Please Address All Christmas Cards and Love Letters to:

Emma Browne

Shanghai, PR China

Hongkou District

333 Linping Rd, Building 6, #2103

or if you're really ambitious

Emma Browne

中国上海虹口区

临平路333号6号楼2103室

Pancake Lady and Man Save the Day

This morning had the potential to be quite miserable. After going to bed a bit later than usual on a work night, I was extremely confused to be blared awake from a deep state of REM by my cacophonous cell phone alarm. I glanced out my window and didn't believe it could be 6:00 already; visibility was only about 5 meters outside, as the fog penetrates the air on the 21st floor in the early morning much more than down below. Of course, after accidentally snoozing for 24 minutes (8-minute intervals), I awoke much later than I intended to, and had a late start to my day.

I keep my life in a small wristlet: my keys, my subway card, and my cash. Alas, after walking the 5 minute walk to my regular breakfast joint (AKA a man and a woman who sell delicious fried dough with eggs from a small cart), I was distraught to realize I'd left my life behind, back in the apartment. This meant not only did I have no money to pay for my breakfast (only1.8 kuai), but I also didn't have money to take my 2 buses to commute to work. I was extremely stressed because if I had to walk all the way back to the apartment, and all the way back out to the bus stop, then wait for a later bus, which would mean more traffic, I would most certainly be late for work. I started to walk away from Pancake Lady and Man, but they yelled after me in Chinese "Aimei! Aimei! Where are you going???" I explained to them that I left my money behind, and had to run back to get it before I was late for work! They not only said this was impossible, but actually looked offended that I didn't ask them to help me! They gave me my breakfast, and pushed 4 kuai into my hand for the two buses that I had to take to school, and insisted that I take it, and pay them back whenever the next time I come is.

It truly made my morning that my favorite local street food preparers feel comfortable enough with me to know that I'll make good on any debt I owe. It may be a sum of less than a US dollar, but the sentiment means significantly more.

A Shang-highlight

My roommates and I discovered a new location that is one of my new favorites in all of the city. Although I haven't yet had a repeat experience, I'm certain it will happen soon. You've seen the pictures of the slums that we see being demolished behind our apartment complex (Rainbow City), and one of our common routes for dinner or otherwise is to walk down Tianbao Rd, a street that goes down one side of the perimeter of the slum. Just as within where some families have only rubble piles as their neighbors, there are thriving restaurants and shops next to recently demolished ones on this road. After walking a few blocks, the buildings grow taller and shinier the closer that you come to entering He Ping Park.

Gianmarco and Garrett in front of one of our favorite restaurants on Tianbao Rd, "Panda Express"

Just before the Northern gate of the park, however, is an intriguing door with a young woman in traditional Chinese dress beckoning you to investigate further. Behind her is a large, uncovered foyer with a cobblestone pathway and lush bonsai tree garden. The lone character hanging above the door indicates that it is a tea house, which sounded like the perfect thing to fight the chill of Shanghai's biting winter air. We awkwardly stumble in after the young woman, as we follow her while trying to take in all of the beauty around us. She tries to seat us inside a private room, and although our shivers tempt us to take this warmer option, we can't turn down the tranquil sights of overlooking He Ping park from a table outside near the lake. After wandering around with mouths agape for a few more minutes, we finally sit down to take a look at the menu.

Our English-teacher budgeting opts us to automatically order three of the cheapest teas available, for 68 kuai each (about $10). Garrett tried a young white tea, Gianmarco a mind enlightenment tea, and I a golden oolong tea. Although it was a pretty steep price to pay just for a pot of tea, we were excited about the atmosphere, so willing to shell up the Maos. Immediately, they began to bring sunflower seeds, nuts, fruits, candy, and other snacks to our table until it was virtually covered with delicious things to eat. Then came the tea: a minimalist tumbler of loose tea leaves for Garrett, a beautiful clear pot full of flowers, dried fruit, and leaves for Gianmarco, and an entire Chinese tea ceremony with wood blocks for my oolong. We sat in the garden for hours sipping our tea, munching on snacks, and reflecting on our lives. It is one of the few places where I've gone in this city of 20 million people that I was able to get away from crowded streets, and it was definitely a welcome escape.

And now I leave you with a photo of the Dumbo Octopus. Probably the cutest of all of the octopuses! Yay!

Currently Reading: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Currently Listening To: The Beatles - Abbey Road

Everyday Life

I am basically failing at keeping a constant stream of updates going on this blog, and I apologize for it. I guess I’m just living life, and a bit confused about exactly what I should be telling you. China has become so familiar to me in all my time spent traveling and living here, that most occurrences in my life seem trite even if they might still be foreign and new to some of my friends and readers.

So let’s see… I’ve got a few new additions to my life, in the form of material possessions. I bought this guy for really cheap on the musical instruments street here, and have been practicing a bit lately. Also, Garrett and Gianmarco bought a PS3 and I’ve been slaughtered in Call of Duty and FIFA 10 more times than I can count by my superiorly skilled roommates. It’s a nice little time waster, and also a great lure to get friends to come to our nook of the city. The next addition, I believe, will be an electric scooter to help me get around the city. After mastering the subway system, I can easily get myself around underground, but I’m dying to become adept at navigating the streets and alleys of this massive metropolis.


I was more than pleased to attend the One Year Anniversary of Briccocafe, at which they gave out completely complimentary wine and food to all of their freeloading patrons (read: me and fellow poor English teachers). I was ecstatic to run into people that I knew from various Shanghai encounters there—it makes me feel more and more like I belong when I have connections built up enough that I run into people throughout the city. A friend from USC, a wine pourer from a festival I’d gone to in Shanghai, and even an Italian I met last summer at a bar and hadn’t seen since were all in attendance, so as the Proseco and Rose sparkling wine were flowing, so was the conversation. Of course made some new friends there as well, and thus the ever-present cycle of living in a city where minorities and expats are so obviously distinguishable continues...


And per requests from some of you, I’ll add in some photos of my classroom. It's simple, but I've grown quite fond of it. As the complete opposite of an early riser, I don’t much appreciate waking up at six in the morning to make it to my long work day, but it’s easy to get re-energized by thinking about my specific students. I really enjoy being a teacher for those interactions with my students that I can tell really care, and are eager to learn. On the agenda for today is a vocabulary test, some dialog work, a grammar lesson, talking about cultural customs within China, and learning about doing business in some foreign countries. (In case you were wondering, the most popular countries my students would like to visit are France, the UK, and Singapore. On the other hand, the clear loser was Japan—most Chinese people here still have not forgiven the Japanese for their wrongs against China in the past century.)

Well, nothing else really new, just paying some bills and kickin it like never before. Hope all is well in your corner of the world, wherever that may be.

Currently Reading: Love in a Fallen City
Currently Listening To: Phoenix

HuangShan

This past week, I had the first trip of what I hope will be many outside of Shanghai. For National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival, my roommates and I decided to take a trip to Anhui province, and stay in the small town of Tunxi, an hour outside of 黄山, Yellow Mountain. It was definitely a fantastic trip, and bodes very well for future excursions.

I had some major problems booking the hotel that we stayed in, considering we are all on a tight budget, and this time is one of the most popular times to travel, and Huangshan one of the most popular destinations. Imagine 1.3 billion people with work off for a week, and try to get yourself a hotel room for 3 people. So I ended up having to book 3 different beds in 3 different rooms at a hostel for 3 nights. All seemed well, that I was even able to get the beds at such late notice, and for so cheap. (About 40 yuan per bed per night, or $6.) However, a couple days later I received notice from the hotel that it had changed ownership, so we would have to pay 190 yuan for each bed, and would all stay in one room. Needless to say, I refused to go for that, and sent an e-mail back explaining my predicament, and using my constant argument that “we are only English teachers who don’t make much money!” After a few correspondences with hostesses from the hotel, the owner finally sent me an email back, both in Chinese and in English. The English one basically just said that he apologized and that we could pay a fairer price, 260 yuan per night, for all three of us. Still more expensive than our initial booking, but doable. The Chinese version, however, was extremely polite, expressed that he was tremendously sorry for the confusion, and said he hoped we could be good friends. Friends we would be, and it turns out he had used an internet translator to send me the English version, but that’s later in this story…

