Month: April 2017

Day 4, Shanghai

Today has been fantastic. I got up at 5:30 and did We Chat with my boys and made Starbucks coffee.  Took a shower and got ready, then We Chatted with my dad & Fawn, Laura & Bryan and Ben & Paul who were doing a family BBQ in Seattle.  Then I went to the Faculty Club at 8am for breakfast. It was very good today and after my dad’ comment “You must be eating lots of vegetables there in China,” and my response “No,” mostly bread and pastries… I ate squash, green beans, and this plum gel which was very good.  I also had a fried egg and a barley and black bean sweet hot cereal. 

I went back to my room and was going to write to you all, but my neighbor Marsha knocked and said we needed to get to the bus right now!

She helped me find the ticket seller and the line for the bus. We ended up getting on a different bus and the ticket seller became the bus driver.  Here’s how the line works: faculty and students line up. When it’s time to get on, all faculty get on. Then students get whatever seats are left.  Once the bus is full, off we go. We pulled out at 8:50 am so I set my timer for 30 minutes so I would pay attention to where to get off (it’s a 40 minute bus ride.) Well, 9:20 came and went, and we were in terrible traffic. I kept looking for a university. At 9:45 I thought I had taken the wrong bus. Finally at 9:55 we pulled into campus. The bus stopped 3 times and I did not see the University of Michigan sign that Marsha told me to look for. I asked the driver to look at my map which had the Foreign Languages building marked on it. He showed it to some teachers who told him when to kick me off.  He did that, so I thought I was at my building. (This campus is about the size of the University of Washington – 30,000 students, but 20,000 live on campus.) I called Honza and he had no idea where I was. He said to find someone to put on the phone. I found some nice cleaning ladies and gave them the phone.  They told Honza where we were and he came and got me in his car.

We went to China Mobile and got me a Chinese sim card so I can call and text for free here. 

Then we went to the Bank of China to open an account where SJTU can give me money every month — $1,000 a month for eating and living.  That sounds great!  I haven’t spent much money in these three days… wait… it’s only been 3 days and I have spent at least 300RMB (Yuan). Hmmm… it’s cheaper here, but only if you buy Chinese food and drink. Better watch it a little.  I left with a Chinese bank account card. It’s very pretty. I must use it to withdraw cash from my account – not like a Visa I could use at the store. 

At the bank and cell phone store they studied my passport, scanned it, studied it, took my picture. At the bank, Honza pulled out my work contract to have me sign.  He assured me I did not need to read it. I read it anyway. It looked the same as Laura’s from 9 years ago. Her binder of materials from her China trip was so helpful!  The bank copied the signed contract and my passport and made me sign every page, next to my signatures, too.  Guess that’s contract stuff.  Then Honza took me to the Foreign Languages building. 

Funny details Highliner’s should know when visiting:

Bring your passport and lots of Yuan with you.  Honza did not tell me to bring my passport, I just figured. Then he would say “They need 100 Yuan now.” “They need 20 Yuan now.” I was like, “What?” He had to loan me the hundred!  And he said he had made plans with his friends for lunch. Shelley took me and had to pay because you cannot use cash on campus – only the ID card.  Learning curve!

Shelley came to meet me for lunch. She was at Highline College for 7 months in 2015 with her 8 year old daughter Sophie.  She brought her boss Dr. Ma and we walked to Cafeteria #5. It’s university style so get your tray, chopsticks and spoon, then move through the cook line and grab whatever dishes you want. Shelley helped me steer clear of meat.  I loved all the choices! Cauliflower and broccoli, green beans with tofu, bean sprouts, eggplant and potatoes in a typical sauce and brown rice. Everything was good. Cost: 12.5 Yuan ($1.83).

We relaxed and ate for an hour, then they helped me with my new phone number and We Chat with them and Wi-Fi on campus.  I practiced writing their names in Chinese.  

 

You will see Ma in red and Shelley in white in the pictures I took.

