My first days in Shanghai

大家好！(da jia hao) Hello everyone!

I feel like it's been ages since I made my first post when in fact it's only been a week or so. From the moment I landed in Shanghai until this moment in which I am writing, it has been almost non-stop action. I am going to give you the summary version first in this introduction so that those of you without the time (or interest) to read all of it can still get the gist of what I've been doing. If you just can't get enough of my enticing writing style, then I will also go into a little bit more detail below...

So a quick summary and introduction to my days in Shanghai (and pictures/movies yay!) I've been here five days and in that time I've met the company owner (and my new roommate), bought a Chinese cell phone (texting in Chinese is quite the rage), gone on several tours (and have learnt many sections of some of them), reconnected with my Chinese mother and Chinese friends, eaten more rice than many of you have in the last 6 months and have been exhausted every night after work or after time spent with my friends. Regardless, the times have been great and I've made new friends, eaten some great food (lots of bull frog and eggplant) and have had the pleasure of a change of scenery which many of you will see as you look at the pictures and movies. (I wish I had the energy to put a link right here to click on to go straight to the pictures for those of you who don't care for what in the English language we call "words")

Now for the more interested reader:

Right when I arrived from the airport, I was greeted with a co-worker holding a piece of paper with my name on it (I bet many of you have never had this happen) and a shrewd look from about 90% of the people in the airport. "It's OK" I tell myself as I remember that they're not looking at me out of disgust but rather it's because to them, I just look funny. Off we go on the Maglev from the airport straight to a subway station which is quite close to my place of residence. We are greeted at the subway exit by my new boss and upstanding gentleman, Daniel Newman. It was great to meet him in person finally, and off we went towards the apartment. Not long after I arrived at the apartment (7pm) Daniel invited me out for dinner and drinks on his tab to which I quickly accepted, bringing about a burst of newfound energy.

We went to a Sichuan restaurant (which in Chinese roughly means spicy) and settled down for some great dishes and a couple of (mildly) cold beers. During the meal we discussed a bit of business as well as leisure and got more acquainted with each other. I quickly devoured the delicious food relishing in the sensation of being in a new place with a new culture, however, it could have just been the cocktails... I was surprised to see that they had a semi-decent beer selection which included one of my favorites, Guinness. However, much to my demise, Guinness costs about $8-10 USD per bottle where as the local legend Tsing Tao is about 25 cents per bottle. The intermediate beer connoisseur in me tells me to go for the Guinness, but the broke, in-debt starving recent college graduate tells me to go with the cheap stuff. All in all, I miss my Guinness but Tsing Tao is actually surprisingly a little bit better out here in China vs the US. (Any of my beer friends reading this know what to send me for xmas haha). After the meal we went to a bar with a local ex-pat friend of Daniel's and as I almost nodded off in he bench seat, we decided to call it an evening and headed home.

The next day, the jet lag was still quite prominent and I decided to take it quite easy. The first on a short list of things to do was to buy a cell phone so that contact with my friends in Shanghai would be easily accessible. I headed to a big electronics store to buy my phone but had to go to a different place entirely to set up a cell plan. They require you register your phone with a passport and valid ID which is a bit controlling, but then again, it is China. The process, although excessive was quite easy and the rates are relatively cheap which I'm happy about. No international calls, but calling and texting within Shanghai costs next to nothing.

The following day marked the beginning of my work week. Immediately I was thrown into a tour (Where I listened and took mental notes) and then taken through a myriad of paper work back at the office. When I'm out on a tour, the dress code is quite strict. Nice slacks, a button up shirt with a collar (long or short sleeves) and some nice shoes to be presentable. Instantly you feel it wear on you because the temperature is almost 80 degrees F and the humidity is quite high. No matter, the tours are quite fun and interesting, and I will be leading parts of them this week.

After a couple of days at work, I have also managed to free up some time to meet up with my old friends and very nice Chinese mother as I call her. My guitar buddies from last time still work in music departments of big media stores (coincidentally the same store I bought my phone at) and are still the crazy guys I remember from the last time I was here a year ago. After an evening with them, my Chinese comes rushing back in waves and I quickly shake off the rust and dive right into intense conversations dealing with very important subjects such as the best cigarette to smoke or who speaks the best English... of course I don't smoke and their English is quite awful, but it's great to be back in the Chinese mode. I learn several new words every day and while being out and about, I hear or use these phrases in a lot of common every day situations which has been saving me time and trouble.

My Chinese mother had me over for dinner a few nights ago and it was great to eat her home cooking again for the first time in almost a year. Like always, she had prepared at least four dishes and expected me to eat all of it. When I told her I was full, she went on a rant about how I need to be a strong Chinese man and get myself a nice Chinese woman. She was also distraught in saying that unfortunately her daughter has found a boyfriend and is engaged to be married next year. In confirming my suspicions, she had wanted me to get together with her daughter all along and blatantly told me so, this time without holding back. I'm sorry to disappoint her, but I'm also a little relieved she has stopped laying down such "subtle" hints that she wanted me to marry her daughter. Regardless of this little anecdote, I am still so glad to be on her good side because today I went shopping for some business clothes and after an hour and a half of shopping, I managed to walk out of the mall with a new pair of tailored Armani slacks, two highly regarded Chinese-brand short sleeve button up shirts and a long sleeve button up shirt for less than $60 USD. As soon as I point out something I like, I can hear my Chinese mother start ranting about something or other that is not perfect about the item and instead of paying the usual foreigner fee of three times the whole sale price, I often walk out with something at cost or sometimes I feel like they had to pay me a little bit to buy their product. My Chinese mother can be quite obnoxious when it comes to shopping, but I would rather pay bottom dollar if I can get it.

As for the apartment and closing remarks, I live on the 23rd floor of a 30 story building and I have quite an incredible view. As you can see from the pictures, there is nothing but tall apartment or business buildings as far as the eye can see and I love it. It's quite different being here in the big city, but it gives me a sense of energy and really gets my qi ("chee" life force) flowing. I am very close to a subway station and a few good local restaurants and only 20-30 minutes from my friends and Chinese mother. My bedroom is actually quite nice and although it's not the biggest room ever, it has plenty of closet space for my newly bought clothing and a TV with remote that I will one day learn how to use.

As far as night life, I have been a walking zombie without the energy to really go out and experience it. I will in good time but, however, I have been working quite long days and have been absolutely exhausted at the end of each adventurous expedition.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and if you want me to include any additional information that you may find interesting, please don't hesitate to ask! I might have forgotten to add some details that you would all like to hear about and if that is indeed the case, I don't want to rob you of your mon... errr time. (I wish I could get paid for doing this kind of thing, that would make travelling so much easier!) Anyway, my skype name is mastermonkey05 and if you have skype I encourage you to befriend me, and if you don't have skype, I encourage you to download it for free, THEN befriend me. As always, I bid you adieu and I thank you for the support during this adventure of a lifetime and I wish you all the best.

With Love,

Tony G.

P.S. OH NO!! China won't let me onto this site so I must do it through a portal site which does not allow me to to post pictures or videos here. SO, what I've had to do instead is make a photobucket account to which I hope you can all view for free. I hope some of you know how to simultaneously look at the pictures and blog at the same time so that you can link images with words. Here is the link (you will have to copy and paste it into your browser):

http://photobucket.com/albums/ab316/munkyguitarist/My%20First%20Days%20in%20Shanghai/