9. Halloween Special: The road.

It's close to midnight, and something evil is lurking in the dark.

Yes, it's a Halloween special.

Shanghai is to my mind a safe city. Touching wood when I say it, I do not think you will ever be in danger walking home late at night or having your stuff stolen on the train. There is one place though where you will always need to have your wits about you. On the road.

I heard somewhere that the future level of CO2 emissions in the world lies with China. Only a very small proportion of the country has a car but this is growing due to a expanding middle class. So China is very new in terms of having a driving history.

This youthful exuberance I feel is best represented on the road. Their driving etiquette has been borne not from a long established history of motor travel, but almost a rushed induction. Chinese people have very little courtesy to other people on the road, it is all about getting to the destination with as little traffic as possible. So this sees people flying everywhere. You take a taxi anywhere and I guarantee they will try to do some unnecessary overtaking at one point in the drive.
Saying this I always feel relatively safe in the car, the drivers have adapted to these dog eat dog roads and will drive accordingly.

The buses rule the roads, they are the biggest and can command there lane well. I'd give them the status of the T-Rex. The taxi's, they are the ones most in a hurry. They are like those raptors in Jurassic Park. Bullying the smaller road uses. Then there is the multitude of mopeds, they really are the common dinosaur. They will go about their own business but will make themselves known to the pedestrians. Next are the old bicycles the long necked plant eating dinosaur, they are slow and don't care what's going on the road. These are people who pose no threat, but are not bothered by their surroundings either. Then there are the pedestrians, we are made to be respectful of all cars, even when given the green man to walk you can never be sure to be allowed free passage unless you are in a sea of fellow pedestrians you may get the odd taxi who will try and slip past you, we are the humans.



Yes that is a Darwinian look at the state of Shanghai roads.

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One further point is that all drivers like to use the horn. They use the horn a lot. They will press it then hold down for an indefinite period. They will push it for pretty much any situation to 'warn' people of their presence.

Here was a video of when I got the honour of travelling at the front of the bus back from the golf. This guy was a standard horn user.

So keep your wits about you on the road!
Happy Halloween.

8. Food no 2

29th October 2012

Halloween coming up and it looks like its celebrated quite hard here. There are decorations up in my language school and I was even presented with two huge pumpkin bags heaped with candy to give to the children.

The sweets were actually quite good. The chocolate is poorly represented here. The Chinese brands aren't anything to write home about, Western brands include Hersheys and Snickers both overpriced.


If you need your sweet tooth supplemented, the food that is just too good are custard tarts. Or at least thats the name I'm giving them. Sold in hot from hot containers at most stations for about 3 remnimbi a pop, they have a pastry outlayer then the innards are a custardy eggy beautifulness creme bruleeesqe muk. I average about 2 of these bad boys a day.

Delicious!!!!!

7. Sport in Shanghai

28th October

I have days off on a Friday and a Saturday and I've been lucky to watch some great sporting events.

The Chinese market is one which most people want to get involved in. World sport stars it seems are in more demand than most to spread their brand to China.

In my first week, I went to the Shanghai ATP Masters, a tennis tournament which is highly regarded on the circuit. It was easy to see why. I've been to Wimbledon, the Australian and the US open, but what I liked about this tournament was also a section where you could get rack up points by visiting tennis skills sections, you could then hand in your points and get an award. China is obviously looking to get a better crop of international sport stars. I went at the quarter final stage, and amazingly got to watch Tsonga/Berdych, Murray/Stepanek, Djokovic and Cilic/Federer. The stadium was spectacular, the entertainment and players entrances were both really good. It was Federer who it seemed most of the Chinese public cared about. His brand had spread into China and he was by far the most popular player at the tournament. What was quite interesting was how the players connected with the crowd, Federer gave quite an interview where he said a few things in Chinese, Djokovic signed his name in Mandarin, Murray though didn't do much.

