The Loooong Beginning of the End? Or, Just Another Week in Shanghai

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There was a weird vibe this week, and I'm pretty sure that everyone felt it too. It's April 20th; We came February 20th; And in just over a month, June 4th, most of us will be leaving. The reality of how little time we have left here has recently become clear when we've been trying to plan all of the traveling we've been meaning to do, and feel like we should do before we go home, and then we've all realized that for many of us this means that we won't have any weekends left in Shanghai. This realization has meant a lot of things - 1 is that Wednesday has become the new Thursday. Tonight's a perfect example of this. Whereas Thursday nights have typically been the best night of the weekend for going out, it's a Thursday night now and I'm home writing this blog before waking up in 5 hours to get on a plane to go to Xian for the weekend. But, Wednesday nights can be good too, as we were finally inspired last night to try out one of the many ladies nights that we've been reading about in That's Shanghai. It was so nice, being out with my favorite group of girls - kelly, katie, jeanette, shana and blake - we decided on Zapata's, that Mexican restaurant - and it turned out that not only was it Ladies Night which typically means free margaritas and 80's music, but because so much in this city is so new, it was also Zapatas' 2 year anniversary, so we were greeted by free shots on the porch, the place was packed, and we went in and took over the upstairs floor, going all out as we tend to do when its just us, drawing a crowd, before we all had the urge to dance on the bar and then make our exit. Aah I love being us, and being young and free-spirited and in Shanghai! So much about it is so exhilerating, I can't even explain it, and there are so many times since I've been here where I've known, even in the moment, that this is pure fun, and I'm so happy, and I'm really living and I have got to remember moments like this. We almost got into the cab home without spending any money besides on the coat check, except I had been tempted by the idea of tortillas all night, even though they were supposedly 10 kuai each, which I thought was ridiculous, so I took pmine and touched a few others which meant I got to take those too. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.
Somehow I've gotten off on a tangent. Other things happened this week, which seemed super busy, even for Shanghai, and also even a little stressful? First we spent so much time this week discussing and planning and trying to actually book our weekend trips. We made some progress - have a flight home from Beijing, and tried to get tickets for a sleeper train there although we were told it was too early. And I'm about 5 seconds away from booking Guilin, which we'll do right when we get back from this weekend. And that leaves only the last weekend before finals, during which we're hoping to go to Hainan, which is like China's version of Hawaii just to relax and really enjoy the end. When we weren't on Ctrip or at CIEE using LiHong as our travel agent, we were out in the city trying to do some of the Shanghai things we've still been meaning to do. On Monday which was a beautiful day, Melissa and I were inspired to go straight from class to Xintiandi, and because I met my tutor in the morning instead of the afternoon, all of a sudden that opened up so many more possibilities. We went from school to the subway, and got out a stop early to go to my favorite find so far in Shanghai, this beautiful silk print shop, where I proceeded to buy this excellent bag, and then walked from there along Huaihai Lu and the subway line to Xintiandi, which was a really nice walk in itself. Then we spent another few hours at Starbucks, where I finally got all of those postcards I'd been meaning to write out of my system, and then we had a wonderful American, Cosi-style dinner at Wagas. I even got Cheesecake for dessert, it was that good and that authentic.
On Tuesday, we hadn't planned on exploring because we're usually pretty tired after 4 hours straight of Chinese class in the afternoon, but it happened anyway. Tuesday night around dinnertime Kelly & I finally experienced something that has never happened to us before - we finally became sick of all of the restaurants on our street, and for once had no idea what to do for dinner. We walked past the Mayfair Hotel at the end of our street and walked by Zhongshan Park in one direction we'd never walked before, and still couldn't find anything appealing, or really anything at all (and I was definitely reminded that I was in China). It doesn't get more revealing than this: we even stopped at a semi-attractive looking restaurant at the end of our block which I'd never noticed before called Steak King, apparently it is a chain, and went in and even sat down at a table in order to look at a menu. We stayed there for a good 5 minutes, and I really honestly was contemplating if there was anything I could eat there, but who was I kidding, in the states I wouldn't have put up with that idea for a minute, but here I was in China sitting at a Steak King and trying to make it work. But, it didn't, so at this point we had turned and walked down the opposite way on Zhongshan Lu, and we both agreed that man, we were really trying here, and couldn't China just give us something? And then all of a sudden, I swear it was just like out of a movie, we wandered into a complex just down our street that I had never noticed before, and it turned out to be like this glorious outdoor mall, with chains of some of the coolest stores we've discovered here, and crepes and lots of food options to choose from, and it was like how could we have lived here for 2 months and not even known this whole area existed (although to be fair, 2 months ago, it may not have existed....), and so we settled on a Japanese restaurant because it smelled really good from outside and we were like starving at this point and it turned out to be a pretty fancy place (ie, 10 kuai cokes). And again we were reminded (even at a Japanese place) that we were in China, because our spirits sank when we remembered that we couldn't read the menu. What a weird experience this has been! We sat down and kelly looked at the pictures and I said "wo chi su de" which means I eat vegetables, and we both blindly ordered and were really hungry but had no idea what would be coming to us. As it turns out, I ordered really really well and somehow ended up with a whole set menu of vegetarian course after vegetarian course and I left there thinking, "best meal ever."
