Well, last night was pretty bad. It was the night that the Chinese welcome their god of Money and apparently they all want to be rich. The business of getting rich started early yesterday evening - around 6pm. There was a fairly steady stream of loud fireworks. Here's an example of a few stragglers around 10pm (this is my first video attempt that I've been able to load, and unfortunately the preview gives me an error. I hope you can all see it once I publish the post.):
Things started up again around 11:20pm crescendoing to what I imagine a hurricane would sound like through the midnight hour. It was louder and more rumbling than any thunderstorm I've experienced in Oklahoma or our upstairs bungalow bedroom. Apparently everyone in Shanghai was participating in the idea of making the streets red (with firecracker wrappers).
It was definitely hard to go to sleep. And stay asleep. And there were no bonus pretty lights in the sky since these were purely for the noise.
The BEST part (note the sarcasm) about Cai Shen is that every family has their own lucky time to set off additional noisemakers to get extra rich. What that means is a constant, quieter (on a relative level) stream of booms lasting through the night and into the morning.
I'm tired.
M is tired.
Of course, the kids slept through everything and they are much less tired than we are :). How do kids sleep through so much noise? I'm still incredulous over this.
Here's to quieter nights ahead. I think it's time for a nap...
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Chinese New Year (aka Spring Festival)
I'm sure Chinese New Year isn't a new holiday for many of you. It wasn't for me either. I think the fact that it exists is well known, but the details about it are lesser known to those with no connection to the culture. Here is a basic rundown (from our Shanghainese neighbor):
The first date to mark on your calendar is Jan. 22, 2012, it’s the new year eve. This is the most important day of the year for families reunion. A feast, firework from 8pm to mid-night are traditional ways for locals to welcome the new year. The firework thing are getting a bit out of norm in the recent decade though. We will for sure hear fireworks through the night and the next day. Jan. 23, is the new year day, people go out to visit relatives, and giving out “Red envelop” ( real money in it, can be 100, 200…800, 1000). Only children gets redevelops…( this is the time of the year I wish I could have five kids or more). You’ve probably heard from your Ayi the tradition that no sweepings and cloth washing on the first day of a new year. Yes, it’s true. It’s said Good luck may be swept out or washed off on the first day. Besides that, we are supposed to only speak of happy and nice things this day.
The next date to mark is Jan. 26, the fourth day. From late afternoon to the morning of Jan. 27, it’s time to welcome CAI SHEN, God of wealth. Expect lots lots of fireworks. Locals typically get up early on the fifth day of new year (Jan. 27) because we believe CaiShen likes hard working people, yes, early birds get food.
Third date is Feb. 6. Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the new year. If we were living in the past century or earlier, this day would have been the only day in a year that young women were allowed to go out at night. It was the only night the whole night was bright, with thousands and thousands lanterns. It’s a tradition for locals to solve riddles and win prices that day, and also eat Tang Yuan/ Yuan Xiao, i.e., round dumplings made with sticky rice and sweat fillings. As you probably have notices, the round shape a lot times relates to “completeness” and “family reunion” in China.
To share with you my plan for the Chinese new year holiday:
first, do a thorough clean of my house before Jan. 22…when I still have Ayi to help.
Order three pieces of firework for the above mentioned three occasions.
Start to get the list of food for the new year eve and we will eat at home. (Chinese restaurants won’t have good chefs those days, all gone home).
Tour around the Lantern street in Yu Garden the weekend before Feb. 6. Buy the most expensive round dumplings (RMB20/pack) from Carrefour and eat (after boil) on Feb.6…
Oh, one more thing…to get a list of families who only have one child for my new year visit…haha… I have two kids. [sic]
Our family's CNY exposure started at school on Friday for this month's assembly. The Chinese New Year assembly included a professional dragon dance along with a professional yo-yo artist(?) and Tai-Chi master. Each class contributed an act as well. I took several videos during the assembly, but unfortunately I have had zero success uploading them to the blog.
On Saturday and Sunday evenings, the kids were happy to do the sparklers that Mr. Mao brought them! Sunday might be the coldest night we've had this winter, so we didn't stay out long. (There is some irony in this since CNY ushers in Spring!) There were a lot of fireworks around our neighborhood that night, as it was Chinese New Year's Eve. Plenty of people had warned us about this, so we were prepared, but I have to tell you, it was intense! Much more intense than 4th of July. The first round started around 7:30pm and lasted until 9pm. Our kids had a good view of the action from their bedroom windows and both ended up falling asleep (I'm not sure how that happened!) watching the fireworks from their beds. The second round started around 11:30 and lasted until after midnight. More came in the morning, but if there were any overnight, we all thankfully slept through them.
