June 29, 2003
Weekend news
Hi,
unfortunately the weekend is almost over....well I havenīt done so much, except going out on Friday and Saturday.
Today we have been for eating for brunch in a hotel nearby and afterwards I met some colleagues of mine on the sportfield where we played soccer...oh playing withi this humidity is quite tough, but anyways it was good to do some sport beyond all these beers, gin tonics, etc. :-)
I just came back from an Irish pub in downtown Shanghai where we watched the German Formula 1 Grand Prix....damn Montoya....!
Have a nice week!
June 27, 2003
Münchner Freiheit....
...this is a name of a Restaurant here in Shanghai...I couldnīt even believe when I heard that name for the first time. :-) quite funny
Acutally thatīs the place where I will go for having dinner tonight. We have an appointment there together with all German students who are currently in town. It is said to be a cheap place. I am looking forward to get my "Schnitzel"...well that doesnīt mean that I donīt like Chinese food, but I canīt see more rice anymore :-)
Cu and Happy weekend!
Spicy Thai and my famous Hong Kong restaurant
Even yesterday before KTV we had dinner at a special Thai restaurant. Actually itīs more a private flat than a restaurant....but Alissa, the owner of that suspicious environment had once more prepared some really good but spicy dishes...excellent. The third pic shows you the street where I normally used to go out for having dinner. Itīs quite lovely there, since the waiters even recognize me once I enter the restaurant...I almost have a special place to stay...
KTV in China...
...is a lot of fun...especially if nobody is able to sing a good song. The Karaoke night yesterday was really weird..., have a look:
SARS has gone but...
...not even the government health care advice: :-)
An Italian guy living in Shanghai...
...and looking for a traditional Italian dish....
what he found was just like that: a Pizza delivery service...itīs just curious because the brand of that restaurant seems like an Italian party brand....if Mr. Berlosconi would even notice this kind of copy :-)
I am still alive!!!
Hi guys,
sorry that I didnīt write into my diary for almost one week....but actually I didnīt have the time to write so far.
The last week I was completely involved in working hard (really!), hanging around with friends or even sleeping a bit (but not to much either)...
However, to give you an impression that I am definitely feeling well here, just have a look on that pic:
June 19, 2003
Birthday!
Holy....,
we have been out yesterday evening in order to celebrate my todayīs birthday. It was definitely hard to get up today in the morning.
Well, I am on the way to another place tonight...soon, I will get you updated from what is going on here...I have funny stories to tell you.
Cu and thanx for all the birthdays greeting emails....you are the best!
June 17, 2003
Elke's farewell party
Yesterday we were invited to Elke's farewell party. Elke is a German student who spent almost one year here in China. The funny thing about it, she lives right next door to my compound. She was very kind and polite. We will miss her.
Here are some pics although I forgot to take at least of of Elke...damn!
June 15, 2003
Summary Week 1
Although itīs almost Sunday midnight right now, Iīll summarize up in short my experience during my first week here in Shanghai.
First of all, I must confess that it was a good idea to come to Shanghai before (in January this year). Evertyhing is quite comfortable. I am not anymore frightened when driving with taxi, subway or entering a Chinese restaurant. Everything is going very easy actually. Sure there are still some language problems, but I donīt mind so far.
It was actually a really tough week for me, well, I donīt mean tough due my daily work - this was actually very boring, since my boss was still in Europe and just arrived back the day before yesterday - but I mean in the sense of going out drinking and having fun with others. I was very happy that I could sleep well during the weekend.
What did I discover here this week? Well, I went to a Massage Salon :-) a REAL one! Not what you might think now! And I have to say, it was wonderful, I promised to come back again every week from now. My Massage girl, actually known as Ms. Number 33 did a great job actually since she showed me where I supposed to be tense on my body. It was horrible - I didnīt expect that it would be on so many places...
Besides going out every day, I met a lot of new guys from Germany. Most of them where trainees just like myself, others where working as so called Expats. Generally speaking they were all quite nice and we had a great time together until now.
Florian, my roomate, supposed to fly back to Germany on Wednesday. Due to an airplane cancelation he had to take the one flying back the next day, on Thursday. Unfortunately he has been out all the night, so he overslept the flight :-)
At the end, he took the plane yesterday. So he is supposed to be back in Germany now already. Thus I am now living alone at my new home....
