Some Impresssions So Far

My apartment:
I found a nice apartment in Zhabei, just north of the center of Shanghai. It’s on the same subway line as my school so it’s pretty convenient. It still takes my about 45 minutes to get to work but I’m happy here. I live with a 23 year old guy named Justin. He is Chinese and speaks perfect British English. So good, in fact, that I told him he should be teaching English! Originally, I looked at 1 bdrm apts but once I finally found a nice one in a good location, I realized that if I moved in there I would be lonely. Justin is great company. We share the same taste in TV shows and movies and Shanghai is the land of pirated dvds. We spend a lot of time in the evening watching our latest finds.

Food:
Food in Shanghai is plentiful and delicious, for the most part. Unfortunately much of it is deep fried. There are people cooking and selling food on the street in almost every neighbourhood, although it sounds like that may change some day as more high rises go up and more and more of the old traditional neighbourhoods get torn down. You can buy dumplings and steamed buns and meat on a stick all for about 20 cents a piece. But, of course, everything comes with a price. I really started to pork out! So now I’m trying to eat healthy, make my lunch, stay away from the street foods. It’s hard.

Oh, yes, fast foods. There is the usual: McDs, Dairy Queen, KFC, but they have the most fabulous food courts here in all of the malls. All kinds of noodles and dumplings and rice. Very delicious, but not good for the waistline.

Shopping:
I heard before I left that Shanghai is a shopping mecca. True, there are department stores and malls just about everywhere. In fact, most office buildings seem to be shopping centers for the first few floors and small shops are ubiquitous in Shanghai. I have also found numerous underground shopping ‘mazes’. Areas that seem to have sprung up out of the subway system that spread out into complex mazes of hundreds of small shops selling clothes, jewellery, handbags, etc. In between the office buildings and subway stops, the streets seem to be lined with one small hole-in-the wall shop after another. Prices run the full gamut from very cheap to very expensive depending on where you buy it and how well you can haggle. But one thing’s for sure. Regardless of what you are looking for, you can probably find it in Shanghai.

People:
What can I say, there are about 25 million people in Shanghai. That’s a lot of people! I made the mistake of taking the subway during rush hour one day. Wow! 25 million people all rushing off to work and school at the same time. People pushing and shoving. It was complete chaos. Somebody in Ottawa described ‘the Chinese’ as gentle people. Obviously that person has never taken the subway during rush hour. I was pushed, I was shoved, I was elbowed and I was squished. When I finally arrived at my stop and managed to fight my way out of the car, while other people were pushing their way in, the scene outside the subway car was even more chaotic than within. Everybody that had exited the train was now running towards the escalator. It was as if someone had yelled ‘fire’ and everyone was in a panic to get out alive. Not a pretty scene.

Kids:
Kids are really special in Shanghai and not just because they are all adorable. I think people here really cherish there children. Not just the parents, everyone. People just seem to love kids. And I haven’t seen any obnoxious kids yet. No temper tantrums, no cranky kids, no crying kids, just sweet adorable little children. Maybe that's a positive side-effect of the one (or two)-child cap on families. I have seen so many cute things since I’ve arrived. Kids on the back of bikes, on the front of scooters, I can’t begin to describe all the cuteness I`ve seen. One morning I saw a lady headed towards me on her scooter. I could just barely see two little eyes looking out over the handlebars. As they went by I saw she had her son with her. He was standing on the running board but he was so small he could just barely see over the handlebars. Off they went with the wind blowing through his hair as they joined in with the rest of the rush hour traffic. So cute! But so dangerous!

Deaf People:
I ran into two Deaf people one day on the subway! I was very excited about that and I tried to sign to them but they couldn’t understand anything I signed!! I tried signing Canada like Lois showed me (‘5’ on my chest), which she thinks is how Chinese people sign it but they had no idea what I was trying to say! They were very nice and finally we just smiled and waved good-bye. I would really like to learn Chinese sign language but I don’t know how. If only I could have asked those two people I met in the subway.

Just one more thing before I sign off. I read this on the back of a book about China the other day. It described Bejing as being, among other things, a city in which pyjamas never go out of style. Same thing here in Shanghai, people wear pyjamas everywhere, out for a walk, to the mall. I guess you never know when you might want to take a nap! Which reminds me... don’t get me started on people sleeping on the furniture at IKEA!

