Our guide on Friday was particularly interesting. His Chinese parents moved to the Netherlands where he was raised speaking no Chinese. His parents spoke a rural dialect that most Chinese cannot understand. After he graduated college, he decided to come to China for a year to learn Chinese before returning to Europe to pursue a career in business. After the year, he realized that he was not proficient, so he stayed. Seven years later, he is fluent although he says he still often encounters words that he does not know. And Europe has lost a businessman.
My first encounter with my tour company was rather inauspicious. A guide and driver were to pick up Kasey and me at 6:30 to take us to the acrobatics show at 7:30. We were ready and left at 6:15 as they said the traffic was bad. After twenty minutes, we had gone only two blocks, so Kasey asked him where the show was. Since she knows Shanghai, she realized that we could never make it on time in a car, and she suggested that we take the Metro. The guide realized that she was right and agreed. Duh! So we went into the Metro. The first car that came was so crowded that the classic movie chase scene happened: I got on and the doors shut before Kasey and the driver could enter. I didn't know what to do, but Kasey had role played this scenario with her four year old daughter, Ruby. She signaled to me to get off at the next station. I did and they arrived a minute later on the next train which was amazingly not crowded. Whew! First crisis avoided. We arrived at the show with ten minutes to spare. The driver got there with the car at 8. The Shanghai Acrobatics show was not quite what I expected as there was almost nothing that I would call acrobatics. Rather, the acts involved strength, balance, and unique talents. I have seen similar acts before, but these really were at an incredibly high level. I think the juggler was the best I have ever seen. And one highlight was the dance with hula hoops. I saw it with my own eyes but kept saying, that is just impossible.
On Saturday we took a breakfast food walking tour. Before I came to China, I was told that Chinese food in China is not what we think it is in America. But in my first few days, I saw dumplings, green onion pancakes, barbecued meat, and lots of noodles - exactly like the Chinese food I eat in California. Yes I saw some foods that I did not recognize and others that I will never try (pig cheeks? duck head?), but most of the food was very familiar to me even if the menus were unreadable. On our breakfast tour, the guide introduced us to some Shanghai specialties that I had never seen before. And I liked them. This guide was very interesting, too. An American who had majored in Asian religions, he came to China after college, also for a short time. That was fifteen years, a wife, and twin toddlers ago.
I knew that people do tai chi in the parks in China, but did not expect to see ballroom dancing or singing. Retired people come to the parks every day to socialize and practice different things. The group below is doing line dancing while the man writes ancient Chinese verses with a paintbrush and water. The verses disappear as the water evaporates and he keeps on writing.
After the food tour, I set off on my own to obtain a Chinese sim card. I had rough directions to two stores and walked up and down a half mile long block looking for them, but saw no phone stores. So I walked back to a mall that I was told had a store, and found one right in the central area. But the lone clerk there did not speak English. So I started asking likely looking people (young, college age, dressed well) if they spoke English. They all looked at me as if I were speaking Chinese ... I mean, English. Finally, the fifth person I asked said yes, and I was so shocked, I said: really? I asked her if she could help me buy a sim card, so she talked to the clerk for me. Turns out he could only sell to Chinese people; foreigners had to go to a Chinese Telecom store. She told me there was one at the end of the long block I had walked up and down (but had not turned the corner), and she insisted on escorting me. She walked with me half a mile to the store which turns out to have closed. So she called someone on her phone to find out the next closest store to go to. It turned out to be about a mile away and she again insisted on escorting me. I told her I could go by myself if she gave me directions but it turns out that she was more directionally challenged than I am. She could only follow directions on her phone and that seemed to confuse her a bit. Anyway, the store was there, she took me in, and negotiated my purchase. Mission accomplished. Then she went to a nearby Metro stop and I walked back to my hotel. She was not much of a conversationalist in English, but as near as I could tell, she had not attended college but learned English in high school and does not use it for her work. She works in some kind of technology center, but is not a scientist, "just a worker" - whatever that means. I was impressed by her English ... and her determination to help me. Also, she did not carry a purse or backpack. She had only two things with her: an umbrella (for the sun) and her phone. Credit cards are rarely used in China and all of the Chinese have an app on their phones that they use for paying for everything directly from their bank accounts. There is no need to carry a wallet or pocketbook. I like to keep a couple hundred dollars on me and pay cash for everything, and that turns out to be a minor problem here. Since the largest bill is 100 yuan (about $15) you can't put too much money in your wallet.
This morning we all went to Century Park which has a lake, sand area for playing, a small amusement park, and miles of paths and green area. The park was full of Chinese families which are, typically, a young couple with one or two children accompanied by at least one grandmother who is actually pushing the stroller or watching the children, and maybe a grandfather.
Some random pictures from Shanghai. First, part of the menu from the coffee shop we visited on the food tour. Shanghai is cosmopolitan.
And Kasey's family vehicle.
I am leaving for Beijing tomorrow morning. I was scheduled to be picked up at 8 for the ride to the airport but the guide said we should leave at 7:30 because traffic is bad. Hmmm. Sounds familiar. I hope I make the flight.
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