I'm coming to the end of my weekend, and yes, it's been nice. Rainy, so I stayed inside as much as I could (since all of my weather gear is down in Wenzhou somewhere), and basically just relaxed. And let me tell you, after a week of both training AND work (of which I have about 2 more weeks of to look forward to), relaxing is mighty nice.
I've known for quite a while that Chinese vendors - from the fruit-guy, to KFC, to McDonalds - often will deliver. But here in Shanghai it goes one step further. There's actually a service called Sherpa which will deliver just about anything from just about anywhere direct to your door. They have a phone number, but as most people who know me know, I'm not a big fan of phones. Fortunately, you can also order via Skype or MSN Messenger. So I ordered a pizza - a spicy pepperoni pizza... via Skype. And it was glorious. Their delivery fee is modest: a mere 15 kuai (depending on distance). Conveniently, Xujiahui is one of the major centers in the city, so pretty much everything that worth anything is well within the 15 kuai radius.
Tomorrow, I'll start back in on my workweek... but not until 3:00. I'm feeling pretty good about that ;)
(CS) TAW Out.
The lycanthropic jottings of my fourth year prowling the Chinese moonlight.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The IKEA Nesting Instinct
Well, it’s officially official! I have an apartment, and it’s pretty much awesome. A 1 bed, 1 bath, but furnished in a very cozy and Western style. Also, it’s in a district called Xujiahui, of Xu’s Confluence, which sits perfectly between my office in Chunshen, and downtown (where all the fun stuff happens in town)… yes, I realize I’m running the risk of sounding very repetitive. I’m willing to take that chance, though.
After a string of definite “no’s” and one “probably” which unfortunately sold as I was going for a second look, and then a few more definite “no’s” and a couple “maybes,” Coco (Nancy and my Wenzhounese friend in Shanghai) and I were heading into the final stop of our 4th night looking. From the exterior, I was expecting yet another overpriced hole-in-the-wall (though I do know all-too-well that the exteriors of building are absolutely no indicator of their interiors, for better and for worse). We were greeted by a middle-aged man in a wife-beater who, by the look of it, had just woken up. Still, he was very nice and let us into the apartment in question. He showed us around a bit, and I immediately knew that I liked what I saw. I let Coco know, and she asked if I wanted to wait a bit on it. Having just had a potential domicile fly right out from under me, I didn’t want to take that chance again – especially given that it had been, far and away, the best apartment I’d yet seen. And after 4 days of searching, I was getting really tired of “the hunt.”
She told the agent, and so the man showing us the apartment called the owner – his little sister. Soon thereafter, Coco was put on the phone with her and the negotiation began. She had initially wanted 3900/month, with an initial down payment of 3 months rent, plus a month’s worth of deposit. I’d made very clear to Coco that I wanted some changes to the “typical” arrangement. To her credit, she performed wonderfully, and was able to reduce the price to 3700/month, and only 2 months + deposit. Needless to say, I readily assented to this arrangement. They required some “good faith” money until the following day, though, and so we put down 500RMB for the night.
The next day, I rifled through my various offshore holding, numbered Swiss bank accounts, corporate shareholdings, and mutual funds to come up with the requisite 11,100RMB ($1650) + 1295RMB surcharge for the agent. Thanks to some help from Nancy’s sister, I was able to account for the whole sum (in cash) without needing to make a cash advance on my credit card…. I was trying really hard not to have to do that.
And so, contract duly signed and large stack of currency given, I was able to move in that night. Unfortunately, most of my stuff was still in the Xiamen Rd. hotel – a 20 min train ride, and then 15 min walk away. I made it there and checked out, and made the return trip with the rest of my luggage in tow. And let me just say this: a 15 minute walk up and down stairs, potholes, and uneven streets is made even more arduous by lugging around 40 lbs on each arms.
