Buckle your safety belts.....

Wow. What a whirlwind 48 hours we've just lived through. Yesterday, Wednesday, I headed into the office where I will be working while in Shanghai. My chinese counterparts were also very anxious to introduce their "North American Engineer" to the GM team that same day. Needless to say, there is much work to be done but it will be exciting making a big difference in China for JCI. Aimee spent the day reading at the hotel, exploring the city block that our hotel sits upon, and practicing her kung fu fighting. We have eaten a boatload of Chinese food in the last 2 days. And this ain't the stuff they serve at Panda Express! It's good but very different. Aimee has liked less of it than I have. I think my lack of smell may actually be helping. Our chopstick skills are developing fast. Our chinese hosts find our use of chopsticks very entertaining. We've had a lot of fun at meal times. I've got 2 good stories for you....

1. I had lunch with 2 JCI China people yesterday for lunch. I let them do all the ordering. Can you imagine the look on my face when Charlie looks up from his menu and inquires, "Ren, do you like dawg?" I responded with "uhhhh, excuse me" to buy myself time for a polite response. Unfortunately, he very quickly fired another "DO YOU LIKE DAWG?" only this time a little louder. This time, he was holding out his menun and I frantically looked at it to find the "dawg" he was referring to. Much to my relief, I found he was pointing to "duck". So, Rover lives to see another day.

2. There is a very unique restaurant tradition in China regarding seafood. We ordered some garlic shrimp as part of our dinner last night (in China, the dinner party orders several dishes and they are shared amongst all). Soon after ordering, a waiter approaches our table with a paper sack that obviously has something "live" in it. He shows it to Xiana, one our hosts. After approving of the bag's contents the waiter walks away. It turns out that the seafood you order in China is often brought to your table, LIVE, so that you can inspect. The rule is, the livelier the seafood (shrimp, crabs, etc), the better the meal. They actually negotiate the price based upon whether the crab looks rambunctious. Can you imagine, "Hey, the poor guy's a little lethargic. Can you cook him up for half price?" Minutes after the approval, those same shrimp returned on a platter, full monty (head, tail, legs, eyes). It actually was very delicious. Today, our relocation agent took us to a restaurant and after I recounted the shrimp story to her, she explained that we could go back to the "seafood" area of the kitchen after lunch. Sure enough, it was a pet store of lunch/dinner entrees swimming around in the aquariums. Lobsters, small fish, big fish, shrimp, crabs, Jacque Cousteau, clams, and more. What an experience. Anyone that comes to visit will definitely be rewarded with the utmost priveledge at the dinner table. "Is the shrimp moving quickly enough to warrant a spot in your stomach?"

We have narrowed our home search down to a couple of spots. Wow, these are homes that we don't deserve! They are very spacious and nice. Much nicer than what we have at home. Aimee's favorite is actually an American style home with a 2-car garage, central vaccum system, American electrical sockets (though 220 volt), American light switches (China uses a flip button style), lots of carpet (hardwood, marble, and tile are most popular here). The biggest plus is the full size oven, large kitchen, and full size washer and dryer. Because household help is hired for most cooking and cleaning, the kitchen and laundry equipment is normally small. This american style home is the only one that's included a full size oven. It's a 4 bedroom home with 2700 sq ft. It's not finished yet so we'd also be able to influence floor coverings (carpet or hardwood). It has a gas fireplace. The other home is a spanish style (imagine THAT in China) that is very different than an American home. It has lots of tile with 3 bedrooms, 1 VERY NICE GUEST ROOM (hint,hint), and a study. It's got a very large kitchen, but small oven. It's got lots of space, 3750 sqft. The yard is very large and enclosed. We really have shifted our focus to places with a yard and also good "community club house" features. So, the leading candidates both have indoor/outdoor pools, tennis, squash, aerobics, gym, swimming and kung fu lessons ( no joke). So, tomorrow, Friday we plan to make the final decision. Aimee is in the driver's seat for the housing decision.

Thanks for your prayers and your posts! They are very encouraging!

Ryan and Aimee


PS - regarding the title of this post, check out these videos for some live Shanghai driving action. You may need to copy and paste them into your web browser. I could not get the link to load into the Blog as I thought it should.

http://www.videoegg.com/video/bhVYeV

http://www.videoegg.com/video/bhVUpC
http://www.videoegg.com/video/bhVUoM