Sh*t I can't understand

Sparky Anderson used to say that you can’t tell much about a baseball team until 40 or 50 games into the season. I think that is pretty true about a lot of things in life. One of them is living a foreign country with an entirely different culture, language and way of life. Well, it has been roughly 50 days since I moved from Detroit, Mi to Shanghai, China. Now I am not going to say that I have this city figured out, but I can tell a little about what the next two years will have in store for us. Mainly, it is going to be exciting, we are going to meet a bunch of great people with great stories, and we are will have lots of stories to tell. There are, however, a few things that I am certain I will never figure out about China no matter how long I live here. A few of those are listed below:

Health codes must not exist. Contrary to common belief, I don’t think there are too many rules in China. For example, there cannot be a health code. You can buy vegetables, fruit, eggs, live ducks, live chickens, live bull frogs, live eels, and numerous things that I cannot even begin to guess what they are right off of the street (literately) in Shanghai. All of these things are also designed for consumption. I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater with a very tolerant palate. However, I have no intention of eating things that would be confused as pets in the US off of the streets of Shanghai.

Building codes must not exist. When we were shopping for a place to live, we saw 24 different apartments in 2 days. We probably visited 10 different facilities. We would ask the standard questions about size, amenities, the closest public transportation, etc. One answer that I could never get my head around was “How old is this place?” Typically the answer was somewhere between 1 and 10 years. One year was “too new” because it had “too many problems”. Somehow places that were built 10 years ago are “very old” and “should be rebuilt soon”. Now I am not architect, but when you are building 30-40 story apartment building you would hope that it is not obsolete in 10 years. My house in the US was built in the 1930s and I am quite sure that it will last many more years without much trouble.

The Chinese also build strange things in strange places. A previous post we had a picture of an escalator that ended in the ceiling. Why that would ever result in the outcome of a building project I will never know. There are also a number of strange things built in strange places throughout the city streets. I cannot figure out the point of this fire hydrant other than to trip unsuspecting tourists as they walk through Yu Yuan Garden.

Personal space does not exist in China. I will never get used to people bumping into me. I will never get used to sharing the elevator with 20 other people. I will never get used to being pushed into the subway as if it is the last train on earth. I will definitely never ride the bus. I want to know why it is that I am the only person in Shanghai that is bothered by the lack of personal space.

These things end up meaning one thing: this will be an exciting two years. Head shaking and head scratching occur on a regular basis. We are fortunate enough to have a LifeTime style gym on premises. Last night I saw eight people taking a spinning class. Two of them were wearing blue jeans. One person was riding barefoot. A fourth person was riding with a pair of loafers. And one person had headphones on and was not listening to the instructor or even trying to keep up with the instructor (who was dressed in head to toe with an Euskaltel-Euskadi team uniform). As I finished my last set of push-ups I said to a western stranger lifting next to me “only in China”. No response was required; just a smile and a nod.