Yesterday, John and I had dinner with Anqian and his two friends Catherine and Mike. I’m connected to Anqian through Luiza, my good friend whom I met at FMF (where she volunteers!). Anqian was born in SH and stayed through high school. Afterwards, he moved to the US for college and graduate school. Now he works for Deloitte & Touche Tomatshu doing consulting/auditing. He hates SH. He told us that everyday when he leaves his apartment, he mutters to himself, “I hate Shanghai, I hate it so much. I have to leave.” Of course, it all makes sense, considering his dream is to be in Latin America, more specifically Lima, Peru. He was totally bummed out upon discovering that 1) John and I are not Latino 2) neither of us speak any Spanish. Anyway, he seems to have a really bad attitude about SH, but we can sort of relate. We too wanted to get out of our element… Every now and then, big change is good. Speaking of change, I received an email from my friend Roz the other day… she used to be the IT director at FMF. Last August, she sold her car, subletted her apartment, and took off to Australia and southeast Asia for four months. In her own words:

Much as it might just look like a big vacation, this trip was a big leap of faith for me. I quit my job, sold my car, sublet my apartment, and accepted the possibility of depleting 4 years of hard-earned savings. The big payoff? A renewed realization that world is a big, beautiful place filled with interesting people and hair-raising adventures. Here’s what this trip taught me: Take a chance; get outside of your comfort zone because that’s where you grow the most; and growing (though not always comfortable) makes you feel alive.

Roz is so on the money. Back to Anqian… such a funny guy. He wants to leave SH so badly, he’s refused to purchase any furniture or household essentials. He insists on having one 1 plate, 1 set of chopsticks, 1 bowl, and one cup. I wish him luck on his Peru endeavor.

My cousin Jia-Ying in Taiwan gave birth last week to her first child: a daughter. A cute little baby… I saw her via MSN Messenger. (MSN messenger is crazy popular here. Getting the MSN email goes hand in hand with passing out business cards.) No name selected yet, but I’m giving Jia-Ying my list of English favorites. At all costs, we have to avoid ridiculous names like Kitty Meo or Fish Yu (yeah, no joke: those are real names). We’re still looking for a Chinese name for John. He wants something super easy so I suggested Wang Da Zhong, the main character in all my Chinese school textbooks.

Sorry for the absence this last week… we’ve been very busy. After a few days of tolerable, even decent weather (sunny and in the 50’s), Shanghai once again plunged into a dreary, bone-chilling cold. Yeah, those of you suffering through a harsh winter in the States, don’t even bother with your gripes. You have central heat. When it’s 30 degrees here, my bathroom is 30 degrees. My tile floors are 30 degrees. And we still have it pretty good at our place. Most people don’t even have room heaters!

My sore throat and cough returned, and I starting feeling fatigued again. Don’t worry, it isn’t SARS. No fever. But John and I alternated sick days. We are such wusses over here.

In other news, my article appeared in JobWeek last Monday. I hate the front-page picture, but Nai said the article was written alright. I’ve gotten a few bites from it… I’m in the interviewing stage. One involves working with a young global company doing business in international trading, travel, web services, education, and textiles. The other is a teaching position for area college sophomores. I’m also pushing to expand our network. Many of my contacts in the US know some people in SH, so we’ve been meeting up with them. One person we met on Friday: Tony Wai, who moved his family to SH in 2001. He heads a consulting/training firm servicing supply management professionals and said he’d be interested in having me develop an English training course to supplement his program. I don’t know much about purchasing/supply management work but intend to look into it. Could be a great opportunity offering a lot of control and flexibility (Thanks Andrea!). Mr. Wai also hooked John up with fellow mac enthusiast Kevin. Thanks to Kevin, John will be picking up his 23-inch mac cinema display screen this Tuesday (previously, all the places told us the wait time would be over one month).

