A view of our apartment from the street. Ours is the second floor apartment above the Apple I Spot store. You can see one of our patios and Cokie's room facing the street.
Please check our our Pbase Galleries for fmore images of Shanghai!
First Weeks’ Impressions of Our World in Shanghai
We’ve been in Shanghai now for exactly three weeks, but it feels like we’ve been here for much longer than that! Som has already started to learn Chinese and has found her way in to the nooks and crannies of the “villages” that surround our apartment. Cokie has made a bundle of new friends from the offspring of the hundreds of expats that live in our immediate vicinity. As for me, I have been submerged in work pretty much since the onset of our stay here. I feel guilty that haven’t given much of an update since we’ve arrived, but life has been literally slamming us since the beginning! So here is the update! (Don’t count on too many updates on Facebook as it is officially blocked by the “Great Firewall of China” and I can only log on at work…)
View of our apartment from the inner court of Green Court!
Our New Abode – Jinqiao Green Court Phase II
Our new digs in Jinqiao (pronounced “jinchao”) are in perhaps one of the more upscale areas of the Pudong region of greater Shanghai. Pudong, being the newer area of Shanghai, is home to literally hundreds of thousands of expats that are now calling Shanghai “home”. Shanghai is purported to have over 1.7 million expats from all over the world. In fact, in our immediate area, we hardly even feel that we are in China. That is, until we stroll a couple blocks outside of our “bubble”.
When reading the various apartment-situations teachers are faced with when living overseas, I feel ours is a bit over the top. In fact, the apartment is amazingly nice. The floor plan is a very geometrically interesting two-bedroom, 1400 square foot living space filled with marble window sills, hardwood floors, molded walls, stonework bathrooms and three spacious patios! The kitchen is outfitted with newer appliances including a European gas stove, great fridge/freezer, microwave and tons of cabinet space. There is even a fully outfitted laundry room and huge storage area. The bedrooms are more than adequate and conveniently designed with good lighting, AC and tons of plugs and stuff. The apartment came furnished with nice Chinese style rosewood furniture and even a TV with cable.
The second floor window is our master bedroom window
Green Court Phase II
Som being dropped off by one of Shanghai's millions of taxis
The polished stone entryway to our pad. Since we're only on the second floor, we don't use the elevator all that much...
The building only has two apartments per floor! So we have no common walls with anyone...
The view of the playground and courtyard from the pad...
One of our three decks overlooking the area around Green Court...
Our living room...
The living room from another angle. One of these days we may get something on those walls....
The "dining" area leading in to the living room. We use this area mainly as an office space...
Same space from a different angle...
The kitchen...
The laundry zone....
Cokie's bedroom....
Cokie building his own miniature Shanghai...
Cokie's bathroom!
The master bedroom....
Same place from another view...
The master bath....
Tons of storage!
The apartment is located in the heart of one of the shopping districts of Jinqiao, so all we need to do when we need something from the local supermarket is simply walk right across the street and grab what we need and walk on back. All in a matter of minutes! The closest store is a Carrefour, which is basically a French chain store that is synonymous with a super Wal-Mart back in the states. The selection of goods there is about as complete as you can imagine. Virtually all the American food stuffs we like are represented well as are all but perhaps one or two of Som’s Thai ingredients. If we can’t find it at Carrefour, then “Pines”, a well-stocked upscale Western-style supermarket is right around the corner. And then there is City Shop a few blocks away as well…. Other amenities that are only a few FEET from our apartment include Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway, New York Pizza, Baskin Robins, over 20 +++ really good restaurants, as well massive sporting goods stores and even an Chinese version of Home Base. Interesting how we would never even give such places a second thought back in the states, but here they are somehow special, although we don’t frequent them any more often here than we did in the states….But at least they are there! And for many of the expats, they are a downright necessity.
Our Carrefour across the street...
One of the nearby shopping and restaurant areas near the pad...It would take us a year to sample everyplace to eat...
The plaza...
We have been spending some time getting to know a few of the nearby restaurants. So far we have sampled some pretty good Greek, some excellent Indian (although the service sucked!), and some VERY good Mexican. And ALL of the restaurants deliver to your door! The prices are about the same as the states or a tad lower for the western food. But if you want pretty good Japanese, the prices are much lower than the US. And Chinese food is of course excellent and cheap, even in the good restaurants. If you eat in the “villages” (the local expat word for anyplace that has tons of local Shanghainese and open markets), the prices are ridiculously low. This morning we had a massive breakfast in the village, consisting of three huge bowls of pork egg noodles and veggie dumplings for about $2.40 for everything for the three of us! (Boy were we a spectacle in this really out of the way noodle shop, which had obviously NEVER served a round-eye before…The folks there were as amused as they were friendly)
Som and a new friend at the "village" noodle shop! This lady loved Som's eyelashes (which seem to be quite the topics of interest from the locals)...