The next week I went to a rugby tournament hosted by the Shanghai Hairy Crab RFC. A team I'm looking to join. The club had 60 playing members which are split into 3 teams: one for players who are here for under a year, and the other two are for players who are here for longer.
The standard was surprisingly good. There were teams attending from all over China. The best team in my opinion was an all Chinese team who destroyed a team with a majority of Japanese players. The Chinese would play quick ball and were very opportunistic with their play.

Finally, I went to the BMW Golf Masters yesterday. It virtually trumped them all. 11 of the 12 Ryder Cup team were present and it was quite amazing to see them all so close. Free to get in, I realized watching live golf is quite a lot of fun given how close you are to the players as they walked from hole to hole. After the 18th hole players were there to sign autographs et al, I wish I'd found this autographing section earlier as I would have loved to meet Darren Clarke. I was lucky to meet Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood though which was physically incredible. I got from them a sense of annoyance though that most of the public didn't really know who they were, so when I started talking about Medinah and Celtic Manor they smiled. Most of the public went mental for Rory McIlroy who had to be guarded by bodyguards and a metal fence to keep the crowd off.

From the time I have been here I feel lucky that I'm in Shanghai where there is a lot of sport to watch and to get involved in and the venues are only a tram ride away.

No 6: Pre conceived misconceptions

25 October.

I have a 1 hour commute to my Tues, Wed, Thurday school, I have to be there at 8:40 for my first lesson.Therefore I am pretty much half-dead (almost zombie like!!!) on the train in the morning which gives me a good time to ponder.

There are some misconceived things about China I felt.

One, all Chinese people look the same. Now this is bordering on racist. But in England it is very easy to group Chinese people into one category unless you have good Chinese friends which is fair enough. However once here, you see a sea of individuals and you can tell a lot about each person by their style and sometimes their face.

Two, China is a communist state. Now I'm not into my politics and of course China is run by one party and one party only. But there would be no other way to run Shanghai and this country, given most of the population are farmers. However, the great transportation link in Shanghai is the metro where you will see every person take it at 30 pence a ride or 3 remnimbi. Today in rush hour a couple decided to pretty much move house and take a whoe ton of stuff on the train. It was a bit of an inconveniece.

Three, Chinese people are quiet. Go to my afternoon school and this will be swiftly taken back.

Four, one is restricted by the goverment. Well I haven't had any trouble yet and for all I know I'm being watched like a member from Big Brother. But it seems there are always round the bans on such sites as Facebook and co, or they just create their own music downloading, or twitter esqe sites (weibo its called here).


I took a few photos on my way to school.

This orange stuff in the bread is not very nice.

Quite a rush for the escalator.

Always building new stuff.

Same as above

Same as above.

Now, all Zombied up and ready to hit this crawl.

no 5: My first encounter with a 'tradition'

So I was at my morning school today (Juan Qing Middle school) and after the second period I was pleasantly surprised to find a package on my desk in the English department. In fact there was this similar red package on all of the desks, my first thoughts were that the head of the department a lady called Shirley (her Chinese name is too apparently too difficult to pronounce so she insists I call her Shirley) had given us each a present for our hard work. She had sat in on my first lesson today which was the first time I've been observed so it might have been a kind of reward for a barnstormingly good lesson on 'the Face'.

Alas it was not, the other English teachers (all Chinese females) were chatting happily and they exclaimed that I was the first foreigner to get said gift.

The gift was from someone I'd never met a Music teacher who'd just given birth to a baby boy. The legend had prompted her to buy all these gifts to her work colleagues. Pretty cool ay!

What a great tradition!

Inside I found a few Western things - Hershey's Kisses which I haven't had since Summit Camp 2010, and some Vienneese twirl style biscuits. Then there was the Chinese delicacy of a hard-boiled egg <picture below> in a packet, just why! I thought it was some kind of marzipan before I bit into it.

I'm starting to like and appreciate the Chinese way of life, today was a good example of that. This way of protecting oneself against misfortune, by in this case giving to other people.

