One Week Complete!

Hello everyone! I am excited to write today with four days of classes under my belt and excited to put off homework for a little longer

My commute has proven to be a great time to observe Shanghai. It is at least an hour but includes a 20 minute walk each way through the enchanting Zhongshan Park in the middle of Shanghai. It’s delicately manicured with a multitude of winding stone pathways under a canopy of cool palms. I’m not sure I’ve ever taken the same way through even though I always start from A and end up at B (nor sure I could if I tried).

Even though my first pass-through occurs at about 7 am, the park is crowded with people of all ages flying kites and exercising in many forms from badminton and tai chi to hacky-sack and dancing. Tai chi is a form of slow moving shadow boxing which seems to be done almost exclusively by those over 60. There are so many practitioners, I find myself winding my way in-between to get past. Everyone seems to know the value of movement.

The subway rides are still novel, too. Each stop sports about 8 entrances and the underground portion is at least two large city blocks long (Chicago blocks, not Portland blocks). Shops line the walkways, making a whole underground mall at each subway stop. It gives me something to look at while I walk –the pastries in particular are so beautiful Pix Patisserie in Portland could learn some things (sorry, Tom) ...but I’ve yet to try any to compare the content. Most desserts here contain red beans which I enjoy, but they’re not quite the Queen of Sheeba (a wonderful chocolate dessert from Pix). For coffee fans, there’s even a red bean frappucino.

Traffic - cars, bicycles and pedestrian - seems to have a philosophy rather than rules. Everyone seems to go where there is space to go and toot their horn to let you know they are there. The number of bikes on the road would put the critical mass movements in San Francisco or Portland to shame, though about half are motorized. The refreshing part is that no one seems to feel entitled to a right of way and therefore no one seems to get upset about anything like getting cut off, passed or bumped (pedestrian for the last one). I doubt road rage is a phrase here. The downside, for lack of a better word, is a statistic a professor noted - the reported 370,000 accidents and 89,000 traffic deaths in a recent year. Maybe the system is best suited for pedestrians.

The construction happening is amazing. Erin and Nick told us builders often work 2 – 12 hour shifts so you can literally see significant changes overnight. If you left for five years, you may not recognize the city when you return. I pass the construction of what rumors say will be the new world’s tallest building on my way to school and have already seen notable progress.

I still get frequent stares everywhere I go. They are hard to define – not threatening, nor flattering, nor even do they really seem curious. It seems perhaps a bit as if I’m an animal in a zoo and maybe an uninteresting one at that. This surprised me a lot in such a large metropolitan area but looking around Puxi there are not many Caucasians. Today I laughed because I realized I was surprised to still be getting stares – as if I expected the city to get used to me as I was getting used to it.

Classes are very interesting, though perhaps a bit more lecture than I would like (entirely, that is). I know I should count my blessings - I remember praying for lecture at times during the past year of Socratic method. The lectures are more interesting than most as we have different professors coming each day to discuss their expertises. Also the daily change in topics to differing aspects of Chinese Law helps shake things up. I already have a short exam Monday morning for part of my grade and then in the afternoon we will observe a trial. Joe will hopefully be able to tag along for the field trip.

That is about all for now... I hope everyone is well! Happy Birthday, Grandma!