Cokie wolfing down some noodles!
Believe it or not, the fried pork on top of the noodles is outstanding! These are a Shanghainese specialty...
Hitting the pubs seems to be the local pastime for all of the expats around here. We have already made several new friends among my fellow staff members and have gone out often to sample the local wet-your-whistle hotspots. The great thing about the pubs here in Shanghai is they are ALL (at least the ones around here) kid friendly! It is not uncommon at all to see a live-music bar with adults doing their adult night-life thing, with tables filled with kids enjoying time together too! When I asked one of my colleagues if I had to arrange a sitter for Cokie, she replied, “why not bring him along!?” Nobody cares at all here. Even the students here seem to visit the pubs regularly – something that is so taboo back home, yet here somehow it is just fine.
Som and Cokie heading in to one of our favorite pubs, a local joint owned and operated by an Irish expat. He's making a killing in Shanghai!
Hanging out with some new friends in the pub...
Som has yet to allow us to sample the food here! "Why pay to eat Thai food when I can make it so cheap at home!?", is her mantra....I hear this restaurant rocks, though...
Hands down some of the best Mexican food we've had in a long time! A bit pricier than what we are used to in the states but the quality is outstanding! And the margaritas are great!
Shanghai the City
Although we really do live in a suburban American-style bubble in the city, just a few blocks away, you are in China, no mistake about it! Som has spent a lot of her days getting to know the back alleys and “villages” to find all of her ingredients. If we were to spend most of our time shopping the local supermarkets and eating at the local restaurants, our food bill would be most likely about the same as it was back in the states. But since our goal is to save as much of our money as possible these days, Som has thankfully found that, by shopping in the villages, we will be able to live for a fraction of the cost we are used to! In fact, the food is fresh, delicious and even cheaper than what we are used to paying in Thailand, which is known to be cheap, cheap, cheap!
We’ve picked up some bicycles so getting around Jinqiao is easy. Although the traffic is a bit chaotic at certain times, it is nowhere near as bad as Bangkok or Seattle, at least in our area. I hear it is worse on the Puxi side of the city, but we’ve experienced that end of town as well, and Bangkok is still much worse. And the overall size of Pudong makes bikes a very viable transportation option. We can zip across town in a matter of minutes. I have been riding about 6-10 miles a day in town and plan on increasing my circuit as soon as it starts to cool down a bit more.
Our night out in Puxi and Nanjing Road...
The biggest shocker for us at the beginning of our stay here was the heat. I mean, I have been staying during the “hot season” in Thailand now for years and I thought I knew heat. No way! Shanghai heat is literally something else. Although the three weeks we’ve been here have been mainly warm, the hot days we had were truly unbearable. I have never felt humidity like this, ever! Our first few days in town were almost enough to make me say, “no &#$#%# way can I live here”! It felt like someone was slamming a hot pillow in my face as soon as I left the perpetually air-conditioned apartment! But luckily the humidity has dropped a lot, and even though it’s still in the high 90’s, it is bearable now.
Another shocker was the smog. When I was just thinking about taking the job, I researched the air pollution of Shanghai and everything I read made it out to be basically as bad or good as LA. Now, while that may not be a resounding endorsement of the clean, fresh are of the city, at least it wasn’t damning. But for our first three or so days in town, the sky was “Orwellian” yellow! It was a thick as soup and I had burning eyes at the end of the day! I was really having second thoughts during those first few days. But for the last two-plus weeks, even though the heat has been high and the wind has been light, the skies have been blue and the air has been actually quite nice. I hear it gets worse in the winter but we will see. I am hoping that we can actually set up some sort of air pollution monitoring station at school and we can get an idea of how bad it is (or isn’t).
We haven’t had a lot of time or energy to explore the city of Shanghai in any exhaustive way yet, but we have been to some of the visual highlights, such as the Bund, the Pudong Skyline, the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum and a few other spots. There is still so much to explore. The World Fair Expo is still going on, but after experiencing a few samples of Shanghai-style crowds, neither Som nor I are thinking about putting a long day at the Expo very high on our list of things to do… I am sure we’ll get there once it cools down a bit, but we are hoping to make on a rainy cold day in October some time, and maybe the crowds will be a bit lower. Today we went to the Science and Tech museum with at least 25,000 other folks! What a joke that was.
Shanghai Science & Technology Museum
The Shanghai Metro makes getting around a piece of cake. That is unless you plan on staying out late – it closes down stupidly early! But taxis are very cheap here. Not quite as inexpensive as Bangkok, Shanghai taxis can take you all the way from downtown to our apartment for about ten dollars, and compared to the states, that’s nothing! We wouldn’t make it a habit but the costs of taxis have yet to make us change our plans in order to save money. And Som’s rapidly improving Chinese is making taxis and other functions in town easier and easier.
