Week One Photo

Shanghai Report #2

Ni hao from Shanghai,

My wife Sharon and I have been here about two weeks now, and overall we are doing well and adjusting a bit more every day, but it still feels like we’ve gone halfway around the world, and are immersed in a totally different language and culture (hmm, that could be true!). I am teaching in the USAC (University Studies Abroad Consortium) a program operated by some 30 U.S. universities (Boise State is a founding member) with headquarters at U-Nevada-Reno, which has many international educational sites. I teach 2 classes: (1) International Business Law and (2) “Cross Cultural Ethical Issues in Business,” to a group of mostly American undergraduate students from all over the country, and a few international students. It takes me more than a full day to prepare for each 3 hour class, since they are new classes, not ones I teach at BSU. We are renting a small apartment only a 10 minute walk from the USAC office and my classroom on the campus of Shanghai University. Since I have no desk or office at the university, I prepare for my classes in our apartment.

We have been eating breakfast and lunch more or less American-style so far, but have gone out to dinner in our neighborhood almost every night, and eaten totally Chinese food. There are a large number of little restaurants on our street which we have sampled, one serving baozi (dumplings) of many types, and another the students call the “Muslim noodle” place are both really good and very inexpensive, so it just makes more sense to go out than try to cook in our tiny kitchen. There are often no English titles on the menu, just pictures, so it’s not always clear what we have ordered—and there are definitely only chopsticks to use. Although the food has been good, I am craving a hamburger or some pasta. (We actually went out and had some very nice pasta last night—a splurge.) Sharon is enjoying the Chinese food, does not miss burgers, and has been exploring the open markets near our apartment for fresh food and local delicacies.
Every day we learn new things and have new experiences. Shanghai is a huge, dynamic, rapidly growing metropolis with about 20 million people. The downtown area is split by the HuangPu River, with the older, European style buildings on one side (the Bund) and ultra-modern skyscrapers being built at a rapid rate on the other side (Pudong). The program organized a tour for the students of some highlights of the city. We went first to the YuYuan Garden, a huge, beautiful Chinese garden built during the Ming Dynasty. It’s like a maze inside with many twists and turns, much water—both waterfalls and ponds—special types of rocks (look like sculptures), tea rooms and more. After an hour there we got on our bus and went to Pudong, and to the top of the JinMao Tower, the tallest building in China—at least that day it was—the next day a building opened about two blocks away that was taller. Both buildings are taller than the Empire State Building, and ranked #3 and #4 in the world. The observation deck looks down on all of Shanghai—see photo.

You Sha (program director) took all 35 of us to a delicious lunch spot, where all the dishes were put on a “lazy Susan” at each table, and we slowly spun it around and grabbed (with chopsticks of course) items that came by. Then we all went to the waterfront, where we took a boat cruise up and down the river, with great views of both the Bund and Pudong. One interesting sidelight to this trip was that we got to the dock about 20 minutes late, and the boat had left and was nearly out in the middle of the river. Somehow You Sha convinced the managers on shore to call the boat back to the dock, and we all got on. I have never seen that happen before.
We have had an old friend visiting us for about a week—Yung Harbison, a long-time Boise resident who now lives in Richland, Washington. Yung is Chinese by birth and speaks Chinese and she has helped us understand many of the signs on the street, and explain the food that we are seeing and eating, and talking to taxi drivers and shopkeepers.
Monday Sharon and I went down to central Shanghai. We walked along the famous “shopping street” of Nanjing Road, while constantly being hassled by guys trying to sell us a variety of things—watches, t-shirts, etc.—very aggressively. Finally we ended up in People’s Square, a big park in the middle of town, kind of like Central Park in New York, with tall buildings all around. We visited a lovely lotus pond and had a drink in a restaurant on a pond while watching people fishing. Later heading out of the park for dinner, we began searching for a restaurant we knew about. Crossing busy streets is a challenge (the motorcycles and power bikes and some cars don’t obey stoplights so you need to be careful).
Immediately we were out of the “tourist” area—every sign was totally in Chinese characters. We couldn’t identify the restaurant we wanted—the name was spelled out in Pinyin (sort of phonetic Chinese spelled in English letters) in the guidebook, but no such signs were on any of the restaurants. Finally at one place, when we showed the owner? the writing in the book, there was some excited nodding of the head, so we figured this was it and went in. We were given a big 7 page menu. Fortunately, there were some English words under the Chinese characters, but still it was difficult to order. What do you think “upper part of pig’s leg with oil” would be like? We ended up having a great meal. It has beef with mushrooms in oyster sauce. Sharon said her fish, which was sort of butterfly carved with orange sauce, was one of the best meals she has ever had.

Well there’s lots more to tell, but this is more than enough for today.
Best wishes, Michael Bixby