Over the past 10 days, we were thrilled to host several US friends in town.
In the last update, we mentioned our first anniversary celebration weekend. Karl arrived home with beautiful flowers on June 16. Our special evening was spent with David, a Palo Alto neighbor and fellow Intel co-worker who happened to be in Shanghai for 1 night only. To compensate for crashing our anniversary, David managed to negotiate 3 free bottles of alcohol from the flight attendants as a gift for us! It was really fun to catch up. Later that week, Lila had a girl’s night out of foot massages & tapas with 2 colleagues, including 1 who was visiting from the US. On Saturday, Abdul, Ahmad, and Len arrived from Santa Clara. We hung out at the apartment for a few hours before heading for dumplings with one of Lila’s Shanghai colleagues and mutual friend of Ahmad’s. We learned a few important lessons during that visit: 1) we need to stock our fridge with more beer for when people come over, 2) having 2 guest rooms is great! (both Abdul & Ahmad stayed with us), and 3) the espresso maker was by far the best investment we’ve made! Sunday, Karl went to a resort area with Ahmad and a few Shanghai-based folks to enjoy volleyball, swimming, and an amazing brunch. About 14 hours later, they had managed to also squeeze in a night of poker (Karl tripled his money! :)), KFC, and a foot massage. Meanwhile, Lila met up with Craig, Abdul, Jim, and Len in Shanghai before flying to Chengdu in Sichuan Province. (Will post separate blog entry for update from earthquake impacted region.) By Tuesday, Lila had returned to Shanghai to host 2 of her staff. Overall, a fantastic week for catching up with 8 US visitors . We also managed to get Sudafed, 4 bottles of wine, a lot of news, and a stack of new magazines out of everyone’s visits.
Aside from the visitor excitement, Karl spent 2 days in Beijing. He’s becoming a pro of visiting up North. He then flew to Hong Kong, where they happened to have a level 3 Typhoon warning,which later turned into Level 8 (severe). All businesses closed, so he was stuck at the hotel for the entire day. Fortunately around noon, they downgraded the warning back to Level 3 and the mall opened for business. He returned home, after no meetings, but with shirts and appropriate sized tennis shoes (hard to find in Shanghai). Lila also spent 4 days in Penang, Malaysia, for her boss’ staff. Even though it’s in the same time zone, it took an entire work day to travel there & another day to travel home. Fortunately the meetings went well despite the cold she caught. For both of us, the week was full of airport delays. The previous blog entry was just a foreshadow of the remaining 6+ hours of delay we would face later in the week.
Lila returned to Shanghai on Saturday, 6/28. Karl had prepared a wonderful BBQ dinner of sausage, corn, a baked potato, and a bottle of wine. It was fabulous. We were both pretty exhausted today, so we caught up on movies (Kung Fu Panda and Sex&the City) for the entire morning. In the afternoon, we managed to get out for a 3 hour walk to Jing An temple and around our neighborhood. Dinner was another BBQ – chicken, mushrooms and a Chardonnay. We typically ration our wine, but since this is a month of busy travel we’ve decided to indulge!
Work is going well for both of us. Lila is finally finding her groove, which has been a big issue given all the changes her organization has gone through. The past 6 weeks have been good as we’ve both had limited travel, but the next 2 weeks will be tough as Karl goes to Japan, while Lila is in the Middle East.
While Lila types this blog update, Karl’s reviewing his Chinese studies. The language remains very difficult for us, especially as we have limited opportunity to practice. Until the next update…
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Flight Prison
Both of us ended up on flights delayed by at least 3 hours today. Lila's flight from Chengdu was delayed due to weather in Shanghai. Karl's flight from Shanghai was delayed due to weather in Beijing. The majority of the delay was spent waiting on the plane. We gained some cultural insight: no matter what country, passengers everywhere get frustrated with long delays! At least in China, the attendants serve you food and drinks.
The following are text messages from Karl...
9:51PM: After 4 plus hours at the gate, I am starting to feel like a prisoner. There are reports of a plane scheduled for one hour later departure already touching down in Beijing. All the passengers are starting to revolt and complain extremely loudly. If they don't do something shortly we could all end up being stormed by the Chinese police to settle this group down. All they keep saying on the intercom is sorry for the delay. I can't believe this!