One minor problem: while there was a bed, and most of the apartment was nicely furnished, the bed itself had neither pillow, nor blanket. This made the first night rather interesting… I ended up using my travel pillow, and 3 workout shirts as a makeshift blanket. I resolved to make that a 1-night-only situation. Thus the next day, after sitting through a morning’s gamut of “orientation and training” (which I get to look forward to sporadically for the next half month), I searched the internet and found that there was a brand-new IKEA store near Xujiahui. At least, it looked near on the Google Map. Turned out it was something like a 45 minute walk… and it was only once I got there that I realized that I could have taken the metro one stop instead. Oh well. I bought a comforter, pillows, sheets, and covers for all. They look nice (I went with a black-and-red schema). And they were very reasonably priced… and accepted Visa. Horray for Sweden!
A quote from Fight Club comes to mind, though, as this is the first time I’ve actually bought anything from IKEA…."I had become a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct, even down to the dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections, proof that they were crafted by the honest, simple, hardworking, indigenous people of wherever…" Oh Palahniuk, you have a quotable for everything…
(CS) TAW Out.
After a string of definite “no’s” and one “probably” which unfortunately sold as I was going for a second look, and then a few more definite “no’s” and a couple “maybes,” Coco (Nancy and my Wenzhounese friend in Shanghai) and I were heading into the final stop of our 4th night looking. From the exterior, I was expecting yet another overpriced hole-in-the-wall (though I do know all-too-well that the exteriors of building are absolutely no indicator of their interiors, for better and for worse). We were greeted by a middle-aged man in a wife-beater who, by the look of it, had just woken up. Still, he was very nice and let us into the apartment in question. He showed us around a bit, and I immediately knew that I liked what I saw. I let Coco know, and she asked if I wanted to wait a bit on it. Having just had a potential domicile fly right out from under me, I didn’t want to take that chance again – especially given that it had been, far and away, the best apartment I’d yet seen. And after 4 days of searching, I was getting really tired of “the hunt.”
She told the agent, and so the man showing us the apartment called the owner – his little sister. Soon thereafter, Coco was put on the phone with her and the negotiation began. She had initially wanted 3900/month, with an initial down payment of 3 months rent, plus a month’s worth of deposit. I’d made very clear to Coco that I wanted some changes to the “typical” arrangement. To her credit, she performed wonderfully, and was able to reduce the price to 3700/month, and only 2 months + deposit. Needless to say, I readily assented to this arrangement. They required some “good faith” money until the following day, though, and so we put down 500RMB for the night.
The next day, I rifled through my various offshore holding, numbered Swiss bank accounts, corporate shareholdings, and mutual funds to come up with the requisite 11,100RMB ($1650) + 1295RMB surcharge for the agent. Thanks to some help from Nancy’s sister, I was able to account for the whole sum (in cash) without needing to make a cash advance on my credit card…. I was trying really hard not to have to do that.
And so, contract duly signed and large stack of currency given, I was able to move in that night. Unfortunately, most of my stuff was still in the Xiamen Rd. hotel – a 20 min train ride, and then 15 min walk away. I made it there and checked out, and made the return trip with the rest of my luggage in tow. And let me just say this: a 15 minute walk up and down stairs, potholes, and uneven streets is made even more arduous by lugging around 40 lbs on each arms.
One minor problem: while there was a bed, and most of the apartment was nicely furnished, the bed itself had neither pillow, nor blanket. This made the first night rather interesting… I ended up using my travel pillow, and 3 workout shirts as a makeshift blanket. I resolved to make that a 1-night-only situation. Thus the next day, after sitting through a morning’s gamut of “orientation and training” (which I get to look forward to sporadically for the next half month), I searched the internet and found that there was a brand-new IKEA store near Xujiahui. At least, it looked near on the Google Map. Turned out it was something like a 45 minute walk… and it was only once I got there that I realized that I could have taken the metro one stop instead. Oh well. I bought a comforter, pillows, sheets, and covers for all. They look nice (I went with a black-and-red schema). And they were very reasonably priced… and accepted Visa. Horray for Sweden!
A quote from Fight Club comes to mind, though, as this is the first time I’ve actually bought anything from IKEA…."I had become a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct, even down to the dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections, proof that they were crafted by the honest, simple, hardworking, indigenous people of wherever…" Oh Palahniuk, you have a quotable for everything…
(CS) TAW Out.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Hunt is On
The hunt for apartments, that is. Though I’ve spent large swaths of the past week combing the seedy back-alleys and twisting corridors of that series of connected tubes we’ve come to lovingly call the Interwebs, I’ve now officially expended me search into a multi-lingual, multi-platform campaign. That is to say, I’ve enlisted a Chinese friend to look at Chinese sites, and help me view the actual housing available.
