We're making some headway now. You'll notice in this picture that we got a sheet of plywood under the puzzle. We were getting tired of not being able to eat at the table.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Puzzle Progress 1
Here's a little taste of the glamorous lifestyle we're leading here in the big city. We have a 2000-piece puzzle we've been working on for the last couple of weeks. It's been pretty slow going but we've made some pretty good progress the past few evenings.
Here's what it should look like when it's finished. It's kind of hard to tell but it's a collection of soda cans. 
Monday, August 20, 2007
How to get a soft bed in China
We've been pretty busy since we arrived here in Shanghai and we've had some crazy experiences. Everyday - sometimes several times a day - something happens that leaves you shaking your head. I would like to pass all these along but they often slip our minds by the end of the day or we just don't get around to it. Here is a good one from a couple weeks ago.
Our apartment was supposed to be ready when we arrived. The day after we landed here, we met with our realtor and the leasing agent from our complex to do a walk-thru, inspect everything, and take possession. Well, the place was close to being ready but a few things were missing - like most of the furniture. However, they did have all the beds set up.
Now I have to stop here to explain something. In China, the mattresses are hard. I don't mean they're firm - these things are like rocks. Sleeping on these suckers is like sleeping on the floor. So when we made an offer on this place, we told them we wanted soft mattresses. They told us this would not be a problem as they had some in the warehouse. Now back to the story.
While doing our walk-thru, we noticed that one of the mattress was still wrapped in plastic but two of them weren't. At the time, we didn't think much about it and went ahead with the inspection. Later after everyone had left, we took a little closer look at the unwrapped mattresses and it appeared that they weren't new. They weren't old and ratty but they did look a little worn. We brought this up with the leasing agent and her response was, "Of course they're used. You said you wanted soft mattresses." Apparently the only way to get a soft mattress in China is to let someone else wear it our first. In her mind, she was giving us exactly what we asked for. Needless to say, we told her that this wasn't going to work and the next day we had brand new mattresses. I guess it just proves the old sayng, "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it."
Our apartment was supposed to be ready when we arrived. The day after we landed here, we met with our realtor and the leasing agent from our complex to do a walk-thru, inspect everything, and take possession. Well, the place was close to being ready but a few things were missing - like most of the furniture. However, they did have all the beds set up.
Now I have to stop here to explain something. In China, the mattresses are hard. I don't mean they're firm - these things are like rocks. Sleeping on these suckers is like sleeping on the floor. So when we made an offer on this place, we told them we wanted soft mattresses. They told us this would not be a problem as they had some in the warehouse. Now back to the story.
While doing our walk-thru, we noticed that one of the mattress was still wrapped in plastic but two of them weren't. At the time, we didn't think much about it and went ahead with the inspection. Later after everyone had left, we took a little closer look at the unwrapped mattresses and it appeared that they weren't new. They weren't old and ratty but they did look a little worn. We brought this up with the leasing agent and her response was, "Of course they're used. You said you wanted soft mattresses." Apparently the only way to get a soft mattress in China is to let someone else wear it our first. In her mind, she was giving us exactly what we asked for. Needless to say, we told her that this wasn't going to work and the next day we had brand new mattresses. I guess it just proves the old sayng, "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it."
I can access the blog now...
I have found a backwards way of seeing our blog now. Unfortunately I still cannot get to some features. I can see that someone has left a couple of comments but I can't read them. If anyone wants to leave comments, please email them to me at baamick@gmail.com. Thanks.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Morning bike ride
Kristi and I got up early and took a ride around the neighborhood this morning. Here are a couple of pictures of some of the things we saw.
Here is a guy walking around with two sacks of turtles. I think he was selling them and I would guess they are for cooking, not for pets. I tried to get him to stop for a picture but he waved me off so I snapped one after he walked by. The sewer worker in the photo stopped him and appeared to be admiring his wares. I can only imagine what the conversation was like. "Hey, those are some nice turtles you've got there."
"Thank you for noticing"
"That one right there looks like he'd make a great soup."
"Oh no. That one is young and tender and will make some great kabobs. This old one here will be for soup."
Here is a sign that hangs over the street a couple of blocks from our apartment. You may not be able to read it but it says:Economize the energy resources,
The realization keeps on the development,
Develop the ecosystem industry,
Improve the ecosystem environment
Perhaps something is lost in translation.
