Shopping: We made it to Carrefour and IKEA on Thursday to buy basics, and back on Saturday to Carrefour for groceries. The only thing special about shopping at either location is doing it with your million closest friends. We learned never to go on weekends, unless you want to battle for bananas with 700 people.
When you don’t speak the language, shopping for familiar brands was the way we managed. One exception, however, was dishwasher soap. For 10minutes, we stared at shelves full of what said “dishwasher soap” but had pictures of hands or stacked clean dishes. We tried to ask people, but no one understood. Fortunately, about 20 minutes later, we found a European dishwasher soap in the next aisle (the hint was to remember the new tablets vs. liquid). Buying toilet paper was another challenge. No familiar brands, and the charmin squeeze test didn’t work on any of them. We went by price and picked the most expensive – which was US$4 for 12 rolls and still felt hard. The next day we found City Shop grocery store which is the high end foreign friendly store. They had charmin, but it was $2/roll of toilet paper. We guess our a$$ aren’t worth $2/roll afterall.
Chinese Conondrum: We had our first 2 hour Chinese lesson and were exhausted just trying to learn the basic sounds and 4 intonations (flat/high, rising, lowering, and lower+raise). We’d write more but don’t want to get discouraged. This language journey is going to be a long one.
Menacing Mattresses: After 1 night of “sleep” in our furnished apartment, we went to buy a new mattress. We’re convinced our wood floors are softer than the bed! The shopping journey took about a ½ day – longer then hoped. Imagine trying to purchase and arrange delivery of a bed when you don’t speak the language. We learned words for “longer” (given Karl’s feet hung over half of the mattress), “tomorrow” (for delivery), etc. We provided some entertainment for the mattress store people given the laughing and pointing going on. The good news is that we slept better with our new pillows, and the bed is arriving as scheduled tomorrow (or at least we think so). At the end, the store lady drug us upstairs to pick red envelopes off a silver Christmas tree. We had no clue what was going on. Imagine our relief when we realized Karl won 1000RMB (~120$US). The best part was the pay out was in cash.
Bonsai Bargain: Somehow we managed to tell Mr. Shen (driver) that we wanted to go to the flower markets. He drove us to the Pudong side (eastern side of river) to a 2-story flower market. We started with the fresh flowers that had beautiful arrangements, then got side-tracked with bonsai and orchids in the plant section. We purchased 2 amazing bonsai trees. One mini forest and one old tree. They’re really quite incredible and cost us less than $100. Karl also bought 3 types of orchids, including an unusual fragant one. A great stop for adding more life to our apartment.
Food Frenzy: We are living off guide books to find restaurants now. We’ve ventured off a few times to find things like a $1.50 breakfast with order of a coffee. Or, the food court downstairs from Carrefour for an awesome meal of ~$7. With IDF next week, some friends are in town and helping us explore. We tried the famous Laris at 3 on the Bund with Mark, Cameron, & Chris. Drinks were amazing, including Karl’s chili mango martini. Food was French-California style. Last night we met up Mark & Cameron again for margaritas at Zapatas, then found South Beauty in the French Concession. Lesson: never let Karl order at a Sichuan restaurant unless you LOVE spice. The dishes, full of chili peppers flavored with shrimp, chicken, or tofu, left us wishing we’d spent the $2/roll for charmin ultra soft! The meal ended with birds nest soup served in papaya. Karl ordered based on picture, not price. For those of you who’ve eaten this, you know it comes with a pretty price tag.
Random Settling In: Getting the apartment situated is a lot of work. We’re pretty comfortable and happy with the place so far. The location is very convenient to downtown areas and walking around. TV quality leaves a lot to be desired, so we found the DVD store where copies are sold for ~$1/ea. Mark also found a tailor in our neighborhood and took Karl along to order some slacks. The internet is generally slow, but we did get our vonage phone set up.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Early Relocation Days
The past few days have been a whirlwind. Jetlag has hit hard and prevented us from sleeping through the entire night. Some highlights:
BANK ACCOUNT: Surprised how easy it was to set one up – if you speak the language. Fortunately, relo services helped us. It was quick, easy, and cheap – though we still wonder what type of account we really have?! For a mere 10RMB (~$1.50/yr), you too can have a Chinese bank account. You can also use any bank’s ATM machine for only 20cents versus the $2-$3 fee in the US. Wells Fargo allows us to transfer money for free to the Agriculture Bank of China, which happens to be ~2 blocks from our apartment.
