Day 3: A Day of Discovery

Where do I begin? Day 3 certainly was a day of discoveries. So many that I have broken them down.

This is what I call sad discoveries:

Sad discovery # 1: My hair straightener doesn't work :( reducing me to using a round brush and leaving me contemplating the possibility of changing this blog title to "A Blonde-bob's Blog in China". My hair has taken on a very rounded effect not to my liking. My girlfriends reading this will understand my distaste of the bob effect. But enough about hair.

Sad discovery #2: My Sonicare base charger blew out!!! It will be manual brushing for me until April when my parents come and bring their spare charger (Hint Hint mom and dad).

So if this is the worst that happens then I think I'll still survive. This next section I will call "The Chinese Way" Discoveries:

TCW Discovery #1: Maintenance crews drop in unannounced at any time of day and no matter how many times you ask them to hold on a minute (in multiple languages mind you) they still insist on ringing the doorbell and shouting through the door at you while you scramble to get out of your robe and decently dressed b/c you just got out of the shower and were about to get into your after-shower routine.

Yes my cable guy came today and after about a minute of trying to figure out his actual purpose for being in my doorway I understood that he was there to set up my digital cable. Its funny how when you don't understand someone you revert to your own language and keep talking in it as he continues to talk to you in his language as if at some point either person will miraculously reach fluency in the other's language. Luckily "Justin" came to my rescue who I think is the property manager, although I'm still not exactly sure, and spoke english to explain the situation.

TCW Discovery #2: How to hang your clothes outside for drying. The first thing Justin wanted to show me post cable situation was the outside clothes hanger for drying (b/c dryers do not exist here). I think he was pretty proud of the pulley feature that dropped down the bar for hanging the clothes. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the clothes hanger didn't have a snowball's chance in hell at being used. Not only b/c hanging your clothes outside for all the world to see is just not right but also b/c I'm a laundry service girl all the way. On a side note though the pulley malfunctioned during the demonstration and Justin asked me to pull down the bar b/c "You are taller than me. I am typical Chinese man and very short". Which led to TCW Discovery #2.5: Chinese people are funny!

So the cable is up and running and I am now the proud owner of 46 channels of really Cheesy Chinese programming. Oh and in my haste to get dressed I neglected the zipper on my jeans and was happy to discover after everyone left that it was down the whole time. Awesome.

This section I will call fun discoveries.

Fun Discovery #1: I have friends!!! Yay! I went out last night with the guy I was supposed to meet up with the night before, Randy. We met at a wine bar to chat about living and surviving in Shanghai and the wine was actually very good! Phew... We then met up with a few of his friends for dinner: An ambiguously gay Canadian (ribbed turtleneck sweater and all), A cheeky Brit (not doing anything for the teeth stereotype I might mention) and a very lovely Australian couple. The Australian girl had on a fabulous top that I was delighted to discover she had made. The ideas immediately started forming for my new wardrobe.

Fun Discovery #2: MEXICAN FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I probably shouldn't get too excited b/c I haven't tried it yet but we passed "Cal Burrito" on our way to dinner. The words jumped out of me "Chips and Salsa"?? Randy explained that the owner is a Chinese American from SF and although it's the best in Shanghai, its not quite the real deal. My reply was, "Honey, i've been eating at Left at Albuquerque for 3.5 years. Obviously real-deal Mexican is not of utmost importance to me.


Fun Discovery #3: Shanghai nightlife. It really was a cornucopia last night. We started at a very posh bar that was filled w/ a French group celebrating a birthday and I was happy to get a raspberry vodka and soda...or two. We then headed to a very, very smoky "hipster" bar that instantly took me back to the Mission scene in SF...needless to say, not my fave. The Australian couple, the Brit and I left for a quieter, less smoky bar and were graced with the presence of Chinese prostitutes. That's when I knew it was time to go home.

And that, my friends, is all for Day 3.