Why would I do such a thing? Quite simply, it became obvious very early into this miniature crusade that searching myself was not my best option… and was quite possibly the worst possible option. Consider: for all intents and purposes, I can really only read English. Thus, I’m restricted to the English-based housing sites, which I’m certain beyond any doubt the real-estate agents view as their own private pond of solid-gold Koi.
And so I enlisted the aid of Coco, Nancy and my mutual friend from Wenzhou who came here last year to make her way in the big, wide world. Though we’ve had some difficulty finding mutually-free time in our schedules (her schedule is that of a regular human: weekday days; mine is the bizarre upside-down-world schedule of a private English teacher: evenings and weekends), we were finally able get together with an agent last night at 8:00 to show me a few apartements.
My requirements had been pretty easy: it needed to be a reasonable (read: walking) distance from the Line 1 Metro Line, and also needed to be a reasonable distance from my work. I’d done my homework and determined that one of the better areas to look was a district called Xujiahui, which effectively splits the distance between my job, and downtown where everything a nocturnal being would want actually is.
So we followed on foot a guy on a motorbike to three different potential domiciles. The first two were in the same complex, though different buildings… and so it was no real surprise that both were equally dumpy, tiny, and overpriced. They reminded me very much of the teeny hole I called “家” last year. I’d only stayed in that place because it was free… and even then there were many a moment where I regretted the decision. Feel free to refer to my various posts of there being no hot water/water turning colors/neighbors yelling at me/etc. Suffice it to say, if I’m actually going to have to pay my own money for a place, I’m shooting for a far-sight better than that!
The third (and final for the day, sine we were closing in on 9:30 at this point) was something else entirely. Though certainly no penthouse, the layout and generally welcoming feel of the place made the relatively modest 65 sq. meters feel bigger… and given that the first two, in addition to being rat-traps, were 46 and 53 respectively, it really felt bigger! It was nicely painted and with and very nice view of the city from the enclosed balcony. All in all, I walked away liking the place and saying we should keep it in mind.
The issue at this point is price. The quoted price was 3800/month, which, considering my salary, isn’t that bad… still, I’m confidant that something like 10% can be knocked off. That’s damn near standard. The issue arises because of the up-front nature they like to be paid. Not only is there a month’s payment as a security deposit, but they also expect 3-4 month’s rent up-front, plus the agent was 1/3 of a month as commission. All in all, at 3500, that works out to over 15,000 RMB, or roughly US$2200. Ouch. That cuts, and cuts deep. It’s not outside of the realm of possibility, mind you… it just that since I won’t get my first paycheck until Sept. 31, that’s an enormous bite out of my money. Fortunately, Nancy’s willing and able to help me some, and it will ultimately work out…. After all, I won’t have to pay rent again until December or January!
Regardless, Coco’s found other places as well, and tomorrow night we’ll make yet another feckless jaunt into the night to look at more empty rooms spaced throughout the city.
(CS) TAW Out.
Why would I do such a thing? Quite simply, it became obvious very early into this miniature crusade that searching myself was not my best option… and was quite possibly the worst possible option. Consider: for all intents and purposes, I can really only read English. Thus, I’m restricted to the English-based housing sites, which I’m certain beyond any doubt the real-estate agents view as their own private pond of solid-gold Koi.
And so I enlisted the aid of Coco, Nancy and my mutual friend from Wenzhou who came here last year to make her way in the big, wide world. Though we’ve had some difficulty finding mutually-free time in our schedules (her schedule is that of a regular human: weekday days; mine is the bizarre upside-down-world schedule of a private English teacher: evenings and weekends), we were finally able get together with an agent last night at 8:00 to show me a few apartements.
My requirements had been pretty easy: it needed to be a reasonable (read: walking) distance from the Line 1 Metro Line, and also needed to be a reasonable distance from my work. I’d done my homework and determined that one of the better areas to look was a district called Xujiahui, which effectively splits the distance between my job, and downtown where everything a nocturnal being would want actually is.
