Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about
Actually I started out moving to Singapore. After my wife died my niece lived with us for a time taking care of my then 15 year old and 13 year old children. After she left to get married, I tried to find a non-traveling job but they don't seem to exist any more. My choices were to (1) leave the kids at home alone when I had to travel, (2) get married again, or (3) move somewhere that was both safe and where I could afford someone to take care of the kids... Singapore was the answer to (3). Although it was tough to leave home and it was very tough on the kids to move following the shock of losing their mother, we made the move to Singapore in February of 1996.
After just a few months in Singapore, I was asked by my then-company, Westinghouse, to move to China. After my daughter graduated from high school, we moved to Shanghai. In Shanghai, I can still afford to have a full-time person to help out with the house, cooking, etc. Actually, I have two - a maid (Ai'Yi in Chinese) and an "Assistant" that translates for me and my children and handles complex tasks.
As long as I have a job in China, I will probably stay here. It's the mechanism by which I can afford to have two children in college next year.
ABSOLUTELY. My problem here is that I really don't like Chinese women (my apologies to Chinese women) and that's the only single women here! Who knows, maybe fate will send someone across my path?
When people first visit me in China, they are always shocked at "how modern it is". However, many of the things we take for granted in the west are missing in China or different-enough-so-that-they-appear-to-be-missing would be more accurate. Number one is grocery shopping. American staples, for example, catsup, can be found in one of the three Western groceries in Shanghai but the supply may be sporadic and the selection of brands, sizes, and types of bottles is very limited. The first rule I was taught in China is "when you see something in the grocery that you haven't seen before, buy it all!". For example, Dr. Pepper (a favorite of my son) appeared several months ago but has been missing for almost nine months. I bought 12 cans when I saw them at the store but came the next day for more only to find the shelf, previously holding 10-15 cases, empty.
Housing is nice. There are two types of housing here for expatriates - apartments and villas. We live in a villa. These are paid for by the companies as, even in these difficult times, rents are US$6,000 to $10,000 per month. With nice housing, maids, gardeners, assistants, and drivers, life is not all that hard.
I miss the US though.
I work for Moore Process Automation Solutions. They are out of Spring House, PA (near Philadelphia) and manufacture distributed control systems for controlling chemical, power, etc. plants.
LIKES: Movies, deep relationships, television comedies, good food, and traveling (as long as I am not traveling alone)
DISLIKES: Dating, sports, cheap people
The postal service in China will deliver mail addressed in English (it may take an extra day or so). My mailing address is....
James Gremillion
Mandarin Gardens Unit D-21
No. 8 Lane 3887, Hongmei Lu
Changning District
Shanghai 201103
People's Republic of China
DHL is very good about delivering in China (skip FedEx!) but you will need a phone number - +86 (21) 6262-2012.
