Hot pot-kets

There was a breakthrough in my China experience ... my two American co-workers and I willingly AND on our own tried a Chinese restaurant. Aren't you proud?! We've lived in fear of most of the places around here because the reality is you just can't quite tell what you're getting yourself into. A few times we've gone places where the menu items were disturbing, meat is sitting out in the open-air or that didn't have English translations (and I'm not about to eat something that I can't identify). So we've largely played it safe. We felt adventurous and took a recommendation for a place called Hot Pot King.

The next obvious question is did we sing the Hot Pockets theme? Of course. A few times on the way to dinner. And we also talked about our appreciation for Jim Gaffigan and his Hot Pocket skits (see you in Orlando!).

Hot pot is a dining experience here ... you order a "broth" I guess, some raw meat, veggies, noodles, etc. They bring you a boiling hot stainless steel bowl with the broth, then you cook up everything at your table. The best part of hot pot is that you get to make your own sauces to then dip your cooked items into. I made two - one was a soy/garlic/onion/coriander sauce and the second was a peanut/satay/sesame seed creamy sauce. Both were amazing, and it was fun mixing up your own.  Super cheap, super fun, super delicious. We'll be going back.

Here's a picture of Brian and Holly after our items were served:

Here's the hot pot:

And don't be fooled ... the red side with all the red chili peppers was HOT!

Party like a Midi rockstar

Just had a super fun weekend here in Shanghai. There's a great park in Pudong called Century Park - really beautiful and green. It was the host site for a music festival called Midi. Wow, I was in for some surprises. I wasn't sure Shanghai had all that many alternative people ... I'm pretty sure they were all at this event. Though North Chinese rock music, Danish rage jams and techno trance Asian style really aren't my forte, we had a BLAST! The rain held out, which was our biggest concern. Here's a clip of the concert (this is the North Chinese band, who some of our Chinese-speaking friends couldn't even understand):

Here are a few other pics from the concert. There is a beer in Singapore called Tiger, hence all the tiger get-up we've got on:

 The best part of the concert (and possibly of Shanghai) is the amazing range of fashion here. Because I am too nice to blatantly snap pics of people dressed ridiculously, you're going to have to give me some time to compile my best-of collection. I promise to blog and show a representative sample of things I've seen people wear here. One major "fashion" (or possibly necessity) here is the use of face masks. The air quality isn't great, but I've also heard they are a statement about being more environmentally friendly. We, of course, had to purchase the creepiest zipper ones we could find at the concert. For $3, I think it was worth it just for this picture:

Oh - great find this week! There is a store in the mall next to my apartment called Jessica. Apparently my name isn't so uncommon around here, even if they did name me Xiu Jie Si for my working permit (pronounced Shoe Jess-uh):

Another interesting cultural thing happened at work. This is the year of the Dragon in China, so there is a lot of baby-having going on. Apparently families are purposely trying to have their babies this year to have them born under this sign. When a baby is born, a tradition is to bring around candy for the entire office to celebrate. There's always red involved, since that will bring luck. Look at this fun surprise I had at my desk:

Next week is a Chinese holiday, so to make up for that here folks work on Saturday. Wish me luck on my first-official six day work-week!

Failure to communicate

I am the dork who ran with a fannypack Sunday. Yep, that girl. As a result, please enjoy a few pictures of our Harriers run, including the markings, mid-run and enjoying a beverage:


I had a few language barrier interesting experiences this week. Well I mean I have many barrier issues multiple times a day actually, but three that stuck out in my mind:

1. When we take a cab anywhere, there are many steps involved. We have to look up the address in English (which is a challenge on its own), give the English address to our concierge and have them re-write it into Mandarin. We were going to dinner in a cool area called Xintiandi, and our concierge couldn't understand that we wanted them to write that on a card for the taxi. The concierge asked a bell hop to assist us by walking us out to a cab and telling the driver where we wanted to go. Great plan. We walked out, and he said "Xintiandi" and walked away. We had to laugh - we're dumb. Definitely could have said a word already in Mandarin to the Mandarin speaker. Wow.