This week is a holiday for everyone, which means Monday was a day of rest, play, and general relaxation for our family. Plenty of restaurants are closed this week, and with no driver I had to stock up on groceries before the holiday. Our Ayi also has the week off. Today we decided to head downtown to see some Shanghai sights. We had hoped the crowds would be thin since we keep hearing there is a mass exodus from the cities as people head back to the more central areas of China to see their families during this week. The crowds were pretty standard, however, and despite our preparation, the museum we wanted to visit was closed. At least we were able to have a warm cup of hot chocolate before we headed back home. We may have to reset our expectations for the rest of the holiday week!
As a side note to CNY, I have struggled with the "gods" of Chinese New Year and was reminded on Sunday at church that God is the God of this city and I don't need to worry. So, while I can't embrace all of the CNY traditions, I can respect the history and learn about them and share what I've learned with you. Also, if any of you have fallen off the resolution wagon, this week offers you a fresh start - a second chance at a New Year's resolution! Happy Chinese New Year!
The first date to mark on your calendar is Jan. 22, 2012, it’s the new year eve. This is the most important day of the year for families reunion. A feast, firework from 8pm to mid-night are traditional ways for locals to welcome the new year. The firework thing are getting a bit out of norm in the recent decade though. We will for sure hear fireworks through the night and the next day. Jan. 23, is the new year day, people go out to visit relatives, and giving out “Red envelop” ( real money in it, can be 100, 200…800, 1000). Only children gets redevelops…( this is the time of the year I wish I could have five kids or more). You’ve probably heard from your Ayi the tradition that no sweepings and cloth washing on the first day of a new year. Yes, it’s true. It’s said Good luck may be swept out or washed off on the first day. Besides that, we are supposed to only speak of happy and nice things this day.
The next date to mark is Jan. 26, the fourth day. From late afternoon to the morning of Jan. 27, it’s time to welcome CAI SHEN, God of wealth. Expect lots lots of fireworks. Locals typically get up early on the fifth day of new year (Jan. 27) because we believe CaiShen likes hard working people, yes, early birds get food.
Third date is Feb. 6. Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the new year. If we were living in the past century or earlier, this day would have been the only day in a year that young women were allowed to go out at night. It was the only night the whole night was bright, with thousands and thousands lanterns. It’s a tradition for locals to solve riddles and win prices that day, and also eat Tang Yuan/ Yuan Xiao, i.e., round dumplings made with sticky rice and sweat fillings. As you probably have notices, the round shape a lot times relates to “completeness” and “family reunion” in China.
To share with you my plan for the Chinese new year holiday:
first, do a thorough clean of my house before Jan. 22…when I still have Ayi to help.
Order three pieces of firework for the above mentioned three occasions.
Start to get the list of food for the new year eve and we will eat at home. (Chinese restaurants won’t have good chefs those days, all gone home).
Tour around the Lantern street in Yu Garden the weekend before Feb. 6. Buy the most expensive round dumplings (RMB20/pack) from Carrefour and eat (after boil) on Feb.6…
Oh, one more thing…to get a list of families who only have one child for my new year visit…haha… I have two kids. [sic]
Our family's CNY exposure started at school on Friday for this month's assembly. The Chinese New Year assembly included a professional dragon dance along with a professional yo-yo artist(?) and Tai-Chi master. Each class contributed an act as well. I took several videos during the assembly, but unfortunately I have had zero success uploading them to the blog.
On Saturday and Sunday evenings, the kids were happy to do the sparklers that Mr. Mao brought them! Sunday might be the coldest night we've had this winter, so we didn't stay out long. (There is some irony in this since CNY ushers in Spring!) There were a lot of fireworks around our neighborhood that night, as it was Chinese New Year's Eve. Plenty of people had warned us about this, so we were prepared, but I have to tell you, it was intense! Much more intense than 4th of July. The first round started around 7:30pm and lasted until 9pm. Our kids had a good view of the action from their bedroom windows and both ended up falling asleep (I'm not sure how that happened!) watching the fireworks from their beds. The second round started around 11:30 and lasted until after midnight. More came in the morning, but if there were any overnight, we all thankfully slept through them.
