Ho Ho Ho!!

It's Christmas time in Shanghai. I didn't know that they celebrated Christmas in China, but they do… at least he shops and restaurants do. Myh first exposure was last weekend when I went to get a pizza from Pizza Hut. I know, I know, all these great places to eat and I end up in Pizza Hut – well, it's close, I was tired, and I like the pizzas. Anyway, all the staff were dressed up in Santa outfits and there was Christmas music playing – there was even a Christmas pizza! I've been out and about in Shanghai today and was amazed by the number of Christmas trees in public places – some of them very high tech, as you would expect here. Christine and her boyfriend came round last weekend, and I put them to work putting up my Christmas tree – first time they'd decorated a tree!!! It's on full view of all the skyscrapers round about – and of course the cathedral!!

Last Friday night I was out being sociable. Angie had signed me up with a membership of the Australian Women's Social Group, and they were having a get-together last Friday. I walked in and looked around trying to work out who were the Australian women. I got it wrong, but got invited to join a birthday party anyway. I said I would if I didn't find the Australians – but I did find them in the end. I met some nice folks – including a couple who'd just come back from an adventure-filled trip to Tibet. Sounds like a challenging place to go. The bloke had been all over Asia, and this was the first time he'd got ill. He must have eaten something that didn't agree with him (yak, probably, as that was all there was to eat!) and the altitude didn't help. Lhasa is fine for backpacking, but there's nothing posher than that! After a couple of glasses of wine they invited me to join them for something to eat. We ended up in a pub! A real genuine-looking Irish pub! The food was good, the décor traditional-pub-like and a good atmosphere. Yes, I went to the pub on a Friday night – I've not done that in a long, long time! I'll be back! It did mean I was out late though – I was in the taxi home at 10:45 (which is really late when you get up before 6!) and we drove past a hairdresser's – they were still open. In fact, all of the hairdresser's we passed were still open! Not like Scotland then…

I had a go at cooking Chinese this week. I got out my wok (which I'd bought in Scotland, then taken to Russia and is now in China) and had a go with some of the ingredients I'd found in the supermarket. I had some pork in chilli black bean sauce. I tasted the sauce before I cooked it, and it was so hot my lips swelled up! It was fine after I'd cooked it though – thankfully! Then I did some vegetables in oyster sauce with garlic and ginger. Yum!! The greatest thing is my cooker. The gas rings are so much more powerful than back home. There are 2 sets of jets, and the pressure seems much higher. The stuff cooked in no time at all – just like proper stir-fry should be. There are a quite a few ingredients that I can't read. I'll wait until next year to give them a go.

I was heading off to the metro the other morning, and saw a moped drive by. There was half a pig draped over the back of the seat, as casual as you like. I had to look a few times – it wasn't even 7 o'clock yet, and I wasn't sure my eyes were open, but yes, it was there. Shame I was too slow to get my camera out though!

I went out Christmas shopping today, but before I could buy anything for anybody else, a dragon jumped into my bag and demanded that I take him home. So the dragon collection has started … Shame I can't do the photo thing – but look back next week for lots of photos!!

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

Why do I have so much stuff? Where am I meant to put it all? Hmmm. The great thing is that all my clothes have arrived. I was getting really, really bored of wearing the same things all the time. The down-side to all my clothes getting here is that they all need washed, and dried, and ironed. As the weather has got chillier, it takes much longer for things to dry – so I now have first hand experience of what it's like to stay in a Chinese laundry!! Who knew I had so many clothes??? Why do I like to iron everything? I've watched a good few films as I've turned my ironing mountain into a foothill (even with my shrimp-sized ironing board!) – and not everything is washed yet…..

 I attacked the bathroom boxes earlier in the week, and had to laugh at myself. I sorted all the toiletries into piles, and discovered that I had 16 different types of shampoo. I believe that you shouldn't keep using the same shampoo, but that's just taking it too far, Rhona. There were shampoos in English, French, Russian and Chinese (I think the French stuff was just being posh in Russia). The biggest laugh of all was on Friday. Everybody in the factory got a present – 2 bars of soap, shower gel – and SHAMPOO!! I'm up at 17 different kinds now!! Guess what I don't need for Christmas.

