I’ve been on a huge China kick the last couple of weeks – I’ve finally started getting groceries online from YiHaoDian (an online Wal-Mart/Amazon hybrid where I can buy puppy food, sparkling water, and a Kindle all in one go), ordering lunch through ele.me and meituan then giving virtual Red Packets of ele.me cash on WeChat (oh man, it does feel like I’m speaking a foreign language). I’ve been biking every day to work on a Mobike (well, that’s because of the scooter ban that just hit Shanghai, though I’m sure that’s temporary). I’m back in Chinese classes. I may even take the HSK 4 in June!
And so, I feel like I am steamrolling through being in China, but at the same time, asking myself why it took so long to get to this point. I feel like expats like me sometimes make life here so hard, by refusing to really acclimate to China. I still insist on bringing things like Ibuprofen or Cetaphil face wash from the States, but if I had bothered to look up the generic names, I’m sure I could find it all in China (after all, everything’s made in China, isn’t it?)
To be fair, I still don’t know how to use TaoBao or AliPay, but once I get those two accounts connected that’s where all of my money will go (instead of where it goes now – buying artisanal sparkling water on YHD).
So what am I doing in all of this? I don’t have a good answer, but this is making me feel better about being an expat here in Shanghai and for now that is enough.
Ahh! I’m throwing in an announcement here.. this is officially my 185th post and I’ve been on wordpress.com for over two years. Over the next month, i’ll be transitioning this website to wordpress.org – a self-hosted wordpress site. After all, I’m a web developer by day, and I feel like my street cred (is there such a thing as developer street cred? how do I get more) is way in the dumps because I’ve been to lazy to transfer this to my server.
I don’t think any of the subscription features will change and I’ll work really hard to make sure that this is as seamless of an experience for everyone who reads this as possible, though there may be a few hiccups along the way! Hope you guys will continue following me and supporting me through this new beginning!
[…] My refrigerator is packed to the brim with arugula, kalamata olives, and swiss cheese. When my parents stored leftover borsch in my refrigerator at home, I was mortified. Should I be mortified now because my refrigerator doesn’t have lajiang or fermented lotus root? If I put soy milk in my latte, does that make me Chinese? […]