Meg's Life in a Blog

JEWISH SHANGHAI - A SLICE OF HISTORY

The half-day “Tour of Jewish Shanghai” with our guide, the filmmaker and journalist Dvir Bar-Gal, must be one of the best of Shanghai’s walking tours for English-speaking tourists. I thank Marleen for inviting me on this 5-hour fascinating tour.

This tour really made an impact on me and I’m not even Jewish. I can only imagine the emotional impact on our Jewish participants.

This Swedish gentleman of Austrian descent (beside Dvir) was one of the Austrian Jews who came in 1939 as a 1 year-old and lived in Shanghai for six years. Retracing his roots upon his retirement – what a privilege.

HERE I AM, (ALMOST) A DOMESTIC DIVA

In Manila, everyone’s riveted to the news on the impeachment trial of our Chief Justice.

But here in Shanghai, my main concern is my fidelity to my domestic duties.

My friends know I could never be defined as a domestic diva. I can’t cook, I don’t know how to use a dishwasher, and I’m clumsy with scotch tape.

BUT.

Living in Shanghai is changing me, one domestic chore at a time.

SMS SHANGHAI-LISH

Why it’s easier to read their SMS than to figure out politics

A lot of people ask me how it’s like living in Shanghai with the recent tension between my country and China over the Scarborough Shoal.

I’m not the right person to ask, since I don’t have the opportunity to mix with influential Chinese. The only Chinese I interact with are:

BILLBOARD REGULARITY ON THE ROAD TO NANJING

We traveled west over 300 km to the city of Nanjing (formerly Nanking) on Friday, April 20. It was the end of our 8th week in Shanghai / our 3rd in our own apartment. Time for a break!

SAMPLE NEWS

A sampling of the major news articles in Shanghai will give you an idea of what’s going on here. I put these newsbits together based on two English-language daily newspapers here: the China Daily (RMB 1.50 or US$0.25) and the 16-page Shanghai Daily (RMB 2 or US$0.32).