Surviving My First Week in Shanghai

 

Los Angeles to Shanghai

I left for Shanghai on the busiest travel day known to man, out of one of the busiest airports in the United States. Not taking any chances of missing this flight, I arrived at LAX at 4am the day before Thanksgiving. After shuffling the weight between my two suitcases to meet the weight restriction of 60lbs per suitcase, I was through security and at my gate in 30 minutes.

With 5 hours to spare, I sat in the American Airlines terminal like this; Face Timing with my best friends, crying a lot, eating a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast, watching the Lakers replay, admiring one of LAX’s giant Christmas trees listening to Mariah Carey holiday music, talking to my parents, and crying some more. I was soaking up all of America’s greats at one time because who the heck knew when I was going to be eating cheese again? (I had heard cheese was super hard to come by in China and I wasn’t taking any chances.)

14-Hours to the Next Chapter

There was such a commotion boarding the plane, that I honestly had no idea what was going on. This was pretty much the beginning of me not understanding anything for a week. Chinese passengers and flight attendants were what appeared to be, yelling at each other and pushing and shoving. There was no formal line, so I just slid through the commotion and boarded the plane quickly rushing to my seat. As I sat there watching everyone get on the plane and not having any idea what they were saying, it was slowly sinking in. In 14 hours, I would wake up halfway across the world in my new home! It felt unreal. Texting my final goodbyes, I put my headphones in, not fully accepting the reality of it. It felt like I was just on another plane going somewhere like I’ve done hundreds of times.

Per the usual, I fell asleep before the plane even left the gate. If you can’t sleep on planes, I’m sorry. My flight consisted of sleeping, waking up, eating, and watching a movie. Repeat for 14 hours. The first meal I had, I drizzled the dressing on top of the cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Right before taking a bite, the entire salad flew all over me! It occurred so fast, I literally have no idea what happened, but there was nothing to salvage. Dressing and cheese all over me! Ugh! I’m still very bitter about this.

Getting Asked Out on a Date in the Shanghai Airport

Five minutes off the plane and unbeknownst to me (as usual) I got asked out on a date by a Chinese American. I really just needed help figuring out which line to get in at customs and the closest person to me happened to be a guy around my age. Eager to assist the American damsel in distress, he helped me figure out which line to get in and as we chatted he offered to introduce me to his friends in Shanghai over the weekend and show me around. Again, I’m oblivious most of the time, eager to meet people in my new city and this sounded harmless so we connected on WeChat.

WeChat is like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Gmail on steroids for the Chinese. It’s for photo sharing, group chat, video, and phone calls, interviews, paying, and so, so much more. It’s not even just the millennials…EVERYONE has WeChat. It’s like the thing. So, of course, I have it but I’m like the 80-year-old grandma trying to figure out how to use it to its full potential. I’m such an amateur.

12 Must-Have Apps You Need for Living in Shanghai

I digress, so my new friend not only helped me through customs, he insisted on helping me with my suitcases and walking with me to the WELCOME area. You know that line you always see in movies with people waiting for you with signs? Yep, someone had my name on a sign! I felt so special and now I feel stupid for not taking a picture of my new friend, co-worker, and Chinese savior, with my name on a sign. When else in my life is this going to happen? Probably never! However, I had just gotten off a 14-hour flight and was already completely overwhelmed with Shanghai that I didn’t take a picture. Total fail.

Saying goodbye to my friend (don’t worry more about him later) Mariah and I wandered the Shanghai airport for a good 30 minutes while she WeChatted our driver to find where he had parked the car. I’m so thankful she was there or else I would probably still be trying to figure out how to get out of the airport. It’s HUGE and everything is in Chinese so I’m pretty useless at this point.

**From here on out I’m not even going to point out that everything around me is in Chinese. I’m in China…everything is in Chinese. I might be able to speak a little Chinese, however, I definitely am not able to read characters yet.

Getting to Know Shanghai

I want to start with a little bit of a side note so that you can understand the dynamic of this city. Shanghai consists of 17 districts with over 24 million people. I live and teach in the South-West of Baoshan District which is in the North-East of Shanghai. My district is clean and beautiful and the buildings are fairly newer, but it is not very Western. 99% of restaurant and store employees do not speak English, which can be misleading when the menu has English on it. I get stared at walking down the street daily and have probably seen 3 other Westerns in the week I’ve been here. Though it’s very challenging, learning Chinese and emerging into the Chinese culture is the main draw to being here.

