We went to the Shanghai Jade Garden. I think that was the name. I am obviously behind on this blog and am pulling things from memory. If you have a big party going into a restaurant here in China, they have separate rooms in which to dine. I mean real separate rooms with doors and a big table and a couch and credenza and your own wait staff. I must say that the food service is very fast in restaurants here. Then again, when you don’t take the time to debone, skin, or remove anything on an animal, it makes it pretty easy to fix. I can’t even remember all of the food that came out. There had to be 20 different dishes. I think this is where the frog legs were served rather than at my first meal. They eat a lot of duck. Smoked duck, spicy duck, roasted duck, cold duck, warm duck, AFLAK!!!!
There were ginko nuts, (I had chestnuts the night before), duck, frog legs, Chinese cabbage, fish, (this time I saw it come to the table) shrimp, (heads, feet, everything), dish after dish of different things and some kind of rice wine thing for desert. Let me say now that they do not know what sweet is in China. Chocolate is not popular. You can get it, but it is not appreciated. Desserts are not as we know them. Then again, I did not see heavy people. I could never buy anything in a clothing store here. XXL fits my size 5 daughter. One of the things that I particularly liked was the lotus root. It was deep-fried and was stuffed with meat, probably pork, which was very tasty. There were dumplings. I grew fond of Chinese dumplings dipped in a soy vinegar sauce while I was there. There was a rice, (I assume), bread that looked like a dumpling but tasted like a roll that was good, and a chicken and vegetable dish that looked like something you might actually get at a Chinese restaurant in the US. I had to have a fork and knife, I still could not use the chopsticks, and I would have been totally nervous in front of all those people using them. The problem is, forks and knives are not conducive to Chinese food. There is too much to spit out. Duck bones, fish bones, hard things, (don’t ask, I really don’t know), and long stuff that you can’t put in your mouth all at once; it’s a messy business, and western utensils just don’t work. You can’t pull shrimp heads out of your mouth with a fork, but chopsticks work real well. I don’t know how they shell those suckers while they are in their mouths, but I was amazed. I just did it with my fingers, there was no way I was going to master that talent on the first try. Plus, I really did not want to bite off a shrimp head. I thought at first that they were eating them, but I was mistaken (at least I think so). I saw something that pleased me. There were supposed to be 12 of us at lunch, but there were only 9 so everything that was served had 3 left over. When we left the restaurant, someone took some of the leftovers in a doggie bag. Looks like some cultural things are universal.
With lunch and evaluations behind us, we went back to the office. Every time I was in the office, I tried to get as much done as possible. It was my only network time and I was so far behind from losing a day that I was never going to catch up with my other responsibilities. At around 6:00 “J” was asking if I would like to go for dinner. It had been a long day, and we were both ready to go, so off we went to dinner. We ate in one of the the shopping mall/office buildings that were close to the office. Tonight it is spicy Szechwan food. I love spicy food. “J” orders for us. She asks me what I would like to try, but I am game for anything and tell her to order what she likes. Tonight I will try the chopsticks. First comes a cold dish of fish. It looks like it has been fried. “J” tells me how to eat around the bones. I tell you, that is the hardest thing I am finding about the food here. I know why everyone is so thin. They work off calories as they eat by eating around bones! The smaller portions may be part of it too. They aren't like the American "hogs to the trough" size. Anyway, although I am not a huge fish fan, this is alright. Using the chopsticks seems to be easy at this point, and “J” actually says I am doing a good job.
Have I mentioned how great “J” is? She has been an absolute treasure since I have gotten here. She is very protective and has been at my side for every move.
Next dish is a cold dish of jellyfish head. OK, I had that last night and it wasn’t my favorite, but different restaurant, different taste……..maybe. Ok…………..NOT a different taste. I just can’t get over that gristly chewy texture, cause really, what can you do to "see through goo" to make it taste different? My son has made this comment “At what point do you see a jellyfish and decide Huh! That would be tasty!” Then again, he is an assistant manager at a plasma donation site and one donor made the comment that he would like to taste his plasma (his own, not my son’s). So anything is possible I guess. One more thing on the jellyfish, one of my colleagues told me that it was one of his favorite dishes, but his wife didn’t like it. He said he liked to eat it with a little piece hanging out of his lip to gross her out. HAHAHAHA! Men are the same everywhere aren’t they?
Next dish was a spicy eggplant. I liked this. When “J” was ordering, she wanted to make sure I wanted to try it because it was very hot. I said if she could eat it, I could eat it. Texas chili, jalapenos, habaneras, and a pepper that comes from Guam that is unbelievably hot have tempered my mouth over the years. I didn’t think I would have any problem with this. Sorry, no funny story here, it really was not as hot as I expected it to be, but it was very tasty.
Now we have a dish served that is duck blood and something else. When I ask what the "something else" is, the answer is “beef intestine”. OK, I am here; I am game. I just can’t figure out how the little squares of duck blood stay congealed when it is hot. It has the consistency of slippery tofu. It is a little harder to pick up with chopsticks, but if you are careful it can be done. Now I ask you, what is the proper way to eat duck blood? Do you chew it, or do you just let it slide down? I remember many many years ago; I went to a party where there were raw oysters served. I put Tabasco sauce on them and just sucked them down out of the shell. No chewing involved. Are raw oysters still alive? I really liked them and ate too many. I wasn’t doing so well the next day. I don’t think I have had raw oysters since then. Anyway, I just picked up the DB and gave it one bite then let it slide. I don’t think I can give a fair evaluation of the taste because my brain was going “YOU’RE EATING DUCK BLOOD!! YOU’RE EATING DUCK BLOOD!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU’RE EATING DUCK BLOOD!!” It kind of overwhelmed my taste center, and in turn made my gag reflex go “Brain has told me you are eating duck blood, abort……abort……abort!” However, I was able to push through this and get it down along with a couple more. I tried the beef intestine too. It was speckled brown ( I am hoping that was the natural color after cleaning) and a little rubbery; kind of like eating a piece of fat. This was not my favorite dish so far, but everything has to be given a chance. By this time I hear Scotty (another Star Trek reference for those of you who don’t know) in my brain “I’ve tried everything capt’n and I can’t get her to respond. She’s eating everything they put in front of her!”
Last dish is a dessert. “J” likes sweets. She is a very attractive woman, tall and slender, but she thinks she is too heavy. My left leg is bigger than her…………….
Anyway, sweets in China are not very sweet. Many people do not like sweets and any chocolate that you find is not indigenous to the area. The same goes for pastries, breads, cheeses, milk, (although there is soy milk). This dessert was a boiled dumpling with brown lacing which was sesame and in the middle was mildly sweet black sesame. Interestingly, the sesame in the middle was as dry as a bone. This came to the table in a hot bowl of water with a ladle to scoop out the dumplings. I assume it is the same water in which it was cooked. This was tasty. Not a chocolate mousse by any stretch, but still tasty.
After dinner we walk back to the hotel. My feet are beginning to feel painful. I have been walking more than I usually do and I only brought dress shoes with me. The ones I have on are flats, but it feels like I have been walking barefoot and the balls of my feet are painful and that stupid pinky toe on my right foot has curved under my 4th toe again making it go pointy because when I walk, I walk on the side of the toe. After walking all day at the hospital, it is bothering me. And I have been walking up stairs………I am just fine on a level surface, but stairs kill me. I am already hypoxic most of the time and I get air hungry pretty quickly on stairs. I feel like “The Little Engine That Could” going up stairs. I THINK I can, I THINK I can, I THINK I can. As long as I don’t have to talk for a few minutes after I finish climbing, I am OK.
