Settling in

Two small purchases have transformed the apartment into a home today. Firstly, one small cable has allowed me to play my iPod through the (really rather good) HiFi system so I am listening to some Rutter from St Paul’s Cathedral as I write this. And secondly, the Landlord had kindly left a DeLonghi espresso machine but until today I hadn’t found any coffee. Now I have – decent coffee and music, heaven. Somewhat bizarrely you can buy all sorts of instant coffee at ludicrous prices, including elaborate presentation boxes which contain a jar of Maxwell House, a jar of Coffeemate and a mug.

Two other welcome finds in the shops. Yesterday I found Tsingtao Stout – and it’s not at all bad. Those of you who know how much I like dark beers will appreciate how much I appreciate this! And I’ve always assumed that prawn crackers as we know them were a British invention or at least a variation on a Chinese theme; but today I found huge bags, sacks almost, of them in Carrefour – and they taste just like the ones from Kowloon House in Jericho. Far too moreish though, so I’ve had to put them out of sight. They need to go out of reach, but unfortunately everywhere that is within reach is within reach, so out of sight will have to do. It has worked so far.

At long last here is a link to a Google map of Shanghai with the key locations in our life marked with placemarks. If you switch to the satellite view (which is surprisingly good), you can zoom in on Matthew’s school. (The map and satellite view aren’t quite in sync, so the placemarks aren’t quite in the right place on the satellite view). You can see the running track around the artificial turf football pitch, and the three-pointed tent-like roof which covers the central quadrangle playground. The main building is four storeys high with classrooms around the quadrangle. This campus covers ages 2-8 with two or three classes per year. Matthew’s class has 24 children and 2 teachers (one English-speaking one Chinese-speaking)! Comparisons are obviously unfair as this is a fee-paying (thank you Nielsen!) school but it really is rather nice. I hope Arthur enjoys it as much as Matthew is doing.

Matthew has learned about nouns, adjectives and verbs today. To demonstrate his knowledge he gave me the sentence: “The tall building is falling” – thanks Matthew, nice example.

Shanghai with Altitude

It’s been a busy weekend but we are now installed in our 28th floor apartment looking out over the Shanghai night sky. We don’t have much choice about the view as the curtains in the living room are purely cosmetic and only extend a short distance from either side. Admittedly nobody is likely to walk past the window and look in, but it would feel cosier if we could close them.

Packing our bags yesterday morning from our temporary apartment was painfully reminiscent of packing up Chilswell Road – I just kept finding more stuff. But unlike three weeks ago, no strategy was required because everything was going to be unpacked in a matter of hours. We’ve done a couple of trips to the supermarket for urgent household stuff like bedding and cooking gear but it’s pretty well equipped otherwise. I was relieved to get online without any trouble but I’m not yet quite sure how good the internet connection is. I’ve been able to watch some live-stream video and to download programmes from iPlayer more successfully than I could in the first apartment and yet at other times it seems to struggle. I was impressed that Google Chrome could translate the configuration pages for the wireless router for me. How cool is that!? Ok – sorry.

When unpacking yesterday it felt just like the unpacking you do when you arrive at a holiday cottage; putting clothes in drawers and stowing suitcases in the wardrobe – a feeling we’ve got quite used to recently. It was quite difficult to believe that this is actually our home now for the next two years. The last three weeks has been essentially the journey – steady state life begins here. But “home” is still Oxford and it was great to see and chat with Claire on Skype earlier this evening.

I’m struggling to get Google Maps to behave well enough to create the map I want to share on here. You’ll have to wait a bit longer. The building above is (I think) one of the most elegant skyscrapers in Shanghai and just think how many delays could be avoided on the London Underground if TfL would just provide this useful piece of advice.

“I love Shanghai!”

So exclaimed Matthew at bath time tonight. Such velocitous adoration for his new surroundings surprised me, but when asked what it was he loved about Shanghai it turns out to be the ease of getting taxis to where you need to go. But still, he has really impressed us with the way he has taken to both Shanghai and to his new school like a fish to batter.

One great thing about the taxis that we didn’t realise until this week was that every single one (and the place is crawling with them) have a card reader for the Shanghai Public Transportation Card which works like London’s Oyster card. So no mucking about finding the right change, you just hand over the card and it deducts the fee from your card’s balance. Simples. I can’t imagine London cabbies ever agreeing to have Oyster readers in their taxis. And no tips are expected in China, so you don’t have to worry about that either.

