Week Night, Date Night

Not much adventure during the day today to report as we needed some maintenance men to come and fix some things (more details below) and I was checking out some options in the online job search. However, we had a fun date night evening exploring more of the area!

First, the repairs. While I’d concluded that “the condensation method” is not an effective form of drying clothes and that we needed to just buy one ourselves, Matt suggested we call a repairman to see if they could fix our clothes dryer. (See pic of sheet previously air drying in our apartment after spending 2+ hours in the “dryer”. I now understand why we see so many clothes hanging in the street.) So Danny, our realtor (who is AMAZING) calls the dryer repair man who is set to arrive at 1pm. Dryer guy arrives promptly at 1pm, unlikely any US repair service I’ve ever experienced, and this is what ensues... Complete disassembly of the dryer, which is located outside on our balcony (more to come on that later), while he explains everything in Mandarin. Sweet but not particularly helpful. Then Danny arrives to translate! Oh, he’s just the best. Anyways, supposedly it’s fixed now but I have yet to try it. Fingers crossed.

On to date night: Matt mentions he can get off work at a reasonable time, which is a rarity even in the states, so I jumped at the chance to find a new spot for us to try. It was actually a recommendation from a guidebook, and it surpassed my expectations. Easily, the best meal we’ve had so far in Shanghai. Located down a quiet, unassuming street, about a 15 min walk from our apartment, “Lost Heaven” was like a welcome mansion retreat. Walking in we were greeted by lovely hostesses who escorted us upstairs into a enchanting , candlelit atrium that slightly resembles a worship temple. Just heavenly!

I treated myself to their specialty cocktail, “ThaiZeed”, the ingredients of which are a chef secret, but I can tell you it was delicious, refreshing & spicy! As for the food, delish! “Lost Heaven” serves up Chinese food from the province of Yunnan, which is located in Southeast China bordering, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Tibet (read more about Yunnan here: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/yunnan/ .  We ordered: the papaya salad, sweet / spicy / refreshing, the stir-fry beef, flavorful / spicy and the chicken “salad” with sesame and chillis nutty / juicy / salty / spicy. Seriously, we are coming back here and likely I will bring any visitors here. Maybe, we will even plan a trip to Yunnan! The whole meal (2 drinks, 1 app, 2 entrees) was less than $50. Expensive for Chinese food, perhaps, but not by these New Yorker standards (and less than a Western meal in Shanghai for sure)!

Once we finished our meal, our night continued to a local bar called “Boxing Cat Brewery”. This turned out to be a Westerner mecca with primarily British / Aussie patrons and everything in English. While the servers didn’t speak a ton of English, they were kind, jovial and we certainly tried to converse! We enjoyed some of their own brews here and will be coming back for a low key night and especially for the open patio during the spring.

Starting to learn more and more to share with upcoming visitors! Come join us! :)

Our "dryer" system when our real "dryer" didn't work

Dryer getting "fixed"

Inside of "Lost Heaven"

Me & my "Thai Zeed" (please note the chili pepper which I mistakenly wiped on the rim. bad idea, but still delicious!

Tasty Tasty, Per usual, my picture does not do this justice.

 Boxing Cat Brewery (outside)

I promise Matt enjoyed his time here, not that you would guess it from this pic.

Our Jia

Here are just a couple pics of our home! More to come as I actually decorate each room… it’s a work in progress.

My first street side purchases! These two bowls I negotiated down from 30 RMB to 25 RMB. To translate that’s about $4.75 to $3.95. Do I feel good about it? Yes & No: Yes, I think these bowls are perfect in our entry way for holding change & keys plus, I was proud that I successfully negotiated using the walk away technique. No, I now see this man every day selling bowls on the street corner and I feel he might’ve needed that $.80 more than I do… I see another bowl in our future!

Our “art” is courtesy of gifts given to each other from the Westin brunch. My name written in cute pictures, just like I’ve always wanted, and a cute little pic from a local artist (hehe) as Matt was born in the “Year of the Pig”

Dining Area

Living Area (note fancy chandelier reflected in fancy mirror)

 

View from front door.

Our expensive bowls & art.

Lessons in Walking

Today I ventured out solo and just spent the entire morning / afternoon roaming the streets of the French Concession. I decided to start out with a destination and plan a route just to get my bearings. I set out toward the Media Markt to find a curling iron & hair dryer (as I was advised not to bring by own as they will quickly short out.)

