Oh my bidet!

My new work place is ah-MAZING! I love this bathroom. Each stall is equipped with a heated seat, a water shooter for your rooter, and a fanny fan!

It truly is a throne

Instructions for cleaning your hole (sorry, quality is bad)

such a beautiful bathroom

It really is!

First day at Boehringer Ingelheim

11:18am

I find Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) to be an amazing place. I am just astonished by the level of professionalism here.  As just another eye on the street I would have never thought that this style of life and professionalism exist in Shanghai. The contrast of the office and the street can be attributed to many things. I am sure that most employees at BI earn a decent salary, which in turn should generate higher employee productivity. Additionally, this company is company and the corporate culture is very different than that of Chinese companies. The German model may be similar to what I am familiar with as an American.

So far I am enjoying my time here. I really enjoy the professionalism of everyone here. It is amazing that everyone speaks English at a decent level, but ultimately that does not matter to me. Everyone is organized and people seem to do their jobs well as opposed to passing the buck, as I seem to have been ever so fortunate to experience at my former employers. 

12:00pm

I went to lunch with the head of Human Resources. He is a great guy and very friendly. He was very curious to learn about me and see what kind of person I am. It was also nice to get to know him and not feel like he is just some headless manager that shovels out commands. He showed me pictures of his daughter, asked me about my family, my Chinese level, and so much more. The things I have read about China and its culture are now presenting themselves to me. It seems like there are many things that I will learn from my time here at BI.

2:33PM

I participated in my first meeting. I don’t know what to say. I think I disappointed my boss a bit because I was not particularly ready with what he wanted. I now know his expectations as well as my direct supervisor’s expectation. It will take me a minute to learn everyone’s personalities, expectations, and to mold myself into the company/office culture. My position is new and I am entirely responsible for defining it. They know I am looking for a job outside of teaching and they made it very clear that my work will dictate how I may be able to move into other positions.

Knowing my two bosses’ expectations I can now prepare tons of paperwork for them. They want projections, guidelines, and so much more. I don’t know why they were expecting me to have all of this on the first day, but I am now on board with their thinking. I plan to give them everything they and expect and more.

I am nervous to make a mistake and disappoint. May God grant me the guidance, nerve, and talent to exceed expectations of this job and not be made redundant. 

5:24PM

BI is so professional! I needed to setup my account for our in-office messenger and they have a PDF-like document with pictures and instructions to show you how to do it. It is in Chinese, but I am still impressed by the level of organization here. LOVE IT!

There's traffic because of you?!?!?!

Today I saw someone stop on the elevated highway, or what most people in California would call a freeway, just to take a picture of a building. He popped his head through the sunroof and was snapping away. He was completely unbothered by the fact that he was causing traffic. Only in China can we find such outright disregard for the law and people. I am not sure why that picture was so important. I did not see anything special in this building. Then again, I am not a photographer.

This morning I said, "let me experience/see something new." the powers that be never fail to deliver on my requests.

It's a thin line between love and hate

Another idea I have been letting ruminate in my mind is the concept of not worrying about a situation and instead focusing on my reaction to it. At times I can be an intense person. I  jump moods and feelings like monkeys swing from branch to branch.

There is not much in Shanghai that I have not experienced as a foreigner, so nothing should come as a surprise. I know people cut in line, people will cheat me simply because I'm a foreigner, people push their way onto the subway, people don't wait for you to get off the elevator and just crowd the entrance, people will run you over because they don't know or don't care about traffic laws. I know all of this so why am I still getting angry? I really don't know the answer. I do know, however, that all that stress just isn't healthy.

I am trying to change how I react to things. It really doesn't matter if I feel their behavior is uncivil or barbaric. All of that is unhealthy and peripheral to how I should react. I am trying to just smile and be like water. Just flow an not let too many things bother me because if I cannot control  it then it is not worth the toll of negative emotions on my body.

So...next time I'm walking on the side walk and I see three girls locked arm in arm or when a bunch of people are standing in front of the elevator when I'm getting off I wont plow through them...well, maybe I will, but I will accept it that it is just the nature of living in a modern city with people who are still catching up to the development (backhanded comment? Yes, a little, but an honest evaluation)

There really is a thin line between love and hate. I love and hate you Shanghai.

What's going on?!

This morning afforded me a few experiences outside of the normal stares. On my short walk to the bank a guy said hello to me in his best English then proceeded to talk in Chinese. This isn't so uncommon, but then I stumbled across a man being yelled at and kicked off of a work site. I assume the foreman wasn't happy with him.

Public castigation...oh my!!!

After another two minutes of walking I found a guy practicing his high kicks. I am not really sure if he was stretching or if there was another unperceived benefit I was not seeing.

These are a few of my favorite things...in the Zhong Guo (pronounced jong gwo).

Silly habits

Sitting on the subway watching these boys furiously shaking there smart phones because the screen isn't responding to the touch of their finger. I am quite accustomed to the silly wives tales of china as most of them still believe them as scientific fact instead of a belief of the past. However, a fond memory came to mind an it involves Nintendo.

Do you remember  when we would blow on the game cartridge because it was working. Be had to blow off the dust. I wonder how much of that was just true creativity to remedy a simple problem or just plane old silliness. Even to this day I would say that blowing on that cartridge fixed the problem. After blowing on it we would firmly jam the game Ito the console.

One cultures silliness is another cultures truth. Who knows?

(Written some time before June  22)

Sweating like I'm sitting in a sauna

I walked all over my neighborhood looking for couscous. I was rather surprised how hard it was for me to find couscous! The one thing I discovered is that I don't really care about sweat. My back was completely wet and there was a train of sweat beads coming down my face. I was frantically moving about the store looking for couscous and I stop to ask one of the store workers if they had couscous. Sweat it rolling down my cheeks and I didn't even care. Then I got home and my neighbor decided to talk to me and I was completely sweaty and I was unmoved by this.

When I first came to Shanghai I avoided any outing that didn't involve an air conditioner. I hated sweating in public. I thought it was rather disgusting. Now I feel like it just comes with the territory. I am no longer American. I am Shanghainese. I can handle the humidity without it affecting my social plans. I guess I'll be riding on the subway next to everyone else, sweating like pigs in a blanket.