The Past Week

Its been a hectic few weeks. We have been run ragged taking care of our respective jobs & all that entails, on top of which we've started to set up our new apartment.

I've been put under the 'blow-torch' at work - with my responsibilities there greatly upgraded in the last week. Its been tough taking on this added responsibility, whilst undergoing my initiation training, coming up to speed with the current projects at work, and well, just settling in there. Learning new systems isn't easy at the best of times, but coming from a laid-back university life to the directness of a huge company has taken some adjustment. At this point, its long hours at work, plus also the 50 minute each way commute for me to get from Jing' An Temple to the metro station out at Zhangjiang High-Technology Park. One good aspect of the trip is that I don't have to cram my face into anyone's armpit (unlike those faced with my armpit at times) and it is the perfect length of time to listen to music on my iPod.

Lin & I have been progressively making our new apartment our own. I'll write more on that later, and we know that heaps of people has asked us to put photos of our new apartment up on the web so you know what we're living in. At the moment, its a mess. We're progressively getting there, once it is semi-decent, we'll post some photos. Trust us.

We've also managed to strike up a few burgeoning friendships. My workmates have been great helping me settle in, in particular Marie and Yan. Apartment hunting has introduced us to a number of people, and maybe there's a couple of different ways to knock back a couple of coldies on the weekends. I was also picked up in a bar on our first evening out in Xintiandi (a popular night and eating precinct) by a fellow Brisbanite. Lin was concerned when Rob & I hooked up for our man-date, but was relieved when she came home to see we'd both polished off a good portion of our duty free alcohol. And I later christened the apartment. I hope the porcelain gods were happy. Don't worry, I dusted myself off and hit the bars and restaurants once again. It'll take more than that to stop me.

Its been intimidating on weekend days going out. I don't know if that's so much of a new environment, trying to avoid the stares Westerner's get while you walk down the street, or just that we don't really want to face the faceless masses of Shanghai. Its easy to underestimate how many people live here. Imagine Queen St. Mall at a workday lunchtime - this is the usual amount of pedestrian traffic on the major roads. But, you know in Brisbane that if you walk 1 block away from this, that the crowds dissipate and you're by yourself again. Not in Shanghai. Its the same crowd over and over again. Like a pedestrian 'Groundhog Day'. Everyone is packed in on each other, everyone share's each other's lives much more than what I had imagined. Lin & I live in a good building and a good apartment, so we're lucky. But for the bulk of Shanghainese, its in your face. Hence, when you join in walking down the street, its all in your face.

I've been putting off going for a haircut. There's ample opportunity in our street - there's a mile of them. Some that only open after 6pm and put up pink lighting. I tell you what, the stylists don't wear much. Very friendly, trying to get me to come in each evening. I think I'll go to one of those day-hairdressers myself. ;)

This is just a snippet of what we've been doing. There's a heap more, and later when I have the time to write more about the life and experiences that we're encountering here, I'll endeavour to flesh out more of these tidbits I've offered up here.

timmyb