Montag, 10. Dezember 2007

Finally in Shanghai

...hey everybody, I am still kind of alive!

It is now the second day in Shanghai and I am not so sure right now if I am so happy about the fact, that I will be here for 96 more days (yes guys, I am already counting them down...). Here is what has happened so far:

Sunday
  • arrived at 8 am at Pudong International Airport - if you have ever the chance of taking a Chinese airline, do it, it is a funny experience!
  • I was speeding with 431 km/h through Shanghai, taking the transrapid to the city
  • moved into my appartment, 29th floor, with an awesome view at the city
  • first shopping tour to Metro (yes, the German one), trying to buy a mobile phone: first trouble, because nobody understood that I did not want a contract but a prepaid card --> finally found a poor guy at the cashier who did not look Chinese (and therefore was speaking English) but spoke Chinese and had to help me
  • next issue: there was no water running in my apartment, neither in the bathroom nor in the kitchen; unfortunately, there was again nobody speaking English --> finally found the "office" where I explained (do not ask me how...) that there was a problem in my apartment, so that one guy followed me and checked it
  • the rest of the day, I was freezing my butt off in the apartment - unbelievable if you consider that I walked just in a sweater outside!

Monday
  • survived first ride with the subway
  • office of SAP Labs is really awesome and my colleagues are all very nice
  • had chicken feet in my soup and did not see it before I had eaten half of the soup - bon apetit!
  • directly went to Metro again after workto buy a small heater for my apartment - I hope that one in combination with the two airconditioners should keep me alive the next months

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  • well, right now, the lights went off in my apartment and so did everything else as well...great; luckily, I am sitting in the office next to a German student - she is speaking Chinese and is living in the same house as I...

So much for the moment...take care!