Tomorrow is a big day. I will be doing training for the staff at the hospital. One of the team members here in the office has made my slides bilingual. That should help.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Friday, November 18, 2005
Business......Chinese Style; Shanghai Dairies Continued
OK, dinner is over, it’s almost 8:00, guess what I get to do? Gather my computer bag up and walk back to the hotel. It’s only 2 blocks, but my legs feel like rubber bands and guess what I did? I wore a new pair of shoes…..Having a college education doesn’t mean anything sometimes……….
”J” (I’ll call my colleague “J” here for her privacy) walked back with me since she is staying in the same hotel; I am so glad she is here. She can give me CPR when I collapse. There isn’t much to say about what happened after I got back to the hotel. I fell asleep approximately 30 seconds after I hit the bed. That was probably 8:30.
Why is it that no matter how long you go without sleep, you cannot sleep an equal amount of time to make up for it? I awoke at 4:30 a.m. It was weird; I was on the same clock as when I travel from the East coast to the West coast. I always end up going to bed at around 8-9 West Coast time and getting up at 4:30-5:00 in the morning. It didn’t matter, I felt really good, but I knew it would only last until mid-afternoon. I had plenty of time to get up, get dressed, put my things away, (they were just thrown on the floor or in my suitcase……fatigue makes a slob out of the most fastidious), and write a bit. I tried to get my work priorities in place, but without being connected to the network, it left me without the tools I needed to get it together.
I didn’t eat any breakfast, but my stomach was recovering from the whole time and food thing. While your brain does a wonderful job of thinking, organizing, rationalizing, and understanding what you are doing, the rest of the body is out of the communication loop. It’s like a big organization that keeps its employees informed only as much as necessary. The message is “Do your work as normal, we will take care of any outside disturbances.” In the meantime, there is all this turmoil and stimuli that affect the ability to work normally. The stomach is trying to deal with new unfamiliar work and no training, the digestive system just makes it up as it goes along, and then there are the various systems that just go on strike………..like my leg muscles who have had a cushy job most of their life. Now they have to work harder, and they just don’t want to. I can just hear those little muscle cells saying. “That’s it!! I’m done!! She is being ridiculous with this forced overtime!”
Today is the day we go to the site and try to play nice with the persons who will be doing our work. I have to do an evaluation of the site and meet with the PI (principle investigator). I have been trying to learn the proper manners and protocol to deal with this. In business, I like to be direct. I like people to be direct with me. That way there is no mistaking what the expectations are. If I have a question, I will ask, I don’t care how dumb it sounds. There is nothing worse than beating around the bush. Here, however, I have to be careful not to offend anyone. It’s not that I am a person that will offend normally it’s just that it’s a cultural thing I guess. We went to the hospital and met with our expert………nothing like kissing some tushy. I got a whole history of the hospital and how it was related to the university and how the government is moving forward with guidelines on drugs and food. (Maybe the drugs part…….but you will never convince me that they have any control over the quality of food…………….any country that eats bull penis will say any food is OK.)
Now I get a tour (I am evaluating as I go) of the hospital and the clinical unit. First of all let me say that the nurses still wear caps. As a nurse, please……….they must not have any male nurses here. Can you just picture male nurses in caps? There are many that think nurses should go back to all white clothing with caps………..(my husband)………….I think they all have some kind of fantasy issue because then come the short skirts and garter belts to go with it.
Back to the tour: The hospital was built in 1936, and has some original architecture that is really cool. It is very traditional Chinese architecture with the turned up eves and such. However, I feel like I have stepped into a 1920’s horror movie with Dr. Frankenstein just around the corner. It’s not the technology or the medical capabilities that bother me, I am sure that they are quite capable and heaven knows they are intelligent and work hard, but the visuals around me are just plain scary. Patients are walking around inside and out in their convict style PJs and they don’t look very clean. Peeking up the halls into the “wards” (which I never got to see) it looks like something out of a war movie. Stark bare walls, dark hallways, people crammed together everywhere, and smells of cooking food permeate the halls and walkways. (Later I saw one of the sources of food. On the bottom floor outside there is a store and they are cooking something in a pot in front of the store. Mind you, this is still part of the hospital but it is in a breezeway that is open that connects one part of the hospital to another.) The city streets and the hospital seem to merge into one mass of humanity. We walked through to a new building (they were quite proud of the newness; it did look nice) that was the outpatient area. We were one floor up and could look over the whole floor beneath us. The outside wall is actually a huge window 2 stories tall and you can see outside on the sidewalks and inside to the outpatient area. I was astonished to see hundreds (really—there were hundreds) of people lined up against the windows an all over the downstairs. This was not an emergency room, but an outpatient clinic. One of my Chinese colleagues leaned over to me and said, “They are waiting to see a doctor.” Whaaaaaaa? how does that work? How many days do you have to wait? Do you take a number? I should have asked, but I was too dumbstruck to think of it. I felt so badly for them, I wanted to go down and help. At lease I could do some assessements...........Oh never mind, I don't speak Chinese. Doctors are not allowed to have private practices here (however, dentists may), so you can’t make an appointment to see a doctor. I asked if they have government insurance and the answer was “Some people do.” meaning those that work for the government, and not even all of them. I asked if business’s offer healthcare and the answer was “Some do, but it isn’t always very good.” Sounds familiar doesn’t it? We continue on. I still have the images of all of those people in my head. They were sick too…..coughing and hacking and laying around. People were waiting inside and outside sitting on the sidewalks, inpatients are walking around, stretchers are being pushed inside and outside people, people, and more people everywhere. (Do any of you remember the Star Trek [original Star Trek] episode where only Captain Kirk and one girl were on the Enterprise? She kept dancing around the ship not wanting to tell the capatin why she was there. She seemed to run from place to place and then at the end you see out of the window that people are jammed together all over the planet with no room? It was a 60's attempt to makes us aware of the population explosion. Anyway, that is what keeps coming to mind around here.)
A few feet away was the pharmacy; it was mobbed. It reminded me of the floor of the New York stock exchange, you know with people hollering and yelling and making motions with their hands that only other traders understand. You can buy drugs outside of the hospital, but then insurance doesn’t cover it (if you have it), but the price is the same.
We get on an elevator to go to the clinical lab. How many people can you fit on an elevator in China? Let’s just say it is a lot. I was standing there with my arms pinned down to my side crammed into the side of the elevator while more people attempted to get on. Now, I am a head taller than most everyone in there and if you have seen “Toy Story” I felt like Woody did when he fell into the toy machine.
We go to the clinical lab and again this is an outpatient area for clinical hematology, clinical chemistry, and urinalysis. I caught a glimpse of how they collect blood. They have about 10-15 windows like bank teller windows, except they are down low so you can sit. You stick your arm through the window and the phlebotomist on the other side takes your blood. I guess it is space saving and efficient. NEXT!!
So we go into the lab……………………..You come through one set of doors and then the lab is in the middle with another set of doors. That’s good, except the lab doors are wide open and samples are sitting everywhere. That wouldn’t be so bad except they are all without tops. So open samples are sitting open in the lab with the open lab doors. I am cringing. I am not going to complain about the lab set-up because that isn’t the focus……….but they are not even covered. EW!……….. What if someone slipped and fell and knocked a table over………… The same conditions where the urinalysis is done………………..open tubes of pee everywhere. Far be it from me to criticize.
Now back through the human mass to the study unit. It looks like a prison camp. Dark, dank, stark concrete walls and floors, 4 beds to a room. The rooms have little light and no room to move around. They are about the size of 4 and ½ beds. My big request here is please move the crash cart into the hall where you can at least get to it if you need it. It is well stocked.
The lab that will be processing the blood samples for the study is eerily quiet. It isn’t the hospital lab, but a separate lab for studies. It is lifeless and pretty bare. The essentials are there, but that is about it. The –70 freezer has me worried. They keep assuring me that it has plenty of room, but I just don’t buy it. It is all they have; I guess I am going to have to believe them for the moment.
Now that we have schmoozed, toured, and I have asked my questions, it is time for everyone to go to lunch……………..Everyone is going from both sides. This will be fun.
