Getting Adjusted to Shanghai Life

I am becoming more accustomed to China now, although actually the transition has been a lot easier than I expected. Maybe it's because I lived in Taiwan already, or because I was in Shanghai for a month last year, but so far it's been pretty painless. Of course it helps to have a nice apartment to retreat to when the craziness becomes too much.

Walking down the street here is an adventure. While the Shanghaiese don't keep late hours (most businesses are closed by 10 pm), leaving the house anytime between 6 am and 11 pm means that you will be instantly surrounded by hordes of people, walking, hauling enormous loads of furniture, garbage or coal by bicycle, hanging out in the street doing laundry in small plastic tubs, talking on their cell phones, or pushing food carts (many of these sell roasted sweet potatoes, corn, or hazelnuts due to the season). Crossing the street is also an adventure, requiring nerves of steel and a speedy dash to avoid multiple buses packed with people driving at top speeds and swerving around corners, taxis driving extremely slowly (in case you as a foreigner want a ride), requiring the rest of traffic to swerve into the opposite lane without slowing down, and dozens of bicylists and people driving motor scooters (many with 2 or more passengers). They have red lights and crosswalks here, but they don't seem to mean anything in particular. Many businesses don't have a front door: the building just opens directly into the street (like a garage), which adds to the liveliness and hectic nature of everything. Also, everything is extremely noisy: people shout at each other (not from hostility, just to make a point), all forms of traffic continually honk (this means I'm passing you so look out!), there is always construction going on, and music blares out from stores. It's all very intense but exciting: you are surrounded by vibrant life and something is always happening.

The area we live is right next to the university, so the people here are used to foreigners and do not stare at you (in other parts of China, being a foreigner means that everyone you see on the street will stare at you stone-faced as long as you are in view or worse, call "hello" to you over and over, then hysterically laugh if you look at them). Also, they are very forgiving of my butchered attempts to speak Chinese (although often B is with me and can act as my translator). There are actually quite a few foreign students here (most of them are Japanese or Korean), but they are swallowed up in the masses of Chinese humanity. Apparently Shanghai now has about 15 million inhabitants (the university has over 50,000 students)!