So, How Is It In China?

As we have met friends and acquaintances along our journey through Summer in Michigan, we have often been asked a very simple question, the answer to which has definitely morphed through the course of time.

"So, how is it in China?"

This is to be expected, and I should have my 30-second elevator speech prepared, but I find myself thinking differently about it each time I answer.

The simple answer is, "If you can get past the censorship, the food and the air pollution, it's great!"  And I find that I have dwelt far too much on these things.  That said, they are big things, especially coming from rural Michigan where all things are possible, food is plentiful and clean, and the air is pure.  There is an ease of life that, really, we don't find many places other than here.  Oh, and my son doesn't eat rice.

Shanghai is a magnificent city.  There is always something going on.  We live perched above our neighborhood where we can view most of the happenings, whether it be people watching, viewing running races on the road below or sporting events on the field across the street...OH, and random fireworks from the nearest intersection!  It IS China, after all.

No special occasion, just fireworks

David and I are fortunate to have weekly date nights where we can explore as grown ups, including, of course trying some local foods but also frequenting Dairy Queen for our Blizzard nightcap.  This perk (due to the full-time maid who also babysits) has afforded us the option to scope out the possibilities before taking our far more discerning offspring into the hoards.

A&W don't really do tourism for the sake of tourism.  They're only 7 and 10.  It has to be interesting or beautiful...or have bearing on their lives.  And their day to day lives are busy, so down time, to them, needs to be...well, down time.  They want to sleep until they wake up on a Saturday morning and have pancakes and play video games.  We can usually take them on some outing in the afternoon, but it has to be good...shopping at IKEA doesn't quite cut it.

Church doesn't start until noon on Sunday, so we wake up easily, have a breakfast of fresh-baked croissants that we left out to rise over night, and we walk to church.  It kind of feels like Little House On the Prairie or The Walton's, because everyone is walking to or from church.  The Catholic church is dismissing as we are congregating, so everyone is on the street, greeting each other, wishing a lovely day or lamenting the weather.  It's really quite homey and warm, and one of my favorite parts of the week.

We don't watch local TV.  In fact, our main television isn't even hooked up to anything but the Wii and a BluRay player, which will stream from our router that has an enabled private network for seeing blocked sites.  There's a TV in our bedroom that's connected to the outside world, and we can see CNN, MSNBC, BBC World and a bunch of Chinese...stuff that we don't understand.  Instead, we find all sorts of fun things to watch on YouTube, Hulu and Netflix.  It's an adventure, and we've had our family turn at covering various cover bands, which can be quite amusing!

Walk Off The Earth - Somebody That You Used To Know

Shanghai is really safe, especially where we live.  I call it Americatown, not unlike a Chinatown would be in the States.  Most things in our immediate world are compatible with our culture and way of life.  It's easy(er).  School is phenomenal and just a mile away, and we can still be on-time by walking of we miss the bus.  But the scheduled bus ride HELPS us to be on time every morning.

There's a decent Mexican restaurant around the corner, Starbucks is way too close and signs are in English.  I know China is "out there" when we want it, but the daily grind could be the suburb of any major city.  It's not home.  I don't think it ever could be.  But we're having fun, making friends, and more adventures will be forthcoming...