Good bye, 文化花园！
My generous host, who has let me use her apartment lo these many months, has returned to Shanghai. I'm shifting my center of gravity westward to a newly developed area on the recently opened metro line 13, where I'll be living with my friend X. A new adventure! I'm quite looking forward to scoping out this new neighborhood, testing - consciously and unconsciously - what I think I've learned about how a Chinese city works; X has a bike at the ready for me to use! Though the rental complex near Qilianshannanlu 祁连山南路 is less posh than the slightly faded charm of where I've been saying near Jiangwanzhen 江湾镇, you might even say I'm moving up in the world: after 8 months on a 5th, my final 6 weeks will be on the 10th! I'll still be heading to the Fudan area most days - I suppose it marks me as a Shanghaier that the hour's commute (with two changes) doesn't faze me at all, or is that just New York shining through? (Btw, bought my tic: return to NYC July 1.)
My generous host, who has let me use her apartment lo these many months, has returned to Shanghai. I'm shifting my center of gravity westward to a newly developed area on the recently opened metro line 13, where I'll be living with my friend X. A new adventure! I'm quite looking forward to scoping out this new neighborhood, testing - consciously and unconsciously - what I think I've learned about how a Chinese city works; X has a bike at the ready for me to use! Though the rental complex near Qilianshannanlu 祁连山南路 is less posh than the slightly faded charm of where I've been saying near Jiangwanzhen 江湾镇, you might even say I'm moving up in the world: after 8 months on a 5th, my final 6 weeks will be on the 10th! I'll still be heading to the Fudan area most days - I suppose it marks me as a Shanghaier that the hour's commute (with two changes) doesn't faze me at all, or is that just New York shining through? (Btw, bought my tic: return to NYC July 1.)