Then Wednesday we did something really cool, I took my TimeOut Shanghai guide to class and changed my tutor again, and after class Melissa and Kelly and I took a cab to this warehouse district of some awesome art galleries. Shana came later and met us, and we spent something like two and a half hours walking around and talking to some of the artists (I can even understand some art words in Chinese now! It was another really gratifying experience) and we got invited to an opening next weekend. We'd been warned that this place was just in the middle of nowhere, which is true but it was such a great way to spend the afternoon, bookended by my afternoon and my night class, and when I was there and going from gallery to gallery in the actual warehouse building, I was thinking that this must have been what SOHO had been going for, and in many ways I liked it better here. I hope hope hope there's time to go back. But regardless, I'm just so glad we're taking advantage of what seems like every moment of our time here, and DOING things.
Today the biggest thing that happened to me was the event that was dinner. Somehow, everyone had been mobilized to go to DeMarcos, finally! I had so been waiting and dying to go there, as it is supposedly the best and most authentic yet reasonably priced Italian restaurant in Shanghai. It was trendy & filled with all expats (I think I noticed a total of one table of Chinese people in the whole place), and I just about died when I walked in. Partially because Melissa and I took the first cab because we were so eager to get there, but ended up getting out and being completely unable to find the restaurant. Being as resourceful as we could manage, we walked up and down the street until we came across a Starbucks, which was like this haven where they were likely to be able to speak English in the midst of all Chinese, and we knew that would be our only chance of getting directions. They were all very helpful, and drew us a map and everything, but didn't speak nearly as much English as we'd hoped, and time was passing and it was getting pretty late, and all we could think about was how hungry we were, and how hard it was to be hungry in China, where we were reminded once again what a barrier language is. When I'm hungry in the states I can't function, and in China it's just a whole other level, and I tried to call the number they gave me for directions, but when they answered the phone in Chinese I literally didn't have the energy to try to communicate, so I passed the phone to Melissa and had basically resigned myself. But, our friends were there to help (we can't forget even for a moment how we all need each other at some point or another, and how much we end up relying on each other), and so Shana waited outside of the restaurant for us, which was hidden in an apartment building, once they'd found it. But, despite all of the effort it took in finding the place, we sat among just the girls again, and were laughing the whole time, and I was eating Italian food in China and I was in Heaven! I walked in to find baskets of bread at our table and I literally had to hold Shana's hand and was so happy I could cry! Brushetta and mozzarella and everything, and I was so full from all of the bread but there was no way I was going to leave any of it on my plate, I felt like I was storing up fuel for my whole life. There was no denying I miss this food, my comfort food, so much, but at the same time, I can't remember a single time in my whole life when an Italian meal has made me so excited (I honestly almost cried for godsakes!), and its that same sensation of feeling like I'm really living again. And I'm also so proud at how flexible I've become, foodwise, and how I've managed to go so long without it. I felt so close to my friends at dinner, at one point we were talking about what its going to be like when we go back home to the states, and its weird because we can all exactly vocalize it, and its just weird to sit here with more than a month left before we go home, but the anticipation of it is palpable. We were all saying how we knew we'd go back and have trouble waiting on lines, and would be pushing people getting on and off the subway, and our driving would be taken to a whole new level, and Katie and I both agreed that the hardest part would be stopping ourselves from talking about people out loud when we passed them on the streets, because it really will be a big change to go back to being in a place where everyone around you can understand you. Did I mention this is all going to fast?
Shit I was trying to get enough sleep tonight so that I could wake up tomorrow and be totally awake to take in the fact that we're going to be seeing the Terracotta soldiers in Xi'an in like 12 hours. The trip this weekend should be great, and when I get home late Saturday night, M&D will be almost here - they get in on Sunday, and my god I can't wait, for it all!

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