That's a Murse...

^Man purse at the Apple Store in Pudong.

Yep, that’s a man purse all right, but more commonly referred to as a murse.  Actually, most men in China, I should say most wealthy men in Pudong, Shanghai, carry these bags and more often than not, they cost about a good portion of my education as you can see from mink fur on this guy’s murse.  This photo was taken while sitting at the Apple Genius Bar at the IFC mall.  Well, for 90% of college students that have a Mac, you might find yourself in China with a problem with your computer.  So, you can just go to Apple’s website, find the nearest retail store, and make an appointment with their Genius Bar, right?  Wrong.  You can never make an appointment online because with Shanghai’s 20+ millions residents there appointments are always reserved.  So what you need to do is march on into the Apple store, find the most senior looking person you can find, and pretend to be really upset about the fact that you can’t make an appointment.  Fortunately, they got me right in to talk with a specialist, but even this situation can be hit or miss because there will still be days when you’ll have to wait 2+ hours.  Just keep your fingers crossed.  The bright side is once you talk to someone, you can expect the same level of customer service that you’d get from Apple in the States.  I came in with software trouble and they came back suggesting I should replace my screen because it looks like there is something wrong with it.  Then they went on to diagnose my software problems.  Uhh, yeah I’ll take a new screen.

            Another service that I wish I had discovered sooner was delivery service in China.  Literally, pretty much name a product and it can be delivered.  Saturday morning, I ordered two shots of espresso, a salad, and a tuna sandwich on wheat bread, from my bed!  This is all coming from Ciao Café, the little Euro style, internet café, conveniently located across the street from the front gate of the SUFE campus.  I consider myself an espresso connoisseur and I typically can’t even consume what most coffee places call “espresso,” but this is probably the best stuff I’ve found in China, owing to their high turnover (fresh beans) and choice of Lavazza Espresso Beans (tolerable).  Beyond the coffee, they’ve got everything from paninis, to fruit drinks, and even pizzas, which I’m not a huge fan of.  But this ordering spree wasn’t over, I finally ordered my groceries from City Shop, and had them delivered that afternoon.  Delivery is free if you spend more than 200 Yuan, which is easy to do, believe me.  Mine was about 500 Yuan but I’m fully ready to open up my own Italian deli with my artisan bread, prosciutto, mozzarella, and coffee constantly brewing.  I think I mentioned in an earlier post, Shanghai has all the comforts of home…if you’re willing to pay for it.

^Sometimes you just have to go for it with some smoked ham, prosciutto crudo, fresh mozzarella, lettuce, avocado, and herbed goat cheese on a fresh grain bread.  Hunter and Chasen would be proud.

Natasha, Jakub, Nikolaj, and I also went to the 88^th floor of the Jin Mao tower this weekend, which was sick!  Perfect shot of the Shanghai Pearl and The Bund from this panorama sweep view, although, I didn’t like looking up at the International Financial Center’s bar, some 15 stories above that, so that’s definitely my next stop.

^88th floor observatory at the Jin Mao Tower.

All these things are great, but I ought to mention keeping your things safe while in Shanghai.  I’ve almost been pickpocketed once, and I actually recently saw it happen to someone else.  One night I walked into a crowded club and as I was walking through the crowd I felt a tug on the back of my pants, snapped around so fast, and started accusing this creepy European guy of trying to pickpocket me.  The guy pointed to his belt and claimed that it had gotten “stuck”.  After Jakub calmed me down, Jakub said to the guy, “Come on man, that’s the second time that has happened to this group,” at which point I really went off because he was definitely trying to take our stuff.  Then another time, I was walking to lunch with my colleagues from Vance Info, and the guy actually managed to get one of the co-workers’ phones out of her pocket, and ironically enough he tried to walk into a store to get away but it was the restaurant we were planning to eat lunch at!  Well, somehow or another, the girl put it all together that this guy had her phone, and she screamed, grabbed this guys hand, which revealed the bunny ears (her phone case, obvi) and made a scene like no other.  This guy booked it, but I stood there with my jaw dropped at what I saw right before my eyes.  Long story short; keep your stuff in a buttoned or zipped pocket, inside your coat, or maybe even a nice murse!