Shanghai

I finally got to Shanghai at 7:15 in the morning on September 15th.

I felt pretty tired, but knew I couldn’t let it show because I’d be meeting my new boss soon. One of his assistants came to pick me up and took me to his office on the other side of the city. It was a really good way to see the city at a glance. Shanghai’s pretty much what I thought it was going to look like. Big, bold, and trying really hard to be the face of the new China.



Once getting to the office, I was greeted by more of my new boss’ assistants and was told to wait. When I finally met him, he briefly told me of the day’s schedule and made absolutely sure that I liked Chinese food. Apparently, this has been an issue with his former employees. I tried some afterwards. I think it was ok.

The rest of the day consisted of me getting all the essentials like an introduction to the school and the rest of the teachers, a school picture, a cell phone, a Chinese power cord adapter and an account with the Bank of China. My rented accommodations would have to wait until tomorrow, so I was given a hotel room in the meantime.



Saturday was an interesting day. I spend most of the day moving into my new roommate’s apartment about a 2 minute walk from the school I’d be teaching at. I thought that I would just quickly move my stuff in (or slowly I mean, remember the luggage?), and then go about my way finding out things for myself. That’s where I was wrong, at the best time to be wrong. First off, let me just quickly introduce my new roommate to you: She’s an Australian born, bachelor of arts, pole dancer, who is a self-assessed insomniac, and for all practical purposes is fluent in Mandarin (once upon a time in Japanese as well), and will work with me at the school, but works nights at a Mexican bar. Mexican bar?… Salsa???

Yes, salsa. It wouldn’t be until the next day that I’d witness that.

In the meantime, I had so many other questions about the city and our new shared space that I had to ask. She was really helpful with everything. I found my way around our neighbourhood, and figured out a whole host of things that would have definitely taken me a month otherwise. She’s also ok with me setting up a little practice space for dancing in the apartment. I couldn’t have asked for more.

The next day I felt like I had to do my part.

Shanghai’s a pretty polluted city. The air is thick and a little sharp in your throat. A film of gray residue collects on the top of anything solid. The apartment is no exception to this rule. So, I started to clean the place. I don’t think I’ve ever done a more thorough cleansing job. Organizing however, yes.



The two of us spent the rest of the day getting various things for the apartment, until we went out in the evening to her work. Sunday is her only day off, but she said she didn’t mind going out this once with me.

Zapatas – Shanghai’s place to go for salsa on a Sunday night. It was great. I met a lot of people there. A good mix of talent and music. The crowd itself kind of reminded me of back home, just it wasn’t them. My roommate says she doesn’t dance salsa, but upon entering the dance floor, a girl approached me and asked me if I wanted to dance. From that point on, there was no stopping me. I was on the dance floor for good (or at least until I felt I had to go). The energy there was good. At the end of the night I asked the same girl who approached me first if she’d like to be my dance partner and practice more regularly. She said that she’d been looking for the opportunity to do that.

I can’t believe my luck here. I knew I wanted to practice my salsa while I was in Shanghai (of all places, I know), but I didn’t expect things to work out like this. As I’ve heard so often over this past year, I guess “everything happens for a reason”.

…



Yesterday was my first day teaching. It was a lot like the job I had back home, only in China. The school is really nice and I get a free lunch and internet use. I can’t say much about work yet, but so far so good.

After work, I decided to do some exploring on my own. Looking for some clothes (mens clothing is actually not as easy to find or as cheap as you might think), looking at bikes (bicycles, why not?), and trying to purchase some mirrors (for the apartment, for dancing).

Today, I got a membership to a local gym, got the mirrors I purchased the day before installed (with the help of my roommate), and practiced a bit of salsa in front of them for the first time. I’m getting really excited about getting into it here.

I also toured the second school I’ll be teaching at on Tuesdays and Thursdays in a smaller town outside of Shanghai. ‘Small’ though, is a very misleading description of the town. Remember, this is China. 1.3 billion people. It’s big. If there’s anything I’ve learned from these past few days (especially my mirror shop experience), it’s that I’m really going to have to get good at Mandarin. And pretty fast.