I think i'll see more of this if I take Alex up on the offer to go stay with him over Chinese New Year's (see previous post).

When I asked I'd send something in return, the English teachers said not to bother as unlike the English culture people don't really congratulate you on a birth/shower you with gifts.

Well meeting an old friend (in fact an ex!) tomorrow who without being harsh i'd never think in a million years I'd see again and now we have decided to meet up tomorrow for a Zombie Bar Crawl. Who would have thought?

In other news we bought an iron and horse, dvd player, kettle and I've visited an immaculately clean McDonalds and came last place in a poker tournament.

4: Surviving a 9-5 teaching day on 3 hours sleep

23rd October.

I went out last night. Only in China will you be invited to a club and given a free table with 2 bottle of vodkas and whisky to consume. Why do these nights escalate when I have work the next day.
It all started in Ellens a student bar which is quite hard to find, it is though, a sensationally good dive. Beers at £1 /10 remnimbi, you can't argue at that. There is also drink deals throughout the week, the stand out one being free beer on Thursdays. What! The night lasted a few more hours than I had hoped, but it was a lot of fun. We visited Maya nightclub, which like most clubs here is full of tables. I really do not like this. There was a cat walk where our group chose to dance like true Brits. Housemate Sean came out with the phrase 'Let's get weird' which seemed to catch on.

Getting up at 6:30 the next day was not good. I had 7 lessons, 4 different lesson plans to adhere to and 3 different schools. How I got through it? I have no idea. A lot of  games were played  and I'm very lucky the students I taught today are quite mature so were not too loud.


Achievement for the day: Finished all of my school lunch today!

Discovered these custard tarts sold for 3 remnimbi at most tube stations I average about 4 a day. They're absolutely delicious.

Off to a poker night now.

No 3: Food

Ni hao.

I'm lucky I have no qualms about eating things out of the ordinary to Western people. Of course the first two weeks have seen me try and avoid meat which has ended in me having loads of eggs. But now I've been here 2 weeks I feel my body has adjusted so why not lets try some new things!

So the Chinese method with cooking it seems is to just use every last ounce of the animal. They display the whole animal when you buy it in the supermarket so I can imagine that they would not like to see anything go to waste.

As I work in schools I get to try out the lunches and sometimes the breakfasts they provide. One funny thing which I benefit from is that the man is awarded with a larger portion of food to the woman staff member. Another strange concept is that all the children eat in the classroom which is a bit messy in my books. So Chinese school food. Well most meals although not the same, keep the same formula, a large sticky rice block, a wettish cabbage like veg, then the spicy/BBQ flavoured meat which you have to pick off the bone, this is washed down by soup where you will always find something floating in it, today I had seaweed in my soup, so it was basically like drinking seawater.

I like chopsticks also. It makes eating a skill in a way and the food a lot tastier when you pick it off them rather than off a fork. I think this is because the way you put the utensil into your mouth but I have no scientific proof of this.

Lastly I have bought a wok, essential I feel and have got cooking in my apartment. As we have hobs only, everything rather unhealthily is boiled or fried. Here is something I chucked up. It really is my standard Uni chuck anything in then add eggs meal.

Here is an odd mushroom.

Set of cooking attire.

Blog Post Number 2

21 October 2012.

Obligatory picture of the Bund. Its quite a sight yet I've only experienced in once since arriving here

Today I was invited to come and stay at my welfare officer's house over Spring Festival. Alex, the Welfare officer, is a true gent who has sorted my bank account, apartment, he seems to get on with anyone he meets here. So it came as quite a surprise when he proposed I come. His town is 20 hours from Shanghai, and although a long way off I feel quite chuffed at his gesture.
Spring Festival is the biggest celebration in China. The start of the year is the most important I'm told. It is due to happen in January/February time.


