First day at work + Shanghai Visa medical!

This was certainly the strangest first day at work that i’ve had yet. I had to run off after lunch for a medical to complete the employment visa and after a long taxi trip through Shanghai we eventually arrived at the clinic. After finally finding the correct room i was poked and prodded for an hour or two before being told my blood pressure was a little high “ee dien dien”, but that things were generally ok. To have my first check up in maybe 8 years, i certainly would’ve chosen somewhere different for this, but atleast it is done now. I am also not surprised my blood pressure was a little high after trapsing round in temperatures of about 36C, and then being left lying on a table wearing some sort of Judo style outfit!!

After this i then popped to the local police station to fill in another unneccessary form, but hopefully now all is ok for my Visa. Considering it was my first day at work, i barely got a chance to actually do any work, but a late finish helped me to atleast make a start on some projects. Of more interest was the funky layout and design of the company’s offices. They also lay on free lunch everyday, and, with some notice, can provide what you want, be it Chinese, Western or whatever. What i had was pretty tasty, though i turned my nose up at some German looking dishes. Perhaps i need to be more open-minded I am sure i will float a Tiramisu recipe over towards the chef sometime soon. However, it is sooo humid at the moment that i dare not drink even an ounce of alcohol during the day as i expect i would immediately fall asleep on the job.

Everyone at work seems pretty chilled out and friendly and the HR girls are also very helpful and used to aiding foreign workers who have no clue what they are doing. Without them and Ruby i think it would be too difficult for me to live here as i have no Mandarin skills. Foreigners in Shanghai seem to be mainly American, German, French and then from a whole load of random places, from UK to Uruguay. I guess, in the same way London has Saffas, Aussies, Kiwis, Europeans, then lots of people from god knows where.

Although i am enjoying myself very much, i feel i could get so much more from this adventure once i speak atleast some basic Mandarin. For this i shall go to lessons from Wednesday which the company put on for free and i hope to spend much time at home working on this too. However, at weekends i am seeing Ruby, and during the week after work it becomes a straight choice between 24 Season 1 & more learning…. Hopefully once i am settled i will work harder…

~ by tomgurney on July 7, 2008.