From Shanghai on Day 4

Well I guess it was a pretty quiet day. We swam, saw the city some, and swam some more.

We got up and went and had breakfast upstairs. I ate some of the Chinese breakfast food which was not really that odd. It was lots of vegetables like fried tomatoes and stir fried greed veggies.

Then we headed out into town for Jing’an Temple. An ancient Buddhist temple not too far away. I have been obsessed with the incredible slum neighborhood right next to the hotel (actually between the hotel and the next giant skyscraper) and so on the way out we walked down a few streets cutting through there. It was amazing. Many vacant houses, lots of trash, and in the middle of it people living their lives in pretty run-down shanties. Little stores selling eggs, beer, fake Crocs. Chickens and ducks wandering around. But no one seemed to mind what they were doing. They were just living life. Duncan and I were talking about it and I looked on line last night and found a variety of numbers, but one said that the average Chinese family income was like 1,700 Yuan a year, which is like $275. And I guess it’s lower in the countryside than in the city.

So then we went to the Shanghai RR station Metro to get the train to the temple. It was two trains. Duncan took the lead on this adventure and I told him he could do it all – all I did was tell him where we were going. So he went up to the machine to get the tickets, switched it to English (this helps!), found the line, found the stop, put in for two tickets, put in the money, and then even let me pick which design I got on the plastic ticket card.

Then we got on the Line 1 car and off we went. Two stops later we decided we were going in the wrong direction. No problem. We got off and on the train in the other direction. Then we got to line 2, we followed the signs to the next train, got on it (right direction) and got to the stop. Somewhere in the middle of that I saw someone with an I-Phone operating in Chinese and had the great idea that I should try that then switch it back. Bad idea. It’s not so easy to remember what you did when the words are in Chinese. So I spent a lot of time walking through the station trying to change it but couldn’t. Fortunately it’s still pretty straightforward to use the phone so after my brief obsession faded I let it go until we got back to the hotel for the 30^th floor staff’s excellent I-Phone technical support.

Many of the Metro Stations have shops at them, right when you come out underground. Such was the case at Jing’an where there was a nice grocery store. We had been in Convenience Stores and one grocery by the train station but this one was much nicer. We spent some time walking around and quickly decided that we should assemble lunch there. After getting through the candy (Duncan, the adventurous warrior, chose Haribo gummy bears and I chose some little star shaped sugar candies) we went over to the prepared foods counter and saw a lot of chicken and pork as well as some squid or octopus. Duncan picked the garlic chicken wings to eat. We also got some side dishes, adventure-boy choosing Cheetos and dad choosing dried flavored seaweed strips. Maybe caution is better. The seaweed was a little, say, seaweedy and fishy tasting, but it only cost $1. We chose drinks the same, with him picking a Dr Pepper and me an L&P – a new Zealand carbonated lemony soft drink which was very tasty.

We emerged from the station in search of a perfect picnic area. And there was a park right across the street. After dashing to avoid still more taxis and scooters we went into the main thorofare of the park which was lined with benches, in the shade, mostly full. We found one halfway down right across from a pavilion where a makeshift dance party was going on, with people young and old dancing to soothing Chinese music. Nice relaxing lunch. After that we walked over and saw the little playground, which included a 4 person see saw. Also behind us was a bamboo-fenced in area which we weren’t sure what it was. We walked around it until we found the entrance. I thought wed have to pay to get in but we didn’t. Inside were some beautiful gardens, bamboo stands (with 4 inch diameter bamboo), a small pond, some climbing rocks, and about twenty old people sitting around mostly drinking tea out of glass or plastic containers that had the tea leaves (that look like grass) still in the container. At the top of the rocks, another of Duncan’s 1.3 Billion fans was there and she wanted to take a picture of him. Then she wanted her friend to take a picture of her and him together. He was embarrassed but glad to do it. She said xiexie (sheshe)(thank you) which we of course also said, as we do as often as we can.

From there we walked over to the temple, which as far as we could tell was closed for renovations. We walked around it outside and took lots of pictures. It was interesting here because more than anywhere else (except in the 30^th floor executive area where we eat, which is all graying American men, except Duncan and the staff) there were more westerners. Still not a lot, but more than usual like 5%. Usually when we ride on the Metro or are walking around we see very few if any westerners.

We then took a long walk home, ducking down an alley of junky toy sellers (Duncan resisted, but then wanted to go back of course for the 8” x 12” pool table though we didn’t) as well as into the Rolex store to verify the authenticity of his purchased watch. He was disappointed to not find one the same, and appalled to see that his band design appears to have been discontinued by Rolex. But we were somewhat amazed at the 80,000 RMB (>$10,000) price tags. I saw a nice one (zig-zag lightning bolt-type second hand in orange, and I’m a sucker for anything orange) but I resisted, as I already have watch.

His pockets were drained a little more at the toy store we found in a mall further down for the Mega-Blocks Halo set. But despite continuing to spend his money, he does spend a lot of time deliberating.

Off of Nanjing Rd and the Rolex and Gap and other trendy stores we ended up on some back streets where the real people live with bike fixit shops, TV fixit shops, scooter shops (some nice scooters for under $500!), and such. I love those areas, where the real people live and work and have little shops selling this or that with the mom and the dad in there and the baby asleep right behind the little counter. We came back on the far side of the Wusong River which our hotel is a block away from and then came across a bridge over the same slums we walked through in the AM.

I was berated by Duncan when I chose to cross the street to see the slums, as the majority of the street peddlers were on the right side. Actually the one who had more was on the right side, as there was just one on each side. We got there and of course bargain-boy came alive. Needed a wallet. How about this one. Lady spoke no English. And we no Chinese. A blue paper-mate pen and her hand served as the interpreter. 150. Duncan countered with five. 100. Five. 80. Five. 50. Five. We walk away, despite there now being the lady, her husband, and three other guys taking in the drama. I commend him. She yells for us. Hemming and hawing. 20. Five. 15. He finally breaks and pulls out a five and five one coins and gives her the ten. She says no, fifteen (via the blue pen and hand translation device). He takes the money back and walks again. More hemming and hawing and then yelling. She shakes her head yes. He gets it for ten, to the amusement of all. Perhaps there is a future there as a negotiator…

Tomorrow is the day. Last night I slept bad, with dreams about meeting Finn and Kai and paper work and all kinds of things and kept waking up. Today has been better, with less stress about it but now Duncan has fallen asleep and I am in this quiet room looking at the gift bags for tomorrow and the stuff lined up to go and knowing that I am meeting the guide tomorrow at 8:45 to go and see the kids at 9:30 and it starts to sink in a little more again, that I go to bed tonight with seven kids and that tomorrow night I’ll have my own baseball team. I worry about what they’ll do, what they’ll think. Will they be scared? What will they eat? How will we communicate? So much life before us and so much excitement adding these two wonderful boys into our crazy wonderful kid filled life. A life so amazing I could never have imagined it could be like this. Well here we go.