Cultural immersion can be a walk in the park
“Mom, I’m bored.” This is a common refrain in our household, even in Shanghai. Fortunately, I hear these dreaded words less in Shanghai than back home in Evanston, Illinois . Here in Shanghai, we are lucky to have a variety of bored-be-gone methods to get us through long, plan-free weekend afternoons.
On a recent Saturday, right before Spring Fesival, we were sitting around trying to decide what we should do. Rather than continue to debate options and destinations, we all committed to getting up and out and went for a walk. We live near Zhongshan Park and it is the most fantastic neighborhood for families; the park is our backyard, and we play in it often. We walked just east of the park entrance on Changning Lu and went north into the neighborhood streets that run adjacent to the park.
Oxen and Sparklers and Scrolls—Oh My!
We saw vendors selling decorations for the New Year holiday and picked up a couple of cheap red and ox-themed items for the kids’ rooms–less than RMB10 and it fed the ever-present need of children to procure stuff. Walking along, we saw people selling firecrackers and stopped at one stand to talk to the woman in charge. She assured me that these were small-time firecrackers and sparklers. I didn’t know. I said I was scared; she laughed at me and said it was fine. It’s empowering to have just the barest of Mandarin skills. I can muddle through most purchases in Mandarin, and just having a casual chat provides opportunities for all four of us to practice our Chinese.
We continued on and found an antique store with a large pot full of what we decided were ancient scrolls. In the same store we saw hardback English language books that were dusty and crumbling from age. The site of familiar titles like “Tom Sawyer” mixed in with a few random novels excited us almost as much as the antique-looking Chinese items.
To Market, To Market… to Buy a Bull Frog?
We walked past produce laid out on the ground and tried to remember the Chinese names for the fruits and vegetables. We took pictures of interesting things like the giant bag of red peppers next to the huge mound of ginger root. We stopped at one stand and the kids were offered samples of freshly baked cakes. They looked like corn bread muffins, but were lighter and sweeter. We bought a generous bag full for RMB7 and when Emily went behind the table to do her all-too-common (and usually well received) “hug a stranger” maneuver on the woman selling the treats, we took a picture. Finally we made it to the highlight of the tour–the live food street. I had just read an article about bird flu and China, but I tucked my fears away—we weren’t going to kiss the chickens—and we continued down the street. We saw eels in buckets, shrimp, bullfrogs (those still freak me out a little) and chickens. I have mixed emotions seeing all these animals available for consumption, but it’s part of the culture and it teaches us how most of the world gets their dinner. Talk about eating locally. This is about as local as you can get.
Zhongshan’s Public Green and Hidden Pathways
We made our way back to our apartment, walking along the paths and over the bridges of Zhongshan Park. We met an older couple who were eager to talk to us. We exchanged a few sentences, but mostly lots of smiles. The smile can save you from the awkward realization that your Chinese is not that good OR that the person is speaking Shanghainese and you can’t understand anything.
And so the afternoon went. A great exploration, a few kuai spent and more memories created. A good old-fashioned, TV-free, almost retail-free family activity. The best part came a few days later when Nathan asked if we could go back and do more exploring because we hadn’t seen everything there was to see. Of course we hadn’t. There’s always more to see.
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