day in Melbourne.

Mom and Niece Cassidy

Melbourne

I arrived this morning in Melbourne for a short trip to attend my cousin's wedding. The weather is gorgeous. I am pleased to be home with my parents. They have been very consumed by my nieces. I am happy to see that they are occupied. But it is exhausting for them with these little ones.
It is also an opportunity for me to catch up on sleep. I feel that I am lacking a bit of sleep. Work is consuming my spirits and has made me restless even on the weekend morning. Is work eating me up?
Last time I blogged was during my 3 month stay in Tianjin in 2009. For that 3 months, I posted 91 times. Last 2 months, I only did 31. There are some catching up to do.

Sneaking off to Melbourne for a few days.

I am heading to Melbourne to see family and attend my cousin's wedding. It's a short trip. 5.5 days with 1 whole day of traveling. With all that is happening at work, it's tough to disappear. But it is also a good thing to disappear. The politics at the office is getting a little too much.
The flight is calling. More later.

2 Months!

It's officially been 2 months since we arrived. I am still in one piece. I hope it stays that way!

No.1 thing I love about living in Shanghai is...

My balcony. I am having my lovely light Saturday lunch out on my south facing balcony. This is so fabulous!

Outside the developer site office yesterday

... Free range chickens!

Almost 2 months

Yes, I am still counting. In a couple of days, it will be 2 months since I arrived. TGIF! This week, I ate fried bugs, drank 52% alcohol content chinese wine, slept in some bad hotel rooms, visited a site where the developer's local office had free range chicken roaming around the front court.
I was so glad to be home last night after the trip. Part of the work is enjoyable. But it is also taking serious toll on my body and soul. I was excited that I got to go to my first spinning class tonight after work to flush out the stress and toxic. It puts back some normalcy into life. The class was certainly high energy with pumping Japanese pops. It will be a fun routine!
Major sleep deprivation this week. But I have quite a bit to catch up at work tomorrow. I am hoping I can do some serious catch up and have a nice Sunday.

Greetings from Zhengzhou

Oh... It's just another trip to some second/tertiary cities in China. The Crown Plaza is a crap chute. After a long day of Model Room review in frigid temperature, I spent last 3 hours practising my drinking skill. My pretense of limited ability to drink worked pretty well.
And back to my crap chute room before 9pm is a god sent. There is something great about eating dinner early - it finishes early. And what's best is that when I turned on the TV, it is Princess Diary 2 with Julia Andrews singing. I can't ask for more from Zhengzhou!
One more day tomorrow to go see a new client in the middle of nowhere of a middle of nowhere city.
The plus sign of this trip is that I bought a cute fall jacket to handle the cold weather. :)
Can't wait to be home!!!

Another Friday

It's a Friday by myself. A work dinner, then meeting an old colleague for a drink. A Friday that I was excited when it came because I can catch up on work. Lovely!
At dinner, at a famous HK style cafe, the 2 PMs from the client side was telling me all kinds of horrid Chinese stories about the struggle of Chinese lives. It made me wonder if they were trying to send me home. :-)
But the roasted duck and curry prawns were fabulous. And there is a Mexican restaurant next to it. I can hear Margarita and tacos calling me.
Last night my colleague Sarina prepared a Japanese Sukiyaki dinner to celebrate another colleague's birthday. We, without much effort, convinced her to try a Thanksgiving dinner. I will need to look up recipes for her to make sure I get a good piece of turkey meat!!!
Man... I miss Jim, NYC and all my friends from my quiet apartment.

A new chapter of this trip

After 6.5 weeks, Jim left today. He was a huge help on this move. I feel guilty for dragging him through all these hurdles for my career. Without him, I won't have settled down as well as I have now... Probably would have got kicked out of Shanghai.
It will be another 6 weeks before he returns. I hope next time we will be seeing Shanghai and China, finally. With Nick & Sung A's and Brandon & David's visit in December and January, it will be so exciting.