10pm: We now have 50+ people standing up and screaming at the top of their lungs asking for an explanation. The flight attendants are smiling and saying they don't have any more information. This is getting funny. I wish I understood some of this tragic, comedic dialogue!
Ps now every flight request button is being pushed!
Ps I don't see any police, but they must be on the way!
10:11pm: We are moving! Looks like they are moving us to a spot easier to storm. Or maybe we are going to take off? I'll tell you shortly!
Since that was the last message I received from Karl, I assume he's on his way to Beijing. However, if I don't hear from him in 24 hours, I will have to figure out how to contact the police.
The following are text messages from Karl...
9:51PM: After 4 plus hours at the gate, I am starting to feel like a prisoner. There are reports of a plane scheduled for one hour later departure already touching down in Beijing. All the passengers are starting to revolt and complain extremely loudly. If they don't do something shortly we could all end up being stormed by the Chinese police to settle this group down. All they keep saying on the intercom is sorry for the delay. I can't believe this!
10pm: We now have 50+ people standing up and screaming at the top of their lungs asking for an explanation. The flight attendants are smiling and saying they don't have any more information. This is getting funny. I wish I understood some of this tragic, comedic dialogue!
Ps now every flight request button is being pushed!
Ps I don't see any police, but they must be on the way!
10:11pm: We are moving! Looks like they are moving us to a spot easier to storm. Or maybe we are going to take off? I'll tell you shortly!
Since that was the last message I received from Karl, I assume he's on his way to Beijing. However, if I don't hear from him in 24 hours, I will have to figure out how to contact the police.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pet Peeves: Enough of the Niceties
We’ve moved out of the honeymoon period, and now are at the point of becoming more acclimated to Shanghai life. With that, comes some observations…
Top Pet Peeves
Top Pet Peeves
- Internet connection is s_l_o_w, unstable, and often blocked
(frequently websites are inaccessible, particularly blogs) - The food is awesome, but if there was ½ as much oil, it would still be too much
- Everyone talks SO loud – whether on the phone or to each other
(it really sounds like people are mad all the time) - It would be nice to have a cell phone connection that lasts more than 10minutes in a car
- Did we mention the rough toilet paper? As Nabeel said, "never underestimate the value of your a… "
- Spitting…and other bodily fluids and sounds: whenever. wherever. ICK!
Things that were pet peeves, but are now rather charming…
- Without their little crotchless pants, little kids peeing on the street wouldn’t be as cute
- The sheer size of Shanghai means there is much to explore. If you wake up early enough, you can even explore with only 10M of your closest friends. (Population estimates vary from 18-30M depending on who you ask, and what assumptions they have made about unofficial population numbers.)
- CCTV Channel 9 is affectionally called "propoganda TV"
- There is no shame in hanging laundry outside to dry for your neighbors to see, especially if it’s colorful undergarments
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Pix: Around Shanghai
Karl's pictures from around Shanghai:
http://www.liebat.com/gallery2/v/Karl/China/Shanghai_Summer_08
http://www.liebat.com/gallery2/v/Karl/China/Shanghai_Summer_08
Monday, June 16, 2008
Vietnam: Pix Posted
Karl finished posting his Vietnam pictures: http://www.liebat.com/gallery2/v/Karl/Vietnam/. We included the “whole-BBQ dog” pictures, so dog lovers skim pictures carefully.
One Year of Marital Bliss …and Change
June 16 marked our first wedding anniversary. What a year it has been! In the past 14 months, we sold Karl’s house in San Diego, bought a house in Palo Alto, moved Lila from Sunnyvale, got married with the most amazing wedding (ok, we’re biased :)), had job changes for both of us, and moved to China. It has been a wonderful and amazing journey for us.
We decided to take a weekend away to celebrate. About 2 hours outside of Shanghai is a town famous for its tea, lake, and beauty. Even Marco Polo is said to have commented on Hangzhou’s beauty. You’d never guess this town of 6M people would be so pristine and relaxing!
