Ten Years of ShanghaiExpat

On Friday December 3rd, 2010, ShanghaiExpat.com will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary. We'll be throwing a big party at La Finca at 10pm and we invite you to come. More Details Here. We asked our founder, CEO, and office dad Micheal Connolly, to reflect on the last ten years:

Moving to China
When I moved to Shanghai, I had to create my own niche. My wife, Margaret, had a good job offer that moved us here. I had never been to China and could not speak a complete sentence in Chinese.

I arrived without my wife, who was in training for 3 weeks in another city. I was lucky to have a decent apartment waiting, but our relocation shipment from the US was still a couple months away. I navigated the airport and found my way to my new place with the help of my brother-in-law, and then I was pretty much on my own and a bit anxious, but I quickly shook off the anxiety and started exploring.

For the next few weeks, I flipped between homesickness, anticipation, and exultation and I was confronted by small issues (which felt like big issues at the time) and worked them out. I went shopping and found I could not read the labels and there was only a handful of things that I recognized. I did however get to Carrefour with some help and managed to get the apartment outfitted before my wife came back. I soon began thinking, "I can do this!"