 

Shelley and Honza are English names and I told them I want to say everyone’s Chinese names, including my Chinese students, but they want to give me English names. Shelley said they do it to respect us because it is too hard to say and remember Chinese names. I said we feel it is culturally respectful to learn to say their Chinese names. So we understood where we were each coming from.

But really, I have to learn their Chinese names because when I asked Shelley and Honza if they knew each other each said “I don’t know their English name, so I don’t know who that is.”

Shelley showed me a seemingly nonsense message her student got from an international student friend that said something like “You must be really in me your hip is on my Brian.” She asked me what it meant. I said I think “Brian” was supposed to be “brain” and the rest is a mystery.  I told them I just was listening to a Ted Talk by a linguist saying that texting has changed our use of language faster than has happened before, and texting is influencing how we speak. So this message could be a new expression or something from texting… who knows? 

After lunch I met back with Honza who took me to get my faculty ID card which I can put money on. I use it to buy lunch on campus and pay for the bus ride. Again with the passport and my picture.  Then I walked back to the Foreign Languages building, had a much-needed coffee that Ja-ling (call me Carrie) offered to me. She works in Honza’s office but I ran into her in the faculty lounge.  Shelley rented a car so she could give me a tour of the campus.  Ma helped her figure out how to use it since it is fully electric and electronic, so you use your cell phone to unlock the door.

I am so impressed with how much Shelley has reached out to me and welcomed me. I guess she knows what it’s like to visit another country and school. 

She showed me several of the gates and buildings, lakes and canals and gardens and student housing.  One gate is made to show an 8 and a 7 for 1987 when it was built, but everyone calls it the sandal/flip-flop gate because it looks like one.  Another gate is made to resemble the Arc de Triumph and another is made to replicate the beautiful gate here at my campus.  You will see the photos I took while out with Shelley.

After the tour I now feel I understand where things are and how to get from the bus to the Foreign Languages building to Cafeteria #2 where I put money on my card.  She dropped me at the bus stop at 3:48 so I would be in time for the 4:10 bus. Well, it loaded at 3:48 and left at 3:52. Let that be a lesson… be at least 15 minutes early for your bus.

 

April 8, 2017, 10:05 am, Shanghai

The 120^th anniversary of Jiao Tong University is a big deal here. This morning there were bus loads of older folks here visiting the campus and each other.  Women were dressed in elegant clothing, men in Mao style suits. Ages ranged from 60-95.  Cushy travel busses lined the university roads. Lots of college kids in red “volunteer” coats showing people around.

I woke at 6:15 am, showered, made my green tea provided by the hotel, found a hairdryer in the drawer (yeah!) and somehow it was 7:45 when I went to check out the breakfast buffet here.  The hostess smiled and said something.  I saw there were tickets.  “Do I need a ticket? I don’t have a ticket.” She nodded. I showed her cash. She pointed to the front desk. I asked them “Can I get a ticket for breakfast?” They say, “Yes, you could…get that here.”  “Okaaay…”  “Thirty eight RMB,” she said. I thought it was going to be 102 RMB, since I think Laura said it was around $15 when she was here 9 years ago. (So much has changed here). I paid and got a ticket and went back and gave it to the smiling woman.  A waiter next to her said “Morning.” I said “Morning… How does this work here?”  His mistake!  Now he was trapped with me. He looked flustered since he had used his only English word.  But he followed me and showed me where some stuff was…chopsticks, and bowls, fried eggs, then he showed me the Westerner’s section: white toast, butter, jam, coffee. (No knives or forks that I saw.)

I got myself some seaweed egg drop soup, chop sticks and a spoon, and set them on a free table.  I went to get something else, and when I went back, the efficient waitress had cleaned it all away.  Time to mark my territory with my purse and start over!

 

Breakfast was great, but the coffee was bad: weak with only sugary coffee mate in those little plastic containers.  I tried as much of the foods as I could, so I could report back:

Bread and butter, fried egg, sesame croissant, small dumpling in water with black peanut butter inside; orange wedges, squash, a plain white rice bun (thought it would have something in it, but no). Hot rice cereal, and the seaweed egg drop soup. Tried a very salty boiled egg. I heard other people slurping away, and saw they had yogurt containers with tiny straws.  Got one and tried it.  YEAH! It was the fil mjӧlk I used to have in Sweden, which you cannot get in Seattle. So awesome! At 8:15 I had taken the last one and they did not seem like they were going to put out more.  Oh well, I was stuffed anyway. You jab the straw into the top of the metal lid that we would usually peel back, then slurp to get every last drop.

