Changes
I have just relocated to Shanghai as China correspondent for the channel. New Country. New Challenges. Changes.
And the first business upon arrival in the city was to settle in. Get myself comfortable before I started work proper as a field reporter running around getting stories. That meant - finding an apartment, bank accounts, work visa approval etc ….
My first few days were filled with government meetings, applying for media accreditation, securing my residency permit, opening up a bank account, subscribing for a mobile phone, interviewing an office manager. It all went smoothly – much to my delight. But of course all these arrangements were made well in advance in Singapore. All I had to do was show up and wait. Things get done with prior planning but you need time.
However the first challenge was also my first encounter with culture shock. Hunting for suitable accommodation. One naturally has his or her particular needs and it isn’t as if I haven’t done my fair share of hunting for apartments to rent in Singapore before. But what I encountered here in Shanghai quickly made me realize that you simply cannot things for granted.
First I narrowed my search for apartments according to my budget and desired location. I had heard so much about the French Concession with its tree-lined streets, quaint lane houses and restaurants. My search started there.
Almost immediately, I found a loft. It felt like I was living in New York; high ceilings, island kitchen, wooden floors, bamboo bathroom with skylight view of the roof. It was perfect and not to mention that it was within my budget. But of course I saw pictures of the place before personally viewing it.
Let’s call this place Big Apple.
Big Apple sat on the top floor of a 3-storey house. The owner who sold the house must have had a sense of humour. He sold it to 3 different owners! Imagine living in a 3-storey house where each floor belongs to one family. The first floor led directly to the kitchen of the first flat. Climb the stairs, the second floor led to the living room of another family, and finally, “Big Apple” was on the third floor. Plus there were no doors to separate each floor from the other, in other words, there would be totally no privacy or security. I didn’t rent it.
Another French concession apartment had such thin wooden floors that when the owner downstairs cooked or simply smoked a cigarette, the fumes would just rise up into the apartment and smoke would get into my eyes!
Living in the French concession on a budget wasn’t going to cut it.
Of course there were the beautifully decorated apartments and houses but they were simply too expensive to rent.
So, reality struck and I lowered my expectations and extended my search farther away from the city centre.
Almost immediately I found a simple apartment, but this was not before viewing a total of 50. So at least I saw a fair share of different housing options and picked the one best suited to me. It is a simple apartment.
If hunting for flats was fun, contract negotiation was even more interesting!
I was advised by friends who have lived in Shanghai for years to bargain for the world. The rationale being, “What’s the worst that can happen? The landlord saying “NO”. The best that can come out of you being demanding is you’ll get the place for a quarter or even half of what you’re asking for.”
I didn’t ask for the world. I just wanted the landlord to install an oven, pay for the satellite dish and internet connection.
Guess what, I got everything!
I am now slowly trying to decorate the place to make it comfortable.
I guess you can say that hunting for a house can be an analogy of my experiences.
When in Rome do what the Romans do.
So welcome to my first blog, welcome to my new experience and welcome to my new home.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Glenda,i m glad u finally found yr nest. I used to live in Shenzhen and was lucky enough to find mine without much of a hassle. I liked the 3-storey one though. Had a good laugh. U heard the one abt a guy who renovated into the other apt? he hacked his wall and had it built a few feet into his neighbour’s unit!!! How u like that?
U will come across more amazing stuff, i am sure. By the time yr tour of duty is over, u could write a book. Have fun in SH.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
i guess it must have been an experience for you there. a new environment, a new change.
the culture, food, environment…must be something novel. even though i recently spent a week in china for learning exchange, the beautiful sceneries and people are still memorable and reminiscent in my mind.
one day, you should put aside your work and enjoy the wonders!
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Nice to know another there are more Singaporean relocated and living in Shanghai.
Wish you all the best, good luck and enjoy your stay…
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Hi, looking forward to reading your experiences as a Singaporean, would love to do business and travel in China sometime.
Lenz
June 24th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Hi, glenda.. I am happy for your new post. But i missed the days when u presented PrimeTime News with Melvin Yong. I just don’t know why u chose to be the channel’s Shanghai Correspondent. Since its your 10th year in MediaCorp News in S’pore, might as well, continued to be news presenter rather then correspodent. I always enjoyed watching your news reporting.Anyway, all the best in you new posts. Hope to see you back in S’pore.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Hi Glenda,
I’m a fan of yours for a quite number of years but …unfortunately, I was relocate to Shanghai about 4 years now and had miss quite a bit of your reporting.
