So, in order to buy myself more time here in China to find another job and still get by, I have moved 3 times within my 3 months of living here. Thanks to an expat friend of mine who is married to a local Shanghainese - I found very cheap rent while still central, but here’s the catch: I live with retired elderly Shanghainese, share a kitchen and a bathroom with 5 other people, and can’t walk in my studio apartment. And I love it.
Not only that, but events have happened upon living there as the first and only foreigner that lives there - it’s been more of an adjustment for these poor elderly Shanghainese than it has been for me moving in. There are times where they look at me like they can’t believe I am living with them. The building is very very old - has 3 apartment rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom with only a hallway connecting everything (no living room). My room is by far the smallest, the other two are considerably bigger but they also hold more people. One has a Grandpa, Grandma, and their son while the 3rd room has another elderly woman.
The first 24 hours that I was in the Apartment, after cleaning all day and arguing with the leasing manager that the fridge (that was RANK) and the ancient washing machine (which I knew was going to break) needed to be replaced, I was getting ready to go out. It was 8 pm, Friday night, and I had some steam to let out with friends so I was going from my room, to the kitchen, then took a shower… only to learn that the door to my studio locks automatically when I close it~ and my keys and phone conveniently inside. Soaked in my towel I start thinking of all my options without having to go the only person available at the time - the Grandpa in the kitchen. If you were a fly on the wall - you could have seen the gears in my brain cranking lol. I even considered climbing out the bathroom window to mine (right next to it) but my faith in Chinese building construction wasn’t enough to take the risk, so I turned around and as conservatively as possible in my towel went to the Grandpa explaining the situation and the fact that I had no idea how to deal with this situation in China because it had never happened to me - much less late on a Friday night.
Modesty and saving face go hand in hand in China - I had known these people less than 24 hours and still hadn't moved beyond the spectacle category in their minds, but I speak Chinese (which if I didn’t it would be impossible to live here). I could tell that in those initial moments the Grandpa was thinking ‘I want to help you but I don’t know if I should be looking at you and I also can’t believe this foreigner is living here and I don’t know you but you are in a towel in front of me so I am just going to look off into the distance) In the midst of our conversation - everyone who had been listening to us from the other side of their doors came out…. so NOW there was me in the middle of all of these elderly Chinese in the small hallway on a Friday trying to solve this fabulous situation I had gotten myself into… Grandpa left and came back with a phone number that he called and had the Grandma explain to me (so he didn’t have to look at me) that it would be expensive and take a while for them to get here but that it could be done. Sooo… now we are all waiting in the hallway and I can tell that I have been providing the most entertainment for these elderly Shanghainese that they had seen in a while. While waiting, the Grandma told me to hide in the bathroom when the service men arrive to unlock my room, I asked why, and she explained that “If they only see us old people, we will be charged the minimum but if they see you (white face) you will be charged a LOT) so when they arrived, she shooed me into the bathroom and my room was unlocked for only 50 kuai (7USD) - a DROP in the bucket. I got in, paid them back and thanked them profusely.
I honestly don’t want to know what story I would be writing now if I didn’t have that community….
