The Shanghai weather has been beautiful lately -- warm, blue skies, light breeze. The city is really growing on me. I really like walking around in this strange place and observing the people and their habits, especially on summer days like this. It's very relaxing.
Friday was Ligo, so Katie and I celebrated by drinking sangria and eating pizza at Dr. Wine (we dismissed our earlier plans of Noodle Bull as below par). Both food and wine were delicious, as expected. After, the HCF girls all went to Constellation Bar 3 -- pricey drinks, but worth it for the excellent taste and mix.
I woke up around 7AM on Saturday with zero plans. After finishing watching Somewhere, which I really enjoyed, I took a walk around the neighborhood. Su bao lady was still out, so I munched on my usual breakfast as I strolled the streets. There are many more street vendors on the streets deeper in the neighborhood; I also discovered a marketplace full of fruit, fish, and jumping frogs for sale! Too bad I can't speak enough Chinese to buy frogs, or else I would surely have bought some and cooked them (also, if I had a kitchen).
Once back at the inn, I took a failed nap and read a bit. I became hungry around noon again, so I walked to the mall for sub-par Italian food.
On the way back, I ran into Liren who was going to People's Square. Without any plans, I joined her. We enjoyed trying different street food at People's Square (and I learned how to say "how much?") before heading over to People's Park. It's very large and has a "waterfall," a fitness area (with non-electric ellipticals -- so caveman like), a lotus pond, and two museums. Two women from Beijing stopped Liren and me to talk with the familiar pick-up line of, "Hello!! Where are you from?" Of course, no one ever believes Liren is from America. On the other hand, I get unusual and unnecessary compliments of, "You are tall and slim...Are you a model in America? Your hair is so curly!" After briefly talking to them, they told us about the marriage market happening in the park.
The marriage market might be the most unusual thing I have encountered so far in China. A large amount of parents sit in the middle of the park with signs detailing their son's/daughther's height, age, income and what their son/daughter is looking for. Other parents and perhaps potential suitors walk around and choose if they would like to speak to the parents or call their potential wife/husband. We met a man from Shanghai/Canada who was looking for his future wife -- he said he was looking for someone he could support and someone he could take back to Canada with him. He didn't have a sign but rather had gone to the park every weekend for the past two months to look for other females. We also met a professional paper-cutting man (he makes silhouttes out of paper) who was apparently praised by President Nixon -- that was just plain weird.
The sad thing is that most of the signs were for people born in the 1970s and 1980s. That seems like a very late age to be looking for a husband or wife.
Later that evening, Rena, Rachel, Jasmine, Liren and I went to Vegetarian Lifestyle Restaurant at Nanjing Xi Lu. Highlights included a creamy fish broth and "spare ribs" which were actually lotus covered in barbecue sauce.
The night ended with a celebration of Paul's birthday: Windows Scoreboard and M2. Those should speak for themselves. M2 was smoky as usual and had way too many old and sketchy expats. I also realized what a difficult job the girl who has to dance the whole night on stage has. It's a great workout...but she also gets hit on by so many disgusting white guys (she wasn't even scantily dressed -- she's just a great dancer). Keep dancing, girl.
The end of the night, beginning with Vegetarian Lifestyle Restaurant, kept reminding me of somewhere. As I sat and watched our group and the people around us, I realized how scenes similar to those in the movie could easily be filmed from our night and the nights of most other expats living in Shanghai.
Also, I keep remembering various memories which I had never thought I would ever think of again. Maybe it's the foreign location or the fact that I'm always tired, but these long lost memories keep coming back: the time my friend Emily and I had a a sleep-over and her mom made clam chowder and we woke up to the smell of breakfast or some random moment in time when I was riding my bike back when I lived in an apartment complex or that time I woke up early and watched Digimon on our couch at home or just the picture of fresh tomatoes and sour cream vividly appearing in my mind. They are all such strange moments to come back to, especially in China. I don't quite understand how forgotten memories have a knack of indiscrimanately returning to me while I'm sitting at my desk in the office or waking up in the morning.
Maybe, it's the influence of Murakami and "sitting in a well." Or, maybe, it could better be described by Owen Meany: "Your memory is a monster; you forget -- it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you - and summons them to our recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you." I don't mean for that to sound ominous or deep -- it just baffles me.
Pictures later.
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