Back in the GAME!

A LOT has happened since I was last able to blog... and I don't really even know where to start. I feel like I'm in a time warp over here. First of all, all of a sudden I'm a morning person. Like, where did that come from? I wake up at 6:30am and am ready to go, that NEVER happens at home. I hope I can translate that habit back to the US.

I have started work and it is going to be a blast. The gallery is full of fun women who all speak English.(YES!!!!) I have met with a few people who are going to be collaborators with my project and they are rockstars. They seem to know everyone in the Shanghai art scene and are going to be great help. I've got some background work to do before I head out and start interviewing gallery owners and workers. (Which should be very interesting / entertaining!)

Trenia and I have finally settled out living arrangements. We've moved in two days ago, but today finally got around to paying the agency fee to the guy who located our apartment for us. Long story short... if you are going to negotiate, bring Trenia along. She hustled the hustler! I definitely have a few new items in my bag of tricks for negotiating. The best trick of all... don't bring any more money with you than you want to pay. We talked about what we wanted to pay. She told me, "Clear out your wallet. Just bring 675RMB." I packed 750RMB (just in case). How much did Trenia pay? 675. How much did I pay? 750. Lesson learned.

Our apartment is a nice place. There are flat screen TV's in every room. I guess they are cheap over here (like they make them here of something). The place has wood or tile floors, nice bathroom, small but adequate kitchen, and a nicely furnished living room. The bests part about our apartment are our roommates. We are living with a French guy and a Columbian dude! The best part about it is, that I get to practice my Spanish! In China... I get to practice my Spanish. The French guy has a girlfriend named Rainbow. I'm assuming that it's a self proclaimed name, but we haven't gotten that far yet. (I'll keep you posted.)

We have an AMAZING noodle place right around the corner from our place. I've gone twice and I plan on frequenting the little shop a couple times a week. The food is cooked in wok right in front of you; they use fresh ingredients; and more food than I can eat costs LESS THAN A DOLLAR! It rocks.

There are few things that I have noticed about the Chinese people and the food they eat. First, they eat a lot, a whole lot. Second, I haven't seen any overweight people over here. We have been talking about this and have come up with a few reasons. 1) They do not pump their food full of salt and sugar. They do not have salt / pepper shakers on their tables and contrary to popular belief, you do not need to flood your Chinese food with soy sauce! (at least they don't). 2) They walk everywhere. They do not bat an eye at walking for half an hour to an hour to get somewhere. There are also loads of bike riders in the city. 3) I'm kind of starting to believe that they just have a different metabolism than Americans. 4) The beds are so uncomfortable, it's work to go to sleep. (That HAS to burn calories! :))

My final bit I am going to leave you with today is a picture of a man and his bike that I passed on my way to work. Sorry all you Boy Scouts of America out there... you've got nothing on the knots this guy tied to load up his bike this morning!