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The Chinese! I can't just limit it to the Chinese, but I would have to say that all Asians are horrible travelers. Let me clarify...I have just returned from my trip to four Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland). It was a fantastic trip, except for the fact that along the way, we saw waaaaayyyy too many Asian people. I know that sounds like I'm an Asian hater, but I have to tell you, it was seriously embarrassing to be Chinese in another country. I guess it's because I have become desensitized to it here in Shanghai. However, once you go overseas, you really get hit with it. To make a long story short, I see Chinese people (and some Koreans, not much of the Japanese) pushing, shoving, spitting, throwing trash in places that they shouldn't, talking loudly, not respecting other peoples space, and not acknowledging that they are just a pain in the a*s! It seriously is terrible! I have to make this point clear because while I understand that for 10 years, the Chinese were deprived of an education under the whole Cultural Revolution, but this only applies to people who are around the age of 45-55 years old. The younger generation should be the ones who are more educated, less likely to act like a*sholes. However, it is the YOUNG ones who are the worst, the most selfish and uneducated bunch. It is really sad to see it. The main reason is because China these days has the problem of spoiling their child. They are only allowed to have ONE child so that child is completely spoiled and has no respect for anyone else. They have this "I want" mentality and nothing else. So that was just the major downfall of the trip. I have attached some photos (bad ones to say the least...) of my trip.
Otherwise, it was fantastic! I won't bore you with the entire trip so will summarize it. We arrived in Helsinki and what a change in weather that was from Shanghai. It was a high of around 70's (whereas Shanghai still can't get out of the high 90's). The sky was blue, no rain, just gorgeous. Helsinki is a pretty city, but kinda boring. The Senate Square is gorgeous with a gorgeous church set high on top of a hill. We roamed around the open market and tried all kinds of delicious food (later that night, I wasn't feeling too good!). Next was Stockholm...my favorite city out of this entire trip. It was gorgeous! The city had such a gorgeous City Hall where the dinners are held for the Nobel Peace Prize. After Stockholm, we went to Oslo. Don't like Oslo too much. It was kind of a dark and dirty city. There wasn't much to see in Oslo so we moved on to Bergen. Bergen is a small town but filled with beautiful architecture and more to see than Oslo. Went to the fish markets and tried all kinds of fish roe. Fantastic. Everything was super fresh and people were super friendly. The only thing was it rained. It poured! Thank goodness it only lasted one day. Next was Copenhagen. Small city, but again, gorgeous. We shopped a lot in Copenhagen but bought absolutely nothing (except for my alcohol collection of course). Everything was so expensive! The US Dollar doesn't take you too far these days. All in all, a great trip. Glad to be home now though because I have to get ready for my first day of work tomorrow. I have to adjust to normal life again...of the working class. I can't believe my two month vacation has come to an end!!! I will be back to work and slaving my life away. However, I am so ready to get going on doing something other than lounging around and eating all the time :)
Until then...I hope to see you guys soon. xo
So I have finally moved in to my new place! It took me a long time to find this place because Shanghai is a tough place to find housing! Also, everything in Shanghai is negotiable so my sister helped in getting this place for much cheaper. It is truly a mansion...three bedrooms, two full baths, a BALCONY, amazing view, fully furnished, and did I mention THREE bedrooms? It's crazy. I have never in my life lived in a place this large. My years in DC and NYC has not afforded me the opportunity to live in such a luxurious place as this. I am in an awesome location too...15 minutes walk to work, right in downtown Shanghai, 10 minutes walk to all the bars, the shopping district is right across the street, and gorgeous park right down the street, and much much more. I am still amazed that I have this place. Can't wait to fully move in. The problem right now is getting my work visa and then getting my stuff to clear through customs. Such a stupid process. Basically, I won't be able to receive my stuff here in Shanghai until mid to end of August because I am going on vacation to Scandanavia and I have to have my passport in order to travel. Once I return from my vacation, I will have to forfeit my passport for a bit to get all of my paperwork done so I can start work. Don't know if I reallllly want to start work. I'm getting used to all of this... sitting on my butt all day is quite nice.
I'll be sure to send out my address in a separate email... don't know if it is wise to publish that information :-) Until then...