End of October

I wrote some words this morning. Unfortunately, it acted up and didn't get posted. It was good sincere writing. Oh well...
Jim is sick, and he is leaving this Sunday. I am already sensing loneliness sinking into my space. He was tremendous help in settling down. In fact, he was the brain of all moves in Shanghai. Without him, I could not have set up as we have now. I can't wait for Christmas for his return. I hope he doesn't forget the two words of Chinese he learned in last few weeks.
New friend Rachel is also leaving this weekend to start her preparation of a new hotel opening in Zhongshan. She has been so wonderful and fun in this beginning of my adventure.
Last weekend was most comforting during Bubbles's visit. Her familiar face and smile gave me the boost I needed. The love and encouragement is beyond everything in the world.
Julia, my old boss, was also wonderful beyond this world. Her positive and enthusiastic energy on China helped us both to feel the future is going to be fine. Bronwen and Eric were so generous with information, helping hands, and even with money when we need a bridge to get through the renting and the ridiculous banking set up.
The moral of the story is that we need friends. You never know who is going to be by your side when you most need. I am blessed with always having great friends around me. Thank you God!
These two weeks are full of work and meetings, but less traveling. YEAH!!!
Posted a couple of India's pictures. They were taken by my new dear colleague Serina. She is such fun and knowledgable person. She was the one who dragged me to see the sunrise Taj Mahal. With her around, there is no doubt it will be fun.

October is almost over...

...and we are slowly settling in. There is working Internet and working TV in the apartment. Ayi (cleaning lady) has started coming to do weekly cleaning. And we received our first visitor last weekend. It was so comforting to see the warm and familiar face of Bubbles. That soothing feeling is beyond words.
But Jim is leaving on Sunday for NY. Next 6 weeks will be another set of challenges being alone. I will have to start looking after "all these" at home.
It is comforting to know that I have a few friends here to lean on. Friends are treasure when one lives in a foreign country. And sometimes, you won't even know who is going to give you the hand when you need. There are still a few people I have yet to meet up in Shanghai. I had better get on it.

More Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal photo

India

In Delhi this week for a work training/conference. It is somewhat of an immersion and an opportunity to meet the colleagues from other regions.
Apparently Internet access is installed and hopeful satellite TV will be done today. It's quite an experience for someone who can't speak the language to receive technicians, call up friends to help with translations. Special thanks to Jenny who helps him over the phone. It's important to have friends, especially when you are in foreign land.

Nothing is easy.

It is my karma that everything I do in Shanghai is not going as smooth as it should be. It generally involves hiccups, double processes, delays and many extra running arounds.
Long story short, no internet and TV yet!!! And this time, it is my fault as I was confused and signed up for service with the wrong company! We waited for hours for the internet guy to show up today, just to tell us that this complex is not serviced by his company. At 530pm Sat, we rushed to the right company and restarted the ordering, all over again. With all this delay, TV satelite still can't be set up. Lovely!!! If I were plotting for Jim to jump off our 27th floor balcony, I believe I just need to give a slight shove.

BTW, another food experience

Disclaimer: Don't read before you are about to have a meal.

Last night there was a plate of nice looking seafood for Korean BBQ last night. The oysters are huge.
And so, my tummy wasn't feeling well today after eating the oysters. My food experience led me to use the infamous Chinese's hole in the floor. Another first!

Up in the Air

I traveled 4 days out of the last 6 days. Last night, when I walked to my room with my rolling suitcase along the corridor, I felt like George Cloony in Up in the Air. At least it was a Shangri La Hotel, praise Buddha!
Going through these 3rd tier cities are surreal. I, also found out the typical middle class Chineses are all obsessed with investment, cost of properties and luxury items. They all have several properties as investment. These are not even the senior directors or chairmen. Everyone has properties making rent. What have I done, meanwhile?

My first worm tasting experience

I was seeing a client yesterday (yes, it was a working weekend after the National Day Week holiday). My boss and I flew to Xiamen on Saturday night, met the client on Sunday morning and off we went to the project sites. After seeing the first site, the group took us to their own restaurant for lunch. The restaurant is quite tastefully designed. We were seated in this huge room that can sit 20 people. If you are familiar with China's custom, private dinning room is the only way for proper meals. The 6 of us spreaded out around this gigantic table of 8' diameter and were served a nice simple lunch of a whole steamed fish for each person, fried rice, a beef roll, etc. But the starter was a local delicacy - a jelly with a school of white worms. Some with guts hanging out. After I skillfully avoided the pieces with the guts, I tasted a few pieces of the white worms. The verdict is: I am sitting here writing about it.

After a week off, back to work!