”J” (I’ll call my colleague “J” here for her privacy) walked back with me since she is staying in the same hotel; I am so glad she is here. She can give me CPR when I collapse. There isn’t much to say about what happened after I got back to the hotel. I fell asleep approximately 30 seconds after I hit the bed. That was probably 8:30.
Why is it that no matter how long you go without sleep, you cannot sleep an equal amount of time to make up for it? I awoke at 4:30 a.m. It was weird; I was on the same clock as when I travel from the East coast to the West coast. I always end up going to bed at around 8-9 West Coast time and getting up at 4:30-5:00 in the morning. It didn’t matter, I felt really good, but I knew it would only last until mid-afternoon. I had plenty of time to get up, get dressed, put my things away, (they were just thrown on the floor or in my suitcase……fatigue makes a slob out of the most fastidious), and write a bit. I tried to get my work priorities in place, but without being connected to the network, it left me without the tools I needed to get it together.
I didn’t eat any breakfast, but my stomach was recovering from the whole time and food thing. While your brain does a wonderful job of thinking, organizing, rationalizing, and understanding what you are doing, the rest of the body is out of the communication loop. It’s like a big organization that keeps its employees informed only as much as necessary. The message is “Do your work as normal, we will take care of any outside disturbances.” In the meantime, there is all this turmoil and stimuli that affect the ability to work normally. The stomach is trying to deal with new unfamiliar work and no training, the digestive system just makes it up as it goes along, and then there are the various systems that just go on strike………..like my leg muscles who have had a cushy job most of their life. Now they have to work harder, and they just don’t want to. I can just hear those little muscle cells saying. “That’s it!! I’m done!! She is being ridiculous with this forced overtime!”
Today is the day we go to the site and try to play nice with the persons who will be doing our work. I have to do an evaluation of the site and meet with the PI (principle investigator). I have been trying to learn the proper manners and protocol to deal with this. In business, I like to be direct. I like people to be direct with me. That way there is no mistaking what the expectations are. If I have a question, I will ask, I don’t care how dumb it sounds. There is nothing worse than beating around the bush. Here, however, I have to be careful not to offend anyone. It’s not that I am a person that will offend normally it’s just that it’s a cultural thing I guess. We went to the hospital and met with our expert………nothing like kissing some tushy. I got a whole history of the hospital and how it was related to the university and how the government is moving forward with guidelines on drugs and food. (Maybe the drugs part…….but you will never convince me that they have any control over the quality of food…………….any country that eats bull penis will say any food is OK.)
Now I get a tour (I am evaluating as I go) of the hospital and the clinical unit. First of all let me say that the nurses still wear caps. As a nurse, please……….they must not have any male nurses here. Can you just picture male nurses in caps? There are many that think nurses should go back to all white clothing with caps………..(my husband)………….I think they all have some kind of fantasy issue because then come the short skirts and garter belts to go with it.
Back to the tour: The hospital was built in 1936, and has some original architecture that is really cool. It is very traditional Chinese architecture with the turned up eves and such. However, I feel like I have stepped into a 1920’s horror movie with Dr. Frankenstein just around the corner. It’s not the technology or the medical capabilities that bother me, I am sure that they are quite capable and heaven knows they are intelligent and work hard, but the visuals around me are just plain scary. Patients are walking around inside and out in their convict style PJs and they don’t look very clean. Peeking up the halls into the “wards” (which I never got to see) it looks like something out of a war movie. Stark bare walls, dark hallways, people crammed together everywhere, and smells of cooking food permeate the halls and walkways. (Later I saw one of the sources of food. On the bottom floor outside there is a store and they are cooking something in a pot in front of the store. Mind you, this is still part of the hospital but it is in a breezeway that is open that connects one part of the hospital to another.) The city streets and the hospital seem to merge into one mass of humanity. We walked through to a new building (they were quite proud of the newness; it did look nice) that was the outpatient area. We were one floor up and could look over the whole floor beneath us. The outside wall is actually a huge window 2 stories tall and you can see outside on the sidewalks and inside to the outpatient area. I was astonished to see hundreds (really—there were hundreds) of people lined up against the windows an all over the downstairs. This was not an emergency room, but an outpatient clinic. One of my Chinese colleagues leaned over to me and said, “They are waiting to see a doctor.” Whaaaaaaa? how does that work? How many days do you have to wait? Do you take a number? I should have asked, but I was too dumbstruck to think of it. I felt so badly for them, I wanted to go down and help. At lease I could do some assessements...........Oh never mind, I don't speak Chinese. Doctors are not allowed to have private practices here (however, dentists may), so you can’t make an appointment to see a doctor. I asked if they have government insurance and the answer was “Some people do.” meaning those that work for the government, and not even all of them. I asked if business’s offer healthcare and the answer was “Some do, but it isn’t always very good.” Sounds familiar doesn’t it? We continue on. I still have the images of all of those people in my head. They were sick too…..coughing and hacking and laying around. People were waiting inside and outside sitting on the sidewalks, inpatients are walking around, stretchers are being pushed inside and outside people, people, and more people everywhere. (Do any of you remember the Star Trek [original Star Trek] episode where only Captain Kirk and one girl were on the Enterprise? She kept dancing around the ship not wanting to tell the capatin why she was there. She seemed to run from place to place and then at the end you see out of the window that people are jammed together all over the planet with no room? It was a 60's attempt to makes us aware of the population explosion. Anyway, that is what keeps coming to mind around here.)
A few feet away was the pharmacy; it was mobbed. It reminded me of the floor of the New York stock exchange, you know with people hollering and yelling and making motions with their hands that only other traders understand. You can buy drugs outside of the hospital, but then insurance doesn’t cover it (if you have it), but the price is the same.
We get on an elevator to go to the clinical lab. How many people can you fit on an elevator in China? Let’s just say it is a lot. I was standing there with my arms pinned down to my side crammed into the side of the elevator while more people attempted to get on. Now, I am a head taller than most everyone in there and if you have seen “Toy Story” I felt like Woody did when he fell into the toy machine.
We go to the clinical lab and again this is an outpatient area for clinical hematology, clinical chemistry, and urinalysis. I caught a glimpse of how they collect blood. They have about 10-15 windows like bank teller windows, except they are down low so you can sit. You stick your arm through the window and the phlebotomist on the other side takes your blood. I guess it is space saving and efficient. NEXT!!
So we go into the lab……………………..You come through one set of doors and then the lab is in the middle with another set of doors. That’s good, except the lab doors are wide open and samples are sitting everywhere. That wouldn’t be so bad except they are all without tops. So open samples are sitting open in the lab with the open lab doors. I am cringing. I am not going to complain about the lab set-up because that isn’t the focus……….but they are not even covered. EW!……….. What if someone slipped and fell and knocked a table over………… The same conditions where the urinalysis is done………………..open tubes of pee everywhere. Far be it from me to criticize.
Now back through the human mass to the study unit. It looks like a prison camp. Dark, dank, stark concrete walls and floors, 4 beds to a room. The rooms have little light and no room to move around. They are about the size of 4 and ½ beds. My big request here is please move the crash cart into the hall where you can at least get to it if you need it. It is well stocked.
The lab that will be processing the blood samples for the study is eerily quiet. It isn’t the hospital lab, but a separate lab for studies. It is lifeless and pretty bare. The essentials are there, but that is about it. The –70 freezer has me worried. They keep assuring me that it has plenty of room, but I just don’t buy it. It is all they have; I guess I am going to have to believe them for the moment.
Now that we have schmoozed, toured, and I have asked my questions, it is time for everyone to go to lunch……………..Everyone is going from both sides. This will be fun.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Hungry? Let's Eat Real Chinese Food!
This is a long post.... get some popcorn!
