So I must admit that it is pretty great working at the Shanghai Zoo. Sure, zoos in general are kind of depressing and cruel, and Zoo in China, somehow seem to be even worse, but even so, having the zoo in our backyard is a pretty fabulous escape. I will probably never have the opportunity to work at another school within a zoo, so I figure that I should take full advantage of it.
In the beginning of the year, the parents sign a general permission slip that grants us the ability to take the children to the zoo whenever we want (why else would parents send their child to the school at the zoo?). I try to take my kids weekly just to get out of the classroom and explore a bit. The older kids go to the zoo for projects and activities, and sometimes the special teachers take the kids to the zoo to paint outside, or play soccer. Wait, wait… let me get back on track. The point of this is not to talk about how awesome the zoo is, it is to tell you about how frustrating a zoo visit can be! Let me explain.
Now, I am the first to admit that I have the most adorable class at RBIS – then again, I probably have the most adorable class in all of China (yes, they are that cute). I understand that when I take my children to the zoo that people will admire them and aww at them the way any adoring adult would do in the US from a distance. However, what really annoys and upsets me is how I feel like my children are an exhibit at the zoo, on display. I swear, Miki and I spend more time telling strangers to stop talking to our children, stop touching them, and stop taking pictures of them then we do actually interacting with them on our field trip. I am pretty sure that I have written about this before because I had a problem with it with my last class as well, but it is pretty much out of control. Let me tell you about our trip today…
Spur of the moment, we decided to pack up and head out. The weather was beautiful and our kids are doing great (even the new ones aren’t crying anymore). Within the first five minutes of being in the zoo, we had to yell at several people trying to take their pictures and had to shoo away a crowd that was forming around us as we walked. Once in the alligator house, the pictures continued and we had to yell at three different old ladies who kept touching our kids - touching their faces and playing with their hair (it is always the blonde and curly hair kids that they like). It only got worse as we walked to the snack room when some guy actually tried to pick up one of our kids. You have got to be kidding!
Now here is the thing to understand, up until the 1980’s foreign expats were not allowed access into China, so for the majority of their lives, they never encountered foreigners, which is why the older generation is so fascinated with foreigners (the ones that really throw them for a loop are blondes and blacks). Additionally, Chinese culture is very different in regards to personal space and children. It is not considered rude to touch another person, or take their pictures, and it would not be odd for a Chinese person to walk over to a stranger and ask to hold their baby. Although problems still exist, they don’t have the same paranoid worries about child abduction or inappropriate child conduct.
Well anyway, while our kids were sitting on a bench, minding their own business, just eating their snack, a group began to form around us, just staring at the kids. Although I knew it was “harmless” I still wanted to yell at them all for being creeps! I said to Miki (who is my Shanghainese assistant), “How do you think they would feel if they were in a foreign country and people just gathered around them to stare.” She stared laughing because she knows how Chinese culture is, but she also knows how opposite American culture is. She told me, they just stare because they think the kids are beautiful, and when they see something beautiful, they want to take pictures. Sometimes it just baffles me. I mean, there are plenty of Asian kids in the US, and we don’t start taking pictures of them just because they are Asian in America…
So Amy and I finally made it to Nanjing for the holiday J We left bright and early Wednesday morning, and we planned to stay through Saturday or Sunday. As soon as we made it to Nanjing, our first task was to purchase our train tickets to get back home. I thought it was going to be a little bit difficult, but it ended up being rather simple. Sure, we waiting in line for quite some time, but we couldn’t complain much after we had tickets in our hands with the correct destination. So anyway, we headed straight to our hostel near the center of the city, called Traveler’s Soul Inn.
Although the hostel was near the city, the location itself was rather interesting. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and it looked as though it was in a refurbished dorm building in the middle of an old abandoned college campus. It sure had a lot of “character” but in all honesty, it was a bit bazaar when we were walking around and trying to find our way out of campus. Anyway, the hostel was great – clean, friendly, cheap. We opted for a dorm style room with six beds (co-ed) with clean bathrooms and plenty of storage space for all of our stuff. We dropped our bags and headed out to the city.
