Saturday, May 31, 2014

Finding Ones' Self (Part 2)

“What is the significance about this temple?” Nate asked as we waited for the Subway.

Jessica and I shrugged. “I just know it costs 30RMB to get in,” Jessica said.
“It must be important somehow if the party allowed it to stay,” Nate said. We suddenly all felt like we were being watched. We’d just talked about the party in public, and there was an ominous 1984 tone that fell over the station.

When we came up from the Subway system at the Jiang Temple stop, we were initially lost. We took a left and headed down the street. It didn’t feel right to me but I followed along. When we came to a turn, I said, “I think it’s this way.” I can’t explain it, but since arriving here, I feel like I have this sixth sense on where things are. I’ve been right every time, but I’ve never used a map or anything. I really can’t explain it.
We made the turn, and sure enough, just at the end of the alley was the temple.

The first thing we saw was a large marble pillar with a bunch of Chinese script written on it. At the top was a statue of four lions surrounding a flower and facing four different directions. I read when we got home that the flower is supposed to represent Buddha and the lions represent the spreading of his teachings to all directions of the land.
We bought a ticket at a window. The price posted was 50RMB. I tried showing my student ID to get a discount but the woman just shook her fist and took my 50RMB note. Once inside, we were in a beautiful courtyard. There were beautiful gilded roofs with incredible wooden banisters. A large staircase led up into the main temple.

In the courtyard, people were buying incense from a little stand. There was a fire to light it while they then stood bowing and praying. Nate explained that the incense is meant to get the attention of whoever you are praying to (Buddha, ancestors, or a God.) I wanted to try it, so I went and bought a bundle of incense. There were three sticks taped together. I saw that others were peeling it off and throwing it in the trash. I did the same, but found that it was super sticky.
I held the three sticks together over the large metal drum that had the fire in it. It took forever to get it to light. I rotated them around in a couple different directions trying to grab the flame. Once they caught, I took a few steps away. I watches as different people turned in different directions and bowed. Since my God is all over the place, I felt free to choose any direction. Holding the sticks in both hands, I closed my eyes and prayed silently in my head. When I finished, I bowed about 45*. Opening my eyes, I realized my incense had gone out. Looking at it again, I realized it was still smoldering and the ends were burning just enough to make smoke. This seemed to be what everyone else’s looked like, so it must be okay. I bowed once more, before going to toss my sticks in the separate fire they were being returned to.

There was a large tower in the center of the courtyard. People were throwing coins into it. There was no explanation as to why, and searching the internet has not brought up any more information. Passing the large tower, we walked up the giant marble staircase to the main temple.
Inside the temple was a huge statue of Buddha. It was at least two stories tall. In front of it was an altar with various fruit offerings. On the ground were rows of red, silk pillows. People were kneeling on pillows, bowing, and praying. Jessica and Nate moved on to the back room, while I watched this little ritual.

Two teenage boys came up and kneeled. They closed their eyes and held their hands like little kids do when they first learn to kneel by their bed at night. They prayed for a few seconds and when they were done, they began bowing. They each bowed three times, each time touching their forehead and the backs of their hands to the pillow. When they left. I gave it a try.
Kneeling on a pillow, I tried to do what they did. I pressed my palms together in front of my face. “Dear God,” I prayed silently in my head. “Thank you for getting me here safely and watching over me. I look forward to the many great adventures we will have together here and I hope you will show me things that challenge me and help me to grow.” When I was done, I bowed and touched my forehead to the pillow, placing the back of my hands on the ground next to each of my ears. I leaned back up and repeated the motion two more times.

Finished, I stood up and walked around to the back room. There were more murals of Buddha each with red pillows in front of them for prayer. Catching up Nate and Jessica, I asked, “I thought Buddhism was a nontheistic religion.”
“It is,” Nate said. “But they still believe that Buddha can influence things in this life. There are a lot of Santa Claus prayers going on right now.”

We stepped through a door and out to a back balcony where we could see the various levels of the monastery. I started to walk down the staircase to go around and see other rooms.
“Do you think we can?” Jessica asked.

“I got kicked out a church in Austria,” I said. “It’s not as bad as you think. The worst they can do is ask us to leave.” I realize that’s a probably a little insensitive, but I really wanted to see as much as we could.
As we walked up a staircase, we passed a monk dressed in the traditional orange robes. Nate put his hands together and bowed. The monk did the same and then walked on. “When you see a monk, you are supposed to bow,” Nate explained.

We walked around the various balconies, peeking into the rooms that had opened doors. There was only one that we were asked to leave, because it looked like they were setting up for some sort of meeting. The next room over however had a beautiful display for various furniture that had belonged to different leaders at the temple. It was all smooth and carved of oak.
The entire temple was pretty much under construction. Nate was puzzled by this. “Why would they be investing so much money in restoring this?”

“Well,” I said. “There is money to be made in religion.”
We made our way down to the lowest level of balconies. Inside the temple, underneath the room that had held the big Buddha was a room with rows of Buddha statues. Each had a slightly different face and was holding a different tool. One was playing a flute, another had a hammer; some looked angry, while others were happy.

The Buddha on the end caught my eye. He appeared to be holding a table of some sort.
“Is that an iPad,” I joked.

“It might be,” Nate said. “These are all the reincarnations of Buddha.”
“How many times was Buddha reincarnated?” I asked, not aware that that had happened.

“Depends on who you ask,” Nate said. “Buddha was the enlightened one who was continually reincarnated to spread his teachings.”
“Is he still around today,” I asked, a little skeptically.

“That is the main division between the sects of Buddhism,” Nate said. “Some think he has moved on to the spirit world, others think he is still with us.”
That was a little hard to swallow. An enlightened being who took human form—ok, that’s not really any crazier than the Son of God thing we believe in Christianity…in fact, it’s pretty much the same—but the reincarnation process is a little harder. I mean, I guess Christianity would also believe that Jesus is with us, but not physically speaking per se. There is certainly some overlap here, but it’s a little harder for me to get my mind around.

“Do we know who Buddha is currently?” I asked.
“The Daili Lama,” Nate explained.

Oh! That makes sense.
“When he dies,” I asked, “How do they determine who he became? Is there a selection process like they use for the Mormon prophet?”

“They basically look at the babies that were born at the time he died,” Nate said. “They bring them into the testing chamber and have them point at specific objects that were special or sacred to the Daili Lama. If they choose the correct objects, that means he remembers them and is the Buddha.”
That’s a little harder to understand. I mean it is not outside the realm of possibility. Over the years the Daili Lama has had some very influential and powerful teachings. And reincarnation has its own beauty about it. The notion that this world is meant for teaching how to live and love and the next world will be one of harmony, that’s quite poetic, and not altogether different from Christian Heaven.

“What are the red flags that are hung up?” I asked pointing around the room.
“Prayer flags,” Nate said.

“What do they do?”
“You write a prayer on them and then when the flag blows in the wind, the wind carries the prayer. Instead of saying it all the time, the wind says it all the time.”

Now that is beautiful, I thought.
Outside, the back garden was mostly under construction. There were a few bamboo trees and other leafy plants going. What I mostly noticed was the sound of drums and bells.

We looped back out into the main courtyard. I pointed at two towers and said, “Do you want to try and get up there?”
“Do you want to watch the offering first?” Nate said.

