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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

It's much clearer to me now.....

why Americans and seemingly 1/2 of the Chinese don't drive in Shanghai. It's a "free for all" between cars, large buses, bicycles, mopeds, and pedestrians. I think the street lane markers and blinkers are purely for decoration. I am a little surprised that we did not see anyone/thing get whacked during our travels today.

Our day today started at 9am. Cathy, a representative of the relocating company (think realtor/tour guide/hostess) picked us up. Of course, now, she doesn't drive in the city and had hired a "professional/stunt driver" for the day. This driver is similar to the dedicated driver we'll have during our long-term stay here. We looked at 4 large apartments. The square footage in all of them was at least twice the size of our Holland home. The largest was a 4300 ft^2 townhouse. Though housekeeping is very affordable, ~$20/day, we are definitely leaning towards something smaller. We spent the morning looking at housing options and also visited 2 grocery stores. The Meijer-like "Carrefour" was very busy and a tad overwhelming. It is where most people get everything from groceries to dinnerware. I think Anna and Elijah will be intigued by the seafood section with aquariums stocked with fish, turtles, and crabs.

I spent the afternoon going through a medical exam required by the Chinese government for getting a long-term work visa. The process took a couple hours and I passed all tests, including the one where I get blood drawn and don't fall out of my chair. : ) If you know my history, this was no small task and an answer to prayer. I considered canning the whole Shanghai thing when they mentioned blood work. : ) During my medical escapade, Aimee had a Chinese lunch with the Cathy. They picked me up a Big Mac and it tasted just as unhealthy as they do at home.

We also visited 2 medical facilities today. One is the local med clinic for treating minor stuff. We also visited a new Shanghai hospital which included a nice birthing center with all the ammenities of the world-class Holland hospital. A funny story.....Aimee was reading a brochure quietly while we waited for the tour of the clinic. Quietly, until she read that epiderals were, in fact, available and commonly used in Shanghai. For a moment, I thought she was going to do some kung fu flips and roundhouse kicks right there in the lobby. It was all coasting downhill from there. She was able to squash much of the horror she had heard was part of Shanghai births (no epiderals, shared rooms, husbands do all the cleanup, etc) We have an appt. with a highly recommended OBGYN on Thursday. Be praying that we leave that appointment with clear direction on whom to see long-term.

The time zone change has hit Aimee the hardest. I believe it eccentuates the tiredness that already comes with the pregnancy.

We spent a lot of time in the car today so the pictures I got were just some shots of the city. Enjoy.

Ryan and Aimee

The Eagle has landed

Aimee and I have safely arrived to our hotel room at the Shanghai Renaissance Hotel. The process of getting through customs was really easy. Although, it was definitely a unique experience to walk along a carpet roped path with dozens of people alongside holding up signs. When we found the sign that read, "Mr. Ryan Bowman", we knew we were on our way.

The Chinese are very hospitable thus far. The hotel personnel and our hostess from JCI are super nice and accomodating. Their english is good but not great. I had fun teaching our JCI hostess how to pronounce "itinerary". Aimee is already asleep and preparing for a big day tomorrow. "Cathy" from the relocation company escorts us around town tomorrow to look at housing options.

We'll try and get some pictures posted tomorrow.

Do you want to know what tomorrow's world traveler is doing? You may think that it's a fast-paced world of mobile computing with blackberrys, treos, and all things WiFi wireless. Well, things are changing and Aimee Bowman is on the cutting edge. Yes, look closely at the picture and you'll notice that the new, improved world traveler brings along the quilting supplies!

Humor aside, Aimee had a tough headache on the flight into Minneapolis last night. We've picked up some Claritin and hope for better luck on the 12.5 hour flight to Tokyo. Be praying for Aimee's head. Other than the headache, everything is good as we make our way to the other side of the world. Things get a lot more interesting with our next arrival into Asia. Stay tuned.

Departure

Just chilling in the GRR airport. We passed through security with no problem. We are now enjoying the last moments of "space" before we head off for Shanghai, (via Minneapolis). Shanghai has approx. 12.5 million people. For reference, the entire state of Michigan has 10 million. If we see grass, we'll have to take pictures.

The Kickoff

Here we go on the roller coaster known as blogging. My intent is to get this thing rolling so we have a way to keep the world updated on our potential life in Shanghai, China.