These last pictures are a little distrubing. I wanted to get a picture of the church we are attending over here. When we rode up, we noticed that one of the widows was broken. It's pretty obvious that it is a case of vandalism, which is suprising. From what I've seen, the locals really don't pay any attention to the church. Of course, I'm assuming it was a local but it could have just as well have been a Westerner. It'll be interesting to see if anything is mentioned about it at church tomorrow.
Please email me...
if any of the posts or pictures here are not showing up correctly. I still cannot access this blog from our house so I can't see how the posts look online. Please let me know if anything is messed up. Thanks.
If it was easy, everyone would want to do it.
Excuse me mornig good I am now butwith go to buy the skyood I am now butwith go to buy the sky and raise the air.
No, I haven't gone off the deep end. This is a text message Kristi received from Shen Bo, our driver, earlier this week. Over here, you pre-pay for your cell phone minutes and are charged for every call. However, text messages cost a fraction of the cost of a phone call so people text whenever they can. Shen Bo's English skills are not that good so for the first week or so we would always call him but now we are trying to use text messaging. I made up a cheat sheet listing some common messages I might send him, such as "come to our home" in English and in Chinese. But I didn't give him anything he could use to text me. The message above is his first effort at sending a message to us. I don't know if he used a Chinese to English translator or if he typed this in himself but I bet he spent a considerable amount of time on this and was probably quite proud of himself when he was finished.
After scratching our heads for a while, we finally realized that the message makes sense - well, kinda makes sense. The previous day, I had asked Shen Bo to go pick up a bottle of propane for our grill. I think he was trying to tell Kristi that he was on his way to do this. "Buy the sky and raise the air" means buy some propane, which is a gas similar to air. At least that's what I think he meant. If anyone has any other ideas about what it might have meant, I would be glad to hear them.
No, I haven't gone off the deep end. This is a text message Kristi received from Shen Bo, our driver, earlier this week. Over here, you pre-pay for your cell phone minutes and are charged for every call. However, text messages cost a fraction of the cost of a phone call so people text whenever they can. Shen Bo's English skills are not that good so for the first week or so we would always call him but now we are trying to use text messaging. I made up a cheat sheet listing some common messages I might send him, such as "come to our home" in English and in Chinese. But I didn't give him anything he could use to text me. The message above is his first effort at sending a message to us. I don't know if he used a Chinese to English translator or if he typed this in himself but I bet he spent a considerable amount of time on this and was probably quite proud of himself when he was finished.
After scratching our heads for a while, we finally realized that the message makes sense - well, kinda makes sense. The previous day, I had asked Shen Bo to go pick up a bottle of propane for our grill. I think he was trying to tell Kristi that he was on his way to do this. "Buy the sky and raise the air" means buy some propane, which is a gas similar to air. At least that's what I think he meant. If anyone has any other ideas about what it might have meant, I would be glad to hear them.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Lots of catching up to do...
OK...it looks like I've found a way to post here even though I can't directly access this site. As the title of this post says, we have a lot to catch up on. You could say that we've had a pretty eventful week. Let's start with our trip over here and try to get everyone up to date.
We checked out of the place we were staying in Madison on Monday morning, July 30. I've got to stop here to tell everyone again - if you ever have friends or family who need a place to stay in Madison, we highly recommend you call Sam at the Hendricks-Beall B&B. You will be well taken care of (and well fed). Anyway, back to our story. We made it to the airport and checked in without a hitch, especially considering we checked 12 bags - several of which pushed the 70 lb. limit. Our flights were smooth, connections were on time, and we actually arrived in Shanghai a little early. We had no problems with the customs and immigration checks and all our luggage even showed up. At this point, however, the trip took a turn for the worse. We were supposed to have two vans meet us at the airport - one for us and one for all the luggage we brought with us. Well, we found our driver but he know nothing about a second van. So there we are with five of us (counting the driver) and something like 18 bags with only one van. Oh yeah, this would be a good time to mention that the Pudong airport has to be one of the hottest places on earth. We were able to squeeze all the bags in, then we all piled in for a nice, sweaty ride to the hotel. We found out later that Shirley, my HR rep, forgot to schedule the second van but we made it work.