I realized that a group of monks had gathered in the center. They were the ones playing the bells and the drums. People were gathering around them and pressing their palms together to pray. After a few minutes, another group came forward. They were dressed in street clothes and carrying brightly colored woven sacks. They went to one of the fire pits where we’d placed our leftover incense. One at a time, they each tossed in their bags. There was a little cracking sound as the bags were consumed. Little puffs of debris occasionally flicked out and fell to ground. Once they were mostly consumed, the monks proceeded out of the center and into a back room.
We made our way upstairs to another balcony.

“So what was the point of the offering?” I asked.
“Are you familiar with the Chinese view of family?” Nate asked.

“Not specifically,” I said.
“So in most Asian cultures,” he explained, “The family is the smallest unit, not the individual. The individual is just part of the family unit. Parents devote everything they have to the survival of their children. As a result, children owe everything to their parents and must obey their every wish.”

I thought of how American movies often portray Chinese families. It does seem that in many of them, the Chinese parents are overly protective and controlling. Somewhere in the plot, the Chinese daughter realizes she must do what she wants to do and break free from her parents. While America champions this as a sign of independence and personal freedom, I can see how it would be culturally insulting to the Chinese. I think the best parallel would be if a movie was made in which an American daughter fakes her own death, disappears, and becomes a drug dealer; it’s a less a story of freedom and more a story of abandoning your life out of rebellion.
“So since your parents devote everything to your survival as a child, you must devote everything to their survival later in life. You would pay for their retirement and take them in to take care of them.”

That actually kind of makes sense. I mean our society is nowhere near set up with that mindset (twenty-some-things are not financially stable enough to take care of their parents under our system of economy) but the concept of it really is very loving and very logical.
“You also have to take care of your parents in the spiritual world,” Nate explained. “You have to send them money and food. You probably just saw a couple thousand burned.”

I took a minute for that to sink in. “Well you know,” I said. “I’m an American. My government burns a couple thousand dollars every day.”
We walked around the balcony and saw the drum tower and the bell tower. The more shrines, including one to Siddhartha Guatama (the original Buddha) that beautiful and carved from white marble. Our last stop was a small, dry well people were throwing coins into.

We left the temple and started walking down the street. Dayana called Jessica and wanted to know if we could help her find a book store she read about online. We agreed we would and said we’d meet her at the subway in an hour. That gave us some time to just wander.
I saw a cool looking building off in the distance. It has lots of cool spires and looked to be a couple hundred years old.

“What is that?” Jessica asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I’m going there.”

We weaved down some pretty busy streets, passed lots of pretty parks and busy shops. If I had to compare Shanghai to a European city, I think it is most comparable to Barcelona. The layout of the streets is very similar, as well as all of the tropical trees along the streets.

We finally reached the cool looking building and I started snapping pictures. I took a few of the stone pillars, the black and gold iron gate, the beautiful flower garden, the guard stalls, the sign that said “Gate 7”…
Guards? Gate 7? Was this a military building? It definitely looked like it. If it was, taking pictures seemed like a bad idea. But then I noticed a sign that said “Tours at gate 6.” Whatever it was, I was going to come back to see it.

We continued walking and found our way to West Nanjing Road. Jessica wanted to stop for a drink at The Happy Lemon, a little juice franchise that is all over the place here. Nate got a mango smoothie, Jessica got an aloe tea, and I got a green tea with lemon. It was seriously the best iced tea I’ve ever had. I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to Starbucks.
We went back for Dayana, and from the map she’d drawn off the internet, figured out how to navigate to the bookstore. The first bookstore we found only sold Chinese books, but the English bookstore was right next door.

I had an idea. The books I had in Europe definitely helped me navigate Prague. I had Henry Kissinger’s history on China (but it is admittedly a slow read.) Maybe a book on what to see and do in China would help me understand what I am seeing and doing.
I made my way to the travel section and found rows of books on different cities and countries around the world. There wasn’t much on China, but I did find one on Shanghai. In flipping through it, I learned more in about two paragraphs than I had in the four days I’ve been here. For example, I had no idea that Shanghai was known as “Paris of the East.” That would explain some of the randomly high prices on things…not to mention the very international slew of people I’ve seen on the subway.

Just as I ready to buy it though, I found one on China. I was torn on which to buy, but thumbing through both, I decided to go with the China one. It had most of the same information as the Shanghai book, and I figured at some point I do want to venture out of the city to see more sites. Having some historical and practical advice on what to do on those adventures would probably be the most successful way to pull them off.
For dinner we found our way to a restaurant Jessica’s friend had recommended. It was called Charmant and was supposedly famous for their mango smoothies. We ordered three of those, as well as roasted duck, three cup chicken (which was the house special, cooked in a sauce that was one cup soy sauce, one cup, sesame sauce, and one cup of Baiju, which is Chinese rice wine…all roasted with basil and garlic), sea food fried rice, and some sort of basil and egg dish.

Our waitress seemed puzzled when Nate ordered three smoothies (Dayana got Perrier instead.) Nate insisted that was what we wanted. She brought three glass ramekins, each with a small spoon. We wondered what they were for. Then she returned with a towering bowl of mango smoothie. It looked like ice cream but was really the consistency of puree.
“That’s three mango smoothies?” Jess said. It was more than enough “smoothie” to fill a Big Gulp cup at a 7/11.  

“I bet she put them all in one,” Nate said. “That’s probably what the bowls are for.”
As our tower of mango started to fall,” Nate scooped off the top and put it into his ramekin. Jessica scooped off some, and I took a little more.

It tasted like someone had put mango in a blender. It was very smooth and very flavorful. I wouldn’t describe it as sweet—at least not sugary sweet—but it had a very fresh flavor to it.
After a few minutes, our waitress arrived with two more. Apparently, we ordered three mango smoothies and we got three mango smoothies. They were each massive and had to be about a pound of fruit. We stared at them and at each other. Our waitress laughed audibly and then walked away.

Our food started coming and it was all really good. The chicken was really flavorful, but every bite had a little chunk of bone in it. I know it was left in for the flavor, but it is getting a little old to eat everything off the bone. The duck was really crunchy but really good. I’m normally not a duck fan but—again, aside from the bones—this was probably the best duck I’ve had. I didn’t try the seafood fried rice. One of the shrimp dumplings I ate the other day gave me hives in my mouth so I think I am going to avoid seafood for now. The egg dish was kind of like a basil omelet and it tasted really good.
We wound up finishing all of the duck and all of the omelet. There was a little bit of rice left, as well as a few bites of chicken. We also polished off all three mango smoothies. It honestly tasted really good to have some fresh fruit.

Nate flagged down our waitress to get the bill. When she went to grab it, Jessica pointed at our ramekins and pretended to yell after her, “We finished it by the way!”
After we paid, we headed home. I thought back over my day. It was so nice having the blue sky out. For me, it was a nice reminder that no matter how hard things get, the blue sky always come. All I really have to do is wander and ask questions.

Rick Steve’s wrote in his books that “If you find a place frustrating, maybe you don’t know enough about it.” Hopefully my book can help me find out more so that I can see beyond the hard to find what I flew 5,000 miles to find. I want to make the most of every moment while I’m here so I can fully live each day of my adventure!

Finding Ones' Self (Part 1)

When I woke up this morning, the very first thing I noticed as I looked around my darkened room was the absolute silence. The traffic on the street hadn’t really bothered me, but it had been sort of a white noise backdrop ever since we arrived. This morning, there were no honking horns. There were no backfiring engines. There was hardly the sound of a single motor cycle.

