Some observations: It’s damn cold here. Central heat is a rarity. I’ve been wearing thermals everyday (John’s even wearing longjohns) and I recently resorted to carrying a hot water bottle. I’m a total wimp when it comes to dipping temperatures. Also, there’s no ice for beverages, but I’ve been told ice cubes are a US thing. And you’d better boil the tap water before you drink it. Hmm, the standard paper size here is not letter size. It’s A4 (which seems to be roughly 8.25″ x 11.5″). Units are all metric here. My brain is getting a good bit of exercise doing all the conversions… Other notes: Kellogg’s Special K with freeze-dried strawberries costs about $8/box. We don’t have an oven or a clothes dryer. I did three loads of laundry today–we’re gonna have to get used to crunchy clothes from now on. Those are the bad things so far. Plus the fact that I am missing Chipotle like crazy.

Beyond those minor gripes, John and I are enjoying SH very much. We make a great team– John has a very good sense of direction and I have no qualms asking questions and making deals with my mediocre Mandarin. We went to Carrafour again today. Hopefully this won’t become a frequent habit, because everytime we get out of that place, we are completely exhausted. John’s taking a nap now. There are just so many people in there and so many items and so many floors. It’s overwhelming.

Big news though: Today, I found chow mei fun (rice noodles) at the Carrefour food court (which they call Megabite). We entered it, thinking there’d be computer stuff. Anyway, I’d been searching for those noodles since we got here and we finally found them. Very tasty and only 15 kuai.

Also, today I started my daily schedule of learning (upon John’s suggestion)… to supplement my job hunt. I did some Adobe Photoshop tutorials in the morning (I’m all hooked up with the latest software, including Office 2003 and Photoshop 8.0) and then practiced some Chinese writing. My handwriting is so ugly though. I must have copied my name and address fifty times. In the end, it was still un-postable. Here’s our address in Chinese (written by my grandmother). Her characters are much nicer and proportionate. So if you want to send us mail, I believe that’s all the info you need. Though, you may wish to include to the right our name/address in English:

Lane 591 Hongqiao Rd.
Block No. 5 Unit 1401
Shanghai, China 200030

I’ve also signed on to volunteer remotely for Heifer International in China. I’ve been following this organization for about a year now… their work is just so amazing. Unfortunately, their China office is very far from here in Chengdu. But I’ll be helping them with writing/editing newsletters and annual reports. Should be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to getting started soon.

Meanwhile, John has returned to work in full force. He’s been printing out pages of code using our new printer. Thankfully, he is satisfied with the inkjet printing quality. Otherwise, I’d be getting an earful. In his free time, John has returned to his old hobby of conducting taste/drink tests. Currently, he is evaluating various brands of grapefruit-flavored beverages. We’ll keep you posted on the details of his research.

Well apparently going out of my way to get a flu shot this season didn’t do jack. Sorry for the long silence, we’re still alive over here but the flu certainly took both of us out of commission for more that a few days. First it started with a sore throat, which I initially attributed to the dry heat and my new pillow. You see, I was too cheap to repurchase the space-foam pillow I had back in the States. Instead, I got this cheap $5 pillow which well… was a little too fluffy. So my head ended up resting at this odd, unnatural angle which in turn made me snore. That seemed to also dry out my throat. But by the next day, I knew it was more than the dry heat and crappy pillow. The runny nose and congested head practically paralyzed me. I began the Robitussin/Hall’s/Orange Juice/hot fluids program that day and slept in till about 3 pm. I gave myself a headache from sleeping so damn much. Saturday the sore throat moved to a new host: John. Poor guy, here he was bragging about how he was going to escape the flu precisely because he ignored my advice to get the flu shot. Now he was a victim too and boy did it hit him hard!

Sunday we thought we felt better. My Uncle Zhu from Jia Xin (about 2 hours south of here) came up with his wife and 6-year old boy. He is Nai’s nephew and works for the police department in Jia Xin. He’s really keen on helping us get settled here. He’s been really helpful– brought us freshly-made zhongzis as well as a roasted chicken. (I guess he thought frozen fried rice and ramen noodles were a bit pathetic). He introduced us to some family in Shanghai, including a Mr. Sun who works for the Jiefang paper–a weekly city publication. The networking session was okay– I was advised to become literate. I’m working on it.

These last two days have mostly been a blur. Both of us have pretty much slept the days away. But this evening, we finally started feeling better. We went to Carrefour again… picked up some imported goods. We’re on a strange Bloody Mary kick. We went to a bar sometime last week and I ordered a Mary Bloody. It came in this lame 2-inch tall tumbler and tasted like ketchup. And the celery was missing. John had a black Russian and it was unfortunately subpar as well. So tonight we got all the ingredients to make our own: some Mrs. T’s mix (that was all they had and it was pricey), tabasco sauce, vodka, black pepper, and celery. We also got some V8 which comes in larger containers… not sure how to make the drinks without a mix but guess we’ll find out. We’ll be sure to include an update on our concoctions in the Food and Drink Guide.

