Week 1 Recap

Well, we've made it through one week in Shanghai. All in all, despite the issues with the house and the cat ordeal, we're doing pretty well. Some of the positives from our first week:

• We made a new friend in Thomas - our landlord's son-in-law
• We've started to develop a new language with our driver, Mr. Chen - it's a cross between basic English, basic Mandarin, and basic Sign Language
• We realized that if we're having problems getting some assistance at a store, if Juliet just smiles and waves then we usually get some service - we call this "playing the Juliet card"
• We learned that they give free samples of beer at the grocery store - no matter what language you speak
• We found out that Papa John's Pizza tastes pretty much the same as back home
• We've found there are very few things in life that a few minutes in the massage chair can't fix
• Obtaining the first two seasons of both "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for less than four bucks is truly golden
• M&Ms and microwave popcorn taste the same - no matter what continent you're on (wish we could say the same for Diet Coke...)
• We laughed A LOT and didn't cry too much
• And last, but certainly not least...we realized there really is no place like home!