Anyway, Glad to know you’re coming over as a full-timer.
Just a word of advice, Expect the Unexpected !
June 24th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hi,
Hope you will settle down soon.May everything goes well for you and your crews.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:16 am
u will be in Shanghai for how long?
June 24th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Hi. It’s such a great relief to know that you’ve settled down. Thanks a lot for sharing bits of your personal life with me and the rest, members of the public.
Please take a very good care of yourself while you’re away in Shanghai.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Hi Glenda, enjoy your stay and work in Shanghai………..
June 24th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Sounds like a good start …any pics…would be nice to see how the French concession looks like…bin to Shanghai a couple of times ..enjoy the place, its mix of the super modern buildings and the quaint old towns…look forward to hearing what news you bring out of Shanghai…
June 24th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Working in a new place… Isn’t the experience just like the first day we go to kindergarten … when we first landed our first job… when we first hold the hands of our boy/girlfriend?
Shanghai is a nice place. Been there to audit a building. But it was just a working trip for me - went on Thursday, back by Sunday.
Enjoy your stay there. It’s a nice, dynamic place. Rich history, rich culture. Back to our “roots” for us Chinese and see how our ancestors live like?
June 24th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Welcome to Shanghai Glenda! Shanghai’s not quite New York, yet, but it’s really interesting and I’m sure you will grow to love it. I’ve been based here for 2.5 years…Hope to see you around. Cheers!
Kelvin (we’ve met before, formerly from TODAY and Octagon, Singapore)
June 25th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Dont worry, just take a step at a time. I am sure you will have more exciting moments in China. I have been enjoying every moment till now, it never fail to amaze of he culture difference and etc. Just learn to accept and acknowledge it is their way.. Cheers!!
June 25th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Hi Glenda, it was very interesting to read your blog, especially on your house-hunting experience! So did you also give a name to your final settlement too?Call it “Green Apple” loh since this is your first confirmed apartment..heeheehee…So how big this is “Green Apple”?
Just a question, is this a job requirement that you guys are seconded to overseas at a rotational basis or upon request? I have seen Mario and Melissa and others reporting from overseas too.
Ok, so expect to see and hear more of your Shanghai adventures in the coming days….also the Olympics coverage…
Chat some other time…you take care and ciao!
June 25th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Hmmm.. interesting article.
I hope you will enjoy your stay there.
Shanghai is beautiful but also quite a dangerous place…
Why? it’s 上海滩…. triads and so on…
Scary.. but that was in the past.
Still, if you want to walk the streets at night,
learn some self defence skills.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Welcome to Shanghai!…I’m Singaporean and already spend the last 5 years in Shanghai…you have arrived in Shanghai during the plum season, and more hotter weather are coming soon!
June 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Welcome to the Blogosphere. Looking forward to your posts.
June 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I enjoyed watching u reading news in the past, Glenda. It’s quite a pity that u are posted so far away. Guess I gonna missed u
Please take care.
chee geh, ur fan
June 25th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Hi Glenda, interesting experience, and I am glad you shared and if I do go to Shanghai, I will take note of such things….thanks for the tip and hope you have a good working life there (for now)…take care.
Littlefoot.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Just curious… why the decision to go China after many years of fronting CNA as anchor?
June 26th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Hi Glenda
I hope that you have adjusted well in Shanghai.
I have been there once and it’s a big city where either you like it or you don’t.
One place I found familiar is Raffles City. Immediately, I went to BREADTALK only to discover that the pork floss bun cost the same in Singapore. the cost of living is high in Shanghai as compared to Chengdu.
So, I hope you are enjoying yourself and I must say as a viewer, a big surprise is that your Putonghua is excellent (Just like Yee Fong’s)! Needless to say your posting to Shanghai.
Keep up the good work and great smile!
Cheers!