This week is a holiday for everyone, which means Monday was a day of rest, play, and general relaxation for our family. Plenty of restaurants are closed this week, and with no driver I had to stock up on groceries before the holiday. Our Ayi also has the week off. Today we decided to head downtown to see some Shanghai sights. We had hoped the crowds would be thin since we keep hearing there is a mass exodus from the cities as people head back to the more central areas of China to see their families during this week. The crowds were pretty standard, however, and despite our preparation, the museum we wanted to visit was closed. At least we were able to have a warm cup of hot chocolate before we headed back home. We may have to reset our expectations for the rest of the holiday week!
As a side note to CNY, I have struggled with the "gods" of Chinese New Year and was reminded on Sunday at church that God is the God of this city and I don't need to worry. So, while I can't embrace all of the CNY traditions, I can respect the history and learn about them and share what I've learned with you. Also, if any of you have fallen off the resolution wagon, this week offers you a fresh start - a second chance at a New Year's resolution! Happy Chinese New Year!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Weather According to Mr. Mao
Just about every day when we first get in the car, Mr. Mao will tell us what to expect with the weather. The choices are:
The weather is very bad today.
The weather is very good today.
It will rain today (or tomorrow, or for 2 more days).
M and I have discussed his weather reporting skills and have never been sure where he gets his information from or how he decides. Most of the time, he's right! Sometimes, however, he says the weather is very good today when we can clearly see a yellow haze settled over the city. So we have continued to wonder about his weather report.
Until yesterday.
We were driving to school and I said, "The air is very bad today". I had even done a test. We were approaching an exit that I knew had several signs warning of the distance to the exit. At the first sign, 1.5 km from the exit, I looked around and made out what I assumed to be a billboard in the distance. I could make out the shape, but nothing else. My plan was to see where this billboard was when we exited. At the second sign, 1 km from the exit, I could see that something was on the billboard, but couldn't make out any shapes or words. At the third sign, 500 m from the exit, I could finally make out words (or rather, characters) and numbers. As it turns out, the sign was actually at the exit! Yay for me! I'm not sure how visibility is calculated, but I think this gives all of you a fair idea of what the air pollution can be like here.
So, back to the weather report. After I shared my opinion on the air quality, Mr. Mao looked at me, a little surprised, and said, "I think the weather is very good today!" (Aha! So, the weather is the AIR QUALITY, not the temperature or level of sunshine.) Of course, I can't resist, I have to ask, "Why do you think the weather is good today?"
"Because the car is very clean."
Well, there you have it. The weather according to Mr. Mao. If he doesn't have to wash the car, it must be good weather!
The weather is very bad today.
The weather is very good today.
It will rain today (or tomorrow, or for 2 more days).
M and I have discussed his weather reporting skills and have never been sure where he gets his information from or how he decides. Most of the time, he's right! Sometimes, however, he says the weather is very good today when we can clearly see a yellow haze settled over the city. So we have continued to wonder about his weather report.
Until yesterday.
We were driving to school and I said, "The air is very bad today". I had even done a test. We were approaching an exit that I knew had several signs warning of the distance to the exit. At the first sign, 1.5 km from the exit, I looked around and made out what I assumed to be a billboard in the distance. I could make out the shape, but nothing else. My plan was to see where this billboard was when we exited. At the second sign, 1 km from the exit, I could see that something was on the billboard, but couldn't make out any shapes or words. At the third sign, 500 m from the exit, I could finally make out words (or rather, characters) and numbers. As it turns out, the sign was actually at the exit! Yay for me! I'm not sure how visibility is calculated, but I think this gives all of you a fair idea of what the air pollution can be like here.
So, back to the weather report. After I shared my opinion on the air quality, Mr. Mao looked at me, a little surprised, and said, "I think the weather is very good today!" (Aha! So, the weather is the AIR QUALITY, not the temperature or level of sunshine.) Of course, I can't resist, I have to ask, "Why do you think the weather is good today?"
"Because the car is very clean."
Well, there you have it. The weather according to Mr. Mao. If he doesn't have to wash the car, it must be good weather!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Too-Good-To-Wait Tuesday
I debated if this should qualify as an adventure in driving, and while it felt like an adventure today, I decided I have plenty of material for my 26 part driving section.
No, this... this is a special treat.
This is something I saw on the way to school today. I'm sorry the picture (from my cell) isn't better quality. I was looking at it in person and still wasn't sure what it was. All I can tell you is it was raw. My driver suggested pig guts (intestines?) with gestures toward his own stomach.
