The passing of time never slows or speeds up, but it’s always our perception that changes. Looking back on the last year or so, I would say it felt like a fast year, because our family was constantly doing something to adjust to our new life in Shanghai. For the first 6 months of living in Shanghai, I was on “high alert” at all times. It was a half a year of freak-outs, confusion, and making unfamiliar decisions. For someone who likes to know where she is, what she is doing and where she is going, I was uncomfortably adapting to the feeling of being perpetually lost in this city Shanghai.
At the same time, nothing we experienced was out of our realm of ability. There was always a way (in China especially) to get things done, and somehow, we got things done. Language is certainly an obstacle, because I can’t read any of the mail we get, nor can I read a contract for my iPhone. Shrug – I just cross my fingers and hope for the best, because I have no idea what get ourselves into sometimes.
When the water pipe in our laundry room burst and water was spewing out like a horizontal fire hydrant, of course I freaked out big time. I did not even know how to turn off the water valve, and Wage wasn’t home. Where is Roto Rooter when you need him? After making 2 desperate calls, using my broken Mandarin, we somehow got a plumber to come to our home at night, within an hour of the pipe burst. Not only did he stop the water, patch up the pipe, he came back the next day and completely replaced the old water pipe. How much did this emergency plumbing cost us? $20USD.
January 2011 to January 2012 was an event-filled year. It went by quickly.
On the other hand, this past year has removed us from all that has been familiar to us for years. Family, Metro, friends, shopping at Trader Joe’s, driving my own car, going into NYC for coffee. The departure from these familiar things has make the year a slow one. Never have I felt so many simultaneous voids in my life. Sure, I can try to fill up those voids, but I’m not in a big rush to do so.
Before we moved out here, my parents asked me, “what is plan B, if things end up not working out?” At that time, it didn’t make sense to me to have a plan B, because that meant that I needed a way out. Right now, neither Wage or I know what will happen in the next 2 years or beyond. Maybe we’ll stay in SH longer. Maybe we’ll move back to the States. Or another country.
Our year was an exciting one, though not because we live in Shanghai. It was an eventful year of living through major change and not regretting it.
Tags: living in shanghai
Grace, love your post. You are so adventurous and courageous. I am like you, I would love to move back to TW or China if we don’t have to worry about job,finance. I would go with all my 4 kids, just to experience different culture and be surrounded by my own people. Hopefully in the midst of everything, you are experiencing God more and more.