I get into the shower and as I get out the phone rings. They want to come and get me now. Give me 20 minutes I tell them…..I throw on some clothes, put on a new face and get my laptop and presentation ready. No rest for the weary. Since we had never met, I had to take a guess that the business clad woman and her male companion were my Shanghai colleagues. How hard could it be to guess that I was the one they were looking for? Large blond woman with a rolling computer bag coming toward you had to be me. I was right and they were too. Although the office was within walking distance, (I didn’t know this at the time) we took a cab. It would have been faster to walk, (I am telling you, you cannot believe the traffic) but I was glad for the ride. By the time I completed the training it was 3:30, (2:30 a.m. at home). Now it is time to go from the meeting room to the offices. (I am going on 43 hours without quality sleep. What is wrong with this picture?) I am now doing paperwork, catching up on emails that I can’t do anything about at the moment (did I mention that I have about 3 other projects going on simultaneously?) and trying to stay awake while refraining from biting someone’s head off and spitting it into the garbage can. I pop off a few emails to home, copy a post here, and it is approaching 6 p.m. (5.a.m. at home; 45.5 hours; I want a bed). The new director of clinical operations stops by……….now they want to take me to dinner. “How nice, that would be lovely!” I say. I am crying on the inside. Thankfully the restaurant is in the office complex. Very nice restaurant and the food is good.
Let’s just take a few minutes here and discuss Chinese eating and Chinese food, shall we? I have learned that there is a difference in Chinese cuisine. It differs from region to region, just like our American food differs from north to south, east to west. Since Shanghai is a port city, seafood is quite popular. The northern regions like Beijing have more pork, chicken and beef, and there is Shanghai styles of food as well as Cantonese and Szechwan. The Chinese are very parsimonious, very frugal, and take pride in the fact that they don’t waste any part of an animal (sea type or land type). Keep that in mind for the future………… Being the adventurous type, I am more than happy to try anything. I don’t get squeamish about much, and feel that just because I don’t happen to eat what you eat doesn’t mean it’s not worth eating. I came here game to try it all. I have not been disappointed, but we’ll get to that later.
I have to tell kind of a funny story here before I go on. I ate breakfast on the plane, but it was after lunch by the time I got to the offices. The physician that I was traveling with came in a week before me. She is Chinese and I just adore her. She told me that they wanted to get me KFC or McDonalds for lunch. She told them “No, get her Chinese food!” She knew me well enough to know that that would be OK. KFC is the most recognized brand in China………….can you believe that? I probably would have laughed out loud had I come in to a lunch of KFC. They got Chinese fast food which was duck and something else, but never got a chance to even take a bite because we hit the ground running. I right this post at odd hours in the very early morning or very late at night, because I don’t have any other time.
I love the way the Chinese eat. For larger groups, the table is big and round with a lazy susan in the middle on which to place the various dishes. The first time I experienced this was in Los Angeles at a local Chinese restaurant that really had very few employees that spoke English. I just pointed to pictures and let them bring the food to my table. I wasn’t sure what I was eating, but the experience was fun. Anyway, eating is such an experience. There were 6 of us out to dinner. The meals start with appetizers. It is customary to have cold dishes and hot dishes. They seem to bring out at least 3 of each. Each person has a little plate. Not a dinner plate, more like a dessert plate. You just take a taste or two of everything that is on the table. There is always much more food than one can eat, but the Chinese custom is to leave something. If you eat all of the food you have indicated to them that they have not provided enough for you to eat. Everyone eats out of the community bowl or plate on the lazy susan. That works with chopsticks, but not so well with forks and knives. I didn’t attempt the chopsticks this time around. I just didn’t have a clue on how to use them and I was so tired I could barely hold the things I knew how to use. The utensils they brought me were huge, it’s like you have to rest the handle of the fork on your shoulder. We had octopus, smoked duck, frog’s legs, seaweed, jellyfish, some vegetable dishes; I can’t even remember everything they brought out. I like octopus, I have had that before, so far so good. Jellyfish looks like what you would expect it to look like…..I did taste it but it has little a grissly crunch to it like you are eating, well,……gristle. I had that look on my face like you get when you try to smile after eating something really gross…….you know one side of your lip goes up trying to smile and the other side is trying to pull it down…. the “Oh yes, this is good!” look while a shiver goes down your spine and your belly is trying to toss it out while yelling “What the H….did you just put in here?!” Smoked duck is good, and the fish was really good. The presentation was awesome. The whole fish in red sauce (not tomato, some kind of sweet sauce) with, I think scallops and shrimp mixed in. Just a note on seafood here; when you go into the restaurant and see the lovely fish tanks, they are not for decoration;………… it’s dinner……..they bring the flopping fish to the table in a bucket for the host to approve, shortly thereafter, flipper is on the table. Now that is fresh seafood! It is all done discretely, I never even noticed it this time, but I did watch for it at later meals and sure enough they did it. I guess it is not much different that picking a lobster out of a tank….. There were separate dishes with different kinds of mushrooms and shallots, sliced pork and all kinds of things. The dessert was a layered jello-type thing cut in chunks with red and pink layers, but it isn’t sweet. The pink layer is like a coconut or tofu layer. They really do not have sweets here. Of course, the guest of honor is offered the fish head……………. It is the best part, and that is the reason it is offered to the guest. While they gave me this information, they did not force it on me. Good thing…………while I am open to trying most anything, after almost 48 hours without sleep, I probably would have barfed it up on the table and then passed out.
Day 1 foods to remember: Octopus, Seaweed, Frogs Legs, and Jellyfish….tried them all and with the exception of the jellyfish, it wasn’t so bad. The only thing is that I am always surprised by bones in the food. The pieces served are small, but they don’t debone anything, so I have to constantly spit the bones out on the plate. Believe it or not, this is much easier to do with chopsticks than with American style utensils. Chopsticks give you the option of holding and eating the food without putting it all in your mouth at once. The bones can then be “sucked” clean of meat instead of sticking the whole piece in your mouth chewing it up and trying to spit out the offending structure.
I get into the shower and as I get out the phone rings. They want to come and get me now. Give me 20 minutes I tell them…..I throw on some clothes, put on a new face and get my laptop and presentation ready. No rest for the weary. Since we had never met, I had to take a guess that the business clad woman and her male companion were my Shanghai colleagues. How hard could it be to guess that I was the one they were looking for? Large blond woman with a rolling computer bag coming toward you had to be me. I was right and they were too. Although the office was within walking distance, (I didn’t know this at the time) we took a cab. It would have been faster to walk, (I am telling you, you cannot believe the traffic) but I was glad for the ride. By the time I completed the training it was 3:30, (2:30 a.m. at home). Now it is time to go from the meeting room to the offices. (I am going on 43 hours without quality sleep. What is wrong with this picture?) I am now doing paperwork, catching up on emails that I can’t do anything about at the moment (did I mention that I have about 3 other projects going on simultaneously?) and trying to stay awake while refraining from biting someone’s head off and spitting it into the garbage can. I pop off a few emails to home, copy a post here, and it is approaching 6 p.m. (5.a.m. at home; 45.5 hours; I want a bed). The new director of clinical operations stops by……….now they want to take me to dinner. “How nice, that would be lovely!” I say. I am crying on the inside. Thankfully the restaurant is in the office complex. Very nice restaurant and the food is good.
Let’s just take a few minutes here and discuss Chinese eating and Chinese food, shall we? I have learned that there is a difference in Chinese cuisine. It differs from region to region, just like our American food differs from north to south, east to west. Since Shanghai is a port city, seafood is quite popular. The northern regions like Beijing have more pork, chicken and beef, and there is Shanghai styles of food as well as Cantonese and Szechwan. The Chinese are very parsimonious, very frugal, and take pride in the fact that they don’t waste any part of an animal (sea type or land type). Keep that in mind for the future………… Being the adventurous type, I am more than happy to try anything. I don’t get squeamish about much, and feel that just because I don’t happen to eat what you eat doesn’t mean it’s not worth eating. I came here game to try it all. I have not been disappointed, but we’ll get to that later.
