I’ve been in Shenzhen for over 24 hours now. Already, I have learned a lot. What is most interesting is the expectations I had and how they differ from reality. I thought it would be wilder than I thought. Of course, I am living in the most tame, wealthy, and western parts of the city. That is nice for easing into the real insanity of China. Some examples of my expectations: I had almost no trouble getting to Shenzhen on my own. First, Pavan gave me excellent directions which were completely accurate (except it’s two floors up the escalator instead of three to the ferry departures) and I was surprised at how much English there was. Most of it was quite rudimentary (way beyond my pitiful Chinese), but enough to get by. Another thing was I was warned by multiple people of the crazy driving. Well, it’s nothing worse than what I’ve seen in South America, in fact, it’s probably a little more tame. I like the driving in South America; it is much more “free” than the US. There are less rules and the drivers have to rely more on working together to get places than rules. I still think this works much better. One huge benefit is that I still haven’t seen anything close to the road rage in South America or China that we have in the US. And, Seattle is quite a mellow place compared to other places I’ve lived, so that’s saying something. The city is cleaner than I thought, but way more smoggy! I was warned of the smog, but it’s beyond what I was expecting! I imagine the brown cloud of Denver multiplied by about twenty! It’s fairly clear in the morning but a thick gray soup by the afternoon. I understand it’s much worse in summer.

I’m still suffering from lack of money, or the ability to change it. I’ve been working during business hours so I keep missing the opportunity to change money and easily buy stuff. Thankfully, I met a restaurant owner who speaks great English who accepts American dollars. I’m losing weight at this pace. No problem, I need to gain muscle now for rock climbing season.

I am excited to learn Chinese but the opening moves are very tough. For example, I can hardly go beyond greetings, salutations, and “thank you”s. When anyone tries anything else, I don’t get anything. Occasionally, I can pick up a word here and there, I reckon that’s something. But, the pronunciation is a killer. Right now, it’s almost impossible for me to tell the difference between “to go” and “to eat”; they both sound like weird variations of the word “chew”.

Here’s where I work. Nice view, but check out the smog:

Here are various shots of the immediate area that I live in. Hardly roughing it: