Month: April 2018

Today after class (April 19) I rented a bike (with help from my former Chinese student) and rode slowly from my job at the Foreign Affairs Office to the bus terminal. I could look at the beautiful park setting of many parts of Minhang campus with trees, grass, and a large winding river. The breeze was gentle and perfect in the warm sun. Riding the practical European-style bike was so pleasant: one gear, soft seat, hand brakes and a bell. I arrived early so I rode back to the lake. I watched the small black and silver fish swim under the willow trees and chase each other and occasionally jump. It was peaceful and calming and just what I wanted. I then slowly rode back to the bus terminal and parked and locked the bike (cost 15 cents per ride). I am so thankful my friend Adeal got me the app for this on my phone! 

Most people here will ride a bike to get from A to B. No one wears helmets, and traffic of every kind is constantly flowing around, cutting across your path, following no discernable rules. There seems to be an understood “flow” where people time their own travels so they can skirt around pedestrians and bikes and cars without anyone having to stop or start or even change pace. I go slow and keep an eye out, since I don’t have the flow feeling.

As an American I feel it is dangerous to ride without a helmet, but the alternative is a 25 minute walk on the side of the road in the heat, carrying my books. I will pedal carefully, but keep riding.

We were given the same room we had last year, which we requested. Once here, we remembered all its charms. The bedroom window is a about 10 feet from the public sidewalk, which is fairly heavily trafficked during the day and evening.  Passersby in groups can be very loud at times. The large street is also regularly trafficked all hours of day or night, with busses and cars and trucks that make all kinds of loud noises on occasion. Then there are those who work here and the guests. If the guest is VIP, the staff will open the large, metal gate any time of the night to allow the guest car to enter. The gate scrapes VERY loudly when it opens and closes, and the metal chain used on it clinks loudly. At 1 am, you can hear energetic birds chirping outside the window, and after dark, you can hear some ongoing cat fights with long, loud wailing. Lots of homeless cats live in our bushes.

In a way, it was a charming little reminder that we were back in Shanghai, a city that never sleeps, and never considers that you might be sleeping.  It only took us about a week to become de-sensitized to these many random noises. When we are awake and hear them, we look at each other and laugh because it is rather ridiculous. It’s a good strategy to walk every day so you are good and tired and sleep well at night. Whenever you wake you are almost sure to become immediately aware of the current noises outside.

On weekends guests (older Chinese faculty) will drink and carouse in the hallways and repeatedly slam doors. Ben and I seem to be able to fall asleep with no problems despite these on goings. Paul stays up later and it bothers him because it is rude and obnoxious, but I don’t think it bothers our sleep. Funny what you can get used to.

The maid comes every day, somewhere between 9 and noon, and often does a cursory wipe of all clear surfaces and a mop of the main walkways. She is sure to not mop or dust the corners or underneath anything. Last year I left a cheerio under the sofa for a month just to check. She brings bottled water and clean towels and wipes down the bathroom every day, and gives us more shampoo sometimes.  She also fixes the internet if we have any problems. We like her and she likes us, but we have no communication at all. On her day off another maid comes and just empties the trash. They often speak to me, and I try to shrug  and show I don’t understand, but they just explain it more. Their confidence in my ability to understand Chinese is solid.

We decided to spend Friday at the Wild Animal Park, which we visited last year. It was only supposed to be 79 degrees today, so much cooler and less humid than last year. We were going to leave early, but instead left around 10 am.  You take the metro line 11 for 11 stops, then transfer to line 16 and go 5 stops, but the stops are really far apart on line 16, going through farm land and some towns in between, and there are no free seats on the small train. And everyone is happy to try for a seat. Young people do not give up their seats for anyone. It takes more than 30 minutes to get to the metro stop for the Wild Animal Park. Then you get a taxi and in 5 more minutes you are there.

