Arrival in Shanghai Pt. II: Apples and Dumplings

Driving in China does not have the same soothing effect of walking through a Chinese airport after a long flight. The roadways are crowded – not only with cars and trucks, but with motorcycles, bicycles, and product-peddling bicycle-wagon hybrids as well – and the streets are not getting any less congested. Thousands of new drivers take to the Chinese roadways every day. China very soon will pass Japan as the second largest car market in the world, if it has not already done so.

The roadways, thus, are chaotic. With an expanding pool of new drivers and an expanding network of new roads, driving regulations, or at least drivers’ awareness of those regulations, are often in doubt…at least to me. On the ride to the hotel, I could have sworn on multiple occasions that a scooter casually…um, scooting…through an intersection or a pedestrian walking in a crosswalk were about to get steamrolled…thankfully, neither happened. Regardless, these factors made for a slightly more discomforting time on the ride to the hotel.

Apple and her friend accompanied me on the hour plus cab ride to the hotel. Apple sat in the back with me, while her friend sat up front with the driver, chatting with him and helping him navigate using the directions Apple had written in her planner. No one in the car had been to this hotel before, so there was a lot of dialogue back and forth between the three of them, alternating between Mandarin and Shanghainese, as they tried to figure out the route.

The cab was small, so while I managed to get my two suitcases in the trunk, Packzilla rested on my lap in the back seat for most of the ride. After a half hour or so, I figured out that there was room to stand it up on the floor, and relieved my legs of the burden. The ride was otherwise comfortable, with a nice breeze circulating through the car as the taxi rode along through the crowded Shanghai streets.

Apple, when not conferencing with the driver and her friend in the front seat, took the opportunity to welcome me to Shanghai and to English First, and to practice her English with a Westerner for the first time! She explained my schedule over the next few days and gave me a very handsome company man-purse (ok, so it’s a messenger bag, which I think is actually pretty cool), filled with useful stuff, including a company umbrella, some guide books, and my contacts/itinerary for the next few weeks, and told me a little bit about herself.

I’m amused to find that the first thing she shares about herself with me is the origins of her name. The last character of her name is ping, as in pingguo, the Chinese word for apple. Her friends have called her Apple since grade school, so when it came time to select an English name, it was not an arduous process.

Now, as a 21 year old student at Shanghai Maritime University majoring in maritime law (Cherith Cutestory, anyone?), Apple admits contemplating a name change, something more conventional. I tell her that I think her name is unique and distinguishing. As a full-time student during the week, and a weekend warrior for EF performing tasks such as this one, I figure she’s got much more pressing things to deal with.

Apple is very friendly and does her best to make conversation with her new, jag-lagged colleague. As she “protests” (her pronunciation of “practices”) her English, I try to get some “protest” being patient and encouraging, two traits I figure I will need in my new job as an English teacher. As I mentioned, Apple is speaking with a native English speaker for the first time. As she explains to me, there’s not much opportunity to practice speaking with native speakers at school… I know the feeling.

After a little more than an hour, we arrive at the Shanghai Summit Hotel Nanpu. It’s in the Huangpu district of Shanghai, west of the Huangpu River and south of the Bund. The area is pretty removed from any eventful part of town, with more places to buy fabric than places to eat. Location aside, the hotel is very comfortable and modern.

Apple and her friend help me get checked in and follow the bell hop and I up to my room. Apple and I exchange e-mails and she and her friend take their leave so that I can rest.

After nearly a full day of traveling, that’s just what I’m ready to do. I take a survey of my room, my home for the next two weeks. Though small, it has everything I need to be comfortable: a sit-down toilet, electric light…just kidding… there’s a TV with a few English channels, a mini-fridge, an electric tea kettle, high-speed internet – enough to keep me going in my new environment. My first night, I try to stay up until 9 or so, just so that my body clock is not completely out of whack. The front desk helps me out and sends the bell boy out to get me some dumplings for dinner around 8. I eat half, put the leftovers in my fridge, and then gratefully call it a night.

Notes:

I'm slowly trying to get the blog in order. I hope to have a photo page up soon, and when that happens I will link it on the right side of the window. I have already posted the link to another, more academically-minded blog that I contribute to in the "links" section of this page. The Asian Studies blog has been a bit slow-going getting it off the ground, but I hope that it can develop into something eventually.

Finally, I think it would be fun to conclude each blog post with a Chinese vocabulary word and a music recommendation, two areas in which I'm always looking to broaden my horizons. For this post, the vocab word is ping guo, apple ("ping gwo," if that phonetically-convoluted explanation helps). And a song currently rocking my ear drums is "My Moon My Man" by Feist.

'Til next time. Word.