Weekends in Shanghai

Weekends in Shanghai offer no shortage of things to do and see.  For me, its a balancing act of exploring but not doing too many things that I want to share with Adam, my family and other guests in the future!

Luckily, on Saturday, I had a partner in crime - Kimberly, another Lilly 6 month-er from Indy, working in Global Health Outcomes.  She is about a month ahead of me, so we are both still exploring!  It always great to have someone to run around with.  Our first stop was at the South Bund Fabric Market.  I visited this for the first time last weekend, and I'm sure will have many more in the future as I get brave enough to have some clothes made.  However, today's task was Kimberly's first fitting for a traditional dress she was having made for a wedding coming up.

The beautiful silk patterns!

Next, we headed towards the Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar.  Mostly, I just wanted to see where this was and what was going on.  I've heard great things about the Yu Gardens and wanted to check it out before I attempt to take Gretchen next weekend!  More picture to come when we really explore it!

View of Pudong from outside Yuyuan Gardens

The streets of Yuyuan Bazaar 

Next, we headed to the Bund area.  The buildings along the Bund once housed numerous banks and trading houses from many different nations.  It was initially a British settlement, but was eventually combined with the American settlement as the International Settlement.  The architecture is very cool and it radiates with history!

Buildings along the Bund

The reason we headed to this area was because Kimberly had heard about this open mic thing at a place called Glamour Bar.  When she invited me earlier this week, I was like oh yeah great! I love live music! However, she said no actually its poetry! Oh wow - not really my thing, but ok well I've already committed so I just went with it.  Its better than hanging out by myself on Saturday afternoon!

Glamour Bar

I was skeptical as first, but the Glamour Bar turned out to be one of the coolest places I've seen in Shanghai.  The space is extremely unique and amazing views of the Bund area.  Aside from a being a really cool bar, they also have a ton of books and do a Saturday book exchange - I will have to remember this! The company also has a restaurant upstairs that has rooftop dining and the views.  This will be next stop for Brunch when I have my first guest!

View of the Bund from Glamour Bar

Beautiful backdrop for the poetry reading.

Next, we each headed home for a little rest.  We met back up and headed over to Steffanie's house (my boss).  They were having a potluck with several people from their church.  It was wonderful to meet some more new people and I'm so grateful that Steffanie and Darren opened their home to me! There were about 10 people from all over the world - Brazil, Korea, London, Singapore, and us! We had chili and Krispy Creme donuts - it was awesome!  Kimberly and I finished the successful day with foot massages at Green Massage! yes, please!

Ever since last Saturday when I discovered Element Fresh at the Kwah Center with an awesome outdoor dining space, I had been craving one thing on the menu.... the Elvis Presley, they call it.  Peanut butter and banana french toast! amazing!  I headed there early Sunday morning about 10am, because I know how busy they get and the outdoor tables are hard to get.  I had decided I would take the subway but when I got out of the building I realized it was too nice of day to go underground.... so I decided to walk the 25 minutes to build up my appetite.  Mission accomplished! I was starved when I arrived, but got a perfect table and camped out for a couple hours - reading and enjoying my bottomless cup of coffee.  

Brunch at Element Fresh

From there a decided to give it a second try at walking around the French Concession.  Last weekend, I was not really there - but I did a little extra research this time.  From the picture you can see the beautiful trees lining the street - I knew I had found it.  Really looking forward to when they bloom, even though my allergies will probably wig out.  I found a ton of cute cafes, restaurants, and shops - that I hope to go back to when Adam gets here!

street in French Concession

A few other funny things that happened today....

Well, I guess I know where to go if something doesn't agree with my stomach!

A local pharmacy advertising Cialis on the store window.
Somehow I don't think this is an approved promotional material!

I attempted laundry for the first time today.  I didn't realize that that 2.20 on the screen is actually the number of minutes that the wash cycle will take... 2 hours and 20 minutes! I have 35 to go - I'm anxious to see what took so long.  Oh, and then I will start the dry cycle, which will probably take double that.  So inefficient, but has to be cheaper than sending it all out to be washed! That "laundromat" style at the Continental isn't looking so bad after all!

Absolutely no English on this thing and really uninformative pictures! hmmmm...

And finally, bad news my friends... the day has come.  No more episodes of Glee available on Netflix. :( Guess I will have to get started on something new while I wait until my first episode of Season 2 downloads from iTunes (currently 5 hours remaining).  Boo for slow download speeds! 

