My Flight is Booked!

[Deleted]

Well some kind of big changes have happened in the past few days. Primarily, I have postponed taking the Bar Exam until February. I've been too stressed/depressed/anxious and worried about other things this summer to feel prepared to take it, so I'm going to wait and use the next 6 or so months to really prepare.

In light of this, H and I decided that I would move to Shanghai on August 10!

H is coming home for 2 weeks for a business trip/doctor appointment and I will fly back with him.

I'm now even more anxious and starting to stress about packing and finishing up any last minute medical stuff before I go there in 3 weeks!

There is a possibility that we'll be back in the U.S. again in September/October if H's new doctor decides surgery is a good option for his knee, but I won't know that for another week +.

Any recommendations on what I need to be doing in the next 3 weeks besides packing, last minute shopping, and getting prescriptions ready?

[GilliC]

- Stock up on tampons, deodorant, and cheesy snacks.
- Consider starting a Hep A vaccination if you haven't done one.
- Find a good Shanghai-specific forum for all the questions you'll have once you're there.
- Start practicing some basic Mandarin. [Zuǒ guǎi, Yòu guǎi, and Tíng zhè. were my most useful phrases in the beginning, because they let me get around in a taxi.]

[ktkl09]

eating mexican.

[clogged]

Jul 23, 2012 8:43:05 GMT -5 @ktkl09 said:

eating mexican.

This. Big time.

[Wanderista]

Haha, I second the eating Mexican. I missed that so badly in the days that I lived in London, back before they opened Chipotle there.

Congrats on your change of plans and your move. Good luck with the transition, it should be a great adventure.

I have no advice about going to China though. My friend recently lived in Nanjing, China and she said that she could get pretty much anything she wanted, including most American food chains and store brands. She really liked it.

My mom was in China way back before it was really opened to the west. She has plenty of stories about the old communist China, but of course, those are out of date now. She toured a large portion of the country and saw a lot of cool things like Chinese soldiers dancing in secret to American rock music. A lot has happened since then though.

[GilliC]

Expanding on the eating Mexican... Buy spices (or those little McCormick's spice packets) to make your own! Consider corn tortillas if possible. The thing I hated most about Mexican in Beijing was that even when you ordered chips and salsa, the chips were made with flour tortillas. WTF? Hopefully that's something that's changed in the last 5 years!

...And come to think of it... nevermind. With the ridiculously cheap food, you'll probably never cook at home anyway. Unless you want to teach your ayi to make TexMex! That would be awesome!!!

[Deleted]

I've already got deodorant and tampons on my list of things to jam pack in my suitcases Also a stock of new underwear and bras. I'm also considering trying to put pack 12 bagels in my suitcase.

Chipotle or Qdoba is definitely happening before I leave.

GilliC - I laughed at your suggestion for the Mexican spices, because when H moved over I packed him a huge thing of McCormick's taco seasoning. I think we found a place last time I was there where they sound corn tortilla chips...I'm hoping I'm remembering this correctly.