DRIVERS: Intel provides us with drivers, which is a great thing since we have absolutely NO desire to drive in Shanghai. It’s insane with streets full of the 20 million or so people and people turning left from the middle lane. We’ll have one full time driver and one part-time given our varying work site locations and hours. We asked for an English driver who doesn’t smoke. We talked with 4 drivers, 3 of whom smoke and only 1 could speak broken English. We chose the latter gentleman and a very eager and pleasant driver who we will learn to communicate with. Both know there is no smoking in cars. We didn’t pick the driver with the 2nd rated English ability (managed Hello, How are you, and Goodbye) because his car smelled like an ashtray. The last one had the best car and didn’t smoke, but lives 1 hour away and didn’t want to work early hours.
APARTMENT VISIT: Yesterday we got our apartment keys and gym registration. While we were unloading our suitcases, they went to the local police station to get us our neighborhood registration. We love the fact that people will run errands with us, versus us standing around for 1 hour understanding 1 minute of what transpires in the translation service. That’s pretty much how the apartment check-in went too. Our relo assistant went through some laundry list with the apartment manager while we stood around getting a 1 second summary of a 5 minute conversation. After a while, we started doing our own thing – moving furniture around and unpacking. The apartment itself is really nice. We’re pleased with the location – right off a main shopping street. We also like the apartment a lot, even though it’s a bit sterile with minimal furniture and no pictures. Tomorrow we’ll visit Ikea and Carrefour to load up on basics so we can officially move in. Kind of hard to live there without soaps, toilet paper, plates/cups, etc.
HEALTH CHECK: Can you say assembly line?! This is a requirement for immigration. The whole “adventure” took a mere 2 hours for EKG, blood, ultrasound, chest x-ray, eye test, and general exam (including a “surgery check” to make sure we didn’t have scars on our bodies). Imagine 20 male and female strangers in robes – with no tops/bras on underneath, just slacks – being moved from room to room. Even the sitting area for each room was funny. One person goes in, everyone shifts down a seat. It was all ok until the very last 2 rooms which freaked Lila out, because very rude doctors yelling at her in Chinese. For example, Lila has had her blood pressure checked about 3x in the past month. It’s been great each time. Today, the doctor yelled at her “Relax! Relax!” because her blood pressure was so high. Karl loved the rude doctor who performed the ultrasound, shoving him onto his side so she could ram the sensor into his rib. Aside from those 2 rooms, we think it went well. We did learn that doctors’ unintelligible handwriting is a universal phenomenon.
FOOD: Hotel living has given us a chance to check out Shanghai’s famous culinary delights. With the help of our favorite travel guide, Frommers, we have embarked on best of Shanghai dining. Highlights include: The Door (Best restaurant Architecture), Crystal Jade (Best Chinese Dumplings), Element Fresh (Best healthy lunch), and tonight we will try Lapis Lapis (Best all around restaurant). Everything has been great since this portion of the trip is covered by the company’s expense reimbursement plan!
BANK ACCOUNT: Surprised how easy it was to set one up – if you speak the language. Fortunately, relo services helped us. It was quick, easy, and cheap – though we still wonder what type of account we really have?! For a mere 10RMB (~$1.50/yr), you too can have a Chinese bank account. You can also use any bank’s ATM machine for only 20cents versus the $2-$3 fee in the US. Wells Fargo allows us to transfer money for free to the Agriculture Bank of China, which happens to be ~2 blocks from our apartment.
DRIVERS: Intel provides us with drivers, which is a great thing since we have absolutely NO desire to drive in Shanghai. It’s insane with streets full of the 20 million or so people and people turning left from the middle lane. We’ll have one full time driver and one part-time given our varying work site locations and hours. We asked for an English driver who doesn’t smoke. We talked with 4 drivers, 3 of whom smoke and only 1 could speak broken English. We chose the latter gentleman and a very eager and pleasant driver who we will learn to communicate with. Both know there is no smoking in cars. We didn’t pick the driver with the 2nd rated English ability (managed Hello, How are you, and Goodbye) because his car smelled like an ashtray. The last one had the best car and didn’t smoke, but lives 1 hour away and didn’t want to work early hours.