Wal-Mart: Line 6, Pudong

I went to Wal-Mart today. I'm not proud of it, but I won't try and hide it. I needed some cheap, yet sturdy, shelves. I got out my map and off I went. I wasn't sure how hard it would be to find. I immerged from the subway dazed and confused, my usual state . I took a quick refresher with my map and off I went. As soon as I rounded the corner (onto Lin Yi Lu) there it was, in all it's oversized, American glory: a giant Wal-Mart sign. I went in to find the entire main floor full of food. Chinese food! There were turtles, crabs, ells and a variety of fish... all live. What caught my eye were the eels as they poked their heads out of the water, gasping for breath.

I found some shelves with drawers on the more American second floor. Perfect for my clothes but would I be able to get it home? No problem, I paid for the shelves then took my shopping cart out to the curb and jumped in a cab. The shelves fit perfectly in back and I hopped in front. I showed the driver my address (conveniently written in Chinese by my roommate) and off we went. Mission accomplished.

Street People

I've seen people with missing legs and arms. I've seen mothers with dirty little children. I've seen old people. I saw a boy whose faced had been badly burned. There are not a lot of street people here, but as opposed to Ottawa where some people seem to choose to live on the street, the street people here really look like they have suffered from hard times. They really look like life has given them no other choice. A common sight re street people is a mom sitting on the edge of the sidewalk with a young child, or sometimes two. As you pass by she starts sort of bowing forward, repeatatively, from a sitting position while the child sits and plays close by.

Today I saw something that was truely shocking. A man was sitting on the road begging for money. He wore only a pair of shorts and his body was covered in what I can only describe as lumps. Bigger ones were about the size of walnuts, some were not so big. His entire body - arms, legs, torso, head - was covered. As I re-read my description, it doesn`t sound bad, but when I saw him, it took my breath away. I should have given him some money but I didn`t. I think I was too overwhelmed by what I was seeing. I gave one of the street moms money later to try and make up for it.

Everything's Negotiable

I've been thinking about the red light situation in Shanghai and I have a theory. I think an intersection in Shanghai provides a metaphore for life here. Everything is negotiable. An intersection is just one more negotiation. A green light gives you a leg up but it doesn't mean you will come out on top.

Red Lights

Why have red lights if people don't stop? The Canadian in me thinks it's just wrong! But after giving it considerable thought, I think maybe it's OK. For me, stopping at a red light is a rule, it's something I have to do. Here it's more of a guideline. It's more of a yield sign. And it's not like the red light carries no meaning. It gives order to the chaos. It indicates who has the right of way. At first, intersections in China seem to be free-for-alls. But now I'm starting to think there is some order to the chaos.

First of all, size matters. There seem to be different rules for vehicles of different sizes. A bus or a big truck for example will usually stop at a red light. (Note the word usually. There are no absolutes in Shanghai.) A car will yield and probably only go if it's safe to do so. Mopeds, bikes, pedestrians, they seem to like to live on the edge. They will go anytime, anywhere, throwing regard for their personal safety out the window. Old ladies will make mad dashes to jay-walk through busy traffic; mopeds will play chicken with cars. And why? Why not wait 45 seconds until the light changes? When the light turns green, you still have to fight your way through people running the red light but I would argue that it is considerably easier. So why not wait?

I don't have an answer to the red light question, but I have noticed something else. I think any traffic manoeuvre is OK if it's accompanied by a blowing of your horn. Going through a red light? No problem, just blow your horn. See an old lady jay-walking in front of you? Keep going, but blow your horn. Going the wrong way on a one way road? Blow your horn. This 'rule' goes for mopeds too. There’s a foreigner on the sidewalk who’s in your way, as you drive down the sidewalk? Definitely, blow your horn! I heard that the government passed a law outlawing needless horn blowing, and it's actually much quieter now than it used to be. I haven't confirmed that yet, so it's still just a rumour. It may have been something done in Beijing during the Olympics.

