Life in Shanghai is great. Although I am a bit out of it with the time change and some jet lag...I went to bed last night a bit after 4am and now I'm wide awake at 730am (all the construction outside of my window could be a factor as well) - hopefully I'll get used to it soon!
Remember in my last post, how I said that I hoped my bags would arrive in China with me? That was wishful thinking, because they are NOT here! Delta is driving me nuts and they don't seem to be quite as concerned about my bags as I am...although I'm not really missing too much, just clothes really, but it would definitely be nice to stop wearing just one pair of underwear, socks, shorts and the same shirt every day!
Updates on everything...
The roommates
Both Chris and Michelle are awesome. They don't seem to be too concerned with the tidiness of the apartment, but I've lived with John and Sean for the past 3 years, so I can handle it! Also, they both smoke cigarettes in the apartment, which kinda sucks (I don't really have the clout to be able to ask them to not smoke in the apartment yet...maybe in a week or two). They've showed me around the city a bit, and helped me with some various necessities (things like gaining access to my blog, getting a Chinese cell phone, finding out where to buy some deodorant, how to ride the metro, and explaining to me that taking photos of Chinese police officers is a huge no no) - so far, so good.
The apartment
Although messy, it is very nice. There are a few interesting rough spots that I'll quickly mention: the beds are a bit firmer than my personal taste, you can't drink the tap/shower water, there is a clothes washing machine but no dryer (i'll explain more later), and I have the smallest room out of the three. Nothing major, all things that I can easily live with, ya know. Michelle's room is very nice - she has the master bedroom. She gets her own full bathroom, television, balcony...the good stuff. Chris and I share the main bathroom. The beds are pretty huge though, so that's nice. The internet seems to be working pretty okay (now that I'm past that whole blocked sites thing). And I believe a cleaning service is coming through our apartment this afternoon. So over all, the apartment is pretty solid. Here are some pictures if you're interested:
<-- Here's my bedroom. I've got some nice orange sheets :-) It's a bit tight (small room, big bed) but it's nice.
<-- Bathroom...shower to the left, toilet to the right.
< -- Kitchen (a little dirty at the moment)
<-- Laundry room - Remember how I said that there's no dryer?
This is what everyone does instead...
...should be fun!
The city
Shanghai is a pretty excellent city. My apartment is located in the Xujiahui area, which is a great place to be. There are tons restaurants up and down the street that I live on (Tianyaoqiao Lu - lu means road), and it seems to be a very busy and happening area. Just a short walk away (literally around the corner) is the metro station - it's a very modernized subway with a variety of lines that go all over Shanghai and it seems even easier to navigate than many U.S. subway stations that I've been to. Food is always easy to find. I haven't yet decided if I should be stocking up on groceries or if I should just go out to eat all the time. Cooking does not sound appealing to me :-) and I'm not at all a good cook. Chris took me an awesome dumpling place called YANG'S FRIED DUMPLING - we got 4 good size, delicious dumplings for only ¥5 (about $.85), so it seems like a good spot to get food. It's fast too! A bunch of us (interns - Chris, Michelle, Sarah, Kim, Ibby, Gina, Rich, Rafael) went out last night, first to an Indian restaurant called Punjabi, then to a bar called Tara 57. The nightlife in Shanghai is looking pretty great. I've made good friends with a number of other interns, but I'm probably the closest with Rich (goes to and plays football at Davidson College in North Carolina). He got here yesterday afternoon and he and I have explored the city a bit together, trying to find good places to eat. So far Cafe 85 and Yang's Fried Dumpling are my two favorites. There are many KFCs and McDonalds in the area, but I'm trying to avoid them :-)
I start my internship on Monday, as my mother kindly posted :-) I also start my Mandarin language lessons (although those have most definitely unofficially started as I explore more and more of Shanghai) on Monday at 7pm.
If you want to know kind of where I am in Shanghai, type in "Shanghai Stadium" to a google maps search. I'm near there. It's not the 'downtown financial district' that you see in the skyline images of the city, but it's definitely pretty cool. And the Pudong area (downtown shanghai) is only a short metro ride away.
My apartment building is huge. It has 34 floors and my room is on the 16th. The elevator works really well :-)
Pictures of building and other random things:
<-- Here's the backyard of the apartment building...it's very nice. 
If you have any interest in ever sending me mail or anything for whatever reason, send it to:
Pat McCombs
515 Hankou Road
Hui Jin Tower, 10th Floor, Unit 1004
Shanghai 200001, Huang Pu District
People's Republic of China
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PMM
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