Puppy - kitten - kitten

Felix the puppy now has a nice new home with a group of teachers. And he's a she and now called Jingjing. She's grown into a much loved confident dog - still small enough to fit inside my shoes.

Shortly after Felix the puppy left the comfort of the House of Princess Freya and Beautiful Stephanie, the Shanghai animal aid organisation called and asked if we would foster a 6 month old kitten...called Felix. They didn't just call out of the blue - that would be a little weird even for my life - I had registered with them when I arrived in Shanghai as a potential home for homeless kitties.

Felix II arrived and it wasn't long before Steph and I were in love with him. I'm not sure I've ever met a more affectionate moggy. He even wanted cuddles after I'd taken him to be neutered. At the vet's surgery I asked if I needed to bring him back in to have stitches taken out. The nurse laughed and said "No stitches, two cuts, twist" and moved her hands like she were turning two taps off quickly. Poor little Felix!

The time came to find an adoptive home for him - he now lives with a nice lady called Gracie. I'm sure they are making each other very happy.

That brings us to kitty number 2. Not called Felix! My friend Michelle visited me in　Shangers at the start of the month. We had two very fun weeks together. One night shortly before she left, we found a small kitten in a hole outside the metro station near our house. The kitty was very vocal, but wouldn't come anywhere near people so we couldn't get it out. A few nights later, it started. The reoccurring dream about being trapped in a hole. About finding rooms full of dead kittens. About being able to help, choosing not to and then dealing with dire consequences. My conscience knows me very well - the way to get a Freya to act is to interrupt her sleep. She can't stand that for long and will have to do something.

The night Michelle left, I took the bus home from the airport after the obligatory goodbye cry in Pudong airport loos. It was pouring with rain. My thoughts turned to kitty. I walked to the metro station and could hear it calling from the other side of the street.

I got closer and peered into the hole, it was filling with rain water and kitty was half covered - its paws and head twisted into a crack to stay dry. I put my umbrella over the hole and tried to reach down - kitty wasn't having any of it and took advantage of her rescuer/assaulter's short arms. An hour later I was soaking wet, tired and frustrated. How was I going to get the cat out? I needed some sort of fishing net. Or a longer arm. Or a way to get kitty to relax and levitate out of her pool.

In the end, help arrived in the form of a steetside BBQ cart - the ideal late night snack in China. I bought a large fish on a stick which I lowered into the hole. Kitty was wary but hungry enough to take a bite, I pulled the fish and luckily kitty put up a fight. She clamped her jaws down and so I could life the fish-on-a-stick out of the hole with kitty attached! I then bundled her into my cardigan and took her  home to a rather unimpressed Stephanie!

On arrival, kitty decided that all this open space was terrifying and spent the next 20 minutes going mental. I was rather alarmed as I haven't seen a cat behave that way before. It became clear that our human presence was making it worse, so we headed to bed.

In the morning, kitty was gone. I searched and searched but couldn't find her - nor her fish on a stick. More than 48hrs later, the telltale smell of cat pee led me to my suitcase. She had made a nest inside - similar, I suppose to her hole home. I had contacted the animal aid organisation and for kitty to be included in their program, she needed to be happy, healthy and sociable - not hissing, scratching and hiding in a suitcase. They offered me 7 days to make kitty friendly, or they would put her down.

Amazing what a deadline (quite a literal one) can do. Flipyn is now quite a cuddly cat. She's still shy and wary, but I remain hopeful that I can turn her into a lapcat and we can find a safe and happy adoptive home for her soon.

And they call it puppy love

Yesterday a guest checked out of her room leaving some rubbish in

there for our staff to throw away.　The rubbish included two puppies.

I called the lady to tell her she had forgotten her dogs, she said
that she had not been absent minded and that she wanted us to throw
the dogs away. When I protested, she suggested I drown them. I no
longer wanted her to come back and collect her canine companions.

Later in the day, a couple appeared and said they wanted to take the
larger of the puppies with them - they were friends of the abandoner.
They also offered to 'dispose' of the smaller puppy for us. I had
around 10 seconds to decide what to do so it's no surprise that the
little puppy is now at home with me. He's currently playing with a
pair of my knickers!

