April 8 11:28 pm, Shanghai (8:28 am April 7 in Seattle)
The internet connection does not seem to work here at night, or at least, tonight. I was going to create a blog since I have time on my hands. I let myself take a nap around 3pm here and woke up at 11:15 pm. Oops! Now I will be up most of the night. I need to get into this time zone so I can take the bus to campus Monday morning. Also, I was going to try the breakfast here tomorrow.
So, today was good. I showered in the lovely, modern shower, used my curling iron (the upper plug takes American plugs, and Laura gave me her adapters, which go in the lower plug), did some yoga, ate my chips and cheese from the plane last night, and made tea. They give you 2 bottles of water and green tea and an electric pot. It was lovely.
There are a few hallways and turns to get from my room out to the lobby, or to one of the exits, so I thought I might have trouble keeping track, but it was easy. I asked about breakfast, but it was 9:05 and it closed at 9 am. Note to self: get there earlier tomorrow. I guess it is expensive, but I want to try it.
So, I went out to the main road and just started walking. It was raining and everyone had an umbrella. The bicycle and scooter riders have their umbrellas installed on top and have special rain coats and long matching rain gloves so that biking in the rain is no problem.
Traffic is very well organized and not crazy at all. I read T.M. Sell’s description from 2005 that it was very dangerous to cross the street in Shanghai, and I bet it was. But now in 2017, everyone obeys the clear traffic lights and pedestrian crossing lights. There is a separate lane for bikes and mopeds, and those drivers are more loose about the rules, but traffic crossing is still very safe.
I decided to just walk straight down one road today so I would not get lost. I passed the store “Chocolate” which had the storefront made of gold bars that all said chocolate. I got excited until I saw it was a clothing store. A big poster of Garfield and Jon with a plate of donuts and Jon holding a cup of coffee said “Garfield and Jon wear Chocolate.” Funny. China is still working on acknowledging copyright, so I wonder if they just used Garfield freely.
The city, and this shopping street, is very cosmopolitan. No one looked at me at all. Most people had their cell phone in hand. They were well dressed. The shops include H&M, Anne Taylor, Chanel, and so on. It was Friday and the stores and malls did not open until 10 am, so I just walked past. At first I thought I just had tried the wrong door, so I followed where all the people were going, into the side of the building. A lady opens a plastic bag for every person, who drops their umbrella in, takes the bag, and keeps going. I followed along until I saw we had entered a business building, where they were all going to work. Oops. I went back to the street and found McDonalds. Since I was too chicken to wander off the main road, thinking I might get lost, and I saw they had coffee, I went in. They have a plastic picture menu they gave me so I could just point and grunt. The video screen shows when your number is ready. The teenage workers were perky and efficient. I got a great coffee, which they give you in a little plastic bag to carry home. I also got the greasiest hashbrowns ever, undercooked eggs, and an English muffin. There was a slab of pork(?) which I did not eat. All for 27RMB ($4). Hmmm.. that’s not very cheap, but it was a big breakfast. It was called “Big Breakfast.”
I came home and did We Chat with the boys, then left and walked the other way on the same street. Exchanged money then walked and found shops, small restaurants, etc. Got brave and took a side road. So pretty! A little park in a neighborhood, about 8 hair salons in a row full of young people with dyed hair blow drying their hair or, if lucky, a client’s hair. Saw more clothing shops, a pharmacy, etc. And then… I started feeling nauseous, so turned around and headed home. Was it the undercooked eggs or greasy hashbrowns from McDonalds, or just the jet lag? Ate some cookies and finished my book, then listened to podcasts and took a nap. A long nap. And that’s where this blog began. After an hour, the internet worked, so I did We Chat with Paul. I am eating some peanuts I bought today at the small market. About 90 cents for a pound.
Until tomorrow.