Although it was a rainy weekend, there was some occasional sunshine. We started with the Tea Museum, which was fascinating. As all good museums, it ended in the store – but not before a bit of tea tasting. During our honeymoon stop in southern China, we really enjoyed tea tasing –and were thrilled to try again. We settled our belly full of tea with a local meal out of someone’s house before continuing on to the Silk museum. The afternoon ended with Karl’s driver Peter dropping us off at the hotel for the night. After some relaxation, we ventured out for dinner. We were so excited to say enough basic things in Chinese that the wait staff understood us! The famous dishes were river shrimp in tea, beggars chicken (even Lila liked it), and a pork dish. Dinner was followed by a long walk around the city and a few mosquito bites, before returning to the hotel for a fabulous 2 hour massage.
Early Sunday morning, we went biking for ~3 hours around the lake and into the tea field countryside. The lake is gorgeous with bridges, pedestrian walkways, lily pads & lotus ponds, little islands, tai chi & dancers. It was so much fun! Our hotel package included a 30min massage – which was just long enough to be a refreshing end to bike ride. After brunch, driver Shen picked us up. On our way out of Hangzhou, we stopped in the old town with a visit to the Chinese Medicine Museum (absolutely fascinating with the history of medicinal cures based on plants and weird animal parts!). Hangzhou was great - we will definitely be back.
While we were away, our drivers and Ayi (maid -3x/week) kept our Shanghai life on track - dropping off dry cleaning, picking up our artwork that was being framed, buying groceries, etc. This is especially helpful given 2 careers + Lila’s 2 hour commute each day + Karl’s customer meetings. We find we have more time together living here. With all the changes, we’ve had to depend on each other more. We are exploring, learning, and growing together. It’s been an adventurous first year of marriage – and a very special one at that! May it be followed by many, many more. J
We decided to take a weekend away to celebrate. About 2 hours outside of Shanghai is a town famous for its tea, lake, and beauty. Even Marco Polo is said to have commented on Hangzhou’s beauty. You’d never guess this town of 6M people would be so pristine and relaxing!
Although it was a rainy weekend, there was some occasional sunshine. We started with the Tea Museum, which was fascinating. As all good museums, it ended in the store – but not before a bit of tea tasting. During our honeymoon stop in southern China, we really enjoyed tea tasing –and were thrilled to try again. We settled our belly full of tea with a local meal out of someone’s house before continuing on to the Silk museum. The afternoon ended with Karl’s driver Peter dropping us off at the hotel for the night. After some relaxation, we ventured out for dinner. We were so excited to say enough basic things in Chinese that the wait staff understood us! The famous dishes were river shrimp in tea, beggars chicken (even Lila liked it), and a pork dish. Dinner was followed by a long walk around the city and a few mosquito bites, before returning to the hotel for a fabulous 2 hour massage.
Early Sunday morning, we went biking for ~3 hours around the lake and into the tea field countryside. The lake is gorgeous with bridges, pedestrian walkways, lily pads & lotus ponds, little islands, tai chi & dancers. It was so much fun! Our hotel package included a 30min massage – which was just long enough to be a refreshing end to bike ride. After brunch, driver Shen picked us up. On our way out of Hangzhou, we stopped in the old town with a visit to the Chinese Medicine Museum (absolutely fascinating with the history of medicinal cures based on plants and weird animal parts!). Hangzhou was great - we will definitely be back.
While we were away, our drivers and Ayi (maid -3x/week) kept our Shanghai life on track - dropping off dry cleaning, picking up our artwork that was being framed, buying groceries, etc. This is especially helpful given 2 careers + Lila’s 2 hour commute each day + Karl’s customer meetings. We find we have more time together living here. With all the changes, we’ve had to depend on each other more. We are exploring, learning, and growing together. It’s been an adventurous first year of marriage – and a very special one at that! May it be followed by many, many more. J
Monday, June 9, 2008
Week of Action: from Texas to Taiwan, Grilling in China to being Generally Lazy
Karl in Texas: Beef, Jeans, and Espresso. That is what stands out in my mind from a 6 day trip back to Texas. I was in Texas for a staff meeting and had a chance to even enjoy some good ol’ American baseball. Driving? Well, I didn’t hit anything. After a month of not driving, it actually came back pretty quick thanks to basic American driving rules (China’s driving rules are more spontaneous). I was a bit surprised that gas prices are so high – even in Texas. In China, gas is a set price at $2.60/gallon , which means it’s costing the chinese gov’t billions of dollars. Per a blog we read, that policy won’t change until after the Olympics is over. While in the US also had a chance to do some shopping. There were a few key purchases. First, benedryl for the never-ending rash as it’s not approved for sale in China. Also used some of the final wedding gift cards to purchase an espresso maker. While we love the coffee at Starbucks here (they warm the milk!), at $3.20 for plain coffee (latte is ~$5) it was getting to be an expensive habit. And for Lila, they don’t open until 7am – well after she’s departed to work for her hour commute. The highlight – other than catching up with the team - good Texas food – BBQ, steak, Mexican!
