Week One Recap

One week down! WOW! Talk about a busy week! From medical checks to residency permits, this week has been both exhausting and educational. We are absolutely loving Shanghai!

On Sunday, Tim and I had to get medical checks in order to apply for our residency permits. This involved a medical history questionnaire, blood sample (OUCH – I hate needles), chest x-ray, eye examination and an EKG. It really wasn't THAT bad, except for the needles AND for the fact that the exam wasn't until 2:00 PM, and we couldn't eat after midnight the day before; however, Tim’s super nice school had chocolate chip cookies for us after the exam was over. Let me tell you – a cookie never tasted so good!

Monday was pretty entertaining. I had my first interview with a Chinese company. Now, I have been in my fair share of interviews and never have I ever been asked my weight, height, marital status, monthly rent or family economic status. I know this may be typically in China, but it took me by surprise. About two minutes into the interview I knew it was not for me; however, it was a good experience and makes for a funny story.

On Tuesday, Tim visited his school for the first time. It is a pretty modern facility with a lot of emphasis on technology. The commute to school involves a 10 minute walk to the metro station, a two minute metro ride, metro transfer, 10 minute metro ride and concludes with a five minute walk. That’s big city living for you! Tim’s classmates are from 40 different countries so it has been really interesting learning about their backgrounds and what interested them about China.  

Wednesday was registration day for Tim. He left at 8:00 AM and didn't return until 9:30 PM. It was a great day to get to know his classmates better and get a better feel for the program. He is super excited about starting classes! (Nerd ;-) Since Tim was away all day, I went to the store to buy cleaning supplies. We are living in a hotel for the year (I’ll do a post about that later). Even though we have weekly maid service, I still felt the need to give the room a good scrub down. It took about three hours to do our room, but it was worth it. Tim came home that night and was shocked at how good it smelled!

Thursday was a pretty relaxed day. We tend to be early risers, so we have been going on walks every morning around 5:00 AM (part of that is jet-lag). Chinese people seem to be very hard-working. You would think it was 10:00 AM that early in the morning. Street vendors are cooking food, opening their stores and the retired ones are playing badminton and practicing Tai Chi. At the end of our walk, Tim tried what I think is called youtiao (油條 –literally translated oil stick) which is a fried bread stick. Tim described it like funnel cake without the powdered sugar. He said it was tasty but VERY greasy!

Friday was a patience-trying day. We had to go to the Entry/Exit Bureau in the Pudong district of Shanghai. On the third floor of this building is where all foreigners have to apply for their residency permits. Since Tim’s school arranged transportation to the bureau, I tagged along. We waited for about 50 minutes until our numbers were called and then stood in line for another 45 minutes just to find out we needed to get our pictures taken on the first floor before we could apply. I am still not sure why, but we followed orders and went to the first floor. After our pictures were taken we stood in line for another 45 minutes and handed in all the paperwork needed to apply for our permits. 

I asked Tim what most surprised him about China so far and he said the amount of people. He said he knew there were a lot of people in China, but didn't understand what ‘a lot’ was until he experienced it for himself. 

Week one was a blast and very trying at times, but it is all part of the adventure, right? The whole tourist thing is really growing on us.