I'm here

After 24 hours of travel I made it to Shanghai on schedule. I've had a hard time logging on to my blog. Jim thought it might be because of censorship, but I'm not sure. Therefore my posts may not be as regular as I had planned. No problem with e-mail, so communicate that way if you'd like.
On the way to Jim's apt. last night we had a typical Chinese driving experience. A pile of two-by-fours was in the highway, no doubt fallen off an overloaded truck "secured"with bungee cords. No hazard cones or indication of clean-up, but a trickle of lumber for about a mile.
Jim has a very spacioua and comfortable apt. in the Shanghai Racquet Club, which he inherited last summer. Soon he'll be moving to a more Chinese neighborhood. This complex is too Western for his tastes. It's full of ex-pats. We ate dinner tonight at a neighborhood hole-in-the-wall. Potstickers, eggrolls, stir-fry, etc. They didn't offer me silverware, soI did my best with chopsticks. I guess I've never gotten proficient with them because I've never had to.
earlier today we went to Pearl City shopping mall, where our favorite pearl store is, so the pearls are handled. All the proprietors have certain English phrases memorized-"Need a watch? Look at my purses". I got some good buys, but not all of my bargaining was successful. I'll have to go back...
We went to pick up groceries at Carrefour, which is French-owned Wal-Martish store. `The first time Jim andIi went into one, 2 1/2 years ago, was funny. As we were ascending the long escalator into the store, most of the heads descending out of the store turned to stare at us. It's not rude to stare in China.
The store had an impressive array of goods and was very clean and full of help. Someone pointed out the Woolite-equivalent to us. There was a case full of frozen meat parts and pieces. Just in the case with no wrapping. Just the thought of what that stuff could be exposed to-ew. One of the more interesting things was a duck carcass, all one piece, which was eviscerated and dried. It looked like as little duck suit. Not tempting to me today, but I bet it would be a good base for soup stock.
We had an excellent Indian buffet for lunch.
More later, as best I can.