I got up, got dressed, and went into the living room. That was when I noticed the second difference. Outside my window was a brilliant blue sky. The fact was probably related to the diminished traffic on the weekends, but it looked so…nice!
Today’s primary mission was going to the grocery store (again.) Our group was made up of Nate, Jessica, Dayana, Ericka, and Akeena. We followed the same route across the street of death and down the little side street that we’d walked yesterday. About half way down, I saw a little warehouse market off to the side. It looked just like La Boqueria in Spain, with all sorts of breads, produce, meats, etc.

“Why don’t we look around here?” I suggested, figuring we’d probably find cheaper prices than the store.
“I don’t know that we can trust any of it,” Nate pointed out.

We continued winding up through the neighborhood to find the store. At one point, when we went to cross the street, a police officer blew a whistle at us, and clearly indicated we needed to wait for the walk sign. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Whistles haven’t really controlled me since fifth grade recess. It’s a bit awkward and a bit humiliating.
We passed a big festival in a park with loud music and lots of little kids. I thought about coming back to check it out, but it was getting hot and right now air conditioning sounded really good. As we approached a big sky scrapper called “The Renaissance Building” we realized the store was in the building.

The grocery store reminded me a lot of stores in Prague. The shopping carts were deeper than in US, although fewer people were using them. Most people used the little plastic, hand baskets and just gathered a few items. I bought some eggs, yogurt, pasta (which was fresh cut in the store), granola bars, cereal, and Mirinda. I was mostly thinking of breakfast and snack food, figuring that lunch and dinner may be eaten at work or on my way home. Nate bought some chicken, soy sauces, bread, and milk. We decided to combine our purchases and share the food.
The meat section was particularly odd to walk through. Chickens were displayed with the head and feet still attached, and cut down the middle with all of their organs intact and displayed. There were also whole rabbits (skinned of course but still looking like a rabbit), as well as a variety of seafood dishes and other meats. There was a strange squeaking noise I couldn’t figure out. I looked up and back into a window. I realized the butcher was killing many of these animals right in the back room.  

A lot of the brands for things like cereal and yogurt were pretty international. Some of the logos however—specifically the mascot characters—were slightly changed to have more Asian features. Tony the Tiger, Snap, Crackle, and Pop, as well as the Cheerio’s honey bee all had different faces.
We checked out and the entire purchase together cost about 320RMB (about 50USD.) It has not been my experience thus far that China is super cheap. In fact we started talking that the pricing seems fairly random and unpredictable.

The store was about 2 miles from our apartment building, so we decided to take the subway back (it stopped just under the Renaissance Building. Schlepping our bags through the subway, and then the ½ back to the building was frustrating. I have to be honest, I started to miss my car (not that’d I’d want to drive it in this traffic, but I do appreciate how easy it is to go to the store, load up the trunk, and drive home.) I also missed air conditioning, and dry air, and clear air, and walking through construction sites, and not dodging motor cycles on the sidewalk, and all of these things that were fun on Tuesday are all of a sudden…really hard.
We got home and put our food away. Maybe I’m just hungry I thought. I opened the package of granola bars and decided to try one. No exaggeration, it looked like cardboard. Biting it into, it was so dry, it shattered in my hand. There was absolutely no flavor to it, and I briefly wondered if I had just eaten part of the box.

This wouldn’t even be good with Nutella on it, I thought.
I got out my iPhone and connected to the Wi-Fi. Once it clicked in, I sent an iMessage to my friend whose been working in Shuzhou for the past month.

This is getting frustrating I wrote.
A few seconds later, he replied: What’s that?

I wrote back: Its hot, it takes forever to get anywhere, I don’t know what to order when we go out and I don’t like picking bones out of my food, I don’t know how much anything costs…I mean it is still fun, its just getting hard. And Italian food sounds really good right now.
I knew I was going to feel this way. I had days in Europe when I felt this way. It is all part of the process of adjusting. Europe took a lot longer to get to this point though. I was there for a couple of weeks before the rejection phase hit. China must have me on the fast track.

In some ways, I don’t miss home, I miss Europe. In a lot of ways, things here are like they were in Europe. The food is very flavorful and very filling. The neighborhoods are quaint, charming, and teeming with life. The public transportation is easy and fun and always an adventure. But I miss wandering. I miss getting lost. I miss discovering awesome things on my own.
That’s when it hit me! I haven’t tried doing any of the things that I liked doing in Europe. I haven’t tried getting lost or just walking until I find something interesting. I only have 64 days left in China…I need to get busy!

I went outside, crossed the street of death (which is more like the street of purgatory on the weekends) and wound my way back to the market we’d seen this morning. It wasn’t very crowded so I took some time to walk through.
At first I tried to hold off judgment, but gradually my nose betrayed me. It stank in here! There were all kinds of dank and fermented odors. The produce looked great, but it smelled like garbage. The breads smelled salty and stale. All of the meat smelled like it was rotting. Even the booths that were selling pottery smelled bad.

I tried to quickly walk through the seafood section when the corner of my eye was distracted by movement. Looking down at the display, I realized that all of the seafood was still alive. I mean it was barely in enough water to stay alive, but it was all clearly moving. There was even a small bucket with tiny turtles. The kind a pediatrician might have in their main office. A woman walked up and pointed at a turtle. The man running the booth picked one up and after getting her approval on the size and price, he set it on the table and smashed it with a hammer.
The PETA activist in me jumped a little. I made my way outside, turned the corner and disappeared into the streets…maybe the Chinese market isn’t really my scene.

A few blocks down, something smelled great. I saw a lady frying little balls of meat in a pan of peanut oil. I walked up and pointed to one. She held up five fingers and I gave her 5 Yuan. She picked up a meatball, put it in a small paper cup for me, and handed it to me. “Xiexie,” I said, pretty sure I’m still butchering it.
I walked back to the apartment building to eat my “lunch.” When I got there, Jessica was waiting in the lobby. We’d talked about going to see a temple this afternoon, so we decided to go after I ate my meatball. As soon as I bit into it, I was pretty much done. Once again, it was filled with tiny bone fragments.

“I’ll just get something from the little café,” I said, pointing to the coffee shop in the corner of the lobby. I went up to the counter and pointed at a piece of Cheesecake. The man rang it up and handed it to me on a plate with a tiny spoon. I went back to sit down and try it. It was in fact cheesecake, with an emphasis on the cheese. It was so salty, it took a lot of control not to squint up into a face. It almost had a fishy taste to it. I gagged down a few bites before giving up.
“Alright! I’m done,” I said putting it down. “I’ll go see if Nate wants to come with us.” I really just wanted some water to wash out my mouth.

This is hard!

Friday, May 30, 2014

Free Falling

As first, I couldn’t tell if it was real or if I was dreaming. It sounded like a small alarm, followed by some yelling. I opened my eyes, but I didn’t hear it anymore. Then it came again. A long ringing sound, followed by some chattering.

I got up, pulled on my pajamas and went out into main room. It rang again. I looked over to the door. I’d bolted it shut before going to bed but someone was fighting against the deadbolt. If it was a break-in, they weren’t being subtle.
I went to the door, pressed against it to relieve the tension, and flipped the bolt to unlock it. Pulling it open, there was a Chinese lady wearing a green uniform standing in the door way.

“Ni hao,” she smiled.
She was the maid.

“Ni hao,” I said.
She began quickly talking to me in Chinese. I remembered how to say “I don’t speak Chinese” but I couldn’t find the words in my head…shoe jong wen…something like that…apparently I REALLY don’t speak Chinese when I first wake up.