We first stumbled up on to the city wall. Years and years ago, most of the main cities in China built city walls around the central area as a form of protection against the enemies. Currently, the majority of the walls have been taken down, but some parts still stand as tourist areas. Well we ventured to the city wall where we wondered in and out of the military caves, botanical gardens and little museums that we built inside the hideaways of the wall (rather interesting feature), and eventually climbed to the top of the wall to overlook the city. I mean, let’s be honest, it is no great wall, but it was still pretty cool.
After the wall, we headed toward the Confucius Temple near the center of the city. Now this was one thing that I actually did do last time that I was in Nanjing (really the only thing), but of course, Amy wanted to see it to. Apparently, they were having a celebration of the anniversary of Confucius’s birthday and the whole thing was decorated completely different than I remember. Last time, it was Spring Festival and it was crazy busy, but thankfully, it was rather empty this time around. Instead of pushing and shoving through the crowd, we actually got to casually walk around and enjoy the temple, which is beautiful. The unfortunate part about the temple is that everything is in Chinese, so I feel like a lot of the important history is lost for me so I don’t exactly know what is going on, but I still enjoy it.
Surrounding the temple are rows and rows of market shops and whatnot, so we wondered around, enjoyed some sticky fruit and street food, before heading back to the hostel. We changed, cleaned up and headed out for dinner to the 1912 district (the huge pedestrian bar/restaurant area). Just as we got out of the taxi, I had said to Amy, “I would really love a foot massage. We should try and find a place…”. Less than 30 seconds later, someone handed us a coupon for 38 RMB off a foot massage. It seemed like fate, so we couldn’t pass it up. The massage was spectacular, and we both nearly fell asleep. Next, of course, we ate at Blue Marlin. The funny thing about that restaurant was it was the only restaurant that we ate at the first time I was there because it was the only thing open during the holiday. Although it was good and everything, by the end of our vacation I never wanted to eat there again. However, I return back to Nanjing and the first restaurant that we eat at is Blue Marlin. In all honesty, the food is good, and it was the only thing that sounded good at the moment. We sat and ate and listened to the live band for a while, and even though they messed up our order three times, the food was good.
That night we crashed and thankfully, no one in our hostel snored (that is the worst!). We slept in the next morning, so we woke up nice and refreshed for our day full of hiking! In the northern area of Nanjing, they have a large mountain range called Zi Jin Shan or Purple Mountains. They are loaded with lots of different hiking trails, and tons of Pagodas, temples and mausoleums and such, and I am pretty sure that we say everything that there was to see on the entire mountain. We bought a day pass to enter the national state park and explored just about every inch of the trails. We saw a beamless hall, Linggu Temple, Linggu Pagoda, the Tombs of Dengyanda, Fanhongxian, and Tan Yankai, Yingchao Temple, The Dr. Sun Yat-sen museum and mausoleum and more.
The Linggu Pagoda was pretty neat. It sat pretty high up on the mountain and we climbed nine floor up to the top. It had a really great view. Poor Amy was cringing a little bit trying to look over the edge, but it was really beautiful at the top.
So this Dr. Sun Yat-sen guy was pretty important… He is known to be one of the greatest leaders of modern China, and revolutionary after assisting with the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. He based his potical principals on nationalism, democracy and the interst of the people, and he traveled internationally to promote and protect The People’s Republic of China. Unfortunately, he did not live long enough to follow through, and his party soon split and formed an alliance with the communist party, but he made great strides when it came to forming The People’s Republic of China.
Dr. Sun had an entire museum dedicated to his life and the political journey for the people of China. Additionally, there was a GIGANTIC mausoleum built in his honor. Now I must say that when I die, I don’t want my dead body taking up any more space than it has to, no matter how important I become (and I plan on being really important), but this guy basically had a small city built in his honor, and the only purpose it served was to honor him. The main buildings of the mausoleum include the Memorial Archway, the Mausoleum Gate, the Tablet Pavilion, the Sacrifice Hall, and the Coffin Chambers (all in a straight line built going up in the Purple Mountains). It is more than 700 meters from the Archway to the Coffin Chamber with more than 400 steps between the two, 10 terraces and several botanical gardens. Now we trucked all those steps and whatnot to get all the way to the top. It was crazy busy and crowded with people, but once we made it to the Coffin Chamber for the BTV (breath taking view), it was well worth it! We were deep into the mountains, and the sky was nearly clear so we could see a lot of the mountains (pretty rare).