In other news, I try not to think about LOTR. If you have to ask, forget it. You wouldn’t understand the obsession anyway. We went to the Ka De Club to get some new DVDs the other day. I got so excited when I saw the disc-jacket for LOTR Return of the King… I mean, it was possible right? (the movie released in HK and Singapore already). But alas, when I flipped to the back, it made no mention of Viggo or Orli or Elijah… none of them. Too good to be true damnit. But I WILL get the movie before February. I HAVE to because watching the trailer and every frickin’ clip out there and reading all the entertainment news is getting old. For those of you who have seen it, please share your insights! The wait is unbearable. Sigh!

Hmm, the jetsetting grandparents are due back tomorrow. They sure are getting around for a couple of 80-year olds. I’m looking forward to their return. I’ll have to get Nai to test me on my new characters. John’s going back to Pimslur. I now refuse to tell the cabbies where to drive us. They have to get the addresses and destinations from John. His pronunciation has improved a lot.

Not sure what’s on tap for the holiday. Most locals still have to work on Xmas. We may try to get together with Wang Jian and his wife (related to Uncle Zhu). They’re about our age so we may see if they want to go bowling. On Friday, we’re attending a blogger’s gathering. While I was researching SH from the States, I came across his site which was packed with information on IT services here. Anyway, he’s having a meetup for all the people who follow his blog… so that should be interesting.

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone! Drop us some email soon or catch us online for an IM chat.

John and I found a new computer mall just west of here. Let’s see, that makes it the third computer mall we’ve visited in less than a week. Yup, total computer geeks and we love it that way. We purchased a HP DeskJet 5652… John had researched all kinds of models and brands online but when we got there, it seemed none of the US models are sold here. The one we got has all the essentials and some extras like duplex printing. It’s a fine complement to the Epson Perfection Scanner we bought the other day. Hence our computer empire rebuilds… let’s recap. We have our digital camera, individual camera card readers, full-sized keyboards and mice (each), wireless ethernet, 8-port switch, web cam, palm pilot, scanner, printer… all of the equipment deemed necessities, of course.

Okay so it’s time to come clean. Shanghai is warmer than Washington DC, but it’s still not warm enough. Temperatures are probably in the 40s to 50s during the day, but once the sun goes down, it is freezing. We’ve been walking a lot so that keeps us warm mostly, except for the face, fingers, and toes. Those parts just go very numb. You’d think the apartment would offer relief from the cold…not so. The building lobby has beautiful leather couches and a coffee table but they only look inviting. The lobby temperature is the same as outside, especially with the doors flung wide open all day. I argue that the place would be warmer if the doors were shut, if only to keep out the winds. John insists it makes no difference when the place isn’t being heated anyway.

Fortunately, our apartment has heat– three room units. The problem is, we’ve only figured out how to turn on the one in the living room. I can’t read the remote control on the others which heat the bedroom. We tried pressing random buttons but all we got was cold air. So at night the family just huddles together under the goosedown blanket (thanks Sue!). Actually, we did kind of cop out. The landlord left us a super inefficient space heater, which I ran a lot in the beginning. But then I felt like a glutton sucking up all that electricity, so it’s off limits. We’ll just have to tough it out. I don’t feel so bad about my illiteracy though. Today I asked the building maintenance person Mr. Yang to show me how to use the remote. He said he didn’t know either… it was a complicated one that would require reading the manual. Good thing Nai and Yeb arrive today. They’ll get to read user manuals!

John and I went to Carrefour the other day. It’s very similar to a Super Wal-Mart. There’s a lot of English (we saw a lot of foreigners) and they even have customer service policies (regarding pricing and returns) which is unusual among most Chinese stores. The store has five floors and there are these ridged walkway escalators so shoppers can move between floors with their carts. All in all, a pretty good experience. We bought Betty Crocker pancake mix and were so excited for pancakes on the way home. Then we realized we forgot to buy syrup.

This morning, we went to the Ikea to get some household stuff, including rugs. I know, I’m not a fan of Ikea, but we were on a tight schedule and I didn’t know where else to get rugs. We also got towels from a street vendor. I probably should have bargained them down, but sometimes I just don’t have the energy to haggle over pricing when everything is so cheap compared to the US anyway. Oh well, there will be plenty of times in the future to be cut throat.

