Friends in the City

Yesterday we met Lovisa and her kids at People's Park, smack dab in the middle of Shanghai. It's a beautiful but small respite from the intense city. The kids had a ball catching tadpoles from the lagoon, while we nervously hovered. Luckily, no one fell in. As we watched the kids watching the tadpoles, we acquired a group of Chinese admirers watching all of us. Apparently, the park is usually pretty empty on a Monday, but as Monday was a national holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day), but park was packed. Tomb Sweeping Day is a huge holiday in China and nearly everyone has the day off of work in order to tend to their loved ones burial sites. People will literally sweep the gravesites or clean them in whatever way necessary and pay their respects to those that have passed. And then, the rest of the day they take off for leisure. Many of those people ended up at People's Park. It was perhaps the wrong day to go, but we had fun nonetheless.

The park also features amusement park rides, and it seems like most in Shanghai do. Elle, Emmi and Max had a ball riding roller coasters, carousel's, bumper cars and flying planes. We then parked ourselves on the grass for some bubble blowing and sword fighting (a good counter to our Barbie overload the following day). While we were sitting there I commented to Lovisa about how I had to pay almost $40 for a package of diapers! She said, yes, they were insanely priced here and mostly just foreigners use them. I asked- well what do the Chinese use, cloth? She said, no, nothing! After the first month or two, most Chinese parents (except the very upper class) use no diapers at all and no cloth. As I looked around, I noticed that nearly every single child around me was wearing split pants. She said they literally go wherever and whenever. She often sees people holding their toddler over a garbage can on the street. All the babies around me were walking around with their bums and privates exposed! It was incredible.

She also told me more about her volunteer experiences at an orphanage (I am hoping to visit sometime), telling me some incredibly sad stories about the babies that are abandoned and about the sheer numbers of children that need helped. It's overwhelming. Even children whose parents do want them are often raised by grandparents as the parents seek work in the cities. And visits to see their own children are sometimes possible just once a year or so. I'm not sure which is worse, toddler boarding school or never seeing your children... both seem impossibly harsh.

I asked about how breastfeeding in public is viewed, since on occasion I've had to do just that. She said that most foreigners do it and no one seems to mind, but the Chinese never do it. She said that China is so behind us in this way that formula is still seen as "modern and progressive".

Too bad the baby milk here can't be trusted, along with so many other things. It's scary to think about how many scandals have rocked Chinese products in recent years. Baby formula and cow's milk have both been tainted and resulted in deaths and sicknesses. Recently, vaccinations were given to children and adolescents that had gone bad. More people died. Baby toys were recalled because of poisonous paint. Children's jewelry recalled because of hazardous paints and metals. The list is endless. Cutting corners and jeopardizing lives to make more money is part of business here. I literally feel suspicious of all the products. Yes, they are cheap.. but....

I do love Shanghai though, it's truly an amazing city. The building and infrastructure is incredible, there is a saying that Shanghai requires so many cranes that there is shortage in all the rest of Asia.

If only they could get this pollution under control (and their taxi's). The pollution here is the equivalent of smoking 6 cigarettes a day. And people that have never smoked, often end up with lungs that are blackened by pollution. Today is one of the many sunny but smoggy days. You can tell the sun is out, but you can't really see it because of the smog. Lovisa's husband works in a highrise and he says often from his floor he looks up and sees the sun and blue skies, he looks down and sees only smog. It's really gross.

After the park, we walked to the Copy Market. Lovisa took me to the good stalls to see the good fakes. We asked to see the "good stuff" and were taken to a secret room and then behind that an empty room and then behind that another. This housed the knock off Prada's, LV's, and Gucci's. All other brands were housed out in the open, but because of lawsuits, these 3 brands are hidden away. Apparently with the upcoming Expo, most of the "good" stuff has been put away, so afraid they are of a crackdown. I didn't end up buying anything, but I was tempted by a pair of Louboutin heels!

Later, we headed to Justin's friends house. He and his wife hosted the four of us and another couple for dinner. We had a fabulous time with friends, so nice after all this time on the road. Shanghai has been a real treat for us. A more relaxed pace but in a cosmopolitan city experiencing explosive growth, surrounded by loving and helpful friends.