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| Sometimes China Frustrates MeI went to mail a package of vitamins to my girlfriend’s grandparents today. It seemed like an easy enough task, but ended up taking me over two hours, and I still haven’t got the package sent. In fact, I won’t be able to send the package at all while I am here in China. Thank you Zhong Guo.
The first trick was finding a post office, which actually only took me an hour and about 50 minutes of walking. I have decided that people in Shanghai have no clue where anything is, and it is almost not worth asking anyone for directions. I asked tons of people were the nearest post office was, and got twice as many different answers. I finally said screw it, and took a cab until I found one.
Triumphant I went to the clerk and asked to send the box, they requested that I open the box, no problems…So then they saw the bottles of vitamins and freaked out because they thought that it was liquid, which is apparently banned. So then after I convinced them that it was not liquid, but powder, they were like ‘oh! You can’t ship this from here, you need to go to the main post office.’ I get the address and jump in a cab. The cabbie drives me over there and as we approach the intersection, he tells me that it is just up ahead and that I can get out here because there is a guard rail along the street near the intersection. I say sure and hop out, only to discover that he dropped me off at the wrong intersection…
After 10 minutes or so, I locate the right intersection with a little help from the local street vendors. I then get to the post office and begin the same discussion I had with the previous post office. I assure them that it isn’t liquid, and that it is just powder. They still refuse to ship it… I ask why and they tell me that because the packaging does have Chinese characters on it, they can’t tell what is in the bottles. I need to go get it tested at a lab and come back with proof of the contents of each bottle. I ask them if they can simply translate the label or if I can just do it for them and then the guy goes off on me about how they can’t do that and how could they trust me anyway? I ask him if there is any way I can ship this stuff and he gives me the address to a lab that can analyze the contents and provide the appropriate paperwork.
I take cab #3 to the lab, but since it is a holiday, it is closed until the 5th. There is no way that I can actually mail this stuff. Even if I could, the cost of actually getting it analyzed could be prohibitive. But the part that really rubs me raw is the guy that sent me there from the post office probably knew that the lab was closed… So I take cab #4 back to the apartment with the same box that I had the last time. All told, I spent over 2 hours and didn’t accomplish anything.
I then went on the second store run for a wedding present for my friend who is getting married tomorrow. I know this sounds bad, but my ‘present’ is just an envelop with cash in it. It is actually what everyone usually gives at weddings, so it makes gift giving easy, the only trick is that it must be in a special red envelope. Unfortunately, special red envelopes are only sold in supermarkets – but not the supermarkets around were I am staying. Thus, kicking off hunt #2 of the afternoon. I eventually found some and began to make my way back to the apartment.
As I was walking, I noticed a guy carrying a single piece of bamboo scaffolding and trying to look casual. After all, does anyone casually carry a 10 foot piece of bamboo? Sure enough a security guard from the nearby construction site comes running out yelling. The casual bamboo man drops the bamboo and keeps on moving. The security guard scowls and picks up the bamboo and walks back to the site. This is actually the first time that I have ever seen a security guard do anything other than drink tea, smoke cigarettes, or chat with the street cleaners since I have been coming to China.
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| The Past Few DaysIn terms of blog writing, the past few days haven’t really been that eventful. I have been doing the breakfast/lunch/dinner circuit with old friends and enjoying the chaos of Shanghai. One of the more irritating developments that I have noticed, and perhaps this is just in my area, is that bikes, electric mopeds, and some larger gas-powered scooters have taken to driving on the sidewalks. I would see this occasionally the last time I was here, but it seems like it is more regular. Somewhat irritating. Shanghai – and China in general – is not pedestrian friendly.
I managed to film a short clip of a local vendor making my favorite on-the-go breakfast option. Loosely called an ‘egg pancake’ it is super tasty and filling, well worth the 50 cents. I’ll upload the video once I get back to the US. The Chinese firewall has blocked Xanga, so I have to bounce the internet connection through Hanover, which makes for remarkably slow upload speeds.
