Shanghai is a city buzzing, honking, shoving, and selling. Days are a fast-moving need to get somewhere quickly and efficiently. I edge by old men walking slowly and wisely with hands behind their backs while small old ladies hang onto my jacket in a crowd as I squeeze onto the escalator. I see toddlers crawl onto their strollers while their mothers sell fruit on the sidewalk, smiling and patiently toying with a plastic spoon or vegetable. Business men smoke expensive cigarettes and eat poached fish with a large beer in hand behind restaurant glass while several motorcycle taxis gather and gossip on another corner waiting for their business. Evenings calm down to a more festive feel with bright lights shining colors of green, red, and blue LED screens on every building face and corner. Lunch carts with noodles, vegetables, and meats are replaced with dinner carts of skewered shrimp and spicy chicken, stir-fry woks, and loads of vegetable side fixings. The nightlife starts to move around after a quick trip home from work, a change of clothes, a snack, and a reapplication of makeup. Women's heels get higher and skirts shorter, men out of suits and into button down casual wear with a little more cologne. The night remains as busy as the day with a switch from one type of commerce to another.
Brian and I join the evening energy on a fairly regular basis. We try to eat at home a few nights a week but sometimes there are just too many people in town visiting, business dinners, or events going on which are almost always accompanied by drinking. My first week here we didn't eat at home at all. By the 7th day I made Brian turn down a dinner engagement, made some fried chicken and mashed potatoes, put on my pajamas, and put us on a movie marathon. We needed it and are getting better at calling it a night.
One of our favorite places (besides Hot Pot) to eat is a little district called Taiconglu. This part of town is very artsy and campy with little European-like alleys and alcoves filled with dark candle-lit restaurants and art shops. It is quieter and a little pricier but has a feeling of comfort and eccentricity at the same time. Kind of like Portland. A shop, a restaurant, a gallery, a restaurant. You could casually stroll through and get lost for a couple hours. I like going here because it means relaxation and observance. And of course, the food here is great. I would be hard pressed to find an area where I couldn't find good food in Shanghai, though, thus another reason we eat out so much. What can I say? If such luxuries were as inexpensive, fresh, and right out my front door back home I would probably do the same.
Another wonderful luxury I will miss from here is the foot massages. Brian and I have tested a few different places, as they are so cheap...why not? One by our home is $15 U.S. for an hour and a half in a private room. Another is a corner shop with 6 chairs our neighbors occupy while watching soap operas and a little more of a rustic feel. This massage costs us $5 for an hour and a half. We like this one, though it is less "posh" and probably not somewhere a lot of non-locals would go. Regardless the "foot massage" includes a back, neck, shoulder, and scalp massage while your feet soak up to the knees in herbal hot water. The masseuse then pulls one foot at a time out of the foot soak and pounds the living daylights out of what little muscle, sinew, and nerves cling to your foot bones. It is a painful, hot, and tickling experience. You feel as though their knuckles mean to gnaw through to the other side of your foot. I swear by it though. After the first time it gets better and, as the Chinese say about anything that tastes gross or hurts, it is "Good for Health."
So check off the "1-Month" box...I am back in the U.S. after my initial stay in China. It's been 5 days and I am just getting over the worst jet lag I have ever experienced. Even though I was warned it would be worse coming back, I somehow thought I could be impervious to it. WRONG! FINALLY today after four days of imitating the walking dead the clock is starting to make more sense. One thing feels wrong though...Why is it so freakin quiet here? Where's the honking horns outside my window and the sound of the elevator dinging in the hallway? I have to get into my car to get groceries or purchase anything, for that matter. It's weird. Like everyone in the world was abducted and I got left behind. Fortunately, I get to come home and grab all the things I never thought I would need in China, hug both mine and Brian's families and friends, and get to see my dog again while sleeping in a soft bed. But I am already missing China! Never thought I would say that my first week back. Perhaps it is because I barely began to scratch the surface. Or maybe it is just because I was so bored before leaving here and China gave me inspiration again. Either way, I look forward to returning and to solving the little mysteries in Shanghai that have left me with questions that only learning the language, understanding the culture, and seeing its beauty will answer. For now, I will enjoy the rest and and relaxation, the short shopping lines at the grocery store with personal space. I also look forward to the much-missed family and friends that will bring me back down to earth, if even for only a short stay. Happy Holidays! I look forward to seeing you all!