Whatever it is, WHY IS IT PILED UP IN THE FLATBED OF A TRUCK?????
No, this... this is a special treat.
This is something I saw on the way to school today. I'm sorry the picture (from my cell) isn't better quality. I was looking at it in person and still wasn't sure what it was. All I can tell you is it was raw. My driver suggested pig guts (intestines?) with gestures toward his own stomach.
Whatever it is, WHY IS IT PILED UP IN THE FLATBED OF A TRUCK?????
Monday, January 16, 2012
Interesting Conversation
Driving to the grocery store today Mr. Mao and I were discussing weekends. My upcoming weekend is busy because we're having a birthday party. Mr. Mao's last weekend was busy because his grandparents moved their parents to a new place.
I was shocked to hear that his great-grandparents are still alive!
They aren't.
I wasn't sure what to say. He said it was very busy for his mom and her mom. I agreed that it must have been! There were 14 tables worth of people at their house for this event. I felt like getting to this point in the conversation was pretty tricky. Amazingly, we weren't done:
Mr. Mao: "At China, if you are dead and you want to move to a new place, it is very expensive."
I felt a lot of questions rising up, but wasn't sure how to follow through with any of them so I said, "I have no idea how much that costs in America."
He said something about a house being the most expensive and I just made noises that feign understanding.
What I learned today: Topics that are difficult to discuss - Politics, Religion, and moving dead people. Yikes!
By the way, he later asked me what you call your grandmother's mother and we had a mini-vocab lesson. Also, I really can't stand referring to my home as America since that can technically refer to 2 entire continents, but I haven't met a Chinese person yet that knows what The United States is. I guess I'm adapting culturally?
I was shocked to hear that his great-grandparents are still alive!
They aren't.
I wasn't sure what to say. He said it was very busy for his mom and her mom. I agreed that it must have been! There were 14 tables worth of people at their house for this event. I felt like getting to this point in the conversation was pretty tricky. Amazingly, we weren't done:
Mr. Mao: "At China, if you are dead and you want to move to a new place, it is very expensive."
I felt a lot of questions rising up, but wasn't sure how to follow through with any of them so I said, "I have no idea how much that costs in America."
He said something about a house being the most expensive and I just made noises that feign understanding.
What I learned today: Topics that are difficult to discuss - Politics, Religion, and moving dead people. Yikes!
By the way, he later asked me what you call your grandmother's mother and we had a mini-vocab lesson. Also, I really can't stand referring to my home as America since that can technically refer to 2 entire continents, but I haven't met a Chinese person yet that knows what The United States is. I guess I'm adapting culturally?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Mr. Mao
I passed up an article on Yahoo today about winter driving for two reasons: 1 - there isn't really winter here, and 2 - I don't drive. That's because as an expat for a large company in China, a minivan and driver are provided to us. It's pretty strange, I have to say. We started out with a pretty crummy van. It had 170k+ kilometers on it and was worn inside and out, not to mention a small transmission problem. In a less-than-hilarious twist, when we asked for a replacement van because M has to transport high-level visitors from the states (and the transmission problem), our "new" van had 230k kilometers and smelled like smoke. YUCK! Thankfully, M used his negotiating skills (no small feat in this country) to secure us an actual new van. The new van is very nice - maybe even nicer than our Buick Enclave (anyone looking for a used Enclave to lease?).
Our driver is also very nice. His name is Mr. Mao. Funny, right? Mr. Mao is about 30 years old, wears a suit every day, has spikey hair, a wife, and a 6-year-old daughter. He lives on his family's farm and drives about an hour each way to work for us 6 days a week. He doesn't know Shanghai like the back of his hand, but he always makes sure he can get us where we need to go.
The downside to having a driver is that we don't have a car at our disposal all the time like we did at home. I have to coordinate with M when I have errands and he needs to visit a supplier. Sometimes this means a taxi for one of us, which is a different post. It also means no running to the store after the kids go to bed. We've got to get our errands done during the day. We can keep our driver out late for dinners & dates, but it's recommended to give him some money for dinner and not do it too frequently.
There are also upsides to having a driver, or maybe I should say to having Mr. Mao. Mr. Mao is just a happy person. He doesn't smoke, he is always smiling, he loves our kids and our dog, he has lent me money on more than one occasion when I am short (or forgot my wallet!), and maybe the strangest upside: he brings us food from his farm! We have had fresh edamame, oranges, and a fish. The fish story is too funny not to share:
Mr. Mao: Do you like fish?