I ordered dinner last night from one of the tiny restaurants in the area, the kind that you really don’t want to look in the kitchen, and there were a few interesting things. First, as I was sitting there waiting for my order, I saw one of the chefs exit the kitchen and put something in a microwave that was outside of the kitchen. I found this slightly humorous. Here I thought I would be getting old style Chinese cuisine and I was ending up with something that was being warmed up in a microwave! To be fair, I didn’t see what was being put in, so it could have been something unrelated to my order. I brought my food back to my friends apartment and sat down to scan the TV channels as I ate. Out of curiosity I began flipping through the channels and waiting to see how long it was before I saw something related to the Olympics. On average, I probably had to wait 3/4 minutes before there was a direct mention of the Olympics. Every commercial break had at least one Olympic themed commercial, several news programs focused on the Olympic (including one on how all TVs in public transportation were being programmed to all stream uninterrupted Olympic coverage), and even the English channel had a feature on the smoking ban and its effects on Chinese society (related to the Olympics). The most notable commercial was a Coca Cola spot. I wont go into details on the commercial, but at the end there is a picture of a hand holding a Coke, then there is a flash of flame and the Coke bottle turns into an Olympic Torch. Priceless. Be patriotic, love the Olympics, buy Coke.
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| ‘Sick Man of Asia’The window in my friend’s guest room takes up the entire wall opposite the bed. While this makes for an impressive view, actually not as much as it could be given the ‘fog’, it does encourage one to wake up rather early as the sun begins to filter in around 0600. I got up and went out to find myself some breakfast. It turns out that near the apartment is a place that makes my favorite roadside breakfast, a Chinese crepe with eggs, hot sauce, and a donut of sorts all wrapped up into a convenient burrito for eating on the move. While the sanitary conditions are enough to unsettle one’s stomach, if you are willing to ignore that you are in for a good meal.
I then went to the Lu Xun museum and park in the Hong Kou district in North Eastern Shanghai. Lu Xun is perhaps one of the most powerful writers of the 20th century. He wrote short stories that addressed the most challenging social ills of his time. The story goes that he was a Chinese national studying to become a doctor in a Japanese medical school. During this time, Japan was occupying much of eastern China. During one of his classes the professor would put up newsreels before the class. One day, there was a report on a Chinese spy that was being executed. During the execution, curious Chinese nationals began to gather and watch what was going on. It is said that at that moment Lu Xun realized that the ‘Sick Man of Asia’, one of the titles by which China was known by during this period, could not be cured with western medicine. It was the Chinese conception of national identity (lack thereof) and Chinese traditional culture itself that had caused the illness. He left medical school to become a writer, seeking an alternate way to cure the ‘Sick Man of Asia’.
Since one of my classes this term focuses on one of his essays, my visit to the museum was as much a class field trip as it was a personal visit. Less filled with the typical nationalist propaganda, this museum actually made for a good visit (this is primarily due to Lu Xun’s tendency to make friends regardless of nationality. He had several close foreign associates). Yet, the more interesting visit occurred outside the museum. I visited his tomb and discovered that the local soccer stadium nearly overtakes that corner of the park. Perhaps it is my own appreciation for irony, but the tomb of the man responsible for intellectual underpinnings of what was to become the Chinese Communist Revolution is nearly overshadowed by a soccer stadium plastered with Nike ads…a testament to China’s current mixed and uncertain identity. Perhaps China is still suffering from the same ailment that Lu Xun sought to redress when he left medical school?
I have included a video of the grave and soccer stadium in the videos section of the blog.
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| Getting Back to Shanghai Thanks to Allen and Lena, I managed to get to NYC's JFK airport with plenty of time before my flight. While I was waiting in the airport, what I presume to be a newly wed couple were waiting in the que behind me. The 'husband' turned to his 'wife' and asked, "How are you just gonna forget to sign the marriage liscense?" Her reply, "I dunno, I just did." This was immediately followed by his second question, "Hey, do you think you could hand me one of those name tag things? (She had a few in her hand)" I chuckled a little at this somewhat bizarre conversation. I wish them the best of luck in their future marriage.
The plane ride itself was uneventful. I got lucky enough to move my seat to an isle that had no one else in the row. The final result for me was a chance to lay all the way out and fall asleep. I managed a few hours of good rest but I found myself being continually interrupted by the airplane stewards, who felt compelled to make as much noise as possible when coming down the isle. To put this in perspective, I was wearing 32 dB ear plugs, there was a baby crying in front of me for much of the flight that didn't bother my sleeping, but it was the flight attendants who made enough noise to wake me up. That being said, the flight was pretty good. The movie selection was good and I had prime seating for an economy class ticket, not bad for $670 round trip.
When I got to the airport, I found the driver that my friend had arranged to meet me waiting in the airplane terminal. The ride was uneventful except for what is looking like a worsening traffic problem in Shanghai and his repeated offers of cigarettes. I tried the usual refusals, and his somewhat comical reply was, “but these cigarettes are very mild!” As if only cowboy killers are bad for your health.
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