Media Markt is a little over a mile from our home so I planned my route along some new streets to see what they might have to offer and boy did I find some goodies! Pics below but so many adorable clothing shops, restaurants, bars, coffee shops and just interesting people and buildings. So far I’ve refrained from taking pictures directly of individuals, as I don’t want to offend, but at one point there was a Grandfather and little girl sitting on stools outside a shop and he was teaching her how to crack peanuts and they were both just giggling like little school kids. It was too precious! I wish I had whipped out my iPhone! (I seriously need to upgrade my photography equipment) 

For now, you are predominantly getting pictures of buildings & street views.

Also, along my journey, I learned a couple things…

Lesson 1: If you are walking on the sidewalk but hear a scooter/car honking it’s worth taking a look behind you as it’s very possible that scooter/car will be on the sidewalk as well and you need to get out of the way.

Lesson 2: Always look both ways before exiting a store front and stepping out onto the sidewalk.

Lesson 3: The traffic lights do not necessarily reflect the traffic patterns and pedestrians do NOT necessarily have the right of way.

Lesson 4: Keep your eyes open. For both safety reasons, but also there is just so much to take in!

Happy Walking!

Typical little street lined with cafes & shops

This shop "four twenty two" so cute!

Bad news: Barbie store shut down. Yes, this whole store used to be Barbies.

Already found Matt a mounted head

I was worried I wouldn't find Media Markt because it wasn't on Google maps. Nope, found it.

View from my lunch at Media Markt

Locals waiting in line for some meats, but not sure why this was more popular than the rest...

Good news: H&M opens Feb 1

Little hotel offering afternoon tea

Sweet Park

One of the less crowded intersections

I wanted to buy everything in here. EVERYTHING.

Capped my afternoon off with some tea & cake at this beyond adorable cafe in my neighborhood and booted up my computer for some job hunting.

Chinese Health Check

I’ve just returned from an experience that will be difficult to put into words… the Chinese Health Check.

Every person who is seeking some type of resident permit in China must complete a Health Check (and pass) before they are granted such permit. (without which, I’m not totally sure what happens, but my guess is nothing good.) Matt schedule my health check for this morning, so I woke up early (no breakfast) and caught a 30min cab ride out to an area still in Shanghai proper, but less skyscrapers, more 2 story homes, which were gorgeous. My cab driver understood where I wanted to go via the Mandarin address I showed him on my iPhone. Yes, that is how we currently get around: by showing our iPhones with translations. (How did people communicate before? I have no idea). Anyways, being that this was my first cab experience alone, I was a tad nervous but by following our path on Google Maps (still the best) I could confirm we were headed in the right direction. Now, I certainly didn’t speak a word of Mandarin to this kind driver, but he spoke Mandarin to me the ENTIRE 30 minute drive. At first, I felt bad because I could understand 0% of what he was saying, but then I just settled in and listened like it was background noise and occasionally nodded my head.

We arrived at the Health Check center. Good thing Matt gave me the heads up beforehand because it is a complex with quite a few buildings, but first one on the right is the health check. Walk inside and the lobby is filled with people, predominantly foreigners. First step, walk to the reception desk and check-in, show her your paperwork, for which she hands you paper work back to complete and directs you to the waiting room. Easy. As I’m filling out the paperwork, I realize the questions are not your typical physical details… see check boxes of “Leprosy” and “Plague”. Anyways, after I’ve checked an emphatic “No” to everything, my number is quickly called and I’m requested in another room to double check my paperwork. I start thinking, “wow, this is quite a system; very efficient.”

Then it gets interesting… so begin the exams… 1^st step: height / weight = easy. 2^nd step: change in the locker room into a robe. (Keep your pants & shoes on as learned too late by the guy in the stall next to me.) and put all your belongings in a locker  = fairly easy. 3^rd step: enter the hallway of exams… Room 1: blood pressure, heart rate, Room 2: Eye exam, Room 3: Blood work, Room 4: EKG, Room 5: XRay, Room 6: UltraSound (what?!?!) … There are about 8 exam rooms, about 1 dozen men and women zigzagging their way across the different rooms as there is no apparent order of events. No doors. No waiting outside. Just curtains, sometimes. There is also no time for coddling, pleasantries or even explanations. This continues to be a well-oiled machine where I imagine it’s most akin to what it feels like for a Toyota being sent down the inspection line before being released for sale. (Not the best analogy but what I got for now.)