She continued talking. I smiled, shrugged, and shook my head a little. Reaching behind my door, she took the placard off the doorknob. Flipping it back and forth, one side was red, the other was green. She handed it to me. I pointed to the greenside. She nodded and said, “this afternoon.”
When she left, I went back to my bed. After a few seconds my phone beeped. It was a text message from Jessica suggesting we go grocery shopping at 2:00. I agreed that sounded like a good plan. After journaling a little about the night before and saving some pictures to my laptop, I got dressed to head out and wander around.

I’ve learned over the past week that men do not wear shorts in Shanghai. Actually, that’s a bit of an overstatement. A better way to put it is that it is less socially acceptable for men to wear shorts in Shanghai. Girls area almost always wearing shorts or skirts, but most men have on jeans or capris. The men that are wearing shorts are usually tourists from other parts of China.
So, after two days of wearing shorts, I decided to try an conform to jeans.

I retraced our route back towards the subway station to where the bakeries were. I found one with an orange awning and stepped inside. Lots of different people greeted me and started smiling. I smiled back and began looking around. There were all kinds of tasty looking rolls and cookies. I found a large bun for 5 yuan and settled on that. Pointing at it through the case, a bunch of people sprung into to action, pulling it out, packaging it, and handing it to me.
“Xiexie,” I said (which means ‘thank you’ although I feel like I butcher it every time I say it.)

The girl behind the counter held up 5 fingers. I handed her the 5 yuan note and thanked her again. Outside, I opened the package and tore off a piece. It was really sweet with sort of an almond flavor. Little yellow seeds filled the inside and tasted great!
As I walked back, I got a few dirty looks. Was it my red plaid shirt? I’d seen plaid shirts already (not a lot of them but a few) so I figured it was okay. Was it my unshaven face? I was a little scruffy but not noticeably so in my opinion. Or maybe it was the fact I clearly was not form China, and I was getting the typical tourist treatment.

I was also unbelievably warm. After being outside for just 20 minutes, I was starting to sweat through my jeans. I quickly got back to the apartment so I could change into shorts.
When I got back, the maid was in the process of cleaning our room. I sat on the couch while she finished changing the linens in my bed room. When she moved to Nate’s room, I went in and changed.

Jessica texted me and said that her friend told her everyone takes suitcases to the grocery store to carry their groceries (since they charge for plastic bags.) I unpacked the rest of my rolling suitcase and took it to her room to meet her.
“Where’s Nate?” she asked.

“He’s meeting us in the lobby at 2:00,” I said.
“Oh,” she said. “Well the directions to the store are kind of in Chinese.” I went down to get him and he set about translating them.

Outside, I carried the suitcase next to me over the brick paved sideway (I was not about to be one of those people rolling a bag on cobblestones—cobble-bricks rather.) We crossed over the street in front of our building (which I have nicknamed the “busy street of death” due to the erratic traffic patterns) and headed down one of the side streets. There were a lot of really cheap restaurants with awesome looking food all over the place. I think we probably live in a really affordable local neighborhood.
We however did not find the grocery store. We paced back and forth a few times (probably looking a bit suspicious to the guards outside the Belgium consulate) but didn’t see the store anywhere.

Nate found a larger convenience store that sold some basic food and toiletries. He haggled with the owner for a large bag of rice while I found laundry detergent. Shopping in a foreign country is always really fun. I picked out the detergent by finding a bottle that showed a rainbow behind a white t-shirt (I’m assuming the label says something like “protects colors and whites.”)
We also bought Kleenex, hand soap, Q-tips, a few Mirinda, and some Chinese candies. There really wasn’t a lot of other food besides microwaveable stuff to be bought. Nate and I split our bill while Jessica just bought some soap. We then went back to the apartment to see if we could find better directions.

After looking online for about an hour, we realized we were running out of time before the show Sabrina was taking us to tonight. Ericka and Akeena texted us about going to the bank so we decided to go look for that instead. Crossing the street of death again, we wrapped further back into the neighborhood this time. We found the bank right away.
The ATM was actually really cool. Each machine was in a stall with a door that locked behind you to ensure your safety and privacy. The machine was pretty much in Chinese (with a few English subtitles) but it worked like any other ATM and was pretty easy to figure out.

We needed to get dinner before we met Sabrina for the show. There was a restaurant right next to our hotel that advertised “7” something. Assuming it meant 7 yuan special, we figured we’d go there.
But on the way back, we found a unique shop that seemed worth stopping in. It was filled with pirated DVDs and software. They had rows of documentaries, operating systems, and Hollywood blockbusters (I bet you could even find Star Wars VII if you looked long enough.) Rosetta Stone for Mandarin was available for just 7USD.

We didn’t make any purchases, but rather laughed at cheap everything was. Running out of time, we hustled back to restaurant. Walking in, the atmosphere felt like more than a 7 yuan special. We took a seat and started thumbing through the 4 different menus. When the waiter came and asked if we wanted tea, I looked at the menu. Everything was at least 100RMB. I smiled and pointed at the cheapest (98RMB.) He shook his head.
“I don’t think it’s 7 Yuan,” Nate said. “I think it’s a 7 course meal.”

Our stomachs sank. We needed to meet Sabrina in 30 minutes….this was clearly going to be expensive.
A lady dressed in a pink, silk outfit came to our table with a tray. She prepared our tea in a glass teapot and poured us each a glass, leaving plenty in the pot for two or three or four more glasses each.

“When the waiter comes back, I will tell him our boss called and needs us at a meeting,” Nate said. Meanwhile, we sipped our tea, and I have to say, it was fantastic! I mean for 98 yuan (about 15 USD) it should be fantastic, but this really was amazing.
Eventually our waiter came and Nate started talking to him. He looked at the tea and at each of us. He and Nate were going back and forth as the waiter’s face became more and more distraught. Finally, he walked away.

“He wanted to know if our boss would like some tea,” Nate explained.
“He probably would,” I said. “He’s always been a pretty big tea drinker.” We all laughed nervously.

Paying the bill, we left quickly, pretty sure we couldn’t return to the restaurant even if we could afford it. At the Family Mart convenience store, we bough some junk food and took it back to the lobby to snack on.
“Can’t we just take it to the show?” Akeena asked.

“It’s actually rude in most Asian cultures to eat on the go,” Nate said. “Food is very formal and so eating informally is not really correct.”
That would explain the dirty looks I got earlier.

We regrouped with the rest of our entourage and followed Yvonne (Sabrina’s colleague) to the show. It was an acrobat circus, which apparently Shanghai has always been known for, even back in the days when it was a shipping port to Europe.
Our seats were in the very top row of the theater (which probably had somewhere around 30 rows. It was hot in the rafters, but we had a great view of the entire circular state. And while the show started a bit slow, it picked up and really was impressive. The first few acts were contortionists, which admittedly were impressive. One sat on the stage in a twisted pose while the other balanced on one hand and twisted her body, all while balancing on a pedestal that rose and fell above the ground. I think the story they were conveying was one of waking up and meditating in the morning, with the guy on the ground representing body, and the moving contortionist representing their spirit during meditation.

The next act was a balancing act. Two characters acted out a story of a servant trying to impress a princess by balancing on a board and ball while flipping various glass objects off of his foot and catching them in a stack on his head.
This was followed by a karate demonstration with crazy flips and flying kicks through various size hoops that were stacked to different heights. After each flip—some of which were several stories into the air—the performers always landed in a somersault. rom various contortionists, to karate demonstrations, rope tricks, and this amazing zero gravity wheel, the whole thing was awe inspiring.

