Week One in Shanghai
After a week in Thailand together, the four of us flew back to China for three weeks in Shanghai. We are staying on the top floor of an apartment complex in the Pudong district, where Jen and Brandon have called home for a year and a half while Brandon has been working for HP. We all leave Shanghai at the end of August, Jen and Brandon back to Boise and BJ and I back to Australia. Our first week has flown by and we’ll have to jam pack the next two weeks with everything that there is to do in Shanghai. HP deals with their relocation costs back to Boise and they sent movers in a couple days ago to pack up and ship all of their belongings home. The furniture stays and we still have a few blankets, towels and a kitchen full of food. But since all the dishware and kitchen utensils were shipped, we have no way to cook or eat the food. Food is so cheap and good at the restaurants that it almost makes more sense to eat out anyways.
The Food: Chinese food in China is totally different than Chinese food in the states. It changes depending on what region of the country you are in but is generally much spicier than home. During our first night in Shanghai, Jen and Brandon took us to one of their favorite restaurants. Jen managed to order the entire menu and we found ourselves with a table full of ten different dishes, everything from spicy stir fried cabbage to marinated tofu to a fish head covered in chilies to noodles made from papaya to a chicken dish. It is custom to only use chopsticks and never your hands, which are considered dirty. If you put a piece of chicken in your mouth, you chew off all the meat and then spit the bone out on your plate or the table. A lot of dishes are served in a soup, and the noodle bowels are delicious, especially when they only cost a dollar. There is nothing wrong with slurping and making lots of noises while eating your meal, which I’ve concluded actually helps you enjoy the food. Eating has been one of the best ways to explore the city, especially choosing items off of picture menus and having no idea what we’re actually ordering.
The People: We get a lot of stares but if we give ‘em a smile we usually get big smiles back. It’s crowded, but I do not have to push my way through as much as I had anticipated. Our favorite view has been the older men that walk around in their boxers and slippers, while rubbing their bellies, at night on an evening stroll to the smoke shop or just to visit with friends on the sidewalk. BJ and Brandon are planning to join them one of these nights.
The Air: There is usually a haze that sits above Shanghai. Some days it is so thick you can barely see out the windows and other days, on a “clear” day, you still can’t see the sun or the blue sky, but you can see further out over the city. I don’t feel like I have a cold, but I’ve had headaches and been hacking since we arrived and I can’t imagine living in a city like this for the long term. August is typically unbearably hot, but the temperatures have actually been really mild since we’ve arrived. It’s muggy but much cooler than we were expecting. We haven’t noticed a real sense for the environment and most people just throw their trash directly on the streets. And everyone (although mostly the men) smoke cigarettes. So if you think you are escaping the air by going into a restaurant you are usually just greeted with a cloud of second hand smoke. Don’t get me wrong, we are totally enjoying our time here with Brandon and Jen and it is definitely an experience. If only I didn’t have to breathe.
Exploring Shanghai: Since Brandon is at work during the days and BJ and I work in the evenings, we’ve planned our days around exploring Shanghai with Jen during the days and then meeting up with Brandon in the evenings for dinner. We spent one afternoon at the Bund, an area along the Huang Pu Jiang (a.k.a. the Pooh River). One side of the river is lined with old port style buildings and the other with modern buildings, including the famous Oriental Pearl Tower. We, of course, settled down at Starbucks with Jen and spent a couple hours watching people and huge barges and tourist boats cruise up and down the river.
Jen took me out to experience a hair cut during one of our first days in town. They don’t just cut your hair in Shanghai . . . it is a full three hour experience. They start by washing and massaging your hair while you sit upright in chair. Once they rinse out the shampoo in a sink, the neck, head, and arm massage begins, followed by a necessary ear cleaning where they actually stick q-tips in your ears. Jen didn’t really know how to explain what I wanted to the guy who was going to cut my hair, so we just let him run with it. He did an initial chop and then blow dried my hair, only to find that it is in fact a bit curly in this humid weather. He didn’t really know how to handle the curl and frizz, so he called in the troops and ordered up an emergency treatment. I still don’t know what they put in my hair but it smelled pretty bad and I had to sit under a heat lamp for about 30 minutes. Once my hair was flat and to his satisfaction, he began to cut some style into it. I ended up with a sort of emo-bob, with long bangs swooped across my face. I was exhausted and both Jen and I had to head back home for a nap.
Last night we went on our first Shanghai bike ride. Brandon and Jen purchased $20 bikes when they arrived in Shanghai and have been using them on the weekends to explore different parts of the city. They have racks on the back of each bike where an extra person can sit, so the four of us decided to venture out for a cruise on two bikes. Brandon doubled BJ and Jen doubled me. The high quality bikes were a bit “loosey goosey” and once the handle bars started wobbling it was hard to get them to stop. I was both scared for my life but also laughing hysterically. We provided much entertainment for passing cars, bikes and pedestrians. Bike riding in Shanghai is probably one of the most thrilling activities around.
Learning Chinese: Jen and Brandon have been teaching us a few Chinese words so far, but only a few have really stuck with us. We’ve learned that this small vocabulary will only get us so far in life.
Hello – “knee” + “how”
Thank you – “shesh” + “yeah”
So-so – “momma” + “who” + “who”
Watermelon – “she” + “gwa”