Really looking forward to having my good friend Gretchen visit next weekend, after the audit trip to South Korea.  Adam will be here in less than 3 weeks, time is starting to fly.  Hopefully Hannah can come for a few weeks this summer! All visitors welcome - when else are you going to know someone living in an awesome apartment in Shanghai, China??? Make it happen!

HotPot...yummmmmm!

Its been a productive week here in Shanghai - both professionally and personally I think.  Work wise, we are cruising along getting the legal entity funded and operational.  I had a few interesting experiences... We submitted our paperwork to open our bank accounts on Tuesday.  Luckily, with Miss Cherry Ma by my side, we made the trek to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) to get our Foreign Exchange Certification, required to open accounts.  There was absolutely no English going on at this place.  Actually, I'm pretty sure SAFE will become very familiar to me over the next 6 months.  SAFE regulates everything related to foreign exchange - including requiring us to provide detailed documentation every time we want to convert our USD injection into local currency RMB.  This is going to be time consuming and we are going to have to be organized! Again, I'm so lucky to have great support at the affiliate, Cherry and also, Sherry - the tax manager, she has only been with Lilly  4 months, but spent many years at PWC in the building next door.  She knows tax law in China in and out - and it's severely complicated.  Anyway, we then made our way over to Citibank to submit the account opening documents. Ah, I have forgotten to explain the "chop" concept.  Essentially, each document has to have a stamp or "chop" to be considered authorized.  Its a huge deal, and a pain because our company chop resides at the LRL office - about 40 minutes from the office where I sit.  Thanks goodness for the couriers! This link explains it a little bit better!  So now the bank accounts are open, we just have to wait for the capital infusion from Corporate Treasury - then, not surprisingly, there is about 7-10 days of paperwork and approvals - a Capital Verification report by an independent audit firm + SAFE approvals - then SAFE approvals for the conversion to RMB.

Also, this week, I attended my first meeting ran entirely in Chinese.  Most meetings and conversations at the affiliate at least begin in English, but often move to Chinese when someone needs to better explain themselves.  For my sake, they usually move back to English eventually.  The meeting we had this week was with the Zhangjiang Group.  This Group recruits companies to establish companies and operations in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park.  The Group's role is to assist the companies entering the park in achieving specificed incentives, such as tax exemptions (VAT and customs), favorable subsidies for employees including transportation and living, as well as assistance with other government subsidies and exemptions.  They won't be doing anything for us, but helping inform and guide us along this process.  Luckily, we had 6 people (Legal, Tax, Procurement, Scientist, Operations, Finance) from the team in the meeting so many ears heard the important information and I had several people that could translate for me when it was over.  It was enlightening to try to understand the conversation sheerly off body language.  You have to be patient - and admittedly it was hard to stay engaged.

Personally, I tried a few new restaurants this week and got some true Chinese food.  Lunch here in China is approached very differently that at home.  At home, the convenience of the cafeteria at the office is great, and makes things very easy in the city we live.  The days get very full and working through lunch is very common, unless you make a point to set specific lunch meetings.  Here in China, going out to lunch is a daily activity - often longer than an hour and sometimes up to 2.  People use this as a time to socialize, network, but mostly get out of the office, have a walk and get some air.  Its so refresshing and relaxing.  The pace here is very fast, the cultural differences cause us to be "on display" at nearly all times in the office - so the mid-day break has been much needed thus far. Luckily the office is very nicely located in area with many many different types of food.  I had a couple lunch outings with colleagues this week... Tingting took me for some real Chinese food - we had Spicy fish, frog lips and green beasn - along with plum juice to take out the heat that the fish stung my lips with.  Tingting, the financial planning manager, got her MBA at Duke and has been with Lilly about 2 years.  She is very easy to talk to and it makes it easier that she has lived in the US.  She and her husband got married last summer as well, so we  have a lot in common in our lives right now.  We planned to go out with our husbands when Adam is here in 3 weeks (whoo hoo!).

Hotpot at Tokyo Japanese Cuisine

Also, I had the opportunity to try hotpot for lunch at Tokyo.  Its very similar to fondue, however, everyone gets their own pot and the cooking liquid is soup rather than oil.  This is so yummy! Very easy to eat and you can make up the dipping sauce however you like it - peanut, spicy, soy sauce, garlic, cilantro! This restaurant is right across the street from my apartment, which is great, and I even had it again for dinner another night!  And cheap too - all this for less than $8!