APARTMENT VISIT: Yesterday we got our apartment keys and gym registration. While we were unloading our suitcases, they went to the local police station to get us our neighborhood registration. We love the fact that people will run errands with us, versus us standing around for 1 hour understanding 1 minute of what transpires in the translation service. That’s pretty much how the apartment check-in went too. Our relo assistant went through some laundry list with the apartment manager while we stood around getting a 1 second summary of a 5 minute conversation. After a while, we started doing our own thing – moving furniture around and unpacking. The apartment itself is really nice. We’re pleased with the location – right off a main shopping street. We also like the apartment a lot, even though it’s a bit sterile with minimal furniture and no pictures. Tomorrow we’ll visit Ikea and Carrefour to load up on basics so we can officially move in. Kind of hard to live there without soaps, toilet paper, plates/cups, etc.
HEALTH CHECK: Can you say assembly line?! This is a requirement for immigration. The whole “adventure” took a mere 2 hours for EKG, blood, ultrasound, chest x-ray, eye test, and general exam (including a “surgery check” to make sure we didn’t have scars on our bodies). Imagine 20 male and female strangers in robes – with no tops/bras on underneath, just slacks – being moved from room to room. Even the sitting area for each room was funny. One person goes in, everyone shifts down a seat. It was all ok until the very last 2 rooms which freaked Lila out, because very rude doctors yelling at her in Chinese. For example, Lila has had her blood pressure checked about 3x in the past month. It’s been great each time. Today, the doctor yelled at her “Relax! Relax!” because her blood pressure was so high. Karl loved the rude doctor who performed the ultrasound, shoving him onto his side so she could ram the sensor into his rib. Aside from those 2 rooms, we think it went well. We did learn that doctors’ unintelligible handwriting is a universal phenomenon.
FOOD: Hotel living has given us a chance to check out Shanghai’s famous culinary delights. With the help of our favorite travel guide, Frommers, we have embarked on best of Shanghai dining. Highlights include: The Door (Best restaurant Architecture), Crystal Jade (Best Chinese Dumplings), Element Fresh (Best healthy lunch), and tonight we will try Lapis Lapis (Best all around restaurant). Everything has been great since this portion of the trip is covered by the company’s expense reimbursement plan!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Shanghai Arrival
We made it to Shanghai today! This is a great accomplishment given a four hour delay – in the plane / on the ground – to fix the food elevator at San Francisco Airport. The flight itself was a mere 12 hours; not too bad. We love the Shanghai airport’s efficiency. The immigration line was super quick. They have a voting system so you can rate your first interaction with Chinese airport staff. Can you imagine giving a US Immigration Officer a “Greatly satisifed” smiley face rating?!
Our six pieces of luggage were among the first off the carousel. We thought surely we’d be hit up by customs officers toting the suitcases and 4 pieces of carry on luggage we had. Alas! We made it through without any issue. Two drivers were waiting for us from the moving company. They insisted on helping us push our carts to the cars. Imagine a rather frail man pushing a cart with 4 American size suitcases up a mini ramp. Almost like a predictable B movie, the cart toppled over…twice. Hopefully no wine broke! We’re now on our way to the hotel for a few days why the finishing touches are made to our apartment.
“It’s weird not having anything on my calendar. It’s even more weird that we’re in a traffic jam at 9pm.” –Karl
Our six pieces of luggage were among the first off the carousel. We thought surely we’d be hit up by customs officers toting the suitcases and 4 pieces of carry on luggage we had. Alas! We made it through without any issue. Two drivers were waiting for us from the moving company. They insisted on helping us push our carts to the cars. Imagine a rather frail man pushing a cart with 4 American size suitcases up a mini ramp. Almost like a predictable B movie, the cart toppled over…twice. Hopefully no wine broke! We’re now on our way to the hotel for a few days why the finishing touches are made to our apartment.
“It’s weird not having anything on my calendar. It’s even more weird that we’re in a traffic jam at 9pm.” –Karl
Sunday, March 23, 2008
March 23: Move + Easter + Birthday
In following with tradition from the past 4 years, we decided to spend Lila's birthday on an airplane. The week leading up to the 23rd departure made us wish we had yet another week to get ready. It was unbelievable that we actually managed to get moved out of the house, after 3 days with the movers and 2 days packing on our own. Who knew we had so much?! Our house has been rented to a couple expecting their first child any day. Friends have bought our TV, receiver, kitchen cart, and a few other small items. Our cars are with Roadsport in Campbell, where Clint (car broker) will sell them for us. Nabeel & Asha are holding a few suitcases for our future US trips, and Mark is bringing 2 over for us in a couple of days. About 2000 lbs of our life is at sea, and the remainder in storage.