The finale of act one was a giant wheel that looked like something from a hamsters cage. Along the inside edge of the giant wheel, were three smaller wheels, about the diameter of a tall man. Three performers, swung down from the rafters dressed in full armor. They began spinning the giant wheel. Once it was spinning they each jumped into one of the smaller wheels and ran around. The motion of them running in their wheels kept the larger wheel spinning. As they rotated around, there was a brief second at the top where the runner would experience zero gravity and could perform a brief stunt.
“They have no safety harnesses,” Nate pointed out. “If they mess up, they die.”

“I just want one of those wheel things for our living room,” I said.
It truly was the most entertaining act, topped only when they switched and began running on the outside of the larger wheel. That was topped with juggling fire, jumping rope, and doing flips, all during that brief second of zero gravity at the top.

There was then a brief intermission, after which, there were some more traditional acts such as springboards, trampolines, and hanging sheets. The finale was a metal death cage that eight motor cyclists road around without crashing into each other.
That’s not a trick I thought. The real trick is crossing the street in front of a motorcyclist.

After the show, we made our way back to the apartment. Nate and I stopped in the Family Mart to get microwaveable dinners and took them back to eat. As we did, we talked late into the night about travelling Asia and seeing various cultures.
From eating with my hands on the go, to never finding the grocery store, to botching a 100 Yuan tea ceremony and skipping out on a five star meal, I made a few mistakes today. But I’m excited. Without Sabrina, Emma, and Yvonne, it is getting harder. Seeing acrobats is fun, but I came to China to understand the culture. I want to understand why life in China is so different and mysterious. And while I’m far from understanding anything, I am starting to see some differences. Which means now I have a starting point to learn more.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Nights in Shanghai

When we got back to the apartment building, Nate, Jess, and I went up to our room to sign up for the event. When we pulled it up, we spotted a few problems.

For one, it was 125RMB (about 20USD.) The event was basically happy hour at a bar for various professionals in China. The cost included entrance and one drink. In order to sign up for the event you had to certify that you (1) worked in China (2) were fluent in a Chinese language (3) held at least and MBA. All of us had category 1 covered. Some of us had category 2 covered. No one had 3.
“I don’t think I’m going to go,” Nate said.

“I don’t know,” Jessica said.
“It could be really interesting people watching,” I pointed out.

“You want to pay 20 dollars to people watch?” Nate said. “There are so many places we could go do that for free.”
“And it is a lot of money if we aren’t going to drink,” Jessica pointed out.

Those were both excellent points and hard for me to argue with. “I have a friend who lives in Shanghai,” Jessica said. “I’ll email her and see if she has any suggestions of things to do tonight.” We decided that sounded like a good plan and agreed to meet back in 90 minutes.
Jessica’s friend suggested we spend the night in a neighborhood called Tianzifang. It took us awhile to find it on the internet, but once we did, we located a subway station that was nearby. I had an English map of the subway and Nate had a Chinese map. His seemed to be a bit more accurate so we had him navigate and headed out. Dayana and Akeena also joined us, while everyone else talked about going to the networking event.

We made it to the stop we needed (called “Du Pu Qiao.”) Upstairs, we found a nice little street filled with a fair amount of foot traffic.
“Let’s look for a place to eat?” I suggested.

“We should get Italian,” Dayana suggested.
“I find it’s dangerous to cross continents,” I said. “Not always bad—I’m sure in a week Italian will sound great—but we might get some odd stuff if we order Italian food.”

Walking just about a block, we passed a little shotgun room that was skinny and narrow leading back to a kitchen. The signs on the door were all in Chinese. “This might be good,” I suggested.
We walked inside.

Taking a seat, they brought us yellow menu cards. They were also in Chinese.
“Alright Nate,” Jessica said. “We need some translation.”

“This is rice and noodles,” he said. That was about as far as we got. A lot of the words were unique and complex. When the waiter came to take our order, Nate did his best to describe the dishes we were looking for. Jess pointed at what someone else was eating nearby. I pointed at a picture on the wall. Nate got seafood and rice. Akeena and Dayana go some sort of noodle dish.
The food was good. Mine had steamed rice, beef, red peppers, green peppers, and red onion. It was spicier than most things we’ve eaten, but not overbearing. I occasionally got a few bites of beef that had ground up bone fragments in it. It was a little disturbing, but I just picked them out and tossed them in the trashcan under our table. It also taught me to eat a little more carefully and examine each bite before I put it in my mouth.

“I love the lamps,” Jessica pointed up at the stained glass designs that hung over head.
“I like their funny hats,” Dayana said pointing at the white little caps that all the men working had on. “I wonder if they’re like Chinese chef caps?”

“They’re Muslims,” Nate said. “They’re from the Yunnan province, which is predominately Islamic.”
“Oh!” We all said.

“That explains the lamps,” Jessica said.
After we were finished we went to the counter to pay. The bill was 96RMB for all us. We each contributed what we had on us and figured we’d settle up when we got back to the apartment.

As we walked along, we saw a cool little alley lit up with Christmas lights. “We have to go that way!” Jessica said. Stepping off the beaten path, we did.
The alley led back to lots of tight winding streets, with little cafes, boutique shops, and bars. There was hardly a white person to be seen anywhere, and lots of young locals hustled around. There were more paper lanterns, twinkling Christmas lights, brightly colored signs, great smelling food, and just a fun filled atmosphere around every corner.

There was a plaque that said “Tianzifang” as we first entered the neighborhood. “I have to look up what this name means?” Nate said. “’Tian’ means ‘heaven,’ and ‘fang’ means ‘place.’ ‘Zi ‘might just be reflexive or might mean something else.”
At one point, we saw two police officers walking down the street. The police here are pretty intense looking. They wear beige and green uniforms (which honestly kind of resemble Boy Scout uniforms) with green military caps and white gloves. Many have night sticks over two feet long and they are always standing at attention or walking in unison. These two officers, however, were clearly off duty. They were walking casually and laughing with one another. It struck me that in the end of the day, they are clearly just people too.

I saw a lady selling mango soft serve and I stopped to buy a cone. As soon as I finished it we found another lady selling green tea gelato, so we stopped again.
“Eating ice cream beats getting drinks any night,” Jessica said. I don’t think truer words have ever been spoken.

Around 9:00 everyone started moving into the bars and the shops started closing rapidly. It all of a sudden became very dark out on the streets.
“This is spooky,” Akeena said.

“Can we like hold hands or something,” Dayana said.
“Lions, and Tigers, and bears,” I joked as we tried winding out way out of the maze of streets.

We very quickly found our way back to the main entrance of the neighborhood and crossed over to go down into the subway.
“What if we went back to the Bund,” I suggested. “I bet at night it’s all lit up and maybe a bit clearer to see.”

We navigated our way back to Nianjing Rd. On the subway, I noticed a sign that read “last ticket sold 3 minutes before last train.” I pointed it out to Nate and he agreed that it might be a bit worrisome.
At night Nianjing Road was even more impressive. Now, it really was lit up like Times Square with neon flashing signs absolutely everywhere. The buildings were spotted with flood lights that made them appear to be glistered in gold.

We retraced our steps from the morning down to the Bund.
“Everyone is going the other way,” Nate pointed out. He was right. Not only were there significantly fewer tourists (it was equally as crowded, but not as many cameras or backpacks were visible) but everyone was headed back into the subway.

We continued on to The Bund.
“Good to see we weren’t the only ones with this idea,” I said as I realized the Bund was just as crowded if not more so than earlier.

