Nesting

If there was one quote that could sum up getting settled in our apartment, it would be:

"Understand that the tragedies of your life one day have the potential to become comic stories the next." ~ Nora Ephron

Mind you, Chris and I aren’t facing any catastrophes; just minor irritations that when combined could bring a culture shocked chick to tears. 

For those of you who were wondering which apartment we selected, we selected apartment three!  If you would like to see our apartment pre move in, visit the Chris Goes House Hunting post to get the grand tour.

For me the apartment was love at first sight.  We just needed a few things to happen before we moved in:

1)   We needed internet.  (They call it DSL over here.)

2)   We needed a washer, drier and dishwasher.

3)   We needed cable (Satellite TV).

4)   We needed the place to be cleaned before we moved in. 

When we arrived at the apartment after our lengthy flight, our relocation agent, Ring, was at our new building waiting for us.  Unfortunately, the key and the landlord were not.  According to Ring, the landlord was thirty minutes out.  In the meantime, we decided to move our six suitcases, carry-ons, and other garb to the 20^th floor (via elevator) so we could get settled as soon as the key arrived. 

15 minutes later, our landlord’s brother in law/ property manager, Mr. Ma, arrived with one key.  I was so excited to finally see our cool, clean Shanghainese paradise in person.  As I opened the door, there was a hot, dusty, cruel surprise!  The apartment looked the same as it did on the video, however no one had turned on the air conditioning, cleaned the place, or set up the internet and cable.  There was no washer, dishwasher or dryer to be found.  I immediately knew It was going to be a long week.

This is Mr. Ma the property manager.  He is a pretty cool cat!

Ring immediately sprung into action by calling vendors and yelling at them in Chinese.  15 minutes later an Ayi showed up and started to wipe down the place.  (For those of you who don’t know Ayi, Chinese for Auntie, is someone who is like a Chinese mom.  Ayis clean, cook, shop, and pretty much anything else a mom would do.)  She came in with some dish detergent and gave the place a quick wipe down, so I would feel comfortable taking a shower.

Ring also called the service man to see what was up with the air conditioner, seeing we could not turn on the unit because we did not understand how to hit the right combination for cool.  Did I also mention the temperatures are in Centigrade?  Lesson 18: Before you travel to China, make sure you have a rough idea of how to convert temperatures between Fahrenheit and Celsius.  That way you don’t have to ask,

“Is 23° C warm or cold?” 

Teacher friends, feel free to use this picture for your word problems.

I felt like a complete idiot because I could not figure this AC to save my life!  At least the controls are in English...unlike many other appliances.

Sensing I was about to lose my mind, Mr. Ma (who speaks NO English) decided to brighten my spirits.  He handed me the remote control, and showed me how to adjust my new limousine style chandelier.  While this was a nice gesture, I did not care that the light fixture came with a remote control that had four different light settings.  I WANTED A COOL, CLEAN PLACE TO SLEEP! 

Yes folks, this beauty comes with it's own remote control!  

Mr. Ma then walked me outside to show off the wonderful air-drying rack that he had installed.  I certainly hoped he did not consider this to be the dryer.  I was then notified that an electric dryer would be coming on Saturday. 

I am glad this is not my only dryer!

Fortunately, the apartment service man arrived 5 minutes after Ring called, and the place started to cool off.  However, I quickly realized that we were not going to be fully settled for a while.  We needed a plan…stat. 

The washer and drier were not going to be delivered until Saturday, so rather than having to wait at home for multiple days, Ring scheduled all of the service folks to come on Saturday morning.  In the meantime I would entertain myself by exploring the area. 

Saturday’s arrival felt like Christmas Morning!  I was FINALLY going to be able to do some laundry, catch up with my cable, surf the web and be lazy.  I was looking forward to being settled. 

Sandy (another relocation agent/ guardian angel) and Mr. Ma came over and helped Chris and I supervise the workers’ coming and goings. However, she was only able to stay with us until 10:30.  After that, Chris and I would have to be on our own with Mr. Ma and the workers.  Everything would fall into place.

This is Sandy one week after we moved in.  She and Leia became fast friends!  I don't know what Chris and I would do without she and Ring.

The phone company arrived first and installed our phones.  While we did not request landlines, it is nice to have the option to call someone if our cell phones die.   The only problem is our new landline phone number used to be a fax number.  So, instead of having a pleasant conversation each time the phone rings, we hear,

“Ni hao, we are going to send you a fax now” and the screeching music of a fax being transmitted. We are still looking into how we can get this fixed.

