Pasty White Glory

Alright, so it's 5 PM of my first full day in Shanghai! Today has been a blast so far, and also very exhausting. I know I mentioned it in my last post, but I'm going to mention it again: It is very, very hot here. At one point, I couldn't help but think, ya know, maybe I'm being rude to my body, forcing it to function in the weather. Maybe the only polite thing to do is to let it die. But I kept going.

Now, I didn't have to meet my company contact, Joe, until about 3, so I had the first half of the day to do whatever. Last night I went to bed at 6 PM Shanghai time, and managed to sleep for 11 hours. I'm telling you, my jetlag has not been bad at all since I've been here. I woke up around 5 and took my time getting up.

Around 7, I went walking around looking for an ATM. After the ATM, I went into a little convenience store to get a little breakfast snack. I found some what I think were raspberry and blueberry Oreos and some chocolate pretzel-like sticks. They were yummy and nutritious.

After that, I went to a nearby park I had seen on a map. It was way larger than I thought. And beautiful. There were winding paths, with flowers, ponds, gazebos. There were endless senior citizens doing tai chi. Like everywhere. My path led me to a little bench where I sat and had a brief but friendly chat with a nice old Chinese man. Then I went down into the metro card looking to buy a metro card with no luck.

It was still pretty early when I got back to the hotel room. I was hot and exhausted, so after Skyping with my parents I sat down and watched a movie. My Skype session made me realize I had hardly taken any photos of my morning adventure, so before I grabbed something to eat, I went back into the park and took the photos that are on Facebook.

The second time around, I was walking, and a woman far away on another path started shouting "Ni guo lai!" (Come over here) I walked over, and she starts asking me all these questions, most of which I couldn't understand. I talked with her as long as I could. By the end of the conversation, I sensed that she wanted to spend more time with me, so I barfed out a weird Chinese sentence along the lines of "I want to go find a restaurant now, goodbye." and left.

Another man stopped me and started asking me questions, most of which I again couldn't understand. He kept talking and exaggeratingly running his hands through his hair and flipping his hair back. I couldn't tell if he was mocking my hair or complimenting it so I had no idea how to respond. Either, "Oh thank you for noticing" or "You know, menopausal women in my country pay for this hair, so step off."

I found a KFC/Pizza Hut, and since I was too nervous to begin my journey of authentic Chinese cuisine and the diarrheal adventure that accompanies it, I went into the KFC. I went in expecting to walk up to the counter and order, but upon entering, a women asks "One person?" I respond affirmatively and am whisked to my seat, upon which I learn that KFCs in China are sit-down affairs. I ordered a black pepper steak pizza, which was very good.

After that, went back to my hotel, waiting for stomach problems that never came (Yay!) and met up with Joe. Joe and another new hire, Kyle. We went to a Starbucks, got cold drinks and discussed the contract that I eventually signed. They were both very nice guys, nice and white.

Out of the three, I am the palest, which for just one year, will be a good thing.

I also took some photos that I will use for various documents, so cool.

I am tired from the heat, but I have accomplished a lot. I have done my first store transaction, been to my first restaurant, gotten my metro card, and met with my new coworkers. I might just call it a day, but we'll see.

One last note. If you are reading this and plan to stay tuned in to this blog, it'd be awesome if you got a Google account to post comments to my blog posts. All you need is a Gmail, which will automatically give you a Google + account, and then you can follow me and post comments. I would like my blog to be interactive, and I would like to know who is reading this. Thanks!

Be in touch again soon!