Living in China is great and interesting. Maybe I am on a “Shang-high” as opposed to the “Shang-lows” I have heard that come after a few months of living here, but life is good…even better because I am drinking a glass of wine as I write this.
A brief update before I go into some of the crazy little things about living here. We joined the sailing club on Sunday after a very brief ride in a sailboat. Americans, besides being the world leader in many things, in my opinion are the very best at standing in line and waiting their turn. Being the Americans that we are, Andy and I, along with the other three Americans waited as everyone else got a try on the sailboat when the weather was still good. Then, as the weather got windy and the helmsman became tired we convinced Igor, a very experienced Dutch sailor to take us out on a boat, even though it was clear he was ready to leave after already taking people of every other nationality out on the lake. We enjoyed our short, 20-minute introduction to sailing and we are now members of the Shanghai Boat and Yacht Club (it is not as pretentious as it sounds.)
A sailboat like the one we sailed on
While Andy was thrilled to join the Boat Club, I was thrilled because we met some wonderful new friends. Even better, our new friends, Claudia and Patrick, from Germany, live in the same apartment complex that we do. What are the odds in this enormous city? So after sailing, and the bus ride back to town from the lake, we had a wonderful Italian dinner with Claudia and Patrick and then shared a taxi ride home.
Okay, on to the crazy little things about living in China. First, and most importantly, the language. As I was looking up the spelling on “you guai” or “right turn” I actually laughed out loud because page 13 of my “Survival Chinese” guide is called “Chinese is Easier Than English!” Ha! is all I have to say to that. Today was Andy and I’s first Mandarin lesson. We were making noises that I can guarantee we have never made before. Huah, zhuah, tsu, etc. It is going to be difficult to learn.
To instruct the taxi driver to go somewhere, research is involved. For example, to meet at the appropriate bar to catch the bus to the lake for sailing, we looked online and printed out Chinese instructions about how to get there. We even have a card, with a map, for our apartment complex. Then, as we get close to our apartment complex, we “you guai” (turn right),” “zuo guai” (turn left) and “yizhi zou” (go straight) it until we are home. Everywhere we go, requires Chinese instructions for taxi drivers. Because of this, I am constantly collecting business cards of every place we go to and want to return to. I carry that card holder, as well as a yellow pages of traditional expat places in my purse at all times. We are currently looking into getting a full time car and driver so that this whole process might become a little bit easier.
Today, I hired an ayi. “Ayi” is the Chinese word for maid. She seems like she will be great and for roughly $2 per hour, I just feel like we might as well. She will work three days per week, five hours per day. Not only does she clean, do laundry and iron, but she will also COOK us traditional Chinese food on the days when she is here. Eventually, we know this will be a great benefit, but initially we will have to train her not to cook fish head and eel and other such delicacies. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention that when the translator was with us today.
Two other things that I have to mention before I close this are pjs and loogie hacking. I cannot get over the fact that it is perfectly socially acceptable to wear pajamas in public and to hack a loogie whenever you want to. The pajamas, fine…you are wearing pajamas in public, I can get over it. But the CONSTANT sound of “huuuuah” as a person gets ready to spit, absolutely grosses me out EVERY SINGLE TIME. I hope hope hope I get used to this, because I really think it is so disgusting and so against what I was brought up to believe is proper. I have just not come to terms with the fact that I will probably hear more than a thousand loogies hacked before we leave. Please please please let me get used to it SOON.
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