I am very impressed with how Som has just taken Shanghai by the horns. She seems like a total natural here. I mean, she already sits down and hangs out with the local Shanghainese, and has even become a regular at certain noodle shops, veggie stands and hair salons! None of which are frequented by foreigners and where the normal clientele are Shanghainese. Way to go Som! Interestingly we have eaten out only a half a dozen times since our arrival. Most of the newbies we are friends with are still eating out every meal! Som has been cooking at home virtually every day! This is definitely not due to my insisting on home-cooked food! She has been mainly getting used to the local ingredients as well as her new kitchen. And she has done a great job in both arenas! I am sure all of this will change soon however when she starts working more regularly at school, which we hope will happen soon. In fact, she was just appointed the FULL TIME Flex (study hall) supervisor for the high school! She's a pro now!
Shanghai American School
One of the courtyards at SAS...before the kids arrive...
Where do I begin with the school? SAS is without a doubt the most impressive school I have ever been associated with. More like an extremely rich private college, SAS is a very well-endowed private international school that ranks among the world’s best schools. If you were to ask the College Board, or the International Baccalaureate Board, SAS would be one of the highest achieving schools in the world from their perspective as well. Apple Computers ranks SAS #1 in the world for its use of technology for education. Every student and every staff member has their very own Apple laptop and accessories. And there is a full-time support team and technical station to support this endeavor! Every class is wired with wireless, Smart boards and a plethora of other technological gadgets that I am just now getting up to speed with.
At first glance there are some things missing from the classrooms at SAS. Paper! Well, this may be somewhat of an exaggeration, but I have yet to actually hand a paper to any student yet! Although we have only completed our first week of school, my classes are so far paperless! And my intention is to keep this as the norm for as long as possible. All assignments are disseminated to the students and collected from the students digitally. All syllabi, lectures and handouts are passed out to the students using shared files and digital “drop boxes”, so there has yet to be any need for paper at all. I am sure the time will come but for now it’s great. I wonder when the cost of paper alone will exceed the cost of the technology to replace it? Maybe never but it’s an interesting concept nonetheless.
My best friend the ubiquitous equitrax!
We are not allowed to have printers in our classrooms or offices! (Well, at least the school will not buy their ink cartridges if you really want one) I was initially very bummed out but this announcement until I got used to the Equitrax system. If we need to print anything, we just send the job to cyberspace and we can print the job out anywhere our system is! I have an Equitrax machine right outside my classroom door so I am all set. I don’t use it for too much printing, at least compared to how much I used to print in the past. But I do use the Equitrax for scanning and emailing files that I can post on my blog (a requirement here at SAS) for my students to access. It’s so amazingly convenient, once you get used to how to use it, which did take a couple days…
My course load is fairly typical for an American system. Although it is nowhere near as heavy as what I was used to at PA High (but that was my choice!), the amount of prep time and support here is truly unparalleled. Our schedule is called a 4 X 4 80-minute rotating block. It is pretty confusing until you get used to it (and I am NOT yet used to it!), but it really does have some advantages. I teach in essence a five section series of classes in an 8-period two-day block of time. So on “A” day, I will teach only two classes, with half my day (3.5+ hours!!!) available as prep or to help students. On “B” day, I have only 2 hours of prep! There is more prep time with this schedule than you can imagine. I am really not sure if we get the same hours with the students as we did back in the states, but the schedule allows for much more truly quality time than anything I have experienced before.
Som at the espresso stand enjoying her daily cappuccino!
And the food court is home to at least six different restaurants AND there are two full cappuccino bars on campus! For 10RMB (about $1.50), I can start my day with some really delicious cappuccino! The school also has an Olympic swimming pool (which Cokie gets to use twice a week in class!), a state of the art gym and exercise room as well as several very comfortable student lounges and silent study areas all over campus. The music rooms rock! The library would be the envy of most librarians in the states. And because SAS has two campuses (a larger and older campus in Puxi as well), we can actually have an interlibrary loaning system. And I believe we share with other international schools in Shanghai too (there are dozens). And the school is located right on the coast of the East China Sea and we can see the ships cruise by all day long. The sea breeze on campus is welcome as well.
The view of the South China Sea and the mouth of the Yangtze from our floor.
All of the common areas and breezeways double as art galleries for student work. SAS is a very pleasant place to stroll.
The architecture of SAS is interesting and complex.
SAS is three schools in one basically. The middle, elementary and high schools are all interconnected by long breezeways.
The older part of the school (like 7 years older...) has a definitively California feel to it...
We are all free to use the Olympic-sized pool during the non-student hours. Cokie gets lessons here two-three times weekly, and one of his coaches is a pro swimmer from the Chinese national team!!!
