I had been debating the thought of starting a blog for some time. One minute thinking it was a good way to better answer the frequent question, "So how's China?" and the next minute feeling like it was better to just live life as it comes and not spend time posting about it online (the second thought stemming from my irritation of people who seem too busy taking pictures at parties to post for everyone to see later, that it looks as if they have forgotten to actually enjoy the party itself while they are there). But after 2 1/2 months, I have decided to give the popular travel-move-go-abroad blog a-go.
Like moving to any foreign city, I've come to realize that it is the small, odd, daily experiences and bizarre events that have really shaped my time here in Shanghai. Sure the Bund is awesome at night and teaching has been fun, but it's those little incidences that really make me say to myself, "Wow, I'm really living in China". It's those same small stories, however, that are laughed about one minute and forgotten the next...or as soon as China throws another curveball. And let me tell you, China throws at least one curveball a day.
Every time I am asked the question, "So how's China", a jumble of stories about living here and all of China's oddities comes to mind but not knowing where to start or how to explain it all my usual answer is, "China is crazy. It's going really well but WOW, it's so different over here". Vague, I know. Hopefully this blog will help me document and remember these daily experiences that are shaping my time here and also help me better portray what it's really like to live in such a vast and foreign city.
So to wrap up my first post, I will tell a short story about the time that made me really want to start writing things down:
It happened a week or so ago on Friday night, around 7 pm. Alyssa and I knew this day would inevitably come. We had gone across the street to get some street skewers and upon arriving home, we realize that we have both left our keys in the apartment. Oh boy, another curveball. No keys. No Chinese. And we definitely don't have a clue of how to get a hold of our 90 year old landlady. We aren't even sure if she is still alive, she was suppose to come collect rent on the 20th and it had been a week or so since then.
We head down to the first floor and attempt to get help from our security guard (who speaks zero English). After motioning with our hands, "no key", we resort to sitting in the lobby asking every person who walks by if they speak English. After numerous people pass by, a lady who speaks only a few words of English, finally comes to the rescue. She helps us translate and tells us to wait.
About 30 minutes later, an old Chinese fellow walks in with several dirty bags. Where did they find this guy? He's wearing a blazer and ragged white shoes. His gray hair is jelled up in an Elvis-type look. The three of us get into the elevator. Alyssa looks at me and asks, "You think it's the landlady's husband?".
We head up to the 20th floor and arrive at our door. Before doing anything else, he lights a cigarette. He then proceeds to grab a bag of dirty metal tools. A pink Hello Kitty bag. We stand there for about 25 minutes watching him spray WD 40 and jam his metal tool in and out of the hole. His cigarette never leaves his mouth and he ashes all over his blazer.
Finally realizing what he should have 20 minutes prior, he decides that his method isn't going to work and then runs around the corner. He's back in a flash with a wet and dirty plastic bag that he had found in the garbage. Ripping and pulling the bag into long pieces of stretched out plastic, he starts to jam the bag into the hold with another one of his metal tools. Time is ticking and we're beginning to wonder if we'll ever get inside and start our Friday night. Eventually, he figures it out and the gate opens.
Shoving his tools back into his dirty Hello Kitty bag, he demands 160 rmb (you can get a 600ml Tsingtao for about 4 rmb...so we were a little dissapointed to shell out this much cash this early on a Friday night). Bargaining prices down is common here but he was not having it. We decide to let this one go and just pay him the whole 160 rmb. Afterall, he knows where we live and how to get into our house.
Until next time-
CL
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