A Warm Welcome

So, many of you know that Bill made the difficult choice of leaving his career to join me on this adventure. I truly appreciate the sacrifices he had to make, leaving his job, leaving his hometown, leaving the country, not speaking the language, the list goes on and on. Week one was pretty busy for Bill, most of it included visa processing, settling-in orientation, unpacking, and the careful set up of his desktop for optimum World of Warcraft “strategery”. We are now in day 8.5 for Bill. He meets our ayi’s three times a week and exchange quick English / Chinese lessons, “Please discard the cardboard boxes, it is nice outside, is that a picture of your wife?” In addition, Bill also went grocery shopping, bought some books and checked out the Bund. In the back of my mind, I was always nervous – “What if he doesn’t like it here? What if he gets homesick? How will I know if he’s really situated or just masking his feelings to make me feel better?”

Well, my question was answered on day 8.5....

For those of you that know Bill, you’re probably thinking, “Anne made him take this picture…” And you’re right. How can you not take a picture with the Hooter Girls? Right when we walked in, we were warmly greeted, “Welcome do Hootahs! My name es Lara, I will be your Hootah gurl today” Not that I’m a frequent Hooter-goer in the States, but I have a feeling not much has changed. The girls would occasionally get together to sing and dance. As we were about to leave, one of the girls said to Bill, “You come again” with a special wink. Priceless.

Home Sweet Home

Many people have asked us about our living conditions and so I made a video of our apartment. I realize after I shot it that it moves kind of fast so those of you who may get motion sickness be warned. To the rest of you enjoy.

If you are like me you will probably get the follow message when you try to watch the video "This video is currently not available. Please try again later." Hopefully this is just a temporary thing and not a generic error message used for all non-working videos. I guess you will just have to check back and find out. To help subdue your curiosity I have included a picture as well.

Yep that is it. Looks nice doesn't it. It can get a little wet when it rains but the views are unbeatable.

Splish Splash Shanghai

Today is Monday, I woke up to loud claps of thunder and heavy downpour. I was wondering - should I wear my galoshes today? I just happened to pack a trendy pair of rain boots for days like this. No need - it's just a cab ride from home to work, both places have awnings. Ring, ring, the cab driver is downstairs. I was so excited when I went downstairs and saw a big line of people waiting for a cab. Ha, ha, I pre-booked mine. I jumped into the cab and was on my way.

Right as we turned out of the complex, there was a large splash...looks like some flooding on the streets. As we slowly made our way down the block, I began to realize how much flooding there was. Each time we made a splash, the water flew up to the height of the roof of the cab - no exaggeration. I started to get a little nervous thinking that the cab may stall in such high water levels. I looked out the window and couldn't see the curb. People walking on the streets had water up to their calf. Mopeds were stalled and bikes were a no go. 4 lane streets were reduced to two lanes in the center, the place with the least amount of water.

Not a morning person, I could feel smoke coming out of my head as I started to strategize.. 'what do I do if the car stalls? who do I call? how do I get to work.. or back home?' The cab driver was an old pro. With his one speed wipers and mad skills, he maneuvered through the water waves like it was daily routine. In addition, when the car started to stall, he would immediately jerk the car a little and down shift (must be a trick I did not learn in driving school). My contribution: I decided to sit in the middle of the cab - even weight distribution.

As we traversed through this water ride, I started to hear water sounds.. like it was coming from inside the car. Low and behold, there was water coming into the cab! Water was coming in from the car door and I'm sure other spots of the under carriage. Nervous as heck, I kindly asked the driver, "is it okay that water is coming in?" He responds, "No problem, just lift your feet up so your shoes do not get wet, sorry about the inconvenience." Inconvenience? I was amazed that he was so calm!

Finally, we got to the highway, which was only about 1/2 a mile. Upon our way down, we started to slide... as if the tires were bald. How could I forget to put a penny in the tires and do a check before getting on? HA HA We semi slid down the exit into a BIG pool of murky brown water. I had no idea how we made it out, but we did. By now, the water was about 2 inches high in the cab. Five minutes later, I got to work. You know - the cultural orientation class did not mention that cab rides to work can become an amusement park water ride.