Moon Cake

The mid-autumn festival is this weekend and everyone is out buying moon cake. I'm not sure exactly what it is but as it approaches the urgency for moon cake escalates. There seems to be a moon cake warehouse down the road from my hotel. There has been a constant stream of people going in and coming back out with a stack of fancy boxes in hand. Today there has been a constant mob of people surrounding the place. People are frantic to get their moon cake. As I walk past I get pushed and shoved by people fighting their way in through the crowd. Should I buy some? I'm not sure. It looks like it could be quite a struggle and I've heared that foreigners tend to not be so keen on it. And, moon cake isn't cheap. Well sometimes it is, but you can pay hundreds of dollars (not RMB) for a box of moon cake. I just want a little taste.

The Subway

I made it out of the subway today, by myself! I've been able to get in through the turnstiles, but I've been having trouble getting back out. Today I was determined to get out by myself. Previously I've had to go to the customer service counter and have them let me out through a 'special' gate (reserved for those too inept to go through the turnstile exit). I left the train and followed the crowd towards the exit gate, card in hand. I swiped. Nothing. The turnstile wouldn`t budge. But wait! I noticed someone at another turnstile insert his card into a slot. I did the same, thinking I'd finally got this thing beat! Again, nothing. I was determined to get out on my own today. I fiddled and fiddled. I turned the card around and upside down, reinstering it again and again. Nothing! Now a crowd was forming behind me. Most people quickly moved to another gate as soon as they realized there was a problem. Finally, a couple of people pointed to the side of the exit gate. There, I saw it. Another card slot! Cautiously, I insterted my card. Instantly, it was sucked in and this time when I pushed the turnstile, it moved! I was free! I made it out!

Silly, I know. But that's what happens when you can't speak the language, can't read the signs, and don't know how things work. I don't know what other people do, but I seem to just sort of bumple along and somehow figure things out, eventually.

Jetlag at the Noodle Shop

It's 4:45 p.m. I feel like I've been drugged, I'm so tired. If I go back to my hotel room I'll crash for sure and that won't help me reset my internal clock. I'm at a noodle restaurant, hoping that eating will help stop me from sleeping. I came here yesterday, pointed to a picture on a menu of choices that looked remarkable the same, and was served a lovely bowl of noodles, BBQ pork and bean sprouts. Today, I pointed to the next item on the menu and was told that I couldn't have that one (don't know why) but I could have the following one. Fine. They all looked pretty much the same in the pictures, which was funny because they all looked very different in real life. As usual, I received my meal in a matter of minutes, only this time it wasn’t so nice. Noodles, yes, but nestled in amongst the noodles were chunks of boiled chicken that I imagined had been hacked apart by a machete, leaving remnants of bone everywhere and bits of the boiled skin still hanging off the bits carcass. It didn’t look very appetizing, but I gave it a try. It was so full of bone fragments that I couldn’t eat it. The only way was to pop in a piece, chew off the meat, then spit out the bone. I suddenly started to understand the eating habits I’ve seen, and frowned upon, at Chinese restaurants at home. Along with the boiled chicken, with bits of white pimply skin hanging off it, there was boiled lettuce. What ever possesses people to boil lettuce? I'll never understand. I also received a small bowl of something that looked an awful lot like dirty dishwater. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it and the waiter looked a bit surly so I didn't want to ask, and by ask I mean act out a mime of my question with a lot of finger pointing and quizzical facial expressions. I was too tired to go down that road. So, I pushed the dishwater aside and focussed my attention on a larger bowl, working my way around the massacred chicken. At the bottom, when I finally reached it, was some very concentrated soy sauce. Couldn't help thinking that, had the dirty dishwater been added to the whole concoction, it my have made a nice soup!

I noticed that most people ordered a make-your-own soup. They received a very large bowl of what looked like my same dirty dish water. They also got small plates of meat and veggies and other things that I couldn't quite identify from my vantage point. I didn't quite get it. When it arrived, they just dumped everything into the bowl and ate it. Wouldn't it have been quicker and easier to do that in the kitchen and present the finished product at the table? The thirty seconds it took to deliver it couldn’t have made that much of a difference, could it?

Oh boy. I felt drugged when I dragged myself in here but pour some nice warm soup down me and now I'm barely conscious. And it's only just after 5:00! Maybe I need something sweet. There is no shortage of sweet things in Shanghai. My favourite are sesame balls. Just like the ones you get at dim sum, only better! Egg tarts also abound. Yes, eating in Shanghai is going to be a problem. Too much food and far too tasty.