Settling in
I think I'm slowly getting used to Shanghai. The noise, the pollution, the tremendous number of people and apartment buildings, the ubiquitous use of Mandarin, and all the little things I’m beginning to notice that are so much different from what I’m used to. This is definitely not home, but it’s alright. My roommate says I've adapted well.
My job is actually more of a work in progress than my life outside it. I’m still figuring out what is expected of me and how to teach a foreign language to kids no older than 12 with the little knowledge of Mandarin I have and TA’s that don’t speak much English either. The Chinese that I have made some conversation in English with, tend to use the word “maybe” a lot, which actually doesn’t help all that much. For instance: “When should I start work tomorrow?” “Maybe, 8 or 9”. Ok, not so bad. My roommate gave a better example though: “So, I finish work at 3 and the teacher’s meeting is at 5. Is it really important that I be at the meeting at 5?” “Maybe, you don’t have a choice”.
I don’t get it either.
Apart from working out my work schedule, I've been doing my share of shopping for food in the neighbourhood street market. I bought myself a bike and spent a couple of hours on it lost the first day I rode it.
The street market is an experience in itself. Street vendors line the street along the edges in makeshift shops or extensions of existing buildings, while others occupy the median. There are two paths to travel down. No more than 2 meters wide at most, the paths are shared by the ongoing traffic of people, bicycles, and motor scooters. The environment is surprisingly pleasant if you can get over the smell and the starring eyes of nearly everyone you pass by that you make a glance towards. Although a place of business, vendors spend a noticeable amount of time in social conversation or in silent stillness as they await their next reason to be animated. There’s seems to be little pressure on buyers to buy and sellers to sell, despite the fact that the price for nearly everything is, as my roommate says “dirt cheap”. It’s an interesting place for sure.
My bike? I got it after all my food purchases in the morning on September 20th, and rode it for the first time on the street going back to the apartment. That wasn’t too difficult. Once work was over, I was to meet one of the other teachers at the gym. I thought I knew the way, but because I wanted to ride my bike there, I took a different route. An hour later, I finally found it (by foot it takes about 10 minutes). I had just missed my workout partner, but was certain that at least now, I knew the way back. It took another hour or so until I reached the apartment after going to the gym. Needless to say, this experience did settle whatever fears I may have had about braving the traffic in Shanghai. So long as you ride slowly, but aggressively, and stay alert of everything in sight and in your periphery, you should be alright.
The next day, I woke up early enough to not hear the morning music ritual from the school (it almost sounds like a cross between a Disney song and an army band, mixed in with a bit of Tai Chi moments), because I had to be at the school gates at 8:30am to get picked up to go to my Tuesday and Thursday work in Nan Qiao (the town outside of Shanghai). I taught my first classes there. The students were for the most part well behaved and wanted to learn. It helped that all my classes that day were all the same grade. When I got back to the apartment, my bike was gone. I guess it wasn’t such a good idea to leave a brand new bike outside that long.
Friday, I went to the gym early in the morning before work, taught my last new classes for the week, and then after lunch, had a one on one with the principle. Apparently, she’s really keen on learning basic encouraging statements like: “Good job” and “I knew you could do it”. It’s going to be interesting having her as a student. I was rewarded with ice cream for my time. A great way to start the weekend.
Afterwards, I had a bit of time to practice salsa and then go meet some of the other teachers for dinner. My roommate, my gymmate and I ended up eating at a restaurant called 021. The food’s good, but the menus are only in Chinese characters. We kind of just chose randomly and luckily, didn’t get anything too strange. From there, my roommate left for work, and my gymmate and I went with one of the other teachers to a small underground bar, where we met the rest of the English teachers in our group. After that, I went by myself to an “air bar” (on the top floor of a highrise) to go dance. It was alright, but not like Zapatas. I ended the night, taking a stroll through a Japanese bar (really weird by the way, think 6o’s psychedelic colors and patterns, with a Japanese sense of cool) which looked like a collection of individual mini bars in their own separate rooms.
On Saturday, I had to go for a medical examination for my work. If the Chinese are really efficient at anything, it’s health care, hands down. The nurses, doctors and attendants worked really well together. Even the waiting time was negligible. After that I headed to the gym, and then had an afternoon of salsa at The Freelance (a bar close to Zapatas) where I met one of the main salsa instructors, and prominent salsa DJs in Shanghai.
