Week I in Shanghai!

Hello from the Shanghai beyond quarantine! (WOW does it feel good to say that!) I’ve now been out of quarantine for a little over a week, and what a week it’s been! I meant to write sooner but A) I’ve hardly spent any time at home and so haven’t had time to write, and B) the WiFi in my apartment is not working yet. (Big thanks to my friend Haneen for letting me come to her place to use hers almost every day!) But I’m making myself carve out some time to write – and forcing myself to give my legs at least an hour of rest – so here we go!

I was released from my quarantine at 11:30 pm on a Thursday night. The hotel I was staying in kindly helped me call a taxi, and I was brought to my temporary apartment. (My school is putting me up in a place that’s a 10 minute walk from the campus until I’m able to find a place of my own. There are a few things that need to happen – health check, work permit, bank account – before I will be able to sign a lease.) The apartment is up on the 7th floor in a lovely apartment complex, and the biggest highlight of that first night was that it took me more than ten steps to reach from one end of the apartment to the other! The next morning, I woke up bright and early, determined to make the most of the three free days I had before school began again!

On my first day, I decided to walk around the area near my school – I wanted to get a feel for the neighborhood, breathe in some fresh non-hotel air, and get my legs moving. I didn’t have WiFi or a Chinese SIM card – which meant that I could not contact anyone or use my phone for anything – so I set out blindly, picked a direction to walk, and said “okay!” Immediately, I was struck by how green everything was – there are trees everywhere! I found my way over to look at my campus, and then just started walking. I always say that I can’t know a place until I’ve walked it; I let my feet take me wherever they want to go, and I follow. It’s my favorite way to learn about a new place. I found an ATM to take out some cash, bought some snacks at a mini-market (each time I go in, I try to buy something that I’ve never heard of before – it’s a fun little mystery game!), and eventually made my way down to the Hongqiao Flower Market. I was expecting a few cute stands with some flowers and plants, but what I found instead was a massive indoor/outdoor market where you could buy antique furniture, jewelry, art, plants, flowers, animals, and just about anything else you could ever want. Local artisans were set up in their stands, crafting away as I walked by. I will definitely be returning when I have an apartment of my own and can fill it with art and plants…

The next day, a colleague of mine had reached out to ask if I wanted to join her on a trip out to Sheshan National Forest Park, on the outskirts of Shanghai. (Because it is technically still part of the city, we wouldn’t be required to quarantine or take a COVID test again upon our return.) For those of you who don’t know, sometimes my anxiety acts up when it comes to taking public transportation, especially by myself. The prospect of having my first experience riding the Shanghai metro be an hour long journey, changing to three different lines, on my own, without a working phone was a daunting one. There was a moment where I considered declining her invitation, and putting off riding the metro until I could go with someone who knew what they were doing. And then I said “NOPE, you moved to China alone during a pandemic, you can ride a metro, no excuses, let’s go!” So I went to use my friend’s WiFi at her apartment, wrote down all of the subway stops I needed to know on the back of a bookmark, put it in my pocket for safekeeping, and headed out.

Here’s the thing about the Shanghai metro system: it is massive. There are 414 stations spread out across 16 lines. And if you hit it during rush hour, there will be thousands of other people riding it at the same time. Apparently, a Saturday morning was rush hour. I bought my pass, went through security (the workers take your temperature and you have to slide your bag through a security machine, like you would at an airport!), consulted my notes to make sure I was headed in the right direction, and waited for the train to arrive. I didn’t have to wait long – trains come something like every 3-4 minutes here. Within a stop or two, I was sandwiched between so many people I could barely see in front of me. When I left the first train to transfer to the next line, I didn’t really have to think – the wave of people all moving at once meant I could sort of just let the tide take me where I needed to go. I felt like I was riding the East Australian Current along with Marlin, Dory, and the turtles. (“Righteous! Righteous!”) Something I had read about ahead of time, but witnessed very quickly on this journey: people in China don’t really do lines. Or waiting patiently. It’s sort of a general “push yourself through to the front at all costs” mentality when it comes to boarding a train at rush hour. (Understandably so. If you don’t, you’ll never make it on a train.) When in China, do as the Chinese do, right? Eventually, I found myself on my third train, and after some time had passed and I headed further out of the city, the train finally cleared out to what felt like a more “normal” level of capacity. Though it was a bit overwhelming, I have to say, overall it was a relatively painless experience. The metros are all SUPER easy to navigate, and each one makes it very clear which direction they are going and the stops they are passing. Additionally, all signs in the metros and their stations have English written in addition to Mandarin! That certainly helps quite a bit.

After I met my friend at the Sheshan station, we caught a bus that took us to Sheshan National Forest Park. Called the “only mountain range in Shanghai” (I think mountain is a very generous term… I’d go with large hill?), Sheshan is a beautiful nature getaway when you need a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. There are bamboo forests to walk through, plenty of beautifully designed pavilions, approximately 8,000 stairs (okay, I don’t know this to be true, but there were a lot of stairs), a Catholic church… what more could you want?! We spent a few hours walking up and down the (many) steps, and taking in the views. First time hiking through a bamboo forest: check!

The next day, my final day before classes picked back up again, I decided I had to do the tourist thing and go see Nanjing Road and The Bund. The Bund is a stretch of waterfront about a mile long along the Huangpu River; you know that classic Shanghai skyline image? That’s what you see from The Bund. Nanjing Road leads you right up to The Bund, and is one of the busiest and most famous and shopping streets in the world. (Think the Times Square of Shanghai.) It is a pedestrian street, so though it was busy it was nice not to have to worry about cars! Because I went on a Sunday morning it wasn’t too crowded, but even an hour or so later after I had walked The Bund and was getting ready to leave, it had filled up significantly. Though I doubt I’ll ever be doing much actual shopping there, it was nice to see this side of Shanghai as well.