After that day, we were beat so we headed back down the mountain and found ourselves at a small Spanish restaurant near our hostel where we enjoyed a bottle of wine and some delicious food. Again, we crashed by 11:00 that night, knowing that we still had one more day of hiking left before we had to head back. However, the next morning, poor Amy woke up with gigantic blisters on her feet from the previous day of hiking, and she was in a bit of pain so our hike turned into a half hike, half sky lift into the mountains. I can’t say that I was upset about it though, I was pretty sore myself after all the walking, climbing and stairs. The lift was actually pretty neat too. It took us a little more than half way up, but we got to enjoy a beautiful view of the mountains during the slow ride. Once we made it to the end, we hiked the rest of the way to the highest peak of Purple Mountain. Unfortunately, it was not a fabulous day for it L By the time we made it to the top, the sky was so hazy that it was like looking out on a dirty lake. Nonetheless, the hike was nice and it was not too busy.
So I forgot to tell you, earlier that morning before we left the hostel, we had asked about a hot spring nearby. I have been to one before, but we found another one not too far that sounding divine, so we thought we would check it out. The only problem was that it was at least a 100 RMB taxi ride each way plus 150 RMB for the actual hot spring, and since we were ballers on a budget for the week, we wanted to save a little money and take a bus out there instead. The lady at our hostel told us that it would be easy, peasy. She told us where to go, what to say and even wrote down something for us to show to the bus driver…
Ok, so after our hike, we went to the train station (where she told us to go to catch the bus). We asked several different police officers to point us in the right direction of the correct buses; yet, each police officer told us something different. We were getting pretty frustrated, and by this point, it was already after 5, and who knew how long it would take us to actually get there, and we didn’t even know where to go after we got off the bus, so we decided to scrap the hot springs idea and go get full body massages instead (we figured it was comparable).
Our next challenge was jumping on the metro. Ok, I should tell you that the metro system in Shanghai is incredibly simple. You could be an absolute dumby and not speak a lick of Chinese and still be able to manage just fine. I mean, you go in, get your card, go down the stairs and jump on the metro… Nanjing’s metro system is not quite as simple. There is nothing electronic (which is different), everything is mostly in Chinese, and it is extremely complicated to navigate through. Also, because they only have three metro lines (compared to Shanghai’s eleven), they are jam packed full of people pushing and shoving in all directions – which made it even more complicated for us who didn’t even know what direction we were supposed to be going.
We toughed it out, and made it out alive, but I assure you that it was no easy task. I have never been more thankful to be above ground after that! Well anyway, we walked to go and get massages (I can’t complain much except the fact that my masseuse left two huge bruises on my back) and had some cheap Chinese for dinner before heading back to the hostel for the night. We called it in extra early because we needed to be to the train station by about 8 and we were going to give the bus system another go in the morning… however, that turned out the be the worst idea ever!
Again, we asked the lady at the hostel about using the bus, but she had no clue and in fact, she suggested the metro (eff that), but we had a business card from the hostel that specifically said that buses 110 and 134 went to the train station and had stops near the hostel. So we jumped on 134. Once I realized that we were not heading in any kind of direction close to the train station, I began questioning the bus driver. In fact, the bus not only did not go to the train station, but it went in the opposite direction. UGH! Thanks for the information hostel! So in our attempt to save a little money, we ended up on the other side of Nanjing, but crunching for time, so we had to jump in a taxi which ended up costing double what it would have been from the hostel! Well, you live, you learn. China never seizes to amazing, and I am never disappointed by the adventures I set forth on because they never go as planned!
Long story short, we made it to the train station and to our train on time and we made it home to Shanghai. It was funny because when we were boarding the train, Amy was telling me how happy she was to be going back to Shanghai, to our comfortable bubble! It is interesting how much Shanghai has spoiled us! I think it took me several months to realize that, however, Amy has become spoiled a little bit sooner J
I know that I have written before about how difficult it can be to buy train tickets for traveling… I am a firm believe that everything is more difficult in China. Actually, I take that back… if something if simple in the states, then it is difficult in China. However, if it is difficult in the states, then it is easy-peasy here. I just don’t understand.