Wendell Yeo
June 27th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
We certainty miss your presence at CNA, it is not the same without you, I always associate with CNA,
I hope the oily Shanghai food will not change you so that we can still recognise you when you are to CNA
Take care! I am sure you can be in Channel 8 News when you finish your assignment
June 30th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
hi glenda i like some viewers have found it strange to find out that u have been uh transferred to shanghai i’ve been there once on hols with my family n liked it tremendously.and it is rather weird to not see u on cna as regularly now
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:28 am
hi.. looking forward to your news reading again from shanghai.
cheers !
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Dear Glenda,
for a moment i tot u had resigned from CNA! did u elect to be posted overseas adn is compulsory?
we here are getting a lot of China Chinese and main complaint abt them is their unruly, boisterous behaviour and often loud and crude words they use without any consideration to others around. is this the kind of behaviour you have observed so far in SH or something difft?
any problem with their Putong Chinese? btw, your fellow colleague a Ms Wong Siew Fong, is she also from Spore. she speaks very Americanised English but looks Sporean. i like her presentation style.
Wish u the best and look after yourself in a foreign country!
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Hi Glenda, am an ardent fan of yours, normally i have had newspaper covered on the floor when I watch your news reporting..
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Hi Glenda, I’m looking forward seeing more stories from you on China. I’d like to wish you all the best on your work and stay in Shanghai…
July 4th, 2008 at 2:12 am
Haahaa Glenda, think you are lucky to find your desired house. I am in Chennai for almost a year and still trapped in a 2-star hotel. Same as you, I tried apartment hunting and faced with challenges. I have to agree with you the worst answer is NO from the owner. I have a memorable experience where the owner and me reached an agreement on Sunday to lease his apartment. But on Monday morning i called him up to request for the draft rental agreement, he told me that he could not lease to me. Asking him why but he replied ” I am not comfortable telling you the reason” and he cut the phone…. Stoned by another owner…. wish me luck for the hunting.
By the way, hows the traffic condition there?? tried cycling to work??
July 4th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Quote:
bon Says:
Hi Glenda, am an ardent fan of yours, normally i have had newspaper covered on the floor when I watch your news reporting..
That’s so lame. And, not forgetting - gross!
July 7th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Hi Glenda,
Great choice I must say, Shanghai is a great place to be in (having stayed there myself). While it may be a cultural shock at the start, I am certain you will find it an absolutely charming place to be in (like I have grown to love the place - lots of interesting / inspiring experience I have had there). All the best and hope you’ll enjoy every bit of this great, vibrant and bustling city.
Cheers
July 10th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Hi,
I am the best fan of channel news asia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I also read news from the website fo so long time. I have been to Shanghai for one week while I was a student at Asian Institute of Technology in Bamgkok in the Study tour. I also used to visited Singapore during Christmas 2004!
Ok, There are alot of your fans from diffrents nationalities!
Wish you Continued Success in your Carrer
Good Luck
July 10th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Hi Glenda,
Glad you have found your nest in bustling SH. Frankly, like many others, I missed your lovely smile anchoring as presenter on CNA and I recalled fondly seeing you in a documentary diving in some waters off S’pore looking for sharks!
I guessed the captivating part of you is your genuine smile and sweet personality which will be “embedded” in many minds.
Anyway I will still see you when news on SH are being featured on CNA, meanwhile take care and hope to see you back soon.
Cheers.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Hey Glenda,
I must say he MediaCorp office in Shanghai is small. I am sure yo are oping well.The first time i saw you as Shanghai Correspondent was when you covered the news story of the Singapore Season in Shnaghai.
I have been to your Shanghai office when I signed up for CNA Educational Tour to Shanghai.But one question to you would be what happpened to Tan Bee Leng, the former correspondent who was in Shanghai, who brought me around.
Take Care and Have fun living in Shanghai!
July 17th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Hi Glenda,
Really funny and interesting story. If you were shocked and you are Asia-people, can you imagine how China was for a Latin American like me?? Hmmm. Yup, Agree 10 years in the industry is not much, so you will get a lot of experience there, congrats!!!
July 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Hi Glenda
Glad to know that CNA will be opening an office here. We used to receive CNA channel in Shanghai, but somehow disappeared. I do hope that CNA will soon be broadcasting to us in Asia - it is always great to see tv channels from home.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:22 am
hi glenda,
i hv been viewing yr CNA 4 some time now n its great 2 know singaporean living in shanghai. keep up the good work n all the best!
August 25th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Hi Glen
How has life been in Shanghai so far?
Cheers