After an eye-opening ordeal at the train station, in which I had to physically block people from cutting in front of me in the ticket line, we were set on our plans to get out of the big metropolis of Shanghai. The soft-bed seats in private compartments had all sold out, so we begrudgingly bought hard beds, and I thought the worst. Despite my generally optimistic outlook on various situations, I have had bad experiences with sleeper trains in the past, and was expecting a plank of wood “bed” over a dirty floor. No pillows, no blankets, extreme heat, crying children, etc. However, the reality could not have been more polar opposite. The clean beds had freshly washed sheets and pillows, there were seats and tables in the corridor where 高瑞(Garrett’s new Chinese name!) taught me how to play 象棋, Chinese Chess. The 15 hours passed by in no time as we read, laughed, slept, and ate our way to HuangShan.

Upon arrival into Tunxi, as expected there was some confusion with our reservation. I told the hostesses the price we were meant to pay, and they looked astounded. Finally, I had never felt so V.I.P. as when I simply mentioned my name and a look of complete recognition came over their faces and they immediately showed us to our quaint and comfortable room.

We perused Old Town for a bit, with tons of shops selling art, toys, jewelry, tea, and other Anhui specialty goods. Then I ordered some sugar cane to gnaw on from a man with a cart, some canes, and a machete, and we enjoyed the sweet juice while we hiked up to a hilly park.

Later, we had some delicious Anhui food for dinner, and walked around Old Town to enjoy the Moon Festival celebrations. We gazed at the moon on its brightest night of the year, and excitedly hopped in bed early to prepare for the upcoming long day of hiking on the mountain.

Huangshan was an absolutely miraculous place. It is so incredibly beautiful, and was the perfect temporary escape from the hubbub of downtown Shanghai. Our initial hike led us to 九龙瀑, 9 Dragon Falls, which although was a narrow and fairly gentle fall, spouted from such great heights that it was magnificent. We spent some time watching the falls and chatting with some old Chinese women who led us to the next leg of our journey.

We hiked back down the mountain to another entrance gate in order to taste some Huangshan teas. On the way down, we got a glimpse of what life was like for Chinese residents of Huangshan, in old-style concrete houses, where they grow their grains and vegetables in fields in their backyards. After trying some of the local teas, our taste for hiking still had not been satiated, so we hopped back on a bus, then a gondola, to head closer to the peaks we wanted to summit.

Throughout our serene hike to 9 Dragon Falls, I had wondered where all the crowds that we were supposed to run into could be. It looks like our initial trail was not the most popular, but we definitely found the more prevalent route after alighting from the gondola. We squeezed by the everlasting yellow-hat tour groups to try to find a more challenging hike, but to no avail. The trail to the highest peak, which stands at 1864 meters above sea level, was closed. Our time was closing in on us, but we decided to risk the chance of not getting down the mountain before sunset in order to climb up to the peak that is known not as the highest summit, but as the most dangerous (sorry, Mom). After an hour or so of grueling and perilous work for my thighs, calves, and nerves, I found myself atop Celestial Capital Peak, at 1810 meters above sera level. We spent some time enjoying the impressive sights of the mountain range from where we stood, and I felt in-tune with the lizards I saw that day while I laid on a boulder and let the sun beat down on me. We began our challenging descent away from the peak, and back into the reality of the city.

On our potentially lethal ride back to Tunxi, Chen, the hotel owner, text messaged me to extend an invitation for the three of us to have dinner with him and a friend that night. We hungrily accepted, and rushed to get ready when we arrived back to the hotel. When we finally met him in person, I realized that he spoke no English whatsoever—this was when I finally found out of his translator trick in e-mailing me. I readapted my old name from my Chinese II class at USC, and became 爱美(Aimei – Love Beautiful) to Chen and my other new Chinese friends. Likewise, Gianmarco became his Chinese persona 宇宙(Yuzhou- Outer Space), while Garrett was dubbed 高瑞(Gaorui- Tall Luck) in order to make it easier for non-English speakers to remember our names. What was nerve-racking at first, however, became much more comfortable the more I kept talking and the more beer I drank. As 高瑞pointed out, the relationship between beer consumed and utterances of “听不懂” (I don’t understand) was an inverse one. I have never learned so much Chinese and gained so much confidence in a language so quickly as in spending a couple days drinking, eating, and playing 象棋with a wealthy Chinese man and his wife and friends. He treated us to two fantastic dinners, and spent a lot of other time chatting with us, as we taught each other English/Chinese phrases.

