A Feast for the eyes

I can't believe all that my eyes have seen today. I'm exhausted right now after a wonderful day touring local neighborhoods and markets in Guangzhou, but I'm so excited to share some pictures, so I am staying awake.

I told my mom tonight when I spoke to her that I feel like I saw an entirely different world today. Guangzhou feels 'far away'  but the people and things I saw today made me feel like I had taken a step back into another time. 

Sarah Yana, a co-worker of mine here in S&S Guangzhou, spent most of her day today showing me around some of the most amazing little corners of the city. I took about 250 pictures in 5 hours - not kidding. I had photos on my mind while Sarah had another agenda: she was out perusing the Jade markets for gems to use in her jewelry making and she was also searching for the perfect "Red Pockets" for the upcoming Chinese New Year. "Red Pockets" are the envelopes in which superiors in the office put gifts (Chinese money) for each member of their team to celebrate the New Year. 

Sarah and I started our day at noon with lunch at a German outdoor cafe, then we began meandering our way along the busy streets: first to the markets selling "tschotkes" (Sp???) for Chinese new year, then we moved along to the dried fruit, fish, and nut market, followed by a visit to a beautiful old Buddhist temple, and finally into the meandering alleys and streets of the Jade market. 

Sarah and I walked at least two miles today through the markets, so we were exhausted by 5pm. We then went to her house where I met her husband, 13 year-old son, and two dogs. Then the four of us went to dinner at a delicious Japanese restaurant in the city that is very popular with ex-pats. Delicious sushi and an amazing day all-around. 

I can't thank Sarah enough because I would have never had the opportunity to see such a local area. Sarah and I were the only non-Chinese people we saw all day. Not one tourist. It was incredible and like nothing I have seen before.

Above are a few of the pics from today. I will be posting more on Shutterfly and will send the link if you want to look through them all (I have edited it down to about 100 pics). 

Tomorrow AM, I am having a manicure and pedicure at a place all the girls in the office have recommended. I'm told it is a very nice place (the CEO of the office goes there, too) and it will cost less than $10. If it's as good as they have described it, I might have found my new GZ pastime!!

Tiny bubbles....

Today marks the end of my first work week in China. I'm going to call it a success. I've learned to navigate my way to and from the office, I am getting over the jet lag, and I have tried many new things already. Today I added a few new things to list of my China experiences...

- Breakfast at my desk: The office serves free breakfast every morning, so I decided to try it. Usually I am a breakfast at home person, but today I sat at my desk and had Guangzhou-style rice noodles with soy sauce and then congee with pork and a green veggie. Congee is sort of like oatmeal, but it's made with rice (I think.) It looked a little bit like lunch, not breakfast, but it wasn't bad and the rice noodles were actually delicious. 

- Bubble Tea & Taiwanese food: For lunch today my co-worker, Jessy, took me to a Taiwan style restaurant and introduced me to the Taiwan specialty: bubble tea. I've seen it in the states but have never had it. Yum... a milky tea drink with little gelatin-like balls in it. I'll be having this again :) During lunch, as she observed my chopstick skills, Jessy also taught me that there is a right and wrong way to use them. Typically I consider it a success if the food doesn't fall out of the chopsticks, but apparently there is more to it. I have it all wrong. So, now I am a bit self conscious with the chopsticks .... ;)

- My first Mandarin lesson here in China: (Actually it was my second, but I didn't want to screw up the theme!) Above is a pic of my instructor, Christina. We'll be meeting a few times a week while I'm here. Maybe by the end of it, I will actually be able to communicate with the taxi drivers and understand some of the side conversations my co-workers have in the office! If nothing else, it's challenging, it makes me laugh, and it's a humbling experience.

- My first trip to a Western style grocery store!!!! YES. I was like a kid in a candy store.... much better than day 1 in the 7/11. 

I just realized that about 80% of what I post is about food! I think that will change as I get someone used to things here. 

Well, it's Friday night, and after having dinner with a co-worker tonight, I'm home and just relaxing with a glass a wine... not entirely different from a very low-key night in NYC (minus Brian). I have plans to tour the city tomorrow with another co-worker, so I hope to have some good pics to share after that. I miss everyone at home! :) Keep the emails coming - they really brighten my day! 

 

Small victories!

Little by little things are starting to look more familiar to me here and I'm actually starting to get my bearings. It is still a maze of very tall buildings and wide streets and tons of bridges, but tonight I rode home in a taxi and I actually 100% knew where I was going! A small victory that made my night. 

 

Since I'm getting into a little routine here: waking up, oatmeal for breakfast (courtesy of the U S of A), taking a taxi, stopping by Starbucks, getting my latte and then settling in at my desk, I thought I would post some sights from my AM commute. It actually feels a lot like NY in a way. 

