it’s the little things

I won’t lie.  Being an expat can be hard.   I know, woe is me… right?  But really.

Getting around can be a challenge… usually the cab drivers can understand me, or where I am heading has a ‘taxi card’ in my iPhone application, but sometimes, my Chinese is faltering and they don’t understand me.  This happened once- wanted to go to the train station and ended up at some university… problem cause I told him I wanted to go to the “flower station”, hua- third tone is ‘fire’ – first tone – ‘flower’.  Sometimes, I just want to get in a cab and use English.  On the metro- they shove and push and don’t say ‘sorry or excuse me’ when they shoulder check you.  Shanghai people DO NOT know metro etiquette.. meaning: If you are standing in the door way, get off, let people exit, then come back onto the train.  Don’t just stand there and look annoyed when people run into you. Shoving your way onto the metro in the AM will not make you get to work faster- it holds up the whole train when they can’t close the doors!

Shopping.  Grocery shopping is the other tough one. I know, I could go native and learn to cook chinese (I have tofu stir fry down PAT), but sometimes you want some home cooked western food.  Then you have to hit every Western grocery store looking for ricotta cheese to make lasagna… not to mention it’s ghastly pricey to buy dairy for some reason…. and then you see something in the store and you are like “I HAVE to have that” and get it.. knowing full well you are about to pay $10 USD for a jar of pizza sauce, but you realize you haven’t made your own pizza in 6 months and all of a sudden are dying to have one… along with the Betty Crocker chocolate chip oatmeal cookie mix that found it’s way into your basket.

But then, you stumble upon something that makes your day, and you smile, and realize you can probably make it another day, lugging your groceries home in the taxi… like the Cadbury Creme egg that also ended up in your basket that is now sitting in your fridge, waiting patiently for Easter so you can enjoy  a little bit of home.  But I won’t eat it on the metro.