Here's a quick recap of our week:
On Friday, November 26th Joe and I took our first adventure to China. It was a very long flight....14 hours! It was hard to sleep because it was so hot on the plane. But...sitting in business first class made it better! We watched 4 movies and ate good food! When we landed in Shanghai it was ~2:30pm on Sunday (Shanghai is 13 hours ahead). We went to the hotel (which was HUGE), ordered room service and crashed!!
My (Danielle's) 1st impressions of China:
-People don't stay in their lane/don't use blinkers--just like in the US! I am very glad that I won't be driving!!!!
-Certain lanes on the highway are for certain speeds (there are signs above each lane).
-Traffic cameras every couple of miles along the highway to measure your speed (but not like the ones we see the speed as we go by).
-It is very hazy looking, but the air didn't seem any different to breathe in. Though other LZ expat's that I have talked to said they noticed that things get dirty/dusty faster in China compared to US
-Lots of beeping and impatient drivers! Its like a free for all!! Cars don't really pay close attention to the stop lights (if you are in the right lane and want to turn right you don't stop at the light). If you are walking you don't make eye contact with the person walking towards you....first one to make eye contact is the one who has to move out of the way. Bike/Scooters are everywhere, and drivers seem to forget that they are not in a car and surrounded by metal for protection.
-Buildings are pretty cool looking. Lots of them around and seem to be very close together.
Monday- we woke up early (like 3am!) because we fell asleep so early (and the whole 13 hour difference didn't help either). We started our day off by going to get our medical exams (you need a medical exam to get a work or residence visa for Shanghai). Everything went well and we finished earlier than expected. After getting some breakfast we started our house search.
Tuesday-Continued to house search. By the end of the day we had a pretty good idea where we wanted to live! We will post pictures of the house once we know for sure that the landlord as accepted our offer and we officially know where will we be living.
Wednesday- It was a rainy day in Shanghai. We did some touring of the city and then went to check out the local hospital and clinic. The hospital is about 15-20 minutes away and the clinic (where we'd go for sour throat/colds etc) is only about 6 minutes away.
Thursday- Finalized some house things (the house will be furnished--so we had to look at furniture options etc), went to a local mall and grocery store to get a better idea of what we can/can't get in China.
Friday- Went to see the Engineering Office (where Joe will mostly work) then to the Corporate office. Then sat around at the airport waiting for our flight. It was a 13 hour flight home, which went back faster (since we slept for a few hours).
Saturday and Sunday were spend with Savannah and our parents. We missed Savannah like crazy and she missed us! We got tons of kisses and we loved seeing her big smile and dimples again!
A few pics:
We found it funny to see a 7 11 in Shanghai... as well as a Burger King, McDonalds, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns and KFC. Oh and there are Starbucks all over the place!
One of the buildings in the Garden area... don't remember the details about it but we thought it looked cool!
They are making "steamed buns" they are like noodles with stuff (pork, crab, veggies etc) inside. Pretty good!!
Cool buildings!
Another cool building.....top "ball" is a resturant that turns and you get a great view while you eat. We are looking forward to going there.
Had to check out the local Toys R Usto know what we can buy for Vannah.... so we took a picture with Lego Woody!
The river splits Pudong and Puxi. We will be living on the Pudong side.
We had a great time with our realtor, Sherry. We are looking forward to seeing her again once we make the move and are excited to have our first friend in Shanghai!
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