So we followed on foot a guy on a motorbike to three different potential domiciles. The first two were in the same complex, though different buildings… and so it was no real surprise that both were equally dumpy, tiny, and overpriced. They reminded me very much of the teeny hole I called “家” last year. I’d only stayed in that place because it was free… and even then there were many a moment where I regretted the decision. Feel free to refer to my various posts of there being no hot water/water turning colors/neighbors yelling at me/etc. Suffice it to say, if I’m actually going to have to pay my own money for a place, I’m shooting for a far-sight better than that!
The third (and final for the day, sine we were closing in on 9:30 at this point) was something else entirely. Though certainly no penthouse, the layout and generally welcoming feel of the place made the relatively modest 65 sq. meters feel bigger… and given that the first two, in addition to being rat-traps, were 46 and 53 respectively, it really felt bigger! It was nicely painted and with and very nice view of the city from the enclosed balcony. All in all, I walked away liking the place and saying we should keep it in mind.
The issue at this point is price. The quoted price was 3800/month, which, considering my salary, isn’t that bad… still, I’m confidant that something like 10% can be knocked off. That’s damn near standard. The issue arises because of the up-front nature they like to be paid. Not only is there a month’s payment as a security deposit, but they also expect 3-4 month’s rent up-front, plus the agent was 1/3 of a month as commission. All in all, at 3500, that works out to over 15,000 RMB, or roughly US$2200. Ouch. That cuts, and cuts deep. It’s not outside of the realm of possibility, mind you… it just that since I won’t get my first paycheck until Sept. 31, that’s an enormous bite out of my money. Fortunately, Nancy’s willing and able to help me some, and it will ultimately work out…. After all, I won’t have to pay rent again until December or January!
Regardless, Coco’s found other places as well, and tomorrow night we’ll make yet another feckless jaunt into the night to look at more empty rooms spaced throughout the city.
(CS) TAW Out.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Monday's the new Saturday, abridged...
Arg! I just lost my whole post due to a proxy timeout... this latest internet blockade caused by the Xinjiang (Uyghur) unrest is quite the headache. It was supposedly agitated by a series of "syringe attacks" that have so far yielded zero actual cases of getting stabbed. Much (racist) ado about nothing.
Anyway, to briefly sum up what I'd spent the last 45 minutes typing (arg! Autosave, where ARE you?!), I currently enjoying my "weekend" of Monday and Tuesday after a long and eventful Saturday and Sunday of class observation and occasion bouts of teaching when one of the Chinese teachers had to run out about 10 minutes early. It went fine :)
Last night I met and went out on the town with three of the other new hires at the little grungy hotel we're all calling "home" temporarily. We went out to Huaihai Middle Rd. and found a nice expat bar with 10RMB gin/vodka tonics... which is incredibly cheap, even for China. Then we got a midnight snack at one of the 24 hr Western-style diners... did I mention I'm enjoying this city so far?
Anyway, I'm now finishing up a relaxing brunch at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafe across the street from HQ after finishing up a few minor errands for today. Since I was out rather late last night, I think a nap may well be in order... and a movie. I started Cars last night, so maybe I'll finish that up.
Cheers til next time...
(CS) TAW Out.
Anyway, to briefly sum up what I'd spent the last 45 minutes typing (arg! Autosave, where ARE you?!), I currently enjoying my "weekend" of Monday and Tuesday after a long and eventful Saturday and Sunday of class observation and occasion bouts of teaching when one of the Chinese teachers had to run out about 10 minutes early. It went fine :)
Last night I met and went out on the town with three of the other new hires at the little grungy hotel we're all calling "home" temporarily. We went out to Huaihai Middle Rd. and found a nice expat bar with 10RMB gin/vodka tonics... which is incredibly cheap, even for China. Then we got a midnight snack at one of the 24 hr Western-style diners... did I mention I'm enjoying this city so far?
Anyway, I'm now finishing up a relaxing brunch at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafe across the street from HQ after finishing up a few minor errands for today. Since I was out rather late last night, I think a nap may well be in order... and a movie. I started Cars last night, so maybe I'll finish that up.
Cheers til next time...
