Shanghaied Bob: the driver, the OP, and the ayi

We are very lucky and now that a we have been living in Shanghai for a year, we are now very spoiled! We have had the help of three people, who have made our stay in Shanghai very enjoyable.

The driver, being an expat in Shanghai we have had the luxury of having a full time driver, Mr. Wang. Almost all expats and many of the Chinese have drivers too. I think with the prices of cars, (very expenses) the cost of getting a license plate for the car (now over $20,000) and the affordability of people, it almost makes more sense to lease a car with a driver. Plus once you see how people drive in China it makes even more sense.

Dow like most international companies, hires a driver for each expat employee/ family living in Shanghai. His primary responsibility is to drive ME to work and back. When he is not driving ME around we can also use him to take us around Shanghai. In the evenings and on the weekends he is also available to take us to the many restaurants and night spots in the city. It makes going out at night very easy.

The OP or office professional, Lucia, is a Dow employee, who speaks very good English. She is assigned to ME as her secretary and to help family members while living in Shanghai navigate our stay when interacting with the Chinese. For example she would help us with purchasing phones or topping them up when we run out of money or when we have issues with our apartment we would ask her to help translate with the apartment engineer or the maintenance people or help with misc travel arrangements etc. It gives you the satisfaction that if you get stuck anywhere help is only a phone call away.

The Ayi or "auntie" in Chinese (pronounced ī ē) is a maid that many expats and Chinese have. Some are full time, especially families of young moms with kids, and some are part time, who do just about everything from minding the babies and young kids, to doing the cleaning, ironing, cooking, grocery shopping, to running errands. Most apartments have a very little room off the kitchen where a live-in ayi would stay. We hired a part time ayi, Jean, to clean, iron, and do some washing, she comes two days a week for four hours each day. We pay her 120RMB for the four hours ($19.50 or $4.90 an hour). She is a very nice lady who is always on time and does a wonderful job. Below are some pictures of the folks who have made are stay in Shanghai so enjoyable.