I live right by a side gate, but decided to go out into the campus for a walk.  I passed all the older (alumni?) and volunteer tour guides, then continued on. Then there were 100 people in their 20s and 30s seemingly heading to work. Some walked, some biked. Many had plastic bags with buns or dumplings in them, a few had coffee.  As I wandered on, lots of people seemed to be strolling the campus. Then I saw college age people playing tennis, and found the track. All ages were jogging or walking the track. Some were doing warm up exercises. Very athletic of them at 8:30 Saturday morning.  These were not the loud people outside my window at 2:30 am last night.

From 2 am to 3:30, there were regular loud noises: people opening the large metal gate, people talking loudly entering the Faculty Club, someone seemingly repairing an iron gate with a hammer… Then around 3am, cats making that awful caterwauling…I thought they would fight, but instead just kept it up for 15 minutes. Healthy lungs.

When I woke at 6:15 this morning, I heard an owl, and saw people driving, walking, bicycling.  By 7:15, there were more people, and the busses had plenty of people, too.  Busy city.

The sun is shining today. Yeah! I plan to walk to Starbucks, but maybe I will check out a mall, too.

The beautiful traditional entrance to the university is impressive. I enter by the side gate, usually, but it was locked. They seem to feel it is secure to keep that door locked; it opens around 10 am.

1:20 pm April 8

I made myself go out walking, and ran into the wonderful neighbors! Frank and Marsha have been here almost 3 years. They invited me in and shared what they know and will take me to dinner soon, yeah! They are also happy to have an English speaking neighbor.  They have been teaching English writing and speaking here for 3 years, both to Chinese and to international Korean and Japanese students.  They know everything. Yeah! They have a fridge, microwave, oven, and pantry full. They bought it all.

I left them and walked to the mall.  That was a let down. Very sterile and white with all the Western name brands and all that stuff is really expensive.  A pair of Clarks were $205 dollars.  I left and tried to walk to the Ichi Bakery, but took the wrong road where I could not cross over the 4 lane road.

On my way back I saw the Metro entrance again. I have been avoiding it since I can’t see what is down there and did not want to get stuck where I could not come right back out.  But I found an entrance where  you could see it was mall-like and went in.

I found two dangerous things down there:                           

 

1. A French bakery named “Christine” with every yummy pastry you can think of
2. The entrance to the Orient Shopping Centre, with every Western food you can think of: candy, cookies, pasta, milk, mayonnaise, cheese, chocolate, etc., etc. Geez! I thought I would eat Chinese food for 3 months and lose 5 lbs while here! I need to forget that place exists.

As I walked the streets here in Shanghai, it was nice to see that everyone was out enjoying life: families, friends, everyone.  Families with young kids frequently were carrying the kid’s scooter.  I live close to McDonald’s and on the weekends they have a walk-up window where they sell ice cream cones. Everyone in the area had one. People seemed relaxed and happy.  It’s good to see, since the Chinese work so hard, and the kids are pushed to study so hard. My neighbors are tutoring a 10 year old girl at 8pm one night a week because it is her only unscheduled time that she can make it. Typical.

On my way home I took a photo of the place I think Laura and Bryan recommend to eat at, a Japanese noodle house. It’s on the corner. We’ll see if they recognize it.

I am reluctant to eat out since I don’t know how to say “no beef or pork, please.” Need to get that written in Chinese.

April 9, 2017 6:20 am Shanghai (3:21 pm April 8 in Seattle)

Hello Jetlag! Yesterday I stayed  up until 6pm then decided to go to bed.  At 4pm I was soooo tired. I made myself go eat my first meal in Shanghai. I tried to find the Japanese restaurant Laura said was one of her and Bryan’s favorites, almost across the street from my apartment.  The menus are all in Ipads on the tables, but you have to know how to get into them.  I pushed a couple buttons and nothing happened. A waitress came by and gave me a plastic menu with pictures and prices.  (She could have taught me how to use the Ipad, but nope.)

