Good Morning All!
Well, I'm finally settled enough that I have time to update the blog. We survived two typhoons - although technically only one actually hit Shanghai hard enough. We lost a few tree branches on campus but that's about it. Typhoons in Shanghai are like thunderstorms in Michigan. They just last a little longer.
Our campus is quite beautiful. And very peaceful on the weekends when we don't have 2800 students wandering about.
I teach Grade 9 and Grade 10. My students come from Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Germany, The United States, Japan, Australia and Thailand so it's quite an interesting bunch. I live in a very working-class neighborhood. I buy my vegetables on the street corner -literally, on the sidewalk. I have to stand on my head to see what they've got. I buy my DVD's from a local shop filled with chain-smoking men and kids looking for deals on the latest video games. At night the sidewalk is wet from people dumping their cleaning water into the gutters and the whole place smells like something curled up and died in the storm sewer. That smell would be something called Chou Do Fu. It smells like the inside of a gym bag left in a sunny car for about three months but it's darn tasty. Ah, it's good to be back.
There are no less than six real estate companies on my block. I happened to run into an agent that spoke a little bit of English. We had a good talk. He pretty much has the same problem here that we do in the states, too many agents getting into the business because they don't know what else to do and an abundance of listings that are just sitting. They do 90 year mortgages here so when they say the contract applies to heirs and successors, they're not kidding.
This photo is of the Jin Mao Tower and right behind it is the new financial center. It was featured in a discovery channel documentary. This is located in Pudong. Pudong is a bus and two trains away from where I live and work. Fifteen years ago there was nothing in Pudong but rice and hogs. Now it is the financial heart of China. 
This is an icon of Shanghai. It is the Oriental Pearl Television Tower. It's 145 meters tall and it's usually on the top of the list of anyone who visits Shanghai. This picture was taken over the National Day holiday which celebrates the founding of the PRC. National Day is a seven day federal holiday where just about everything is closed, including Citibank. I found that out after it took me two hours to find the place only to learn it was closed. The security guard learned a few new English words that I don't think he really wanted to learn. I did, however, find H&M was open and I have a place to shop in the spring.
To get an idea of the size and scope of Shanghai try this: Take the population of Michigan and double it. Then cram it into an area the size of five counties. To say that it's crowded is an understatement. Shanghai is noisy, dusty, polluted, constantly under construction, and right now I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
Happy Hunting,
Holly
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