I have to tell kind of a funny story here before I go on. I ate breakfast on the plane, but it was after lunch by the time I got to the offices. The physician that I was traveling with came in a week before me. She is Chinese and I just adore her. She told me that they wanted to get me KFC or McDonalds for lunch. She told them “No, get her Chinese food!” She knew me well enough to know that that would be OK. KFC is the most recognized brand in China………….can you believe that? I probably would have laughed out loud had I come in to a lunch of KFC. They got Chinese fast food which was duck and something else, but never got a chance to even take a bite because we hit the ground running. I right this post at odd hours in the very early morning or very late at night, because I don’t have any other time.
I love the way the Chinese eat. For larger groups, the table is big and round with a lazy susan in the middle on which to place the various dishes. The first time I experienced this was in Los Angeles at a local Chinese restaurant that really had very few employees that spoke English. I just pointed to pictures and let them bring the food to my table. I wasn’t sure what I was eating, but the experience was fun. Anyway, eating is such an experience. There were 6 of us out to dinner. The meals start with appetizers. It is customary to have cold dishes and hot dishes. They seem to bring out at least 3 of each. Each person has a little plate. Not a dinner plate, more like a dessert plate. You just take a taste or two of everything that is on the table. There is always much more food than one can eat, but the Chinese custom is to leave something. If you eat all of the food you have indicated to them that they have not provided enough for you to eat. Everyone eats out of the community bowl or plate on the lazy susan. That works with chopsticks, but not so well with forks and knives. I didn’t attempt the chopsticks this time around. I just didn’t have a clue on how to use them and I was so tired I could barely hold the things I knew how to use. The utensils they brought me were huge, it’s like you have to rest the handle of the fork on your shoulder. We had octopus, smoked duck, frog’s legs, seaweed, jellyfish, some vegetable dishes; I can’t even remember everything they brought out. I like octopus, I have had that before, so far so good. Jellyfish looks like what you would expect it to look like…..I did taste it but it has little a grissly crunch to it like you are eating, well,……gristle. I had that look on my face like you get when you try to smile after eating something really gross…….you know one side of your lip goes up trying to smile and the other side is trying to pull it down…. the “Oh yes, this is good!” look while a shiver goes down your spine and your belly is trying to toss it out while yelling “What the H….did you just put in here?!” Smoked duck is good, and the fish was really good. The presentation was awesome. The whole fish in red sauce (not tomato, some kind of sweet sauce) with, I think scallops and shrimp mixed in. Just a note on seafood here; when you go into the restaurant and see the lovely fish tanks, they are not for decoration;………… it’s dinner……..they bring the flopping fish to the table in a bucket for the host to approve, shortly thereafter, flipper is on the table. Now that is fresh seafood! It is all done discretely, I never even noticed it this time, but I did watch for it at later meals and sure enough they did it. I guess it is not much different that picking a lobster out of a tank….. There were separate dishes with different kinds of mushrooms and shallots, sliced pork and all kinds of things. The dessert was a layered jello-type thing cut in chunks with red and pink layers, but it isn’t sweet. The pink layer is like a coconut or tofu layer. They really do not have sweets here. Of course, the guest of honor is offered the fish head……………. It is the best part, and that is the reason it is offered to the guest. While they gave me this information, they did not force it on me. Good thing…………while I am open to trying most anything, after almost 48 hours without sleep, I probably would have barfed it up on the table and then passed out.
Day 1 foods to remember: Octopus, Seaweed, Frogs Legs, and Jellyfish….tried them all and with the exception of the jellyfish, it wasn’t so bad. The only thing is that I am always surprised by bones in the food. The pieces served are small, but they don’t debone anything, so I have to constantly spit the bones out on the plate. Believe it or not, this is much easier to do with chopsticks than with American style utensils. Chopsticks give you the option of holding and eating the food without putting it all in your mouth at once. The bones can then be “sucked” clean of meat instead of sticking the whole piece in your mouth chewing it up and trying to spit out the offending structure.
Monday, November 14, 2005
I Really Want To Go To Bed! Shanghai Dairies
This is the 2nd post today, please go to the previous post before you read this............Ma
Just then, the official back from break beckoned me to come to his side. One hour and 35 minutes after arriving (forty-two minutes were spent in line), I was on my way to pick up my bag. Thankfully, I remembered the carousel that was announced for our pick up. A service person was taking the three remaining bags that were left from our flight off the conveyer. At least I didn’t have to wait. Everyone else was gone. (The other 2 bags probably belonged to No Visa Guy.) With nothing to declare, I zipped through customs and out to the area where I saw my name on a sign. Bags were popped into a car from the hotel and off I went.
I was amazed and a little disappointed to see how modern the highway away from the airport was. The airport was pretty modern too, and big. I remember when my family arrived in Greece in 1969. We walked off the plane into a big warehouse with long tables. That was the extent of the airport and customs. What a hoot. They did build an airport while I lived there, but it just wasn’t the same. The world has become small and has lost some of its natural wonder due to the “businification” (I just made that word up) of the world money-makers. Anyway, the highway was pretty modern, and I thought “My goodness, how we have Westernized the world. What a shame.” I guess it isn’t all bad, but I believe that heritage and culture are so important to preserve. I did see beyond the highway boundaries, however, what appeared to be large abandoned buildings, or buildings in need of repair. It seemed that the modern might have been obscuring a stark reality.
As we neared the city, what was a sunny, humid day began to disappear behind a wall of smog. I began to see building after building after building that reached straight up into the sky; hundreds of them, as far as you could see. Apartments? I saw laundry drying from every imaginable place. There can’t possibly be this many apartments. They are apartments…………..a lot of people live here……………….(17,000,000 I found out later)
Do we want to discuss driving? Never in a million years would I drive here, and I will drive anywhere……..but NEVER here. My company provides drivers for their employees when they get transferred here…….it is safer and cheaper……does that tell you anything? Let me just say this. The flight attendant from Philadelphia to London told me that the traffic lights have only been in Shanghai for about 5 years. People consider them a suggestion……….it’s true. I have never seen anything like this; thousands of bikes, mopeds, motorized bikes, pedestrians, taxis, making 4 lanes out of 2. Forget lanes---that would make a presumption of order and believe me there is not order. The cars come so close to each other that I can’t watch. People walk out in the street darting in and out between cars and bikes and other cars. The horns are constant. The streets and sidewalks teem with people; it is a raucous kaleidoscope of sounds and smells…………..It’s so cool. I get to the hotel where I am whisked away at the door by a greeter who takes me directly to my room. They were expecting me; I didn’t even have to check in at the desk. The room is really very nice, and the bathroom is exquisite (always one of my rating standards for a hotel). I have been traveling roughly 28 hours and awake (if you don’t count the poor quality of sleep on the plane) for about 40 hours. I want to rest…….I sat down on the bed………..ahhhhhhhhh………….I laid down on the bed……….ohhhhhhhhhhhh…………….I do not dare close my eyes…………..I did. Luckily, I only dozed for about 40 minutes. I forced myself up and decided that I really needed another shower before I had to go to the office. I am surprised that they had not called me already.
More to Come......
Just then, the official back from break beckoned me to come to his side. One hour and 35 minutes after arriving (forty-two minutes were spent in line), I was on my way to pick up my bag. Thankfully, I remembered the carousel that was announced for our pick up. A service person was taking the three remaining bags that were left from our flight off the conveyer. At least I didn’t have to wait. Everyone else was gone. (The other 2 bags probably belonged to No Visa Guy.) With nothing to declare, I zipped through customs and out to the area where I saw my name on a sign. Bags were popped into a car from the hotel and off I went.