Approximately, 12 minutes later (seriously, I’m not kidding you this was fast), I’m all finished and just need to check out. I should get the results by Friday. 

Cross your fingers I pass! (I’m hopeful because I think I got quite a few approving head nods during the whole process… not sure though)

Sunday Funday!

The Sunday Funday idea is not lost on expats in China. Today we had a great afternoon hanging out with the Burgermeisters, Greg & Lindsey, for an afternoon brunch.

But first, our morning started with the men coming to fix one of our heating units. This is not normally something I would comment on as it sounds fairly mundane, but I just had to share how different it is here… I’m expecting a guy, maybe 2, to come in with a hammer & screwdriver and just make some turns and everything is A. OK. (Perhaps even a replacement part.) Not so much. What really happens is these 2 young men, quite kind & funny (I think, it was all in Mandarin, but they were very jovial.) Come into our apartment, go into our bathroom (the broken heater is in the bedroom, not the bathroom), wash out their tank in the tub. Then the larger one ties a rope around his waist, then skinnier one ties the other end of said rope around his waist and then heads out the bathroom window to poor in more Freon. WHAT?!?! We are SIX stories up. I assure this is not safe is the slightest. However, our heater is now fixed and our home is now warm.

Then it’s off to meet up with the Burgermeisters! Greg & I were put in touch through a couple mutual friends at J&J and Greg heads up the J&J sales force for all of China Consumer. He and his wife have been here a little over a year and were incredibly helpful via email about what to expect and what to do to prepare before we arrived. They’ve also already gone out a couple times with Matt before my arrival (during which I asked Matt to try not to scare them away).

They suggested we head to the Westin for the unlimited brunch & champagne buffet… but it was so much more…  We walked into the Westin lobby to be taken towards the most amazing brunch buffet sponsored by none other than my favorite, Veuve Clicquot! The brunch was filled with stations of ever type of food imaginable: American, Indian, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Shangainese. The most popular of all was the Seafood extravaganza complete with King Crab claws, Lobster tails, caviar, the works! I dabbled in pretty much everything and they kept the Vueve constantly flowing. We were there for about 2.5 hours and the Burgermeisters had so many funny stories to share as well as helpful tips about survival in Shanghai. On top of all that was quite an array of entertainment! See below for dancers, opera singers, acrobats, etc.

Finishing up the afternoon we went to the Burgermeister’s apartment (GORGEOUS!!!) and then took my first Subway ride to get my cell phone setup. The Subway is incredibly clean and easy to navigate with everything being clearly labeled in English and all of the machines being automated in English, etc. I think this will be easy to manage on my own but I’ve heard that it’s insanely crowded during rush hours so try to avoid those times.

Anyways, now we are back home and thanks to the Burgermeisters found some food delivery service (Sherpa.com ; think Seamless web) and are about to setup our first Skype date with mom & dad.

Tomorrow, I’m flying solo!

Safety First!

Out the window!

WESTIN Brunch!

 

        Bloody Mary Bar!

“Easing into Eating”

“Easing into local Chinese food” is apparently, not a concept my lovely husband understands, which is potentially why he’s had some stomach issues since his arrival.

Anyways, for tonight’s dinner he suggests we try Korean BBQ. I LOVE Korean BBQ, thanks to the homemade meals from the amazing Mrs. Park (Lesley’s adorable mom) and our visits to K-Town. Matt describes “Gao Li” as a “hidden gem” and shows me a review from travel.cnn.com. So I’m in!

It’s a quick walk down the street and we are looking for an unmarked door, but we have the address for Gao Li, so this should be easy. Turns out the restaurant is down an alley, so we pass it a couple times before we see a woman coming out of said alley. We open the door and see a room full of people eating. Ask for a table for 2… at which point every single head in the room stares to look at us, as we are certainly the only Westerns / non-Chinese in this restaurant. Ordering is also an adventure, which involves pointing at pictures and luckily showing the translation of some of the items we read were good in the review.

Next arrives our raw pork & beef, kimchi, and marinated root vegetables (we think) as well as the hot dome for us to cook everything in. Everything was delicious! (minus the beef). But the pork was super tasty as were all the vegetables. (Matt also ordered chicken kebabs, but I steered clear because they looked like they needed to be cooked, but Matt assures me it was fine.) Anyways, “hidden gem” dinner was a success! (but no match to Mrs. Park’s short ribs.) 

