Before I discuss anything else, I have to start with my morning. In short, it has been a series of unfortunate events. I have started battling a vicious head cold/sore throat for the past couple of days and have had difficulty sleeping (it’s SO muggy and I’m not adjusting well for some reason). This morning when I got to school though, I was awoken with a start! Literally. I was plugging in my computer and a HUGE shock went up my arm. My fingers were tingling for quite a while afterwards. The voltage in China is higher than home and I certainly felt it! I think maybe I got the shock because I was sweating. After the shock, I taught a class and came back to my office only to discover that I had left my keys on my desk. My office mate was out so I just spent 45 minutes sitting outside the door in the pouring rain as I needed to get in before my next class and, if I left, I could have missed him. There was a little overhang around the doorframe but the wind would pick up once and a while and the rain would get me. After I finally got in, I got my stuff and taught another class. In this class, some of the students in this class asked me why I looked like a panda. Very confused (Was I fat? Was I cuddly looking?), I asked them to clarify. They asked why I looked like a panda with dark circle around my eyes and were concerned. They asked if I was ok haha. Oh my! After that class, I remembered that I wanted to get a picture of the “old” washroom I discovered the other day. I mentioned before that my classrooms are all in a new building. The washrooms in this building have brand new squatters with doors; this is a luxury many schools do not have. Well, the other day I decided to check out the old washroom as it is closer to my office. I went into a stall only to discover that I was to go in a trough, not a squatter. The trough ran the length of the room and served 8 stalls. The water was running from one end to the other. I was there, so I went. I realized that maybe I shouldn’t when, well, it just….didn’t run. The water was trickling down the trough so it wasn’t strong enough to collect whatever was in the trough. On top of that, there was no waste basket for my tissues, and flushing them is a big no-no in China, so I had to carry them out until I found somewhere to put them. Ugh. As if this wasn’t bad and embarrassing enough (the cleaners will certainly know it was the foreigner that didn’t know protocol), I went back to take pictures of the trough today and the washroom was boarded up! I think it was out of service when I used it which would explain the lack of water flow and the absence of a wastebasket. Needless to say, it was NOT my best morning.
BEFORE all this, though, I was greeted with a delicious fruit salad made by Steph! I currently have two house guests, Stephanie Hagmann (my dear friend from university) and Erin Beaton (one of the originals from home)! Steph arrived this Saturday and we took the Maglev to the city from the airport. The Maglev is the fastest legal means of public transportation on earth, I believe. In less than 2 minutes, we went from 0km/h to 301km/h. That’s impressive.
It was around 9:00PM by the time we were ready to eat so we went to a bar we knew was still serving food. It was Canadian owned so Steph even had a Moosehead beer! We finished eating shortly after 9:30, which was just in time, I guess. The bar was shutting down (on a Saturday night!). The shopping complex the bar was in was even all locked up by 10 and we had to go out the back garbage exit! We were very close to The Bund so we headed there so Steph could see the famous Shanghai skyline. Like everything else in China, even the lights from the skyline were shut down. That’s one thing I’ve always found strange. On a weekend night in Qingpu, the streets are DESERTED by 9:30. It actually started to rain lightly so we grabbed some wine and headed to a hotel Steph found a deal for on the internet and I enjoyed my best sleep in China to date! I don’t know if it was the bed, everything catching up with me, the fact that the room was sound and light proof (NO CAR HORNS!!!) or a combination thereof, but we conked out until about 9:00 AM. This was by far and away my latest sleep-in in four months!
After Steph managed to get her computer working enough to book an online meeting for work (what a loser lol), we got going and met Alyssa and Sara at Central Perk – a coffee shop that mimics the famous coffee shop from the show Friends. We enjoyed some good conversation, hot drinks and flat pizza. From Central Perk, we went to the Fabric Market to try on my tailored blazer (which was great; they just have to move the button!). I knew that if the blazer turned out well, I would order another one, Steph knew that she wanted to potentially get something, Sara was debating it as well and Alyssa was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be ordering anything. WELL! After 3-4 hours (give or take), we left having ordered another 5 blazers, a jacket, 2 dresses and 7 skirts (as well as buying some scarfs and jewellery) between us. OOPS!
After we finally were almost pushed out the market (we were there until they started turning off the lights), we headed to Shanghai Brewery for a drink and bite before we made the trek to Qingpu. Steph spent the night and the next day I shipped her off to Beijing (I had to teach anyway) for 2 nights so she could see the Great Wall before she left China.
On Wednesday (the day I usually write a blog post! Sorry about that!), I left school at lunch time as I have no afternoon classes and I headed into the city to meet Steph who was taking the train back from Beijing. The two of us grabbed some Hagan Daaz, sat and caught up on all her escapades (it poured rain the whole day she was on the wall, poor thing). I then took her to a fake market so we could get some remaining souvenirs and I could teach her the art of bartering.
When I first came to China, the idea of bartering was strange to me. I had a hard time coming up with prices in my head, especially for things like art. In time, though, I’ve become quite accustomed to it and I actually think it’s like a sport in a way. I know now that vendors all have a number in their head that they will not go below and finding that number is where the fun is. Sara and I think that if they are angry, we’ve found that number. I love the challenge of getting them close enough to angry that we know we are in the right range but not so angry that they do not want to sell to us anymore. I also find that speaking Chinese helps 100 fold. I’ve learned how to say things like “how much”, “too expensive”, “too big”, “too small”, etc.) so I have some footing in a conversation. If I like something, I ask the vendor, “how much does this cost?” in Chinese. This immediately lowers the price as I used Chinese. Usually they say something like “oh! For tourists I usually say 800, but for you, you live here, I will say 400”. This usually means I can get said object for under 100 yuan. Walking away is the best tool as is picking a price in your head and sticking to it. Nine times out of ten, I will get what I want for the price I want. Teaching Steph how to bargain was funny as she is very empathetic and wants to trust the prices that they quote. Truth be told, the vendors love bartering, too (or so I’m told).
After getting some fake goods, we grabbed some supper then headed to the Maglev to meet Erin who was flying in from Korea where she is teaching for 18 months. When she landed, we headed to the subway to start our trek back to Qingpu again. Unfortunately, the subway broke down and we sat on it for about a half hour before deciding we needed to try a different route home. I was getting quite nervous about timing as Erin didn’t land until 8 and it’s a good three hour trek from the airport to Qingpu and the last subways and buses run between 11 and 11:30. After taking four different subway lines to bypass the one that was at a stand-still, we did make it to the bus in time and made it back to Qingpu safe and sound!
I have to teach all week so Erin and Steph ventured into the city for a day of exploring together yesterday and came back for Shanghai’s unique dumplings (the one’s I certainly miss) and an evening of hanging out. It was lovely!
….which brings me to today. I already explained my morning and I have classes to dust off this afternoon then I will be heading to dinner with the girls and a couple of my Chinese co-teachers. After that, I will post this on the blog as the internet had been blocked at school all day today and tomorrow for big nation-wide exams (heads up on that would have been nice. It just cut out mid-lesson planning this morning – that’s something else from my morning that was fun!).
I suspect I will only have one or two posts left before I’m back on home soil. Time is ticking!!