Manners and Other Musings

At the beginning of the month, I had the chance to go back to the US for the first time in almost one year. I spent a whirlwind week seeing as many family and friends as possible, spending time at our family’s lake cottage, and stocking up on all the wonderful food I miss back in China.


There were a few observations I had while I was home:

1. The air was so clean! I think the sky was blue every day I was home; unlike the questionable Shanghai gray we have the majority of the time.

2. Everything was so quiet! It was like I was wearing earplugs, even when my dad picked me up at O’Hare. There was no superfluous honking or piercing Shanghainese being thrown around.

3. The grocery stores seemed 50 times larger than I remembered! We shop in grocery stores that are equivalent to Walgreen’s in terms of square footage, so I found it extremely entertaining to just wander down the many aisles of Jewel and Target taking in all the products. The cleanliness of these stores was also impeccable. Our local grocery store has a cat that lives in the grocery store that loves to climb over the food.

4. People seem so friendly and polite! Of course, after living in China for 11 months, I've found the culture leaves a lot to be desired in terms of western manners (note previous blog references to pushing and spitting). I sneezed while in line at the gas station, and the cashier said ‘bless you’. I almost hugged him! There are no customs when it comes to excusing someone when they sneeze, so every time I say 'bless you' to one of my colleagues out of habit, I hear giggles from the peanut gallery. My Shanghainese assistant confessed that the office thought I was a religious zealot as they assumed I was religiously 'blessing' everyone from time to time.

5. Everything was extremely easy. I could read the labels at the grocery store, and when I had a question, I could understand 100% of the answer, as opposed to bits and pieces with my kindergarten level of mandarin. It was wonderful!

After a fun week spent relaxing at our lake cottage, taking a mini road trip with my best friend to Indiana University and her new home at the University of Illinois (we both decided the former is WAY better), hanging out in Flossmoor with family, and trying to eat every type of food I miss and can’t get in China, I was ready to get back to the chaos of Shanghai. Granted, life is a lot easier and more comfortable in the states, but the trip home made me realize I still have lots of adventures (not to mention a pretty cute partner in crime) waiting for me on the other side of the world.

Walk to Work with Tiffany

One of the benefits of my job is it’s a 20 minute walk from our apartment. While I do spend part of the walk looking at the ground to make sure I don’t step in any byproducts of the Chinese spitting custom, I try to make sure I pay attention to the myriad of things going on around me. I’ve managed to capture a few of these on film:

Across from my office, they have a senior citizen version of 'Mad Hot Ballroom' every day. It's great to see Chinese people do the rhumba in this heat. I don't know how they do it!








I was initially trying to get a picture of these smelly crawfish, but this patron was so excited I was taking his picture, he ended up being the subject. He was shocked and thrilled when I showed it to him on the digital camera.







Extremely popular this time of year is the sun umbrella. Ladies across the city protect their lily-white skin from unsightly, low-class tans. From a practical standpoint, though, it does keep you cooler with the mobile shade producer. Zach and I are wondering how hot it's going to have to get before we get our own his and her's umbrellas.....I have to say, we're getting close!








People always seem to be moving things in any way possible throughout the city. Whether it's dragging huge mounds of things by bike, or in this picture, baskets of fruits by crude yokes, things get moved! Thank god massages are so cheap here, those people's shoulders must be wrecked!








I always pass this man doing his exercises in the park. I have to give him props for his trendy adidas track pants and innovative workout moves!











China boasts an 86% literacy rate and it shows. The government posts all the major newspapers (including one in english print) at various places throughout the city. You can always find readers grouped around at any time of day.








In the past 12 months I've noticed the safety laws (as well as helmets, car seats, and seat belts) are.....non-existent in China. The no helmet, stand-up and look over the front of the motorbike method of getting your child to school is extremely popular in traffic-choked Shanghai. Something tells me Britney Spears should move to China, as the Chinese would be a lot more forgiving of her questionable parenting skills......











Without the burden of a pesky helmet, it's easy to stop for a cut and a shave at your local sidewalk barber!












I admit, I may have owned a plastic visor or two back in the eighties, but these full face ones freak me out. Granted, I'm sure they're great for blocking out the sun, air pollution and any stray spit that may come your way while whizzing through the Shanghai streets, but they still look pretty freaky!