Felix is tiny - about the size of my feet (size 3) - black and white
and very fluffy. I didn't intend to name him, or cuddle him or do
anything other than find a new owner - but given my generally soft
nature when it comes to creatures, I am hopelessly in love with this
little mutt. I have no idea what breed he is, or how old he is, though
it's rather obvious that he is a he! I have taken huge numbers of
photos but due to a technical hitch, I can't get them off the camera
and onto the computer. In a word, cute!

The hard part about finding a new owner is that dogs have to be
licensed in Shanghai. The piece of paper alone costs 2000rmb (about
200gbp), then there are all the health checks and vaccinations
necessary to get the piece of paper. Add another 3000rmb. No animal
shelters will accept dogs anymore because they cannot afford to
license them all so I am left with limited options:

1) Keep him unlicensed, or give him to someone else who will keep him
unlicensed. The deterrent for this is rather harsh and so rather
effective. When the police find unlicensed dogs out walking with their
owners, they take them and they are put down the same day. The owner
gets no time to say bye and no chance to get the dog back. I'm not
keen on this option. Imagine the therapy I would need to get over
Felix being taken away and put down because I hadn't taken the care to
get him a license!

2) Persuade someone with lots of cash and time to take him.

3) Persuade someone with lots of cash and no time to take him

4) Sell a kidney, and get the license.

Nothing else comes to mind at the moment but I'm going to finish this
here as I need to rescue my slippers from a rather persistent
predator!

There'll be no plugging for the Phoenix this week

This morning, I climbed the tiles stairs up to the roof where I have
been managing the construction of the Phoenix bar. It was a stunning
spring day in Shanghai - bright blue sky, sun and crisp air. I spent a
few private moments enjoying the feeling of being almost there. Almost
everything is ready and I am excited about actually opening. We have
fridges, drinks, all manner of glasses, a coffee machine, a sound
system, tables - chairs and sofas are being delivered on Wednesday. We
are almost there and I was very happy.

That is, I was until around 3pm this afternoon. At 3pm I decided to
plug in the coffee machine and have a go at brewing a cup. It's quite
a different machine from the ones I have used before and it's second
hand and without an instruction book. I figured I would figure it out.
I avoided pitfall number one and plugged it in. Sadly, I did not avoid
pitfall number two, making sure the plug socket was connected to an
electricity supply! My beautiful bar was designed with 10 sockets, 4
behind the bar, 2 for the airconditioning and the rest strategically
placed for guests' laptops so they can make use of the free wireless
access. It seems our builders assumed that I had put the plug sockets
on the plans for decoration and not actually to use them. Three
sockets are actual sockets, the other seven are just the white plastic
fascia stuck onto the beautiful brickwork that runs half way up the
wall. Gutted. Did I learn nothing from the "flat floor" issue. Of
course, if I had wanted plug sockets that were actually connected to
an electricity supply, I should have said so in the first place.

The Nag's Head

During the last week, I reached my stress threshold. It sneaked up on
me and all of a sudden, it was too much. When I first arrived at work
I asked for a phone, fax machine and a printer to be put in my office.
None of these things materialised.

Every day my list of requests grew and still nothing was done. I
started to suspect my colleagues of sabotage. Naturally my role at
work means a lot of change for them, lots more work for them and
perhaps they are not so happy about this. Even my most basic requests
were ignored - a wastepaper basket please, a new screw to fix the
broken lock, a roll of sticky tape. I spent an hour each day repeating
my lists of requests and being as polite as possible - but feeling
like a total nag.

My thirteen hour working days are starting to show and by last
Wednesday, I was reduced to tears.

On Thursday, my manager called a meeting with the staff to find out
what the problems were. I was so worried - would they be honest and
say my Chinese is too poor ad they can't understand a word I say?
Would they plead ignorance? Would they continue to be so unhelpful?
No. One of the restaurant managers scratched his head and looked on
bewildered before saying:

"Freya only asked us once every day so we didn't think she really
meant that she needed those things"

I now make every request 5 times every day - I still feel like a nag,
but at least I have a phone in my office!