Yesterday, we all took the bus down to JiaSan, Nai’s birth city. It’s only about 90 minutes south of here. We met her younger brother and little sister and their kids. A big family. Visited her parents’ grave– they were born in 1903 and 1904 and passed away in the 1990’s.

At lunchtime, we went out to a hotel restaurant in downtown JiaSan. Tasted some specialty foods, including chestnut-like legumes (I think) called Lings (the horned thing pictured to the right), wu xiong jiang ya (soy sauce duck), and turtle-fish. John said the turtle-fish (which looks like a black soft-shelled snapturtle to me) tasted like chicken. He ate two clubby legs with the claws still on them. Ugh!

On Saturday, John and I had dinner with Laura Wang and her friend Teh Ghee. I met both of them the day after Christmas when I attended a web-blogger’s meet up. Laura works for Forbes magazine (China) and Teh is a daytrader– here to just soak up the culture in transition. His sister-in-law is a feminist in Singapore but he didn’t talk much about her beyond saying they get into a lot of arguments. Nuff said. A pleasant dinner though… Laura is interested in doing a language exchange.

Today, we took Nai and Yeb to the Golden Jaguar, a new Taiwanese-run buffet located on Nanjing Xi Rd., in the hoyty-toyty Jiang An district. The restaurant has only been open for two months, but it’s this elaborate 3500 sf place serving over 100 dishes. I think Nai and Yeb really enjoyed it (though Nai almost got lost in there). They had all kinds of seafood, including clams, shrimp, squid, Shanghai hairy crabs… we ate for about two hours and are skipping dinner.

At Golden Jaguar, a young Chinese lady (probably our age, maybe a little younger… it’s hard to tell) sat with this 60-some year old Caucasian guy at the table next to us. The woman was wearing these hipster jeans, with her lower abdomen exposed. I mean, I know the low-riders are in style now, but you could see her pelvic bone and the curvature of her belly, below the belly button! It was a little extreme. And then the guy was old! a bald white guy with circular wire-rimmed spectacles and a ringmaster’s mustache. Honestly, at first, I was just taken aback by her jeans. Sure, it was an odd pairing, but I waited to reserve judgement. You never know… she could have been his adopted daughter or something. When I looked across the table at Nai, she muttered something to me. I barely heard her and was convinced she was relaying something to me in Chinese. Then she said louder and clearer, “sweet daddy.” And she had this smug smile like she knew a secret. What?? Where did she learn this term? We head back to the buffet table and Nai says she’s read all about this in the papers. Young girls going with old men who afford them a comfortable lifestyle. The Chinese term for it is “tang die.” Meanwhile, I’m still in denial. I mean, she really could be his adopted daughter, right? Wrong. They start holding hands, feeding each other… Okay so I’m still a little naive.

The other day while John and I went shopping for music CDs, I met a young woman who had frostbite. I’d never really seen it before except on like the IMAX Mount Everest movie. She worked for the store actually and while she was locating Tian Zhen and the 12 Girls’ Band for me, she kept rubbing her pointer and middle finger on her left hand. Her fingers were all swollen and red. They looked like bees had stung them. I asked what had happened and she said it was frostbite. She pointed to her lower ear lobes too… both puffy and somewhat bluish. It was so disturbing. She said she put some kind of ointment on them, but it didn’t seem to help. Apparently, she had gotten all of this before, but it was some years back before she moved to Shanghai. This winter though was especially cold and walking to the store and back for work was brutal. I didn’t know what else to say. I just wondered to myself… how cold and how long for someone to suffer from frostbite? Didn’t she have a hot water bottle or something? Does she know what happens in severe cases of frostbite? AMPUTATION for god’s sake! She was quite matter-of-fact about it and then went about helping another customer. We bought our two CDs and left. I re-bundled myself extra carefully this time: I even re-wrapped my scarf to cover my mouth and nose.