高瑞，王， 陈，爱美，宇宙; Garrett, Wang, Chen, Emma, Gianmarco

After a 5 hour bus ride back to the city, (I know—why does the train take three times as long??) I feel that I have definitely enriched my knowledge of what else this country has to offer, and once again, reassured myself that I am in the right place.

Rock it.
爱美

Currently Reading: Out of Mao's Shadow
Currently Listening To: Blue Foundation

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One Month Down

I’m coming up quickly to the one month mark of my trip, and I don’t think I could be happier with my post-graduate decision. I’m often meeting new friends, challenging myself linguistically, and quickly gaining a new perspective on my last few years of life, as well as what the future might hold. I had my first two days of work this week, punctuating an otherwise fairly uneventful couple of weeks. I’ve also been planning a trip with my roommates during one of the busiest travel times of the year.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reacquainting myself with this enormous city that I love so much. Through long nights of barhopping (often accompanied by aimless wandering to seek out cheap, convenience-store beer), long days of metro-riding and walking, and countless hours of deciphering maps, I feel that I have my bearings back in Shanghai. I am still enamored with our neighborhood, and the places in it that we frequent. Every morning, I decide between Pancake Lady and Paris Baguette for breakfast. Pancake Lady is a woman (and her husband) who sells one of the most delicious breakfasts you will ever eat for less than 25 cents. Almost every morning, she excitedly waves to me as she sees me walk out of my apartment complex across the street from where she routinely sets up her cooking stand. One minute later, I get a savory pancake with a scrambled egg and green onions cooked into it, complete with sweet brown sauce and taken 打包 , in a bag to go. Lunch and dinner are of a similar pattern—almost always down the street for the local specialty 生煎, really delicious fried dumplings with soup inside. Another familiar face there, the Portuguese-speaking hostess knows my typical order and immediately calls for the cooks to pack 4 small dumplings up for me. She knows of our feeble attempts to learn Chinese, and everyday tries to teach us something new, or helpfully corrects our errors. Finally, when dinnertime rolls around, Garrett, Gianmarco, and I reconvene to the ever-present question: Noodle Lady, Panda, or Sit-Down? Our three regular dinner spots. The Noodle Lady (and husband) is much like the Pancake Lady; she and her husband live very locally and bring their cart out every night to cook fried noodles or rice for us and other patrons. Panda, which we of course named after our favorite American Chinese food restaurant, offers many different prepared dishes with rice for about a dollar. Finally, our newest addition, the Sit-Down restaurant, allows us to order any Chinese dish we think we know how to say (no menus here), and again a husband-and-wife team prepare it for us.

A few various daytime excursions have of course included a trip back to Yu Yuan, a garden built in Shanghai over 400 years ago. The surrounding Old Town Bazaar is constantly inundated with crowds, but worth the effort to walk through to see the Eastern-style buildings.

The garden itself is still as beautiful as I remember, with ancient stone structures, man-made lakes, beautiful pavilions to relax in, and coy that beg like dogs for snacks.

After I wiled away the days and weeks leading up to my first day of work, I made a couple lesson plans, and dove right into teaching. The students I teach are in their foundation year in the International Education College at SUFE. Their goal is to study at an English-speaking university abroad after they complete their undergraduate studies. The level of English-speaking ability among my 4 different classes varies greatly, and of course there are those who are much more motivated and ambitious than others, but I am already greatly enjoying all of my students.