The last tidbit I wanted to share this week is my view every morning as I'm blow drying my hair.  Interestingly enough, there are no outlets in the bathroom, but conveniently a special mirror built into the desk in my bedroom.  Luckily, this is right by my window so I can gaze down at the city.  I am on the 31st floor of 38 in my building, and have a great view over the area and on a clear day can see the skyscrapers for miles.  However, it wasn't until this week that I looked directly down just blocks from my building.

I realized that at about 8:20 each morning, you can see some pretty  interesting sights.  First, in Huai Hai Park (top left) you can see the older locals doing their Tai Chi.  They move in unison, but each offering a little different spin on the movements.  I will try to get some up close pictures over the next week.  Also, I found out there is an elementary school in the block across from my building.  Each morning to start the day, all the students file out into the school yard to do synchronized stretching.  They stand in perfect lines and all move together.  It almost reminds me of the military. Its kinds of creepy really - but very indicative of the culture here.  I try to catch a glimpse every morning and it reminds me to get in a few stretches of my own to start the day.

TaiChi in Huai Hai Park

Local school children - morning streching

Finally, after a lunch one day I took a stroll around the small lake next to the office.  It was almost 80 degrees and sunny.  Similar to home I hear - this makes it feel like we aren't thousands of miles away!

Don't mind if I do!

Well, I made it through the first 3 days of official work here in Shanghai. I felt that I needed to reward myself - plus my back has been a mess since I arrived.  It could be the hard as a rock bed, extremely anti-ergonomic work station (I won't have a desk until April 18), or just the shear stress and uneasiness of this place. I've been hearing a lot about the massages here, the low price, but varying quality, and I felt like I needed to start figuring out what will work for me.  I am spoiled when it comes to full body massage... I usually get one once a month at the Spa at the Villa in Indy (Jeff does wonders), so I am no stranger to the 60-min deep tissue massage and I hoped I could get something similar.  I had heard from a colleague that Green Massage, a place really close to the office was good and really professional, an important characteristic here in China, as many places are, well, rough around the edges.  So, I stopped in on the stroll home from work about 7 on Friday evening - and they said they could get me right in - great!  They had a host of different offerings, but the catch is you have to buy a "membership" - essentially pre-pay a bunch and then work down the credit.  I went with the lowest one - RMB3,000, which will get me about 10 60-min massages, at under half the price at home.  I was committed to going with the package and was working out the details with the girls at the desk - when a familiar face walks out refreshed and relaxed.  It was the General Manager of Lilly China (highest person at Lilly China), a French man, who tells me "oh so great, best place in town, you have found it!" This was very reassuring!

It turned out great, very clean, professional and he went to work on my back - just what I needed!

On Saturday, I didn't do much - went for a stroll around an area called the French Concession.  It was area different than any I have seen here, but yet, still bustling with many people on a Saturday afternoon.  All kinds of restaurants and shops line the streets, and many consumers lining the narrow sidewalks.  I enjoy the weekends in Shanghai because you get to see all the cute little Chinese children out with their families.  I get lots of stares all the time around here, but I don't mind when its from children - even when it feels like they are looking at me like I am from another planet!  The stroll finally led to lunch at Element Fresh - a staple for the ex-pat in Shanghai. It was my first experience at the place I had been hearing so much about, and boy were they right! Fresh yummy food with lots of variety - plus fresh juice and smoothies - gotta get my fruit! I finished up the walk with a stop at L&J Nails - I deserved a pedicure after all the walking.... Unfortunately the day took it out of me and I went to bed around 7pm - not so good for the jetlag adjustment, as I was up at about 4am Sunday.....

Sunday... after a morning workout and skype with Adam and the parents, I was off to brunch with Kathleen and Malorie.  Kathleen is the girlfriend of a friend of mine from IU who has worked in Shanghai on and off for over a year. She is local Shanghainese and amazing to have around.  Malorie is a friend of Michael and Kathleen - she is originally from Colorado but has been in China for about 18 months - currently she is working at a company like groupon that is getting into the major markets here in Asia - pretty interesting set up.  Anyway, we met for brunch at a small little Italian place, called Osteria, not too far from my apartment.  Kathleen had made reservations for us at a spa that happened to be just next door! Even though I had just has a massage, I couldn't say no! It was only like $25 for a 60min massage... this place was more localized but still the girl did a good job.  She kept telling me how beautiful I was... I could get used to the place... just wait til they see Hannah Stewart, talk about beautiful!

