Looking over what I’ve been writing in this blog lately I’ve noticed I’ve posted very little about my day to day life here in Shanghai and I’ve posted almost no pictures. In my defense, my days are an uninteresting mixture of work, which I dare not go into deeply here, and going home tired after the sun has already set to cook dinner. There’s more to my life here and I’m sure I’ll get around to that stuff, but nothing feels very urgent.
One part of my life here in Shanghai that I always find interesting and that I’d like to share with all you handsome readers is my daily commute. It is in fact my first full-fledged commute for my first downtown office job (Hooray for stepping stones to mediocre lifestyles!). My last job as a high school teacher in western Hunan had very little in the way of a commute, that is unless you consider rolling out of bed and taking a 5 minute walk through the school campus a commute. My Shanghai commute is also worlds away from my daily commute in Thailand, though I try not to dwell on that. And back in America, I was either walking to class or driving to my various jobs and neither have nearly the same amount of energy and excitement that a Shanghai commute contains. Back in August I touched on the Shanghai subway and what I said then has held true everyday since: the Shanghai subway is a crazy and crowded way to get to work.
Interestingly, since I work all day and usually stay at home once I get back my daily commute is often the bulk of my time spent outside in the city. But what a way to spend one’s time in Shanghai! It’s a repetitive story of bumping into people, being corralled by crossing guards and pink shirt wearing subway workers, slow trips up and down escalators and over-stuffed stairways, the always sardine-like subway cars themselves, and (if it’s raining) the use of umbrellas as tools to beat other people out of your path. Everyday I tell myself I should make a video of my commute, but until I get that project off the ground here are some photographs I took one day on my way to and from work.
Before I get to the pictures I want to mention that today is Sunday and I am at work. No, it is not overtime, there is no pressing work to be done, and no this is not a bit of law firm workaholic ridiculousness. As they say in these parts: TIC (This is China). I don’t want to explain Chinese vacations in depth, it is depressing and, besides, John of Sinosplice has already done a good job explaining this vacation absurdity. Suffice it to say that a week long vacation in China only includes the 5 work days and if a weekend is attached to those 5 days then, well, you need to make up those two weekend days by working some other weekend. Total complete bullsh*t that does nothing to increase productivity and only makes me wish I had learned French. Those folks have vacations down to a lazy science. Plus they have cheese and I love cheese.
