Shanghai'd

3 weeks ago, San Francisco Int'l Airport, pre-boarding begins, suddenly a minority - however, conveniently surrounded by multi-lingual asians.  a 11 hour & 40 minute flight, new MacBook Air - hey, what's Photo Booth anyway?

a tailwind most of the way, A Late Quartet on the screen (excellent flick-moving even), attempts at shuteye (translation: kids sleeping on adults in contorted positions, twitching just before adults enter sleepland), Welcome to Shanghai!!

airport is clean, bright, customs-easy peasy, the herd shuffles outside, lo and behold a "Humke Family" sign held by a thin, smily driver, who insists on handling all 7 over-sized bags himself.  a quick drive to Pudong district and we crash our friends' apartment (thank you Matthew and Allison!  what a wonderful way to enter a foreign land!).

shanghai is developed for sure - something like 30 million peeps which, coming from wee ol' Worcester with a population of roughly a thousand, is an eye opener.

4 days spent recovering from Jet Lag and exploring.  the pet market, full of smells and sounds, stands out - buy a cricket, snake, songbird, you name it - they got it.  antique market - thought i might want a small golden dragon so i inquired: 400 RMB (roughtly $65) - shook my head, "boo maio" (not buy), and without another word, the vendor bid himself down to 130 RMB - no dragon; I just stored, sold, or gave away my stuff in the U.S. - not ready to start hoarding all over again quite yet.

people's square - figured the best way to experience China was to dive right in - what's that "a tea ceremony scam" - never heard of it, but sure, we'll try it - once.  welcome to a city where anything goes.  fresh off the boat with memories full of small town comforts, familiar friends, and clear water - country mouse, big city, wallet $85 lighter...

the architecture in shanghai is impressive.  so many details, well executed, curves, cantilevers, experiments in cement, rebar, steel beams, and glass panels - they've done it.  

and escalators everywhere; inside, outside, slanted ramp ways, multi-story.

it's the little differences that have made this adventure so exotic:

    like predictable traffic patterns overlaid with random, culturally accepted deviations; such as a dump truck going the "wrong way" down a street and then taking a "bike/ebike lane" shortcut - assuming all other traffic would yield (which they did - no honking).

  or what about how cars and ebikes (scooters) honk as a driving practice to alert those around them of their presence - it's not an anger or scolding thing - far from it, these people honk to reduce the likelihood of an accident from occurring.

  orange juice being reminiscent of the orange juice i'm used to, but much more watered down.

  an elderly woman dragging herself across the street with help of a cane, talking to herself - oh yeah and completely naked - it was hot (like over 100 degrees F), maybe she was the smart one - kids were somewhat unsettled after witnessing this - something like "that's just wrong" was how they put it.  :)

  new fruits tested, charades and pantomiming daily, sometimes used in desperation just to get home, other times because i have no concern of embarrassment (by far, the most liberating experience thus far) and it's fun!  can you imagine having to use body language, pictionary skills, and multiple attempts to discernibly pronounce a word or phrase in a foreign language in order to locate, purchase, and deliver home a bottle of shampoo?  to be sure, every day is a journey...

i will try to capture these little differences, the golden nuggets, the everyday gems hidden in the lotus flower, and relay them via this blog - ideally on a weekly basis.  my hope is to push my comfort zone often in order to learn, laugh, and have something to intrigue my friends and family back in the states.

next up...we're off to suzhou - to find an apartment, set up base camp, and see what trouble we've gotten ourselves into!  thanks for reading!!