Huangpu, Xuhui, and Jing’AnDistrict are the most westernized districts with many tourist attractions like The Bund, People’s Square, and the popular shopping district of East Nanjing Road (it’s like Fifth Ave on steroids). Google “Shanghai”, and you will likely see a picture of this area lit up at nighttime. I recently spent the weekend with a friend here and felt like I was in France with an Asian flare.

Welcome Home

My first week was a whirlwind. Jet lag hit me hard for a few days, luckily I had over a week to adjust before teaching. It’s still an adjustment remembering I’m on a completely different day than everyone else most of the time. I’m sleeping when they’re awake and vice versa. World Clock on my iPhone has been a lifesaver. Skype, WeChat, and WhatsApp have also been lifesavers. The homesickness is real and I miss my friends and family, although knowing they are available with a click of a button is very comforting.

Throughout this week, I was shuffling around the city to finish paperwork, receive my health examination, visiting the police station to apply for my residency, updating my SIM card to a Chinese provider, and acclimating to my surroundings. In just a week I’ve experienced and learned more than I could’ve imagined in a lifetime. Here’s a glimpse at my week…

 Outstanding American Preschool

In Shanghai for less than 10 hours and I was on a tour of the school I’ll be teaching at, The Outstanding American Preschool Shanghai. Three stories with 600 hundred students? I’ll definitely be lost for a while. Story of my life. Talk about being overwhelmed, I was introduced to administration and 90% of the Chinese teachers I’ll be working with, and then spent an afternoon with my counterpart foreign teacher.

Besides briefly going over lesson plans, most of the afternoon was spent traipsing around the school while he introduced me to the adorable children I’d be teaching. Seriously, cuteness overload. The second they notice you’ve walked into the classroom they can barely sit still in their chairs. Screaming with joy, waving “hello” and smiling is the norm and let me tell you, I don’t hate it! One little boy ran up and gave me the biggest hug, clinging to my legs as I walked around. I doubt I will have a bad day when I’m with them.

*Update September 2018: pictures of some of my students from my first 2 years of teaching at this school. They are the cutest bunch ever and the silliest little humans!

What the Bleep Did I just Order…

My first week I struggled to order at restaurants and local street vendors. Some days it’s like a fun surprise game of what will show up at my table, other days it’s a frustrating mission where I just want to scream GIVE ME ANYTHING! Not that they would even understand that.

There were days when the temptation was real. Going to the bakery to buy all the sweet goodies and bread because it was easy was always an option. But I didn’t. Though I might add, the Chinese know what’s up with the bread and treats. There are so many bakeries and street vendors with puff pastries and donuts. The variety of bread is out of this world. The rice and noodles have probably already added a size to my jeans. The food overall is out of this world delicious. I’ll take the time now to apologize in advance for the excessive amount of foodie pictures.

Here are the 10 Best Shanghai Snacks to try with their Chinese names written out in characters and pinyin!

Where the Heck is the Toilet Paper?

In addition to ordering food, maneuvering the market, grocery store, and TESCO was an adventure. Some days it completely wore me out.

On my very first day in Shanghai, I had to brave TESCO solo. I needed necessities like bath towels and toilet paper. Mariah showed me where it was on our walk to the school and I set out to wander through the two-story building of electronics, home goods, grocery, and clothing store that is TESCO. I must’ve walked down the aisles four or five times looking for things. Not only is the packaging solely in Chinese (if you’re lucky there are some known brands with English as well) a lot of items are in packaging that is entirely different than in the United States. I searched up and down for toilet paper rolls. Their toilet paper is packaged like Kleenex soft packs and wet wipes. Once I found the right aisle, it took me another 10 minutes to figure out which one was the toilet paper that I should buy.

After making my selections of what I could only hope were the right things, I found my way to the cashier. Not before going to the wrong desk where I was politely pointed in the right direction to the actual cashier, though. This was when I realized everyone had their own bags and I couldn’t tell if they even offered bags. I panicked a little bit, would I have to carry all this a mile home with no bags? I tapped the girl on the shoulder in front of me and luckily she spoke a little broken English to tell me you’re supposed to bring your own bags but could also buy a plastic bag. Fortunately, she even stayed behind to let the cashier know I needed to buy a bag.

It’s how much?

