Tuesday

An early morning…. we had a 6:45am hotel departure to get to the office in time for 8am. The commute is only about 45minutes – but a bit unpredictable given traffic. Why aren’t we closer to the Intel site? There are 3 Intel sites in Shanghai: 1) there really is NOTHING out by the Zizhu Science & Tech Park (Lila’s office). (2) Visiting employees tend to stay in the Renaissance Hotel near ShanghaiMart (sales & marketing office), which is closer to the center of town , and (3) neither of us will work at the Pudong assembly site. Did you know Intel has over 7000 employees in China?
Lila’s work day was intense with back to back to back meetings. Karl had an exciting day though. At lunch, he moved from the beginner buffet line (Monday’s lunch adventure) to the advanced made-to-order noodle bowl line. Thankfully there was a few locals to help in translating everything. Karl and 2 other employees splurged for a combined total of < $2, while Lila skipped lunch because it was too expensive (and meetings prevailed). We were able to leave around 4pm and have enough time for a nap before Lila met someone who will be joining her team in December. By the end of the day, Lila had had about 24 meetings in a 2-day period, not unheard of - but definitely a lot to take in with a new job. By the way, the new job officially starts on 12/6.
Tuesday evening was dinner with a friend & peer of Lila’s, Caroline Pan, who moved to Shanghai about two years ago. We had a great Thai dinner in the French Concession neighborhood. That’s our favorite neighborhood so far because of the tree lined streets. After grilling Caroline for about three hours on everything to expect as an expat in China, we had a short visit to her house just minutes away. Thankfully we found her house to be a beautiful three bedroom, 2 bath condo, beautifully decorated – and within our expat housing budget range. Seeing Caroline’s house definitely reduced the stress of having to find an acceptable house in Shanghai. (Later we saw her complex is on our preview list for Friday.) For the shoppers out there, we have learned that there is a mall on every corner. It’s easy to understand why this city of 20M people is considered the most cosmopolitan of China’s mainland cities.