Yesterday, I finally decided to go and explore a world outside of Shanghai. My sister's friend is in town from the States for the week and I was lucky to have a buddy to travel with. I'm even more lucky because he can read Chinese! Woo hoo! We bought a day trip to a city called SuZhou, about an hour bus ride outside of Shanghai. You're not going to believe how much this cost...about $25 dollars, which included a nice air conditioned bus ride to and from the city and all admission costs to the sites (about five parks and one temple). In addition, you get an all day tour guide who explains all of the sites. The group was about 35 people so it was a decent size, although I would have liked it to be less. SuZhou is famous for all of the gardens and temples and we were able to go to pretty much all of them. The only drawback... it was about 100 degrees outside yesterday. I could not stop sweating! I know... lovely image, but it was truly disgusting. The humidity was amazing...could barely catch my breath when we walked around. I kept telling myself "I can do it...this is good for me... I'm losing weight." The first location was a historical site, beautiful garden, and we were so excited to hear that we were going to get a boat ride for only $10RMB (equivalent to 5 cents). However, to our disappointment, the boat ride was less than 2 minutes (not joking either). For us foreigners who were on the trip (4 out of the 35 people), we didn't complain because we knew that for $10, we were going to get sh*t. The others weren't too happy...Next, we visited a Buddhist temple and it was amazing. It is centuries old and although I'm not religious, I had that nostalgic feeling when I walked through the temple. It may have just been the heat...ha. We were all then led to this large restaurant for lunch. Interestingly, the lunch was not included in our tour so we each had to pay $20RMB ($1US=$7.5RMB) so it was still cheap. But, we had to share these dishes with 10 other people. The table sat 10 and basically we were given 9 dishes and 1 soup to share. Kinda gross when you think of it because everyone just sticks their chopsticks in the dish and we all eat together. Thank goodness I had all of my shots before I left the States! Following lunch, we went to more gardens...I will have to post some photos soon. Haven't figured out how yet.
I must tell you at least ONE funny story from this trip. This is going to be gross, but here goes...this tour is what we call a "very local tour." It is primarily for local Chinese people, so you are not supposed to expect a luxurious trip. Knowing this, I didn't expect much, but I surely did not expect this...we were all standing around listening to the tour guide give her presentation when all of a sudden, i hear this loud "pffffffffff...pfffffff....pffffff." I was shocked to see that the guy standing next to me was passing gas! Right there, out in the open. I almost died. My friend who was traveling with me started laughing and cursing at the same time. It just amazes me how crazy these people are and how they are so inconsiderate. Of course, the two of us ran as far away as possible, but we had to laugh it off. I had to tell this story...sorry.
Anyhow, this was my trip in a nutshell. I still can't believe I'm living here but can't wait to move in to my new place tomorrow. Until then...
What an interesting day...I had to pay a visit to the hospital to get a physical in order to apply for my work visa. I guess China is scared of all the disease that may potentially come from the States. Hmm...anyhow, this facility is located in an area that is way in the suburbs and very hard to find, but I was told that "expats" are the only people who are allowed to go to this hospital. Being a health person myself, last night, I was fretting this visit. I had a dream that they were going to stick me with some dirty needle and subject me to a million x-rays. To my surprise, it was totally clean, a great and efficient process, and I have to admit, it was the least painful blood drawing experience I had. Seriously...I am a chicken when it comes to needles, but these nurses were amazing. The only complaint was the entire process. Basically, when you walk in, the ask that you fill out a bunch of forms, then you wait till your number is called. You then go in to the clinic part where you are asked to change into the infamous robe. Then the chaos begins. You walk out in the hallway and there are three nurses directing you in all different directions to different rooms. One would think that there was order... oh no, there sure isn't. So, the tests performed were: EKG (first I've ever had one!), Ultrasound/sonogram, blood test, eye test, chest x-ray, and blood pressure check. However, these were all done in SEPARATE rooms! Crazy. Therefore, the nurses would stand in the hallway and you had to walk around with this piece of paper to each room. I felt so bad for the other expats who could not speak or understand Chinese so I had to basically help them out. Today was the first day where I felt lucky that I can understand and speak Chinese. To give an example, the nurse would say to me "miss, please sit here, wait for the doctor in the room to call you in." Now, how the heck do the others understand this if they have no clue? It was so funny because it seemed like people were playing musical chairs. People didn't know when to sit, where to sit, if they SHOULD sit or stand. I of course couldn't help but chuckle a bit. After a minute, I thought it was cruel so I started translating. I thought that in a place like this, people would be able to communicate. Not the case...We were asked to go to so many different darn rooms that everyone was confused. I thought that we would just pretty much go from one room to the next adjoining room. NOPE. It was a pretty stupid system. However, I have to admit, the process actually worked. I was able to get out of there in under an hour! That's a first! Most of the time in the States, we are in the waiting room for at least 30 minutes before we're seen by a doc. I had all of this stuff done in under an hour. Exciting. I can always think of a better way for this clinic to be more efficient of course :) Later when I asked my sister why they didn't think to just make it much easier by putting the rooms next to each other and we just followed the line. As an architect, she was able to decipher why: when they built the facility, they probably didn't take into consideration that some rooms needed to be bigger in order to hold the equipment (e.g., a chest x-ray machine needed to be larger than a room to screen your eye sight). HA!
The best thing about today was that I was able to mingle with a bunch of other people who are also in my shoes, new to Shanghai, first timers, and also as lost as I am. I was able to chat with a few people and I think I made some good connections. I don't have a business card to give right now so I offered my sister's instead. My sis came with me today because she feared that I would not be able to understand or be able to complete the forms. She was right...when we showed up, I didn't realize that I had to write the address as to where I would like the results of my test to be sent to. I know I can write it in English, but I didn't even bring that with me either. Augh...I have to remember these things! So I'm pretty much all set now to start work on the 1st of August. Looking forward to moving in to my place in a week. I'll send out an email with my new address and phone! Can't wait... until then...
