Shanghai Days 5 – 10 – The Man In The Pink Hat

Day 5

It has been a while since I have written. This is due to being flat out settling in. I have now moved out of the hotel and into my apartment. But that was not all plan sailing.

Because I moved into my apartment I had to register with the local police. This is where I found out that the hotel I was at didn’t register me at the local police station. What I also didn’t know was that the hotel was meant to give me proof of residence document which means I was living at the hotel. So this meant I wasn’t registered anywhere after the 24 hour period allowed by state law. I got lucky as I was only given an unoffical warning. However another colleague received an offical agitated warning from the police for the same problem.

During this time, I also got my first Shanghai storm. At the start I had thought it was just a normal storm and ended up walking around sight seeing in the rain and wind for first four hours. I suspected that this storm was a little different just by the way the wind was increasing and the duration of it. So I ended up sending Anna a message asking her to check to see if there was a typhoon near Shanghai.

Day 6

It wasn’t until Saturday morning that I found out that Typhoon Lekima was pay Shanghai a visit.

The next morning when there was a lull in the rain, I decided to go out and check out the damage around the place. I also used to opportunity to move my luggage from the hotel to the new apartment. It was also another chance for me to do a little bit more sightseeing. By early afternoon, the rain and wind had returned and it was getting pretty heavy and windy. This all started to happen just as I was arriving back to my apartment with my luggage. Such was the down pour of rain, in less than minute everything got absolutely soaking wet. I looked like I had just gotten out of the swimming pool. However, I was just happy to have all my luggage in the one place.

It poured down so much that the streets started flooding. The water was reaching the floor of the cars. Later,once the rain had eased again, I headed outside again to see just how bad the flooding was on the streets.

There was a lot more flooding than I first thought. I made my way down to the local market/shops, which is quite large and undercover. A lot of the shops had flooded. But in true Shanghai fashion, business still continued in calf deep water.

Once back in my apartment, I basically unpacked my bags and chilled out for the night. Surprisingly, I still managed to achieve my 15km walk during the typhoon. It had been a great day in the end.

Day 7

My plan for Sunday morning was to set up the bed in the second bedroom. However, I had received an email saying that I needed 4 passport photos for my medical the next day. I asked HR where I could obtain passport photos from. I think this was my first big mistake. HR gave me an address to go to. I spent the next 2 hours looking for the address which just happened to be an apartment in a gated community and I was unable to get inside to it. I explained the issue to HR and they called them the place to only find out that they didn’t do the passport photos. 😡

HR then sent me another address and booked my an appointment for the photos. I think this could have been my second mistake. I looked up the address and started walking to it straight away. For the next 90 minutes I was unable to find the place. This was because HR had sent me to the wrong address. 😡

So after 4 1/2 hours later, I ended up at the correct place finally to get my passport photos taken. I was seriously unimpressed.

Late Sunday afternoon, the rain had stopped and the sun was out. I went to look for the local tennis courts where I found a local tennis group who invited me to join in their game. I was so happy to be hitting a tennis ball again. They have asked me to join them again the follow Sunday afternoon which I will. They seem really nice and hit pretty well.

After reaching home, I noticed that I had reached 30km if walking. I had wondered why my legs felt tired!

Day 8

Monday morning was a big day as well due to the fact that I was having my medical done. Thinking back on it, it all feels like a bit of a blur. Everything was done really fast. I would describe it as medical assembly line.

I started with having my paper work being organised. I went to three areas to get my paper work sorted. Then the physical started. I was constantly being sent to a different room to do a different test. There were rooms for…

To get changed in
Weight and height
ECG
X-Rays
Blood test
Blood pressure
Ultrasound
Another ultrasound
Eyesight
Physical check

The medical took about 3 hours to do. Afterwards, myself and my teaching colleague, Jay, went to the school so we could start the work resident permit process. This is where my passport is currently. I need to get this done in order to be able to open a bank account here.

Day 9

I spent the day shopping for things to fix the apartment up and make it a little bit more user friendly. I am super happy how it has turned out.

Day 10

While walking to the shops to get a bedsheet, I found another tennis court close to my apartment. They were six people playing on the court. I sat and watched for a while when one of the ladies asked me to join them, which I happily did. They explained to me that they were so happy to have a foreigner join their group. So now I have another group of people which I can play with. The group have asked me to join them again on Friday morning at 7 am. I look forward to another session. I am loving the tennis community over here. They are all very nice, friendly and welcoming.

After leaving the tennis court and heading to the store, I stumbled across a place that sold Jian Bing. Jian Bing is a popular breakfast meal that they have here in China. I guess the best way to describe it is a breakfast wrap. It is a really delicious simple meal to make but the taste and textures are complex. When you eat Jian Bing, you get the softness texture like a you are eating a pancake and crêpe. Then you get the crunchiness of the crisp. It has subtle sweet taste to it from the bean paste and heat from a little bit of chilli. It should be a dish that one must try when visiting Shanghai.

In the evening I went down to Qibao ancient town. I feel like it is a place that I will need to visit a few times to get the full experience from exploring it.