Keeping our balance

Yesterday I received the happy news that a friend of mine and his girlfriend have had a healthy set of twins. Two girls, adorable, tiny and very welcome in their already busy family.

Today my friend emailed again to say that he has been diagnosed with bowel cancer and has to undergo 3 months of horrible treatment. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, the indignity of a colostomy bag, sterility etc.

Another reminder of the ever present yin and yang that I only seem to be aware of when I am in China. I know I usually only write about silly things on here - anecdotes and interludes - but I suppose today's post adds an extra element of balance that is probably needed.

As is his usual style, my friend was rather pleased that he would keep his hair and completely pragmatic about the whole thing. For now, his future looks good - and their enlarged family is keeping him distracted and focused on thinking positively.

I am humbled by his attitude. I had a long cry in the shower this morning and since then feel strangely upbeat. His positive attitude has rubbed off and I bounced into work this morning to hear all sorts of yin and yang news. I have long admired my friend's energy and determination, his creativity and pragmatism, now more than ever I want to be more like him and I hope that we will still have lots of future opportunities for green tea dates and chats about museums.

Lost in translation

I write this post half way through a task that I have been putting off for the last few days. The ground floor of the building where I work is a cheap but excellent restaurant serving Shanxi food (that's spicy, sour and uses lots of garlic along with plenty of noodles and dumplings to fill your tummy).

One of the tasks that has to be completed during this week is translating the 25 page menu from Chinese into English. I am on page 14, where I am currently grappling with "fragrant and crisp wind flavours",and "Sliced husband and wife with spicy sauce". Other than the odd names, I am loving learning so many words about food!

The manager here was not so impressed that I was translating the menu myself and not using an internet translation service and that I was bothering to translate the whole menu. Although I adore menus with excellent translations - personal favourites include: fried sea bears, little chicken safety eggs and fungus borulumugubumgus - I am not willing to be responsible for such a menu. Isn't the point of me being around to make sure our English is perfect?

As for translating the whole menu, I really hate going out to eat here and being given the much abbreviated shortened menu full of dishes selected for "foreign tastes" - the way to get the chance to eat something new if you don't speak Chinese is for it to be recommended - so the whole menu will be translated into English. All 25 pages. Included the slices of husband and wife in spicy sauce.

The longest to do list and the world's biggest market

I love a good list. My to do list for tomorrow runs to 5 sides of A4. I wrote it in the car on the way to a furniture market this afternoon where I went to price the cost of furnishing the 2nd floor and 5th floor of The Phoenix. I was issued with a driver (yay!) and two men to accompany me.　I am not sure why there were two of them but there are lots of things I am not sure about so we shall not dwell on it.

We drove through a large gate that said "Nine Stars Market" and I was told that it was the biggest market in Shanghai. I asked where we would park the car, and the driver said he would park in the furniture section of the market. We drove on and on and on...and on and on. The market continued. Forty five minutes later, we arrived in the furniture section of the market. It really is the biggest market in Shanghai and certainly the biggest shopping place I've been to. I am sure it could rival Meadowhall or Blue Water! The furniture section had a sofa city, a table city, a PVC floor covering city...you get the picture.

After 2 hours I had a bad case of IKEA syndrome - desperate never to look at another piece of furniture (as all chairs had started to look the same) but with a strange desire to by remarkably low priced bowls with brightly coloured lids that nest inside one another. The prices seemed high until I sat down now and looked through my notes and photographs - £50 for a dining table and chairs, £400 for an 8-seater leather sofa! Even with the rapidly decreasing British pound, it's still cheap!

Somehow I have to select chairs, tables, sofas and bookcases - all within a very modest budget - and make the Phoenix lounge look very far from low-priced. Quite a funny job for a woman who only owns a few book cases and a miniature chair and chest of drawers as her only bits of furniture! Good job I played with my dolls' house a lot when I was little!