A follow up to the pilot

 I'm always looking for ideas on what to post here so please the more comments and ideas you have let me know.  Yesterday I was told by one of my faithful readers  (yes Chip you are getting another shout out here!) that "the writer sure paints a lousy picture of life in China.  It would be interesting to hear a follow up from you and what you think about his perspective."  Good idea and here goes...I'm going to do this in bullet point form to keep it simple I think...

• Money can be made/saved living in China, yes that is true.  But nothing like it was 5, 10 or 20 years ago.  Now the cost of living in Shanghai as an expat is actually more than living in NY as an expat.  While I don't pay for my apartment I will tell you the rent is more than $4,300/month.  Food is astronomical.  A future post will showcase the cost differential on food but to give you an idea a box of imported cereal costs about 80-90rmb or $13.50!!! I never throw out a box until it is completely gone, regardless of if it is stale or not.  Going out to eat at a western restaurant is another jab in the pocketbook to say the least.  Definitely equivalent to NY or Chicago.  The items that are cheaper are service items - taxi's, cleaning lady, haircuts, repairmen, etc.
• I agree completely that you are out of your element living here.  Culturally it couldn't be more different, language wise, good stinking luck as I've tried that route and found it incredibly challenging.  Not to mention being 7,000 miles from friends and family.  Sometimes that is tough but sometimes it's what it should be a wonderfully eye opening adventure.
• From a job security standpoint I think it really depends on the industry and company.  In my case I think I'm lucky.  I would say my job security is much higher than an equivalent in the US.  If they want to let me go they need to find someone willing to relocate, understand the culture, be willing to live here, etc.  Additionally for most expats I know our job functions have no limits.  We do everything under the sun because we are the face of the US company and that is expected of us.  Whereas in the US the jobs are more regimented (not saying they are easy just less hats to wear on a daily/hourly basis).
• Cleanliness.  Well I completely agree with the writer here.  It's gotten better and Shanghai is far cleaner than many other cities in China.  But I see little kids out with their parents walking on the sidewalks routinely using them as bathrooms.  The spit, yes it is everywhere.  Outside sure.  Inside, why not?  In an office?  Ok but try and spit it into the trashcan versus on the carpeting...but not always.  How about the long fingernails on men?  I will never understand this and it disturbs me beyond belief!
• I love the comment on the one rag rule for cleaning.  I don't know if it is true but I do recall my apartment in Shenzhen.  I bought all the cleaning supplies, some got used the first month by the cleaning lady and when I moved home 10 months later the bottles were all 3/4 full!  I think she cleaned with the one rag (probably brought from her home) and just used tap water to clean everything, no cleaning solutions at all.
• Sun?  What is sun?  Yes we have seen it for a few days now but per my previous post we saw the sun for 5 hours TOTAL in the 2nd half of February!  
• Fake alcohol is rampant in China with some estimates saying as much as 80% of all liquor sold in China is fake!  No wonder I wake up sometimes with a splitting headache after only having a couple of drinks.  Far better to stick to the bottled beer.
• Hotels I completely disagree with him.  The nice hotels in China and all around Asia are PHENOMENAL and usually present a very good value, especially outside of the big cities.  A nice 5 star hotel in Shanghai costs probably $250 a night.  Outside in 2nd and 3rd tier cities, probably $100/night.  Even many 3 star hotels in China are equivalent to some of the 5 star in the US.
• Communication varies based on the city.  Shanghai you can always find someone speaking some amount of "Engrish" and in my office most speak and write well.  Do they all understand spoken English, well that is a different matter altogether.

I absolutely love some of the old culture here and the simple life many people appear to lead.  Riding a rusted out bike that is literally falling apart but they have a smile on their face going to work early in the morning.  Probably headed to a job that is menial but it supports the family.  Or the street vendors serving food to the masses early morning and in the evenings.  Not all of it is clean or healthy but it doesn't stop the crowds.  The old school streets with lots of bicycle repair shops, mini hardware stores, diaper stores (yes diaper stores), and all the other shops that make up a community.  In my eyes China is about the people, hard working, loyal, friendly even if they can't communicate.  Yes it's bustling and nobody smiles or says hi on the streets like they would in Chicago but heck with 25 million people here you would never stop saying hello.  It's an absolute adventure day in and day out.  It's allowed me to see the world and I wouldn't give that up for much.  


As a friend of mine who lived in China about 10 years ago told me before I moved to China the first time, she said she "never felt more alive than when she lived here.  It was like her head was on a swivel plate 24/7 taking in the atmosphere."  Well that pretty much sums it up.  It's not all good but all in all I'm enjoying the ride!