Sunday we lounged about a little bit and wandered around a giant store picking up random snacks (salted dried peaches. Do not recommend.) Then went to a pub to meet up with some of Scott's friends. I was feeling fine the first twenty minutes we were there and then felt punched in the face by jet lag, but I did a good impression of a living person. Then to keep me awake we went out to dinner, and went to the popular Indian restaurant across the street from our apartment. It was delicious. Then we stopped off at one of two DVD stores on our block. DVDs are so much cheaper than theater tickets, and they release them right away. I jet lag crashed right away. Sleepyhead!
My week has been pretty much: wake up, lounge about a bit, head out to meet with my Chinese tutor, study study study, dinner/hangouts with Scott. Four hours a day of intensive one-on-one tutoring has turned out to be a pretty good, if exhausting, crash course. And I've become very familiar with the various hot chocolates offered at the Starbucks across from Jin Mao Tower. Jin Mao is where Scott works, and it's located in Pudong,a newer neighborhood across the river with lots of large business buildings. A lot of ex-pats live there. It's more spread out, less pedestrian-friendly and less charming, which is why we call it PuJersey. We live in Puxi, which is like Manhattan. It's about 10-20 minutes to Scott's work by taxi, which sounds nuts to do but it only costs about $3.
The iconic Jin Mao.
My awesome tutor, Cassie. She's been teaching me Chinese, but we have also been having lots of interesting conversations (sorta in Chinese) about fashion, pretty celebrities, people watching, slang, and cultural differences. And I know all about the Shanghai gay community now, which is fascinating.
Thursday I had my first run-in with a crazy person. Let me preface this by saying that I had been prepared for some odd interactions with strangers. I heard that it would be somewhat commonplace for people to ask to take my picture or to talk to me. I had already experienced plenty of blatant staring, and have constant conversations about a) how pretty I am, b) how big my eyes are, c) how pale I am, d)how I look French(?), e) how interesting/nice my hair is (color, curliness, or it being short). And Scott always has good stories about meeting strangers and making friends. So for the sake of wanting to be respectful and polite in an unfamiliar setting, I had lowered the begoneforeverallstrangers vibe I had somewhat perfected in NY. And all of that is the background explanation for why when some dude on the subway introduced himself to me and told me I looked like Cinderella, I said "OK, thank you," instead of shooting laser beams from my eyeballs. But then he kept talking to me, and he followed me off the train and I got very uncomfortable and eventually faked a phone call from Scott to try to shake him. And every time I tried to get rid of him, he'd hug on me and kiss my hand. Horrifying. Somehow I got him to go away, though why I was still trying to be polite I'll never know. How often do people find themselves in a position where they're torn between being polite and being comfortable, and they choose to be polite? It really shook me. I've had to adjust my boundaries and expectations a little living here, but clearly I needed to define for myself what my new boundaries are. So I've since done that, and they will be strictly enforced. With krav maga.
Scott's coworker, Leslie, went to India and made friends with a man working at a restaurant. He has since moved to Shanghai and is working at a very fancy Indian restaurant, the first Indian restaurant ever to open in Shanghai (opened about 20 years ago--there are now quite a few). So we went there to celebrate Leslie's promotion. It was delicious, it was expensive, and it ended with some sort of dessert battle (pictured above).
Saturday, we went to a company party at the Roosevelt Hotel on the Bund. It was a lovely location, with about 100 or so participants mingling and having drinks and enjoying the buffet. It was nice, if a bit quiet. I'm used to a much more laidback office party atmosphere. We sat by a window to enjoy the famously picturesque Bund, and I snapped this shot of a ship passing in front of the Pearl Tower. Nice! Then Scott dropped me off at home and went out to join 35 other ex-pat gentlemen who were bar hopping in Santa suits.
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