I was amazed and a little disappointed to see how modern the highway away from the airport was. The airport was pretty modern too, and big. I remember when my family arrived in Greece in 1969. We walked off the plane into a big warehouse with long tables. That was the extent of the airport and customs. What a hoot. They did build an airport while I lived there, but it just wasn’t the same. The world has become small and has lost some of its natural wonder due to the “businification” (I just made that word up) of the world money-makers. Anyway, the highway was pretty modern, and I thought “My goodness, how we have Westernized the world. What a shame.” I guess it isn’t all bad, but I believe that heritage and culture are so important to preserve. I did see beyond the highway boundaries, however, what appeared to be large abandoned buildings, or buildings in need of repair. It seemed that the modern might have been obscuring a stark reality.
As we neared the city, what was a sunny, humid day began to disappear behind a wall of smog. I began to see building after building after building that reached straight up into the sky; hundreds of them, as far as you could see. Apartments? I saw laundry drying from every imaginable place. There can’t possibly be this many apartments. They are apartments…………..a lot of people live here……………….(17,000,000 I found out later)
Do we want to discuss driving? Never in a million years would I drive here, and I will drive anywhere……..but NEVER here. My company provides drivers for their employees when they get transferred here…….it is safer and cheaper……does that tell you anything? Let me just say this. The flight attendant from Philadelphia to London told me that the traffic lights have only been in Shanghai for about 5 years. People consider them a suggestion……….it’s true. I have never seen anything like this; thousands of bikes, mopeds, motorized bikes, pedestrians, taxis, making 4 lanes out of 2. Forget lanes---that would make a presumption of order and believe me there is not order. The cars come so close to each other that I can’t watch. People walk out in the street darting in and out between cars and bikes and other cars. The horns are constant. The streets and sidewalks teem with people; it is a raucous kaleidoscope of sounds and smells…………..It’s so cool. I get to the hotel where I am whisked away at the door by a greeter who takes me directly to my room. They were expecting me; I didn’t even have to check in at the desk. The room is really very nice, and the bathroom is exquisite (always one of my rating standards for a hotel). I have been traveling roughly 28 hours and awake (if you don’t count the poor quality of sleep on the plane) for about 40 hours. I want to rest…….I sat down on the bed………..ahhhhhhhhh………….I laid down on the bed……….ohhhhhhhhhhhh…………….I do not dare close my eyes…………..I did. Luckily, I only dozed for about 40 minutes. I forced myself up and decided that I really needed another shower before I had to go to the office. I am surprised that they had not called me already.
More to Come......
Are We There Yet? Shanghai Dairies Continued
Do you know how long an 11-hour flight is? Do you know that you can’t sleep for 11 hours on an airplane……(with 50 strangers, mostly men, side by side, etc…) no matter how tired you are? Do you know that you have no choice but to use the airplane bathroom? (Because the flight is 11 hours, but you are on the plane at least 12, not to mention the time waiting before getting on.) Did you know that no matter how nice the meals are (again very nice 3-course and breakfast too) you are just really annoyed at having to be in a space that is just not big enough? I have been on long flights overseas before, but this one just really never seemed to end. I ate, I slept, I watched a movie, and there was 9 hours left. I walked, I read, I watched another movie, and there was 7 1/2 hours left. The video screen was pretty cool; they had a map that showed the course the plan was on. I learned some geography. I watched it intermittently over the whole flight. We flew between 37000 feet and the highest was 39500 feet at one point. It gave air speed and tail wind and all kind of interesting things……Can you tell how bored I was? So I watched another movie, walked some more, (had to keep the blood flowing, don’t want a stroke.) and slept a little bit and there was still 4 hours to go. I was so excited when breakfast was ready to be served….I knew the time to land would be soon.
You know when you fly British Airways, even though we speak the same basic language, we still have a hard time understanding each other. I had to repeat myself every time the flight attendant asked me a question. I also wasn’t sure exactly what I was being asked at times. For breakfast they wanted to know if I wanted muesli or pancakes. I thought they said something that sounded more like mucous, but remembered it was a type of oatmeal or something, but because I wasn’t totally sure, and it sounded too much like something gross, I said pancakes, at least I knew what I might expect. Good choice. They were really like crepes with sweet apples in the middle. Yummy!
Landing! Landing! I can’t believe we are landing! I was so happy to be getting to where I was going. However, an announcement before we land. “We will be coming through the cabin spraying insecticide, this should not be bothersome. If you wear contacts or glasses, you may want to cover your eyes as we pass.” What????? This should not be bothersome???? You are going to spray poison in closed quarters and please, I shouldn’t worry about it? What is the Chinese government afraid we are going to bring in? Bol Weevils??? And they DID spray. She held 2 canisters above her head and walked through the plane all the way down one side and up the other! The she stopped to talk to someone while standing there spraying for at least 30 seconds. Another passenger finally said something and she moved on. I guess I am not too concerned about me, but if I were part of that flight crew that had to inhale insecticide every time I took that flight, I might have a problem. Man! I just realized…….it is now Tuesday morning 9:30 am. I left my house at 7 p.m. Sunday night.
My Chinese colleague that I was meeting had told me that November would be a good time to go to Shanghai because it would not be the horrible summer heat and humidity. Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to heat and especially humidity, I am a great big baby. I don’t like it hot, and I really don’t like it humid. Sweat rolling down my back, soaking my hair, melting my face, and making me look like a giant brick of butter left out at a summer barbeque is not my idea of pleasant. So I expected it to be at least neutral. Well, there wasn’t a breath of air in this stark, bare cavernous airport. We walked a half-mile to get to the lines to check passports. (After we handed our official declaration of health to the official collecting them. Evidently, you have to say you are in good health when you arrive, or describe your symptoms if you are not. They just sprayed me with poison…..how could I know how I was now?) I picked one line and then changed to a shorter one. You know what that means don’t you? There is always a reason that a line is short when all others around it are long. The 2 persons checking passports were quite thorough. Each check took at least 2 minutes. I stood in line watching the digital clock tick off minute after minute feeling water roll down my back and feeling my face turn into a Picasso. No siree! No one was getting into this country without a thorough check at this line. In the meantime, 2 more flights have arrived and are now in lines that are passing me, but I refuse to budge. No changing midstream. I stood there from 1025 until 1105. There was now one person ahead of me. He was a kindly looking gent from the UK. A door opened to the far left and on the other side of the booths and out came the change of shift for the passport desks, or at least back-ups. They must have been on break. That one gentleman from the UK?….….Between me and my bags and freedom?……He had no visa. No visa!! What were you thinking? He kept saying “I didn’t’ t think I needed a visa!” One man…..between me…..and……my……ride …..to …..the …..hotel. I felt a little vein pop in my head.
I'm gonna make it just wait and see............
You know when you fly British Airways, even though we speak the same basic language, we still have a hard time understanding each other. I had to repeat myself every time the flight attendant asked me a question. I also wasn’t sure exactly what I was being asked at times. For breakfast they wanted to know if I wanted muesli or pancakes. I thought they said something that sounded more like mucous, but remembered it was a type of oatmeal or something, but because I wasn’t totally sure, and it sounded too much like something gross, I said pancakes, at least I knew what I might expect. Good choice. They were really like crepes with sweet apples in the middle. Yummy!
Landing! Landing! I can’t believe we are landing! I was so happy to be getting to where I was going. However, an announcement before we land. “We will be coming through the cabin spraying insecticide, this should not be bothersome. If you wear contacts or glasses, you may want to cover your eyes as we pass.” What????? This should not be bothersome???? You are going to spray poison in closed quarters and please, I shouldn’t worry about it? What is the Chinese government afraid we are going to bring in? Bol Weevils??? And they DID spray. She held 2 canisters above her head and walked through the plane all the way down one side and up the other! The she stopped to talk to someone while standing there spraying for at least 30 seconds. Another passenger finally said something and she moved on. I guess I am not too concerned about me, but if I were part of that flight crew that had to inhale insecticide every time I took that flight, I might have a problem. Man! I just realized…….it is now Tuesday morning 9:30 am. I left my house at 7 p.m. Sunday night.