Speaking of cabs, Holly has a hilarious story that I'm going to steal and share with you! I had my second medical exam picture session (ugh) last week so she went to work in the morning on her own. She decided that since taxis are cheap that she would take a cab instead of walk 30 minutes alone. After a series of cab drivers not understanding where she wanted to go and the like, finally she got into one and they agreed to take her. Apparently the driver didn't actually know where we worked, because he drove her for over 30 minutes. At one point, he literally stopped at an intersection and told her to get out. She called me panicking about where she was. Blind leading the blind! I'm like, "Umm can you describe what you see?" like I'm going to be any help in one of the largest cities in the world. Unbelievably, she navigated her way to work! Back to the list ...

2. I was looking for a specific restuarant address and somehow correctly got to the right street - Yongjia Lu. It was in a really cute part of the French Concession area, near all kinds of parks. I kept walking in what I thought was the right direction, and the road deadended. Bust. I made the mistake of asking some folks if they could help me. Probably about eight people gathered around me trying to understand what I was asking. I kept saying "Yongjia Lu" and pointing to the street we were on, and saying "108". They were repeating back the 108 part in Mandarin, so we were on the same page. But they had no idea what "Yongjia Lu" was. I was thinking, "Am I crazy? Aren't we on that street? Am I totally wrong here?" because everyone was looking at me crazy. Finally, one lady says, "OOOHHHHH - Yongjia Lu!" in what sounded to me like the EXACT same pronunciation I used, and everyone together started nodding and laughing. So even when you know the Mandarin word, it doesn't mean anyone can understand you. And for the record, they had no idea where to go. Found it on our own.

3. Today was interesting. I sat through my first-ever four hour ALL-Mandarin meeting. Well, about 20 minutes were in English at one point. I was quite surprised by how much I could pick up without speaking the language. In reality, what I picked up was quite small, but it is interesting when you only have tone, body language, volume and group dynamic to go off of to interpret the situation. I'm guessing the company at one point asked if we understood Mandarin, because everyone in the room turned, looked at us, and laughed simultaneously. I might have laughed too because I figured they said something funny. That's embarassing.

I'm still having a ton of fun exploring Shanghai. We went to Jing'An Temple on Saturday. It was built in 200 AD and recently refurbished. It is a Buddhist temple right in the middle of an upscale part of downtown. The silver buddha was awesome and super huge!

I love the new routine I'm getting into where I call my parents a few mornings a week (evenings for them), call Sean every evening on his drive to work (morning for him) and connect with friends and coworkers at either end of the day too. And my parents are using Skype - we video chat. Now that means I must actually pay attention instead of multi-tasking like I usually do (just kidding!). I'm glad I'm finally able to talk to Sean more. In the beginning, I was catching him when he was working out, at work still or out with friends. It was miserable not really getting to talk. We have a better plan now. Thank you all for helping me feel connected. Calling home makes me sometimes forget that I'm in China. That's only true until I step out of the doors of my apartment and realize that I can't understand what anyone is saying!

I'm a Harrier now

I've been officially added as part of the Shanghai Hash House Harriers club. How exactly was I initiated, you ask? Baptism by beer. Not even joking.

Holly and I are both very into working out and running. I did a little pre-research before coming to China to get an idea about the running culture here. Basically pretty non-existent. But we did find a link to this site: http://shanghaih3.com/. It sounded like a neat group made up of mostly ex-pats ... they post directions to each Sunday's run just a day or two in advance and you get to explore different parts of the city. The runs are about 6 miles each. We decided to check it out Sunday. We were in for QUITE an experience!