Me: Yes!
Mr. Mao: I will bring you a fish.
Me: Ok :)
Mr. Mao: Can you kill a fish?
Me: (pause) No.
Mr. Mao: Ok, I will kill it for you.
Me: Great.
A week or so later, he showed up in the morning with a large fish in a grocery bag. It was a very nice-looking fish! He told us his father caught it from one of the 4 rivers on their farm. We had it for dinner that night along with some traditional Chinese fish-head soup. I did not cook these things (also another post). It was delicious! The fish at least. The soup was interesting and not bad, but I wouldn't put it in the delicious category :).
Perhaps the best thing about Mr. Mao is that he speaks English! His English isn't great, but it's good enough for us. He is also very patient with my attempts at speaking Chinese (which is usually a word or phrase at this point). I am grateful for that, because it's a difficult language.
I leave you with a picture of the fish, grocery bag and all, and wishes for safe winter driving!
Our driver is also very nice. His name is Mr. Mao. Funny, right? Mr. Mao is about 30 years old, wears a suit every day, has spikey hair, a wife, and a 6-year-old daughter. He lives on his family's farm and drives about an hour each way to work for us 6 days a week. He doesn't know Shanghai like the back of his hand, but he always makes sure he can get us where we need to go.
The downside to having a driver is that we don't have a car at our disposal all the time like we did at home. I have to coordinate with M when I have errands and he needs to visit a supplier. Sometimes this means a taxi for one of us, which is a different post. It also means no running to the store after the kids go to bed. We've got to get our errands done during the day. We can keep our driver out late for dinners & dates, but it's recommended to give him some money for dinner and not do it too frequently.
There are also upsides to having a driver, or maybe I should say to having Mr. Mao. Mr. Mao is just a happy person. He doesn't smoke, he is always smiling, he loves our kids and our dog, he has lent me money on more than one occasion when I am short (or forgot my wallet!), and maybe the strangest upside: he brings us food from his farm! We have had fresh edamame, oranges, and a fish. The fish story is too funny not to share:
Mr. Mao: Do you like fish?
Me: Yes!
Mr. Mao: I will bring you a fish.
Me: Ok :)
Mr. Mao: Can you kill a fish?
Me: (pause) No.
Mr. Mao: Ok, I will kill it for you.
Me: Great.
A week or so later, he showed up in the morning with a large fish in a grocery bag. It was a very nice-looking fish! He told us his father caught it from one of the 4 rivers on their farm. We had it for dinner that night along with some traditional Chinese fish-head soup. I did not cook these things (also another post). It was delicious! The fish at least. The soup was interesting and not bad, but I wouldn't put it in the delicious category :).
Perhaps the best thing about Mr. Mao is that he speaks English! His English isn't great, but it's good enough for us. He is also very patient with my attempts at speaking Chinese (which is usually a word or phrase at this point). I am grateful for that, because it's a difficult language.
I leave you with a picture of the fish, grocery bag and all, and wishes for safe winter driving!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Cheese
I made quiche for dinner tonight. It was so yummy! I found these cute little tart dishes at IKEA that I bought just for quiches. Since there are 4 of us, I bought 4 and now I can play around with our quiche flavors to make everyone happy. My favorite is spinach with havarti. M and K both like this as well, but M also likes when I add a little bacon. C is not a fan of spinach at all and just wants Bacon in his. Here's a picture of the last time I made them:
I know quiche doesn't really have anything to do with China, but one of its main ingredients does: cheese! Several people made it a point to tell me before we moved here that it's hard to find cheese in China. I can see that this would probably be true in areas where there aren't a lot of expats. For example, when I order an omelette at a restaurant, there is no cheese in it. But since we live in an area with tons of expats, the opposite has proven to be true.
I am SO HAPPY about this because I LOVE cheese.
I mentioned to my neighbor that I was happy about the cheese selection and she looked at me like I was crazy. The selection isn't really that amazing. I haven't found any muenster (to make my super-amazing grilled cheese), and I can only get shredded cheese at select grocery stores. Plus, ALL of it is expensive. Setting that aside, there are a lot of Europeans here and that means Brie, Havarti, Creme Freche (ok, not cheese, but still wonderful)! And because all of it is expensive, I'm no longer agonizing over the price of the havarti - I'm just buying it!