We got the keys to our apartment today and will probably move in over the weekend. Looking around me I can’t believe how all this stuff is going to fit back into our luggage. I suspect more than one trip may be in order, even though we haven’t bought very much in the time we’ve been here. The new apartment is very well equipped but we do need to go out and buy things like sheets and duvets. Another visit to Carrefour should solve that problem.

The weather here has been very English, both in its nature and changeability. We’ve lurched from hot to freezing, with rain, mist and the forecast is now for some very hot weather next week. I’m hoping for another clear day like today so that I can treat you all to a photo of the view from our apartment with its panoramic vista of the Shanghai skyline over Century Park. I will also sort out a link to an annotated Google map so that you can see where the places I write about are.

Lots of you will have been watching our friend Cecilia on Countdown today. We hope to watch it online on the ITV Player tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed watching HIGNFY this week, and might even watch the party leaders’ debate too. I do hope you’re all enjoying the election coverage!

再见！

Oh fixed abode

It sounds as if summer has hit England with all your reports of going out without a coat and wearing shorts and sandals. Even Mrs Pettigrew has stopped her bleating about the weather. By contrast, Shanghai today has been perpetual low cloud and rain. Looking out this morning reminded me of the famous morning on a campsite near Holyhead when Andrew Graham’s disembodied head appeared from a tent, with the expression of a man who had just spent the night with Nigel Bailey, to exclaim “It’s a misty knacker!”.

Never mind the weather. Today’s big news is that we’ve signed agreements for our permanent apartment. It’s a 3-bedroomed apartment on the 28th floor of a block in the Pudong Century Garden complex. It’s 10 minutes’ walk from Matthew’s (and soon Arthur’s) school and only a few minutes’ walk from a choice of two metro stations, one of which is on the brand new line 7 which is still all shiny and lovely. We met the Chinese American landlady today who was very friendly and helpful,  and we plan to move there at the end of this coming week. We’ve yet to work out just how much stuff we’re going to need to buy to set up home properly, but it’s extremely well fitted out with appliances and AV kit so I think we’ll be quite comfortable.

We’ve managed to have three Skype calls in the last couple of days. The latest with my parents and earlier with Caroline, Henry and Esme were video calls which worked quite well most of the time. I just hope we get the same sort of connection speed in the new place. It was good enough here to watch the Grand National live on the BBC website yesterday, and we watched last week’s final of University Challenge on Friday night – great to see the Dark Blues get their second kicking of the week!

I bravely bought some durian fruit on Friday. It really does have as pervasive a smell as you read about. The fruit itself look like a giant lychee, but the bits you eat are found in compartments inside and look rather slimy and yellow. We all tried some – the boys didn’t like it at all, Dorothy managed one piece, leaving me to finish the rest of it. Its taste is certainly unusual but I rather liked it and would happily have it again. You just wouldn’t want it hanging around the house for very long. There are some graphic descriptions of its smell to be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian. In the supermarket today, Matthew tried some jellyfish that was being offered to sample and decided he likes it, so we have a tub of marinated jellyfish pieces in the fridge – he wants to take some for his mid-morning snack at school tomorrow. I think a banana might be more appropriate.

One photo today shows the inside of a metro at Huamu Lu station on line 7, surprisingly deserted at 8:15am but this was at the very first station of a brand new line so I expect trade has yet to build up. The other photos are two view from our temporary apartment. I will share photos from our real apartment when we get in. The view down and across Century Park on a clear day should be quite impressive. Apparently we will have the best seats in the house for the fireworks displays which happen there for various festivals.

Many congratulations to Mike and Nicki, and to Dickon and Przmek, on their engagements announced this weekend!

“You colour blind!”

An even earlier start than normal today. We had to get a taxi at 7:15 in order to get to the far side of Shanghai for our immigrant’s health check. I had visions of Ellis Island after the First World War or of new inmates arriving at the Shawshank State Penitentiary, but the reality was far more civilised albeit still rather bizarre. Thankfully one of the benefits of coming here with Dorothy’s job was that her company pays for a relocation service which included assistance with procedures like this. So we were met by someone who did all the necessary talking to officials and we just had to go and do where and what we were told. We were bounced between numerous medical inspection rooms wearing a fetching one-size-fits-nobody judo-style jacket to undergo all manner of medical tests: height, weight, blood test, blood pressure, eye tests, ultrasound, ECG etc. When I predictably failed one of those irritating read-the-number-in-the-colours tests, the little man jabbed at me and exclaimed at me “You colour blind!” – thanks mate, I think I already knew that. The ultrasound was a particularly bizarre experience for anyone who has ever been present at a pregnancy scan – the temptation to ask if it was a boy or girl was almost too much.