So, 26 hours after we pulled out of Madison, we're finally at the Ramada in Pudong. We stayed at this hotel back in June and it's definitely not one of the better ones in Shanghai but it's only two blocks from our apartment so it's really convenient. When I made this reservation in June, I told them exactly which room I wanted. I should clarify here - these are suites with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Two bathrooms means two showers, right? Well, for some reason, at the Ramada both showers are in one bathroom. Now don't get me wrong. We like each other just fine and I like to think we're a close family. But we're not so close that we're going to double up when it comes time to take showers. So, from previous experience I knew which rooms had showers in each bathroom and they assured us that we were getting one of those rooms. Needless to say, they lied. Of course, one would probably be available the next day and we could have it then. And of course, I knew this was a lie too but at this point, we're just want to get some sleep so we go along. The room has been closed up with the air conditioning off so we turn on the AC, crank down the thermostat, and - nothing. They didn't bother to tell us when we checked in that the air conditioning in the whole building was messed up. It was working but just barely. It would be like trying to cool your house with your car's AC. To make a long story short, we made it thru a restless night, checked out in the morning, and headed for the Marriott. Oh yeah, we got to cram the 18 bags in the van again. Believe it or not, the guy at the front desk when we checked out just couldn't understand why we didn't want to stay there for another two weeks or so. After one night at the Ramada, the Marriott was like heaven.
I mentioned our driver earlier so let me tell you a little about him. There are two ways to get a driver here. You can interview them yourself and try to find one who suits you or you can take your chances and have one assigned to you. Well, I told Shirley what I wanted in a driver and left it up to her. She did the screening and sent me a couple to choose from. We ended up hiring a gentleman named Shen Bo. He is 30 years old, married, and expecting his first child this fall. He drove a taxi in Shanghai for three years and spent the last four driving for some German expats. He is safe (unlike many Chinese drivers), clean and polite (unlike many Chinese men), and knows where everything is in this city. He speaks very little English, but we are still able to communicate and get where we need to go. He's really pretty sharp. Somehow he always manages to get the best parking spots. And when he drops us off at a store, he's always waiting for us at the exit. Some of my Dow Corning colleagues went thru 4 or 5 drivers before they found a good one so we're very fortunate to have a driver like Shen Bo.
Now, back to our story. The day after we arrived, we met our realtor and checked out our apartment. It's pretty much ready - we're just missing a couple pieces of furniture. In the meantime, we settled into the Marriott while we wait for our stuff to arrive from the States. Before we can get our shipment, we have to get an import permit. Unfortunately, we have to get our residency and work permits in hand before we can even apply for the import permit. This whole process will take up to a month so we probably won't see our stuff until the first week of September.
In the middle of all this, we got work that Kristi's brother, Mike, was having some medical problems. He hadn't been feeling well even before we left home and had an appointment to see his doctor Monday. However, Sunday he was having trouble breathing and went to the emergency room. His kidneys were failing and lungs were messed up so he went to Norton's Hospital in Louisville. He's spent the last several days on a respirator in an induced coma. It took a few days to diagnose but it looks like he has Goodpasture's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease. It's still touch-and-go but it looks like he is turning the corner. He's still looking at several more weeks in the hospital, followed by many months of recovery. It's really been hard on Kristi because she can't be there to support and help her family. She fighting the urge to catch the next flight home but has decided to sit tight for the time being. Of course, any and all prayers are greatly appreciated.
Even though the Marriott is nice and we don't have any dishes, pans, blankets, or pillows, we went ahead and moved into our apartment this weekend. It's going to take a while to get everything set up and we're still eating most of our meals out but it is so nice to finally be in our own place. I'll try to post some pictures of our apartment soon so keep checking back here.
We checked out of the place we were staying in Madison on Monday morning, July 30. I've got to stop here to tell everyone again - if you ever have friends or family who need a place to stay in Madison, we highly recommend you call Sam at the Hendricks-Beall B&B. You will be well taken care of (and well fed). Anyway, back to our story. We made it to the airport and checked in without a hitch, especially considering we checked 12 bags - several of which pushed the 70 lb. limit. Our flights were smooth, connections were on time, and we actually arrived in Shanghai a little early. We had no problems with the customs and immigration checks and all our luggage even showed up. At this point, however, the trip took a turn for the worse. We were supposed to have two vans meet us at the airport - one for us and one for all the luggage we brought with us. Well, we found our driver but he know nothing about a second van. So there we are with five of us (counting the driver) and something like 18 bags with only one van. Oh yeah, this would be a good time to mention that the Pudong airport has to be one of the hottest places on earth. We were able to squeeze all the bags in, then we all piled in for a nice, sweaty ride to the hotel. We found out later that Shirley, my HR rep, forgot to schedule the second van but we made it work.