Almost everything is pork and beef here, but I found a crawfish noodle soup.

I really wanted noodle soup. I saw a girl, about Ben’s age, eating across from me, so I copied her. You get a long wooden spoon and use it to get some broth and noodles. You hold that and then eat the noodles from the spoon with your chopsticks. I wonder what I would do if I could not use chopsticks? Paul and Ben will want to start practicing now, and bring some forks with them when we eat out. I wonder if they keep forks in the back for westerners who can’t use chopsticks?  The food was was very good. While eating, I figured out how to use the Ipad. I enjoyed watching families, moms and daughters, and couples coming in to eat, hanging out, and really enjoying the food. 

It was sunny and beautiful all day, then got cloudy around 4:30 pm.

I then took a different side road and walked a ways to try to get in my 10,000 steps (5 miles) for the day. As soon as you turn off the main road, things get dirty and broken and dingy. Lots of broken windows and old, forgotten trash sitting on the window ledge above you.  Then there will be a bit nicer housing. It’s all apartments, and laundry drying on the lines everywhere.  This is the China I remember. The sidewalks are very high off the street here, as in most Asian countries and places in Mexico. I think it’s’ because when it rains it’s no problem to keep the water away.  Once when we were at Isla Mujeres, Mexico, it rained so much the waters were rushing down the street 4-6 inches high. It was clear they needed those high sidewalks.

I have walked past at least 30 westerners now, and none have greeted me. After the first 20, I guess I did not try to greet the either.  I guess it’s a bit like being in New York City, but really, there are very few white people. I think I will start saying hi. I did see one family, though, then heard them speaking something that was not English.  But almost everyone else I could hear speaking English. And several of them were younger men who had found Chinese girlfriends, and were speaking English. I saw many more westerners in this side-road area.  I kept going and stumbled into Starbucks, finally! My Google map says there are 4 nearby but I never found any.  I went in. It is the place to be! Cannot find a seat. They have a bathroom with toilet paper. Very nice.  I asked the guy in front of me “Is there a line?” and he said, “Yes, it’s a line.” I said “Wow, you speak English!” We talked a bit and he is a tourist from Taiwan, just visiting for two weeks.  Figures.  I did order a latte and the girl at the counter spoke English just fine, but no more than necessary. You’re not in Seattle anymore, Toto.

Starbucks is selling an origami pour-over with coffee in it that you put on top of your cup each time. So cute! I bought some. 

It’s very fashionable to walk around with a small bag from some cool place you just shopped, so here I am with my Starbucks bag now.  I turned left, hoping I would find my way back to the main street.  I did, then found the side-street from the other day with all the hair salons. Decided to walk it again. I went 2 long blocks further this time and found a whole hip area with more westerners, pizza, Chinese small noodle shops, a gyro place (Paul will love it), and about 6 more coffee shops (lattes, etc.) Oh, and I found 3 more French bakeries, including another Christine’s.  Many shops are the size of a restroom in an American house, selling clothes and shoes.  I think shopping here would be much more affordable than the fancy mall – but would anything fit me?  I will try some day.

I headed back home and it was easy to find. Yeah!  This is a good little vacation for me this weekend with nothing to do but explore and unpack.  I looked up my area on Google maps and found more restaurants to try.  They are not obvious from the street so I need to go find some I saw on the map.

Relaxed, then went to bed.  Woke up several times, and got up at 1:45 am. It was pouring, so you could easily hear the traffic sloshing through the rain. But no cat fights!  Man is it noisy outside my window all the time! I think someone was dragging out the recycling at 2:30 am.  I listened to several Ted Talks, learned a lot, then tried to sleep another hour, but couldn’t.  Just laid around until 5:15. It gets light at 5:30, so I got up and got to work. I am almost done building my blog. 