Well anyway… Amy and I decided to take a mini vacation of National Holiday Break. We had an entire week off, but unfortunately, we were ballers on a budget, so we had to stay cheap and close. We decided on Nanjing. Although I have been there before, I did not get to do a whole lot because it was Chinese New Year and everything was closed down. I figured a second round was in order so that I could really enjoy the city. To be honest, there is so much history behind Nanjing and so much to see that I feel I was cheated on my first trip.
So Amy and I decided on Nanjing, so one day after school we headed to the train station to purchase our tickets. See the thing about buying train tickets here is that we have no way of looking up train times or prices or anything because the websites are only in Chinese. However, even if I could look up the information on line, we still have to actually purchase them at the train station because they cannot be purchased on line. We wanted to go as soon as possible because everyone in China travels during National Holiday Break (it is like our spring break) so tickets go fast!
Upon our first trip to the train station, as soon as we were getting off the metro, I realized that we did not have our passports. Of course, in China we cannot buy anything without our passports and because our trip to the metro was not planned before we were already at work, neither of us thought about it. The next day (passports in hand), we made our second journey back to the train station. Upon our second attempt we were told that tickets were not being sold prior to six days out from departure. Although the rule is usually ten, during holidays the government changes it to six to keep people from buying up all the tickets. Frustrated, we headed back home empty handed, yet again. On the third attempt, less than a week out from our departure day, we decided to give a travel dealer a try… there was an office much closer to our apartment than the train station is, and we figured we already had some failed attempts, what’s one more? The thing about dealers is that they only get a certain amount of tickets for each train trip, so the dealers could be sold out, but the station still have some available, and vice versa.
We waited in line for nearly an hour. While I ran to the store to grab some water, Amy suddenly advanced in line to the front window and panicked! She doesn’t speak any Chinese and the women behind the window didn’t speak any English so she yelled at her the next person pushed her aside. When I got back, I called my Chinese speaking friend so that she could relay our ticket arrangements to the lady, but they ticket lady was less than helpful and refused to talk on the phone. Again, the next person in line, push me aside to buy her tickets. Finally, I jumped in front and pulled together every word of Chinese I knew to communicate what I needed to this lady, and low and behold, she actually understood and we were actually able to buy our tickets to Nanjing.
The other thing about buying train tickets is that you can only buy tickets from your departure station because the stations are not linked. So I can buy my ticket from Shanghai to Nanjing from the Shanghai station, but I cannot buy my tickets from Nanjing back to Shanghai until I am in Nanjing…. So there was a good chance that we would not make it back due to the heavy traffic during the weekend returning from Nanjing. We shall see….
I have said this from the start – people always leave. That is my life here in Shanghai. No one stays here forever. Most people are just passing through on their journey… visiting, stopping briefly for a couple weeks, a couple months, or maybe a couple years (if you’re lucky), but no one stays forever. Part of that is why I think Shanghai is so interesting exciting, unpredictable. It is incredible all the different people that I encounter and each with their own unique story, their own journey… but it is also the most depressing part.
I guess by now I should be used to it. I should learn to not get attached to people, but it is difficult! Just about every friend that I made when I first got out here has moved on. Some went back home, back to the states, or moved on to the next destination.
The story was no different for Chris. Chris was a guy I met a while back through a mutual friend and softball. We clicked instantly. He had a girlfriend, but that did not stop us from talking and getting to know each other. We were both in it to make friends and get to know knew people! He was awesome and probably my best guy friend since I came out here. Back when I went camping, he was one of the guys on the trip. It was the first time that I met his girlfriend, and although I instantly did not like her, I made peace with her for Chris’ sake. He tells me that his girlfriend, Amanda didn’t much like me, but I don’t really care. I never did anything wrong and it is not my fault that Chris and I were better friends than her and I – she was stuck up and not the friendly type per say, but always nice to my face.
Anyway, I hung out with them all the time. I would go to softball with them, go out to dinner and bars and whatnot with them. I always had a blast hanging out with Chris and our small group of friends – Amanda, Dante and his girlfriend Tina, Brandon and his yellow flavor of the week, and me. So when Chris and Amanda told me they were moving back to the states, I was heartbroken. I knew that Amanda was unhappy living here from the start. She never wanted to come out here, but came from Chris and his job, but Chris really loved it out here! He told me that although he did not want to leave, he was going to go back to the states and get his MBA, and most likely come back to Shanghai in a couple years. Amanda, on the other hand, has no interest in returning.
