The Expat Web

It didn't take more than a couple of weeks in Shanghai for me to realize that the expat scene here is not only pervasive, but also incredibly overlapping.  Every expat "event" I go to -- be it a music event, or that chili cook-off, or the beer festival, or what have you -- in addition to seeing the people I expect to see, I invariably see other people I either know or recognize.  Put simply, expats, like the Mighty Ducks, fly together, and random connections abound.

Here's a good example:


A few weeks ago, I met Franco at a birthday party at a rooftop bar (great view of the French Concession).  Franco knew the birthday girl, Sasha, through a mutual friend.  Lo and behold, about five minutes after I got there, I ran into Pamela (Franco and my Chilean roommate).  She too was there for Sasha's birthday, and neither Franco nor I had any idea she was there.  You'll forgive me for not remembering exactly how Pamela and Sasha are connected.  Suffice it to say, both Franco and Pamela knew Sasha, through different means, and now I do too, meaning that Sasha is now connected to 75% of my random, Craigslist-formed apartment.

On Saturday, I went to dinner with Sasha and a few of her friends, some of whom I had met before.  We went to Chu Hua, a really yummy sushi place that keeps on serving you until you can't eat any more (or, in our case, they kick you out).  At one point, I ate a piece of fish that tasted acutely familiar, but it took several more pieces of fish for me to realize what it was: Herring.  I've loved herring for over a decade -- it's one of my favorite Jew-foods -- and I'm pretty sure I've never had it without either cream sauce or pickled in vinegar.  I've certainly never had herring with soy sauce and wasabi.  It's certainly not my favorite piece of sushi, but it was fun stumbling upon an old favorite in an entirely different context.

Anyway, a few hours later, I saw that I had received an e-mail from Zev, a guy I went to high school with, and with whom I 've keep in very loose contact since we graduated 6 years ago.  Zev and his girlfriend have just embarked on 14-month backpacking trip around the world, and their first stop is China.  I think I must've just stumbled upon their plan on Facebook (ahh the glories of technology), and e-mailed Zev to tell him I was in Shanghai and that I'd be happy to show them around if they were coming here while in China.  We've exchanged a few emails figuring out when they'll be here, and it turns out they'll likely overlap with Thanksgiving, a particularly nostalgic holiday for Americans abroad, or so I'm told.  Zev's email last night said that he and his girlfriend thought it could be fun to gather a few wistful Americans together for a Thanksgiving dinner, and that he was planning on asking his friend Sasha if they might use her apartment as a venue in exchange for a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal (Zev and his girlfriend are apparently avid amateur cooks).

Surely, I thought, it couldn't be the same Sasha.

It is.

They went to camp together 15 years ago.

I always hated that Disney World ride, but damn, it's a small freaking world.

***

It's been a while since I've posted some good pictures, so I'll take this opportunity to share the scene at Fuxing Park on Sunday afternoon, where we celebrated Pamela's birthday by having a picnic.  Just to bring things full circle...Sasha was in attendance.

Action shot of Pam's friend Natalia.

Any guesses as to who these two proud looking gentlemen are?  Answer below...

From left to right: Ignacio, Natalia, Daniella, and Pam

I saw this store on my way back from the park and had to take a picture, for reasons that will be clear to several of this blog's readers.


P.S.  That statue?  Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, of course!  Workers of the world, unite!