A week ago we were in the air having just left the physical and emotional comfort of my parents at Deddington. I think we’re doing quite well, but I’m sure many challenges remain. We hope to have news about a permanent home this weekend. Watch this virtual space.

Unrelated to our adventure really, but I’ve just finished Ian McEwan’s novel “Atonement”. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated a novel on so many levels: compelling plot, incredible depth of characterisation, educational, deeply thought-provoking, and beautifully constructed. It also challenges your concept of fiction writing. If you haven’t read it, please put it on your list. Yes, even you David Hull.

Retail therapy

We’d managed to find a reasonable selection of food in a local supermarket, but Arthur and I ventured to the Carrefour hypermarket today. The French Carrefour chain is huge in Shanghai with several hypermarkets around the city. But the taxi driver had no idea what “car four” was until I showed him on a map. “Ah! car-rur-four!”, and we were on our way.

It was huge – and finding things was really difficult. Imagine a supermarket at least five times the size of a typical Sainsbury’s, use a completely different layout to a familiar UK supermarket, then replace all products with packaging and brands you don’t recognise, and then for good measure, change all the text to Chinese script. It could have been a lot worse, most of the pricing labels on the shelves have a short English description of the item, and quite a lot of the products did too, but it’s still quite hard work. The fresh food section was even more daunting, but very exciting at the same time. Huge trays of fresh veg and fruit at incredibly low prices. Dozens of counters serving every conceivable part of every conceivable creature. The smells from piles of dried fish, raw meat and Durian fruit intermingle, and yet the onions are all individually cling-filmed – well you wouldn’t want them stinking the place out! The only bread we’d found before today was a packet of six slices of tasteless white bread for about £1.60. I was therefore very relieved to find freshly baked, crusty bread at less than you’d pay at home. Magic. I was tempted to buy much more than I did today, but could only buy what I could carry in the bags I’d brought. Some of the more adventurous purchases will have to wait.

Getting taxis everywhere (to and from school, to and from the supermarket) is somewhat anathema to me. I don’t think I knew what a taxi was until my final year at University when somebody asked why I was carrying all my stuff from the railway station to college. So for a change I decided that we’d walk (Arthur in the pushchair) to school to pick Matthew up this afternoon. It took about 35 minutes and was good exercise but the taxi would only have cost 12RMB (about £1.20) – hmm.

Parents are issued security passes by the school which you have to show to enter the site. The security officials then give you a squirt of hand-cleansing gel and point a small white gun at your forehead. It’s a bit alarming at first but it simply checks your temperature for evidence of ‘flu. I keep hearing Captain Kirk saying “Spock, Bones, phasers to temperature reading!”.

Matthew has proper homework to do now. A set of quite challenging spellings to learn over the week and then worksheets of English, Maths or Chinese(!) each evening – and progress-tracked reading to do too. Quite a step up from St Ebbe’s – I suspect some of my Grandpont Mums will be envious, others horrified! As promised – a picture of Matthew in his Yew Chung uniform.

A welcome technological breakthrough today when I found that the huge wide-screen TV and speakers on the wall of the apartment does have an HDMI input which I can drive from my lovely new laptop. So I’ve been able to listen to my music collection and will also be able to watch downloaded BBC programs. Unfortunately the combined length of ethernet and HDMI cables won’t let me stream Radio 2 through the TV – but I was getting fed up with nearly all the presenters on there anyway, even before my cousin told me last week that Radio 2 was for old people who don’t think they are.

The first real day

Up at 6:30am to make sure we were all out of the apartment by 7:30. Dorothy made her way across to Puxi for her first day in the office while the three boys headed off to Yew Chung International School to deliver Matthew to his new academic home. There was just enough of a wobble in his lips when we left him for me to worry about him all day, but he’s made of sterner stuff than that and quite obviously settled very quickly and had a really good first day. He has two teachers, one English speaking and one Mandarin speaking, and a brand new uniform to wear from tomorrow (a photo opportunity no doubt).

The Occidental Tourist(s)

This was our last day before it gets serious. Early start tomorrow for Dorothy’s first day at work and Matthew’s first day at school. Arthur and I have more apartments to view and need to entertain each other on a day which promises to bring heavy rain.

