Finding our way in Shanghai

Contents:

1. Daniel and us and Shanghai.

2. My scouting expeditions.

3. The Day Patty and I Did Shanghai by Ourselves Without Daniel and We Had to Walk a Mile Out of Our Way in the Pouring Windy Rain.

1. Daniel spent many exhausting hours with us, going places he never goes, doing things he never does, going out on limbs that kept breaking off, to help us learn to go where we want to go and do what we want to do.

2. While Patty was at work, I practiced going some places where we might go together. Imagine trying to get on the right bus or metro line, and find out how much to pay, and get off at the right stop, and find the stores you're looking for, and buy stuff, without being able to understand what anyone says or read any of the signs!

3. Last Friday Daniel left to spend a week in Korla where Lillian is. She stayed there when Daniel and Patty and I came to Shanghai. Aeryn might be born this week, a week ahead of schedule. We're hoping and praying she comes while Daniel is still in Korla.

Saturday Patty and I went to Qibao Ancient City to buy a craft kit she saw there Friday. Then we ate lunch at McDonald's. That was pretty easy because I've had a lot of practice going to Qibao. It's just a five minute bus ride, after we take the shuttle that goes back and forth through the Olympic Garden apartments where we live, west of Shanghai.

Then we took metro line 9 in to Shanghai. Line 9 is a new line that hasn't connected yet with the other lines. It currently ends a mile or two from the nearest of the other lines. There's a bus that goes back and forth between the two lines, but for various reasons we decided to walk. We found a huge book store on the way, and decided to look for a phrase book and a book on the Wubi input method to help me use my Chinese <-> English electronic dictionary.

I knew enough about the electronic dictionary to look up "phrase book" in English and show someone the Chinese translation. He went away for a minute and came back with a book of idioms. I was wishing I had a phrase book. I said "Hello . . . Nihao" and "Goodbye . . . Zaijian," waving my arms back and forth. Then he understood, and took me to a section where I found the phrase book I was looking for.

About halfway to the other metro station, rain started pouring down and blowing all over the place. We ducked into a convenience store and bought a snack and a drink. After a while it let up a little and we went on. A block away from the metro station the road was closed for construction of guess what - the new metro line. We had to go about a mile out of our way on some side streets, in the wind and rain, to get to the station.

The rest was easy compared to that, although we did have a little bit of a scare when we couldn't agree on where to catch the bus back to Olympic Garden after we went to Carrefour. If we missed that bus we would have had to pay maybe 60 Yuan ($9) for a taxi. We finally did find the bus, though.