Shanghai: Believe the Hype Since August of ‘09 two of my bestest buds from college have been teaching English to grade schoolers in Shanghai. For this reason, as soon as I knew I was going to be traveling, I knew I as going to Shanghai. So, after leaving London and catching a connecting flight in Dubai, I arrive at the Pu Dong Airport in Shanghai at 3:00 pm on January 5th. I feel like a bit like a celebrity walking along the red carpet as I exit the international terminal and make my way between the lines of Chinese drivers, each waving their signs with Western names in my face as though they’re incredibly excited to see me. I couldn’t help but smirk as I passed and the notion of being in communist China officially sinks in. I’m awaiting the arrival of my good friend Gianmarco Pastore—“Giuce,” as his friends call him—via high speed train. I find a comfy spot in the airport’s Burger King, get a cup of coffee and a burger, and locate where I left off in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. About an hour later, Giuce enters the BK. I couldn’t be happier to see the man and after a friendly embrace we hop on Shanghai’s crowded high-speed train and make our way toward his apartment. We fly through the city on the train that hovers an inch or so off the tracks by use of magnetic levitation, then transfer to a metro line that takes us to a station nearby the apartment in the Hongkou District of Shanghai. I follow Giuce out of the metro and into the massive metropolis. The chaos of the place is overwhelming; we cross four lane streets whilst cars and motor bikes speed by within feet of us on either side. The air feels dirty—as diesel trucks pass I can feel the particulate matter from the exhaust fill my lungs. My first purchase is a medical face mask from a street side vendor. Horns are incessantly being honked and each one grabs my attention. I quickly realize that when a horn is honked in Shanghai it’s borderline meaningless; the Shanghainese simply love to honk their horns. Giuce and I meander beneath forty story buildings along the sidewalk and wearily cross streets as if each were a level in Frogger. My head is continuously pivoting in 180 degrees from one sight to another as I take in the developing world. We arrive at Giuce’s complex, take the elevator to the 21st floor and enter his apartment. Giuce and Garrett share an apartment with a close friend of Garrett’s from high school, Emma. She’s also teaching English at a local university to 19 to 21 year-olds. After 17 hours of traveling, I settle into their couch and a enjoy bottle of Santory beer from their fridge. They let me do a load of laundry—unfortunately, it would end up being the most expensive load of laundry I‘ve ever done, as I managed to leave my iPod Nano in a jacket’s breast pocket. Damn you, sneaky breast pocket. I go to sleep with a slightly sour taste in my mouth. To be continued…

Shanghai: Believe the Hype

Since August of ‘09 two of my bestest buds from college have been teaching English to grade schoolers in Shanghai. For this reason, as soon as I knew I was going to be traveling, I knew I as going to Shanghai. So, after leaving London and catching a connecting flight in Dubai, I arrive at the Pu Dong Airport in Shanghai at 3:00 pm on January 5th. I feel like a bit like a celebrity walking along the red carpet as I exit the international terminal and make my way between the lines of Chinese drivers, each waving their signs with Western names in my face as though they’re incredibly excited to see me. I couldn’t help but smirk as I passed and the notion of being in communist China officially sinks in. I’m awaiting the arrival of my good friend Gianmarco Pastore—“Giuce,” as his friends call him—via high speed train. I find a comfy spot in the airport’s Burger King, get a cup of coffee and a burger, and locate where I left off in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. About an hour later, Giuce enters the BK. I couldn’t be happier to see the man and after a friendly embrace we hop on Shanghai’s crowded high-speed train and make our way toward his apartment.

We fly through the city on the train that hovers an inch or so off the tracks by use of magnetic levitation, then transfer to a metro line that takes us to a station nearby the apartment in the Hongkou District of Shanghai. I follow Giuce out of the metro and into the massive metropolis. The chaos of the place is overwhelming; we cross four lane streets whilst cars and motor bikes speed by within feet of us on either side. The air feels dirty—as diesel trucks pass I can feel the particulate matter from the exhaust fill my lungs. My first purchase is a medical face mask from a street side vendor. Horns are incessantly being honked and each one grabs my attention. I quickly realize that when a horn is honked in Shanghai it’s borderline meaningless; the Shanghainese simply love to honk their horns. Giuce and I meander beneath forty story buildings along the sidewalk and wearily cross streets as if each were a level in Frogger. My head is continuously pivoting in 180 degrees from one sight to another as I take in the developing world.

We arrive at Giuce’s complex, take the elevator to the 21st floor and enter his apartment. Giuce and Garrett share an apartment with a close friend of Garrett’s from high school, Emma. She’s also teaching English at a local university to 19 to 21 year-olds. After 17 hours of traveling, I settle into their couch and a enjoy bottle of Santory beer from their fridge. They let me do a load of laundry—unfortunately, it would end up being the most expensive load of laundry I‘ve ever done, as I managed to leave my iPod Nano in a jacket’s breast pocket. Damn you, sneaky breast pocket. I go to sleep with a slightly sour taste in my mouth. To be continued…