Reacclimating

Tonight I went to meet my friend Annette and one of her colleagues from the Chinese Mutual Aid Association. I volunteered there for almost 6 months before I came to China. We caught up over iced chai and coffee and stayed until the coffee shop closed. Annette has been a faithful reader (and commenter) on my blog and has recommended it to other people as I found out.

As I rode the El home I thought about the questions I’ve been asked over the last couple of weeks. What do you miss? What do you notice about Chicago when you’ve come back? What have you been eating? I thought I’d take a break from my travel blog (Chongqing and the Yangtze Cruise) and answer some of them here.

The first thing I noticed when I got out of the airport was the blue sky. I didn’t realize the true amount of pollution in Shanghai until I came back. The sky is blue here, the water is blue or green depending on its mood and puffy clouds float above.

I love being able to drink the water from the tap, to eat raw salads and fresh fruit without peeling it. Mexican food here is awesome – I’ve had guacamole three times already in the last 3 weeks and bread is so good. Sandwiches, cheese, pasta – are cravings that I haven’t had in a long time. Desserts are too sweet, I got used to eating fruit or nothing for dessert and now when I try to eat cake or cookies or muffins it is too much. Prices seem so high, I miss the lady on my street where I could buy lunch for 10 RMB ($1.50) with rice, meat, tons of veggies and all fresh and good.

I’ve enjoyed riding the bus over the last couple of weeks – buses always intimidated me in Shanghai. But, Shanghai’s subway is head and shoulders above the El here. Maybe when they finish the brown line/red line work it will improve. I hope. Driving is fun – the streets are so much more orderly than China. People follow traffic laws and wait for pedestrians. My little car is happy to see me and just passed its emission test this week, so it’s good to go for another two years.

My condo seems so luxurious. I have so much stuff! I’ve been sorting and recycling and tossing things while the mood holds. My brother was a great caretaker. Cooking and cleaning and being domestic have taken up a lot of my time since I’ve come back from DC. Hearing Spanish all over and being able to understand it and having conversations with everyone here in English is so much fun. I am talking everyone’s ears off – my doormen, the garage guys, my dry cleaners, the guy who sells me newspapers in the morning….

Above are a couple of pictures of my apartment here so you can make the comparison yourself.

Question – What do you notice about your place when you come back from a trip?

Cheers!