7/8/06 ~ First week of work

My first week of work went well. This week was mostly spent reading and coming up to speed on the project, providing feedback on planning documents for the payroll conversion and making suggestions for establishing a help desk and procedures, and how to implement change request procedures.

Yesterday I had lunch at KFC with several coworkers. It’s amazing how the food tastes the same as in the U.S. but the chicken was a little greasier (as far as I can remember since I haven’t eaten at one since who knows when). The restaurant we ate at was quite large, 2 floors, with a children’s playground. I was told this KFC had the highest sales record of any store in the world. The corn-on-the-cob was served on stick (think corn dog), which I thought was quite practical. Plates weren’t used, the chicken bones are just put on the table (I put mine on a napkin).

There was also a group of high-school students hanging out at the KFC. They dressed up like popular cartoon characters to entertain the kids. My colleagues said this is quite normal, and the students just do it for fun.

I asked how concerned they were with bird flu, and if chicken sales/consumption has declined. They sort of just laughed, and said that eating chicken was such a staple for the Shanghaienese diet and eaten almost daily.

At some point I’ll probably eat at a Pizza Hut and Taco Bell as well, more for the experience of than the food itself. Seeing Chinese wearing sombreros and serving nachos just seems rather humorous to me. And the pizza toppings are different than the U.S., with items available such as shrimp, peas, chicken and egg (as well as the usual mushrooms, peppers, salami, pineapple, and ham).

I was so looking forward to the weekend, but it’s Saturday around noon and Shanghai is experiencing massive thunderstorms and downpours, so I don’t really feel up to being a tourist and getting my camera wet. But I am so ready to explore more than this 5 block radius. And I have my itinerary all planned. Hopefully the rain will let up soon.

My computer microphone also has malfunctioned, or I’d be calling everyone to pass the time away. You can still leave me a message as I can hear, just not talk (which might actually be appealing to a lot of my family and friends).

I’m trying to get an exercise routine started to work off some of this great food, so I used the pool last night and did treadmill this morning. I went out for Taiwanese the other day and the lunch special consisted of the most delicious shredded lamb with sautéed red and green peppers and onions along with a bowl of rice, cucumber salad, watermelon and some warm cream/mushroom dish (which I didn’t eat) and iced tea – all for the grand total of $3.50.

Compare that to the cost the hotel wants to charge for doing my laundry: $5 per skirt, $4 per blouse, and $2 per underclothes/socks. So this morning I did some laundry in the shower. It brought back memories of living in the dorm in Kazakhstan and life on the road during the Slavic Trip. But I’ll try to find a local laundry place with local prices.

I’m trying to learn at least one new Chinese word a day. I’ve got the basics down: good morning, thank you, please, hello, my name is, how much.

More soon…