more small world moments

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This week, the weather has been spectacular. That perfect fall weather I associate with the Midwest. Sunny and warm but not hot. No jacket required until evening when it gets a bit chillier and even then, not really jacket weather but light sweater. It’s dreamy. I know it won’t last for too much longer so I’m trying to make the most of it. I’ve had lunch outside 3 days this week and I’ve done some solid walking.
On the weekend, we had the chance to visit with some family friends of Mark’s parents. Dave and Kathy had last seen us (Mark and Suzanne before there was a Nathan and Emily) fourteen years ago at our wedding. They were in town with another couple and we met them at their hotel and spent a couple hours together. We took them by taxi to one of our favorite parks, Fuxing Park in the French Concession and then went over to Taikang Lu which is my favorite shopping street. I have this tour pretty much down since I did the same one a couple weeks ago. I imagine I may give it again, depending on whether we get any more visitors.

After we said goodbye to our friends, we went back into Taikang Lu. We headed to our favorite wine shop for a free tasting before heading to meet different friends for dinner. Now this is where it gets absolutely insane. You will not believe me but I swear this is the absolute and total truth. The kids went to this store nearby to browse for “something to buy with their own money” and were instructed to meet us at the wine shop. When we walked in, we noticed the only other man in the shop and quickly started chatting. He had an American accent, we did the where are you from banter and quickly established our shared Chicago connection.

The whole story is long and fabulous and family members will be privy to the long version but the gist is that this guy knew Mark’s dad and grandfather because they all worked together in the 1970s. Needless to say we could not get over this small world moment. For all the events to happen in our lives that we would all end up there at that moment blew us all away. This man is in Shanghai often, so we hope to see him again and hear more stories about Mark’s grandfather. I can only imagine what Mark felt. I know he was shocked, excited and intrigued, just like I was. The women at the wine shop were both confused and enthusiastic at our chance meeting. They gave us refills of free wine to celebrate the meeting. I’m sure they enjoyed observing our encounter as much as we enjoyed having it. This is yet another example of small town life in Shanghai. On the same day, we ran into a couple we know on the subway and then when we went to meet our friends at their hotel, we saw a family we know from school.

In other news, I had this sort of funny and sort of pathetic revelation that my Mandarin tutor is my paid companion. I pay her to spend time with me and of course teach me Chinese. But a lot of it is just us chatting and hanging out (like friends would). Except I have to pay her at the end. I’m wondering now if she is fake laughing at my jokes since it’s a job or if she really finds me as amusing as I find myself. It’s like hiring an escort—I’m imagining.

That being said, I had a couple cool experiences this week with my tutor. Since she comes to my house, I can have our lessons be whatever I want. When she came on Tuesday, the weather was so great so I asked if we could do part of our lesson outside. We went to the park, walked around and just talked about the people and all the various park related activities one can observe in China. Then on Thursday, my lesson happened in the middle of an apartment electricity situation. Earlier that morning, while I was home, I heard a fizzle followed by a pop and then all the electronic devices went off. Internet, computer power all stopped working. I had to leave for the morning so I left a note for my ayi in Pinyin that said “there’s no electricity” and then some babble that she found incomprehensible I later learned, trying to explain it was on the right side of my apartment. Well, it was really everything but the lights. The ayi had understood me enough to get the workers in and she was on the third one by the time I arrived. They were stumped and had to call in a “friend”. This friend was able to fix it, the price was negotiated and agreed upon and then they left to shop for the part. During all of this, my lesson was happening. We talked to the guys together, to the ayi, my tutor did some translating and interpreting for me but I was following the story pretty well on my own. It all ended well and the apartment was humming with the sounds of all things electric soon after.

I went on a fun field trip with Emily’s class on Thursday. We walked for an hour and a half around the block of the school. During the walk, the kids identified buildings and locations (hospitals, apartments, bus stops, neighborhood notice boards) and discussed various aspects of the community. We ended up walking through a small lane neighborhood that had stores, tailors, a produce market and more. The kids were really into the assignments and it was cute to see them working so intensely.

The kids and I got our flu shots this week. Seasonal flu shots. It is my understanding that there are no H1N1 shots available to foreigners in China (other than front line medical personnel). From what I read, local schools are getting the shots and they were manufactured in China. The seasonal flu shots we got were imported from Europe. That made me happy.

Tomorrow is an international food fair to round out the school's celebration of UN Day which started today with a parade and assembly. I'll write something up on that later.

Final news item: Krispy Kreme is coming to Shanghai. I think they should spell it Crispy Cream here.

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Photos

checking out a chop shop
chop=stamp

Comments

[Brian D]

Heh heh
Heh heh. You said "fuxing".