“I don’t think anyone can be the only one with an idea in China,” Nate pointed out.
We crossed the street and went up to take more pictures. It was just as smoggy, but beautiful at night. The buildings were lit up blue, and silver, and red, and green. Many even changed colors or had flashing lights on their roofs. The smog sort of created a halo effect on each of them.

At one point, we got separated but all met up at a bench. I realized that this place was also clearing out rapidly, and within 20 minutes, there was only a third of the people that had been here initially.
“Maybe we should try to catch the train,” Nate suggested. “If it does stop at 11, we could be stuck here in about 15 minutes.”

We headed back up Nainjing Road. Dayana and Jessica stopped to buy drinks. “This could turn in to more of an adventure than we bargained for,” I joked.
“And more money than we bargained for,” Nate pointed out, especially if we wound up taking a taxi.

We discovered there was actually a stop on the direct line back to our building about halfway up Nainjing. We raced down the escalator and through the turnstile. Going down the next escalator, I pointed out to Nate, “we lost the girls.”
When the train showed up at 10:58, there was still no sign of them.

“We can’t go,” I said. “If they’re still upstairs and this is the last train, then they’re stuck here.”
“But if it’s the last train,” Nate said, “then we’re stuck here.”

I handed him our box of take out food. “Then go ahead and go,” I said. “I’ll go find them.”
I ran up the stairs back to the turnstile where we last saw them. There was no sign of them. Suddenly, my cell phone rang. It was Jessica.

“Hey,” she said. “We’re on the train.”
I looked at my watch. It was 11:00.

“Ok good!” I said. “I’ll see if there is another train.”
Because we were underground, the signal wasn’t very good. I heard her say “Call us if you get stuck.” But that was it. I rode the escalator back downstairs. There were still a few people milling around on the platform but I couldn’t tell if they were waiting or loitering. This could get exciting I thought.

As I paced around, waiting, I knew I could get back if I had to. I had the hotel’s address written in Chinese on a card in my wallet. Worst case scenario, I’d go upstairs and find a cab.

I began to feel a slight breeze. The pressure was changing in the station and my ears popped a little. A train was coming! Sure enough, there was a whistle and a train pulled in on the other side of the station. The people that were milling around all got on.
Well…this will be…interesting? I thought. I had a good feeling about it, but I realized I also might have really screwed up.

A couple seconds later, there was another breeze and the pressure shifted again. This time, the train that pulled in was going in the right direction! I hoped on board and road it 4 stops. When I got off, my group was waiting for me.
“It doesn’t stop at 11:00,” I joked. We laughed.

We were all a little tired and pretty much walked back to the hotel in silence. When we got to the elevator, we all said goodbye as people got off. Going up to our room, Nate got in the shower. I was exhausted and my legs spasmed as I sat on the couch waiting for him to come out. When he did, I took my turn, before literally passing out in bed once again.

Playing Tourist

After a fantastic nights’ sleep (goodbye jet lag!) I was ready to take on the day, and thankfully, we had a busy one in store. After the same buffet for breakfast, we met up in the lobby to go on a guided tour of Shanghai.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said about Europeans stereotyping Americans,” Amy said. “I think China has the opposite stereotypes of us.” Amy’s parents were from China so she had been to east every year since she was born.
“They actually think we are poor in America,” she explained. “Because American things are so much cheaper for us—like iPhone cost a fortune here—so their thought is that we can’t afford to pay the same price for the same quality that they pay here. They also think we are uneducated because we don’t understand their customs; kind of like Americans think Hispanics are stupid when they don’t speak English or blend into our norms.”

Shortly after that, two Chinese girls showed up. Without introducing themselves, they counted us and told us to follow them. It was kind of odd, but we went along with it.
The tour was great and we got to see some of the popular stuff in Shanghai.

Our first stop was West Nainjing Road. It looked like Times Square with big advertisements on all the buildings and large crowds hustling in and out of stores. The architecture was old and Romanesque with marble carvings and gothic arches. Hucksters were selling cheap touristy crap, the most popular of which was wheely skates that could be attached to tennis shoes to turn them into roller skates.
Bohan haggled with a woman to buy a pair of wheely shoes. She initially wanted 75RMB for them and he talked her down to 15RMB.

“He’s mostly telling jokes,” Amy translated. “He’s saying ‘we are students. Look, we do not even have water. Why would we pay 75 for cheap things when we cannot even afford essential things?’” The woman was cracking up and eventually agreed on his price.
I went into full blown tourist mode, snapping photos in every direction. From neon signs in Chinese characters to American brands (and some cheap knock offs like a watch company “Rolesque”) it was an awesome city center.

“What is this place called?” I asked.
“West Nanjing Road,” one of the girls, named Jessica, said.

“Nineteenth road?” I asked.
Jessica laughed. “Nianjing road.”

We walked along Nianjing road, crossing traffic a few times and posing for photos a few more. It was actually funny the number of people that were taking pictures of us. Every time we posed for a group shot, a small crowd would gather to take photos of us. People would also approach Natalie (because she is blonde) and Kendra and Akeena (because they are African American) and ask to take photos with them.
Gradually, we left the flashy lights and followed the crowd through a more formal business district. The street ended at the Bund.

The Bund is perhaps the most famous attraction in Shanghai. The term comes from the Persian work for “leeve” or “dam” and refers to a stretch of the embankment along the Huanpu river. For centuries, the area has been the city’s primary financial district, with most international banks headquartering along the river. It is also a place to get the best view of the downtown Shanghai skyline.
Now “best view” is kind of a relative term. It is a breathtaking view, with the pearl tower and other skyscrapers front and center. The smog however makes it nearly impossible to see past the first row of buildings. Even looking across the river is like looking at a low quality, 1980’s movie. It’s almost blurry and out of focus.

Another interesting note are the large barges filled with trash that are sailing south on the Huangpu river. I’m not sure anyone really asked where their destination was on the greyish green murky water, but I think we all had a few pretty good guesses.
There were several times when we noticed we were in the way of people taking photos. Politely, we would move away so their photographer could get a direct shot. That was when we realized, they didn’t want us to move away. They weren’t posing with the skyline, they were posing with us.

Our next stop was for lunch. On our way to the restaurant we stopped into a convenience store for one of our guides to buy something. Looking around we found a whole stash of Oreo products we’d never seen in the US. In addition to Oreo Pocky, they also had little cups where you could dip the chocolate cookies into the frosting (brilliant!) I think the US is seriously falling behind when it comes to our Oreo consumption.
In a refrigerated display, I saw a bottle of bubbly orange liquid. The label was orange and yellow and had green Chinese characters on the front. I pulled it out.

“Nate?” I called. He came over. “What does this say.”
He studied the characters. “This one is ‘Mir’…this one is ‘ren’…this one is ‘da.’”

“Mirinda,” I said with a smile.
“Yes,” he said. “It means like ‘beautiful’…’sweet’…”

“It’s the best orange soda,” I said. “I haven’t been able to find it in the US.”
For lunch we went to a Wanton house. The restaurant was a small two story shop, and we all crowded around tables upstairs. I sat with Jessica, Dayana, and one of our guides, who now introduced herself as Kaycee.

We decided to order some foods to share. Kaycee suggested the crab dumplings. I initially thought we should try the yam dumplings too, but they were sold out, so we did shrimp instead. We also go a three seafood soup, an order of wonton soup, and beef and rice. (And a Mirinda to drink.)
When I first bit into the crab dumplings, a spurt of boiling hot liquid shot out and all over my chin. I swore I was going to have a blister and I used the cool soda can to cool it off.

