Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.
We have arrived in Shanghai, safe and sound. The cats were on the same flight. In retrospect, I would not recommend this. It would have been better if they had departed a couple of days after us. We touched down in the late afternoon and were taken directly to our apartment. In the evening, just about the time we are thinking of calling it a day (because I needed to get up first thing in the morning and head off to new staff orientation), we get a communication from our pet relocation agent that there is a problem with Oliver and she is heading to the airport to find out what his condition is. Long story short, our agent was at the airport after midnight having a vet called in to take care of Oliver and he spent the rest of the night under observation and getting medical treatment. Meanwhile, I laid awake most of the night worrying about him. The happy ending is that he survived. Both cats were moved to quarantine and are cooling their heels there for a few more days.
This is not the face of a happy cat. Poor thing.
We have a lovely little apartment. It is an older building. We are on the second floor. There are two other newbie teachers living in the same building. Our apartment is located in a neighborhood that seems to be “gated.” Outside the gate, along the street is a park. We look out our windows and we see the trees of the park, hear music in the mornings, and see people doing tai chi.
We have two bedrooms, a smaller room for an office, living room, bathroom, two enclosed balconies, and a kitchen the size of a postage stamp. (Been there, done that.)
The cidadas are in full “bloom” currently and are astonishingly loud. It is currently raining. We are loving the green, wet, living world we now live in.
Traffic is interesting, but nothing compared to the reckless driving of the United Arab Emirates. Everyone just seems to patiently navigate around each other with a small amount of horn honking. Pedestrians step out and trust that they won’t be run down. Most of the time, it works out. Bicyclists, scooters, and motorcycles travel down the sidewalk, honking at pedestrians. It is a short distance from our apartment to the school, so I may just get a bicycle. The school provides a bus to transport us to work, so I will get there one way or another.
For more photos, click here.
Living the Travel Channel 