We’re a few days into the New Year now and people are still scaring the wits out of my pups with their artillery-fire explosives. When we took Remy and Martin outside yesterday morning, per usual, they got very excited watching the apartment pigeons in their glass coop. They jumped up scratching the glass door frantically hoping to get their mouths wrapped around one of those pudgy feathered creatures. Ears perked, tails straight up… maybe today would be their lucky day. Then a firecracker went off in the distance– a single low boom and that was enough to send both pups, tails between their legs, scurrying back inside for cover. Remy who is especially regular, drops her packages twice a day– once in the morning, once in the evening. She’s all off schedule now (and stopped up), thanks to the pyro-happy Chinese.

Yesterday, John and I went to JinJiang Hotel–one of our favorite stops for 1) a potty break 2) foreign bookstore 3) travel agency. While we were in there checking on airfares from SH to Hong Kong to Taiwan, the wind blew so hard, it swung the front glass door open, off it’s hinge, and sent the thing crashing to pieces. It was pretty surreal.

So the New Year passed without incident. John and I celebrated with an Indian feast at Punjabi. He ordered his usual Rogan Josh (but was disappointed) and I ordered Paneer Kadhi. For the appetizer, we had a potato cheese dish–forget the name. Overall, the meal was quite satisfying. Somewhat on the spicy side, but we weren’t complaining. After all, this was the only restaurant serving free water (usually it’s hot tea and it’s not free). And it was a nice break from Chinese food (which I still don’t like much). The restaurant was busy. I made a double-take seeing so many non-Chinese in one place. I guess China is a popular work destination for a lot of South Asians.

On New Year’s day, John decided to commence the Program for Physical Transformation. Sounds more dramatic than it really is. I guess middle age is starting to hit us, and we’re feeling a certain need to spruce up the ol’ married couple image. 🙂 So the day began with a new hairstyle at the salon downstairs. For weeks, we’d been eyeing different joints, trying to see who had the most business and who had the most fashionable stylists. In the end, we just wanted convenience. So we went in late morning, carrying these pictures of Brad Pitt from Oceans Eleven–he’s got this really cool, short, spiky, sexy look. I know, that man could never really look unsexy, but hey even he has better hair days. So we hand over the pictures and John decides to do the whole shabang–coloring and all. So we pick out these hair swatches– a standard dirty blonde and then silvery blonde highlights. As the cutting begins, I remind his stylist (who has a Snoop Dogg hairstyle) that we’re just interested in an image boost. We’re not looking to go clubbing and K-TVing: we still want to look professional, right? Snoop Dogg assures me it’ll look fine.

I got my hair cut too–nothing life-altering. Still long but with layers. I got into a minor tiff with my stylist who kept implying that I was a liar. First, he suggested I color my hair. I declined. Then he kept insisting that I had gotten my hair colored before, he started lifting certain portions of my hair which are naturally lighter (dark brown instead of black) and saying, “you have these sections that are different colors and you say you’ve never colored your hair.” Was this dude for real? Yeah, I have lighter sections, so what. My hair’s not colored. So he starts shaking his head. I started getting really red-faced and irritated. Finally, I said, “You can believe me or not believe me, that’s your problem. I’ve never colored my hair.” That shut him up. I spent the rest of my cut in silence. I watched John get the foils put in and color brushed on.

So the outcome for John was well… unexpected. Yellow, not blonde. The cut was nice… but the color was so unnatural. I told the manager it looked like they melted a yellow crayon into his hair. They said washing would whiten and lighten it up a bit. If we were still unsatisfied, they’d do it over. It’s really blatant in daylight but tolerable indoors. John said he doesn’t want to go back–they might make it worse. We’ll see.