“You have to bite into the dumpling just a little,” Kaycee said. “You drink out the soup and then eat the inside. Otherwise you will burn yourself.”
“You don’t say?”

All of it was really good, but I think the crab dumplings and the wonton soup were the best. The wontons had pork and corn inside. The seafood soup wasn’t bad. It had a really sweet flavor, and these tentacle like strips of meat were pretty good. Kaycee didn’t know what they were called but looking it up online, we are thinking they might have been sea urchin.
Our next stop after lunch was Yuyuan gardens. As we approached the gardens, the architecture gradually changed from modern skyscrapers to the traditional almost temple looking designs. The red buildings had large pillars with golden dragons outside. The green apexed roofs dropped down into sweeping corners that curled back up.

We walked passed a little alleyway with lots of vendor selling knickknacks and treasures. Everything from small jade dragons to golden Buddhas and beaded bracelets. We turned the corner and headed down that way.
One store sold watches while another advertised handmade candy. There was a Dairy Queen as well as little Italian gelato shops. The buildings were beautiful, decorated with red tassles and paper lanterns. We weaved through the different side streets taking it all in. I had a giddy smile on my face the entire time.

Eventually, we reached a large coy pond with bridges and fountains all across it. Emma (who’d we met up with earlier) told us we had 30 minutes if we wanted to buy a ticket and go in the garden.
Natalie, Jessica, and I got in line right away. The rest of the group debated, but most of them wound up joining us. The tickets were half priced for students and we were able get right in.

Behind the walls was a beautiful garden. It was mostly large trees and carved rocks with some occasional poppies sprinkled around. The garden had once belonged to a wealthy family and we could go in their old mansions to see how they would have lived. All of them were basically one room, surround by windows, with a few chairs for sitting and some regal paper lanterns overhead.
As we ducked and crawled through crevices and up stony staircases, the garden seemed to grow and expand with each passing second. It was beautiful in absolutely everyway. The energy just felt good (although some members of our group were proving the loud American stereotype) but I felt like I could stay there for hours.

When our thirty minutes was up, we found our way to the exit. Outside, more street vendors were selling their wares. One lured Natalie in, and she successfully haggled her own price (she got two jade dragons for half the price that the woman initially wanted for one.) We met up with the rest of the group and headed back.
These were the types of days that made travel fun. We ate good food. We saw pretty things. We met nice people. This is what makes life worth living!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Getting Oriented

We met Sabrina in the lobby and headed outside. Turning right again we walked down the street towards the little family grocery store (which I noted was called “Family Mart.”) This time, when we got to the end of the second block, instead of turning right, we went up and crossed over the pedestrian bridge that led over the intersection.

We walked a few more blocks along a well shaded street. There were lots of little bakeries and boutique shops along the road, as well as a lot of bike traffic and more pedestrians. Travelling in a big group, we weren’t quite as invisible and we were definitely starting to attract some irritated looks from locals.
About 10 minutes down, we reach the subway. Taking the escalator down, we found ourselves in the upper level of the station. It many ways, it looked like the subway in Prague, with lots of little shops and food vendors. It was however much cleaner and brightly lit, with tiled flooring and reflective trim.

One of the girls (Natalie) had just gotten in from her flight and had forgotten her subway pass (included in our welcome kit) at the hotel. Sabrina bought her a temporary pass and we headed around the corner to the trains. We had to pass by several guards and through security to get to the train. The girls put their purses through x-ray machines while those without bags hustled through. It was more crowded than the street upstairs, but no more crowded than the subway in Prague.
Sabrina showed us how to rub our purple transportation cards over the RFID sensor to activate the turnstile. Once inside, we went down another set of escalators to the platform.

“We will go three stops to People’s Square and then change to line 2 to go two more stops,” She said.
“What stop is this?” I asked, thinking it might be important to know so we can get back.

“Jiasung Road,” she said.
When the train came we shuffled on. The doors were only open for a few minutes, and when they closed, they closed. There was no sensor to indicate whether or not people were still boarding or not, and they slammed into Natalie as they shut.

We road the train three stops, got off, shuffled upstairs, around several corners, and back down. In some ways, I was wishing I was alone so that I could figure it out. Not that having the groups help wasn’t great, but I think I learn more about the public transport when I have to figure it out for myself than when I’m being led through it.
We went back down to another platform and got on line 2. Riding the train two more stops, we got off again and went up. At the top the subway was made up of a hall of mirrors. Like something out of Alice in Wonderland, we now hurried along followed by several versions of our reflection. After waving our transport cards over a sensor to get out of the station, we piled into an elevator and headed up into the mall.

The mall was even cleaner than the subway station and very modern looking. It have probably seven or eight floors, each laid out in concentric circles with a glass elevator going up the middle. Again, I was struck by the fact that most of the advertisements used Caucasian models, and most of the brands were American names.
We had lunch in a restaurant on the sixth floor. A hostess led us back to a private room where we all sat around a big table that had a rotating glass platter in the center. The waiters brought out different dishes to place on the platter and we rotated it around so everyone could try some of everything.

All of it was really good. There was a seaweed salad that tasted super clean and refreshing. These little green rolls were filled with a green tea custard that was really sweet. Another dish were these moon shipped pancakes that had a garlic and potatoe filling. I tried octopus, which was really chewy, but pretty good. The roasted bamboo was spicy and crunchy. One dish again resembled bacon, and there was again a beef and noodle dish. My favorite was a fired pork in a really sweet brown sauce.
“What is this called?” I asked Emma, hoping I could order it again.

“Pork,” she said. Everyone laughed. Something was lost in translation.
When we finished eating, Sabrina came back to pick us up. We road down the elevator in shifts to the ground level and headed back out into the humidity for the day. Heading towards the main office for the recruiting center, we had to cross a lot of streets. Every time, it was terrifying, but I realized that if you didn’t make eye contact with the drivers, they would generally stop for you (after honking a few times.) Once eye contact was made, they knew you saw them and there was no hope.

The pollution in the air was tangible. “I heard that living in Shanghai is like smoking a pack a day,” one of the girls said.
“I think it is true,” Sabrina said as she led us along like little ducklings.

At times, we weren’t just jaywalking, we were walking up the street through traffic on wrong side of the road. The honking continued as people bobbed and weaved around us.
“Speaking of pollution,” I said as we crossed a bridge. This time I was referring to the murky green water below. Trash and debris floated under along with what looked like a cartoon radioactive stream.

In a few moments, we reached Sabrina’s office and met her supervisor Virginia. Virginia was from Indonesia but had lived in China most of her life. She led us through a PowerPoint presentation on culture shock and talked a lot about safety in Shanghai.
“Shanghai is rated one of the safest cities in the world,” she said. “You can walk around at 2:00 in the morning and no one will bother you. But I hope you will not do this because it is more fun to travel with people.”

Most of the presentation was review. We did talk a lot about American stereotypes (the most common one in China appears to be that all Americans are fat) as well as some Chinese stereotypes.
“I think my biggest stereotype of China is that it is loud, crowded, and chaotic,” I said. “I’ve been surprised that this isn’t true.”

Virginia raised her eyebrows. “You have not been in the right part of Shanghai,” she said. “It is definitely true, but you will see crowded can be fun.”
As a refreshment they served milk tea. It was really sweet and really good—kind of like an iced chai tea, but with more of a milk flavor to it. I don’t know if I just liked it or if I was just thirsty but I drank two full glasses in about 4 minutes.

