[Editor's Note: Blame me. I got backed up a couple days.]
I've said before that Shanghai is weird and wonderful, and that some things seem oddly familiar, whereas others are entirely foreign. I decided I wanted to share some of those things that I come across in Shanghai every day that make me say that.
Fashionable ladies wearing high heels
Women in China seem to be super fashion conscious. Even when they are just wearing shorts and a t-shirt, girls in Shanghai are certain to wear jewelry and match their shoes to their outfit. And so many people wear heels! Even simple sandals are frequently elaborately decorated and heeled affairs.
Crazy bicyclists and even crazier motor bike riders
A huge number of people ride bikes in Shanghai and all major roads have a bike lane and a traffic pattern that has a light sequence that allows bikes to turn separately at major intersections. However, this doesn't stop many bikers from turning whenever and wherever they please and woe betide the lowly pedestrian who has the gall to cross when our light turns green! Shanghai is very noisy from traffic horns. Cars, buses, taxis; all use their horns freely and most ignore the frequent no-horn blowing signs. But the bikers are certainly the worst offenders of this. If you hear a little beep-beep horn, you are going to want to DIVE out of the way, because that guy is not going to care if he runs you over!
Street vendors have what you need
There are street vendors everywhere on the side streets, like the street that I live on. Some of them have little carts that they wheel into place, others have tables that they set up, still others have nothing more than a blanket that they spread on the ground to set out whatever they have to sell. And they sell everything! From books to DVDs to watermelon to pajamas to shoes, and a hundred other things as well, you can find just about ANYTHING from a street vendor. It's fun to browse, but I've found that they'll try and sell stuff to me at a higher price because I am so clearly not from around here.
My favorite street vendors, though, are the people selling food. One woman in particular is set up every day in the same spot; I pass her on my way to school. She makes this delicious breakfast wrap. It is like a crepe with an egg cooked inside, wrapped around big crunchy wonton noodles with scallions and a delicious brown sauce. Yum!
Spontaneous musical exercise
I think actually it is not spontaneous, because it is every night and there are usually the same women there, but every night in front of the bank down the street, the women of the 'hood gather to do some kind of '80s-inspired dance exercise. I don't think it is officially sponsored by anything, and anyone can join in: One woman with a boom box plays a CD and performs jazzercise moves on the steps and everyone else gathers on the sidewalk behind her, following along. Some of them sing along with the music, but most just dance. It lasts for about a half an hour, and then everyone breaks up and goes home.
Ubiquitous Umbrellas
People in Shanghai love umbrellas, they seem to be a fashion accessory that is nearly as important as cute shoes. Women will carry umbrellas around rain or shine and will frequently have the umbrella open even if there isn't a single cloud in the sky. Here's the secret (that is not at all a secret): They are protecting their skin from the sun because they do not want their skin to get dark, because dark skin is an indication that you are outside a lot and city girls don't want to look like country girls. In a weird way, modern China sometimes reminds me of Victorian England.
Road sweepers with homemade brooms
On my way to school each morning, I pass a number of sites that are becoming familiar, but one strikes me as quaint and fascinating no matter how many times I see it. Shanghai has street sweepers; they are older men who walk around with a wheeled bin, a dust pan with a long handle and a broom that is made of some kind of long, tough grass bound together by the stems. I'm not sure what kind of plant it is, but it tickles me to watch them sweeping up plastic cups and sandwich papers with a broom that looks like it could have come from 200-years ago.
Public washing and drying of clothes
I have my own washing machine in my apartment, but it seems like many people either don't, or don't care to use it. It is not uncommon to see someone on the street with a wide shallow bucket full of clothes and soapy water. It is so common, in fact, that there are instructions on how much washing powder to use for this mode of washing printed on the bag! Most of the people I see washing their clothes like this seem to be killing two birds with one stone, because they wash in front of their shops so they can keep one eye on the merchandise.
Whichever way they decide to do it, once they are done washing, the clothes need to dry. No one has a dryer in Shanghai. Clothes are hung up on lines to dry in the sun, usually. This is not unusual, people in the mid-west US do it too, but the strange thing is that people tend to string the line between two trees on the side of the road and then leave it there. No one watching it, no one tending to it, just shirts and pants and underwear hanging out to dry. The underpants are the weirdest part for me. Chinese tend to be really conservative in their conversation about anything intimate (one of my students called underwear "daily things") and yet they will flash the neighborhood without qualm when drying their clothes after a wash.
Like I said, Shanghai is weird and wonderful and these are just a sample of the sights and sounds of the city.
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