Oct 1 to 7 was China's National Day's Golden Week. 2 days before the holiday, I was in HK getting an India Tourist Visa for an upcoming trip. So, officially, I was out of the office for almost 9 days! As you saw from my last post, we moved into our apartment. I promise I will take pictures and show you. Let's say, it is nice. I am quite happy. It will be better when there is Internet, TV and when I have time to go sign up for the gym.
Back to work today is certainly a hard task to adjust. First of all, it is a Saturday. Secondly, we will be working 7 days straight. A lot of work to catch up, and a lot of work to prepare before the India trip next Sunday. In between now to India, I am at the airport to Xiamen tonight for an overnight trip. And another overnight trip to Fuzhou next week. Phone was ringing all day with clients wanting our input. And I am still sorting through the projects I took over, as well as bracing myself for the projects that I am going to take over. The guy who is leaving next is not known for efficiency and organization. He is more a talker than a doer, to say the least. I am picking up 5 projects from him. It will be interesting.
One good thing is the the new VP spoke to me today and he is envisioning a system reorganization so that we can have better project system. Praise Buddha!
Jim is still suffering from the cultural shock and the lack of Internet connection. It is comical to see the poor man hanging outside coffee shops to get free wifi. What to do?! I wish I can just go get a MiFi for him right this minute. At least we found most of the household supplies from the 3 supermarkets. He is happy in that department.

How long has it been?

Finally, we moved into the apartment. It is a small testament of the country's room for improvement. Design and construction standard is still needing some help to fine tune. TV and Internet set up required jumping some hoops. The dishwasher is so small that it only works for cups and glassware. The washer and dryer only handles small load. It took 2 days to finish all the washing from last 3 wks. We have spent so much on dishes, glasswares, sheets and towels...
But having said all that, it is a nice apartment and I will enjoy it.

After 3 weeks...

We are in desperate need for some settling down. Moving into our apartment tomorrow... not without some major navigation through banking and money spending.
People Square was a total nightmare today. Tens of thousands of people are visiting Shanghai this week for The National Day. They made the usually busy Nanjing East Road Pedestrian Mall beyond humanly acceptable.
Had a really big lunch, and a liquid dinner at the Puli Hotel. Nice space and yet disappointing service. What does it take to teach them proper service?!

Some pictures from last night

>

Try to be different...

I realized I should try to be more positive on my blog. Last thing I want is for my dear friends to worry about us. For me, work is still challenging in many areas. But I sense that people like me, and my supervisor loves me. He told me several times in a week how much he is pleased with having me on board, and how he thinks I will be very successful in my job. He went so far to say that I am probably better than him because I have patience with people. LOL! He haven't seen the real me yet!

Out to dinner tonight to M on the Bund to celebrate a new friend's birthday. It will be nice. For sure, we will get a real drink!

Another week

Monday came again.

Weekend was actually very nice. We had dinner plans from Friday to Sunday. Instantly, life felt normal. Good food and good companies make all the different. It was also very interesting to be seeing old friends from NY, NY friends passing Shanghai on business, and meeting new friends all in one weekend. I even ran into someone who has intereviewed me for a job back in New York a few years ago, and now he is working in Singapore working on a job for us in Sanya. At the same time, I also met a colleague from Singapore who knows a few mutual friends and old colleagues. What a small tiny world!

Apartment hunting is still unresolved. It is getting frustrating. I can't wait to just have it sorted out and settle in.

 

 

Saturday Sept 24

Getting to do the typical Shanghainese Saturday afternoon activities - pedicure and foot massage. Instead of worrying about work, visa, apartment and all that, I decided to let mt feet be pampered.

Oh Work, that annoying little thing we have to do. I found it quite challenging with this new career. There are A LOT of new information, incredible among of unscheduled responsibilities and challenges. Just the fact that the number of projects grew from 7 to 10 to 12 in 8 working days, tells the insanity of the industry and the country.

In addition, the system is not arranged for handling this amount of development. The other day I said to myself, I miss Holly! Holly is the IT director of BBG-BBGM. She put system into my career. I miss having a proper system!

And I am not going to get into the complication of the work visa and the apartment search. I can't even deal with it. I hope it gets sorted out soon.

Last night, we had dinner with Bronwen and Eric - two old colleagues who are now living in Shanghai. I crashed the M Moser Shanghai 30th anniversary event afterwards. It was lovely to see some of the colleagues at Moser. Moira Moser was very sweet when she saw me. I really appreciate her kind words to me.

Getting back to enjoy my foot massage.

Insanity Kicks In Today

Honeymoon has ended exactly 1 week since I started at my new job. It wasn't much of a honeymoon to begin with. Today, I arrived at work at 7.30am. 2 new projects review, 2 existing projects issues to catch up, a 3-day training that I was just told last night. My boss also briefed me on some up coming department structural changes and the potential of new politics. Thank god I haven't started with the existing politics yet.