A salsa social in the afternoon was actually really nice. It was outdoors, on a wooden deck, shaded by some really tall trees on the outside. The only thing that was a bit out of the ordinary for me, and even for some of the people there, were what sounded like a lot of gun shots close by. Oddly enough, everyone there ran towards the sound and smell of smoke, rather than ducking for cover. So I followed them. You know what they say, “When in Rome…” (Apparently, in Shanghai, if anything catches the attention of a few people, a silent crowd will form around it, just to watch. Not comment. Not take pictures. Not help. Just watch.). After it was over, I was told that what I saw were firecrackers to celebrate someone’s marriage. Who knew?
I crossed the street in front of the bar and ran into my dance partner completely by coincidence. We agreed to met later on to go dancing. I also saw my roommate and went into the Australian expat (expatriate) bar she had gone into. There, I met some of her crew and we went for dinner a little while later. The whole area where all these bars are is really interesting. It’s almost completely geared towards western foreigners, so it’s the one area where you can’t see monolithic apartment complexes everywhere, the streetscape are a little more European-esque, and everything is over priced, even for western standards. But it’s has a nice feel to it.
That evening, I met my dance partner at a place called the “Silver Moon”, where we danced for a couple of hours and then took a midnight stroll down the road towards her apartment. I learned quite a bit about her then. Her English is really good and I didn’t have to slow down or clarify myself for her at all. She’s a translator for a large company in Shanghai, and has modest, but important goals she’d like to achieve in her life. It was really nice to hear, and made me think a lot about my own goals. Some of the comments she made also made me think that we probably don’t think that differently either.
...
The next day I spent most of the day looking for a DVD player in one of the largest commercial districts of Shanghai, Xu Jia Hui, to play some salsa DVDs a friend gave me before I left for my trip. I also helped clean the apartment again (remember what I said about the pollution). I also started to get a little sick. My roommate says I have the “Welcome to Shanghai Cold”. She gave me some bitter tea for it. Hopefully it works.
That night I went out to go salsa dancing again. I think it was probably my best night out so far. I met a lot of really nice people who could either dance fairly well, just really wanted to learn, or at the least, could speak German (Apparently there’s a lot of people that speak German here, for reasons probably relating to China’s long industrial ties with Germany. I knew this already, but I never thought I’d meet them in a Latin bar IN Shanghai). It was a good night.
Monday, it was back to work. I got a call from my boss telling me that he needs to hang on to my passport for another two weeks while he applies for a residence permit for me, and so I couldn’t leave the country during that time. That kind of sucks, since I was planning to go to South Korea during the Chinese National Holiday (the first week of October). Oh well, there’s plenty to see and do in China. I’m looking forward to it.
My job is actually more of a work in progress than my life outside it. I’m still figuring out what is expected of me and how to teach a foreign language to kids no older than 12 with the little knowledge of Mandarin I have and TA’s that don’t speak much English either. The Chinese that I have made some conversation in English with, tend to use the word “maybe” a lot, which actually doesn’t help all that much. For instance: “When should I start work tomorrow?” “Maybe, 8 or 9”. Ok, not so bad. My roommate gave a better example though: “So, I finish work at 3 and the teacher’s meeting is at 5. Is it really important that I be at the meeting at 5?” “Maybe, you don’t have a choice”.
I don’t get it either.
Apart from working out my work schedule, I've been doing my share of shopping for food in the neighbourhood street market. I bought myself a bike and spent a couple of hours on it lost the first day I rode it.
The street market is an experience in itself. Street vendors line the street along the edges in makeshift shops or extensions of existing buildings, while others occupy the median. There are two paths to travel down. No more than 2 meters wide at most, the paths are shared by the ongoing traffic of people, bicycles, and motor scooters. The environment is surprisingly pleasant if you can get over the smell and the starring eyes of nearly everyone you pass by that you make a glance towards. Although a place of business, vendors spend a noticeable amount of time in social conversation or in silent stillness as they await their next reason to be animated. There’s seems to be little pressure on buyers to buy and sellers to sell, despite the fact that the price for nearly everything is, as my roommate says “dirt cheap”. It’s an interesting place for sure.
My bike? I got it after all my food purchases in the morning on September 20th, and rode it for the first time on the street going back to the apartment. That wasn’t too difficult. Once work was over, I was to meet one of the other teachers at the gym. I thought I knew the way, but because I wanted to ride my bike there, I took a different route. An hour later, I finally found it (by foot it takes about 10 minutes). I had just missed my workout partner, but was certain that at least now, I knew the way back. It took another hour or so until I reached the apartment after going to the gym. Needless to say, this experience did settle whatever fears I may have had about braving the traffic in Shanghai. So long as you ride slowly, but aggressively, and stay alert of everything in sight and in your periphery, you should be alright.