1. Upon request, a picture of the taxi cabs (look how organized they are on the road.......it's very orderly here... ahem) and then also the inside of the taxi (a TV, just like in NY but metal bars instead of plexi glass). 

2. Outside of the S&S Office 

A few other sights from this morning....

3. I had not noticed the Haagen-Daaz before.... nothing more 'All- American' than ice cream... I think that will need to happen soon.

4. A woman frying eggs on the sidewalk with a crowd of people lined up to order! The bag next to her is all the egg shells... I really couldn't believe this was happening right on the corner. Is this China's version of NY's hot dog cart? 

Beyond that, lunch today is worth mentioning. There is a small cafe on our office floor where they cook you lunch. Literally, you order and then they spend about 15 minutes cooking it and then it get served on a tray. For about $6 today, I had a pork and rice dish with some veggies and then cream of mushroom soup and a Pellegrino. It's not exactly my first choice for lunch, but it was quite the spread.

I left the office late tonight and a co-worker said to me, "have a nice dream." Here's hoping for a good night's sleep tonight!!

"Curious" as a "Cat"

I'm finished with day two - it's midnight here and I just returned from dinner with two co-workers, JC & Iris. I was up at 4am (jetlag!) so it feels like one straight 24-hour day but somehow I still don't feel tired (jetlag!). Hopefully sleeping will be back to normal soon. 

I am posting a picture of my office so you can see - quite posh compared to my NYC office :) I'm enjoying my window view and added space. 

I had my first meeting at P&G today and had the opportunity to meet the GM of Olay China in a really interesting meeting about the challenges they have marketing Olay in department stores (Olay is sold in department store counters in China vs. say CVS in the States). We took a tour of "mock" instore environments in a fake grocery store and a fake department store. Pretty cool. 

I realized during this meeting with the GM that the Chinese are much more metaphorical/eloquent/poetic than most of us Westerners.  In a typical ice breaker to start the meeting, they asked everyone to introduce themselves and then state one word that describes them. So... I quickly wracked my brain for a very descriptive/interesting word and they called on me first (at least it felt that way). So, I told them the word to describe me today was "curious" - you know, I'm curious about how things work in China, curious about the Olay business in China, etc - you get the point. Well, they start going around the room and the first person chose the word "Water" to describe her (it is adaptable to it's environment, it can change forms from ice to liquid, and it is elemental for survival...), the next person said "Smile" and then "Cat", "Wind", "Kung Fu Panda" and so on. Somehow, after going all the way around the room and hearing all of their creative thoughts... "curious" didn't really stack up. Perhaps China will make me think a little more creatively :)

The day ended with a late call to the NY office and then my two co-workers offered to take me to dinner. I haven't ventured on  my own for dinner yet, so this idea made me jump for joy... it beats having a granola bar at home! I promise to figure the grocery thing out soon. Here is a photo of Iris, JC, and me at the "Garden" restaurant. It was a Western restaurant (English on the menu) and I had a plate full of grilled vegetables (YES! See above) and then some pasta. It felt a bit like "cheating" like the Westin did last night, but thats ok, right? It was a great night - thanks JC & Iris!

PS - I am still getting used to my new camera and haven't had much time with it, so please excuse the bad pics. I also have to be conscious of annoying my co-workers and all those around me by taking it out all the time, so I am often snapping the pics so quickly and trying to be discreet :). It's just hard not to take pics of everything... so much to take in. 

Also, I also still don't know how to format pics on Blogspot... does anyone have any advice? Once I insert them, I am unable to move them around..... if you want to see a picture larger, just click on it and it will enlarge for you.

First day in the office - Dim Sum and some more...

Today was my first day in the S&S Guangzhou office. I got dropped off in my taxi and promptly heard someone calling my name - YES! It was JC, the head of the Olay account here. He took me to Starbucks (YES! Never thought I would say that) and then up to the office to meet the team. We had our first team status meeting which was a nice overview to all of the work that is going on in China. After that meeting, the team organized a welcome lunch of dim sum for me - see above! We had a private room in a restaurant near the office. They ordered 20+ dishes and we all shared on the big wheel you see in the center of the table. You can see there is one bright green dish above that seemed like steamed broccoli (sp?) stems and I had a lot of that and fried rice. But, they wouldn't let me get away without trying a few more adventurous things.... so, I sampled a bit of chicken (but not the chicken feet - they insisted it is rich in collagen and good for the skin. I just couldn't...See the top picture, the dish on the left), some shrimp dumpling, and a dessert dish that was like a round cake ball filled with custard (top picture, the dish on the right). So far, my stomach still seems fine!!! The team also introduced me to a Chinese delicacy known as "birds nest." Now, I thought this was a metaphor (as in "this looks like a birds nest but it's really skinny noodles...") but it was not. Apparently, these rather innocent looking tarts had a small dollop of "birds nest" on top. This delicacy is actually obtained by someone going into a bird cave and taking out a part of the nest that the bird makes with its own saliva. YES. This also has a very significant health benefit that I can't recall, but I just couldn't do it (see picture of three cute yellow tarts above.... innocent looking, right?). 

