Jinger Bears, Jinger Bears

I am not joking when I tell you that I just got back from buying a jacket and I heard a Chinese rendition of Jingle Bells on the store's muzak system that sounded suspiciously like Jinger Bears. I smiled as I handed over the funny money for my new warm jacket. And not a moment too soon, as I exited the building to walk home a few small snowflakes began to drift down from the dreary gray sky. Now that I am writing this the tops of the buildings have been eaten by the sky and the tiny little flakes are growing in numbers. Check out my video here:

YouTube Link: Shanghai's First Snow

I've been meaning to write about Christmas for a few days, since this will be the first time in my life that I spend it without a big family dinner. I'm thankful that I have Troy and Sierra here, and we'll be having a Christmas dinner with Anna and our new expat family over at her place. I was under the impression that since we were in a non-Christian country that Christmas would be glossed over, but I couldn't have been more wrong. If anything, Christmas as a marketing machine is twice is powerful in this land of new wealth and cheap goods. Almost every single store that I have walked into since my arrival has been BLARING Christmas music to the point that it is almost painful. Yesterday I couldn't stop humming Frosty the Snowman because a store that I was "stuck" in for 30 minutes had some kind of remixed extended version that never began and never ended, it just played and played and played.

The plethora of malls around our neighborhood all have extravagant light and decoration schemes in an attempt to outdo the others. I think it is fun, but it also disgusts me because I know that many of the locals here are buying into the whole marketing gimmick. Unfortunately, out of necessity and curiosity, I have been to two of the Shanghai "fakes markets" in the past week and if you don't like regular malls (like me) then this is the next level of hell. As you walk by each stall the shopkeeper calls to you in order to attract you to his/her wares. If you enter a stall on your own the shopkeeper hovers inches behind you in an attempt to... actually, I don't exactly know why. It is a combination of his trying to be helpful and persuasive mixed with a feeling that he assumes you are about to steal anything you touch. I'm glad that I finally found a jacket and I don't have to deal with that again soon!

I've been exploring the city via subway, which is generally a poor experience. The subway itself is fast, clean and amazingly easy to use, but every station looks the same and since you are traveling underground you don't get any kind of sense for where you are now. I found a subway line that is partially above-ground, but all I could see were the exterior walls of 30-story apartment building after 30-story apartment building. I haven't tried to ride the bus yet, but I definitely have to do that soon. I'll take video, since buses are the scariest things on the road here! (red lights don't mean stop, they mean honk the horn and close your eyes)

Troy and Sierra are halfway through their second week of work and they both seem to be enjoying it. We are very close to the office building so they can sleep in (when the remaining jet lag and/or car horns outside allow it) and it only takes them about ten minutes to walk to work. When they get bikes it will probably but that down to less than five minutes. Sierra has been working on some internal poster projects and last night she told me that the day seems to fly because her projects are so fun. They don't get out of the office until around 7pm, but if you like your job then that isn't a problem.

There are still challenges to daily life and we are all feeling it. The communication barrier is ever-present, but can easily be overcome with a combination of pocket translator, pantomimes, drawings and, when that fails, speaking slower and louder. (Does it work in movies? It doesn't work here either) The problem is when you need to communicate quickly and then frustration sets in. As long as you give yourself plenty of time to complete a task it isn't an issue. I have found a few local restaurants that understand english and if that isn't an option we order from a picture menu. We tried a local fast food chain called Kung-Fu (complete with an image of Bruce Lee on the signage) and couldn't stomach the inedible chunks of rotting meat and broth that were served. Anna was incredulous that we even attempted to eat there, but how could we know?

But completing some of these simple tasks are cause for rejoice. For example, it took us three hours to register our addresses with the local police department (something all foreign residents must do) and when we finally finished it felt like we had invented a cure for cancer. Yesterday I found a jacket that I liked but I didn't have enough cash (they don't really use plastic here) and when I went back to the store today to buy it the entire rack had vanished. I somehow managed to convey "black jacket yesterday XXXL" and pointed to where the rack had been. The salesperson vanished into a backroom and reappeared with the exact jacket I wanted. I was amazed and astounded and proud of myself all at the same time. (XXXL is a different size in this land where every jacket has sleeves that are 6" too short for my arms)

That is all today. I will update again in about a week. I upload new photos and videos almost daily, so be sure to check my Picasa album and my YouTube channel often. Ciao!

Taking Root

So I've left you hanging the past couple of days because I've been exploring the city. Well, to be honest, I haven't made it more than a mile from my homebase, but when you are exploring on foot it takes a little more time. In the photo above you see our new home, the Huashi International Service Apartments. (google map) It is the building in the center of the photo. We were told by our agent that about 75% of the building is occupied by Japanese, but I have barely seen any other residents in the past few days of living here.

This is a short post just to let you guys know where we have landed. I'll post again soon with a little more introspective content. Here are some video walk-throughs of our new places:

The Aliens Have Landed

It's day three in this strange land and with the exception of a few unique quirks it isn't as shockingly alien as we had expected. The flight was fairly uneventful, although at the eight hour point the uncomfortable seats caused my butt cheeks to complain. Luckily there were only five hours for them to continue aching. When we arrived in Shanghai at 5pm Thursday we snaked through the standard customs lines and unfortunately a sharp-eyed official spotted our attempts to disguise the cat carriers as luggage and whisked the poor creatures off to a seven-day quarantine. Troy and Sierra are pretty bummed, but the week will pass quickly and we'll have the little guys back in no time.

We are staying with our friends Kurt and Anna in an area of Shanghai called the French Concession. The streets are tree-lined and there are a lot of bars and restaurants. Our flight arrived at 5pm and Anna already had an event lined up for us, so as soon as we dropped our stuff at the pad we hopped in a taxi and ended up at The Boxing Cat Brewery. It felt just like a place that could have been in Portland! In fact, the first beer on their imported beer list was Rogue Dead Guy. Cool place, but we found out that it is pretty unique and might be the only craft brewery/restaurant in Shanghai. We met a handful of Anna's friends and after several beers and dinner we crashed out for the night.

Friday was apartment hunting time! Judy, our agent and Anna's friend, took us to look at a bunch of different places. One unit stood out above the rest and had the adjacent unit available as well. We were specifically looking for two apartments in the same building, and if they shared a wall that would be even better. Well, it turned out that although the adjacent apartment had been empty for three months, it was leased just minutes before we could get our hands on it. We were very disappointed. Bummed. No time to dwell on it, though, because Anna had organized a cocktail party at her place in just an hour, so we cleaned up and met a bunch more of her friends. The night went well and we ended up at a club called The Shelter, which was built in an old bomb shelter in the basement of an old building. We ended things at 3am and my eyes were closed before my head hit the pillow.

Today (Saturday) we headed out for some more apartment shopping. After a second full day of disappointment we finally found two apartments in the same building, signed the lease and handed over fat stacks of RMB. Troy and Sierra landed a sweet one-bedroom on the 13th floor, overlooking a busy intersection and with a view of the city. I am the proud renter of an identical unit on the 5th floor that looks over the same intersection. We get to move into the units tomorrow, but we have to buy a lot of stuff to get the apartments livable.

It is almost 11:30pm Shanghai time right now and I am absolutely friggin' exhausted. We walked miles in the past two days and last night's drinking, lack of sleep and general jet lag is taking its toll. I'm hitting the sack now and will post more information about our new places in the next couple of days. Hopefully I'll have the energy to make it a little more humorous.