what's for dinner?

my testing room

the view

steroid goldfish

the turtle who thinks he can but couldn't

frogs and eels

gateway plaza grocery store

tech mall

no spitting, no combustibles!

green really isn't their color

it was a really nice day today in SH. the sun was out, there was a nice breeze..ok, it was more of a strong gusty wind but it was a cool strong gusty wind, not the typical gross muggy kind. a nice consolation for yesterday's gross insistent rain.

on my way back from the cop station, i heard the sound of children and peeked thru the gate to see uniformed grade school children play and scream and fight over this sparkly thing they used as a basketball. this kid was squatting beside the basketball hoop and looked like he was pooping but his pants weren't down so maybe he was on timeout.

i broke down. i ate baozis. not one, not two but three! i went all out. i ate one while walking to work, let it stew to see if there were any side effects. hours later, there still were none so on my way back to the subway station, i bought two more! i'm no vegetarian by any means but i wasn't ready for mystery meat so i stuck by the cai bao, and the veggie with tofu tasted just as good! ok but i admit, after i inhaled the 3rd baozi, i knew i ate too much. 

while walking through the underground maze of the shanghai south railway station, on my main path to work, i couldn't hold in my pee anymore. i had been holding it in all day, namely b/c many public toilets not only cost money, they're not toilets at all, they're squat pots. i figured at a railway station that looked pretty modern, they had to have toilets, right? right, they had toilets but they also had squat pots for those resistant to modernization but the bathroom smelled like the squats. i found myself a toilet and to no surprise, they don't offer toilet paper. not only that, they don't offer soap or paper towels at the bathroom sink. china's pretty cheap about plastic bags and napkins. this lady next to me whipped out her bar of soap and towel after washing her hand in the sink. i almost asked to borrow her soap but knew she'd probably charge me. note: hand sanitizer and kleenex is your best friend in china.

oh i went back to get my key re-done, since it wouldn't even fit inside the door lock. to my surprise, the clerk actually followed up with a phone call hours later to see if my key fit. dave thinks it's for repeat business but seriously, how often would i be duplicating keys?

i got my resident permit without complications but the cop told me i had to come back again after getting my work permit. shucks, i thought i was done with red tape for awhile. think again!

ok so i looked all around for this grocery store that you get to thru the subway tunnels. sense of direction is one thing i am left wanting. i could not find the darn place! i went thru every exit (there are like 5 in there) and couldn't find it. i was carrying at least 20 lbs of books i brought back from work and wore a thick sweater and jeans. i was hot and tired. i entered Metro City and that is like either a tech nightmare or wet dream, depending on how crazy you are. there are tons of employees who look super-bored and greet you vociferously inviting you to look at their overpriced products. i have yet to see someone actually buy something. that place has like 7 floors and 20 separate wings. and everything looks the same. finally, dave told me to find the gateway plaza. i went back to the subway system and exited 12/13. wala! i seriously needed facial tissue cuz i go thru those little portable kleenex packages like it's nobody's business. and i bought a little thing of soymilk cus i was craving it. while in there, i saw the funniest and saddest thing. i saw live turtles, eels, and frogs and what looked like goldfish on steroids. please see pics. i watched one turtle futilely attempt to climb the glass wall with his little claws then fall helplessly back down, then do it again. he was really trying to escape his destiny but it just wasn't happening for the fella. i considered liberating him on the market floor but then i thought, what if someone's shopping cart runs him over? i watched the other turtles squirm in their green netted bags and thought to myself, today is a good day NOT to be a turtle. i must add that i went inside the market where i bought my baozi and saw live chickens and roosters in cages. i remember that in beijing and was always terrified of their beaks. i guess people really like their food fresh. 

i learned that even if you get off of the subway on the wrong side of the street and at a 45 degree angle from where you'd like to end up, u can always go back into the subway or risk your life crossing the street. i risked my life today. also, if you ask 3 different people where a certain street is, you will get 3 different answers.. EVERYTIME. 

oh and check out the new prison, oh i mean clinic, i'll be working at. i don't get why every single window there is barred up like Fort Knox. 

just another day in shanghai.

wanzhou pride.

we had dinner with one of dave's coworkers, wu peng and his gf. boy, that guy has more province pride than all the socal and norcal-ers combined. he was most proud of his wanzhou dialect, which we briefly heard him use on the phone. it sounded like a combo of russian and gibberish-wait is that redundant? i think one thing that is super-cool about these chinese folk is that they have secret languages that only people from their province can understand, called dialects. you can basically talk smack about the person in front of you and smile at them and they will think you are saying something nice about them. wu peng went on to tell us the history of his dialect, namely a vietnam war secret code. he gave us this funny example of the same word used 4x in a row, which meant 4 different things! and best of all, he said the wanzhou dialect was a "high level" dialect unlike that used in hangzhou, where he goes to college.

i proceeded to be as racist as i could be, and inquired about all the things i could not stand about the chinese culture here. i had questions and i wanted answers. hey, it was a rough day.

why are people so rude here?
why do people cut in line?
why do people steal your taxi?
why are there so many salespeople at every counter harassing you?
what's up with these amway people?
why do people ignore you?
why are the cops so unhelpful and rude?
how can people afford to buy things here given how poor they are?
what is minimum wage? (there isn't one, btw)
where are some safe chinese restaurants where i won't get sick after eating there?
can you talk smack about the government?
can you sue the government?
should we free tibet? (no i never asked this cuz he said it was a sensitive topic)

funny thing is, he had an answer for all my questions and damn good ones too. he was articulate and intelligent and his english was amazing. he was much more worldly than most chinese people here and that's probably b/c he spent time in seattle. and he had quite a sense of humor. most of all, the dude had a lot of province pride. i have no idea what OC pride would consist of. dave suggested, we have the most breast implants per capita?