Today we were scheduled to pickup our cargo that shipped by water. We had already started the paperwork on this process last week– it took a good several hours (most tasks here do). Here’s what was involved. We received an email from some company called Divine Phoenix, notifiying us that the shipment had arrived. We then went to their offices downtown and paid 540 RMB (almost $70 USD) to exchange our email printout for another document/slip. We cab about 40 minutes north to the customs office in BaoShan, an outer suburb. There, Nai had to draft a document stating that we moved here for work purposes and our belongings were for personal use. We took that document next door, got a bunch of items photocopied and got another required form typed. By then, it was 11 AM and the first counter where we were supposed to return with the copies and forms was closed for lunch until 1 PM. So we killed some time searching for a restaurant (there only seemed to be one in the area) and then returned at 1 PM. The officer was late returning from lunch (I guess 2 hours wasn’t long enough) so we waited some more. Finally, we got all our papers stamped (once you start hearing the chops, you know you are nearly done… at least at that service window). We were directed next door again. Turns out, the items weren’t even at the offce. We needed to schedule another trip for pickup. That brings us to today.

We brought the necessary documents and were sent behind the building to locate our shipping palet. Our tubs were then x-rayed and two were selected for inspection. The contents were examined and then we were sent off on our merry way. We called a 0.6 truck to transport our goods home. John had the great pleasure of sitting on the metal bench (rather than a car seat) for almost 60 minutes. Those trucks aren’t allowed to go on the highway, so they drive through the city. My grandparents and I only arrived home 15 minutes earlier because of congestion on the highway.

We had six huge Rubbermaid tubs– full of crap. Since we’ve been here, we’ve only worn maybe 3 different outfits. Now we have four tubs of clothes. Disgusting, isn’t it? But now John is all set up with his computer books. I’m thrilled to have my Matrix Amplify shampoo and conditioner (sorry but the freebie HoJo shampoo was like washing my hair with bar soap). Remy and Martin are of course hooked up with their favorite treats– Greenies.

In the afternoon, I had an interview with JobWeek, a publication that prints job vacancies in SH and also features one unemployed person seeking work. Through some distant family connections, I was chosen to be the next featured jobless person. 🙂 So I met with Editor Pearl Shen… she said she wanted to hear my story because that’s how my article was going to be structured– like a narrative/profile. Yes, very weird. But she didn’t speak any English, so I had to give her my gist in Mandarin. So for about an hour and a half, I told her about my education, my previous job experiences, why I left environmental engineering consulting, why FMF was such a great experience for me, why we decided to move here, what I ideally wanted to do. I talked so openly and frankly, it felt like a therapy session. She asked about our inital experiences and outings around the city, our favorite spots, favorite foods, what we disliked. It was a good interview, I thought. I was very proud that I was able to convey my thoughts on complicated issues like feminism, abortion rights, family planning, etc. I just hope when the article comes out, it accurately reflects what I had wanted to express.

Next stop for the day: career counseling consultant. They have a partnership with JobWeek so I was the lucky recipient of a Chinese-style Meyer-Briggs test. Fortunately, my counselor was patient enough to read the questions line by line. Not sure what kind of personality profile will turn up… Certainly not Type A.

While I was occupied with JobWeek logistics, John wandered about the city. He found yet another coffee shop (though he claims he wants become a tea drinker) and was accosted in the mall by some young lady named Su Zi. She offered to “make friends” and go for some coffee. Wisely, John declined her offer for coffee and mentioned he was waiting for his wife. Yeah, that’s right honey. Back off! This ain’t Temptation Island…