My Chinese colleague that I was meeting had told me that November would be a good time to go to Shanghai because it would not be the horrible summer heat and humidity. Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to heat and especially humidity, I am a great big baby. I don’t like it hot, and I really don’t like it humid. Sweat rolling down my back, soaking my hair, melting my face, and making me look like a giant brick of butter left out at a summer barbeque is not my idea of pleasant. So I expected it to be at least neutral. Well, there wasn’t a breath of air in this stark, bare cavernous airport. We walked a half-mile to get to the lines to check passports. (After we handed our official declaration of health to the official collecting them. Evidently, you have to say you are in good health when you arrive, or describe your symptoms if you are not. They just sprayed me with poison…..how could I know how I was now?) I picked one line and then changed to a shorter one. You know what that means don’t you? There is always a reason that a line is short when all others around it are long. The 2 persons checking passports were quite thorough. Each check took at least 2 minutes. I stood in line watching the digital clock tick off minute after minute feeling water roll down my back and feeling my face turn into a Picasso. No siree! No one was getting into this country without a thorough check at this line. In the meantime, 2 more flights have arrived and are now in lines that are passing me, but I refuse to budge. No changing midstream. I stood there from 1025 until 1105. There was now one person ahead of me. He was a kindly looking gent from the UK. A door opened to the far left and on the other side of the booths and out came the change of shift for the passport desks, or at least back-ups. They must have been on break. That one gentleman from the UK?….….Between me and my bags and freedom?……He had no visa. No visa!! What were you thinking? He kept saying “I didn’t’ t think I needed a visa!” One man…..between me…..and……my……ride …..to …..the …..hotel. I felt a little vein pop in my head.
I'm gonna make it just wait and see............
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Shanghai Dairies Continued
I received the wonderful little travel pack with socks, sleeping mask, (how can anyone wear those? I don’t think I would be able to wear it and fall asleep because I would keep giggling to think how ridiculous I looked. If I did fall asleep, I would probably wake up tearing it off my face thinking I had been kidnapped or something), toothpaste, toothbrush, mouthwash, lip balm (great stuff), moisturizer lotion, etc. I also was offered pajamas. I took the pajamas, but didn’t use them. I don’t think they would have fit anyway. It was a lovely start to a very long trip. While I didn’t sleep like I do in my own bed, I did get rest on and off through the night. About 4 in the morning my time, going on 9 in the UK, I got up, went to the lavatory and used my travel pack to get myself feeling halfway decent. I was then given my 3-course breakfast, which was very good. I have found that over the years, airline food has improved greatly. Top-notch chefs create the menus and the food is actually pretty darn good considering they are served at 37,000 feet at 650 MPH.
Arrival in London was non-eventful. It was the first time I had been at Heathrow. It is really huge. The one thing I do want to comment on is the fact that we, in America, just don’t get it. Growing up as a military brat, and going to high school outside of the US made me get a feel for the community of the world. Living in another country gives you 3 things: an appreciation of home, an appreciation of other cultures, and an appreciation of the diversity AND oneness of the human race. Difference abounds, but we are far more alike than we are different. As I walked through the terminal, I drank in the humanity around me like a thirsty desert dweller. Indians, Hasidic Jews, Brits, Greeks, French, Arabs, Americans, Pakistani, Chinese, all tongues and colors were around me. I was awestruck by the world. It was great.
My first goal was to find the lounge and take a shower. I couldn’t wait. I had a little over 4 hours to kill and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than to take a shower and change my clothes before departing on an 11-hour flight. The shower suite was downstairs from the lounge. The suite also included a spa with wonderful smells emanating from the center. I thought about getting a massage, but let it go. The shower rooms were wonderful. New age music wafted through the speakers giving a relaxed feeling to the room. The shower was a steam and shower together with jets that sprayed from the wall as well as from above. Heaven. You could choose steam or not……I chose steam. That was probably a mistake on my part. It made me so hot that my face turned all red and I couldn’t cool down even when I ran cooler water. Anyway, I took my time and enjoyed the shower and good lotions and soaps that were available. Dried my hair (blow dryers on the wall…everyone has those available now. I remember in the late 60’s early 70’s having a blow dryer was practically a sign of wealth!), put on a new face, clean change of clothes, and I felt really great.
Going up to the lounge, I thought I would pull out the laptop and do my first installment for here. There was one problem. The lounge was SO crowded I could barely find an open space. Again, business class and first class lounges were separate, and so many people fly business class that it’s not quiet and comfortable like the Admirals Clubs in the states. As I was walking through, I noticed tucked in the back a room with SANCTUARY stenciled on the door. Oh yeah, just what I wanted. The room was small, but low lights, couches, recliners, and screens made it a haven for the weary. I wanted to find the corner, but a little family was back there resting. I moved from one seat to another further back against the wall. When the family left, I took the divan in the corner. A few Muslims came in to pray. It brought back a memory of when I flew to Greece with my family when I was 14. On the way to Athens, a man came out of his seat into the aisle of the plane, spread his prayer rug, and began to bow and pray. I had never seen anything like that. It fascinated me. I grew up a Southern Baptist…..that is another story.
Anyway, I pulled out the laptop and wrote a couple of paragraphs, but I was beginning to feel tired again. When my fingers refused to type any longer, I let it go.
More to come......
Arrival in London was non-eventful. It was the first time I had been at Heathrow. It is really huge. The one thing I do want to comment on is the fact that we, in America, just don’t get it. Growing up as a military brat, and going to high school outside of the US made me get a feel for the community of the world. Living in another country gives you 3 things: an appreciation of home, an appreciation of other cultures, and an appreciation of the diversity AND oneness of the human race. Difference abounds, but we are far more alike than we are different. As I walked through the terminal, I drank in the humanity around me like a thirsty desert dweller. Indians, Hasidic Jews, Brits, Greeks, French, Arabs, Americans, Pakistani, Chinese, all tongues and colors were around me. I was awestruck by the world. It was great.
My first goal was to find the lounge and take a shower. I couldn’t wait. I had a little over 4 hours to kill and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than to take a shower and change my clothes before departing on an 11-hour flight. The shower suite was downstairs from the lounge. The suite also included a spa with wonderful smells emanating from the center. I thought about getting a massage, but let it go. The shower rooms were wonderful. New age music wafted through the speakers giving a relaxed feeling to the room. The shower was a steam and shower together with jets that sprayed from the wall as well as from above. Heaven. You could choose steam or not……I chose steam. That was probably a mistake on my part. It made me so hot that my face turned all red and I couldn’t cool down even when I ran cooler water. Anyway, I took my time and enjoyed the shower and good lotions and soaps that were available. Dried my hair (blow dryers on the wall…everyone has those available now. I remember in the late 60’s early 70’s having a blow dryer was practically a sign of wealth!), put on a new face, clean change of clothes, and I felt really great.
Going up to the lounge, I thought I would pull out the laptop and do my first installment for here. There was one problem. The lounge was SO crowded I could barely find an open space. Again, business class and first class lounges were separate, and so many people fly business class that it’s not quiet and comfortable like the Admirals Clubs in the states. As I was walking through, I noticed tucked in the back a room with SANCTUARY stenciled on the door. Oh yeah, just what I wanted. The room was small, but low lights, couches, recliners, and screens made it a haven for the weary. I wanted to find the corner, but a little family was back there resting. I moved from one seat to another further back against the wall. When the family left, I took the divan in the corner. A few Muslims came in to pray. It brought back a memory of when I flew to Greece with my family when I was 14. On the way to Athens, a man came out of his seat into the aisle of the plane, spread his prayer rug, and began to bow and pray. I had never seen anything like that. It fascinated me. I grew up a Southern Baptist…..that is another story.
