Happy New Years

Admittedly my writing hasn't been as consistent the past few days, but I can take a mulligan on that and blame it on the New Years, eh? In some ways I'm settling in, in others not at all. I'm still very much in an adjustment period and on holidays, especially during the days off work it can get lonely.

But the night life is fantastic! Perhaps I should be careful with what I say, but because Boston is so expensive and... collegiate, the bars here are like nothing I've ever been to before! Friday night I went out with some of my Chinese co-workers to a little club. We had our own elevated booth overlooking the dance floor with servants who would refill our cups from the pitchers when we finished. We played a game I'd seen in Pirates of the Caribbean (the 2nd or 3rd, I forget), kind of a guessing/ante game with dice. Topping this awesome cultural experience off (i was only one of maybe a handful of westerners in the club at all) is that it was paid for a by one of the Chinese blokes we were with. Apparently he is the heir to a steel company or something, but he was more than insistent on paying for things (going as far as taking our credit cards from the server when we gave it to her). OH, and they had lasers and fog in the entry way.... Lasers and Fog!! I don't think I've ever been to a place as Matrixlike as that... Oh, then the next night I'm sitting in my hotel room, minding my own business, reading my book when a buddy calls me and invites me out. We go to a club called VIP - I don't know how that works as a name, I always though it was a status. Anyway, its a night club full of westerners (and really beautiful westerners at that, but beautiful in that Eurotrash kind of way). With a famous DJ (apparently, like I can tell the difference). I'm not sure if I was stealing or what, but from what I gathered they simply put cocktails on the bar and you could fill your glass up as you pleased. Perhaps this was the VIP treatment the name alluded to...

Not all is fun and games however. I would like to report my food disasters. I went to a restaurant next to my work called 'KungFu' with a picture of Bruce Lee as their logo - I mean how could they suck? Well they do, somewhere between the lettuce boiled with peanut butter (that's what it tasted like) and the soup that legitimately had a layer of fungal looking material over it - they served a bowl of rice I managed to eat; Never again. At least until the next night when I tried to eat at a local little hotpot restaurant. I ordered by pointing at a picture and waited patiently until they brought out a steaming, boiling pot of digestive track. I'm assuming it was large intestine from a cow or pig, but it may have been something more unthinkable... I hope not, but its never good when you actually consider using 'poop' as an adjective to describe a meal. I don't have a better description, it was chewy and didn't taste terrible going down, but every time i burped it would fill my senses with a horrific feeling. I ate a few bites before keeling over in pain - just kidding, before I walked home and picked up dessert on the way.

Finally I had to have my 'welcome to Shanghai' medical check for everyone moving here. Its actually a rather odd practice, as they just run a few medical tests to confirm you're not going to cause any sort of epidemic in their country. Basically there is a hallway with 8 rooms off either side of it in which they run different tests. I had my first ultrasound, they took an X-ray with a big loud old machine which causes cancer within 50 years of everyone who sets foot in the same room as it, and did the other standard pokes and prods. By far the most terrifying moment was when I entered the 'bloodwork' room. No lie, I nearly fainted. It was the though of getting poked with a needle (i'm squeamish) by CHINA. The room looked like what you'd expect, stark, sterile, white, gurney here and there, 2 attendants (wearing masks) with a box of elastic ties, vials and needles. Closest I've ever been to fainting.

Final thoughts on the day... I picked up my suit and shirts. The suit didn't fit right (i took it back to be refitted), major bummer, but the shirts look STYLISH!! Maybe I'll post a picture. I also had to move out of my hotel room. I'm living in a hostel now, not exactly prime living, but I have an apparent lined up to move into mid January, so I just have to make it about 12 days.