What I've Learned: September

I, ever-seeking metrics for time and progress, have decided to try to mark the passing of each month with a brief recapitulation of that which I have learned over the previous four weeks.  I think I may sometimes put too much pressure on myself to "get the most out of" this time I'm spending in China.  Perhaps counter-intuitively, I have found recently that I learn more, and have a better time, when I turn that psychological evaluation mechanism off and just live here.  So instead of constantly trying to get the most out of China, I'm going to try to live here as I lived in Washington D.C. for two years, or Philadelphia for the four years before that.  But, so as not to lose sight of the reason I wanted to come here in the first place, I'll plan on reviewing each month with a list of things I think worth remembering.

So here goes....What I've learned in September:

• Out of frustration that I am not as amazing at Chinese as I'd like to be, I frequently underestimate my Chinese ability, thereby self-consciously and counter-productively limiting my exposure to it.
• Chinese people can be pretty lazy.  Exhibit A: they insist on waiting for the escalator in the Metro rather than taking the stairs.  (The people in single file in the center of this picture are the few taking the stairs.  There is an open lane, free for other stair-climbers, but everyone else chooses to wait in the clusterfuck for the escalator)...

• There is an inherent conflict between the Chinese concept of "face", and the apparent lack of the Chinese concepts of "personal space" and "manners".
• There is an inherent conflict, in any business, between sales and compliance (i.e. following the rules and protecting the best interests of the company as a whole).
• Americans make pretty bad world citizens.  My roommate Serge, an Armenian Canadian, speaks better Hebrew than I do, and he's not Jewish.  He also speaks French, Armenian, Chinese, Arabic, and English.
• Chinese people are fascinated by Americans, or maybe just laowai (somewhat derogatory term for foreigners) in general.  Sometimes I play a game on the Metro where I see how many Chinese I can get to smile at me just by looking at them.  Kids are like shooting fish in a barrel. 
• Chinese people smoke a lot of cigarettes.  So much so that they find the need to do it while on the toilet.  How do I know this?  I found a cigarette butt in the bathroom stall at work.
• Chileans speak very quickly.  I can barely understand my roommate when she speaks English.  When she's Spanish-ing, there's no chance.
• Travel, in general, is expensive, exciting, and endless.  There are too many places to go and things to see and do.
• Shanghai is huge.  I've always thought of it as the small, manageable, yet more-crowded counterpart to the massive Beijing.  And while that may be comparatively true, that doesn't detract from how big Shanghai is in its own right.  I went to an orientation meeting for an organization I may start volunteering for.  The meeting was in Minhang, a district in southwestern Shanghai, but still legitimately ensconced within the downtown area.  Travel time, by Metro and walking: 90 minutes.  Puts Upper West Side-Coney Island to shame.
• In addition to being huge, Shanghai can be very nice looking.  I feel like urban China in general gets an often-warranted reputation for being crowded, hot, smoggy, and generally not beautiful.  Some evidence to suggest otherwise:

• I am a pretty good chess player.
• I am a pretty good teacher.
• I generally like people, until proven otherwise, and I think people generally like me too (until proven otherwise).
• No matter what happens, no matter how much I learn (and I do think it will be a LOT), I will always feel lucky to have friends and family whom I love, and with whom I can keep in contact so easily despite being so far away.  I didn't realize how much it would mean to me, the relative ease of communication, until I got here.

READER'S NOTE: It's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Week this week, which means the entire country gets to go on vacation!  I'm heading to Nanjing tomorrow, and then on to Beijing for a few days.  So the blog will probably be dark for a week or so until I get back...but I'll promise pictures and sage wisdom learned (fodder for the October edition of W.I.L.) when I return.