Shanghai Top Ten

In no particular order, here's my Shanghai top ten. It's great to be here at home, but I know I will miss it. Actually, I do already!

1. Bicycling: It was like being in college again, except that at times I felt like a moving target. Relatively safe, bicycling IS the best way to get around your neighborhood. I'm already trying to figure out a route to the grocery store here so I can put some panniers on the Trek and--wait, can you put panniers and a basket on a dual-suspension mountain bike? Hahahahahahaha.

2. The Shanghai Daily: This is probably my favorite publication ever. It was so interesting that I even found myself engrossed in business news. (That, or it was my only English communication other than talking to John). But, really, this is a great newspaper with super-interesting stories! Check it out sometime at www.shanghaidaily.com There's always some crazy person, surname XXX, who falls out of a window or chops someone up or sells fake honeybee venom or something bizarre!!!

3. Prices: An 8:1 exchange rate--'nuf said. You can buy a monster beer at the corner store (cold--the hot ones are cheaper) for 50 US cents! !!! We had huge meals for over $5 for the two of us. Full banquets for $10. This will be the toughest "culture shock" re-entry adjustment for sure!!

4. The people: The Chinese are the NICEST people!!!!! They are very considerate (well, maybe not the homicidal ladies on the scooters with the horn and the crazy visors) and giving and they really want you to love their country. This is not a difficult thing to do! Of all the places I've traveled (not that it's that many) these are the nicest people, with the Ticos a close second!

5. The zoo: I'll keep my comments here to a minimum, but the zoo just flat out rocks! Where else can you spend an ENTIRE day for less than $4? And they do not even inflate the prices of food or COLD water here. It's a great place for people-watching. Have I mentioned the families who bring their kids' goldfish to the zoo in carrying cages? Unreal!

6. Shopping: You get to bargain for almost everything! How awesome is that! Of course, you get the bad deals with the good, but you're sure to come out on top in the end!

7. Tea: I'm still loyal to the bean, but my flirtations with the leaf have been quite enjoyable. The whole formal tea service is just great. Here's a pic 0f John at our local tea house from Sunday. Okay, the website is not working so I'll have to try that again later. ..

8. Feeling like a rock star: It's a great feeling to know that you will be in countless families' photo albums for generations! People would literally come up to us and want to take pictures with us. Especially with their kids. One frightened tyke at the zoo may never be the same after being so close with us crazy white people! The other thing is that people remember you. At the market, at the tea house, at the restaurants. ..people remember you and what you like and what you order. Celebrity status is not too bad!

9. Everyone telling John what a beautiful wife he has: This was a good selling technique. I'm not sure if they actually know what it means--only that it increases sales and that's a good thing!

10. Laundry: Despite wanting to conceal the image of the "old" Shanghai where everyone dries their laundry outside their windows, the Shanghaiese can't deny that this is what everyone does. No matter how expensive or high-rise the apartment building, everyone one has some sort of device to dry their laundry. This was my weather forecast--if the people across the canal had their laundry out "sunny morning"; if there was no laundry "going to rain".

11. (Just couldn't stop at 10) TV: The channels from the satellite there are totally awesome. First the English-speaking ones: The ABC Asia Pacific (soon the be Australia Network) has some of the best documentaries ever! And great reality TV about the lives of sheep-shearers, etc. Their "English Bites" program taught me a lot about the English language as well. I still do not understand Australian Rules Football. CNN Asia based out of Hong Kong is pretty good, but not enough Shanghai weather. Star World kept us up to date on the Supernova Rock Star competition (just take my word for it, you get desperate!) and Oprah! We had HBO Asia (they really love Meryl Streep) and the Disney Channel. But there was one Japanese station with the BEST anchorman who had this great voice and sounded like Walter Chronkite (sp?) when he spoke English! The German station was 1/2 English and 1/2 German with (stereo)typical German programming--lots of car show and TV Monde (French) was great with wonderful programs about wine, travel and food (in French, of course).
Now Chinese TV was a whole different story. ..the V Channel (basically MTV) was all music videos with the words to the songs written at the bottom for karaoke purposes--so you can practice at home, I guess. There was one Chinese anchor dude who was totally an Ashton Kutchor type--crazy! Between the informercials for skin-lightening and freckle-erasing products there were some crazy game shows and what looked like instant messenger on the TV. Then of course wasthe all-soccer-all-the-time station. You could go between this and the sumo wrestling on the Japanese stations. Enough details, though! Maybe you have to see it to believe it!

12. The fact that Shanghai makes Houston in July feel cool. It's so nice and cool here. Unbelievable!

13. No one speak English, so you don't have to make small-talk and you can say whatever you want, like, "Wow! Did she get a boob job or what!" (Plastic surgery is pretty popular in Shanghai, by the way and you can really tell!) I'm going to miss being able to say whatever I want now that I'm at home. I only hope John will be able to make this transition. . ..

14. Tsing Tao beer: Pronounced "ching dow" this is "the famous and popular Chinese beer worldwide". You can pick up this brew in your local grocery store--it will cost you about 56 RMB for a 6-pack but it's a nice way to experience a little taste of China. And it's actually a good, light beer!

So my top ten keeps growing--there are just so many things to like! Hopefully I can get pictures up later today!