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After that, I took the metro over to the French Concession. As I begin my house hunting search, this is one of the neighborhoods I am interested in potentially living in, so I wanted to have a look around and get a feel for the energy. (Spoiler alert: I loved it. Now to find an apartment!) This part of the city is filled with little shops, restaurants, and parks, and there are trees lining all of the streets. Additionally, this neighborhood is very much an expat hub, so there are a lot of cool coffee shops, opportunities to take classes, gyms, and social activities – my little extrovert heart is thrilled. I spent about an hour roaming the streets and being generally charmed. After walking over 25 miles in 3 days, however, my poor legs were not thrilled with me. Especially after the stagnancy of quarantine, my body needed a bit more time to reacquaint itself with my usual walking tendencies. (Sorry, body. But I’m also not sorry at all.) I headed back to my apartment, pleased with what I’d been able to accomplish in my first three days, and got ready for the week ahead.

Walking on to my school’s campus on Monday and meeting my colleagues and students in person was a bit surreal, to be honest. I’ve been teaching online since March 1st, and so to finally be here, in person, still doesn’t feel like it can actually be happening. My campus is absolutely beautiful. Newly renovated this past summer, the whole building is stunning and the facilities are crazy amazing. I have an OFFICE with my own DESK! (As a freelance theatre artist, this is something I have never had before! It is quite exciting!) The clear highlight of the week, though, was meeting my students. My first time walking through the hallways, I felt like a mythical creature that had suddenly been proven real – students would walk by, do a double take, and then I’d hear whispers of “It’s Miss Madison!!” echoing through the hallways. I don’t blame them – after only having seen my face on a screen for months and months and months, it must be quite strange to finally have me here in person! Even the students that I had last spring who I am not currently teaching found their way up to me in the hallways to say hi. It felt SO GOOD to be able to have class in person, to get up on our feet and jump around and play games and move and do all of the things that I couldn’t do over a screen. I even got permission for my Year 8s to wear their PE uniforms to class because of all of the movement we’re doing — I think I earned quite a few brownie points with them for that. 😉

After a week of classes that felt both very long and very short at the same time, another Saturday came around! To be able to check the adventure box that resets itself in my soul every few days, I decided to head back downtown and explore the Yuyuan Garden and Market. Admittedly, another fairly touristy area, but seeing as I’ve only been here a little over a week, I think I get a free pass on still exploring the touristy sections of the city. Though we were not yet able to actually get in to the Yu Garden or the City God Temple (it’s a long story, but basically WeChat is everything here, and it’s not fully functional until your bank account is attached which still can’t happen for another few weeks for me) we spent a few hours exploring the bazaar, wandering around the market. It felt a bit like walking through a Chinese Diagon Alley – little alleyways, lanterns hanging above, all sort of intriguing sounds and smells coming out of each new doorway. I definitely ended up paying a bit too much for a big bag of loose leaf herbal tea (blueberry!) but oh well – it’s the first real thing I’ve bought since being here (besides food) so I’ll let it slide. One part of the market that we were able to see was the Jiu Qu Bridge; this zig zag bridge leads you across the Lotus Pool on the way to the Huxin Ting Tea House. It is said that ghosts can only walk straight, so walking across a zig zag bridge is thought to help you avoid evil spirits. Crossing the Jiu Qu Bridge is meant to enable you to leave behind the twists and turns of life, and to lead you to peace and happiness. I will be excited to go back when I am actually able to see the garden and the temple!

And now, for the topic that everyone is always interested in: FOOD! Thus far I’ve been going out to eat every evening — I know eventually I will settle in and cook at home, but for now there are way too many new places to try! Some nights I’ve been out to get Western food (everyone keeps wanting to take me to the Western restaurants – I’m not craving foods I know yet, I want to try new places!), and there are quite a few options. We’ve discovered a great burger joint, a pizza shop, a halal place, a Caribbean restaurant… but the most exciting dinners so far have been the dumplings. If I do not turn into a dumpling by the time I leave China, I have not done it right. There are so many different kinds, and they are all incredibly cheap — at one little hole in the wall dumpling shop, I was able to order 20 dumplings for what ended up being under $3.00. It’s amazing. I haven’t tried anything incredibly adventurous yet as my stomach is still adjusting (I wasn’t eating much meat back in the States, and so all of this pork has been throwing my body for a bit of a loop) but I promise that soon I’ll be at least trying just about anything. Might as well, right?

Above all else, one of the main things I’ve noticed during this first week is the kindness of the people here. Sure they push on the metro, and ride by on their motorbikes without caring if they’re not supposed to be one the sidewalk or not, but each and every time I have looked lost or confused (which…is often) someone has been willing to try to help. Though very few people speak English, and I speak no Mandarin beyond “hello” and “thank you” yet – there’s a lot of gesturing, pointing, and using a translator app – people look out for each other. It’s one of my favorite things about traveling abroad – you really notice how people are the same, everywhere. A grandma at the forest park playing peekaboo with her young grandchild. A mother helping her son with his homework at the front table when she has a break from making dumplings. Two young teenagers finding an excuse to stand next to each other in class so their shoulders can touch. An otherwise serious security guard who brightens up and smiles when I wave each morning. 7th grade boys making “Your Mama” jokes on the school bus. There is no “us” and “them.” We are all the same, everywhere. I wish I could make everyone see that. As there is always someone who can put into words what I am thinking much better than I ever could, a favorite quote from a favorite book, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: “All boundaries are conventions, waiting to be transcended. One may transcend any convention, if only one can first conceive of doing so.”