We went around town with the gramps today. For lunch, we ate at Bi Feng Tang in the old Shanghai district of Luwan– where my grandmother grew up. Had a lot of tasty morsels, including eggrolls, baozi’s (buns), thai noodles, fish, sesame balls, and veggie wedges (see John’s food and drink guide). After the hearty meal, we went for a walk. Nai’s face lit up every time we passed cross streets she recognized. She’d tell us, “There was a place down that way where we used to order nian gao (a white sticky vegetarian dish)– the best in town!” or “The vendor at this street corner had the best roasted chestnuts.” She seemed so excited to be here. We went searching for her great aunt’s home– she said it was near the intersection of Huai Hai and Chongqing Rd. She had gone there several years back but no longer remembered the address. Going on memory, she led us to the southwest corner of the intersection. After trying several alleys, we found the one Nai remembered. When we asked around for where the Chen family lived, many of the younger adults said they had never heard of the name. What was the business, they asked? An herbal medicine shop–at least that’s what the family ran in the past. No one seemed to know. They told us to ask the elderly so we went knocking on the door of a very old woman–she must have been 90 years old. The Chen family lived next door to her, but the house had been vacant for a long time. It was no longer the primary residence and only ocassionally would she see her neighbors. My grandmother wrote a note and stuck it in the door. When we went around the corner of the house, Nai told of how as children, she and her cousins run around the side of the house and clamoured at the kitchen window, trying to get the attention of her great aunt who was hard of hearing. In the cab ride home, Nai seemed very energized and excited. She has very many fond memories of Shanghai.

Today John and I met up with Wang Jian and his wife Ge Hui Xia. They are related to Uncle Zhu and live in Shanghai. They are newlyweds and roughly the same age as us. Wang Jian works for Shanghai Mobile and his wife is an emergency room nurse. We spent the afternoon at the Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower in Pudong (“East of the River”). At 468 meters, it is the third tallest TV tower in the world. We squeezed into the elevator (there’s no such thing as “personal” space here) and rocketed up to 350 meters. The attendent spewed out a ton of facts in both Chinese and English–all perfectly timed for the few seconds we were in the elevator, but I missed most of it. My ears were popping. The view up top was incredible. We lucked out with a beautiful sunny day and you could see so far. I was really taken aback by just how large Shanghai is. I think you can really get a sense of our awe from the pictures.

The lower level of the tower has an extensive Shanghai history museum. They re-created many of the old-style buildings and small shops. The museum was really well-done but it was also a little tiring. Fortunately, Wang Jian and Ya-ya (her nickname) are our kind of museum-goers. They move through things pretty quickly.

For lunch, we ate at the China Shen Jia Garden Restaurant. WJ and Ya-ya ordered and every dish was a winner. We had salad, mushroom soup, fish, salted shrimp, chicken, and some super-potent wasabi-drenched veggie. I mistakenly shoved a bunch into my mouth and I think it burned out all my nosehairs. Lunch was excellent and with John’s help, we even won out with picking up the tab (it’s a constant battle over here).

After lunch, we invited WJ and Ya-ya to our place. We used the pups as our lure. I think they were curious to see just how big our animals were. Pretty big according to SH standards. They stayed for dinner (Nai and Yeb always have something going on in the kitchen).

Hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. We had a good time, though not the usual Christmas. Things started off early, with a trip to the hair salon downstairs. Took the grandparents with us to get a shampoo (which included a 30-minute upper body massage). 25 kuai. So good. The salon also offers foot massages, body massages and other spa services. John and I will be checking all of this out soon.

In the evening, we took my grandparent out to the Zen Cantonese restaurant on the fifth floor of the Grand Gateway Plaza in downtown Xujiahui. Had a nice multi-course holiday dinner with shrimp and fruit salad, fish fin soup, pigeon, cao mei fun, fish, asparagus, and mango pudding. The place filled up quickly. Fortunatley, we arrived early. We were even treated to some live piano music. All in all, a nice feast but John definitely missed his mom’s Christmas ham.

My grandparents are enjoying their time in Shanghai. Many of the major road names seem to bring back ome fond memories from their youth. Riding around town in the taxi, Nai always has a new story of who she knew and where they lived and the backroads she’d take to visit them. Every morning, my grandfather gets up early and walks around our block. By the time John and I wake up, there’s always some new breakfast food Yeb’s discovered. The other day John mentioned that he missed the old egg pancakes we used to get outside the Howard Johnson’s. This morning, Yeb got us those pancakes–he found a vendor nearby making them.