SnapShots

Stop and Stare

One random Sunday afternoon, Mariana and I decided go to the Bund (the riverside with famous view of Pudong, Shanghai’s financial centre). If you google images of Shanghai on the internet this is the photograph that will pop out hundred times too many. I was curious to see it with my own eyes but as it is with most of things we were urged to be impressed by, they end up failing our unearthly expectations. Don’t take me wrong. It was impressive in its own way. However, the insignificant little streets of this sparkling concrete jungle seemed to lure me by their lucid secrets more successfully.

One of the first things that startled me was the amount of people who decided to enjoy this afternoon in the same manner as us.... and curious lack of tourists. Of course there were tourists mingling here and there finding their way through the crowd but in terms of math the number was negligible.

The second thing... taking into account this was one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city, one would expect the staring wouldn’t be such an issue. I don’t even think I have ever made such utterly wrong assumption in my entire life. It does not matter where in China you are... if you are not Chinese you will receive fair amount of inappropriate staring ( I was said that in Shanghai it is not bad at all... that puts going out to other less known places in rather harsh perspective).

That little attention I received was uncomfortable, though it was nothing comparing to what Mariana had to face... Chinese people were incredibly tactless in regard to black people. I understand that in many cases that was the first black person they have ever seen... but it was the lack of consideration or tact that shocked me. Some people did not even try to be inconspicuous... not even a little!

That was the first time (at least for me) we were asked to take a picture with someone... To me it was quite incomprehensible... to take a picture with a random stranger... what do they do with them? Show them to their friends? Put them in a photo album? The worst thing was that most of the time people were nice about it, they asked politely and many times it was difficult to say no. Do not assume it were only young people who did so... actually, it could have been anyone... any age or gender or style... It was difficult... especially when it was family with little children... Chinese children are the cutest things in the world! Simply adorable! (Not that all the other children of all the other nationalities would not be cute... but there is something about Chinese kids that makes them even more so... or maybe I am just not used to seeing them so often, oh well.. whatever)

Completely another matter was people who were trying to get a clear snap shot of us without asking... that simply pissed me off every single time! That was very rude!

In any case, there were days I would not mind at all and I took it as a little personal tax for my life in China... something that was there whenever I left my apartment... but many times I would cease to notice... some days I could walk through streets in a cloud of liberating negligence.  I created my personal map of life within this city... with places and faces I crossed and saw each and every day... and familiarity gave my space to breath, an opportunity of not being an outsider ALL the time.

Well, then there were days it would drive me nuts! Days, when I just could not bear it, not for a moment... On those days, Mariana would have to listen to me criticising everything from the shape of the sidewalk, through insane driving, the way people talked, walked, drove... lived...  and I would go on and on because I needed to let it all out... all that harsh feelings that were not even true (They were a bucket of collected raindrops which, at some point, was bind to spill and flaw right through me...) It was better to let it go in harmless unnoticed wave of irrational overstated criticism than have a random stranger suffer a blow from my bad day frustration... so, Mariana would listen to me, I would listen to her... thus, together, we were saving Chinese strangers from possible traumatic experiences followed by phobia of foreigners.

Though, I must say we met some really nice time to time even peculiar people who unintentionally created stories for us... stories we once might tell when a random event reminds us of that summer in Shanghai...

I suggested that one of these days we should just come up to random Chinese person and ask them to take a picture with us :D ... I would like to see the expression on their faces....

***

At the beginning, I mentioned that the view of Pudong was not all that impressive as I formerly expected... well, we returned at night, when all the lights were sparkling away their magic over the city... it was beautiful, however, still not as breathtaking as I hoped for... Until...

Forget about the view of Pudong from the bund! If you ever have a chance to visit Shanghai, choose a night and get carried away... lose yourself in space... cross the river and see Pudong not from the distance but from the ground. When I got off the taxi and gazed up for the first time, I was stunned! There was the emotion I was looking for! All you have seen in sci-fi movies... all that you have formed in your imagination as a vision of future... Well, there it was... in front of me, behind me, next to me, above me!

The lights were floating around and falling... sparkling and glittering away in synchronised mischief... outlining daring visions of architecture like tight black cocktail dress outline woman’s body. And there I was, little insignificant human being... but all that greatness did not intimidate me, because that greatness was a result of human mind... and I happen to own one of these myself... I got it for free the day I was born... :D

Melting away

Weather might not seem as one of the interesting topics, however, I feel more them obliged to mention it since it has been totally killing me from the first moment I set my foot into this country.  First three weeks got lost in an uncertain smudge of rain hanging over my memory... though, I remember it was so hot (at least that is what I thought back then... when I had no idea what was about to come).

Despite the incomprehensive amounts of water that were coming down from heavens every day in the form of waterfall rather than raindrops, the temperature of lovely 29-30 degrees Celsius stubbornly refused to drop even a degree... not speaking of air which behaved as if all that water cutting right through it did not exist and thus it did not feel like getting any fresher.

Now, all I have to say is that those first three weeks... it wasn’t hot at all.... not even close.

The rain came and went, giving way to heat and humid air which reigned over the city as if no such things as raindrops ever existed. Simply put, during summer, Shanghai is the world’s largest sauna (and I am NOT exaggerating).

Mariana and I developed a lovely habit of walking to and from work every day as being forced to sit for nine hours in front of a computer screen caused us insomnia... plus buses in Shanghai were like roller coasters in real live action... suddenly, crossing few intersections did not seem so suicidal at all. Well, it would be lovely indeed if not for the fact that each and every morning we would sweat all the liquid from our body within one minute of leaving the air-conditioned apartment and reaching the elevator.

It is in Shanghai where I, for the first time in my life, woke up, undrew the curtain, saw the incredibly blue, blue sky and said: Oh, shit! (We realised that the situation is getting serious when we found ourselves speaking encouraging words to the wind... there is nothing weird about me speaking to inanimate objects but Marianna? Yes, situation was serious)

Moreover, I don’t think I have ever before cared for my drinking regime so much. It was inevitable! I usually drink a lot of water but this was too much even for me... Each day I would drink more than five litters, three of which would be before noon... and I would still be thirsty!

Honestly, I deeply admire people who are capable of living in these conditions their all life... Constant nudging presence of heat throughout three or four months while one must still go on, go to work and continue dealing with busy city life...

So, when I say Shanghai during summer is like a Finish sauna it is not metaphorical. If you walk the streets... if you stay out you will sweat your soul out, you will feel as if you were not breathing at all because it did not seem to make any difference what-so-ever.

You can’t even imagine how much I am looking forward to be complaining about bloody cold wind and rain that falls horizontally!!! ;)