All in all, I have to say the 40 minutes I spend walking to and from work are usually a highlight of my day. I am always guaranteed at least one or two 'only in China' sights or smells.........

Meanwhile, back in China...

Tiffany is out of town for the week, back home in Chicago, enjoying all the wonderful quiet and cleanliness that we have learned to appreciate from our time in China. In her absence, I thought I would just put together a few odds and ends for an entry.





China is no place for the claustrophobic, or those who fear crowds (known as "enochlophobia", I found out, but couldn't find the origin of that word. Enoch was a biblical character, but I didn' t read anything about his particular fear of crowds. Isn't the internet great?!)








And judging by this city model layout at the Shanghai Planning Museum, no one expects the crowds to lessen any time soon. It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but basically the colored buildings already exist, while the white buildings are planned construction. It looked to me like about 60% of the model was built, and 40% were still to come.




Luckily, the Chinese are not "xenophobic" and have been very friendly and welcoming to us as strangers in their home country. Of course, along with that they are quite curious and practiced masters at the art of non-subtlety.

I know I've mentioned this before, but the Chinese are admirably open with their feelings, in the sense that they seem to be saying, "Hey, I'm curious. Of course I'm going to stare!" whereas in America that seems to have become a cultural faux pas and downright rude. But the Chinese don't mean any offense by it, and we (well, Tiffany really) have gotten sort of accustomed to it. Basically, it doesn't surprise us anymore, but it still makes us laugh.


Which isn't to say that sometimes we don't grow weary from all the crowds and staring and noisy surrounds. Sometimes we just want a timeout, a brief respite from the action, hide out from everybody and maybe take a quick nap.

And we are fortunate that China has essentially three weeks of national holidays, National (or Golden Week) holiday in October, Chinese New Year in February, and Labor Day in May. Last year we stuck around for National holiday and Chinese New Year, but now we know better. These holidays are the perfect chance to get out and see some of the sights of Asia. And if we can find a nice place to relax as well, all the better!


Let's see, what else? I had a few opportunities to meet some interesting people lately. One was Colin Powell, who spoke in Shanghai a few weeks ago. He seemed like a very nice man, and pretty down to earth for a general.









And then I attended a Wharton-sponsored event with the Undersecretary of Commerce, Frank Lavin, with Mark and Meredith, who are our friends here in Shanghai, and my classmates from Penn. The part of the speech that I remember was the US urging China to crack down on piracy, which made me think, "Ooh, I wonder when the new Pirates of the Caribbean will be available at our fake DVD store?" but then I realized Mr. Lavin was speaking about intellectual property rights and was actually trying to stop the widespread sale of fake DVD's... But honestly, I don't think I would know where to buy a DVD that wasn't illegally copied! It's not like there is Blockbuster down the street, or Netflix. (That's not an excuse, by the way, it's just the feeble justification we fake-goods loving expats like to counter with.)



Finally, here is a slightly disturbing find from our weekend trip to Sanya. It was in the closet. In case of fire, it is an air filtration mask, I believe. I suppose it is very practical and should be reassuring to have on hand, but that picture made me think of some sci-fi apocalyptic movie. The Chinese could really learn from Americans, I think, and remove that blunt honesty tendency in this case. I suggest replacing that picture with a Disney cartoon character, for a more G-rated, gentle image.


So that's it for now. I found some expats who play football (American with your hands, not European/Asian/everywhere else in the world with your feet), and went out for a few hours yesterday to run around. I am as a result sore beyond belief, and groan and make pained, complaining noises every time I sit down or get up, like an 80-year old man. (Signs You Are Getting Old #41.)

P.S. Oh, wait, I almost forgot. My sister, Lisa, was written up in the San Fran paper recently. I was just so proud, because I finally see the result of all my years of hard work being her older brother paying off ;) Here is the link to the article, and I am also proud to see that 5 of her 10 favorite local haunts are food places!

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/07/23/LVGS2K1CTK1.DTL&type=travelbayarea

It is strange to see her objectively as an adult and successful career woman. For some reason, I still think of her as my little sister...