UPDATE: I was reading the news today (Tuesday) and the Shanghai Daily indicated that the thunderstorms yesterday was the "storm of the century". Between 7-8am, the city issued a orange flood/ storm alert. In that same hour, 117 millimeters of rain fell (that would be 4.6 inches). The drainage system here can only process 27-36 millimeters of water per hour.

The Dollah Has Arrived

Ok… well I actually arrived over a week ago, but it has been a busy week. My plane left Minneapolis at 3:05pm on Saturday August 16th and I landed in Shanghai, China at 9:00pm on Sunday August 17th. Sound like a long trip? It was actually not so bad. Thirteen hours of it was simply the time difference. It was a 12 hour flight from Minnesota to Tokyo featuring 3 meals, 1 snack, 3 movies, and a lot of down time. It is amazing how short a 3 hour flight can be after a 12 hour one. Like Anne I was also amused at that restrooms in Tokyo, well confused is more accurate. Guess how you use this (hint - it is not a urinal) …

Anyway, the airport in Shanghai looks very new and is quite large. The baggage claim carousel for my flight was about 3 times the size of the one in the Minneapolis airport. Clearing customs was very efficient. As I exited customs I saw Anne jumping up and down cheering for me. Cheering you say… well, that is what it felt like. See, there is a path lined with metal railing that almost has the feel of a race track. In order to leave the airport you need to navigate though it to get to the people waiting for you. There were several people lining the railing and waving and “cheering” for their family and friends too. It almost felt like I was finishing a marathon. Yeah! Go Dollah Go!

Passing the Torch

Hello Bloggers. I am the Dollah aka Bill (story to follow). I will be assuming the task of updating this blog of our experiences and travels in Asia. Don’t worry… you will still get to enjoy the entertaining excerpts Annie so enjoys creating but you will have to suffer through more of my additions to find them. So you have my apologies up front.

For those of you who are not familiar with the name Dollah sit back and enjoy the story and for those of you who are, well… enjoy a trip down memory lane. As some of you may know Anne’s parents are Chinese and were born in China. They came to America more or less around the time Anne was born. As a result from time to time there are a few difficulties with communication. In this instance it was my name. When Anne first introduced me to her mother she said my name was Bill. Well needless to say there is not a Chinese version of the name Bill so Anne proceeded to try to explain. She tried the example of Bill Clinton and then continued on with every famous Bill she could think of to no avail. Then she had the brilliant idea of using the example of one of life’s most often referenced items. Money. She said, “His name is Bill, you know Bill like dollar bill.” Her mother’s response… “Oh, Dollah Bill!” This has now become the standard of how my name is explained to relatives whose English is a second language.

Anne thought this story was quite amusing and shared it with a couple friends and co-workers. This quickly ballooned and now most of Anne’s friends and co-workers know me as Dollah. Believe me, this is quite amusing when I meet someone for the first time and they say “so this is the Dollah” or “Hi Dollah” or “Nice to finally meet you Dollah”. Keeping in mind that most of the time that this occurs is at a work function or at a fancy work dinner. So just in case any of you are thinking of having a child and want a name that will be globally universal… try to remember Dollah Bill.

Indian Hair Regeneration

During my stroll of the city this weekend, I walked past a store called, "Indian Hair Regeneration" Anytime I see hair and regeneration, I stop to listen. Yes, yes, I'm paranoid about hair loss. But Anne, you have a ton of hair! Well, yes and no. I do have a full head of hair but it's significantly thinner than it was 10 years ago. I wouldn't consider myself a vain person, I look forward to the aging process, but I just want to be sure that if I am going bald, I start looking at a good set of wigs.

Indian Hair Regeneration - I have to go in and see what they do. Upon entering, I was greeted by 4 ladies dressed in white nurse like uniforms, wearing the classic nurses hat. First, I ask what they do. We assess your scalp and hair follicles and see if we can stop or reverse hair loss. Great! So what makes it Indian? Nothing - it's just the name of our company. Oh.. sure, silly question.