I was in the Changning language school today. It was my second week teaching my three weekly classes. I've had to teach review sessions so far to the kids, as i've been drafted in as a replacement teacher till their semester ends and we start a new course. I'm looking forward to the new course so that I cn have a better idea of where the children are at and what actually needs reviewing!
The older kids had their end of year test today, it was quite fun being in the role of the invigilator, I could not help myself and help them out on the difficult question, to be fair the question was troubling me so me working it out was more for my peace of mind than theirs. Its also taking a while to getting used to being on the other side of the classroom, but I'm settling in well jsut need to lower my TeacherTlkingTime.

Visited a Tesco Express which had a great range of stuff. I also saw that Skrillex is playing in Shanghai next month- so expensive though, we're talking a weeks budget potentially at 480 rmb and that's an advance ticket. I'm keen for showing an old friend around though on Thursday for Halloween.

Western luxuries are pretty expensive here. And unfortunately beer is considered a luxury here. So you have to catch bars in their happy hour to keep your costs down.

Wore my shirts from the fake market in Science and Technology Park. They are real good quality, they were an absolute steal at the price I got them at. I feel almost guilty that I got them down to so low due to my low expectation of what i was paying for.

Talked to the family on skype. Mum was keen to ask about my health. She was right though, bad health and you can't go to work and life in Shanghai grinds to a standstill. She also recommended to keep in touch with the community (go out more), keep your moral code (don't lower yourself to barging on to metro's) and aspirations. This city is full of aspiring people though I think or at least the opportunities for those people.

TO DO LIST: Clean the flat. Go out on Thursday and Friday. Catchup with lesson plans it looks like I'm going to be winging it tomorrow!!!

Blog Post no 1

20th October 2012.

Hello. This is my blog. I started this so that I can document to other cyber souls what Shanghai is like through the eyes of a 22 year old graduate.

I've come to Shanghai mainly because I got a job here. I am teaching English on a 1 year contract with Shane schools. They have a number of schools around China and in other countries too.
I'm now into my third week here, so I've still quite a fresh face in these new surroundings but I have settled well.

There is a lot that I can say as there are a lot of differences between English and Chinese life. For example I could say that the Mento's here taste rather soapy or the one English channel ICS shows repeats of 60 minute makeover constantly and has late night 'High Drama' which usually consists of an old film from the 90's.

My first impressions then of Shanghai as a city, it is dynamic, constantly developing and eager to develop and impress. It has almost a youthful grandeur that it wants to portray to the world. I'm not sure how representative some of the buildings that are being strung up are of Chinese life. These magnificent buildings lack history, they are all so young and are really only representative of the last 20 years which is quite a bizarre concept.

So the first two weeks have been pretty hectic. I arrived on Friday the 5th and stayed in a Hotel which was like a haven from the city as there were no windows. Whilst this was happening our Welfare officer Alex who is the nicest Chinese person I've met showed us around some apartments. We (me and Welsh Sean) were transfixed by one which was on the 31st floor of an apartment block in a complex called the beautiful city or something. Our moving in day was quite momentous, we had to tranfer all our stuff initially then did police registrations, internet installations, we got a sofa from a dude then took a trip to IKEA.

I've been to the Shanghai Masters which is fully deserved of the best tournament on the ATP tour 2009, 2010, 2011. Watched Federer, Murray, Djokovic, Tsonga do their thing. I went to check out the Shanghai Hairy Crabs today, a rugby club a little out of town, but with 60 playing members it looks definitely worth a join.

My job has been ok, I work Sunday to Thursday in 5 different schools. I'm at my language school tomorrow. The lunch food has got some time getting used to it, but now I really enjoy it and may even pop in early for breakfast. My schedule is ok, I have 20 hours of teaching time but then like 15 hours of traveling, prepping time, so I'm fairly busy.
My first week of lessons were mainly introductory. I did simon says, tictactoe, a writing race game, next week is where I begin to teach off the syllabus.

 Well I could talk more about the food, classroom games, what the people are like, first night out in Shanghai, but these things can form part of blog post no 2.