Things in Shanghai are still going well. My first week is almost over and I'm exhausted. Not so much from the work but other things going on. WE closed on a place yesterday and got the place we wanted. It is close to the metro which is a HUGE benefit since I have to travel every morning. The other places we were looking at were twenty minutes away where the one near our house is 5 minute walk, right next to a DVD store, just picked up MIlk, Slumdog, Bolt, Hancock, Doubt an others for a mere $1 a piece. Our house is in an area called French Concession which have old tree lined streets. it is very pretty and you get a perfect mix of old China and Western influences. The house is what is called an old lane style house. It is not in a high rise, which there are HUNDREDS of around here, but rather in an old style apartment. We have a convenient store right across the street, a grocery store a block away, and we're only a 10 minute walk from Jamie an Juliana.
Our landlord is really nice and helpful. He lived in New York for 12 years so he likes Americans a lot. He kept telling us how corrupt China is and how if we can make it here we can make it anywhere. I can't get a good read on him if he's wealthy or not or just trying to play the role, hes in medical sales and talks about it a lot. He has helped us a lot though, for instance last night he drove us to IKEA just to be nice and helped us get our essentials, usually you'd have to take a cab. I was quite disappointed to come home and find that I got the wrong sheet size and am going to have to go back UGH. It's hard to get some things that are only written in Chinese but I can make do. It is also especially easy around where I live because there are a lot of French and English speakers who live there for business so a lot of the restaurants speak English. So do some of the street people for instance I was offered a "sexy massage, sexy massage," the other day that I passed up ha ha.
As far as work goes I'm trucking along. I have to come up with a lesson each day which isn't that hard considering I only have them from 15-30 minutes. The only hard part is that this week I have to do it all on my own but next week we will start next lessons and I will have a book to help aid me. I have a big chunk of time off in the middle of the day while the kids nap which sounds nice but is kind of annoying because I don't get paid. The school is to far from my house to leave and come back so I'm stuck here. I've looked into joining a local gym nearby so I can get into shape which would be nice. They also feed me lunch here which is surprisingly good. There is always a TON of rice, a soup, a vegetable, a meat, and a fruit. It's crazy when they put the rice and soup on the table because Chinese people don't wait in line so it's every man for himself but there's always enough.
Some funny things I've noticed:
1) The air is so bad here that people have bad sinus problems, for example I was sitting on the metro the other day and the man across from me just cleared both of his nostrils right on the ground of the metro. This is very common in public and quite disgusting.
2) Hygiene is not that important, kids come in the same clothes 3-4 days in a row and even adults don't keep themselves all that well.
3) Things are a lot more lenient in some instances. For example we had to go to the police station to register our apartment with the police. Our real estate rep went with us since she spoke English and helped us out. I only have a visa for 90 days and will extend it later and my roommate Adam has one for 180 days and will do the same. She was asking why we were signing a year lease if we only had a little time here and the agent told them that we have family coming for in and out of Shanghai for the next year and they don't even know the difference. Everything here is pretty much negotiable which is nice but can get a little out of hand sometimes
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