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.