(CS) TAW Out.
Arrival and not getting picked last
Well, it's official, I'm here and they've put me to work. I arrived thursday night and, after only missing each other once, I found the girl who was picking me up (well, we kind of found each other - her sign with my name was WAY too small, and she didn't recognize me from my picture... in her defense, though, it was her first day.)
She - or rather, Sasha - and I took a taxi all the way in from Pudong Airport, across the river, and to a small, run down hotel north of the Bund/People's Square. It's roughly a 10 minute walk to People's Square, to give you some perspective.
The next morning I made my way over to Hangzhou Rd. and found the Pearson HQ, as instructed. The girls at the front desk mistook me, understandably, as an applicant (I did look rather lost) and handed me an application for me to fill out. Soon enough, though, I managed to flag down Tim Franta - the guy who hired me - and clear up the situation. He took me back and got started on getting me, well, working.
It was about this time, between copying passport pages (for the third time) and him telling me I'd need to eventually find a photo shop to get a bunch of face shots taken, that the true surprise of the day was uttered: I'd need to give a "demo" lesson... and not just one, but 2! I'd need to, on the basis of a couple of books, come up with a 15 minute sample for 2 age groups... ugh..
Well, suffice it to say, I'm pretty sure I bombed it. The people watching were - in my estimation - decidedly unimpressed. Knowing more now, here's why: I approached the demo more from the perspective of "teaching English," rather than "keeping kids involved." My mistake. Nevertheless, apparently I'm not completely without hope, because the "Master Teacher" (essentially, multi-facility manager)who had come to see me, immediately after said "Can I have him?" The answer was ultimately "yes," and so off I went with Brian, a 6-year veteran of China with a scraggly face, heavy frame, and cigarette near-perpetually in hand.
Now before you get too overly excited, let me clarify. His primary school (where I'm now working) is the Chunshen, and it's been undermanned since it's opening. It's sole foreign teacher, Peter, has been burdened with basically everything for his three-month tenure. In addition they've been running through Chinese co-teachers (TA's) like water, since most of them don't want to make the trek out so far into the suburbs. So they were fairly desperate for a second full-time foreign teacher. They saw on my resume my experience with Sports Camp, and so were pretty excited about that.
So I suppose it wasn't simply "desperation... I was simply the first new foreign teacher to arrive, but since thursday a steady stream of newbies have followed me, and I believe there are something like 10.
Though some poeple might be put off by a 40 min commute, it's really nothing if not typical of my Chinese experience so far. After all, that was my daily life in Wenzhou... and that on a horribad bus on a road bad enough to make me queasy. Compared to that, sitting on the Shanghai metro and a short bus ride is cake. Plus, the distance is going to be very temporary. I'm already looking at apartments in locations which will (with any luck) effectively split the distance between downtown and Chunshen. An area called Xujiahui is looking particularly appealing right now, but more on that next time...
(CS) TAW Out.
She - or rather, Sasha - and I took a taxi all the way in from Pudong Airport, across the river, and to a small, run down hotel north of the Bund/People's Square. It's roughly a 10 minute walk to People's Square, to give you some perspective.
The next morning I made my way over to Hangzhou Rd. and found the Pearson HQ, as instructed. The girls at the front desk mistook me, understandably, as an applicant (I did look rather lost) and handed me an application for me to fill out. Soon enough, though, I managed to flag down Tim Franta - the guy who hired me - and clear up the situation. He took me back and got started on getting me, well, working.
It was about this time, between copying passport pages (for the third time) and him telling me I'd need to eventually find a photo shop to get a bunch of face shots taken, that the true surprise of the day was uttered: I'd need to give a "demo" lesson... and not just one, but 2! I'd need to, on the basis of a couple of books, come up with a 15 minute sample for 2 age groups... ugh..
Well, suffice it to say, I'm pretty sure I bombed it. The people watching were - in my estimation - decidedly unimpressed. Knowing more now, here's why: I approached the demo more from the perspective of "teaching English," rather than "keeping kids involved." My mistake. Nevertheless, apparently I'm not completely without hope, because the "Master Teacher" (essentially, multi-facility manager)who had come to see me, immediately after said "Can I have him?" The answer was ultimately "yes," and so off I went with Brian, a 6-year veteran of China with a scraggly face, heavy frame, and cigarette near-perpetually in hand.