We moved to a hotel on Wednesday, then to the city on Friday. Karl arranged Friday night dinner at Michael Mina for Lila's birthday. We had a great time - highly recommend the restaurant! On Saturday, Karl went out on the bay with Jacques, while Lila was back at the house running last minute errands and made time for her last hamburger with Mel & Hai. Later that night, a few friends met us in the city for dinner and drinks. It was a great way to celebrate Lila's birthday and our send-off.
The trip was also a good forcing function for Lila to finally get her new drivers license and passport. She's traveling to China as Lila Ibrahim Liebat. It's interesting to have a middle name after so many years. Hopefully the matching last names will make things easier for us as we travel around - and of course, Karl is thrilled.
We moved to a hotel on Wednesday, then to the city on Friday. Karl arranged Friday night dinner at Michael Mina for Lila's birthday. We had a great time - highly recommend the restaurant! On Saturday, Karl went out on the bay with Jacques, while Lila was back at the house running last minute errands and made time for her last hamburger with Mel & Hai. Later that night, a few friends met us in the city for dinner and drinks. It was a great way to celebrate Lila's birthday and our send-off.
The trip was also a good forcing function for Lila to finally get her new drivers license and passport. She's traveling to China as Lila Ibrahim Liebat. It's interesting to have a middle name after so many years. Hopefully the matching last names will make things easier for us as we travel around - and of course, Karl is thrilled.
Friday, March 14, 2008
What were we thinking?!
Karl’s friends had a surprise happy hour party for him on Wednesday, while many of them were in town for training. Karl thought he was going to grab drinks for an hour with Mark Parker and Lila. Meanwhile, ~30 Intel friends gathered at Faultline to wish him a happy deportation.
On Thursday, Lila kicked off the Santa Clara Women at Intel's 2008 speaker session with a 45 minute speech, followed by Q&A. Karl showed up in the audience - much to Lila's surprise. The first question dealt with balancing work and family life. After a brief response, Lila called on Karl to answer. That will teach him to show up at Lila's talks!
The big news of the week, however, was that reality hit. What were we thinking...agreeing to move to China?! We just got married. We just bought a house. We're finally settling into somewhat of a routine. Who will live in our house and buy our cars? How will we make new friends, learn a new culture/language/city, and adjust to living overseas? Lila's been through it before, but it's definitely different being older, more set in her ways, a home-owner, and wife. There's so much to do in the next few weeks....
On Thursday, Lila kicked off the Santa Clara Women at Intel's 2008 speaker session with a 45 minute speech, followed by Q&A. Karl showed up in the audience - much to Lila's surprise. The first question dealt with balancing work and family life. After a brief response, Lila called on Karl to answer. That will teach him to show up at Lila's talks!
The big news of the week, however, was that reality hit. What were we thinking...agreeing to move to China?! We just got married. We just bought a house. We're finally settling into somewhat of a routine. Who will live in our house and buy our cars? How will we make new friends, learn a new culture/language/city, and adjust to living overseas? Lila's been through it before, but it's definitely different being older, more set in her ways, a home-owner, and wife. There's so much to do in the next few weeks....
Sunday, March 2, 2008
All-in-One Party: House Warming + Going Away
What great fun! We somehow managed to pull off our “all in one” party last night, even with Lila arriving from Shanghai yesterday and dinner plans with friends last night. Around 100 of our co-workers and friends joined us – from southern California, Folsom/Sacramento, and around the Bay Area. We started a bit early (4pm) since many friends were coming from out of town, with the last group leaving around midnight.
The menu included barbecue from Andys, baklawa from Shatilla bakery (Michigan), and Ohio’s famous chocolate buckeyes. Thanks to our moms for exporting the latter 2 items to California. Special thanks to our friends for helping us celebrate the new home and new move. It was a very fun celebration for us. Unfortunately, just as we're figuring out how to host parties, it's time to leave.
The menu included barbecue from Andys, baklawa from Shatilla bakery (Michigan), and Ohio’s famous chocolate buckeyes. Thanks to our moms for exporting the latter 2 items to California. Special thanks to our friends for helping us celebrate the new home and new move. It was a very fun celebration for us. Unfortunately, just as we're figuring out how to host parties, it's time to leave.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