Ok, I know it sounds convoluted, but in my new crazy world, it actually makes a lot of sense. And it means my family can have one of our favorite meals even half way across the world. And that is priceless!
I know quiche doesn't really have anything to do with China, but one of its main ingredients does: cheese! Several people made it a point to tell me before we moved here that it's hard to find cheese in China. I can see that this would probably be true in areas where there aren't a lot of expats. For example, when I order an omelette at a restaurant, there is no cheese in it. But since we live in an area with tons of expats, the opposite has proven to be true.
I am SO HAPPY about this because I LOVE cheese.
I mentioned to my neighbor that I was happy about the cheese selection and she looked at me like I was crazy. The selection isn't really that amazing. I haven't found any muenster (to make my super-amazing grilled cheese), and I can only get shredded cheese at select grocery stores. Plus, ALL of it is expensive. Setting that aside, there are a lot of Europeans here and that means Brie, Havarti, Creme Freche (ok, not cheese, but still wonderful)! And because all of it is expensive, I'm no longer agonizing over the price of the havarti - I'm just buying it!
Ok, I know it sounds convoluted, but in my new crazy world, it actually makes a lot of sense. And it means my family can have one of our favorite meals even half way across the world. And that is priceless!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Shanghai
Happy New Year!!
I've written a lot about food & frustrations on this blog, yet very little about the place we live. I guess it's time to give you guys some insight into our new city:
Shanghai is a city of over 20 million people. We've been told 1 in every 20 people is an expat (someone from another country). The city is huge. My driver says it could take 5 hours to drive from one side of the city to another. It's less like New York and more like Los Angeles in terms of building density. There is actually a surprising amount of green space. It reminds me often of Toronto - plenty of high rise apartments in clusters around town with sprawling parking lots & businesses in between. Also, in appearance, many buildings have the same 70's look as Toronto, though most of Shanghai has sprung up over the last 2 decades.
Shanghai is divided into 2 parts by the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze. The western side of the river is called PuXi. The eastern, more recently developed side is called PuDong. The city sits near the ocean, which keeps the climate fairly humid. As far as we can tell, our weather will be similar to Nashville's.
We live on the eastern side of town about 20 minutes from everywhere that we regularly go (work, school, grocery store, church). I have finally become familiar enough with our part of town (thanks in part to a good map, provided by my driver) to be able to find things on Google and determine that it's about 7 miles from our house to the grocery store I visit most. I haven't investigated the other places we visit yet!
The daylight hours are different here than back home. It's strange - I haven't been able to get comfortable with the change. When we first arrived at the end of September, I think it was dark at 6pm. Now it's dark by 5pm. And it's REALLY dark. I know this isn't super different from Michigan right now, but it was when we arrived!
There is plenty more to share, but it will have to wait for another post. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Shanghai that we took on our "look-see" (pre-move prep visit):
I've written a lot about food & frustrations on this blog, yet very little about the place we live. I guess it's time to give you guys some insight into our new city:
Shanghai is a city of over 20 million people. We've been told 1 in every 20 people is an expat (someone from another country). The city is huge. My driver says it could take 5 hours to drive from one side of the city to another. It's less like New York and more like Los Angeles in terms of building density. There is actually a surprising amount of green space. It reminds me often of Toronto - plenty of high rise apartments in clusters around town with sprawling parking lots & businesses in between. Also, in appearance, many buildings have the same 70's look as Toronto, though most of Shanghai has sprung up over the last 2 decades.
Shanghai is divided into 2 parts by the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze. The western side of the river is called PuXi. The eastern, more recently developed side is called PuDong. The city sits near the ocean, which keeps the climate fairly humid. As far as we can tell, our weather will be similar to Nashville's.
We live on the eastern side of town about 20 minutes from everywhere that we regularly go (work, school, grocery store, church). I have finally become familiar enough with our part of town (thanks in part to a good map, provided by my driver) to be able to find things on Google and determine that it's about 7 miles from our house to the grocery store I visit most. I haven't investigated the other places we visit yet!
The daylight hours are different here than back home. It's strange - I haven't been able to get comfortable with the change. When we first arrived at the end of September, I think it was dark at 6pm. Now it's dark by 5pm. And it's REALLY dark. I know this isn't super different from Michigan right now, but it was when we arrived!
There is plenty more to share, but it will have to wait for another post. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Shanghai that we took on our "look-see" (pre-move prep visit):
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