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Hey Folks!

Well after a week of hot sticky weather accompanied by rain which doesen’t really cool you off the summer is officially here. Basically it is now extremely hot and sticky (36 degrees!) but without the rain. I had the office AC cranked down to 22 degrees and on full fan to make it bearable.

I must say that one of the most difficult part of these types of hot sticky days is getting home from work. Now I have about a 10 minute walk from the my office to the nearest subway station. The first 3 minutes are fine as I am still in the building, but once I step outside I get slapped in the face with a hot humid cloud of air. The air is so thick it is as if I can take a handful and put it in my pocket.

Baby in Shanghai in Summer outfit

At 18:00 90% of all working class people in Shanghai are on their way home from work. We are talking a good few million here, who at the same time occupying Shanghai’s public transportation vehicles including buses, taxis, motorcycle-taxis and especially the subway. I used to try to take taxis home which are usually fast and affordable, but during shanghai rush hour you are very very lucky if you find a vacant taxi and even if you are that lucky you will find yourself sitting in horrible traffic all the way home. The only advantage is that you have a secured seat, air conditioning, peace and quiet and can open a window at your leisure unlike as you will read below – the subway.

As I have given up on even trying to catch a cab on the way home, I usually head straight for the nearest subway station. Now let me tell you the Shanghai subway system is one of the best I’ve seen. It is clean, fast and efficient all except for one problem – too many people! On the way to the subway station its extremely crowded, as you get in to the subway station it becomes even more crowded as people get in line to cross the gates. Now, due to the Expo there are security systems that scan all bags at the entrance to every station so you can imagine how that backs everything up.

Subway security Check

Once you get past the security check and the gates you go down the escalator/stairs to the boarding platforms. If you are lucky the people are all lined up according to first come first serve to board the subway. If not its a first come first serve brawl to see who will make it on to the next car including pushing shoving and yelling. I must say that it has become more and more organized, only sometimes you have to wait 3-4 cars before you get on.

Lining up to get on the subway in Shanghai

Once you get on, if its rush hour, most likely you will find yourself standing very intimately with your fellow subway -carmates. Often on one side you will have a smelly armpit and on the other someone who smells of alchohol yelling on their cellphone. I do my best to get pressed up against the door or the wall in the back. I never imagined I could learn to appreciate being pressed up against the wall of a subway car.

Crowded subway car

Now many people have to transfer at “People’s Square” station, the main hub station of the Shanghai subway. Walking through this station during rush hour is a great way to feel the power of the masses in China. Believe me, you have never seen so many people in one place at one time. There are many arrows guiding you to the place you need to get to but you must walk “with” the the people, meaning in the same direction at the same pace. It is very difficult to pass people by and even more difficult to walk against the flow.

 Once I get to my destination I have a regular motorcycle-taxi guy whom I call one I reach the station and then waits for me at the entrance. He cuts past all the traffic and makes what a 20 minute drive in a taxi would be into a 4-5 minute drive. Although he drives like a maniac it costs me only $1.5 and saves me lots of time.

Motorcycle taxi in Shanghai

This ritual takes me around an hour every day and has become more difficult with summer but its what I have to do to get home every day. With the extremely high population of 20-30 million people in Shanghai one can see how getting from one place to another can be difficult here. Considering those circumstances though I think that they are doing a great job in making things as efficient as possible.

Till next time…

Thanks to May holiday I was lucky enough to have a long weekend starting from Friday and ending on Monday, back to work on Tuesday. We were invited to spend the weekend with our friends, an Israeli couple who live in Suzhou. They live at a beautiful complex called ” Join in the Grand” next door to the Suzhou Crown Plaza.

We spent Friday touring by ourselves. We went to the old city and walked around. The old city runs along a long canal and consists of many little alleyways with small shops. Near the entrance it was full of tourists, mostly Chinese, but as we ventured deeper and deeper it became more and more like the true old towns of China.

From there we went to the Suzhou museum and walked up and down the museum walking street. From there we had a late lunch at TGI Fridays and called it a day.

I discovered the true beauty of Suzhou the next day when we went for a walk along the lake. The Chinese have come up with some genius ideas and making this lake is deffinately one of them. After the erection of the SIP – the Suzhou Industrial Park, where many well knows companies, mostly hi-tech, built factories and facilities, many engineers from China and abroad moved to Suzhou. This brought a lot of money into the city which was invested wisely by the local government in many things one of them being this lake.

The lake is surrounded by bridges, boardwalks and restaurants and is extremely pleasant for day or evening walks. When it gets dark all the surroundings of the lake are lit up by different color neon lights and it is a beautiful sight.

Every night on weekends at 8 and 9 pm sharp  there is a 30 minute public fountain show with music, fire and fireworks. Here’s a short video:

Suzhou Public Water fountain Show

 This show was unbelievable and makes the Las Vegas fountain shows seem amateur. Even more amazing were the crowds that gather and push and shove to get a closer view of the show. Moreover, they all feel it necessary to record the entire show on their cellphones.