After a couple of days of fairly homely grey weather, today was a bit of scorcher – certainly too hot for the clothes we ventured out in. We braved the metro to travel to downtown Puxi. Today was a public holiday in China (Qingming festival) but the Nanjing Road, Shanghai’s famous shopping street, was heaving. Lunch was a rather disappointing affair in a fairly nasty eatery – one to put down as a learning experience. We browsed some shops for children’s clothes but found only very expensive branded stuff. It’s perhaps unsurprising there’s a big market for it when you realise that each child will generally have the undivided attention of the purses of two parents and four grandparents with nobody to compete against.

We found a shaded spot in People’s Square to rest, but the boys were soon to discover that two fair-haired young brothers playing on the grass is a magnet for cameras. Some of the paparazzi did at least ask permission, but others were more opportunist. Young Shanghai girls would inch themselves towards Matthew and Arthur until they were close enough for their friend to snap a photo of them with the boys in the background. Quite comical, but a bit disconcerting for the boys.

(The picture is of Pitaya, or Dragon Fruit, which we had for breakfast. Tastes like a cross between water melon and kiwi fruit.)

It’s a small world

Not a great deal to report today really. Arthur made a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to claim the Stuart Nelson Memorial Shanghai Sleeping Record – his bid, which started when he fell asleep on my head (see photo in yesterday’s post), came to grief when he woke up after a mere 19 hours at 10:30 this morning. Other than that we’ve visited some apartments, fed ourselves and done some shopping. In the absence of anything more interesting, and because none of the Chinese TV channels are showing the China Open snooker final I’ll have to philosophise instead.

David Hull (never knowingly undersold) commented on my reference to it being a small world yesterday. It was a justified observation as I have frequently chastised people for using the hackneyed phrase “it’s a small world”. You usually hear the phrase when an apparently unlikely encounter or link between two people is made and I generally feel compelled to point out (probably rather irritatingly) that the event can usually be explained by the relatively small circles in which people move (this usually applies to my parents’ use of the phrase!) or by the fact that the probability of just one of a very large number of highly improbable events occuring is actually not that small.

My appreciation of how small the world is was more a reflection on the ease of travel and communication (as evidenced by this blog among other things) that we now take virtually for granted. Moving to China seems such a huge thing to do, being so geographically and culturally remote to England, but when compared with making the same journey many years ago it’s really a much less significant step. It’s hard to imagine now what it must have been like for people and families who left their homes to live and work on the other side of the world decades, even centuries, ago. I’m specifically thinking of my grandfather and his six siblings, all of whom left home to travel and work across the globe before, and indeed during, the second world war. It’s humbling to contemplate the scale of their commitment to their various causes now, and I have a redoubled admiration for their adventure, their work and the strength of the family ties which kept them together.

Enough rambling, I promise to return to Oriental adventure and cute photographs tomorrow.

We’re actually here. In Shanghai.

We got very lucky with our flight. When the man at the Virgin check-in desk disappeared for several minutes, Dorothy suspected that there might have been a problem with our booking caused by the fact that we’d had to change flights when our Visas were delayed. But thankfully he came back with a big smile on his face and whispered to us that he’d managed to upgrade us all to Upper Class. The boys will be in for a real shock when we fly back in steerage where we belong. Arthur took the classic “Are we nearly there yet?” question to new heights by asking if we were nearly in China as we flew over the Thames estuary.

Pudong International is a very impressive airport, both in its architecture and its efficiency. Even though we were straight off the plane and were queue-jumped through passport and immigration thanks to travelling with children, our luggage was already on the carousel when we got to baggage reclaim. Unlike the rather intimidating experience of entering the United States, when you clear immigration at Pudong you get to press a voting button to rate your level of satisfaction with the official who dealt with you. We pressed the smiley face button – I suspect that’s wise.

Our waiting driver had not a word of English but took us straight to the serviced apartment which will be our temporary home for the first few weeks. We have a very smart and well-equipped flat in Pudong (the recently developed Eastern side of Shanghai) on the 15^th floor looking over Century Park, Shanghai’s largest green area. The complex is in a predominantly expatriate area and feels rather artificial as a result. The area on the other side of the park near the boys’ school and where we’re hoping to find our permanent home has a more Chinese feel, although not as much so as Puxi, the older, and much more crowded, Western side of the city.

We’ve cooked our first meal, hampered only slightly be buying a bottle of something which turned out to be almost, but not quite, entirely unlike soy sauce, and we’re drinking a quite acceptable bottle of Chinese red wine. But having spoken to my sister, Frances, on Skype and watching a BBC Newsnight report, the World suddenly seems really rather small.