So anyway, just before they left, we had an entire weekend of fun to send them off. Chris’ brother, Joe, came into town on Tuesday night to spend the last week with them. Thursday night I met up with Chris, Joe and Amanda at Lao Beijing Restaurant in Jing’an for some Beijing duck. I have never had duck before but Beijing duck is supposed to be fabulous! At dinner, they bring the entire cooked duck right to the table, snap off the head, and slice off the meat for us to eat. Ironically enough, they pile the meat on a Donald duck platter. Surprisingly, the duck was actually pretty good. Or more the sauce and all the veggies that I piled on to the tiny piece of meat and my pancake was delicious! Anyway, we sat and talked, enjoyed some beer and lots of good food.
Friday night, I met up with them at Windows Too Bar in Jing’an. The majority of people that showed up for their going away party were co-workers, but I dragged Amy along with me and we hung out with the crew. After all the co-workers left, we took the party to Mural Underground. By this time, Chris and Amanda were already fighting, of course. This is what happens…Amanda complains the whole time about everything while Chris is having fun with his friends drinking. Then Amanda gets pissy about something stupid and starts fighting with him in the middle of everything. At first, Chris apologizes and tries to brush it off, but Amanda keeps pushing and pushing until Chris gets all riled up. Then when Chris gets mad and wants to leave, Amanda become all pouty because Chris the Bad Guy is making here leave when she is having so much fun (I hope that you can sense the sarcasm). I have watched this show over and over. So while we were all dancing and having fun at Mural, Chris and Amanda are still fighting in the corner, which eventually leads to their “break up” that lasts for thirty seconds. Anyway, they leave, and Amy, Joe and I decided to make another stop of the infamous I Love Shanghai Lounge – my favorite bar, but I haven’t been since coming back. Turned out to be really lame, and considering it was nearly 4 am, we decided to head back to Chris and Amanda’s, but only after getting some of the most delicious street food. That night, Joe, Amy and I passed out on the futon in the living room.
The next morning, Chris woke up early and came and woke us up in the living room. We chatted a bit before beginning our “walk of shame” to the metro to head home. We had a busy day ahead of us, and a continued “going away party” for Chris and Amanda on the Pubcrawl party bus at night. We hurried home and got ready to spend the afternoon at Yu Yuan with Christina and Nick. It was super busy, but some local business man took us to this little get away on top of the shops that overlooked the city and the new PuDong skyline. That afternoon, we ate at one of my favorite places – New York City Deli (Amazing!) Before heading back home to get ready for the Pubcrawl.
We met up at the usual place – Brix on the Bund with Amy, Christina, Nick and Paul. Chris, Joe, Amanda, Dante, Tina and Brandon showed up a little later, and we had an absolute blast on the Pubcrawl. Per usual, we were the life of the party! We bounced around to four different bars before being dropped off at the final Chinese Disco Club. By the time we made it to the final club, our group was down to just me, Amy, Joe and Chris – the diehards. There was a live rapper at the club putting on a show, we grabbed a couple drinks (complimentary of the Pubcrawl) and danced our hearts out. At one point, I looked on stage to find Amy dancing with the rapper. Later she told me it was because she suddenly realized that he needed her on stage, so she jumped up.
After leaving the club, our hearts were set on getting street food and a massage although it was 4 am. Street food was a success; however, a massage was not. Looking back now, I am pretty sure it was a good thing we didn’t find a massage place open at 4:00 am because who knows what kind of massages we would have gotten! Than night, the three of us crashed on the futon again.
By the time the weekend was over. I was so sad! Chris was a good friend and one of my favorite party buddies! I spent more time out with him and at his apartment that weekend then I did at my own apartment, and I am glad that I got in all the extra time with him! I understand that people leave, but I think what makes me feel so bad about it is that our paths may never cross again and I may never see him again in my life, just as with all the rest. Friendship in Shanghai is like that... Just like a fart in the wind – intoxicating while it lasts then gone before you know it.
