Jason knocked on my door, which he had to do everyday because I didn't have WeChat and I refused saying 'it wasn't necessary' and I could do without. I never really needed a phone in the Uk or Facebook or any other social media APP, so why bother now? I rejected WeChat, APPs and a phone.
On the schedule the people who were staying in Shanghai had to go apartment hunting and those going elsewhere such as Hangzhou, like me, could just have the days off to explore and settle in. As a group, with Chinese people on hand to help, I tagged along, as Jason and the others went off to buy a Chinese phone, but as mentioned before, I rejected this idea of buying a phone-a pretty stupid one at that.
While everyone else was in a WeChat group and messaging each other, I wasn't, so I had no clue what was going on. Everyone else was meeting up on a night and going to bars, with one-the law graduate-commenting that it was like 'freshers week'. I was missing this experience.
Jason found a nice apartment, or room within an apartment in Shanghai with a roommate, a modern room for around 5000 RMB per month. So he was moving out within a number of days, I remember being shocked how quickly expats found apartments and moved in.
During these days, I decided to 'get to know' some of my fellow cohort who were moving on to other cities and also had free days. One was a British-French lady who seemed to naturally take to China.....we decided to go to Jinling temple. I remember feeling stupid because I had no idea how to use the subway, I had used it once in London on a trip with my University around 5 years ago. Walking over to the subway she grabbed breakfast, and remember being impressed by the fact that she was able to order without reading anything, but that she just knew what she wanted, and that she knew the guy in the 'built in make-shift take-out' would have what she wanted. She said 'wo yao yi ge cai bao' (我要一个菜包), which means she wanted a vegetable steamed bun. She bought two for around 3RMB or 30p. I remember being so impressed. I recall her saying she had recently been travelling on the Himalayas and was in a civil partnership-I assume long distance. I asked her which city she was going to and she said 'ChongQing' but had no clue as to where that was, but thought it sounded very Chinese. She was going there for similar reasons to me-for a deeper more cultural experience of China. She also said that the expats all know each other there, so perhaps it was the close-knit expat community was appealing to her. I had no doubt that she would do well, she already seemed competent. I followed her on the subway, and just 'tagged along' pretending that I also knew exactly what I was doing and where I was going. We made it to the temple which was around 30RMB for entry and light some incense sticks. I remember lots of other tourists, but it was the first temple, in the centre of modern Shanghai, surrounded by golden buddhas. I remember this being my first taste of Chinese art, and culture, and probably 'girl time' in China.
Figure 1: Shanghai gardens
Once Jason had found an apartment, we decided to relax and have a free day together. We went for a wander around Shanghai and ended up in the city centre with all the shops, near Forever 21, and expensive hotels like the Fairmont, but we were totally lost. We had to ask for direct
But doubt was starting to set in, she and Jason were naturally taking to life in China, they could already speak pretty good Chinese, and use the subway, I still had no clue.....about anything. Jason was waiting on a bank transfer from his British bank to his Chinese account-I remember him being prepared like that. I didn't even think about doing something like that. I seemed to take it in my stride, and didn't seem to 'clock' at how important this stuff was. On the evening me and Jason met downstairs for dinner and we went to a 'self service' where we could choose various Chinese dishes.....I was just pointing, but Jason was able to order in fluent Chinese already.
I remember getting back to the hotel and Jason followed me to my room. We were sitting on the bed when he said 'I wouldn't refuse if you made a pass at me'.....I rolled my eyes....and nudged him toward going back to his own room, but our first adventure would make us good friends for a long time. The rest of the evening I heard people coming in or rather 'falling in' drunk going past my door, with one passerby comparing it to 'freshers week'. But I really no interest in partying or drinking, I never did any of that at University so I won't be starting now. It seems that my motivations for coming to China were in stark contrast to mine. I heard about 'drunken' expats in China, and the party life being vibrant from the stories my grandmother used to tell me about my cousin, who had already been in China for four years before me. It was controversial when she left to go to China when it was at the 'peak' period of c. 2010-2012 years when China's borders were open and welcoming to expats looking for a low cost of living lifestyle with life of fun, adventure with a hint of culture. When it was announced that she was leaving for China, I wondered why on earth someone would want to go there....a developing country, associated with pollution and people frequently seen on the news reports wearing face masks. It was still a 'mysterious' country, but generally not a country considered a place where Brits would normally 'aspire' to work in their future careers.
My motivations, in the beginning, were purely related to intellectual pursuits, I wanted to learn the language, culture, history, art, as a newly qualified historian, museums were a natural priority for me....or anything about culture including libraries, parks and temples.....but that would change.....
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