One of the things that I was most excited about throughout the whole two days I have had of teaching so far was that some of my students still lacked English names. Three boys in one class, and three boys and a girl in another. In the latter, by the end of our first class period, they had all four chosen names for themselves: Black, White, Purple, and Luke. Not quite sure why Luke didn’t go with the color scheme, since he is friends with Black & White (who chose their names based off of the shirt colors they were wearing), but either way, I thought it was an interesting choice to say the least. My other boys, however, gave me the pleasure of naming all three of them, so what did I choose? Mac, Charlie, and Dennis. Those of you who know what that means, we are probably close to soul-mate status. (Or maybe we just have the same taste in television.)

I have to also extend an enormous thank you to all of my professors in college, and other teachers throughout the years, because it’s quite a bit difficult to get started in a new class. It’s hard to decide what kind of dynamic I want to create between the students and myself, and how best to convey that through lessons. It’s difficult to know whether students understand a concept when only one or two students (if that) respond to general questions. But overall, so far, I enjoy it a lot, because in the end all I really do is interact with people all day long, people who have to listen to what I say. And most of you know how much I love attention…

And just for good measure, here is me riding the metro with Gianmarco. That day, I actually ran into a Chinese girl on the metro wearing the exact same shirt as me. I bought it at an H&M a year or two ago in South Coast Plaza. I can only assume she bought it at an H&M, perhaps around the same time, in Shanghai or elsewhere around the world. I just found it extremely odd and surprising that such a huge coincidence occurred.

Hope all is well wherever you are in the world!

Emma

Currently Reading: The Great Gatsby
Currently Listening To: Her Space Holiday

Cheeseburgers in Paradise

I’ve been here only a week and already am happy to call my Chinese apartment home. It is certainly a grand host of comfort and refuge, as I so discovered after a long night out to ensure I was still awake to enjoy the Trojans’ victory over the Buckeyes on Sunday at 8 AM. This, of course, is not only due to the physical aspects of my thin-walled and modernly decorated abode, but also due to the indispensable company of my new roommates. One new friend and one old—thanks to the two of them for immediately assimilating me into their fantastic community of coworkers and friends (and constant electro and Seinfeld).

I can already tell that this experience will be much different from my last here in Shanghai: my neighborhood could not be more polar opposite from mine last summer. Previously, I had a view overlooking a pristine park, with the large Regency Hotel directly adjacent to my own serviced apartment building. Now, however, our fabulously oversized windows show, in the distance, 4 large skyscrapers being erected, and an even earlier stage of change in the foreground. A large section of “Lao Shanghai,” with at least 100 old Chinese-style homes, is gradually being demolished; I can only imagine in preparation for yet more skyscrapers. Three construction (or destruction, if you will) workers, whom I have come to refer to as “2 reds and a yellow,” given their choice of safety helmet color, demolish on average 75% of a house each day with nothing but brute strength and sledgehammers. They seem to have no real pattern of which building they decide to hack at each day, but perhaps they jump around the points on the grid in order to delay demolishing houses that old Chinese families still inhabit.



I have been fortunate enough to witness part of the rapid growth of this city over the past few years. Since my first visit in 2006, for example, even the highest skyscraper in the city has changed. However, in my neighborhood this time around, it’s interesting to see that there are still thousands of citizens clinging to old ways.

Overall, I think the modernization and globalization of Shanghai is an extremely positive thing, but I hope that there is never a day when I will walk around the city without a reason to chuckle “TIC” to myself. This Is China, and I don’t want the disappearance of street food vendors, shoes for sale on every corner, and horn-happy motorcycle drivers to make me feel otherwise.

Test Slash Intro Post

Hello Friends,

I'm heading out to Shanghai this Friday, Sep 4th, for about a year. For those of you who don't know, I'll be teaching English at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. I made this blog to keep in touch with everyone, and I'll post photos and stories of my various (mis)adventures around the country that in its own language, virtually calls itself the center of the world. I would LOVE to hear back about what all of you are up to also, so I'm planning on sending out an e-mail to a list whenever I update this sucker, so please reply to those e-mails with stories of your own happenings! If for whatever reason you are here and not on that list, shoot me an e-mail and I'll add you. Likewise, if you're on the list and don't want to be, do the same and I'll remove you.

Rock it,

Emma