So, on top of the difficulty in picking things out, paying for your items can be a challenge if you’re not sure how much you owe. Many bigger restaurants and stores have a cash register computer that shows the amount, however, some local street vendors and small markets don’t. If you can’t understand Chinese you would assume sign language numbers would work, right? Wrong. The Chinese even have different number signs from 6-10! I quickly learned this after a girl gave me the peace sign followed by the hang ten sign. It was 26RMB, not peace, love and hang ten, hippie.

My ‘First Date’ in China…That I Didn’t Know I Was On

When my new friend from the airport sent me a message on WeChat to meet for lunch before he flew back to Los Angeles, I thought nothing of it. He took me out for my first hot pot experience. Hot pot is all the rave in China, especially in the wintertime! I’ve now been out for hot pot a couple of times and each restaurant is a little different. The general idea is a large pot on a burner in the middle of the table. There is a list of ingredients including a variety of meat, vegetables, and sauces. Either all of the ingredients you choose go in the pot cooking or you add the ingredients and cook yourself.

On this occasion, it was all placed in the pot cooking for us, except the fish. The waitress asked us, well, him because I had no idea what she was saying; if we would like to go pick out our fish from the tank in the back. Um no, no thank you. I’ll pass on this one. I don’t need to see my food alive before I eat it. This is probably one of the few things I will never get used to or be okay with. My friend went and picked out our fish and a few minutes later our hot pot was delivered to the table. My mouth was on fire, it was beyond anything spicy I had ever had. I couldn’t stop eating it, though, the flavor is indescribably delicious.

Crazy Rich Asians

Here is my first clue that this may not have been just a friendly lunch. After sharing that he owns a house on Malibu beach and 3 very expensive cars, he asks when I will invite him back to Shanghai. I politely smiled.

I’m not exactly known for hiding how I feel. It’s usually written all over my face, so when he asked me to ride to the airport with him an hour away to keep him company and then he would have the driver bring me back, it took everything in me to not start hysterically laughing and say hell no! I politely said I would rather get hit by a scooter, er, I mean I had to go grocery shopping!

He still didn’t get the hint then because he proceeded to scoot around to my side of the table, eagerly putting his arm around me to pull me closer to him and have the waitress snap our picture! Followed by an awkward goodbye hug where he tried to sneak a kiss and got my check or the side of my head full of hair, not sure! I literally couldn’t get out of there fast enough, no, no no, that was not my first date in Shanghai!

That’s Not Fog

On my third day here I made the mistake of not checking my Air Quality Index app. (Fun Fact: the Chinese call app’s a-p-p’s with the letters spelled out.) It was nice and sunny out. I spent the entire day wandering around outside, exploring my neighborhood, and the many parks around me. That evening, it felt like a pound of bricks lying on top of my chest. It was so heavy. I couldn’t catch my breath and had a terrible cough. The AQI was red 161. Lesson learned, check the AQI before spending the day outside.

See what other APPs are useful for living in Shanghai here.

The AQI differences between two days in Shanghai:

Navigating the Streets of Shanghai

The streets are insane. I can’t figure out the laws of scooters, bicycles, and automobiles. I’m actually not sure there are any. Pedestrians definitely don’t have the right of way. In many of the busy areas, there is a 4-lane street. It consists of a side street for bicycles and scooters and a sidewalk for pedestrians. Somehow the scooters still manage to almost run me over. For someone like me, this is deadly. I’m constantly looking around in shops, restaurants, and people-watching. I’m taking everything in and then a scooter swerves around me. Quickly, I’m slammed back to the reality of not dying. My friends are constantly pulling me back or putting their arms in front of me. I’m so absorbed in the conversation that I forget the death traps surrounding me.

People, bicycles, and scooters are constantly crossing the street diagonally, turning on red, cutting people off, and honking. When people tell me to get a scooter to get around easier, I just laugh. I’m sorry, I don’t have a death wish. I’ll stick to walking and dodging scooters. It’s part of my new workout routine.

Speaking of working out. I walk 7-10 miles every day just getting around! It’s such a walkable and easy city. I am continuing my personal yoga practice at home and will eventually join a studio and gym nearby. For now, Mariah, my neighbor, and I go for long walks after dinner when the AQI is good or moderate. Besides getting exercise in, we have in-depth conversations that help me understand our cultural differences.

Culture Shock

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