First, let me just throw out a comment that there are a lot of "haves" in Shanghai - nice cars, nice jewelry, luxury everything. But there are many, many "have nots" here as well. We experienced some of the latter on our run. We weaved in and out of alleyways on our run and saw some unbelieveable sites. One of my favorites were all the random street markets we passed, including all kinds of live animals you could purchase for, well, dinner that night. A huge fish somehow got free from his tank just as I ran by and flopped around on the ground for a bit. Crazy. The greatest part of the run is that the Harriers are all on a quest - not a straightforward run. Instead of a clean course (which I was trying to picture how we'd run 6 miles anywhere in Shanghai since there are SO many people everywhere!), it is designed to be a challenge to stay "ON ON" the track. You have to stop constantly because of people and because you're trying to find the trail. You are purposely looking for arrows in chalk all over the city to see if you're on the right path. Hilarious! And if you turn a wrong way at some point, there will be a large X drawn with chalk. When you see it, you yell an expletive not appropriate for my blog to indicate that you're not headed the right way. This was, by far, the most ridiculous and fun thing I maybe have ever done. I laughed so hard I think I cried a few times. And I actually think the people living in the area where we ran loved us ... they clapped and cheered us on as we ran by and even helped point us in the right direction. I can't wait for this weekend!

The highlight of the run is the end where you all celebrate with a cold beer or two. That's my kind of running! Since Holly and I were new, we were toasted by the group and literally baptized with Suntory beer. My biggest regret in China so far was deciding not to bring my camera - you all would have loved to see the craziness. There were toasts from everything to not having a life if you run too much, being new to Shanghai, wearing a 5K race shirt (apparently a big no-no in the group) and even being an American. For the last one, we also got to sing the patriotic classic "America, F Yeah" (if you haven't heard it, it is hilarious).

Another fun thing we did over the weekend was check out Pudong. It was awesome! We could have spent all day in the World Financial Center, which is the 4th-tallest building in the world. Great shopping and good food. Here's a pic of the building (left):

Because we've struggled with not-so-nice bathrooms, I thought you'd appreciate the most amazing bathroom I've ever seen, which was in the WFC. My aunt and uncle will laugh at this - it's a TOTO! Heated seat, all kinds of fancy controls, etc.

Work is exciting. It's going to be a great summer. Here's a picture of Holly and I on our first day of work:

My team took me on a roadshow to see pharmacies this week here in Shanghai. Traditional Chinese medicine is totally fascinating, and is a big part of pharmacy still. It's actually a pretty cool idea - instead of sick-prescription-healthy like it usually is in the US, this type of medicine is all about the long-term goal of achieving wellness and balance. Very fascinating. Here's a picture of Holly and I with some team members at a local pharmacy chain:

If you were privy to my stories about how my computer crashed twice in the US just before I left (and the nightmare that ensued), you'll be entertained to hear that apparently those problems made it with me through Customs! Monday morning at work my computer again failed me. Just as I have so many times in the recent weeks done, I got to hang out with IT for the evening. They were incredibly helpful, but sitting at work late into the night with a broken computer AND not being able to communicate with each other very well isn't exactly fun. Ugh. I think we figured out most of the issues, and even though I lost a lot of files, I'll live.

Last night was Holly's birthday, so we did the very Chinese thing to celebrate - went to a German pub filled with ex-pats. I tried a specialty there of wheat beer plus Sprite. That's probably the last time I'll be consuming that. It was a fun night!

Enjoy the weekend all!

Life is pretty easy in Ohio

Definitely a blanket statement, but let me tell you ... I had it easier than I thought. I'll explain in a few examples later.

So, I made it! With a long, long flight under my belt full of catching up on movies and TV shows, I finally arrived in Shanghai. For our 15 hour flight, it was daylight for more than 14 hours. That was a pretty weird experience. My first taste of what life would be like in China was before the plane even landed ... we had to fill out a customs form, and it asked what city our Chinese visa was issued in. One big issue - the answer was coded in intricate, beautiful Chinese characters that I couldn't decipher. Thankfully, one of the flight attendants came by and I asked for help. Figuring the characters represented some exotic city in China where MY visa had been issued (how neat!), she told me they read "New York". Hmm. This begins a long string of times I wish I spoke or could read Chinese characters so far on this journey.