Now before you get too overly excited, let me clarify. His primary school (where I'm now working) is the Chunshen, and it's been undermanned since it's opening. It's sole foreign teacher, Peter, has been burdened with basically everything for his three-month tenure. In addition they've been running through Chinese co-teachers (TA's) like water, since most of them don't want to make the trek out so far into the suburbs. So they were fairly desperate for a second full-time foreign teacher. They saw on my resume my experience with Sports Camp, and so were pretty excited about that.
So I suppose it wasn't simply "desperation... I was simply the first new foreign teacher to arrive, but since thursday a steady stream of newbies have followed me, and I believe there are something like 10.
Though some poeple might be put off by a 40 min commute, it's really nothing if not typical of my Chinese experience so far. After all, that was my daily life in Wenzhou... and that on a horribad bus on a road bad enough to make me queasy. Compared to that, sitting on the Shanghai metro and a short bus ride is cake. Plus, the distance is going to be very temporary. I'm already looking at apartments in locations which will (with any luck) effectively split the distance between downtown and Chunshen. An area called Xujiahui is looking particularly appealing right now, but more on that next time...
(CS) TAW Out.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Of Jet-Lag, Starcraft, and DMZ's
I'm speaking, of course, of that lovable, cuddly, but ineptly located nation capital that everyone knows has got...well... Seoul. Though my visit here is all of two hours, I have to say it seems very nice. It's like China, except clean, and is one of the most wired cities in the world. While their northern cousin play hide-and-seek with American journalists and Japanese tourists, many South Koreans get their kicks in a very different way: Starcraft. Yes, the Blizzard Ent. 1998 mega blockbuster smash RTS game. While the game received high praise and widespread - even today - replayability for it's US fans, for Koreans, the game has taken on the kind of life that most software development companies would kill for. It's got its own TV channel for competitive matches, and the e-thletes who professionally play can make thousands of dollars (or hundreds of millions of won) just for showing up, much less any prize money they win.
Crazy.
But then again, saying the word "crazy" about South Koreans sounds more than a little hollow standing so close to the DMZ. Maybe it runs in the family... but between going crazy for computer games, and going crazy for nuclear war-games, I'll pick the people with the PC's, thank you very much.
I've still got a hop over the Korean Sea to get to my final destination: Shanghai. But let me just say, I've been very impressed with the airline service I booked - Asiana. Clean, nice planes (with seatback TV's - a major plus!), very nice, professional staff... and best of all, free booze. And not just wine and beer... Beefeater gin, vodka, etc etc etc... it was a nice first few hours, suffice it to say. My only complaint was that there were only 3 movies to choose from... and even though Star Trek was billed (I was pumped), I had to end up settling for Terminator: Salvation... definitely a air-out-of-the-balloon moment.
The sunset here (and yes, it's that time of the day right now) is beautiful, though. Throughly Asian and the kind of sun set China has largely forgotten exists behind it's perpetual veil of smog.
(CS) TAW Out.
A simple love with a complex touch
Crazy.
But then again, saying the word "crazy" about South Koreans sounds more than a little hollow standing so close to the DMZ. Maybe it runs in the family... but between going crazy for computer games, and going crazy for nuclear war-games, I'll pick the people with the PC's, thank you very much.
I've still got a hop over the Korean Sea to get to my final destination: Shanghai. But let me just say, I've been very impressed with the airline service I booked - Asiana. Clean, nice planes (with seatback TV's - a major plus!), very nice, professional staff... and best of all, free booze. And not just wine and beer... Beefeater gin, vodka, etc etc etc... it was a nice first few hours, suffice it to say. My only complaint was that there were only 3 movies to choose from... and even though Star Trek was billed (I was pumped), I had to end up settling for Terminator: Salvation... definitely a air-out-of-the-balloon moment.
The sunset here (and yes, it's that time of the day right now) is beautiful, though. Throughly Asian and the kind of sun set China has largely forgotten exists behind it's perpetual veil of smog.
(CS) TAW Out.
A simple love with a complex touch
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