This is our Chinese landline phone.  I think it is telling me I have 23 missed faxes.

After we got our phone, we finally got Sattelite TV!  Sandy (relocation specialist) warned us that the satellite may not be activated until 3 or 4 in the afternoon.  I could be patient, what would a few more hours be?  At 3:30, I sat down to turn on the TV and take in some international satellite package action.  Instead, I got 2 TV channels; the first being the Chinese Cathlolic Channel and the other being the Asian Cultural Channel.  All of the other stations flashed the following message. 

At least the error message is in English.  It took us 4 days to get the cable functioning. 

I really wanted to throw the remote at the TV.  I emailed Sandy and Ring to see if they could come up with a solution.

The washer and dryer then arrived!  I was so excited to finally have the option of doing laundry.  Mr. Ma and some other workers installed the machine.  When he barked in Chinese at me and pointed at the new machine, I inferred the machine was ready to be used.  I looked at the knobs to figure out how to start a load only to realize that the writing on the machine is in Chinese.  I did not want to turn our laundry into Barbie clothes, so I Googled the make and model of our washer and dryer to see if I could download an English instruction manual.  No such luck.  Sandy had left, so there was not way anyone could interpret the instructions so Mr. Ma tried to teach me how to use the washer.  The dialogue went a little like this.

Mr. Ma: “为什么不尝试你的品牌新的洗衣机呢？我注意到你有很多衣服，你的卧室地板上。”

Me:  I am sorry I don’t speak Chinese.

Mr. Ma (in a louder voice, because he thinks I can’t hear him): 为什么不尝试你的品牌新的洗衣机呢？我注意到你有很多衣服，你的卧室地板上.

Me:  Me wenti.  Wo shi meguoren.  Bu hui shuo Yongwen.  (That means I am sorry, I am American.  I do not speak Chinese.)   I was really trying here.

Mr. Ma marches me to the bedroom, points at the mountain of dirty clothes, then marches me back to the laundry room and points washer.

Mr. Ma:  为什么不尝试你的品牌新的洗衣机呢？ 我注意到你有很多衣服，你的卧室地板上。

(I finally get the picture.)

Me: I am sorry.  I am not going to do my laundry yet.  I don’t have any detergent, and my dryer is not hooked up. 

Mr. Ma looks at me like I was the laziest woman in the universe because I was not using the washer 3 minutes after it had been installed.  He then proceeds to start yelling in Chinese for a good 10 minutes, then skulks off for a cigarette.  I choke back tears, grab a glass of water and wait for the chaos to be over.

After the tantrum, the Internet man was ready to install our broadband. This was going to be the highlight of my day.  Finally I was going to be able to reconnect with the world in the comfort of my own home without having to worry about data overages on my phone. Wire was laid, plugs were plugged in, and the Internet man plugged the cat 5 cable directly into Chris's laptop.  Google suddenly popped up on the screen!  Then he plugged the cable into my laptop.  I finally had Internet!!  However, all work was not done.  We needed to get the wireless up and running.  Chris had the foresight to carry his router not he plane, so we could get us up and running.  I asked the broadband man,

            “Can I plug this wire into the router so we can get our wireless working?”
The worker shakes his head violently no, and starts rambling in Chinese.  He assumes he is finished with the installation, so he and Mr. Ma take off. 

            Tears finally spilled down my cheeks.  I was so tired of being yelled at in a language I don’t know, and all I wanted was to get some contact with the Western world.  I had enough; it was time for me to take control of my situation.  I took the cat 5 cable, plugged it into the router and plugged the router in to the power strip.  Strange Brew, our wireless network pops up on my screen.  Victory!!!!

At the end of Saturday night, the washer and dryer were not usable; I had access to two very amusing TV channels, and the wireless Internet was rocking!  One out of three tasks accomplished is not so bad.

American Puppies in Shanghai

Many of you have asked about how Leia and Ditka, our Dachshunds, like China.  I am pleased to report that they are healthy, happy, and hot.  They had to go through a lot to get here, however they did very well on the trip.

Here is the story of how we ended up on this couch.

To make sure the fur baby importation process ran smoothly, we hired Dr. Jenny Yu and her crew at JiaLiang K-9 kennel.  Lesson #15:  If you are relocating with pets, I highly recommend hiring a relocation service.  There are many hoops that need to be jumped through when importing pets to China, and it is VERY nice to have someone who knew the system help us through the process.  Dr. Jenny and her crew did a great job calming my nerves and caring for the pups.