Kathleen and Malorie post massage

Next, we took a taxi down to the South Bund Fabric Market.  This place was unreal.  Stalls and stalls of tailors and clothes makers ready and willing to make you whatever your heart desires.  Dress suits, shirts, silk shirts and dresses, tweed coats, wool coats, formal dresses, linen any way you can imagine it, as well as local traditional Chinese attire.  It was bit overwhelming and I was only interested in getting the lay of the land during this trip and will not be scouring the web trying to find the perfect thing to have made.  More details to come on this in the future...

The final stop of the wonderful little Sunday afternoon was securing me a local Chinese phone.  It pretty easy here, and even easier when you have a friend that can speak in Chinese to the woman at China Mobile.  We managed to get me the cheapest phone in the case, but boy does it bring back memories...

It even has snake! T9 is hard to remember!

The afternoon ended with Kay and Mal sending me on my way for my first subway or "Metro" ride.    We boarded to Metro at People's Square the biggest station in the line with 20 exits to the street...it was packed and wild busy even on a Sunday afternoon! I can't imagine rush hour times! Luckily, I made it home safe and will probably try it again...

Metro sign at Huangpi Lu - my home stop!

Well, after my first dinner ordered to the office (Element Fresh again!) and 8pm call with Indy, I'm ready to call it a night! Good news is, I think I'm finally adjusted to the jetlag... no more excuses! 

Peace and love!

A Shanghai day

Today I had what my manager called a typical Shanghai type day.  Stressful, confusing, urgent.

My manager is Taiwanese born, grew up in California, but speaks Mandarin.  We worked together for about a year in Indianapolis before she and her husband accepted assignments at the affiliate office in China about 1.5 years ago.  She is wonderful to work with and since she is Western its making the adjustment to China much easier on me.

Our biggest and most urgent task at this time is the opening of the permanent bank accounts so we can get our major capital investment into China from corporate.  The opening of the bank account is essential to continue the process of registration with various government entities as well as being able to start carrying out activities of the Research Center - like paying bills we have been delaying! Opening a corporate bank account is a very complicated task here. There are over 20 required documents, about half are issued from various government entities which we have been gathering over the last 2 months.  The other half are original application forms issued by Citibank that must be authorized by our Vice President.  Over the last couple of weeks, I have been working through the account opening checklist from Citibank and thought I had everything I needed to get the account open.  Through a conversation on Wednesday, I found out there was a whole other section that required the VP's authorization - and she was leaving for the US for  2 weeks today at 12:30!! We could not afford to wait another 2 weeks to get this process going.. After a day and a half of trying to get ahold of Citibank to issue us the original forms, we finally got to them at about 11:15am.  

This triggered a crazy couple hours for me... I immediately packed up my stuff and raced to Citibank to get the documents.  Luckily, Cherry - the Treasury Specialist, agreed to accompany me because she deals Citibank very often, and as she said, they may not be able to speak English to you very well. She was a life saver! So, we rush to the bank, then jump back into the taxi to head to the Research Office in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park which was about 30 minutes away.  We got out to the office just in time for Bei to sign the 10 or so documents.  I did not have time to fill out all the many details in the forms, but we had to talk through it all for her to be comfortable with signing the mostly blank forms.  I don't think I've done justice to explain the hectic-ness and stress that I felt over the 2 hours this trip took!

The paperwork running around was stressful... but the best part for me was the time in the taxi with Cherry.  She graduated from a university in Shanghai in 2009 with a degree in Accounting.  She also joined Lilly directly after school, but she had to apply with the company on her own and even take an accounting test before being hired.  She said that at her school, Lilly only comes on campus to recruit sale reps, and that the school's main focus is architecture - but this is a field more suitable for men.  We had a chance to exchange many details about ourselves and our lives.... a few things I learned - like most Chinese her age she has moved back in with her parents, mostly men do the cooking and cleaning (lucky!), she has never been outside China, she began learning English at age 10, she takes a bus about 1 hr to work everyday each way.  Cherry made this day and taking care of business possible for me! She said she would let me take her out to lunch sometime soon - Chinese food!

Also, I finally made it to the grocery store tonight... I picked up pasta, sauce, bread, milk, tortilla chips, salsa, brie, and crackers for about RMB360 - about $55 - yikes! Nothing like dinner of chips and salsa :)

Now to get to sleep with honking horns below... even noisy on the 31st floor!

What a small world it is!

What a small world.... a phrase we use often in our daily lives and sometimes in a context that's not all that hard to believe.  Today I truly learned how small the world is...