The next day, I woke up early enough to not hear the morning music ritual from the school (it almost sounds like a cross between a Disney song and an army band, mixed in with a bit of Tai Chi moments), because I had to be at the school gates at 8:30am to get picked up to go to my Tuesday and Thursday work in Nan Qiao (the town outside of Shanghai). I taught my first classes there. The students were for the most part well behaved and wanted to learn. It helped that all my classes that day were all the same grade. When I got back to the apartment, my bike was gone. I guess it wasn’t such a good idea to leave a brand new bike outside that long.
Friday, I went to the gym early in the morning before work, taught my last new classes for the week, and then after lunch, had a one on one with the principle. Apparently, she’s really keen on learning basic encouraging statements like: “Good job” and “I knew you could do it”. It’s going to be interesting having her as a student. I was rewarded with ice cream for my time. A great way to start the weekend.
Afterwards, I had a bit of time to practice salsa and then go meet some of the other teachers for dinner. My roommate, my gymmate and I ended up eating at a restaurant called 021. The food’s good, but the menus are only in Chinese characters. We kind of just chose randomly and luckily, didn’t get anything too strange. From there, my roommate left for work, and my gymmate and I went with one of the other teachers to a small underground bar, where we met the rest of the English teachers in our group. After that, I went by myself to an “air bar” (on the top floor of a highrise) to go dance. It was alright, but not like Zapatas. I ended the night, taking a stroll through a Japanese bar (really weird by the way, think 6o’s psychedelic colors and patterns, with a Japanese sense of cool) which looked like a collection of individual mini bars in their own separate rooms.
On Saturday, I had to go for a medical examination for my work. If the Chinese are really efficient at anything, it’s health care, hands down. The nurses, doctors and attendants worked really well together. Even the waiting time was negligible. After that I headed to the gym, and then had an afternoon of salsa at The Freelance (a bar close to Zapatas) where I met one of the main salsa instructors, and prominent salsa DJs in Shanghai.
A salsa social in the afternoon was actually really nice. It was outdoors, on a wooden deck, shaded by some really tall trees on the outside. The only thing that was a bit out of the ordinary for me, and even for some of the people there, were what sounded like a lot of gun shots close by. Oddly enough, everyone there ran towards the sound and smell of smoke, rather than ducking for cover. So I followed them. You know what they say, “When in Rome…” (Apparently, in Shanghai, if anything catches the attention of a few people, a silent crowd will form around it, just to watch. Not comment. Not take pictures. Not help. Just watch.). After it was over, I was told that what I saw were firecrackers to celebrate someone’s marriage. Who knew?
I crossed the street in front of the bar and ran into my dance partner completely by coincidence. We agreed to met later on to go dancing. I also saw my roommate and went into the Australian expat (expatriate) bar she had gone into. There, I met some of her crew and we went for dinner a little while later. The whole area where all these bars are is really interesting. It’s almost completely geared towards western foreigners, so it’s the one area where you can’t see monolithic apartment complexes everywhere, the streetscape are a little more European-esque, and everything is over priced, even for western standards. But it’s has a nice feel to it.
That evening, I met my dance partner at a place called the “Silver Moon”, where we danced for a couple of hours and then took a midnight stroll down the road towards her apartment. I learned quite a bit about her then. Her English is really good and I didn’t have to slow down or clarify myself for her at all. She’s a translator for a large company in Shanghai, and has modest, but important goals she’d like to achieve in her life. It was really nice to hear, and made me think a lot about my own goals. Some of the comments she made also made me think that we probably don’t think that differently either.
...
The next day I spent most of the day looking for a DVD player in one of the largest commercial districts of Shanghai, Xu Jia Hui, to play some salsa DVDs a friend gave me before I left for my trip. I also helped clean the apartment again (remember what I said about the pollution). I also started to get a little sick. My roommate says I have the “Welcome to Shanghai Cold”. She gave me some bitter tea for it. Hopefully it works.
That night I went out to go salsa dancing again. I think it was probably my best night out so far. I met a lot of really nice people who could either dance fairly well, just really wanted to learn, or at the least, could speak German (Apparently there’s a lot of people that speak German here, for reasons probably relating to China’s long industrial ties with Germany. I knew this already, but I never thought I’d meet them in a Latin bar IN Shanghai). It was a good night.
Monday, it was back to work. I got a call from my boss telling me that he needs to hang on to my passport for another two weeks while he applies for a residence permit for me, and so I couldn’t leave the country during that time. That kind of sucks, since I was planning to go to South Korea during the Chinese National Holiday (the first week of October). Oh well, there’s plenty to see and do in China. I’m looking forward to it.
posted by Tim | 12:11 AM
1 Comments:
Haha, I know what you mean about the pollution... remember the spitting??
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