"Gao Li"

Cooking up some pork!

Day 2 = Success!

...on so many levels, but most importantly I already found cheese!!!! Yes, it was in a super expensive Western grocery store where the cheapest option is about $12 per brie wedge, but hey, that counts! and of course "we" (I mean I) bought some.

In other news, we bought TONS of apartment goodies at IKEA! Yes, IKEA China is just a magical as IKEA USA. I could live there. Apartment pics to follow. I did find it interesting that it really was exactly as it is in the US. All the merchandise is the same, but with Chinese labels (which are just as impossible to remove and annoying to build). Mom, they had cow-hide rugs there too! I was expecting this to be more catered to Chinese preferences, but I guess IKEA is sticking with what they know. I like it. :)

We also did some neighborhood exploring. We live in the Former French Concession area, which can be best described as tree-lined streets bordered by a mix of old Tudor style buildings and skyscraper apartment complexes. To go along with the mix of buildings, there is such a mix of sights!!! Examples: Families hanging their clothes out to dry next to the fish also hanging out to dry (sad we missed that photo op). Vendor stalls filled with fresh fruit/veggies or live crabs, right next to upscale furniture and clothing boutiques. We just stayed close to home today but looking forward to heading a little further south to visit the "hip & trendy bar & restaurant" area of our neighborhood. 

CHEESE!

Home, Sweet Home

Clothes drying... completely normal...

 Just one example of many adorable boutiques

Matt buying our fruit from a local vendor. Side note here... there was a stall about 3 doors down that's called the "Avocado Lady" and there was a long line of Western Expats there. We aren't totally sure what was the draw because this fruit looked better, but if we get sick shortly, we will be going back to the "Avocado Lady" instead

"Chicken" - I'm now understanding why Matt was having a hard time finding grilled chicken. I order "Chicken Noodle Soup" = no chicken, just tofu (I think) and Matt ordered a 1/2 grilled chicken (literally a full chicken, cooked, put through a slicer, bone & all, and then you get half)

STAYFREE(R)! Found my new "Sunshine" packaging here in Shanghai!

Goodbye America, Ni Hao Shanghai!

And the adventure begins! So I've officially landed in Shanghai! Flight was actually quite painless, with a whole row to myself, I was able to catch quite a few Zzzs and get started on my new sleeping schedule. 

Ok, so my first impression of China is going to sound quite strange, but it's very ... Chinese.... Haha. Yes, I get that sounds weird as I know I'm in China, but perhaps I was expecting a little more diversity? Especially since we are living in an Expat area, but it really is ALL China. Everything is in Chinese (minimal English), everyone speaks Chinese (shocker) with very limited English and I've probably seen about 4 non-Asians? I know saying this sounds odd as I've been prepping to come to China for a while now but I've been to quite a few countries and this certainly veers the most out of my comfort zone. 

Anyways, feeling a little off my game with all the changes I suggested to Matt we eat somewhere with a little bit of our home comforts. He agreed and took me to a place that was definitely cute but no one spoke English the menu was entirely in Chinese (no food pictures even), dead fish just hanging out, etc, and I thought to myself... "This is the most comfortable place we can find? ...uhoh, we are in for an interesting year"... Luckily, I suggested we try another spot and just 2 doors down there were some adorable places (Italian, Thai, Sushi) and all were super cute, menus in English, etc. I'm not saying I never want to eat at that Chinese restaurant, I just need a little warm up. :) Anyways, dinner was delicious! Afterwards, I came home and passed out from the jetlag. Now, it's Saturday morning and we are off to run some errands!

Goodbye America

Ni Hao Shanghai!

Moving Day - Take 2

As predicted, our belongings did not fit into storage. After some frantic phone calls to the most amazing parents in the world and more than a few tears and pleading with the movers, I have pushed my flight out to China to Thursday. We are going to try again with a larger storage size today. Please cross your fingers for us!!!

UPDATE: After many hours, phone calls , embarrassing moments and deep breaths. We are officially in storage!!! Many thanks again to mom and dad for moral support, Matt for loving me through the crazy and a special thanks to my fabulous hosts Sarah Bruss and Walsh! They've had to deal with an abundance of ambiguous texts, late night drop bys and even still found a way to sneak in some of my favorite wine for my last night (take 2) in the states!

Pics: hoboken apt before and after, plus storage units 1 & 2.

Next time it'll be from out East!