I have a water distributor in the kitchen for drinking water, and I'd get a bottle of water (22 litres) the day I moved in. It cost me just over £1, but it tasted horrible. I decided that I would move up a grade when it ran out. It ran out last Saturday afternoon. No problem. I'd been told what to do. I phoned down to reception to ask them to bring me up a new bottle. That was where the trouble started. I tried in my best Chinese – no success other than understanding I wanted water; my most simple English, hmm, not much further forward. A while later somebody with a bit better English asked me how much I paid for the water. That was too complicated. I tried to ask what the prices were, but that didn't work. They hung up on me. OK, charades it has to be. So I got in the lift with my empty bottle of water, and went to see about getting some drinkable water. I didn't know how easy I had it in Scotland, just turn on the tap and out pours lovely tasting water. Down in reception we have a bit of a conference, with lots of people being involved. Eventually they understand that I don't want the same kind of water as I've just finished (they even understood that I thought it tasted bad), but am more than happy to pay more for the next quality. 5 minutes later, the water arrives at the door, and I pay my £2. It's much better tasting, but I still screw up my face at the first mouthful of the glass.

Mum's booked me in to get an eye test when I'm home at Christmas. No, I wasn't joking about this getting older lark. She had a bit of a laugh when she made the appointment though. She'd explained the problem to the receptionist, and then the optician asked what the problem was, the reply – the trombone effect!! Just 'cos I feel that I have to hold my book a bit further away than I used to …….. Cheek! I pass some time on the metro to work deciding what type of specs I'll get, if I need them. There are 19 people in my office, and all but 4 of us are under 30 – and 17 of us wear specs (that may increase to 18 after my visit to the opticians…). So why do I think I need a specs test. I think I mentioned that I had to have a very thorough medical by the Chinese government before they would issue me with a work permit. During the medical, I had to have an eye test. When I got as far down the page as I could go, I said that was it. The doctor said 'Really??' That of course made me all sensitive. I used to wear specs for reading for a few years at school. When the optician told me I didn't need them any more, he did say I would be fine until I was 40. Guess what!! I'm 40. I have noticed that my reading position has changed too. I had the chance to give myself an eye-test one time I was out shopping with Christine. She was seeing about contact lenses, so was blethering to one of the assistants. I'd looked at all the sun-specs and decided I didn't need a new pair (I'd stocked up in Florida last year, and haven't lost them….yet!), so was looking for a distraction. I saw there was a booth with an eye-test, and decided to have a go. Problem was, you had to look in the mirror to get the correct distance, and I couldn't do that without going and sitting in the chair. So, I counted the number of floor tiles, doubled it and then went and stood that distance away. I tried one eye, and then the other, and seemed to get on fine. I couldn't do the bottom row, but the rest were fine. Maybe I don't have a problem. Anyway, after my test I looked up to find almost everybody in the shop laughing at me. Glad I was able to lighten their day. Need to see how I get on with a proper optician now. Do I really have trombone syndrome?

Trip to the Master's Cup

It's good to know that I can still be a bit spontaneous in my life. Last Saturday, I went out to buy a pint of milk, and ended up buying myself a new camera AND a pint of milk! I know, I know – it's only a couple of months since I bought a camera, why would I need another one??? Well, this one is a digital SLR – a camera body you can change the lenses on. I got a Canon 400D, and I can use the lenses of my conventional camera on it. The photos are pretty good, although the files are enormous – only 100 photos on a 1GB card.

 
So I took my camera for a bit of an outing on Sunday. I went to the final of the tennis Master's cup. The stadium is about 10 minutes from work, which isn't very handy on a Sunday! There were free shuttle buses from Shanghai stadium – one metro stop up the line from my flat. Easy, I thought – jump on the metro, then meet up with the bus at entrance number 2. What could be easier?? Well, life is full of adventures! I got to entrance number 2, and there was nothing there. I wandered about a bit, but didn't see anything that looked like a bus to the tennis. Eventually, I found a sign with the Master's cup logo on – but I couldn't read it. A couple of Chinese women came up to the sign, obviously looking for the bus too. They could read the sign, and they asked some officials what the situation was – ahhh, they said – follow us. So, I did… into their car, and then 2 minutes up the road to the outdoor stadium. Silly me – I had gone to the indoor stadium! There was a queue for the bus, but I got on, and an hour later we arrived at the venue. It's an amazing building. It's enormous, but there is only 1 tennis court. There's some fancy engineering in the roof, which opens like a chrysanthemum – their explanation, not mine. The tennis was good – I saw the doubles final, followed by Roger Federer beating James Blake. My camera got a good work-out!