The internet is very spotty here.  It works much better from midnight to 7 am when people here are sleeping. 

Things I will try if I get brave: the subway and renting a bike. Everyone seems to use rented bikes. You pay for them like you pay for a parking meter. I bet you can leave it at any station.

I am on We Chat, so if you join, you can call me.

I ate at the Faculty Club again. Pretty good food. They had these deep friend potato fries.

 

3:30 pm Sunday April 9. The American neighbors Marsha and Frank Lovell invited me over today.  We talked for a bit then they offered to show me where to shop for groceries. It was fabulous. After 3 years here, they found the cheapest, best local places near campus to shop.  They walked me through campus and showed me the laundry lady (you cannot do your own laundry). Then they showed me “City Market” where you can buy any foreign goods. Then they took me to the little grocery store where they get everything cheap. I bought some stuff. Then they took me to the “wet market” where the floors are hosed down often – Chinese selling fresh fruit, veggies, meat, beans, noodles, fish tanks with live fish, of course, chicken feet, and some daily needs like floor mats, etc.  I have to go back and take some pictures.  They taught me how to remember to go back. We walked through a park where the older crowd had lounge chairs gathered around under cover tables playing cards and smoking non-stop.

I was out of food and feeling too tired to walk so far again, so it was perfect timing. It was enjoyable listening to them, and they were very nice and helpful. These are their last 3 months here. They have travelled all over Southeast Asia and lived in Europe, but learning to live in Shanghai took time, and they are passing that knowledge on to me. Yeah!  We ended by shopping at “85 degrees” a Taiwanese bakery that is as good as any French bakery.

 

Frank came over and taught me how to work the TV and the heater/air conditioner.

I got blisters from all the walking, so felt fine about watching TV when I got back. Season 5 or 6 of Once was playing on the TV.  Yeah! It’s 3:30. I will take a nap so I can stay up until 9 pm tonight.

 

Honza was not very communicative before I left Seattle, so I did not know what to expect.  I finally asked if I needed to bring Yuan (RMB) for breakfast the next day, and he said yes, I needed to exchange $ in the airport.  So I got some in Seattle before I left.  My flight was delayed 3 ½ hours, so Delta gave us free water, snacks, and meals.  I had enough food to last me into my first morning here, and I recommend that.  Bring small sealed cheese, chips, hummus, etc. to get you by for a bit. 

By the way, I felt so lucky to meet a Chinese American in the plane.  He made me feel comfortable following the long unclear walk to the customs line.  He was here for his 30 year reunion at Jiao Tong! He helped me find our baggage claim and I just felt relaxed with him – not like I had just arrived in Shanghai with no clue.  He also helped me call Honza.  We were going to try to share a taxi, but Honza would not do it (I am sure he felt he could not pay for a bigger taxi since it was the university’s $).  Said goodbye to Chris and hugged him.

The taxi ride was very long – over an hour – in a smoky cab with foggy windows.  The driver was not smoking at the moment, but OMG, it was smoky.  Ironically, there was a no smoking sign in the cab. 

Talked to Honza the whole ride back. Very  pleasant.  He has only done this job one year, and Lonny is the only other one he picked up.  When we arrived at about 12:30 am, the Faculty Club guard would not open the gate to let the taxi through, even though Honza explained (whatever!) so we drove around to a small gate that I could walk through.  I checked in (they turned the lights on after we got into the lobby), and when the check-in guy, who did not speak English, was done with me, he just turned his attention to the next people who arrived. He did give me a room key with 127 on it.  I was like “Okaaay… I’ll just drag my 3 bags to wherever my room is.”  As I began, there was a guy standing at the end of a dark hallway motioning me to follow him.  I got my bags and dragged them to him. He dragged one down hallways and around corners and up small stairs, to the end of a hall where 127 was.  He smiled and left.

The room is beautiful and modern, with a modern hotel electronic key. You have to put the hotel key into a slot in the room in order to turn on the lights and electricity. It only took me 5 minutes to figure that out, since the room was very dark. Yea me!  Fascinating way to save energy.