上海

Shanghai 

 The year of preparation had led up to this. The mandarin I attempted learning, the unfamiliar customs I tried to grasp, and the luxuries I would no longer have. I left for 3 months in China. Working in Shanghai. Immersing myself in a culture I didn’t belong to.

A L I E N    外侨         foreigner           外国人

The first morsel of food left me unsettled. I panicked wondering how I would eat. What was I eating? I could feel the oils in each bite clinging to my esophagus sliding its way down making me slowly gag.

My first day, I walked through Shanghai, my face masked by my umbrella. I hunched over hiding my height; my foreign features attracting too much unwanted attention.

The staring never stopped. Blank faces on me, scanning up and down, looking fixedly at my face. Chinese words being yelled, at who, in every direction. I’ve never seen so many people in one place. Constant shoving. People everywhere and I stand out immediately.

I wave a cab down. Sitting in the backseat, I lean forward to show him my address card. My mangled Chinese can’t even say the place that is supposed to be closest to me, my home. 

At home, I lie in my bed in a daze of confusion. I have no distractions in China. The TV is filled with game shows or period dramas all in Chinese making no sense to me. The Internet moving like molasses with my favorite websites, tumblr, Facebook, even Gmail, all blocked by the China sensors.  I panic wondering how I’ll survive the upcoming months. 

I enter back into center of city once again at night. The dark sky hides people’s stares and it’s easier to blend in. 

Pink, orange, and blue 
neon lights flash. 


The old city filled thousands of years of culture, custom, and tradition disappears. A different side of Shanghai emerges.