 
I started my Christmas shopping this week. I was in the supermarket, and walked past a cat food display. I had asked Sheila to take some Chinese cat food back to Koshka in September, and Mum says she loved it, and just scoffed it down. As I'm going back to Scotland for Christmas, I'll need to take her some food. So, at the cat food display, I picked up 3 packets each of 3 different flavours. The woman standing next to me said something – I don't know exactly what she said, but it was along the lines of 'nine packets of food, how many cats do you have?' It's as well I couldn't say that I only have 1 cat, and she's in Scotland.

 
You may have noticed that the weather has changed here in Shanghai. It's got cold and wet. It's not cold, cold. I'm still walking about in a T-shirt and jacket, but it's pretty cold in my flat. The temperature is hovering about 18 degrees in my sitting room, just a bit too cold to be comfortable. The heating in most places in Shanghai is pretty feeble. As we're south of the Yangtze, it's thought that there is no need for heating. I don't agree. The heating in my flat consists of the air conditioning units, and a little portable electric heater. The problem I had – how do I get the air conditioning units to heat instead of cool? I got the remote control and started pushing buttons. Nothing happened. Eventually I worked out that the battery was flat, and no signal was being sent. Ooops! I got hold of another remote control, and pushed some buttons – and the units sprang in to life…… blowing cold air. I'll be alright in the summer. I couldn't get any hot air out of them at all, so have been cuddling hot water bottles and my electric heater all week. Desperate situations call for desperate measures, so I took the remote controller into work for translation. Yes! I now know that those squiggles there mean hot air! Things are a bit warmer in my flat tonight!!

I'm so tall here

The weather has changed this week. I was in my shorts last weekend, but I had to get my jumper out on Thursday. Last night I even had to get the heater out. Brrr! It was much nicer in Shanghai when it was warm - not hot, just warm.

 

It's so nice being in a flat of my own, and no longer in the hotel. Mind you, it was quite a few days before I got the place to myself! Work continued on the flat until Tuesday. It's all finished now, and I can start to settle in. It's just as well – as my stuff from Russia is arriving on Monday. It was a bit scary on Friday as I received an email from the removal company saying that the boat had arrived last Monday and my stuff had cleared customs, but that there was import tax to pay before I could get my stuff. I was intrigued by the calculation, though. The most expensive item was my 6-speaker surround sound system. The tax was £60 – about the same as I paid for it 3 years ago!! Another surprise was the £20 for 50 DVDs. The surprise – I had sent about 400!!! Luckily, it seems that Michelin will pay the tax. I'm so looking forward to being reunited with my stuff. I hope it fits in!! I've scouted out the bike park for Sheila's bike. You know – the bike I borrowed from her 5 years ago. It spent 3 years in Russia, and is now in China. I can't believe that I will be riding a bike in China. Mind you, with the traffic around here, I'm not sure how well I will cope. I will also have to register my bike, and pay it's road tax. I've had competing advice though, some folks think that the tax has been abolished, but I might have to go to the police station to ask!!

 

So, the flat: it's on the 18^th floor, and has 2 bedrooms, plus a bedroom/study. There's a smallish kitchen and a sitting-room/dining room with a balcony. There's a panoramic view of sky-scrapers. Oh, and there's 2 bathrooms! One of the bathrooms has a Japanese toilet. It's a combination toilet/bidet. I decided to see how it worked, so I plugged it in, and pushed one of the buttons. I was standing in front of the toilet, and saw a plastic tube move into the middle of the bowl, and squirt water – straight at me! My shorts and T-shirt were soaked in the couple of seconds it took for me to jump out of the way. The wall took the brunt of the power-wash until I pulled the plug out of the wall. Don't think I'll be trying that again for a while – well, I might have a go with the heated toilet seat!!!

 

I went out to get a pizza the other night – I don't have any pots yet!! There was a queue of 20 people outside Pizza Hut, can you believe that? So, I ordered take-away, and was told to pick it up in 30 mins. Hmm. What to do for 30 minutes? Oh, the pizza place in at the entrance to an electronics market, full of gadgets and computer stuff. What else could I do, but have a wander! The time just flew by, and I managed to resist spending – at least that visit!!