Chris and I decided the pups would be most comfortable if they flew in their crates in a pressurized hold on our plane.   Lesson #16: Get your pets’ travel crates a few weeks before the trip, and let the dogs get acclimated to spending significant amounts of time in them.   We wanted to be certain they had a break during the trip, so we flew Lufthansa to Frankfurt.  In Frankfurt, the puppies would be walked and fed.  We would then fly from Frankfurt to Shanghai. 

Before the pups could get on the plane, we had to prepare them for the importation process.  In order to travel to China, dogs need to have their rabies vaccine no longer than 1 year, but no shorter than 30 days before the trip.  Within 10 days before the trip the puppies needed to have a well puppy check up so we could get their health certificates from the USDA.  (No Auntie Cookie, the Chinese government is not going to kill the dogs and eat them.  They just want to make sure the dogs are healthy. The USDA does more than grade steak.) After we had our 6-minute meeting with the USDA vet in Indianapolis, we had our puppy visas and were set to go.  Lesson #17:  Have your vet communicate with the USDA when filling out the health certificate information.  The vet at Banfield in Merrillville, IN emailed multiple drafts of our paperwork to the USDA vet.  I credit her for our six-minute appointment.  Upon arrival in Shanghai, the dogs would be whisked away to Chinese quarantine for a week.  Then Dr. Jenny’s (Shanghai vet) crew would reunite us at our apartment, and we would finally be a family again.

As we were walking into O’Hare, I felt like the most selfish doggy momma ever.  I felt SO guilty for making the fur kids ride in their crates for 19+ hours.  After they were checked in, I looked at Chris with teary eyes and asked,

            “Am I a horrible, selfish person?  I can’t believe I am putting the puppies through this.  They are going to hate the flight.  They are going to hate quarantine.  They are going to want to eat my face when we see them again.”  Chris knew he had to tame the drama queen,

            “Sweetie, we are doing the right thing.  They will be happy to see us!  They won’t want to eat us.”

My nerves weren’t much calmer on the plane.  Every time there was the slightest bit of turbulence, I wondered if the puppies were being jostled in their crates.  Chris assured me that the crates were securely bungeed in the hold. 

When we landed in Frankfurt, we attempted to see the dogs in the pet care center, however Lufthansa did not allow us to see them due to the short time between flights.  (Apparently, you can’t see the dogs unless you have an overnight layover.)

10 hours later, we landed in Shanghai and met our pet relocation agent.  While we grabbed our bags, she picked up the dogs at  Oversized Luggage area.  Three minutes later, we were greeted with two wobbling crates.  Leia and Ditka were happy to see us!   We headed to the pet immigration area where we walked, fed, and played with the dogs for a few minutes.  The Chinese government’s vet sweetly took our picture, and assured us all would be okay in quarantine. We then left the babies in the care of the Chinese government.

During the week, Chris and I got email updates on their condition from Dr. Jenny, but we could not have any contact with the quarantine center.

One week later Leia and Ditka came home!  They had been cleaned, groomed, and were very happy to see us!  They both bolted from their crates, and marked all over the house.  It was a happy, messy homecoming!

Leia does not like the hot weather, but she loves the hard wood floors!

Ditka is happy to report there are doggie treats in China.

My First Day in China

When I began my teaching career, DD2 provided all new teachers a copy of The First Day of School.  The author of the book, Harry Wong, in so many words states that to be successful, a new teacher has to survive his or her first day of school.  Afterwards, all will be okay.  I have elected to adopt this mindset for my first days as a Chinese resident.

After our 36+ hour yesterday(s), we were too exhausted to shop for pillows and sheets so we slept on our couch with the promise of visiting Ikea in the morning. 

Lesson #14: Make sure you pack a suitcase with a towel, pillow, blanket, and sheets if you are moving directly into an apartment.  If you have jet lag issues, I would suggest scheduling a night in a hotel and then moving into your new place the next day.  Otherwise, you will spend then night on the couch like we did. J

I began my day by waking up on my couch wrapped up in a comforter that I had stowed in one of my suitcases.  I was rested and ready to take on the world…or at least my new neighborhood.

Chris and I started the day by throwing on some clothes and foraging for breakfast.  In the process of looking for food, we ran into our first authentic Chinese market.  We decided to take a peek inside.  I am going to save the details of the market for a later post on Chinese grocery shopping, but I will tease you by saying I have NEVER seen a cucumber that large, or a grocery fish voluntarily jump out of a tank. 