I sit down and the assessment begins. They turn on this machine hooked onto a computer monitor. Then, they take a pen like instrument with a ball tip and put it on my scalp. All of a sudden, I saw my hair and scalp, magnified by 1000 times or so. She was talking as she moved the ball tip around... very healthy, good, good, hmm, good hair follicle.... etc. Then, I saw some water like liquid on my scalp, "oh my, what is that? Is it harmful?" She responded, "No, you're sweating" Okay, at this point, she must be thinking "we've got a genius on our hands".

At the end of the assessment I asked, "so did you find anything wrong?" She explains very seriously, in her nurse uniform, "Well, you have healthy hair and follicles, but your hair is very fine, which may lead you to think you're balding. Also, there are some areas with less hair, but it's not hair loss (I really wanted to ask what WAS hair loss, but I thought I would skip past the intelligent questions). The biggest problem I see with your situation is that it's all in your head." What? My scalp? "No, IN your head, psychologically" Ahh yes- I get it now.

And then there was... my shipment

Ok, many of you true friends out there probably had to endure my endless whining about not getting my shipment yet. Well, it finally happened this weekend - I got my stuff! It was so exciting, I spent most of my weekend sorting through the boxes and doing massive loads of laundry. I know, I know, it's the obsessive compulsive side of me. No, I didn't ship them dirty, but since they've been sitting around for a month, through the moldy season, they developed a not so "Febreze" odor.

You must be asking - why did it take so long to get your shipment? Did you forget to fill out some paperwork? Great question.. let me provide an in-depth explanation. Getting your shipment in China is a step-by-step process.
1 - You need to physically arrive in China: June 25
2 - You need to apply for your work Visa, only after arrival: June 26
Time to process - one week
3 - You need to apply for your residence permit, only after your work Visa: July 9
Time to process - one week
4 - After your residence permit is processed, you can have your shipment shipped to China
Shipping time - one day
5 - All shipments will need to go through a physical inspection by China customs
Time to process - unknown, the logistics company kept calling on the status. The policy was, "don't call us, we'll call you" In addition, shipments were not being inspected in the order they were received
6 - After shipment is inspected, it will need to go through another few days of quarantine. I laughed a little b/c I always thought "quarantine" meant you had pets or food products, not clothes, books and movies.
7 - Shipment is ready for delivery - thus, bringing us to August 9, the magical day

I found it quite amusing that my shipment arrived exactly one week before Bill arrives. My pillows and blanket never felt sooo goooood.

Opening Ceremony: Best Seat in the House

08.08.08 In China, this is one of the biggest days in history. The number "8" sounds very much like the word "fortune". The Olympics opening ceremony is a very big festivity here. I invited one of my friends over for dinner and ceremony watching. When I got home, she offered to cook dinner, "I'll make 2 dishes and a soup". Great - we may need to run to the store and pick up some items. "OK- let me check out your kitchen and see what I need" 30 seconds later, she re-appeared and said, "I think we should just eat out or pick up snacks... you don't have a wok or rice cooker!" I know, I know, I thought the furnished kitchen would come with these items. Oh well.

We went to the grocery store and it was packed. "Anne, you need to eat more fruits and vegetables." I agree, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Grocery store fruits and vegetables are not very fresh. The fresh market fruits and vegetables are more difficult to purchase b/c the prices are not listed. Last time I went to buy some fruit, it almost costed $10US. So, we bought some veggies, snacks and a watermelon... and a beer - to celebrate.

I also used this time to take advantage of her reading skills, "What does this say? What's in this? How do I cook this?" Snacks consisted of lay's bbq chips and ice cream. We also picked up a classic Chinese snack - duck neck. I study these little red nuggets - "Are you sure there's meat on these things? It looks like it's all bone." I was assured it was a great snack, "it's the last package, they're almost sold out". Great! As you can tell, we did have quite the feast, green beans, duck necks and some local beer (tastes like MGD lite).