To top it off I have to handle the crazy Shanghai apartment rental and the office's lack-of-support. If I lose this apartment, I am going to have to look all over again. I will NOT be happy!!! Let's hope it is good news tomorrow from my real estate agent. If he can pull this off, I am giving him a good bonus.

There is a lack of system and protocol here. For those who has worked with me, you know how I like system and protocol. Quite something to get used.

I am breaking from my five different projects to write this. There are 7 more coming. I wonder what is it like to be working on 12 projects simultaneously.

2nd week...

I like the fact that my colleagues go out to lunch as a group, sit around at large table and order a table full of dishes. I used to schedule lunch with colleagues weeks in advanced. Now, it is only normal that we eat together. The best part is that it only cost me USD$5 for lunch. Not bad.
So, work is going fine. There is so much to learn. A lot of numbers for me to remember. I need to get my reading up to date.
Apartment... I think we are going to settle with this one at Maoming Road North near Nanjing Road West. It is smaller, but convenient. I think it will be good. I am definitely signing up for the pool and the gym. It can be a good summer thing. I will do cardio every morning!!! I need the exercise to offset all the rice I am eating, and the latest discovery of my high cholesterol.
Exhausted... from everything. Need a good relaxed and worry free sleep.

First Week

I really just recognized the magnitude of this move. I changed my career path, move to another part of the world, dragged another person with me, and all these were done diving in head first. I left no time for acclimation and went straight to work the next day I arrived. What was I thinking?
Then, there is the actual cultural shock that now I have to force myself to absorb. For the past years, I came to Shanghai as a visitor. I was in taxis, in hotels, and only here for a brief time. This time, I am sitting in an office, working on real projects, and handling the languages and cultural changes.
It certainly reminded me of the 3 months in Tianjin in 2009. It was not fun at first, but I learned to make do. It didn't turn out so bad. I must have a mental note to remind myself.
Shanghai has changed even in the short time since I visited last. Again, it may well be the different perception and perspective between a visitor and a resident. Things are more expensive. Traffic is a lot worst. People seem rude. The worst of all is the hundreds of pimps on the street asking foreigners if we want young ladies. This is a bit of a disgrace. This situation was tamer before. Again, it may just be me being oblivious during my visits in the past.
It is also interesting to hear Jim's descriptions of his daily exploration. I need to set him up with a blog this weekend so that he can share with his people. He is seeing SH very differently. His perspectives are not coming from behind the window of a town car, meals at the fanciest restaurants all day, or accompanied by a translator. He walks during the day. He cannot find a person who can speak some English to him. He doesn't have the crew and ground support that Anthony Bordain has for his show. It is interesting to hear him maneuvering the crazy and rude traffic, how he tried to look for a back brush in the neighborhood, and seeing some delicious food and can't order at a little hole in the wall because of the language barrier.
This weekend, we are looking for a permanent place. Wish us luck.

First days in Shanghai

I worked 2 full days! Jet lag kicked in this afternoon. I was having a tough time staying awake this afternoon. Than goodness for Starbucks in the building lobby. I never thought I would thank Starbucks.
Work is actually quite alright. I have 10 projects on my plate. Nice, right? A project meeting this Saturday am is lined up...for my first week at work!!!
Jim is having a cultural shock therapy. After recovering from the 14 hrs of coach flying, jet lag, and not having food network, he is dealing with the hardship of communication, social cultural difference, and the like in general.

Arrived!

And EXHAUSTED... I wonder how did I travel here hit the ground and work.
Not that I'm obsessed with blogging. I am just checking if the Blogger app is working in China.

Leaving NYC

After some delays, we made it to the airport. In a few minutes, I will be heading towards a whole new challenge. It is hard to leave behind 13 years of NYC. My friends, I will miss you all.

Preparing for a new adventure.

One day left before leaving for Shanghai. Anxiety is building. The encouragement from every single person I know has been the comforting thoughts. I really must thank everyone for their enthusiasm and well wishes.There are still a few things to do here; and a lot to do when we get there. Good news is that Oct 1 to 7 will be public holiday in China. We get to spend sometime to explore the city and set up the apartment. Quite a few people will be visiting us already. It will just be like we have never left.
For 3 Septembers in a row, I made some moves. I went to Tianjin in September 2009. I left BBG-BBGM in September 2010. We are moving this time in September again. I hope this is it. September is always emotional. I still involuntarily cry whenever I read about Sept 11. I can't do more September changes.