This is the outside market down our street.  So many fresh fruits, veggies, and more!

A young girl feeds some bunnies outside the market.  It has yet to be determined if the bunnies were pets or food.

We decided to keep moving in search of coffee when we ran into a street food vendor that was selling the most AMAZING street food: a scallion and sesame pancake made out of phylo dough. 

Sesame scallion pancakes for breakfast!  YUM!

Chris was in desperate need of coffee, so we landed at Starbucks. 

A very kind English speaking gentleman helps us get oriented.

After he was caffeinated and fed, we decided it was time to head to the ultimate let’s furnish your apartment store: Ikea.  I got cab directions to Ikea from the Smart Shanghai App and we were off. Lesson #15: If you are planning to live or visit Shanghai, download the Smart Shanghai App from the iTunes store.  This app provides venue ratings, maps, and directions for taxis.  

 I showed the address on my iPhone to our driver, and he sped towards Ikea. 

This is the Puxi Ikea.  (I ripped this image off the web because I was too preoccupied to take my own pic.)

As the blue and yellow furnishing land came into sight, the driver made a sharp left.    He sped away from Ikea.  Chris and I immediately looked at each other…where was this guy going???

I piped up,

“We are going to Ikea.”

The driver gestured for my cell phone again.

He got frustrated, whipped the taxi around in a U turn and yelled,

“NOT HOW SHE BAY LOO…HOW SHE LOO”.

Chris said,

“HOW SHE BAY LOO.”

The Driver barked,

“NO NO NO HOW SHE LOO!  NOT HOW SHE BAY LOO!” 

He continued to argue with himself,  “NO NO NO HOW SHE LOO! NOT HOW SHE BAY LOO!” for a good five minutes, until Ikea came into view.

Chris and I point at the building and I squawked,

“Ikea…we want to go to Ikea.”

The driver barked back,

“EEEECHEEEEAAAAHHH!  No Ikea.  EEEECHEEEEAAAAHHHHH!”  He sounded like Godzilla.  We finally reached “Eeeecheeeaaahhh” and paid our driver the 30 rmb ($5) he earned. 

After laughing about how we had been scammed, we entered the yellow and blue Swedish furniture mart and rode the escalator up to the second floor in search of sheets, pillows, and a comforter for our new digs.  I hate to disappoint those who thought that people sleep in the Ikea beds in the Shanghai store, but at that time all of the beds were vacant or being appropriately tested.  

After 1 hr of weaving through the merchandise maze, we were ready for lunch!  Luckily all Ikeas have a spacious cafeteria.  We decided to take a break and get some grub.

Since the first time I visited Eeecheeeaahhh,  I have wanted to try their meatballs.  Since I was now a Chinese resident, I thought I would make my first attempt at ordering my own lunch…in Chinese.  As we approached the counter, I pointed to the meatballs and said “Ershiwu”.  The server loaded a mountain of meatballs onto my plate and passed it down to the other servers so they could add mashed potatoes, gravy, and the signature cranberry sauce on the side. 

Well, I got what I asked for. :)

Yes, I accidentally confused my numbers and ordered 25 meatballs instead of 15. Luckily, Ikea sells doggie bags so I could store my leftovers in my American Sized fridge.

After $364 worth of towels, bedding, hangers, bathroom goodies, kitchen accessories and more we were ready to head home.  It was time to settle in, finally unpack our suitcases and make our bed!

Ikea totes are the best...we use them for everything!

I was in the middle of hanging my 2 suitcases of clothing when I realized most of my hangers were in our air shipment.  I knew Chris was heading out to the grocery store so I gave him some marching orders.  We needed trash bags, more hangers, water and Diet Coke. 

After the clothes were hung and the bed was made, I decided to relax, have a glass of wine and do a little blogging.   Chris came home from the market with the items on the list.  At that moment, I witnessed a scene that was similar to the Stonehenge scene of Spinal Tap. (For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, click here.  Please pardon the language.)  Chris brought home miniature trash bags, not quite Coke Zero, and a laundry bag that was fit for a Barbie Doll. It was not his fault.  He was lost in translation.

Guess which bottle is the real Coke Zero!

Yeah, it's a little small...but it works!

Barbie's dream laundry bag

I erupted in another lost in translation belly laugh, and decided to take a disco nap before we walked to dinner.  Unfortunately, I woke up at 11:30 PM.  I immediately knew what happened.  Jetlag had gotten the best of me.  I stumbled out of bed, poured myself a glass of not quite Coke Zero (that oddly tasted like RC Cola) and forced myself back to sleep. 

