Chinese Culture Shock

Its been a good week overall. I feel like I'm settling in more and more and my apartment is actually starting to feel like home. I'm definitely happy to be here. Yesterday however, was not a great day. Unfortunately, I had plans to do some exploring and walking around in downtown Shanghai (and to eventually end up at the Shanghai Museum) that resulted in a very very loooooong walk in the wrong direction.

So far my encounters with Chinese culture have been pretty positive. I knew (for the most part) what to expect before I got here and I braced myself for somethings that have actually turned out to not be as bad as I thought. Yesterday after my loooooong and hot walk in the wrong direction however, I was not a happy camper. Shanghai is SO busy. There is never really a moment when you aren't surrounded by tons of people andit can be exhausting. Also, there is something about getting cut off constantly by cars (who by the way, will honk angrily at you if you happen to get in their way while they are trying to make a turn on a red light) that sets me on edge. Its AMAZING that there aren't more incidents of road rage in this country. Quite honestly, I'm having a hard time keeping my pedestrian rage under control. But then someone did point out to me that the idea that pedestrians should have the right of way is not a Chinese one. Technically apparently, the rule goes that the bigger vehicle always has right of way with large trucks and buses at the top and bikes and pedestrians at the bottom. Pedestrians at the veeeeeeeeeeeeery bottom I would say. Add this to the fact that Chinese people on the whole are naturally pushy and competitive and you have Shanghai traffic.

On a different note, here are some new pictures of my Shanghai life. I have discovered that I LOVE mooncakes...I'm eating them all over the place. Also, the one good outcome of my unfortunate walk in the wrong direction down Nanjing Lu was that I made it a place called Jian'an Temple which is quite the ornate sight. The picture of the pond comes from a park that was near the temple. It was rather charming...lots of people hanging out, shady places to read a book and TONS of old people playing mahjong.



mmmmmm....this one was kind of crunchy. Its always a bit of a surprise to find out what is actually IN them since I can't read the Chinese. My guess on this one is walnuts and lotus seeds.





 

Bu Yao!

I had my first Chinese lesson with my new language exchange partner Sandy (yes, I know this is all very Eat, Pray, Love) yesterday. It was great! I'm so excited to be learning Chinese. So far my favorite thing to say is still zai jian! (goodbye) though. On the way home I came across the tuk-tuk style taxi drivers that always hang out at the metro station near my house. Up til now I've only been able to shake my head and wave my hand when they ask me if I want a ride (saying "no" in Chinese is more complicated than you might expect). After my Chinese lesson however I was ready to look him in the eye and say "bu yao!" (Don't need).

I also came EXTREMELY close to buying a baby bunny for 20 RMB off a guy on the street last night. He was keeping these tiny little bunnies in miniscule little cages on the sidewalk. One in particular looked so traumatized that he might have dropped dead of a heart attack at any moment.

As promised, here are some photos of my new life in Shanghai. As you can see, I live VERY close to the school where I teach; the top photo is the view from my bedroom window. The other photos are a street view of my neighbourhood bike/scooter/ motorcycle lane and the view from the kitchen window...which gives you a sense of the strange juxtaposition between rural and high-rise city life out here in Songjiang.

                                                                   

First days in China...

I'm alive! Sorry to everyone who may have started to worry that I might be dead or homeless. I can assure that that is not the case. I am finally able to make my first blog post today since I still have no internet at my house and I've been too busy at school during the day to spend much time writing.

So far my stay in China has been VERY busy. This past week has felt incredibly long but fortunately everything has gone pretty smoothly. I arrived on Saturday afternoon and was picked up from the airport and taken to a hotel by agency that recruited me. I haven't seen too much of Shanghai since then but from what I have seen I'd say that it's kind of sci-fi/ futuristic high-rise living/ polluted dystopia meets colourful, hectic and surprisingly leafy city. If that makes sense.

Songjiang, the suburb where I'm living now and where the school is located is a bit of a distance from Shanghai proper (about 45 mins on the metro). Its a bit quieter out here (though if this is the suburbs then downtown Ottawa must be the backwoods of nowhere) and less polluted (most days I can actually see the sky). Xiwai School is a fancy private Chinese international school where about half the student population (some kids as young as grade one) lives in boarding. I'm teaching Kinder 1 and 2 aaaaaaand...for the first time in my life...I have my own office!

Well, I have to get back to lesson planning and cleaning my apartment which is still a bit of a tip...although much less gross than when I moved in (I found some face cream in my bathroom just after I got there that had the word "placenta" on it). I have some photos of my new neighbourhood but unfortunately the internet is acting funny and not letting me upload anything so they will have to wait until next time.

Until then! Much love.