Pretty Good Week

Today's weather: High = 21 Low = 11
Sunny and couldn't ask for any better!!

Ah, April --- really, it's the best month to be in Shanghai. It is that month when the temperatures are at their optimum, not much rain, and not requiring the use of an aircone. October is a similarly excellent month.

The rest of the time, unfortunately, it's either freezing cold or it's hot and humid. The transition seasons are short, so we enjoy them while they last. Actually I don't mind the humid weather. It's the cold that's the real culprit.

This week is going far better than last week did. Very smooth actually, thank goodness!

Been reading up like the dickens on motorcycle legalities and registration, a process which is no doubt complex. Yet the website 'My China Moto' www.mychinamoto.com and suggestions from friends are turning up all sorts of interesting leads.

Not all of it is good news. Information is hinting at a total ban of motorcycles in Shanghai within the next 5 years. There is no certainly of that, but if we look at past and current trends in the city, and compare with other southern cities like Hangzhou and Guangzhou which have done this despicable thing --- the possibility can't be ruled out.

The question has to be asked: why does Beijing have more favorable policies towards motorbikes when the weather and other conditions are less favorable for riding over there? Conversely, why do the southern cities crack down so hard on bikes when logic suggests those are the better places for riding bikes?

It would seem like a waste of money to pay 50,000 RMB for genuine downtown plates in Shanghai if those plates are only recycled from previous owners, and the city has stopped issuing new plates. Whether the same story applies for suburban plates is not clear, but a suburban residence (see below) would be needed for registering the plates, or else remaining downtown while procuring a fake suburban registration.

In the meantime, I recently got fake license plates for 300 RMB from a friend, and those have helped enormously for getting fuel from the downtown gas stations. Problem solved.

The looming decision I need to make before June is whether to rent a smaller house in the downtown area, or maintain a spacious house and move to the semi-suburbs. The current luxury of enjoying 110 square meters of spacious housing downtown is about to end, and that was to be expected really. Since the rent is being jacked up for next year, and accounts from friends confirm how darned expensive it really is for a nice place downtown, then living there cannot be sustainable. Combined with the trends that inflation is going to dog China for years, there is no stopping this monster of rising prices. That means either move to a much smaller place, or move out of downtown.

The Shanghai government would basically agree with this view. In their latest 5-year plan, they have earmarked areas of growth for people to move into, and the 'midburbs' are top on their list, specifically the northern midburbs. Latest census figures show nearly 25 million people within Shanghai province, and the bulk of this is downtown. The government wants people to move out of downtown, simply to reduce the population densities, which is about 20,000 people per square kilometer. As we all know, this means super expensive rents, traffic jams, noise, land scarcity issues, and other factors that make it unsustainable.

I'll say one thing though --- the house and close proximity to work has really been a nice deal. There is something to be said for the fact that I actually MISS the commuting I did in recent years! So maybe it's time to move to the suburbs again, but nowhere near as far as Songjiang. I'm gunning for a specific part of Minhang actually, which is about a 20-30 minute motorcycle ride from work, or 30-45 minutes using the subway. It's a fantastic neighorhood with a Carrefour nearby, clean air, new apartments, no noise thank goodness due to completed projects, and rents within the allowance that my company provides.

The main incentive for renting a spacious 2-bedroom place downtown has been to allow for guests to come over, but unfortunately that hasn't panned out very well. Related to the halfpat post, I mainly had to put up with guests who expected too much in the way of comfort, expected me to lead them around by the hand everywhere, and kept criticizing about how the Chinese do things because it's different from back home. I have zero time or patience for that kind of thing anymore. If the guests can't appreciate the awesome benefits of a spacious place downtown, if they can't figure stuff out on their own, and they still criticize China while staying in Shanghai (which is the best city), then I need to find better guests.

So I'm hoping that living further out of downtown will attract the more intrepid type of guests who don't mind a little discomfort, who can appreciate the positives of what is available, who can take care of themselves, and are more familiar with how the Chinese operate. Either that or I won't have any guests, in which case it's also fine. The sad part is that so many foreigners pack into the serviced apartments downtown, they get ayis (maids) serving them hand over foot, they pay through the nose for all this without flinching, and many still live miserable lives where they find a way to complain about the Chinese people in spite of all they've got.

Anyways, enough of this.

In general, this has been the best year in my overseas teaching career by a longshot. Reports from the principal about all the staff have been very positive. In particular he likes the fact that all of us have integrated into other parts of Shanghai life, in addition to the teaching. I've got several activities on the go obviously, as do most everybody else on staff. Three colleagues are involved in drama productions, we have two people on sports teams, others are doing language studies, one is involved in television, I've got the whole motorcycle hobby going on, and we even have a couple who registered for the Amazing Race!

I just love how the principal supports this involvement in "after school activities", for lack of a better word. The work hours are flexible enough so that we're done around 2pm most days, it's not so stressful, and there is plenty of time to pursue outside interests besides work.

This is a remarkable change from Maple Leaf, in both Dalian and Wuhan, where the only thing that happened was work. This whole "work is your life" mentality is a sickness. And along with that sickness, we have the idea that you only socialize with your workmates. With that in mind, I'm really fortunate to be living in Shanghai and at a school where it's not only possible to socialize outside of work, it is encouraged.