It cost 130RMB for adults just to get into the zoo part, and 65RMB for kids. It’s about 6.3 RMB per dollar now. We went to rent a covered cycle cart. It’s very hard to tell who is in charge and how to buy one. We “asked” one person who pointed to someone else who pointed to someone else. Two people old us it is a 300 RMB deposit. I thought “oh great, it’s half the price of the sign.” But really they were telling me  they were going to give me a tiny cart where 3 of us would try to squeeze our butts onto one bench and only 2 of us would peddle. I think the Chinese try to help people save money. But last year we had the big one and that is what we wanted. It took awhile to convince them of that and find the right person to rent it from.  Finally we got the cart and drove to check out where to get on the caged bus that drives through the wild animal locations.

We found it, then drove back to catch the 1pm Russian Circus for 1 hour. It’s was pretty good. They had 6 big horses, one big tiger, and 6 cats and 6 dogs that were all well trained. Don’t worry, the tiger only made a brief appearance in a large container where a woman was put in the container, the container was covered, and when uncovered, the tiger was there.

The cats were well trained to climb and jump onto things including the top of an umbrella and the underside of a long horizontal stick. The dogs did various cute tricks that required lots of balance. I think the animals quite enjoy it. They get treats immediately following each trick.

There were also acrobatic feats which were great.

We drove through and saw lions, tigers, white tigers, cheetahs, wolves, giraffes, zebra, rhinos, hippos, antelope, brown bears and sun bears, all in open grassy areas where the busses drove through. It was very nice to see them. They all looked healthy. The bus feeds them tidbits so they approach the bus.

We arrived rather late so could not ride the elephants, but we did feed the elephants and zebras, which was really nice.

Each day is different here for me. Some days I have to take the bus to campus and teach. That means preparing the lesson the day before and refreshing that morning before class. Then on other days we can go out and explore and enjoy Shanghai. It’s hard to change gears sometimes between when to work and when to relax.  With my family here it is important that I spend time with them, while also finding time to do my ongoing work for Highline and for my SJTU lessons here.

Today we were going to go to the JinMao Tower 55th floor to look at the city and eat, but it was already booked. We booked this Saturday, and have to hope the weather will stay clear. Today we will go see a photo museum. Then I will return later to prepare tomorrow’s lesson on writing news letter items.

Last night we went to a Mexican restaurant. I like Chinese food but find I cannot eat it 2-3 times a day.  We often eat at the student cafeteria which is typical Chinese food. It will soon be time to go to a noodle place again, which are Ben’s favorites.

My fingers itch to help these places make better signs, but sometimes I just appreciate the opportunity to think about what the signs say and mean.

I feel I have earned some kind of degree in technology by figuring out how to use the internet here. Even when we have figured it out, it appears and disappears randomly during the day and night. So you might be tired, but if the internet is on, better get to work.

Today we discovered our password will work on other rooms, so even though my room internet access disappeared, I am able to use the neighbors. (I’m sure they are fine with it…)

You have to use your American phone hot spot in China to use the maps you want and get internet outside of the room, but you have to use the Chinese internet in the room to get to any websites, which often exclude anything Google related.

On top of this, I just got a new laptop and it does not automatically download photos from my phone. It’s like a 4-step process. So really this blog thing is a major investment of time and effort.

I admit we were frustrated at times, but hey, I’m on right now, and I got the hotel to connect Ben’s pad to the internet, so he can access the books he downloaded from the library (yea!)

There is so much to see in this huge city. We visited Laoximen, a neighborhood built maybe 200 years ago, which is slated to be torn down. It was featured in Time Out Shanghai, a monthly magazine. As the article stated, some residents look forward to the teardown, and some do not. They will be compensated and given new apartments, but some do not want it. They share one community sink outside, and their apartments are maybe 1-2 small rooms, often with a community toilet outside. Dogs and cats are free-roaming, very calm, and a bit curious but distant if you try to approach. Dogs almost never bark or growl here in the city. As you see, it’s fine to hang laundry where ever you can. It adds color to the neighborhood.

Yesterday we met my friend Dr. Ma for lunch at our campus, then rested, then went back to the French Concession where a lot of Ex Pats hang out and there are movie stores and restaurants and stores with western items.  We shopped, ate at Baker and Spice, a very trendy western café, then got ice cream for Ben, which we had promised for 3 days.

We “shared” chocolate and strawberry/raspberry