SHANGHAI DISPATCH 1

Arrived in Shanghai late at night, came into the center on an elevated road, we could look down into layers of Bladerunner landscapes lit by the strange Chinese neon. Somehow we found a quiet neighborhood, surrounded with trees, gated community, but two blocks to 6000 noodleshops, just walking the street is mind blowing. So many visual feasts, thousands an hour. Actually it seems less polluted than Buenos Aires and less traffic, it may just be this little neighborhood in this part of town. Haven't seen much of this city yet.

Got an apartment for 600$, very cool place, 6 rooms, marble floors, birdseye maple cabinets, windows, 5 floors up. No elevators -- nice as any place I have ever rented. Went through the maze and opened a bank account and reported to the police, as all foreigners must. To say Shanghai is booming is a wild under statement.

Have stumbled into some very good food, everything we have eaten has been 100 times better than any Chinese food back home. Went to this little street open air market nearby to buy a rug, and saw tubs of eels, and small turtles, and tubs of colorful fish to eat, and 10,000 other things I could not describe. People coming up on bikes to buy a bag of turtles for soup. Just wandering this neighborhood will take a lifetime.

We are fortunate we have a beautiful school in a less busy part of town. The students are beautiful, challenging, we will need every bit of wit we have to keep them interested and enthusiastic! They are amazing and bright and we are enjoying the humor and freshness and moment-to-moment challenges of doing this.

The typhoon missed our part of town, and has been downgraded to a tropical storm, blowing in some fresh air. Just walking down the street in the rain, we look at each other and know how lucky we are.