settling in

at work, i've either been extremely busy or very bored. i write and edit (articles, powerpoints, etc.,) for the partners at the firm, meaning i don't really have any long term projects to work on when they don't need something written. it's kind of like being a freelance writer who has to be at the office from 9-6. the upside is that i'm learning a lot about really specific, obscure topics. give me a call if you want to learn about new chinese antitrust laws. or if you're an employment law buff, last thursday i was up late because i had one day to write a 6 page article draft about regulations concerning equity-based employee compensation or incentive plans.

i think i'm starting to make friends at work. it's pretty difficult because, not only is everyone older than me, but those closest to my age are chinese with limited english skills. i think the language problem is actually an impetus to conversation though - they are as eager to practice english as i am to practice chinese.

i'm working on getting more acquainted with shanghai. on saturday, i took the subway shangha's "people square" or 人民广场. after buying some english books to keep me occupied, i attempted to walk back to my apartment. when i realized there wasn't a nearby bridge to cross the huangpu river, which cuts my neighborhood, pudong, off from the rest of shanghai, i had to give up and take a subway-like thing across the river.

on thursday, the office is paying for my coworkers and i to fly to sanya, an island in southern china. i don't really understand what this "office outing" is for, but i think it should be fun. at the very least, i'm staying in a 5 star hotel and eating well on the company's dime.

here is a picture of my apartment building.
it's pretty basic without too many flourishes. on the first floor, there's a bank, two bakeries (one french, one chinese), a hair salon, a dry cleaners, and a coffee shop. in that respect, the location is pretty handy. i've started trying to run up and down the stairs to release energy. i really confused some of the other tenants when they saw me take the elevator down to the first floor and then go right for the stairs.







this is a picture of my office building, jin mao tower (there are probably better pictures on wikipedia). It looks a little like something out of batman's gotham. it also seems very hi-tech: to get to the area where the elevators are, employees have key cards that they slide, opening little clear plastic gates. then to get into the baker & mckenzie office i use another key card to open these big sliding glass doors. there are all sorts of expensive restaurants and bars on the top floors, but i don't have the money to eat at any of them. when i go in and out of the actual building, i see lots tourists taking pictures of china's tallest building (though, obnoxiously, a taller one is being built right next to it).

the first picture is taken of the neighborhood where i live/work from across the huangpu river. i'll try to post pictures of the inside of my apartment sometime soon.