Besides the face that our Jonathan wasn’t to keen on sleeping anywhere out of his bed in Shanghai and therefore didn’t let us get much shuteye, we enjoyed Suzhou very much. If I could choose where I wanted to live in China, Suzhou would be one of my top picks. It is by far one of China’s most beautiful cities.

Hello Friends,

I know that lately I have not been very loyal to you my readers but I promase that will change. For those who did not know I returned home for a period that was meant to be a month but turned into 3. My son Jonathan was born on August 30th, 2009. That was over 3 months ago but of course everything has changed since then. I am now a daddy.

Baby Jonathan

About 6 weeks ago I left my wife  Shlomit and Jonathan at her parents house in Jerusalem and came back to Shanghai by myself to get back to work here in Shanghai and prepare the appartment for their arrival. About 10 days ago they joined me here and we have officially, as a family, moved to Shanghai.

Happy Family

Shlomit has been settling in here and spent most of her time taking care of Jonathan, decorating the appartment and searching for her future employment. We have also began the tedious search for the perfect “Ayi” (nanny in Chinese) who will be qualified to take care of our precious son.

Regarding my Mandarin skills, they have undoubtfully improved. However I am starting to realize that it may not be enough and have slowly begun making effort to learn the local dialect – Shanghainese otherwise known as “Shanghai hua”.

More to come.

Hello friends and followers. I know my updates aren’t as frequent as before but I’ve been very busy as you will read.

Recently much has happened. As you know I’ve been working in Shanghai for a few weeks now. The job includes sales, management and frequent traveling around China. Since I began work I’ve been to Hangzhou, Wuxi and Chengdu on business. On one hand this can be weary but on the other much more interesting than just sitting in an office all day.

fast train to pudong airport

On my last trip I was in Chengdu which I really enjoyed. Of course I didn’t have much of a chance to see the city as I was busy with work, but I found the people to be very friendly and the food was phenomenal.  We went out for dinner to an excellent restaurant well known for its “Ma Po Dou Fu”. This is an excellent dish which has cubes of tofu in a red slightly spicy sauce.

ma po dofu

Since I lived in Changsha for 6 months I’m already relatively accustomed to spicy food. Sichuan is also known for its spicy food only they use a spice called “麻辣 – Ma La” (numbing spice). This spice when eaten instead of burning your mouth – numbs it. The first bite is kind of strange, it reminded me of when I was young and used to eat that candy that pops in your mouth, but once you get used to it its very tasty.

From Chengdu I boarded a flight to Changsha, my old home town. I was invited by the Hunan TV station to participate in the opening ceremony of this year’s Chinese Bridge competition. For those who don’t know I participated in this competition last year and received a 6 month scholarship for Chinese studies in China. I was invited to sing (or more like rap) a Chinese song along with another former contestant and a famous Chinese boys band of four guys called 至上励合 (Zhi Shang Li He).

Dave in the 8th Chinese Bridge opening ceremony of the 8th Chinese Bridge on Chinese Hunan TV Rapping with Chinese boy band 至上励合 (Zhi Shang Li He):

Hey guys, untill I get the site up and running I’ll give you all updates on my status. Three days ago I landed in Shanghai with my wife and we settled in. Immediately the next day I started work here at Bashari Diamonds. I hope to settle in as fast as possible and to quickly become a successful diamond dealer.

Shanghai is nothing like Changsha. This is a massive, modern and overpopulated city, Shanghai is said to have a population of around 20 million people. Unlike Changsha’s oily and spicy food Shanghai’s is sticky and sweet. Most important of all the language is something else entirely. Of course 99% of the people speak Mandarin when neccessary but amongst themselves the people of Shanghai speak Shanghainese.

Last night was Shlomit’s birthday so we went out for pizza and salsa dancing. I was amazed, this city has everything! The pizza was great compared to previous pizza I’ve had in China and the Salsa Bar was really nice too. It wasn’t the biggest but it had a great hardwood floor, good music, draft beer and some really good dancers. We had a very nice evening and hope to have more like these in the future.

So far although I’ve been working quite a bit, Shanghai seems great. I’m expecting that things will get even better with my son on the way and am looking forward to living here.

Keep you posted…

Fellow Chinese learners,

Welcome to the first post of learntospekmandarinchinese.com!

I’ve established this site for two main reasons. First to provide resources and material for those of you who are like me and have taken an interest in the Chinese language for whatever reason it may be. Second, to provide you with insight on life in China and the Chinese culture from what I have learned through my own experiences.

A little about me: I personally studied Chinese for 3 years in a University in Israel. In my third year I was invited to participate in the Chinese Bridge competition held in China where I received a 6 month scholarship to study Chinese in Hunan province where I am now. Next week I am moving to Shanghai where I will begin work with an international sales company.

I plan to provide you, my readers with info on learning Chinese, Living in China, Studying in China or any other related subjects. If possible I will post short Mandarin Lessons for you to enrich your vocabulary.

If this site feels like its right up your alley, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed so that you can see when I’ve posted anything new. You can also subscribe by email and the new post will be sent right to your email box – promise you I don’t spam.

Also feel free to make comments or ask questions about any posts, I will do my best to get back to you ASAP.

Hope to see you here again!