Hunting Cheese: Dinner in Pudong

Good news: I passed my Chinese Health Check! I am in great health! They give you back a binder full of different stats. I do have something called “sinus bradycardia,” (details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinus_bradycardia ) which on my 2^nd day here Matt bragged about having saying that it’s really only something diagnosed in professional athletes who are in peak physical condition. Needless to say, it stung a little for him when we officially established we are BOTH high-performance athletes. ;)

Now, we officially applied for our residence permit. The residency permit office is in Pudong (which is on the opposite side of the river from us, where we live in Puxi), so we planned a fun evening with some gracious hosts. After the rather painless trip to the immigration office, we headed to under the Science & Technology Museum metro stop on the hunt for the “good bargains”. I was surprised with how empty this underground market was, especially for a Friday afternoon. It must get crowded over the weekend because there was definitely plenty to see and buy. I purchased 3 purses, for what I consider to be a great deal! (Less than half the starting price and easily less than the value I’ll get out of all 3 bags (totaling about $75 for all 3). Part of the fun, was just the entertaining experience of negotiating and getting the “best friend price.” Hehe.

Then we were off to dinner with our gracious hosts in Shanghai. The Choys are a couple, where the husband also works at BCG and was incredibly helpful in providing advice prior to our move and his wife is an ER doctor working here in Shanghai. They have two adorable twin girls, and were so kind to have us over to their apartment for a home cooked meal. Delicious!! Chicken, mashed potatoes & salad were a true treat to these foreigners, not to mention the fabulous wine and conversation. Plus, the view overlooking the Bund from every room in their apartment, was stunning! We had a great evening in Pudong.

After dinner, we headed back to the Puxi side to grab some more cocktails and check out different spots near our neighborhood. We went to Constellation 2, a nearby Whiskey Bar, which was music to Matt’s ears. We popped in here for one drink then headed to just a block from our apartment, to a wine bar called Enoterra. Enoterra is an adorable wine bar, which per a review, I told Matt only serves wine by the bottle. We ordered a nice Cab, so of course needed some snacks to go with it. Nachos!! :) Not quite, US Tex Mex nachos, but tasty and satisfying none the less. After the nachos arrived, Matt spotted the menu for wine by the glass… he was on to my ruse. Shoot!

Quick note on one thing, that so far has been the most difficult adjustment; the smoking. Everyone knows that I am not a smoker, have never been a smoker, don’t enjoy being around smoking, etc. But in all the bars here in Shanghai, everyone smokes. Even the “non-smoking” sections are filled with smoke as they are frequently adjacent to the smoking sections without any divider. So far, this has been a less than pleasant part of the experience. As for now, I’ve had to segment my wardrobe into smoking and non-smoking pieces so that it doesn’t permeate into all my clothes and I make Matt & I shower after coming home before hopping into bed. I’ve been told that there actually is a law banning smoking inside, but it’s not enforced. I may be the 1 out of 2.2M people that wants that law to be enforced. (But I’d be ok with them relaxing the internet restrictions. Hehe.)

Sorry for delays in posting! Internet hasn't been cooperating here for us recently.

Entering the "Fashion & Gifts" Market