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!
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