The dogs were delivered in the afternoon. They were so clean (freshly bathed and groomed) and excited. But an hour later, they were sleeping soundly in our bed. The incessant honking of cars and mopeds outside our window doesn’t even phase them. It was good to have the babies home.

This morning, we met the landlord bright and early to get the keys. Two pairs of four. It’s top security here… one to get to the elevator, one for the outer storm door, one for the inner door. And the keys are all different styles and shapes too. You can’t just run to the hardware store and get a duplicate. So I’d better be extra careful not to lose mine.

In the afternoon, I called the vet to arrange for Remy and Martin’s release from puppy prison. She mentioned that if we wanted to follow pet rules by the book, we’d have to get them licensed which involved getting your neighbors and complex to sign off… Yikes! 1) we already signed the lease… what if the dogs couldn’t stay? 2) Our complex has 18 stories… I might have to get all the residents to sign off. We went into the real estate agent’s office and I was a bit panicked. My agent escorted us to the police station and he asked around until we got to the correct person. Fortunately, for the foreigner’s dog license, you don’t have to get neighbors to sign off. Being a foreigner sure has its perks. Yipee!!! And since the year is almost over, I don’t have to get them licensed until January. Yay, the pups are coming home. And my agent rocks!

In the evening, John and I checked out the supermarket nearby. It has all sorts of stuff including Lay’s potato chips and Chips Ahoy. There’s a lot of food but unless there’s a picture and some English, we have no idea of the contents. We’ll have to run some random tests or just wait until Saturday when my grandparents will come to Shanghai.

I woke up around 2 am this morning and job hunted online until about 8:30 . Then John and I went down the street to our favorite little pancake vendor. Three egg pancakes and one onion pancake later (wedged on croissants), we were stuffed. In the afternoon, we signed the lease for our apartment—another 3+ hour long process. Earlier I had faxed the contract to my parents for translation services so this morning, we were fully prepared with an itemized list of add-ons. Including a statement that rental was contingent on the availability of high-speed internet. Ultimate tight-asses! Afterwards, the real estate office sent two reps with us to set up a bank account and set up the cable modem. Obviously, we weren’t expecting them to escort us and totally hook us up… but they did anyway, in the rain and cold! It was awesome having our own little team of assistants to get us on the inside track. Tomorrow morning, we’re handing over the third month’s prepaid rent, getting the keys and the cable company is coming to install the cable modem (next day service… can’t beat that!). Just in time for Yeb and Nai, who arrive in the evening.

The picture of John to the left shows a building facade where the “bricks” were handpainted on. The entire wall was originally gray and then painters added the red accents and used white paint to mimic the mortar between the bricks.

Well the deal on the apartment fell through today. The landlord who lives in Japan decided a 6-month lease wasn’t worth the trouble. Disappointing but I did think it was a tad small… so we spent the entire evening viewing more properties. Walked all over the damn place in the cold. I’m talking frost-bite/numbing cold. The real estate process in Shanghai is kind of tedious. They don’t use lockboxes. So every viewing has to be coordinated with the landlord, and since all of the properties are vacant and traffic here is ridiculous, you end up blowing another 10-20 minutes waiting for the landlord to show.

For one of the properties on our list, the landlord told us to get the key from his friend. So we get there, and our agent starts ringing the doorbell and pounding on the door for about 10 minutes straight. John and I start laughing because to us, it’s obvious no one is home. The agent finally calls the landlord again and instead of saying no one is home (that would challenge the landlord’s information), the agent says innocently, “I’m ringing the doorbell and the door isn’t opening.” The landlord calls his friend again and calls us back, saying his friend is in the apartment. So apparently, the guy’s in there and he hasn’t heard the continuous chime of the doorbell and the repeated knocking?? The agent resumes his irritating sequence of chiming and pounding… and then finally we hear a woman say she’s coming. But then the door opens and it’s a guy in gym clothes with wet hair. He gives our agent the key and says to drop it in the mailbox afterwards. Do NOT return it to him, he stresses. Just drop it in the box. Hmm, I think I know why no one was coming to the door…

After a full evening of trekking around XuHui District, we ultimately decide on a 2 BR apartment upstairs from the real estate agent’s office (the first unit we saw that night, of course). It isn’t two minutes to the metro as we had originally wanted but there is so much construction in the area immediately surrounding the metro that we figure this will be okay. We’re only signing a six month lease.

