It has now been 24 weeks since I left Reno and 21 weeks since I left the United States! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be able to call Shanghai my home and that is exactly what Shanghai is becoming. I will say that I have been out of the “honeymoon” phase for quite sometimes now. That phase ends quite soon after the rose colored glass come off and you realize that its actually hard work living in a big city where you don’t speak any of the language. Every task of everyday has to be well planned out. When planning to run any type of errands I have to think of the following:
- how long it will take to get somewhere by means of walking, taking the metro or taking a taxi
- what are the cross streets for the taxi(this includes the vital act of getting the tones rightJ)
- what metro line/stop/direction do I need?
- When I get off the metro where do I go?
- Once I get to my location, will I be able to accomplish my task by myself or will I need
- What Chinese phrases do I need to know and/or what hand motions will help(I am going to be talking with my hand and acting things out EVEN more when I get home than when I left, this is a major way of communicating. We play a lot of charades)
Needless to say its kinda hard to just wing something when we are out and about. We don’t have the fine luxury of jumping into our cars and driving somewhere real fast.
But despite the necessity to have everything planned out and the stress that can sometimes come from the language barrier, life is so less stressful and flows so nicely here. I know that I have to leave my house at 8:15 every morning in order to get to the office by 9:00 in order to have a little time to prepare things for my lessons. I know that I have to hit a certain intersection by 8:22 in order to make it on the 8:30 train. But as strict as that schedule and all of my other commuting schedules are, there is something extremely laid back about not having control of the means of transportation you are using. If I have to wait forever for my bus that I take in between school there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. And this is why I always leave plenty of time to commute from school to school, sometimes you just don’t know when the bus will just cruise on by the stop without stopping!(it did that today so I just barely made it to class on time). And if there is a ton of traffic and I cant cross the street and I get on the 8:35 train instead there is nothing I can do. Its just another area in which you have to roll with the punches here in China. Cabs are a lot easier now that we know the cheat number (the number foreigners can call to have the operator tell the driver in Chinese where to go. It’s a life saver!). And I am pretty much a professional at the metro system now as I explore more of Shanghai and use different lines and learn which lines intersect and which ones close at random hours.
The way that I dress is oddly even more relaxed here in China. One would definitely assume that I would be putting a lot more stress on my wardrobe and what I look like when I leave the house but I don’t at all. There are a few reasons for this. The first being my salary! Haha. I am no longer a poor college student, I am now a poor English teacher. Spending money on clothes is painful because there is so much more to do here. And after all, I am spending my days with 3-6 year olds! They not only do not care what I look like but it would be so annoying to wear something that I couldn’t move in or something that they would just pull or tug or poke at all day long! And the last and perhaps most fun reason is…why not give the people more entertainment when they stare at me? Give them a good story to tell their friends when they tell them they saw a foreigner that day! Add some spice to their story by letting them tell how she was wearing grey baggy sweat pants tucked into black UGG boots with a bright purple hoodie under a black Columbia jacket and bundled in bright pink mittens, a huge scarf and earmuffs in the shape of white hearts with navy blue bows on them. Back in the states I would only wear something like that (minus the earmuffs, don’t think I EVER wore anything like those at home!) to Walmart where all I could drive by myself in my car to the store. But I wore that outfit pick up some dinner with Jami the other night which was about a 15 minute walk down two busy streets. I figure if they are going to stare no matter what, why not have a little fun with it! (this fun includes lip singing to all my music during my commutes)
Now that I have been out of the honeymoon phase for a while, am finding it easier to get around, taking Chinese lessons to help with the language barrier and am having fun with the onlookers, I am really beginning to feel at home here. Shanghai is where I live, it’s my home. I go to work the same way each day. I come home the same way each day. The roads I walk down, the trains I take and the busses I ride are routine to me. I know that on my way to the metro in the morning I will see a girl about my age trying to keep track of a her little brother or son or cousin or something as they walk down the street. I know that I will see the same workers unloading the contents of a truck full of supplies for a restaurant as I exit one of my metro stations. I know I will see the lady that knows my order for some street food by my school working her little station and I will smile and wave at her and she will do the same to me every day. My commute is mine, it’s what I do every day to get to my job. It’s just like the walk that I did hundreds of times from the parking garage by the football stadium at UNR down to campus every day for 4 years, its routine, its way I do.
My place here has become home too. Although it lacks my family and friends from Reno and Phoenix, its where I come home to relax after work. It’s where I come to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Its where I come to crank up the volume and rock out to Taylor Swift. Its where I come to look at all my pictures of the people I love and be reminded of how truly blessed I am which when I am having a rough day helps me recharge and excited again.
As I sat in Starbucks today, seeking the comfort of a place that is the same here as at home (only lacking the extensive menu of the ones at home), an interesting thought came to me “weird that I came to a communist country and feel so liberated”. haha! I don’t stress like I did at home, I find it hilarious to entertain a whim to wear gigantic white heart shaped earmuffs and everyday holds a new adventure or something wacky that will definitely make me laugh. All in all I love Shanghai and feel incredibly at home here. I miss all of my friends and family(Moxi included)more than you can imagine, I am getting teary eyed just writing this sentence, but I am fulfilling one of my dreams and cannot imagine my life any other wayJ
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