 

I went back to a DVD shop I'd visited with Sheila (where I'd been awarded a VIP card on my first visit!!!). Well, it's changed a lot. I walked in, and was then escorted to a door in the back corner, which my escort knocked on. The door was unlocked and I was allowed into the inner sanctum. It was full of people looking at DVDs. The selection was much poorer than it was the previous time, but they've probably had some problems selling dodgy DVDs! I'll need to try a few other places.

 

I've decided that it's no fun being tall!! Believe it or not, I'm one of the tallest people around!! I was brought home to me on Sunday night as I put a film in the DVD player and got the ironing board out. It was tiny!! I had to sit on the arm of the chair to be able to do the ironing. Who'd ever of thought?

 

I was getting a bit irritated last weekend, as the Chinese folk tend to just wander down the street. There's no sense of urgency, and you just walk as slowly as you can. There as so many of them in the street that it's really difficult to get past them all at a normal pace. This weekend, it got even worse. Unfortunately, the Chinese don't share my aversion to umbrellas, so as they were wandering and I was dodging, they kept hitting me in the head with the spokes of the brolly – ouch!!

 

It looks like I can't send photos to my blog. I'm not all out of ideas, but it'll just be words for a while. Humph!!

A flat ... at last

Scratch, scratch…..this week was so hectic that I'm only just getting around to writing down what I've been up to – sorry if you've been waiting!

 

The early part of the week was taken up with work. I was in work on Sunday, and then I had to work late on Tuesday. I was meant to be working late on Wednesday, but there were problems and the schedule got rearranged, and I got home on time! I was awfy glad, 'cos I was already tired out!! It was a bit of an adventure on Sunday. Until then, I had been getting the Michelin bus to work – it leaves from outside my hotel and drops me at the factory gate. I don't need to think, and can happily fall asleep. The bus doesn't run on a Sunday! Hmm. So I had to find my own way to work. I got on the metro line 1 to the end, then changed to metro line 5 to the end, and then got a taxi. Not complicated! It still takes about 90 minutes, though! Of course, there are no taxis waiting at the factory gate to take me to the metro station, and they're not keen for such a short trip, so I walked. It wasn't a big problem as it was a nice day – sunny, about 23 degrees. It took about 20 minutes, and then of course another 90 back to the city. I cheated a little bit, and jumped out early – to explore an area with some interesting looking places. Sunday afternoon – had to be the DIY/garden centre!!! I do miss my DIY. I haven't lifted a screwdriver in anger for eons. It wasn't quite B&Q, but not bad. (Seemingly B&Q has a couple of shops in Shanghai, but they found that the local market preferred the fuly- fitted service than the DIY service, so it's not quite the same.) After a wander about, I then headed off to IKEA. Yes, they have IKEA in Shanghai, and yes, it's just like IKEA in the UK (and Russia), but with EVEN MORE people in it!! I managed not to pick anything up on the way round the shop, and I was so glad – the queues at the checkouts were 15 people deep! Nightmare!! Well, it was Sunday afternoon.

 

I rewarded myself for all my hard work by going to a Brazilian restaurant. I first tried this place with Sheila when she was over. It's a great concept – the chefs barbeque the meat – lamb, beef, pork, chicken …, and then wander around the dinners serving it up.

 

The biggest event of this week was finally – after 3 months – I have moved into my flat. It was all a bit of a disaster. The landlord had done none of the things she'd promised, so the weekend was spend with people and things coming and going all the time – with washing machines, desks, internet connections …. I had to bail out in the afternoon to go and see my pal the dentist. I'm sure I've spent more time with her than with anyone else in China. That was the last time for a while, unless more teeth fall out! I made the most of my escape and started shopping for the flat. You know, those little luxuries like sheets, pillows, a duvet, towels, plates, cutlery … I was very keen to try out my new bedding! I was not at all impressed when I was woken up just after 7am on SUNDAY morning with the building work in the new apartment building next door ……….

Sleep was also a bit short on Sunday night - a mosquito had made it all the way up to the 18th floor, and proceeded to have a feast. I woke up scratching at 2am. Grrr! Of course, I couldn't find my Anthasan anywhere at that time of the morning. Scratch, scratch!

test with Koshka

Above photo taken on: 07 / 23 / 2005

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