Of course my biggest concern before leaving for Shanghai last weekend was where to catch the NCAA national championship basketball game.  Watching it would have been a priority regardless, but seeing the local team play was essential.  So what did I do? Google: "NCAA basketball Shanghai" The closest and most suitable looking place was a Canadian owned bar called Big Bamboo... sounded safe enough and they would play the game live in the morning.  I got there around 8:40am to a nearly empty place... I asked if basketball would be on and she said of course! I took a table to myself, although I was tempted to ask a few nice looking people if they needed any company.  But - I told myself, play it cool, first day - plus they might be rooting for UConn.  I ordered a waffle - served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!  Shortly before the game two men walked in - very American looking, we said hello, I said I was cheering for Butler because I was from Indianapolis.  The younger guy said - no way I live in Broad Ripple... WHAT ARE THE ODDS? So we get to talking, I work at Lilly etc they are UPS pilots on layover just got in this morning.  We swap a couple of names and we have a common friend, a former co-worker of mine.  We had actually hung out before once at another friends house... small small world it is.  I guess not that surprising at a Western bar watching college basketball - but that we actually had a common friend really made it ironic.

So, we watch the unfortunate loss by the Bulldogs and Brock asks me if I'd like to tag along while he does some "shopping" at the 580.  So named for the address 580 Nanjing Rd. I have found the motherload... or at least a start.  You name it they have it there.... bags, glasses, jerseys, watches, scarfs - all knock offs of course but some good looking stuff.  He took me to all the people he uses every time he comes (UPS has a listing of the best booths!) and helped me haggle and talk them down.  I made a few purchases and I'm really happy with my first experience.  We spent 20, 30, even 40 minutes at some spots - talking with the people, looking at products, asking for more, telling them no no too much! You would be talking to them for 10-15 minutes then they actually bring out the goooooood stuff - more real, authentic and you start the price convo all over again. I was having sensory overload - so many options, so much to see... it helps to know what you want and how much you are actually willing to spend for it.  For any visitors I may have..... look at pictures, bring pictures, so we have some where to start.

My stash from Day 1 at the 580

Also, I picked up some DVDs for $2 each from Oscar across the street.  I have yet to check the quality of the 2 movies I picked up (both were up for Best Picture), however, I did snag the Adele CD which is fabulous.  I heard her on pandora recently and was excited to get the full CD.

After a full day of shopping at the 580, Brock invited me to dinner with him and the other 2 pilots in his crew. We headed to a favorite of theirs close to their hotel, Coconut Paradise Thai Cuisine.  It was great and apparently very popular.... we had to be out by 7pm because they have a reservation list that lasts all night after that time! Will be keeping the card for that place....

Brock and me at Coconut Paradise

On that note, business cards are serious here.  The minute I got home I stashed a bunch in my purse and will not leave home without them - everyone exchanges. Its a great way to exchange contact information quickly and other expats are generous to share.  At John's watch booth on the 4th floor of the 580 we met a couple originally from Vancouver that has lived in Shanghai for 3 years, they said they had bought 75-100 watches from John and validated that I got a decent deal on the watch I bought.  Graham offered his card and Indy, his wife, said to call anytime.  I'm feeling good about this place so far....

First day of work tomorrow, if only I could just play in Shanghai!

Arrival in Shanghai

A few pictures of my first day in Shanghai... pictures of the apartment, mostly for my family!

Imagine me trying to maneuver these (by myself) through the airport!

big closet! thank goodness!

 

 The 31st floor offers a pretty nice view.  It happened to be a pretty "clear" morning with the sun shining! Great way to wake up..

View of the Jin Mao and SFWC (Shanghai World Financial Center)
which are across the river in Pudong.

A new adventure begins...

I arrived safe and sound in Shanghai on Monday afternoon.  The apartment is wonderful - clean, spacious and brand new! I'm all unpacked and settling in.  I will be up early tomorrow morning headed to a bar to watch the NCAA national final game - go butler!  It is a holiday here in China, so what else would I be doing that watching basketball??

The holiday is the Qingming festival and similar to a Memorial Day that we observe in the US.  The Chinese people spend the day visiting the graves or burial grounds of their ancestors.  Although I will not be participating in this activity, I will be enjoying the day off work and unfortunately making it up with the rest of the local population next Saturday! Making up holiday days off on the weekend? You got it.

Hopefully I can sleep tonight after the long commute!