Then, the rest of the day was filled with an internal creative review meeting for Natural White (a skin whitening cream here in China), a meeting to discuss new concepts for AquaHydration (a moisturizer here in China), and then some follow-up on a couple of NY projects. The day went by quickly! 

At the end of the day, a co-worker who works in the S&S Hong Kong office who has spent a lot of time with our team in NY (Matt Harrison for the S&S people) took me to a nice, simple, familiar-looking pasta dinner at the Westin Hotel. It sort of felt like the easy way out, but I was all too happy to have a glass of California Pinot Noir and a bit of ravioli. It's nice to know that if I am craving any American-like food, I can walk to the Westin and have it. 

So, a successful first day in the office. I miss everyone and love getting the emails, so please keep them coming! 

My first night in GZ

Just a quick post as I have just woken up and need to get myself ready for the first day in the office. I slept really well for my first night here - I made the apartment feel warm and cozy and since I was exhausted from the big travel day, I slept a good 7 hours. I was up at 5am, but I think that will get better. If I am not super exhausted today, I will rate the jet lag an "A" - but we'll have to see how I feel after working all day. I also figured out Skype, so Brian and I were able to talk for an hour last night before bed. It's amazing! and FREE. If anyone has Skype and wants to chat, let me know and I'll add you to my buddy list. Hope everyone is well and that getting back to work after the holidays wasn't too bad.... I'll post some pics after work tonight! Off to start day 2.....

My first day!

Wow! A lot has happened in the past 48 hours! When you travel this far, the days start to blur together. I'm here and unpacking and trying to make things feel a bit like home. (I still haven't quite figured out formatting on the blog, but here are a few pics of the apartment and apartment complex that I took today: the view, the living room, the 7-11 downstairs and the other is the view from my balcony down to the pool, park, and pre-school that is down below)

We had a wonderful end to our long Christmas break that took us from Cape Cod, to NY, to Phoenix and then out to La Jolla ... on our last night we watched the San Diego Chargers beat the Colts on Saturday night at Qualcomm Stadium. As I was mentally preparing for China, it felt like a very all-American thing to be watching! It was great. After the game, we drove up to LA where I left for China and Brian left to go back to NY. Very sad to say goodbye, but I know our trip to Tokyo will be here before I know it.... or, that's at least what I'm telling myself!!! 

Sunday was spent on a plane to Hong Kong which is where I woke up this morning (Monday) after 15.5 hours in the air. From there, I took a quick flight to Guangzhou where someone from the Saatchi office was waiting for me. She took me to my new apartment and showed me how everything works -  where the dishes are, how the locks work, how the shower works... everything! I had a million questions and am so thankful for her tutorial. When all the buttons on the TV are in Chinese, it's pretty much impossible. I will never figure out the DVD player, but then again - I don't really watch movies anyway! It was a huge help to have someone here for my first few hours - I kept thanking her and tried to hug her twice, but I'm guessing there is a more culturally appropriate way to thank someone that you just met! She wasn't quite sure what to do when I tried to hug her!!!!

The apartment is going to be a comfortable spot for me to spend these next few weeks. It's in a huge secure complex of about 6 buildings, a small park, a pre-school, a gym/pool, and a few small stores (I was happy to see a 7-11). This afternoon there were tons of kids and their parent/grandparents playing games, riding bikes, etc... a lot of activity. After she showed me around the apartment and the complex, she took me to the Saatchi office and back so I would know how to do that tomorrow morning. It was pretty easy - but we'll have to see how that goes tomorrow! It's a funny feeling to just smile back or shrug when someone talks to you in a language you have no comprehension of! I need to learn to say "I don't speak Chinese" at the very least! Today was bright and sunny (minus the pollution) and about 60 degrees.

I am now back in my apartment doing a bit of catch up work from the Christmas break and relaxing before my first day tomorrow. I don't really feel jet-lagged, but maybe that will change tomorrow AM. So far I'm happy to have packed some dried fruit, oatmeal, and peanut butter with me because when I walked into the 7-11, the only thing I recognized was bottled water. I stocked up on water and then figured I'd try again tomorrow!