The Arrival

So, I just wanted everyone to know that I have made it to Shanghai.
Flight wasn't bad. Korean Air's service is amazing. They walk around
and offer drinks the whole time where as on China Southern I am stuck
pushing the call button to no avail. I landed in Shanghai at 8 pm on
Monday night. Not a bad time to get in. By then, the heat had
subsided. The only snag I hit was after I got off the shuttle bus in a
district near where I work, I found myself in the middle of no where.
I thought, "Well now, Dawson, what are you going to do now?" (In a
fashion that reminds me of my granny speaking to me.) I mean, I
couldn't just leave my luggage on the sidewalk and go chase down
taxi's a few streets away. Luckily, a few passed by and another
foreigner got their attention. The first taxi drive looks at the
foreigner's stuff and starts yelling, "too much luggage. 4 pieces are
too heavy." and backs away. (In Chinese, of course.) Now I am getting
nervous about my driver. He looks at my stuff and starts yelling the
same thing. But he had exited his car before he noticed how much I
had. So I started yelling back (in Chinese, I am so proud) "If you
don't help me, who will?" I said it about 3 times, each time
significantly louder. He caved. I threw my stuff in the car hoping for
a fast and easy getaway but I had lost my address. So now, after
begging him to do his job, I had him stop in the middle of a back
alley and let me look for the address. It took 15 minutes or so. By
this time I was embarrassed, though I had no reason to be. Well, to
end this segment of the story, I got to the hotel just fine. It is
near the hospital where I will work. The only thing about it though,
was that it was missing the cryogenic freezing chamber-esque shower in
the middle of the room (that I had seen at other hotels in this chain)
where I could shower and watch TV at the same time. In fact, the room
is so small that I have no where to walk. My luggage literally takes
up every ounce of floor space in this tiny closet of a room.

It really is great to be back in China. It is even better being in
Shanghai starting my career. I was so excited that I slept 4 hours my
first night back. I woke up at 4 am checked on a few emails and then
started roaming the district for a few hours. I was up with the street
sweepers and the morning tai chi-ers. Pretty refreshing. I found the
fresh food market I will be shopping at. The veggies and fruit look
amazing. I did go apartment hunting. My agent found me one place but
it was actually smaller than the hotel room with no kitchen or washing
machine. We had a long discussion and cleared up some things and so I
think now she will be able to find me something more suitable.

Well, I have no pictures to post now but I will in the future. And the
Tale continues...