i would love to learn the history of the provincial dialects. it seems so fascinating.

i really want to find both a language and cultural partner.

watah.

sink water smells like concentrated mineralized sewage. we have a filter on our shower head so the shower experience is a little more pleasant. but we have to rinse our mouths out with drinking water every time we brush our teeth. water is cheap here though, at least the bottled kind. i love that. we get 5 gal of Nestle delivered as needed. it only costs 20 rmb each. the delivery guy kinda looks like this, without the huge ass smile, cus he's only getting $2 US/hr.

passport pics.

one thing i like is the supercheap passport pics u can take in booths in the subway, it's 2o kuai for 4 2x2 fotos and 3 little ones. keep in mind in america, it's 10 US for 2 fotos. the quality isn't great but it ain't for me anyway.

the work people.

on a happy note, the people i will be working with seem super-cool except for the mean local HR lady. that brings me to another thought. this is the 2nd chinese HR lady that has just rubbed me soooooooooooooo wrong. are they bred to be mean people?

arrival.

the hazmat guys.

did i mention that we were quarantined for 2 hours on our plane after we arrived as the hazmat guys took our temperatures with a red laser gun? the stewardesses did that already in flight. after a 16 hr plane ride, it was too much for me. i was going crazy. i had never been so tired before. our luggage didn't come out for another 45 min. and i was trying to buy a phone card to call dave b/c of how late i was and the airport staff would not assist me. finally i got a card but couldn't get it to work. i was able to convince a worker to help me out.

Red Tape Adventures

my first shots of Shanghai.

yeah, they have a Best Buy, and stuff in there is so overpriced. and you're not allowed to shop in peace, because about 5 employees rush up to you and haggle you so you can barely decide which product you want before u even know what you're looking at. i ended up buying a cell phone for about $130 (but no contract) and hairdryer for about $20 at the Chinese counterpart of Best Buy, called Guo Mei. i liked the subway stations at first but it's pretty muggy down there and I have yet to actually find a seat instead of snuggling up to someone's armpits. it's been hot and muggy lately and i've been told the summer months are going to be sauna hell, minus the part where u can dip in a cool pool afterwards. i've developed allergies to almost everything outside and am constantly sneezing miserably. oh but the food has been good, i haven't gotten sick yet only b/c i've resisted the temptation to buy baozi and yummy smelling vendor food. i so want a hot steamy baozi in the morning.

i found a cool eatery inside the tech mall by our apartment. they have Yoshinoya there but since i've banned that from my meal list, i wasn't as jazzed as i would have been. i feasted on a bowl of roasted pork miso noodle soup yesterday that was really good but was sweating into my soup the whole time. there's a bread place by our house and i wasn't too impressed with the bread but do plan on stocking up just to have something quick to eat in the morning. dave took me to this grocery store in the subway which sells almost everything. fruit is expensive, they don't have lowfat milk, cereal is premium but vegies are cheap. at some point, i'd like to start cooking but am dreadful about encountering the cockroach dave saw in the kitchen. the current load of laundry has taken me more than 24 hours to do, and it's still wet. i dream of tossing the w/d out the 12th fl.

every stereotype is true here. people truly are rude, but probably not b/c they want to be but b/c it saves time. a taxi was stolen from me today while i stood in the pouring rain. the man smiled at me from the front seat as the taxi drove away, splashing me with the putrid puddle water. i wanted him to die. i asked about 10 pple where the police station was before arriving there only to wait over an hour for their lunch break to be over so i could apply for my resident permit. i decided to go inside a mall to pass the time. i was elated to find a key duplicator. when i got back to the police station, i was the first to arrive, and assumed i was first in line. nope, a lady who arrived a little after me, and a man who arrived much later stepped right in front and were assisted before i did. i became very angry and stood up and waited right behind the first lady. she sat up and offered me her seat as the cop went to photocopy her stuff. the man then took her seat after the cop ignored me and began to serve him. i finally handed him my documents only to be told i needed the lease agreement. i was tired, wet and cold, and suffering from my allergies. i was also full of rage. i called the landlord and asked her to email the lease agreement after trying to explain what it was. she said she couldn't get to it us until much later today. she also told me to purchase another keycard for $50, which i later learned was her responsibility. so i never did get my Resident permit. when i got home, the duplicate key to no surprise did not work. but at least i did not have to undergo another health check, although there were several health issues noted. my temperature was taken twice today at the health check and i'm afraid the thermometer has been re-used b/c it had no cover. the police are unbelievably rude. and if u ask a vendor for directions, they give u attitude b/c you did not buy something from them. people knock u with their umbrellas, so i decided to knock back. i was accosted by 3 pairs of Amway reps, one of which asked me why at my age i was not married yet and how her family would be on her case if she wasn't married at my age. i was humored by that. while i was walking down the street today, a lady grabbed onto my jacket and starting yanking and wouldn't let go as she said something about "auntie wouldn't lie to you!" i pulled back but she wouldn't let go. the taxi driver dropped me off on the wrong side of a busy road that you can't cross and wouldn't turn around but i was happy that the subway station that went underground let me get to the other side.

i don't understand these people. i don't like them. i always thought i was open minded enough to give them another chance but right now, i'm going thru the anti-mainstream culture, the first step of acculturation. i may stay at this step.

more to follow.. the biggest thing i've noticed is there is more red tape here than the Great Wall of china.