September 22, 2012

First let me share a couple of pictures I took while I was walking to work this week....

 Martial Arts practice!

Today...

I was feeling a little homesick so I was relieved when Stacy and Chelsea came bounding into my room and invited me to go with them on a hike to She Shan Basilica.  I was intimidated by the idea of hiking with two Colorado girls, but agreed to go anyway.  On our way out of the hotel we ran into Courtney and Krit and they decided to join us. 

We didn’t know much about the site except that it is a Catholic cathedral located at the top of a tall hill.  (A novelty because Shanghai is as flat as Florida!)  Turns out that it’s 22 miles SW of the city, about 40 minutes by metro.  When we arrived at our stop, we exited the metro station and could see the basilica from where were.  It looked like it was 7-8 miles away and we hadn’t really planned how we were going to get over there.  We wandered around for awhile trying to find a bus or a bike rental place, then I approached two guys and asked for help.  They turned out to be two shy, German students and they were as lost as we were.  
Finally we all decided to take cabs over to the hill.  There is a service in Shanghai that you can text an address to a phone number in pin-yin (the system of translating Chinese characters into a Latin script) and it will text you back with the address written in Mandarin so that you can show it to a cab driver.  We did that and then were on our way!

The hill turned out to be a very light climb through lovely bamboo groves.  Here are pictures from the trip………….     

 I think this picture seemed much funnier when we took it.  It was so silly that they were advertising steak at the coffee shop.  I'm so glad to have met Chelsea, she is confident, adventurous and hilarious. 

Silly girls at the entrance to the hill. The many steps to the top represent "The Way of Suffering", the road that Christ took to his crucifixion. 

 Pagoda half way up the hill.  You usually find these near Buddhist temples, set up as a place to store sacred relics and writings.  I thought it was odd to see one set up next to a Christian church, maybe it makes the church less Western. 

 Taoist yin yang symbol...another strange thing to find at the base of a Catholic church

 View of the suburbs of Shanghai from the top of the hill.  

(Don't worry that's not smog, it was a humid, rainy day)

 The Basilica of Our Lady of She Shan is supposedly the largest in Asia (though actually it is a typical cross-shaped cathedral about the size of St. Pat's in Waukon).  It was built in the 1920's on top of a chapel built in the 1860s by Jesuits.  During the Cultural Revolution it was greatly damaged, with all of the stained glass smashed out but has since been fully restored.

 Me in a typical public, squat-pot toilet at the basilica.  Sometimes I actually prefer to use these over the public Western toilets because you don't have to touch anything...unless you loose your balance.  Unfortunately there's usually no toilet paper, and it can get smelly because paper is not supposed to be flushed, but rather tossed in a waste basket inside the stall. 

I took this picture for my sister.  Nikki Langer:  Come to China!  Exciting Adventures Await!

 Several Chinese people stopped to snap pictures of us while we were taking this picture.  

Those crazy foreigners!

Back at the bottom of the hill there were no cabs, so we negotiated for someone to take the five of us back to the metro station in his van for 30RMB (about $6).  I've read about people doing this in China and it was fine for us this time but I don't recommend it.  Not because it's unsafe, (violent crime is virtually non-existent in China) just that it's a really good way to get ripped off.

By the time we got back onto the metro we were starving!  Chelsea actually started to get sick from the Advil she’d taken on an empty stomach.  This sweet Chinese couple that didn’t speak English started fussing over her, asking her what was wrong and telling other people to move over on the seats so that she could sit down.  As soon as we got back to our neighborhood we went to a Japanese noodle place for dinner and soon she felt better.  Just as we were finishing up we got a text that two of the Chinese assistant trainers from Disney English wanted to come meet us.  Seizing the opportunity to make friends with some of the local staff, Stacy and I decided to hang back and wait for them.

                                                                        Stacy and Brittany

Stacy entertained the girls by telling them all the words she knows in Chinese, which a friend taught her back home.  Turns out all the words were curse words.  The discovery was pretty funny. 

Brittany is sophisticated, smart, and no-nonsense. She told me that she used to be a workaholic Graphic Designer and that, up until a year ago, she could read and write English, but could barely speak at all.  She learned conversational English from watching Friends.  (Phoebe is her favorite character).

                                                                       Flora and Me

She is laughing because every time she would look at the camera I’d say a Chinese curse word (which I will not repeat here).  She loved it and in typical Chinese style she covers her mouth when she laughs.  Adorable.  

Flora just graduated from university with a degree in Applied English.  She is so sweet and friendly, I adore her!   Also, she told me that she loves to watch New Girl and Vampire Diaries in English. (She thinks Damon is cute but I told her I think he has crazy eyes.)

I loved having dinner with these spunky young women but being with them made me think about how much I miss by not having access to Mandarin.  An explanation:

To get on the subway you have to pass through a security check, guards either wave you through the gate or pull you and run your bag through an X-ray machine.  I’ve noticed that as soon as the foreigners approach the gate, the guards drop their hands and turn their heads, avoiding eye contact while we pass right through.  Things like this happen often.  In shops, restaurants, etc. they will help you if you ask but often I notice that people look uncomfortable with our presence.  It’s not that they are trying to be unfriendly, but they seem nervous that we might try to talk to them in English.  I think that they are afraid of having to awkwardly communicate and to possibly ‘lose face’.

In both the restaurant, and at the supermarket we visited after dinner, staff turned to Brittany to explain things about my transactions without even glancing at me.  I have been in so many stores and restaurants, and I know that there are things that should've been communicated but haven't been because it's just easier to move the foreigner along.

I hope to learn some Mandarin while I'm here, but right now it seems like an impossible task.  Sigh.