So, 26 hours after we pulled out of Madison, we're finally at the Ramada in Pudong. We stayed at this hotel back in June and it's definitely not one of the better ones in Shanghai but it's only two blocks from our apartment so it's really convenient. When I made this reservation in June, I told them exactly which room I wanted. I should clarify here - these are suites with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Two bathrooms means two showers, right? Well, for some reason, at the Ramada both showers are in one bathroom. Now don't get me wrong. We like each other just fine and I like to think we're a close family. But we're not so close that we're going to double up when it comes time to take showers. So, from previous experience I knew which rooms had showers in each bathroom and they assured us that we were getting one of those rooms. Needless to say, they lied. Of course, one would probably be available the next day and we could have it then. And of course, I knew this was a lie too but at this point, we're just want to get some sleep so we go along. The room has been closed up with the air conditioning off so we turn on the AC, crank down the thermostat, and - nothing. They didn't bother to tell us when we checked in that the air conditioning in the whole building was messed up. It was working but just barely. It would be like trying to cool your house with your car's AC. To make a long story short, we made it thru a restless night, checked out in the morning, and headed for the Marriott. Oh yeah, we got to cram the 18 bags in the van again. Believe it or not, the guy at the front desk when we checked out just couldn't understand why we didn't want to stay there for another two weeks or so. After one night at the Ramada, the Marriott was like heaven.
I mentioned our driver earlier so let me tell you a little about him. There are two ways to get a driver here. You can interview them yourself and try to find one who suits you or you can take your chances and have one assigned to you. Well, I told Shirley what I wanted in a driver and left it up to her. She did the screening and sent me a couple to choose from. We ended up hiring a gentleman named Shen Bo. He is 30 years old, married, and expecting his first child this fall. He drove a taxi in Shanghai for three years and spent the last four driving for some German expats. He is safe (unlike many Chinese drivers), clean and polite (unlike many Chinese men), and knows where everything is in this city. He speaks very little English, but we are still able to communicate and get where we need to go. He's really pretty sharp. Somehow he always manages to get the best parking spots. And when he drops us off at a store, he's always waiting for us at the exit. Some of my Dow Corning colleagues went thru 4 or 5 drivers before they found a good one so we're very fortunate to have a driver like Shen Bo.
Now, back to our story. The day after we arrived, we met our realtor and checked out our apartment. It's pretty much ready - we're just missing a couple pieces of furniture. In the meantime, we settled into the Marriott while we wait for our stuff to arrive from the States. Before we can get our shipment, we have to get an import permit. Unfortunately, we have to get our residency and work permits in hand before we can even apply for the import permit. This whole process will take up to a month so we probably won't see our stuff until the first week of September.
In the middle of all this, we got work that Kristi's brother, Mike, was having some medical problems. He hadn't been feeling well even before we left home and had an appointment to see his doctor Monday. However, Sunday he was having trouble breathing and went to the emergency room. His kidneys were failing and lungs were messed up so he went to Norton's Hospital in Louisville. He's spent the last several days on a respirator in an induced coma. It took a few days to diagnose but it looks like he has Goodpasture's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease. It's still touch-and-go but it looks like he is turning the corner. He's still looking at several more weeks in the hospital, followed by many months of recovery. It's really been hard on Kristi because she can't be there to support and help her family. She fighting the urge to catch the next flight home but has decided to sit tight for the time being. Of course, any and all prayers are greatly appreciated.
Even though the Marriott is nice and we don't have any dishes, pans, blankets, or pillows, we went ahead and moved into our apartment this weekend. It's going to take a while to get everything set up and we're still eating most of our meals out but it is so nice to finally be in our own place. I'll try to post some pictures of our apartment soon so keep checking back here.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Access problem
Sorry about the lack of activity here on the blog but I can't access the site from our hotel. I am posting this from my office. These are the little things that remind me that I am in an environment where some personal fr**d*ms are restricted. Anyway - I will update as I can from my office and perhaps once we are in our apartment, I should have access from there. If not, I'll switch to another hosting service. In the meantime, you can still email us. Looking forward to hearing from everyone.
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