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?)!