Marie in Shanghai

Going abroad teaches you to value small things. Food, for example. Don´t get me wrong, Chinese food is delicious and I really enjoy eating it, but unfortunately it lacks the variety of flavors we know in Germany. At least in my opinion. Chinese food usually consists of rice (of course), some kind of vegetable (Chinese seem to love onions and broccoli) and meat. A lot of things are fried and usually nothing is eaten raw. After 5 weeks of Chinese food I longed for something new, or let´s say a little less Chinese: the crunchiness of a freshly baked "Sonnenblumenkernbrötchen" (roll with sunflower seeds), the creaminess of a slice of cheese, the fresh, juicy taste of uncooked vegetables. All of the things that seem usual and normal back in Germany, but have an extremely tempting sound over here. So this week, it was time for me to make a culinary dream come true and visit the German bakery "Abendbrot" in the financial district of Shanghai.

What can I say? Seeing all those delicious baked German masterpieces filled me with happiness as I never thought they could. I could already tell the crunchy crust of the rolls by just looking at them, the "Brezeln" (soft pretzels) were formed to perfection, and the "Berliner" (a deep-fried German dessert) looked sweet and juicy. Next to the mall the German bakery is in, there is a small Western supermarket, where I found delicious Gouda cheese, salad and dressing alongside a lot of other German delicacies like chocolate, cereals and all kinds of other things. Everything there still had a German label, but also had a Chinese sticker with the ingredients, so Chinese customers (I didn´t see any) would know what they are.

After buying everything I had missed the last 5 weeks, my friend Mareike and I prepared a feast. In Germany, it would have been considered a simple, everyday dinner, but for us it was a meal made in paradise.

You might be able to tell how excited I still am about this great dinner, but after all one thing is true: Even on the other side of the world, food is the one thing that will always make you feel at home.

Last Sunday was St. Patrick´s Day and I went to an Irish Pub with two of my German friends. What a great night! It was pouring, but yet pretty warm and there was a huge tent with a stage and live music. The audience almost exclusively consisted of Westerners and it was great to finally be around a lot of tall, light-haired people again. We had a great night with good European beer, dancing and a lot of laughs.

An interesting fact about Shanghai metro: Although Shanghai is such a huge city, the metro closes at 10:30 pm! If you want to stay out later than that, there´s no other choice but to take a cab. Taking a cab is quite an adventure for itself, though. First thing I learned: seat belts are overrated. Although every cab has them, they mostly don´t work and serve more of a decorating purpose than actually ensuring the customer´s safety. Also, Chinese traffic is crazy. Almost everyone seems to be convinced that honking as much as they can will solve traffic jams and make other cars move faster. Well, of course it doesn´t, but it still seems to give the drivers some kind of satisfaction, otherwise they wouldn´t be doing it. Honking also serves the purpose of warning pedestrians of the approaching vehicle. Whenever you´re crossing the street, cars honk at you. As a Western person you´re lucky: they will even slow down when driving towards you. For Asians? Not so much. Also, there seems to be one simple rule about motor scooters and bikes: they´re allowed to drive all the time. No matter if the traffic light is red or green, if there are pedestrians or if there are cars that want to turn. Scooters and bikes rule the street. For pedestrians there´s only one thing to be aware of: Don´t trust crosswalks, they´re considered street decoration.

So much for this week. If you happen to enjoy German baked goods, cheese or a yummy salad maybe spare a thought for me.

Until next Sunday,

Marie