From 2003.12.09

We started up early today. Had a very tasty non-Chinese breakfast at a coffee place. We just couldn’t resist waffles, eggs, toast, and ham. Been booking our butts around town in search of apartments so we rewarded ourselves with a hearty breakfast. We met up later with our realtor Johnnie Lo (whom we met in September) and his staff took us to 4-5 properties in Xujiahui district, near the well-known Jiao Tong University. We checked out a range of places, priced from $4000 kuai (8.2 Chinese yuan: 1 USD) to $6500 kuai. Finally settled on a modest apartment in prime district location. 2 BR/1 BA, 2nd floor. The furniture is a little funny with random music prints, but John and I are certainly no HGTV watchers so it’s all good. and we get a piano! So the deal was nearly done except we spent the rest of the day (Saturday) searching for a bank to convert our supposedly convenient, as-good-as-cash traveler’s checks. Here, most transactions are done in cash so we needed 3 month’s rent up front for the lease. Went to about 8 or 9 banks. None would take the damn checks. Got Visa on the cell phone, no luck still. So the deal stalls until Monday (most banks are closed Sunday). What a frickin’ pain. But we are very excited to finally have a place… time to get the doggies back. The good thing is that this extra time buys me time to fax the contract over to my parents for translation services. Now hopefully the landlord won’t rent the place to another before Monday morning.

In the Beginning

In typical Gou fashion, grandfather Yeb’s Suburu station wagon was all packed and ready to go the night before our big day—an oversized body bag strapped to the rack above, and two flattened dog crates and three 70-lb. suitcases crammed in the back. I squeezed into the backseat with Remy and Martin. Somehow they knew this was no ordinary car ride to the DP (dog park but don’t let them hear you say it!).

Per my parents’ suggestion (i.e. order), we arrived at Dulles three hours early… even though the airline had recommended only 2 1/2 hours. The skycap helped load all our belongings, and we hurried inside (it was extremely windy) to set the dogs up in their crates. After arranging the water bottles and food cups on their cages just right and applying all the necessary stickers, the manager came by and said, “We can’t let you take these crates.” Say that again?? I had spent HOURS researching crates for international travel—they had to have vents on four sides, needed to provide x inches beyond the dogs’ dimensions, had to have the solid floor, absorbent bedding, etc. These were supposed to be approved for international travel! Not by United. Our fold-able crates were considered unsafe. What can you do: first day out, not even onto the flight and we had a glitch. Fortunately, United had approved crates for sale. Problem solved and we got the babies on board. Sadly, I was forced to part with my super-cool fold-able contraptions. At least United donates the reject crates to a local shelter.

Security at Dulles was a breeze. I have to say, it’s quite painless once you get beyond the line at the ticketing counter. I was thinking of the pups during take off and landing. Fortunately, they emerged relatively okay on the other end. Martin had an accident and both were panting and somewhat distracted. But after a few minutes, they had forgiven us and we were given the wagging tails approval. Two vans transported us to the Red Roof (always clean, cheap and dog-friendly), and that night the pups drank a lot of water (I don’t think they ever figured out the water bottle setup) and slept like babies in the king-sized bed.

San Francisco Stayover

At SFO, the security process is dreadfully inefficient. We had a tough time getting the pups into their crates this time– we practically had to shove Martin in. The flight from SFO to PVG was killer. 13:30 hours, with a one hour delay (of course). We watched about six movies (including the horrible Charlie’s Angels 2) and still had plenty of time to spare.

Arrival in Pudong, Shanghai

We arrived at Pudong at 8pm Thursday evening. No pictures here of course. John would like to thank United airlines for the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (He chose Beef, and chose poorly) while waiting in line for customs. Thanks for making that such a memorable experience. 🙂 Though there are not many pictures to document the long and enduring journey from East Coast to Far East, these are the few that were recovered. All in all, we watched a total of about 6 movies during the flights, and still had extra time to belly-ache about the long flight and nasty salad greens.

Once our visa paperwork was accepted, we went to the baggage claim area. It wasn’t long before Remy and Martin came cruising along. Once we got them off the conveyor belt, the pet importer rep quickly located us. Thank goodness for Jialiang Kennels. They met us in the baggage area upon arrival, zipped us and the dogs through customs (the paperwork was taken care of while we waited for baggage!!) and off we were to the kennel… which ended up being about 40 minutes away. But the facility is awesome– an animal lover’s paradise with hundreds of dogs, plus cats, pigs, rabbits, and 40 horses (it’s an equestrian center too).

We left the pups and headed out to our hotel in two taxis—I wrote down all the taxi driver license numbers and plate numbers and started thinking up an escape plan just in case (see what happens when you have paranoid parents?). We arrived safely at the Howard Johnson’s downtown—this ridiculously posh place with a 20 ft xmas tree and monster gingerbread house in the lobby. They don’t even celebrate xmas in china. Oh well, at least the room was clean, the bed was soft, and we had our high-speed internet.