Friday, September 5, 2008
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.
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.
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
Best wishes, Michael Bixby
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Hello from China
Hi gang,
We have now been here for 3 or 4 days, so time for a quick update. We are settled in our apartment, which is part of a complex of several buildings, between 8 and 16 stories tall. Our apartment building is #8 and we are on the 8th floor (elevator goes to 7). As you know from the Olympics, the Chinese believe 8 is a very lucky number (the Olympics started exactly at 8:00 on 8/8/08) so we're feeling lucky. We watched the closing ceremonies on our TV, in Chinese of course. No sign of NBC or Bob Costas, and we didn't see any shots of the American team--but it was spectacular. We have two tvs, but no English speaking channels and I can't get one of them to turn on, but the landlord has said he'll come soon and fix it.
Our apartment looks out over a lovely park (Zhabei park). We hear birds in the morning--early, it gets light about 5:30! We can look down and see lots of people walking, jogging, doing Tai chi and other exercises very early when we awake. Today Sharon and I went for a walk in the park, and saw lots of different activities going on, including couples doing ballroom dancing. Another group of women were doing a variety of moves with a sort of badminton/paddle racket and a ball where they would move their arms and bodies, twirl around and make various moves, but the ball would stay right on the racket, although it was not attached. Our first couple of days were pretty smoggy, but today the sky was clear and a beautiful blue color, probably because of a huge storm we had yesterday--lots of thunder and heavy rain. We could see the Pearl Tower very well from our balcony today--it was perfect weather.
When we walk out of our complex in another direction away from the park we go out on to a busy commercial street (Yanchang Road), and the University is just across the street. It is not a fancy street, just a series of small shops, stores, restaurants, people cooking things and selling stuff from their shops. There is an outdoor market and a few "convenience store" type places where you can buy basic supplies and one medium-size older grocery store down about two blocks. There is little or no English on the signs or from the people in the stores. We are really in a regular street in a normal part of Shanghai, not the ritzy upscale part where American businesspeople might go when they come here.
Today Sharon and I went to Beginning Chinese class in the morning. The teacher worked on teaching us sounds of various letters, combinations, and characters, and the tones that are so important for nearly 3 hours. The class was packed with students, mostly Americans, and we all had to speak up at various times--some of the Chinese sounds are difficult to say, very "foreign" to our American tongues.
Later the program director, You Sha (pronounced "yo sha") took Sharon and I to the local police station where we had to register and obtain a Temporary Residence Permit. It took nearly an hour to get there and fill out many papers, and finally get the important red stamp on our final papers, so I guess we can stay. I thought about making some jokes about my "checkered past" while we were standing for a long time at the window of the Shanghai police station, with this officer looking very seriously at the papers and passport information You Sha was giving them, but decided against it. Then we hailed a taxi in the middle of a very busy street, with cars, buses and motos and bikes going all around us--for the trip back to our neighborhood. Many people ride bikes and motos and there are regular width lanes on big streets just for them.
You Sha has been a great help on everything. She's sharp, fun, very organized and has lots of high energy. She arranged for a van to pick us up at the airport--way on the other side of Shanghai, met us at the apartment when we arrived and helped us get set up, took Sharon and I to lunch the next day at a very nice Sichuan restaurant, then led an orientation session for all (about 35) of the students and helped them deal with various issues, then took the whole group to another restaurant for a Chinese "banquet". She just stopped by the apartment to help us get our washer and DSL internet hookup going, and stayed to visit a bit. By the way, it has all been chopsticks when we go out--no sign of any knives or forks, so we've had to use the sticks! I seem to be getting most of the food to my mouth.
Sharon has cooked dinners here in the apartment the last couple of nights, so we decided to go out tonight. We went to a small "hole in the wall" place on our street that several people had told us had great dumplings. This small place had a few tables inside, and was maybe 10 ft. wide and 20 feet long--with the kitchen at the far end. We pushed our way in the door, got lucky when two guys got up and had great "window" seats. There were a few words of English on the back of the menu but none spoken. The dumplings were delicious and the whole experience was definitely "real." Cost of the dinner was about $2.00 total. There's more to tell, but it's late and I have my first 3 hour class tomorrow, so good night from Shanghai.