Well, we turned on the TV to watch the Opening Ceremony. Channel 1 - Music Video (but not MTV), CNN, BBC, AXN, HBO, Hong Kong Channel, Japanese Channel, Korean Channel... "Anne!!! You do not have CCTV - actually, you don't have a single Chinese channel!!" That's impossible, umm, hello, I'm in China! And, I'm always watching the Chinese infomercials for some plastic tupperware-like containers and a face mask that whitens your skin. "No Anne, that's not a local Chinese channel". Does this mean we'll miss the ceremony? Let's check the bedroom - nope. OK, last resort - let's check the bathroom TV, there's a lot more channels in there.

Bingo- CCTV was on in my bathroom. Well, maybe they will air it on CNN? Not a chance. So, we spent the next 3 hours in my bathroom watching the Opening Ceremony. I know - laugh it up, I'll give you a moment. Are you done? OK. Good thing is that housekeeping came today so everything was spotless. Bad thing - not very comfortable. I sat in the tub, enjoying the show and finishing my watermelon. We also moved all the sofa cushions into the bathroom for added comfort. In addition, we spilled a bunch of pumpkin seeds on the floor. Housekeeping is definitely going to think I'm eating meals in here. I can hear it now, "Did you know the American family on 21 eats in the bathroom? Must be a cultural thing." But I have to say, I'm sure I got the best seat in the house. hahaha

ABBA Round 2

At 4pm today, the girls came over to my desk, "pack it up, we're going to Karaoke to welcome the new HR employees". My immediate thought was, "what? It hasn't been a week yet, I haven't been practicing!!" We arrived at Thumb Plaza, went into the Halodei where the host greeted me and then said, "That girl speaks Chinese" Yes - to my surprise, many people here do not think I look Chinese.

Tonights rendition included: Yesterday once more (The Carpenters) Let it Be (Beatles) and by special request, I sang the chorus of the Medtronic Anthem. 9 out of 10 songs are all slow love or sad love, lost love songs. I noticed that everyone is very serious when they sing. Not me. I like to think that I'm on American Idol when I get up on stage.

Warming up on the bus (Karen Carpenter would be proud)

Afterwards, I stopped by Carrefoure (Western grocery store) and picked up 3 items: Butter, American Cheese and Bread. I have never been so excited to see Land o Lakes American Cheese, made in the US. Last time, they had Kraft singles, a blend of American and cottage cheese, made in Australia. Then, I laughed a little. When I go to the Asian grocery store, it's always ramen and veggies, not the healthiest, but better than Fat, Dairy and Carbs. Blog readers, I have to tell you - the grilled cheese was absolute heaven. Since it's been about a month since my last "western meal" (golden arches), a grilled cheese has never tasted so good!

ABBA

On Tuesday night, we had a kickoff event at work followed by dinner and karaoke with the leadership team. I knew I wasn't able to keep this a secret for long... I can't sing. I am so off key that when I hum the Oscar Mayer Bologne jingle, no one has a clue what it is. But as a team player, I was not going to let my lack of singing ability stop me from taking the stage.

I need to set the tone first. After work, we gathered in the company shuttle and went to the Big Thumb Plaza. No, it's not shaped like a thumb, nor is there a thumb anywhere. It's named the Big Thumb Plaza like a Mall of America. Clear as mud? We headed to the Karaoke place called Halodei. It's pronounced just like it's spelled, but they actually mean "holiday" - like singing all night is a holiday treat. Upon entering Halodei, there was a mini mart, buffet dinner and liquor store. Yes, this is all IN the karaoke place. Each party has their own room. Here I am, thinking that karaoke is going to be at a VFW-esque place. NOPE Our room could fit about 30 people comfortably. It had 3 mics, 4 lounge tables, a grand piano and granite floors and tables. This was the real deal. Immediately, everyone started entering their songs of choice. I sat on the side with Tamika, working on my ice cream cone.

Then, the singing started. I was shocked - EVERYONE was really good. They all took it very seriously and had great pitch and tone. I'm all about trying new things but this was not going to be good. Dancing Queen from ABBA came on and Iris waved me to go up and sing with her. Oh boy... here goes. When I got done, Tamika said, "You are tone deaf" HA! Before my next visit to Halodei, I'm renting the karaoke 5000 and practicing at home :) Then, I'll be signing up for the next Medtronic Idol.