remmy goes to shanghai

avg. temp.: prolly in the 60’s, warmish fall day though chilly on the scooter
today’s accomplishment: free food all around!
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today i learned a very important lesson. one that, for me, will most definitly go down in the history books. in fact, i’d consider it a pretty successful day all things considered. so here’s the set-up.

i go to lunch with su, youth leader of puxi church….if you don’t know her come visit and i’ll introduce you. so anyway, we plan to meet for lunch. so i take the metro to the super brand mall, that’s chinese for 5 stories of expensive shopping. so they have tons of restaurants in the mall, including su’s favorite, element fresh. we opt for the outdoor seating since it was a fairly warm, sunny day and proceed to order. i, by the way, had a warm, italian, open-faced sandwich for the first time and found it was awesome! so we order, we eat, and, of course, we talk. and we talk. and we talk. i mean…this is what we do. though, i must admit i felt a bit like the godfather or one of the sopranos since we had to exchange receipts and $$ from the fall retreat. so i hand her receipts and she hands me an envelope full of cash. and i’m thinking, this is awesome….this is totally how gangsters feel. so anyway, back to my story. so we eat. talk. it’s good.

after a good while passes we both realize we should be heading out soon. i have another meeting later in the afternoon and su is heading back to brazil for a month in just a few weeks and so she had lots to get done before she heads out of town. so we decide to head out. we grab our things and head back through the mall toward the metro. we both take the metro home (just in opposite directions) so we opt to walk out together. we comment on the stores in the mall and the expense of buying imported american clothes in china…better to wait until christmas i say. i discuss my desire to hit up the fabric market to possibly have them make me some sweaters. i’m told you can have them make anything for you there if you have a sample or a picture and it will fit you perfectly, be good quality, and really cheap. so i’ve been thinking of seeing if they could make me a sweater or two in a style that i really love. anyway….we ramble on about whatever all the way to the metro. we head down, a quick hug, and then we part ways. a few seconds later my train comes and i hop on and i’m on my way. seconds after my train takes off my phone rings. i grab it and it’s none other than su. and what does she say?

“did you pay for the meal?” i say, “what?” and then she says, “lunch. did you pay?” and then it hits. i’m like ooooohhhh no. and she’s talking and i’m talking and all that comes is…..duuuude….we totally just walked out on our lunch and never paid!!! and i mean…we ate, we chatted, we took our good sweet time and then we skipped out without a care in the world.

how could this happen you say? well….quite easily actually. see here the version of service is….they hire lots of waiters and waitresses and everyone just sort of shares tables. there’s no tipping so it doesn’t matter who waits on you. so when you’re ready to order you just wave a hand at whoever is nearby and they take your order. could be a different person to bring it and someone else to check up on you. and it could be someone else to bring your check. you never really know. and here, you usually have to ask for the check. no such rushing you out the door like at home when everyone is on a 30 min. time block cuz they want to get the tables emptied to usher in the next batch. when you don’t work for tips it doesn’t matter how long the customers stay. so it’s great for whiling away the hours….but really bad for remembering to pay. no one really is totally responsible for your table and honestly….you can just forget after talking for a while that no one ever brought you a bill.

so yeah…there we are….2 youth directors skipping out on lunch. what can i say….i learned a truly valuable lesson…crime definitely does NOT pay!

for those who are morally repunged by our display of wanton criminality, rest assured i called the restaurant when i got back and told them what happened and have plans to return tomorrow afternoon to pay the bill. sheesh…come on people…what do you take me for…a barbarian?

in other criminal news….i had the battery to my scooter stolen just a day or 2 after amy went back home (which was about 2 weeks ago now). there isn’t a whole lot of crime here in shanghai, but the little crime they do have they are certainly dedicated to achieving at high levels of efficiency. if it’s not locked down, penned up, or bolted to a tree…it’s gonna grow legs and disappear. and well, in a city of 250 million some people…hard to prove the who-dunnit’s. so yeah…the battery was stolen. crazy considering the bike itself has a lock to keep people from stealing the actual bike and then there is a huge chain around the battery to keep people from taking that. i come down to the garage under my building and the chain is on the bike but the battery? no where to be found. my super sleuthing figures they must have cut through the plastic handles on the battery and then just slid the chain back along the floor of the scooter.

i did finally get a new battery this week…thank goodness. you don’t realize how much you miss a thing like that until you don’t have easy access to it anymore. it’s true i’m walking distance to most places i need to go. and it’s also true that i can hop in a taxi when i have need. but really….there’s a certain freedom that comes from just hopping on your little scooter pooter and putting away.

and i really think i’ve picked up a keen sense of the art of scootering here in shanghai. i mean, i certainly garner the usual glances, smiles, and giggles…but i typically chalk that up to the blonde-haired, white girl thing. the guards at my complex are so used to seeing me they really don’t bat an eye too much anymore….UNLESS….i start getting artsy with the scootering….like today.

i’ve slowly been working on getting my desk set up at work with various office supplies and other things to make it useful and comfy. but i’d been holding back on toting my “work books” in. i like to have the resource stuff available no doubt…but it was just such a hassle to have to walk a thing of books several blocks to the office. but today…today….i got artsy. today….i seized on the brilliant idea of putting the books for work in a large blue duffle. amy knows the one because we took it with us to the retreat a few weeks back. if you haven’t been here to see it then just picture…well, a large blue duffle bag…but square in shape…like a little longer than a coleman cooler. anyway…i fill this thing pretty full with books and what not. then balance it on the floor of the scooter and i take it into the elevator.

oh side note, now that i have the new battery i have begun bringing the scooter up the elevator to the 6th floor where my apt. is and then keeping it in the hall. i’ve seen lots of people in the building doing it and i figure it must be safer that way.

so anyway….i take the scooter down in the elevator, out the door, down the ramp, and then onto the street. i hop on the bike with backpack on and basically prop my legs on the duffle that fills the whole floor of the scooter and hangs off the edges a bit. i then proceed to ride toward the gate with my feet dangling directly in front of me off the edge of the duffle as i mentally prepare myself for what’s to come. and sure enough…i hit scooter gold….the guards had a ball. when they saw me coming they got their big grins and little chuckles all ready as they watched me, heads on a swivel, exit the gate and head in to work. but they can laugh all they want…i’ve learned you can balance a hell of a lot of stuff on a scooter these past weeks and i was sure happy to have mine back so i could finish the office set-up. and what a beautiful thing it was to arrive in style, duffle in tow, knowing i’d done it all on my own.

you may be able to steal my battery but you’ll never steal my spirit!!