Oh I didnīt tell you about my first "accident" at a Chinese Restaurant. Having used the skewer to eat just like the Chinese people do, I took something from the dish, wanted to get it into my mouth...and uppppps, at the end the food fell into my glass of beer....very embarrasing as you may think of. And it definitely was! But just one minute later, I overbalanced a bottle of beer on the table....that was enough for me this day. All the restaurant didnīt stop laughing and I couldnīt stop blushing :-) Well, shit happens!
Shopping Tour I
Wow, a tough day behind me with a lot of bargaining with local chinese people at the Fake market....here comes the result:
SARS Update II
Well, as I already told you, SARS is no recent problem. Nevertheless, there are several behaviours that should prevent against this problem. Have a look on this. Itīs inside the elevator at home. :-)
Clubbing Part II
Last Thursday we went out to discover another club in Shanghai. Pegasus, which was to be said one of the highly exclusive locations in town. Well, it was ok, but nothing "special". However, I got crushed anyways... :-) Before going to this place, we had dinner at a nice Brasilian All incl. Restaurant....mhh it was delicious....jamjam.
June 11, 2003
Clubbing Part I
Here are some pictures from one of our first Clubbing tour.s It was my roomateīs last evening in Shanghai. He flew back home today and he will come back in late July. Obviously that I had to take a last picture from both of us (2nd pic).
The pictures of the street refer to the famous Maoming Nan Lu (Lu = street)....the partymile of Shanghai.
"Paulaner Bräuhaus" Pudong - Grand Opening
Hey,
incredible, just one day after my arrival I got to know that an original Paulaner Bräuhaus had its Opening Party. Sure that I took the chance to taste the quality of the beer, together with Lukas, a German student, who is doing also an internship in Shanghai.
The last pictures from Germany
Hi,
here are some pictures which were taken during the last night in Germany in a club and one is taken just before my departure, when some of my friends surprisingly appeared at the airport. :-) Thx again!
June 08, 2003
SARS is no recent problem
Hi,
although SARS seems to be no problem here in town, I just tried to wear the face mask I bought in Germany.
How do I look like? :-)
Don't worry about me, everything is fine here :-)
Cu
Back again in China
Hi,
after an 11 hours flight I finally arrived back in Shanghai.
I am now sitting in my new apartment after having had my first tough "business" conversation with my chinese landlord. Finally, we set-up an approriate rental agreement. Thus I am very happy that everything is clear now.
The weather is quite warm, a bit windy perhaps but very convenient.
The picture above shows you the living room of my apartment....isnīt it glamourous? :-)
Well, my work will begin tomorrow early in the morning. However I think I will drink a couple of beers tonight together with my roomate Florian, who is German as well and working as an Architect here in Shanghai....
I will add some other pictures soon...
Talk to you later on.
See you from Shanghai, China!
Claudio
June 07, 2003
Day X
After having finished my last exam yesterday, I am now ready for "take-off". In about four hours I will already leave Munich for Shanghai and I still have some problems with my luggage...
Anyways, take care and I'll let you know more on my arrival at Shanghai tomorrow morning.
See You,
Claudio
June 05, 2003
Problems with the apartment
Chinese People are really strange!
Just today I received an e-mail from the landlord of my apartment in Pudong. Surprisingly he mentioned that the monthly rent will not any more include accessory charges as it was arranged many month ago.
Furthermore he wants me to work for him at his architect office by preparing some presentations....just ridiculous! Well I told him that we will discuss further matters at my arrival on Sunday....
....the first confrontation with different business cultures...
June 03, 2003
International Student Identity Card
Get ready to rumble! Now I am definitely prepared for all kind of potential trouble in China...
...Well I realised myself that itīs not the very best portrait picture :-) ...
Face masks for Shanghai
Although Shanghai is nearly SARS free, I decided to buy some face masks in order to be prepared for the worst case scenario. Anyways, I am feeling confident that there will be no need of wearing too many...
June 01, 2003
6 days to go...
Hi,
well, I just passed my last weekend in Germany...in exactly one week I will be sitting in my new apartment in Shanghai, China....incredible!