I *heart* Shanghai
Sniff. I'm feeling a little melancholy. Walking home after class today I realized tomorrow is my last day to walk to school. It's my last day to walk in the street in between piles of garbage and giant buses because the sidewalk is full-up with outdoor tables and chairs and people slurping morning noodles and dumplings.
It is my last morning to walk along the Jade Buddha temple where there are always two or three families of homeless, teaching their children to beg. My last morning to be followed for a block by barefoot, besmudged little children hoping that I'll buckle under the pressure of their little outstretched hands and place a coin or two in their expectant palms. So far, if they've been willing to speak Chinese with me for a bit, I give them all the coins I have. Yesterday, however, one little boy put his empty plastic Starbuck's cup in front of me and walked along side me ignoring all attempts at conversation. After about fifty paces he got bored and walked back to where his father was squatting in the dust of the Temple construction crew.
I feel like Shanghai is my city. That might be an overstatement. I feel like I really respect Shanghai. Yesterday evening, Mon and I went to get Ganxi (dry wash) at the Li fa dian ("trim hair place") and while the two li fa shi (hair dressers) were giving us a bit of qing an mo (light massage) we spoke with them and practiced our Chinese. It was incredible. For a good thirty minutes, we were able to completely communicate in Chinese. Of course, we were discussing favorite colors, favorite food, what animal we all were (instead of asking people how old they are, it is common to ask what animal you are. In other words, I was born in 1980, which was the year of the Monkey. By the way, 1957 is the year of the Chicken...for those two of you who were born then.)
But the point is, this has been well worth it. I'm speaking Chinese. I'm going to travel to another Chinese city with my basic knowledge of the language and I'm not the least bit nervous. I am, however, a little sad to be leaving. I've made good friends here and will miss them. Of course, we all love to communicate and so I'm not worried about loosing touch. In fact, I received emails from Switzerland, Holland and the UK all this morning!
The current task at hand is trying to fit all of my belongings along with a couple of new ones into my pack and two other much smaller, much less functional bags. Oy! Luckily, I've planned a study session with Monica to put this task off for a bit longer. I've also got to figure out my itinerary for Xi'an.
Mon's birthday is tomorrow (at midnight, really) - she'll be 21 - and we've decided to go to Yuan-Yuan to combine my goodbye dinner with her birthday dinner. I'll pick up an interesting looking cake after my final examination tomorrow and then we'll go for another dry wash. Several friends will be joining us which will make Laoban happy - more customers. When Lu-lu called him to confirm that we could descend upon the place at 7pm, he said, "What?!?! My American daughter and my Mexican daughter celebrating together! I'll do a bit of cleaning, then. Not too much, I don't want them to not recognize the place!" I'm planning on getting a green tea/green bean cake for Mon. Ha, ha, ha. Maybe not so yum.
We'll finish the evening at a club called Win-Win and I'll get on the sleeper train (thank goodness) at 8am on Saturday. I *heart* Shanghai.
