Wednesday was less exciting than the rest of my days here so far, and I think that's okay. Tomorrow's my first day of work, after all. After convincing Damin I could probably find my way and even if I got lost I could get myself out of it, I headed off to meet Cara Chan at her school. Cara is the sister of Joanna's roommate for four years in college, and she has been here since February with NYU. On my way to meet her, I had some time so I went to Jing'an Si (Jing'an Temple), which is "the primary place of ancestral worship in the city" according to my guidebook. People young and old, from the monks to the teens in shiny skirts, were there praying, which was kind of cool. Jetted out of there in time to get thoroughly lost and find myself again on the way to meet Cara.We walked through campus, which was East Normal China University, and to visit a friend of hers in a dorm. We then went to CorreFour (sp?), which is like Walmart, to see one of her two favorite things about Shanghai: the magnetic cart-and-people conveyor belts that take you to the next floor. Instead of having separate escalators for carts (which I only discovered last year at the Target near Swarthmore), you get on this upward-sloping belt with your cart. (Her other favorite thing is the transportation cards, which are high on my list.)
Basically hung out at the apartment, since the person who was going to take us somewhere kept getting roped into other things. Nice to get to know Cara a little bit though - she laughs just like her sister. Eventually headed back to the park, read a bit, and caught a bus home.
I was a little sad that my day wasn't really anything special, but then Damin came home with lychees. I have no way to explain to him the role lychee plays in the U.S. I have really only seen it as a flavor of bubble tea or candies from Chinese class. It is MUCH better as fresh fruit, though.
Another highlight of today was seeing a few teams of workers outside doing, like, calisthenics. The first group was doing jumping jacks in their fast food uniforms, and the second was, like, dancing. Makes me smile.
7 comments:
Good job navigating your way to Cara's; nice that you got to know her a bit. I don't think I've ever heard of a lychee here; is that because I'm not a coffee shop patron? I like the image of the workers exercising together; I think I'll try to institute that (I know at least one employee who would go along with it). Good luck at work!
So did you worship your parents a bit while at the temple for ancestor worship? Or does one need to be dead first? Nice you connected with Cara--and with lychees.
I'm up for group exercise at work. Whole buildings of people hunched over computers could use such a break.
Break a leg at work tomorrow!
So is a lychee some kind of fruit? How cool that employees get together and exercise! I need to mention that here at the bank! Seems to be a much better idea than mid-day siestas...
I need to see the evolution of the target cart-escalator. That's already one of my favorite things in the world...
I think you can get fresh lychees in America, you just have to shop in like Chinatown grocery stores and such.
At this bar near where I used to live, called Cooper 35 Asian Pub, you can get lychee-tinis, either in a martini glass or frozen like a pina colada or something. Delicious.
some people were doing Tai Chi on Parrish Beach today. my tour was impressed. i thought of you.
isn't carrefour awesome? i was amazed the first time i walked in with my grandmother. i do love the conveyor belt so!
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