Category: China Life

Posted on

Day 2 – Food and beer, cheap!

Day two and jet lag is still getting me good. This morning I was up by 5am. Hopefully my first jog here in China (3.4 miles) will help tire me out so I can sleep longer and through the night. Oh, the air quality today was pretty good and as the sun is setting I can actually see across Dushu Lake — the view is pretty stunning!

20170609.jpg

Today was my first trip back to the office since the interviews in February. The idea was to introduce me around to the team but turns out most of them left a bit early today after a great product review with the corporate VPs. My new manager decided it was time for some food and beer so we hopped into his car and went to a place he’s been before. Needless to say this was my first litre — yes 1L — of beer and man did it taste good with those skewered meats, dumplings, and boiled crawfish!

Day 2 Food and Beer.png

Today’s word of the day is 鸡 (Jī), meaning chicken. 鸡胸肉 (Jīxiōng ròu) though, is chicken breast, probably more useful.

Oh, and for some reason I cannot get my VPN to work on my iPad 🙁 Seeing as that tablet is 5 years old that doesn’t surprise me much, but it’s a shame … there goes my favorite Netflix watching device!

Posted on

Words of the Day

Below is a list of words or phrases that I’m learning to help get me settled into China. Please comment if you read Chinese or speak Mandarin and have an alternate suggestion for the translation!

  • 2017-06-20: 花园 (Huāyuán), meaning garden.
  • 2017-06-19: 雨 (Yǔ), meaning rain.
  • 2017-06-18: 总线 (Zǒngxiàn), meaning bus. NOTE: This might not be the correct translation!
  • 2017-06-14: 手机 (Shǒujī), meaning cellphone.
  • 2017-06-13: 技术 (Jìshù), meaning technology.
  • 2017-06-12: 出租车 (Chūzū chē), meaning taxi.
  • 2017-06-11: 地铁 (Dìtiě), meaning subway.
  • 2017-06-10: 面条 (Miàntiáo), meaning noodles.
  • 2017-06-09: 鸡 (Jī), meaning chicken. 鸡胸肉 (Jīxiōng ròu) is chicken breast, probably more useful.
  • 2017-06-08: 星巴克 (Xīngbākè), meaning Starbucks.
Posted on

Day 1 – Getting Settled

8 Dollar Lunch

What the equivalent of $8 will buy you for lunch in SIP (Suzhou Industrial Park)

It can’t be blamed on leaving the drapes open last night, but rather the inevitable jet lag that caused me to be wide awake at 5:15am, even after taking a sleeping pill before bed last night! Not being able to sleep in allowed me to settle into the apartment by putting away my personal items.

As I was putting things away I kept cursing myself for not purchasing any Starbucks Via or packing my french press in my carry-on luggage. Guess I’ll have to get used to having tea in the morning instead of a cup of joe!

In hopes of speaking better Mandarin, a word or phrase a day is being learned. Today’s word is 星巴克 (Xīngbākè), meaning Starbucks. Yup, I had to find the closest one too me to pick up some decent tea as the stuff they stock in my apt (which is in a hotel…) is just meh.

While I might not post a picture every day on this blog, I am occasionally going to post a shot looking out of my apartment window that depicts the air pollution. This morning started off a lot worse, but as the day went on the buildings across Dushu Lake (独墅湖) could be spotted off in the distance.

20170608

The view across Dushu Lake with the air quality index around 115

Maybe one of these days I will have enough pictures to show a range of AQI (Air Quality Index) for the same view! To be fair, an AQI of 115 is listed as “lightly polluted” and I did not have much in the way of issues walking around or breathing, even with the humidity about 55% and the temps reaching 30C (86F).

Not sure what is on tap for tomorrow, but I’ll see how much of an adventure can be had!

Posted on

Day 0 – Arrival!

After a pretty uneventful flight (only some light chop when I assumed we passed through the jet stream) where I watched five movies in hopes of staying awake for as much of the 13 hours as possible, I made it into the country safe and sound.

Getting through immigration and customs was a breeze. Not sure if it’s just luck or if they’re really speedy at processing people, but it only took five minutes. No questions were asked, my passport was stamped, and I was on my way!

The drive from the Shanghai Pudong airport (PVG) is much more interesting this time than when I came for the job interviews in February. Why? It’s light out and I can actually see things!

The apartment I’m staying in is rather nice. When I get more time I will post some pictures and provide more details. Location-wise it’s near perfect for a 20 minute walk to the office once I do start working.

First thing on tomorrow’s agenda: Find the nearest Starbucks to where I’m staying then find an ATM. It’s not as easy as it sounds: Google Maps doesn’t really work in mainland China and I can’t read enough Chinese to use Baidu Maps!