Back in Shanghai

An interesting thing about being a white person is that Chinese companies want you for some reason. Apparently, if you have one or more white people (presumably Americans) working for you, your customers are more likely to want to do business with you. You see, I'm moving to China because Adam is. I had no plans to work once we got there. Just me and Smudgie, hangin' out, learning Chinese. But the plant that he's going to be working at, also has a design department. And since I have a design background and actually used to work for Guilford (Adam's company), they want me to join their team in China. I didn't have to interview, I didn't even have to give them my resume. They just gave me the job and all I had to do was say "Ok, I'll do it!" And they're ecstatic about it. I attended a customer meeting in Shanghai this Tuesday with the other members of the design team. Most of the meeting was in Chinese, but the customer's lead guy spoke really good English and occasionally he'd say things to me. Also, they had an American guy on their side who didn't speak any Chinese. So we were in the same boat. Well, that meeting got me all jazzed up and now I've got design ideas swirling around in my head. Also, I'll learn the language faster if I am surrounded by it at work.

The new hotel we're staying at is very fancy and the room has a spectacular view, which I tried to get a panoramic shot of, but I need to get home to my Photoshop before I can paste it together. Finally, I'd like to add a couple random observations about China:

1. There ARE fat Chinese people, it's just not the norm

2. Spitting in public is commonplace and very audible

3. The driving is crazy compared to America, but it just works for them. I feel like drivers are a lot more aware of what's going on around them, because they have to be. I haven't seen any accidents yet...
4. The sky is visible sometimes. I saw it twice. Here's a lovely picture of the Shanghai sky on a smog-free day:

Tomorrow we fly back to the U.S. for a few weeks. And we get to pick up Smudgie, who has been thoroughly enjoying his vacation at the pet sitter. Here's a picture of him with Ed. Big guy, small dog! Very cute.