Around 5:00 am, Chris woke me up with,

“Honey…honey….you have to see the view from your office.”

This is the view from my new home office.

I think this China thing will be fun…as soon as I learn the language. J

The Longest Day

So Monday June 25th was the day we had been prepping for: the start of our time in China.

Our journey was long, but smooth.  at 7:00 CST, Chris' Dad and Uncle Tom delivered 4 overstuffed suitcases, 2 overstuffed carry on bags, 20 lbs of dog food, two puppies (in carriers) and us to O'Hare Airport so we could make the 24 hour trip to Shanghai.

The nice folks at Lufstansa were extremely excited to see that they had two Dachshunds on the flight!  They were also kind enough to turn their heads when our bags weighed a couple of kg over the weight limit.  

Here are some lessons learned when flying overseas:
Lesson 9:  Wear loose light layers of clothing.  This way you will be super comfy.  If you are a blanket person and  have the room, bring a fleece throw.  
Lesson 10:  If at all possible, fly business class.  We flew Lufstansa for our trip because they had a pressurized hold and pet care center for the dogs.  Their business class seats recline to almost a 180 degree angle and have built in massagers.  Also, you get access to the business class lounge for snacks and beverages between flights. 

Chris enjoys a beer in the Lufstansa business center in Frankfurt.

I was so exhausted, I could barely keep my head up.

Lesson 11:  Drink lots of water on the flight.  This will help combat jet lag BIG time.  
Lesson 12:  When traveling, try to sleep during your destination's night time hours.  This will also help with jet lag.
Lesson 13:  Make sure you convert your dollars into the desired currency in the US or at your destination.  We converted our dollars into yuan at the Frankfurt airport.  Much to our surprise, the banker converted our dollars into euros, and then converted the euros into yuan. We lost a little bit of fundage in the conversion. :(

Twenty four hours, four airline meals and a couple of movies later, we landed in Shanghai.  

Chris and I were so happy to have arrived!

I was so happy to see that Leia and Ditka (the puppies) were excited to see us and full of energy.  Lufstansa did a great job of caring for them.    With the help of our pet importation agent, they were fed, watered, pet, and photographed.  We left them in the care of the Chinese quarantine officials and met our driver so we could head off to our new home.  

A Midwestern Interlude

Before we took off for Shanghai, Chris and I wanted to visit the Midwestern family and friends!  The majority of the trip was spent getting last minute affairs settled, however we managed to squeeze in some fun. Here are some of the highlights from the trip.  

Chris was a sweetheart and got us Cards/ Sox tickets for Thursday evening.  Our seats were on the third base line and close enough to the field that we got this warning.   

I got to pose with the 2011 World Series trophy!  The only time the White Sox scored was when I was getting this shot.  Sorry Chris! :)  The Cards won, FYI!

I spent Father's Day with my Dad!!!  He loved his new Nook from Dan (brother), Chris and me.

Dad and I at the Cardinal game on Father's Day.

I had the privilege of giving my Mom iPad lessons over the trip.  I was so happy to see she and my Dad sitting in the family room, engrossed in their devices!

Chris and I took my Grandma Ahrens out to lunch before we took off.  It was wonderful to see her. 

Chris and I had a friendly wager of Ted Drewes on the Cards/ Sox game, so I made him pay! :)

After our time in St. Louis, we visited Chris' family in Griffith.  In this photo Chris and his Dad are enjoying all you can eat crab legs at the Ameristar Casino.

On the way back from getting our puppies' paperwork from the USDA, we dropped by Purdue to check out our old stomping grounds.  Fuzzie Ladies, the house looks great!

I will always love Purdue.  So many happy memories!

Lunch at Harry's! (A Purdue Classic)

I take the time to pass by the Lion Fountain at Purdue.  :)  Boilermakers will find the humor in this.

We met up with my younger brother Dan for lunch at Ed Debevick's, a Chicago institution.

My younger brother rocking the Ed's hat.

Chris' Aunt Carol and Uncle Tom threw us a "Pandarific" going away party the last Sunday we were in town!  The Kosiors had decorated the entire house with cardboard pandas! 

Chris catches up our Aunts and Uncles with our China plans.

Chris cools off in the pool!

It was so so wonderful to visit everyone, be it in person, online, or over the phone.  Thank you all SO much for supporting our journey.  I look forward to sharing our new life happenings with you soon!