Anyway, I pulled out the laptop and wrote a couple of paragraphs, but I was beginning to feel tired again. When my fingers refused to type any longer, I let it go.
More to come......
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Where's Waldo's Mom? Shanghai Dairies Part I
I have limited time on the net, so I have to post when I can. This is the first in the series......
Day 1; or Day 1 ½ I guess. How come I always let everything go until the last minute? I ran around Sunday making myself crazy because I had not packed for my trip. I am going to be gone for 3 weeks; you would think that I would know better. It always comes down to doing the laundry. No matter what I buy, I always end up wearing the same 3 things, and they are always in the laundry. Course, 3 things won’t last me for 3 weeks, but I can arrange them in an infinite number of ways. However, I did pack a pretty tight suitcase with probably more stuff that I need. I brought 2 carry ons and checked the clothes. The carry ons have all of the “other stuff” books, movies, DVDs, headphones, a change of clothes (just in case!) toiletries, stuff from my purse (can’t carry a purse AND 2 carry ons, the purse counts as one…..please! I know the tricks), medicines, a snack, and so on. I didn’t bring DVDs, headphones and the DVD player this time. I get my own personal DVD on the plane and can pick from whatever movies I want, plus, I couldn’t plug it in in Shanghai without a transformer which I am sure they have, but now Lindsey has it for the trip to Kokomo.
So the car to take me to the airport was to come at 7:00 p.m. and at 6:00 p.m. I was ready to go. I felt like I was going away forever; I got goodbye visits from my Mom-in-law, Lucille, my sister-in-law, Sarah, Stacie, Charlie, and Nathan, Lindsey was not doing too well, she hates to be left alone with her brother and father who don’t do much more than grunt at her while watching Comcast Sports, ESPN, football, etc. She needs to go see her grandmom.
So I get to the airport and check in, thinking I was in the international terminal……I was flying British Airways to Heathrow…….but when I went up the escalator, I was in my good ‘ole American Airlines terminal. I forget they had built that connector, and BA is right next door to Terminal A; BA partners with AA. Little did I know that there was a first class lounge and business class lounge down the terminal and down the elevator to the bowels of the building! I thought I knew that terminal better than that! Since it is an overnight flight, I was told I should eat my dinner before getting on the plane. They served dinner down there in the basement dining area. It was OK. I’ve had better. Then I go to the lounge with fellow business travelers (We can’t go to the first class lounge…we’re just grunts, not VIPs traveling first class.) They were watching West Wing where they were having a live “fake” presidential debate between Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits. I could tell immediately that I was among fellow pharma employees when we all began to make smart remarks when they began debating “the high price of drugs…how awful we are etc…). Come to find out there was a large group of GSKers going to the UK. Anyway, some guy from the group grabs the remote and changes the TV to the Eagles/Redskins game. YEAH! I was so excited! I got up and moved to the chair closest to the TV. Unfortunately, we had to board right at halftime when the score was 10 to 7. I still don’t know what the final was. I go around the corner and there was one of the docs that I work with. I found out later he was going to Copenhagen. He wanted to know why I was going to Shanghai via London…..
So I get up to the gate and when I got there, they took my boarding pass and started looking at the computer. I thought, Oh no, what’s wrong? Ta Da! I got an upgrade to first class. Now that is a nice start to a long trip! The only reason I can think that I may have gotten the upgrade is because I am a FF on AA and like I mentioned before, BA & AA partner. Of the 14 first class seats, there were only two of us.
Now, the seats in business class have the fully reclinable seats so you can sleep, but it feels like you are in a commune because there are so many people in business class. (Know how fun it is to sleep with 50 strangers around you? Mostly men who snore? And smell? Persons with gas, in very close proximity on planes, is torture. Come on…..everyone knows you have gas in the morning!)
So….in my first class seat that is also fully reclinable I was pretty comfortable. These seats are more like pods, and a little more private that business class. We really got wonderful service too. I got to choose a 3-course meal that they would serve me at anytime (which was good, because I really didn’t eat much at the airport cause the food was just not that good).
To be continued.......................
Day 1; or Day 1 ½ I guess. How come I always let everything go until the last minute? I ran around Sunday making myself crazy because I had not packed for my trip. I am going to be gone for 3 weeks; you would think that I would know better. It always comes down to doing the laundry. No matter what I buy, I always end up wearing the same 3 things, and they are always in the laundry. Course, 3 things won’t last me for 3 weeks, but I can arrange them in an infinite number of ways. However, I did pack a pretty tight suitcase with probably more stuff that I need. I brought 2 carry ons and checked the clothes. The carry ons have all of the “other stuff” books, movies, DVDs, headphones, a change of clothes (just in case!) toiletries, stuff from my purse (can’t carry a purse AND 2 carry ons, the purse counts as one…..please! I know the tricks), medicines, a snack, and so on. I didn’t bring DVDs, headphones and the DVD player this time. I get my own personal DVD on the plane and can pick from whatever movies I want, plus, I couldn’t plug it in in Shanghai without a transformer which I am sure they have, but now Lindsey has it for the trip to Kokomo.
So the car to take me to the airport was to come at 7:00 p.m. and at 6:00 p.m. I was ready to go. I felt like I was going away forever; I got goodbye visits from my Mom-in-law, Lucille, my sister-in-law, Sarah, Stacie, Charlie, and Nathan, Lindsey was not doing too well, she hates to be left alone with her brother and father who don’t do much more than grunt at her while watching Comcast Sports, ESPN, football, etc. She needs to go see her grandmom.
So I get to the airport and check in, thinking I was in the international terminal……I was flying British Airways to Heathrow…….but when I went up the escalator, I was in my good ‘ole American Airlines terminal. I forget they had built that connector, and BA is right next door to Terminal A; BA partners with AA. Little did I know that there was a first class lounge and business class lounge down the terminal and down the elevator to the bowels of the building! I thought I knew that terminal better than that! Since it is an overnight flight, I was told I should eat my dinner before getting on the plane. They served dinner down there in the basement dining area. It was OK. I’ve had better. Then I go to the lounge with fellow business travelers (We can’t go to the first class lounge…we’re just grunts, not VIPs traveling first class.) They were watching West Wing where they were having a live “fake” presidential debate between Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits. I could tell immediately that I was among fellow pharma employees when we all began to make smart remarks when they began debating “the high price of drugs…how awful we are etc…). Come to find out there was a large group of GSKers going to the UK. Anyway, some guy from the group grabs the remote and changes the TV to the Eagles/Redskins game. YEAH! I was so excited! I got up and moved to the chair closest to the TV. Unfortunately, we had to board right at halftime when the score was 10 to 7. I still don’t know what the final was. I go around the corner and there was one of the docs that I work with. I found out later he was going to Copenhagen. He wanted to know why I was going to Shanghai via London…..
So I get up to the gate and when I got there, they took my boarding pass and started looking at the computer. I thought, Oh no, what’s wrong? Ta Da! I got an upgrade to first class. Now that is a nice start to a long trip! The only reason I can think that I may have gotten the upgrade is because I am a FF on AA and like I mentioned before, BA & AA partner. Of the 14 first class seats, there were only two of us.
Now, the seats in business class have the fully reclinable seats so you can sleep, but it feels like you are in a commune because there are so many people in business class. (Know how fun it is to sleep with 50 strangers around you? Mostly men who snore? And smell? Persons with gas, in very close proximity on planes, is torture. Come on…..everyone knows you have gas in the morning!)
So….in my first class seat that is also fully reclinable I was pretty comfortable. These seats are more like pods, and a little more private that business class. We really got wonderful service too. I got to choose a 3-course meal that they would serve me at anytime (which was good, because I really didn’t eat much at the airport cause the food was just not that good).
To be continued.......................
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