All best wishes,
Mike (with help from Sharon)
Michael B. Bixby
Professor, Legal Studies in Business
College of Business & Economics
Boise State University
Boise, ID 83725
(208) 426-3675
We have now been here for 3 or 4 days, so time for a quick update. We are settled in our apartment, which is part of a complex of several buildings, between 8 and 16 stories tall. Our apartment building is #8 and we are on the 8th floor (elevator goes to 7). As you know from the Olympics, the Chinese believe 8 is a very lucky number (the Olympics started exactly at 8:00 on 8/8/08) so we're feeling lucky. We watched the closing ceremonies on our TV, in Chinese of course. No sign of NBC or Bob Costas, and we didn't see any shots of the American team--but it was spectacular. We have two tvs, but no English speaking channels and I can't get one of them to turn on, but the landlord has said he'll come soon and fix it.
Our apartment looks out over a lovely park (Zhabei park). We hear birds in the morning--early, it gets light about 5:30! We can look down and see lots of people walking, jogging, doing Tai chi and other exercises very early when we awake. Today Sharon and I went for a walk in the park, and saw lots of different activities going on, including couples doing ballroom dancing. Another group of women were doing a variety of moves with a sort of badminton/paddle racket and a ball where they would move their arms and bodies, twirl around and make various moves, but the ball would stay right on the racket, although it was not attached. Our first couple of days were pretty smoggy, but today the sky was clear and a beautiful blue color, probably because of a huge storm we had yesterday--lots of thunder and heavy rain. We could see the Pearl Tower very well from our balcony today--it was perfect weather.
When we walk out of our complex in another direction away from the park we go out on to a busy commercial street (Yanchang Road), and the University is just across the street. It is not a fancy street, just a series of small shops, stores, restaurants, people cooking things and selling stuff from their shops. There is an outdoor market and a few "convenience store" type places where you can buy basic supplies and one medium-size older grocery store down about two blocks. There is little or no English on the signs or from the people in the stores. We are really in a regular street in a normal part of Shanghai, not the ritzy upscale part where American businesspeople might go when they come here.
Today Sharon and I went to Beginning Chinese class in the morning. The teacher worked on teaching us sounds of various letters, combinations, and characters, and the tones that are so important for nearly 3 hours. The class was packed with students, mostly Americans, and we all had to speak up at various times--some of the Chinese sounds are difficult to say, very "foreign" to our American tongues.
Later the program director, You Sha (pronounced "yo sha") took Sharon and I to the local police station where we had to register and obtain a Temporary Residence Permit. It took nearly an hour to get there and fill out many papers, and finally get the important red stamp on our final papers, so I guess we can stay. I thought about making some jokes about my "checkered past" while we were standing for a long time at the window of the Shanghai police station, with this officer looking very seriously at the papers and passport information You Sha was giving them, but decided against it. Then we hailed a taxi in the middle of a very busy street, with cars, buses and motos and bikes going all around us--for the trip back to our neighborhood. Many people ride bikes and motos and there are regular width lanes on big streets just for them.
You Sha has been a great help on everything. She's sharp, fun, very organized and has lots of high energy. She arranged for a van to pick us up at the airport--way on the other side of Shanghai, met us at the apartment when we arrived and helped us get set up, took Sharon and I to lunch the next day at a very nice Sichuan restaurant, then led an orientation session for all (about 35) of the students and helped them deal with various issues, then took the whole group to another restaurant for a Chinese "banquet". She just stopped by the apartment to help us get our washer and DSL internet hookup going, and stayed to visit a bit. By the way, it has all been chopsticks when we go out--no sign of any knives or forks, so we've had to use the sticks! I seem to be getting most of the food to my mouth.
Sharon has cooked dinners here in the apartment the last couple of nights, so we decided to go out tonight. We went to a small "hole in the wall" place on our street that several people had told us had great dumplings. This small place had a few tables inside, and was maybe 10 ft. wide and 20 feet long--with the kitchen at the far end. We pushed our way in the door, got lucky when two guys got up and had great "window" seats. There were a few words of English on the back of the menu but none spoken. The dumplings were delicious and the whole experience was definitely "real." Cost of the dinner was about $2.00 total. There's more to tell, but it's late and I have my first 3 hour class tomorrow, so good night from Shanghai.
All best wishes,
Mike (with help from Sharon)
Michael B. Bixby
Professor, Legal Studies in Business
College of Business & Economics
Boise State University
Boise, ID 83725
(208) 426-3675
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