7/15/06 ~ New Digs

Currently playing on my RIO is S.O.S. Band: "Weekend Girl"

Not much to report. I had a mellow week at work. But unfortunately, the woman I was to work closely with, Helen Xu, is leaving Yum in one month to attend a Master’s program in Investment Banking at Columbia University in New York. So I have to get up to speed on everything about being the project manager.

We went to lunch on Friday for a typical Chinese lunch: shrimp dumplings, fish rice soup (which is really tasty, much to my surprise), a cold vegetable similar to a broccoli stalk with spinach-like leaves (I don’t remember the name), pork meatballs, deep fried shrimp spring rolls, and this very sweet and very purple jello-like dessert with unknown nuts in it.

I met one of only two other Americans (both women) who work for Yum in Shanghai. Paula is the Finance Controller. She has been here for 9 months and lives in the Marriott Executive apartments that I had originally considered. She has offered to go on some weekend day trips with me outside of Shanghai using her driver and guide, which I will take her up on.

I had been warned that my body would need time to adjust to the different foods and I’d probably have stomach problems, but I have been very lucky so far and feel great. I even use the hotel water to brush my teeth. But I do drink bottled water, which the hotel provides, and there is a water dispenser at work.

I’ve tried two different Chinese red wines. Dynasty and Grand Dragon Cabernet. The Dynasty is actually pretty good, and reminds me a lot of the Turkish wine Villa Doluca. The Cabernet is kind of weak and a little sweet for me. It was a known gamble at $2.50 a bottle. But the buzz is all right.

I am able to listen to Sirius satellite radio through my laptop, so that is quite cool. (Although I did contemplate stopping my subscription once Bill Walton left.) Even with the 5213 songs I have on my laptop/RIO, I can always use some alternatives. I listened to the pre-release event of a Phish concert in its entirety from Brooklyn in 2004. Although I like the band, and I did enjoy hearing Trey play at the Jerry Garcia Tribute Rex benefit in Berkeley this past September, I can say I am not a Phish-head.

I changed rooms in my hotel today. I am not on the Executive Floor…yet. I liked the room I had previously, but it had an adjoining door to the neighboring room, and it was a smoking floor. Well, last night, I got sick from smelling the smoke from my neighbors, and also there had been some other guests who had been quite loud, coming home all tipsy in the wee hours of the morning. As a working gal, I need to get my rest.

My new room is very similar, but I have less drawer space, there aren’t as many “western” outlets, the bathroom isn’t nearly as nice (no set of speakers, not as nice faucets) and the safe is too small for my laptop. But I’ll see how it goes. The advantages to the room are it has a couch for lounging and a table that my jigsaw puzzle will fit on, and I’m not overlooking the construction site.

I bought a new camera today until I can get my Nikon repaired. I bought a Canon PowerShot A620. The sales guy spoke ok English. I did very well at haggling over the price, and feel I got a fair deal. The real advantage for me in purchasing the Canon is that I will be able to buy an underwater case in the future to take better pictures when I’m snorkeling, as well as the size.

So here a couple of pictures of my new view.

These two activities took up most of my Saturday. Also, it’s raining again. Tropical Storm “Bilis” has arrived. Hopefully the weather will be clearer tomorrow as predicted. But maybe the Chinese weather forecasters aren’t any better than those in the U.S.

Here’s a story I read in the China Daily newspaper: There is a chimpanzee, Xiku, that became addicted to cigarettes while a member of a circus. He is now in a zoo, and signs are posted to not throw cigarettes at him. So what are the zookeepers doing to help quell his addiction? Giving him beer and nuts every day! Yeah, that’s much healthier.