remmy goes to shanghai

today’s average temperature: ~90 degrees, 600% humidity

today’s accomplishment: went shopping at market and took taxi home (all by myself) – yesterday, road bike all around pudong (all by myself) – today

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well here i am trying to begin my first posting about life here in shanghai. i’m not sure i even have words to describe what these first few days have been like.  maybe i can best sum it up by my “ride” home this evening. 

 i’ve been apartment hunting for the past couple days and have found it to be an interesting experience at the least.  in china, you don’t just go to an apt. complex and go to management and ask to see what is available.  here, you go to real estate agents who take you to individual apts. that are all “owned” by individual landlords (though even ownership here is a dubious term since really the govt. owns everything and to “own” something you simply rent it for 100 years or something).  in any case, there’s no loyalty to any one agent…you can talk to as many as you like and whichever finds you the best apt. for the cheapest and the fastest wins….basically.  so we’ve been going around from place to place and tonight i decided to try riding a bike left for me here to use while i’m staying at this house.  it wasn’t too far of a ride, but then we went from complex to complex so i ended up off the main streets that i knew.  so my friend lily, who has been helping me to look (and speaking chinese for me) asked the agents (there were 3) to lead me back. 

on a side note, i find it hilarious that at any given apt. there can be 3, 4, or even as many as 6 people there….just to show the one apt.  and, of course, they all sort of stare at you as you walk around and think of various questions to ask about the furnishings or what have you.

so anyway, in this case there were 3 agents present.  so there i am on my bike being lead home by 3 chinese real estate agents (2 on vespas, 1 on a bike with a basket on the front) all of whom are smoking and alternately talking on cellphones!  it struck me as quite humorous as i huffed and puffed behind them trying to pedal fast enough to keep up!

of course, that’s really probably only the first of many such experiences.  it’s def. been strange to adjust to a new way of thinking.  sometimes it’s easy to get really mixed up…like in the grocery store when renee was showing me how to get to the market and where the various food sections were.  i was telling her that i would probably want to try to buy food that was familiar (western)….she said ok she would lead me to the import section.  and, without even thinking, i said, “import section?  why would i eat imported food…don’t i want american food?”!  of course, as soon as i said it…i was like….”OOOHHH duh!!!  i AM an import here! lol”  oops.

 so i’ll end with this….we went yesterday to have sushi since i really like sushi and was interested to try it.  as we walked to the sushi restaurant, lily and renee were explaining to me that the chinese and the japanese don’t really like each other very much…just in general.  so they don’t like it when people think that sushi is chinese (it’s japanese).  in any case, the sushi was quite delicious and very inexpensive (like $1 for 6 rolls!)….but the thing that really cracked me up was the wet napkin on the table.  it came in a wrapper with a story about the restaurant and how it started.  it was all in english, but as i’ve found often the translation never really sounds quite right.  so here’s what it said….

the front said the restaurant name:  sakae sushi.  then under that: good place. very good sushi.

the back had this story: sakae sushi originated from a romantic love story between a husband and a wife.  a young man had a wife who loved japanese food but would refrain from eating too much due to sky-high prices charged by japanese restaurants.

it was love that triggered the man to set up a restaurant in 1997, serving quality and value for money japanese food.  he felt that everyone who loved japanese cuisine should be able to enjoy them without constantly having to worry about the cost of that gastronomical pleasure.

since then, sakae sushi never looked back.  today, sakae sushi has over 40 outlets in china, indonesia, malaysia, philippines, singapore and thailand.  despite its rapid proliferation, sakae sushi remains committed and true to its founding philosophy.