Easier-in-Ohio element #1: Eating. I realized it might take me some time to develop a comfort level with eating here. My first experience was not great. My co-worker Holly and I landed, got settled and then wanted to grab a quick bite for dinner (was it dinner time? breakfast time? who knew ...). We headed out for our first adventure, and that it was. Since it was late here, a lot of places were already closed. We tried going to one that was packed (a tip given to us) and had meals translated into English. Great! But, they were closing in five minutes. The second place looked alright, but no English at all. They handed us a menu complete with pictures of everything. I don't know if it was the chicken sandwich with the chicken's head still attached, the weird sea creatures you could order or the fully cooked snake also with it's head attached, but something didn't sit well with us. We got up and left, and headed to a convenience store. Please enjoy the picture of my first meal in China ... look familiar?:

Easier-in-Ohio element #2: Getting from here to there. WOW, there's a ton of walking happening in this city! It is really exciting being able to walk out your front door and get to many things. I am lucky that our apartments are in a nice part of town close to great attractions like Nanjing Lu, People's Square and somewhat close to Xintiandi. But even through all the running I do, my legs weren't prepared for the immense walking required. The second option is a taxi, which is quite honestly a very frightening experience! The drivers are friendly and helpful, but traffic here is completely nuts. I decided I just need to not look out the window or I'll get stressed out. Picture this - a two lane road typically has two lanes of cars going both directions, about 100 motorbikes riding in between the cars and pedestrians everywhere. And apparently traffic laws either don't exist or don't matter. Ahh! The third option we've found so far is the Metro. I really liked my first experience, and this will likely be something I will use going forward (well in addition to walking, of course): Easier-in-Ohio element #3: Getting medical tests done. So as a foreigner arriving in China to work, you must have a medical exam completed (not to be confused with the six other separate steps you must also complete). I had mine today. I am incredibly thankful that I only learned last night that my blood would be drawn for one test. Yikes. I do not handle blood nor needles well at all. I woke up this morning early and really wanted to talk to my mom to calm down ... yes, I'm a big baby about needles. Anyway, of course my phone wouldn't work to dial out. Awesome. I'd have to go it alone. I took a 40-minute taxi ride (which was frightening, read above). Apparently everyone was having the exam done today, as the lobby was full of people. What I heard would take me an hour took me nearly four. I thought I dodged a bullet because when they told me, quite out of the blue, that I was done, I hadn't had my blood drawn yet. Sweet! As I went to check-out, someone barked an order at me in Chinese about why I hadn't done that test yet ... bust. I survived the blood drawing, but not sure my incredibly bruised arm will ... The best part of this experience is that just now I got an email that they forgot to take my picture at the center, even though I had to give them nine passport photos, and that now I get to go back again next week. Ugh.

Easier-in-Ohio element #4: Grocery shopping. Yikes! There are very few grocery stores in Shanghai, so Holly and I took the Metro to get to one. We were there for hours. It was pretty overwhelming, but also really cool looking at all the products and brands here. We struggled to find some staples I rely on back home, but did manage to pick up a few neat things. My first experience eating coconut bread did not disappoint! We decided to buy enough stuff to need to cab it back instead of dealing with the Metro. After pushing our massively-overloaded carts up inclined moving escalators for multiple floors of the Carrefour store, we finally realized we were in totally the wrong place to pick up a cab. Miraculously, we (and all of our stuff) made it home. We both decided maybe we'd only attempt the grocery store once a month ... I'm exhausted from it!

So it may sound like I'm complaining, but there's so much goodness here too! I love my apartment! It's very nice. Check out the view from my balcony, overlooking this cute park:
And exploring yesterday was AWESOME! There are some lovely areas here. We strolled along the Bund and took in views of Pudong. I'd love to do a river cruise to see even more of the city too:Our work here starts tomorrow. I'm excited to jump into our projects and learn more about retail pharmacy in China. I have to add that I am incredibly thankful for Holly being here too - it's great to have someone to explore with, eat our (not always tasty) meals with and to generally experience the experience with.

Thanks for letting me share with you my learnings, both overwhelming and amazing, thus far. I've been having phone troubles and have barely spoken to my friends and family back home. I hope I can get that resolved because I so miss talking to familiar voices. After that long flight, I really do feel a world apart. But don't worry, your "Little China Girl" is doing just fine (David Bowie, anyone?)!