Great wall!

We visited the great wall... truly awesome! Will provide better post later using pics from camera but wanted to share some pictures from my phone.

Capital of Minhang

We live (and work) in the shanghai district of Minhang. In the states this would be a suburb,  but in China it is part of the city.

While riding my bike I passed the government office building for the district and took a quick picture.

Ho Ho Ho !!!

Santa makes an appearance at our compounds Xmas party!

What color tree would you like?

A Xmas market near tu yuan gardens.

Package!

Before leaving the states I packed some books,  pictures,  coffee mugs,  etc...  These items were basically stuff I kept at my desk and I shipped to my new desk in shanghai.

Originally there were two boxes.  I went to the loading dock,  filled out some customs papers and dropped them off. 

When I got to shanghai FedEx contacted me with some additional customs paperwork.  Since it was in all Chinese I asked the office manager to help.  Then I made my first mistake. When she asked what was in the package I told her "personal items from my desk",  she declared the package as personal instead of business. Customs chose to open the box and found an item they believed was business related a. D refused to release it.  This started a cycle between FedEx suggesting things to me,  I would ask someone to help... it would be incomplete and we would repeat the cycle.

We are in a small office in a suburb of shanghai that doesn't ship a lot materials. I eventually got a lawyer from GEs China corporate headquarters to help. It took him 2 weeks to file all the paperwork and get the box released.

When I look at the FedEx tracking log it shows 2 days from GR to shanghai, 3 months in customs, 7 days to deliver.... with 2 separate attempts.

Delivery took so long because I shipped about 15 textbooks and estimated the replacement value at around 700 dollars.... which led to a 150 dollar tariff... which I paid in cash to avoid further delays. The reimbursement has been approved but I have yet to be paid.... beurocracy at its finest!

BTW.... somewhere along the way someone took the two boxes I packed and combined them into a single box. They also managed to break my toy helicopter!

A Mall is a mall is a mall

People are often surprised when I mention how many western stores can be found in shanghai. I was walking through a mall and saw a sign that I thought would help demonstrate.

FYI... this also my first attempt to post from my phone.

Not so secret santa

Today the Paying Customer came home from school and apologetically announced that he forgot to tell me that tomorrow they are having secret santa at school and he has to buy his teacher a 30 rmb (less than $5) gift. This after I had spent the day shopping with a friend in the fake markets! Thankfully, the Paying Customer is the creative sort, and he already had a few ideas in mind. We rode our bikes up to the closest Meijer-type store, the RT Mart, and spent about 30 minutes shopping for something he liked. He spent 29.4 rmb and this is what he chose.  I think she will like it, don't you? 

Okay, I'm getting a Facebook account, happy?

Well, technically (maybe) a YouTube account as well, but can't say for sure yet. I hope you're satisfied, 'cause if I recall correctly, people have suggested that I get an FB. I thought about it and decided to (finally) give it a go. Friend me (please????) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!