Lila in Shanghai/Taipei: While Karl was in the US, I had my first weekend to myself in Shanghai. I have to admit it was a bit depressing not to have anyone to call or go out with. My one friend had in-laws in town. At the same time, I decided to enjoy some quiet time. As Nabeel (brother) said, “it was the ‘old Lila’ weekend break.” I spent a lot of time at the gym, working at coffee shops, running errands, cooking, and sitting outside. It was very mellow, and exactly what I needed. I also spent 4 days in Taiwan for the Computex event, arriving the morning after their earthquake. That’s 2 of 3 times I’ve been to Taiwan in the past month when there’s been earthquakes. Computex went well for us – a lot of customer meetings and a big launch. It was great to see some US friends as well.
Together in SH: Karl returned on Saturday afternoon, just in time for a major rainstorm. We had a home-cooked Vietnamese dinner with some of Lila’s colleagues. It was fabulous food and great company. They live on the Pudong (east) side of the river with nice views. We even got to see a little fireworks show from their pad. Sunday was Dragon Boat Festival holiday. A lot of places were closed, but we managed to get a few errands in. We took 3 of the Vietnam paintings and 1 Chinese embroidery (purchased at antique market) to be framed. We had a wonderful brunch at T8 restaurant, and for dinner we barbecued! Yes, we shipped over our grill, managed to get it switched to Chinese propane (regulators & connectors different), and voila! BBQ! It was awesome. Monday was a work holiday, and we pretty much stayed put. Karl didn’t leave the house and Lila only left to pick up some ginger, milk, & bananas at the street market behind our house (for a whopping $3 total). We got a lot done around the house – some of the final unpacking/organizing. Karl worked on photos, and Lila did some work. The cleaning lady came too. We’ve realized that we get so much time back in our lives together with having drivers and Ayi (helper) running errands for us.
Lila in Shanghai/Taipei: While Karl was in the US, I had my first weekend to myself in Shanghai. I have to admit it was a bit depressing not to have anyone to call or go out with. My one friend had in-laws in town. At the same time, I decided to enjoy some quiet time. As Nabeel (brother) said, “it was the ‘old Lila’ weekend break.” I spent a lot of time at the gym, working at coffee shops, running errands, cooking, and sitting outside. It was very mellow, and exactly what I needed. I also spent 4 days in Taiwan for the Computex event, arriving the morning after their earthquake. That’s 2 of 3 times I’ve been to Taiwan in the past month when there’s been earthquakes. Computex went well for us – a lot of customer meetings and a big launch. It was great to see some US friends as well.
Together in SH: Karl returned on Saturday afternoon, just in time for a major rainstorm. We had a home-cooked Vietnamese dinner with some of Lila’s colleagues. It was fabulous food and great company. They live on the Pudong (east) side of the river with nice views. We even got to see a little fireworks show from their pad. Sunday was Dragon Boat Festival holiday. A lot of places were closed, but we managed to get a few errands in. We took 3 of the Vietnam paintings and 1 Chinese embroidery (purchased at antique market) to be framed. We had a wonderful brunch at T8 restaurant, and for dinner we barbecued! Yes, we shipped over our grill, managed to get it switched to Chinese propane (regulators & connectors different), and voila! BBQ! It was awesome. Monday was a work holiday, and we pretty much stayed put. Karl didn’t leave the house and Lila only left to pick up some ginger, milk, & bananas at the street market behind our house (for a whopping $3 total). We got a lot done around the house – some of the final unpacking/organizing. Karl worked on photos, and Lila did some work. The cleaning lady came too. We’ve realized that we get so much time back in our lives together with having drivers and Ayi (helper) running errands for us.
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