I was initially thinking that this school would be keeping me busy until the wee hours every day at work. But they really do expect you to “maintain balance”. Although I am definitely working my butt off, the school has made it very clear the last thing they want is unhealthy, burned out and overworked teachers. We sat through a pretty encouraging lecture on how to maintain balance and keep the important things like work, family, friends, recreation and travel in perspective. I really believe they meant it too. One of my newbie colleagues whispered to me, “It’s like they know the secret to a powerful and effective educational program starts with a happy, satisfied and healthy staff!” They even encourage us to use Facebook and other personal internet sites AT school so we can feel in touch with our loved ones overseas. The buses leave at 3:40, 4:30 and the absolute latest you can leave is at 5PM! So far I have been able to leave for home mainly on the early bus with enough time to come home, ride the bike for about 10 miles and hang out with Cokie and Som all before the sun goes down! That will change in the winter I am sure, but so far the daily grind is anything but! And with the amazing amount of prep time I get at work, I am able to get everything done I need to get done without taking too much home. I am not sure if this will continue, but I don’t see it getting too much worse.
This is the first time I have ever had to take a bus to school!
One of the nicest things about SAS is the overtly liberal education style it exudes. The educational offerings here are very strong in the arts, humanities and a liberal arts education. The IB program here is hugely successful and has a student enrollment in the hundreds. But this is not at the expense of the other subject areas. The science department is in every sense state of the art. Our equipment is new and we have been told that whatever we need, they will get it for us. I have been given pretty much a green light to order anything I need to improve the Environmental Sciences program at the school. They want it to be one of the state of the art programs in Asia. Wow! And the TWO FULL TIME lab techs make lab prep & purchasing virtually a non issue!
Every person here, ranging from the students to the teachers to the administrators, is incredibly well-traveled and worldly and most are multi-lingual. Mixed marriages are not quite the norm but are very common among the staff. There are teachers here from all over the world and several have PhD’s. This is an exciting group of professionals to be with! And I love how the expectations are that, “duh, of course you are going to travel every single chance you get!” Everyone is always chatting about their winter break or Chinese New Year travel plans.
One of the several student lounges the kids are encouraged to use during their official "down" time, which is built in to their daily schedules...
The Students
The students….Hmm, where to begin… I know it is still very early in the game, but if the first week is any indication (and combined with everything I have heard from my very UN-BURNED-OUT and very happy and enthusiastic colleagues…(and of course those test scores)…), these will be the best students I have ever experienced, academically speaking. Now of course, I have been more than a little bit blessed with great kids over the years, and I have had my share of academically very outstanding students (I really want my previous students who may be reading this blog to know this!!!), SAS still stands out. With a graduation rate of basically 100%, and a college placement record of right around this high, and a student body where turning down MIT is not unheard of…it’s a pretty impressive clientele for sure.
I knew I was in for it when I started my first AP Environmental Sciences course with a class ready about 2 minutes BEFORE the start time, all of whom had their computers on, pre- wired to my blog and plugged in to my system (even before I even knew they could do this!!!) and ready to get to work! And when I told them they had weekend homework on day three, there was not a moan or a groan from anyone – just the sounds of students typing the assignment in their computers and a girl exclaiming how she could not wait to start reading our text (and she was serious!)! I assigned year-long research projects for the kids, and I have already met privately with at least six kids who are totally enthusiastic about some pretty high-level research projects! These kids will definitely keep me on my toes. And kids are not robots! They are regular “American” school kids mainly (although with a slightly…or blatantly Asian bent) who are here to learn! One of my colleagues told me early on that SAS students are definitely an “it’s cool to be smart” student body. What a nice change that is for me.
My average-sized class - 12 students! We max out at 18 but so far I have no classes larger than 14 students....Note the MacBooks for every student...
Perhaps the best part of the whole deal so far is Cokie’ education. His classes are about 18:1, higher than what I thought going in to it, but there are still tons of support and pull-outs for students with special needs and deficits. We are still not sure what Cokie’s needs are with the new program, but I am sure he will be very well cared for here. And perhaps the best thing for me is that I can drop by his class during my breaks because it is “just down the hall”, so to speak. And he can run up to my class if he needs anything or wants to take the same bus as me to go home (we are all bused in from our zone to the school – about 20km each way). Or he can take an earlier bus if he likes. I really love being this close to my son. There is no price tag on this.
While I am sure that I am still in a state of euphoria, and there will be lots of ups and downs in the coming weeks and months, I honestly feel that we have made a very positive move. Whether what we have gained surpasses what we have given up, time has yet to tell, but I at least feel that our move is a positive change and one that I see my family grasping with intensity and enjoyment, and that makes me happy.
Cokie and some new buds celebrating his 8th birthday in Shanghai!
Getting some help arriving at our new pad in Pudong's Jinqiao!
Please check our our Pbase Galleries for more images of Shanghai!