Virginia also gave us the access for our VPNs, as well as advice on clubs, massage parlors, online shopping, and some resources to navigate Shanghai. When we were done, we took a group photo and followed Sabrina back down to the street level.
We again wove through side streets and against traffic. I noticed a lot of the shops around us were selling either lumbar or sheet metal. The architecture was also getting more grand and very European in style.

Our next stop was a little cell phone booth in town where we got our simcards activated by an elderly Chinese lady at her cart. I debated rather or not to use my iPhone or buy a new phone. Natalie pointed out that if I used my iPhone, I wouldn’t be able to use the same iMessage or Viber account to call home over wi-fi. I decided to buy a new phone to use in China.
While we were all standing around chatting, an older man carrying a small spinning display with bright read tassels on it came buy trying to sell us one of his treasures. I avoided making eye contact, but some of my fellow travelers were not so lucky. Once they enthusiastically indicated that they were not going to make a purchase, he moved on.

“Brenda,” I said, talking to one of the girls whose grandmother was from Shanghai. “How do I say, ‘I don’t speak Chinese.”
The said it very quickly. “I need that a bit slower,” I said. She broke it down for me and I tried it.

“That is very good!” She said.
“Really?” I asked.

“Yes!”
“How was my pronunciation?”

“Good!”
I tried it a few more times, afraid that if I stopped saying it, I would forget (which turned out to be true by the time I am writing this post.) I have to say the pronunciation is so odd to my mouth and throat. It feels like I am chocking when I try forming the words.

Everyone was satisfied with their simcards so Sabrina’s colleague led them back to the apartment building. Sabrina took Dayana, Natalie, and I to a cheap cell phone shop to buy phones. She ordered phones for us that cost 200RMB (about 35USD) and got them working on our simcards.
“It is a good international phone,” she said. “If you travel more, you can pop different simcards in and out and it will work most places.”

We were surprised that iPhones were about 4200RMB (700USD.)
“Most Apple products are cheaper in US,” Sabrina said. That is where most people order them from.

Sabrina led us to the subway but said that she had to run home so we would have to navigate it on our own. She took us down the escalator and attempted to buy Natalie another ticket. When the machine ate her money, she got into a very perisistent fight with the man working the booth. He eventually returned her money and she bought a ticket from a different machine.
Leading us back to escalator, I was shocked at how massive the station was. It really looked more like a mall than a subway station, with clothing stores, souvenir shops, and even hair salons, all under the streets of Shanghai.

When we got to the turnstiles, Sabrina left us. “it is just three stops,” She told us, “on line two. Then take exit 4.”
We thanked her and headed inside.

The crowd we were travelling with now was the crowd I’d expected. Pressed up against a billion of our closest friends, we shuffled along through security and down the escalator. At the platform, I looked at the sign. I saw Jiansung road on the right so I turned to the right side of the platform.
“How do you know?” Dayana said.

“I don’t,” I said. “But I have a good feeling.” I was just going off of how the signs worked in the Subway system in Prague.
When the train came, we were slammed on board along with everyone else. Our bodies were in constant contact with everyone around us, and there was barely space to breath. Breathing probably wasn’t a desirable option anyway, as the whole thing kind of smelled like body odor.

But in an odd and kind of stressful way, it was so much fun!
When the train started moving, no one lurched at all. We were packed so tightly, there wasn’t room to shift or fall. At the first stop, as people got off, we adjusted until more people got on to fill their space. I wound up pinned between a businessman, and one of the hand poles, not able to move much in either direction.

At stop two, people shifted again until we were repacked on board. I tried to watch how the exchange went (how did people indicate they wanted to get off) but I was a little too occupied with keeping track of my pockets—specifically my new phone—to really notice.
As we approached stop three—which should be our stop—I saw a man starting to tap people and move towards the door. I started doing the same and people got out of my way. Dayana did it too and it worked for her. Natalie followed in my trail. When the doors opened, we got out. Sure enough it was our stop!

One direction of the platform was a dead end. I turned the other way and started shuffling along with the crowd. At the top of the escalator, there was a big 4 over an exit. Unfortunately, there was a railing between us and that exit, so we kept shuffling along with the group. When we got to exit 6, I saw a turnstile to get out.
“Are you sure we can go that way?” Dayana asked.

“No,” I said.
“But I can’t get back in if it doesn’t work,” Natalie said holding her temporary ticket.

“Worst case scenario, it becomes a longer walk then,” I said.
The girls looked at each other and shrugged. “Trust me,” I said. “I have a good feeling.”

We went through the turnstile and up the escalator.
“There's exit four,” Natalie said, pointing across the street.

“Awesome!” I said. “So if we had come up there, we would have turned right, so we just need to get across the street…” that was the scary part…”and then go that way.”
“How do you know that?” Dayana asked.

“I don’t,” I said.
“But you have a good feeling?”

I smiled. “Yep!”
We crossed the street, which in fact was becoming a much less frightening experience.  Nothing really looked familiar, but to use my own words, it felt right. After walking a few blocks, it turned out it was right…there was the bridge to cross the busy intersection. Off the left, we could see our building.

There was barely enough time to drop off our things in our rooms before racing back downstairs to join the group for dinner. A guy from New Zealand joined us for the evening. His name was Cam and he was in town to take three months of intensive Chinese language courses. Sabrina welcomed him into our group after he talked about being alone in his room all day.
Dinner was at a restaurant just a block or two away, down by the tea shop we’d been in earlier. We again had a private room on the third floor of the restaurant. The chairs were covered in red silk and there was hot tea when we sat down. This food was traditional from Northern China and it was by far the most recognizable of the trip. There was sweet and sour pork, dumplings, and spicy fried chicken. It was all familiar tasting, but all so much better than anything I’d had in the US.

There were a few dishes I didn’t recognize. One was sort of a jelly which didn’t taste that good. Sabrina thought it was made from either rice or potatoes, but I’m not sure I’d eat it again. There was also a lamb dish, and it was pretty good.
“I’ve never eaten so much meat,” Dayana said. This is going to be the unofficial Atkins diet I think.

While we were eating, a woman wearing a red silk dress came in to preform for us. She sang some sort of Chinese chant and juggled while we clapped our hands and laughed along.
 After we finished eating, we went back to the hotel. Cam came over to our room while Nate went to someone elses room.

“You have an awesome view,” he said.
“We do,” I said. “But the real awesome view is upstairs.”

I took him to the elevator and we road it back up to the penthouse. I had my camera in hand so I asked the hostess if we could take photos. She nodded and motioned to the patio.
“Wow, that is an awesome view,” Cam said.

Just a few minutes later, Ally and Natalie came out with a bottle of wine and four glasses. “You guys want to join us?” they asked. We said sure.
Sitting around a table, we each poured a glass of wine. I poured just a mouthful into my glass, but it tasted pretty good. It was some sort of Chinese rice wine (Nate taught us that while Sake is a rice wine it is not the only variety.) I liked it, so I poured more into my glass.

Soon after, everyone came to join us. We sat around for about half an hour enjoying the view and telling stories. I couldn’t stop staring at the view, it was just awesome.
In the end, I didn’t actually finish my entire glass of wine. A few sips was enough. I said good night to everyone and headed to bed. Natalie followed me and went to her room. Within a few minutes, it sounded like everyone else went to sleep too.

Once I got logged into my VPN and saw that I could access Facebook, I checked my blog. It was still locked, so I texted a friend back home to see if he could get onto Google’s server to change my settings.
I took a shower. Nate was already asleep (after thankfully warming up the hot water again.) It felt good to get clean and I was so tired. In fact, I was exhausted and I actually fell asleep sitting on bed with my towel still around my waist.