A night out in downtown Shanghai

A day In our life, a good life. Have you ever had a really great day, for me today was one of those days. It started with "a day with Habitat China" and ended with this 70's cruise on the Hongpu river in Shanghai.

 As you can see from the pictures, Shanghai really comes Alive at night ! And this was the best night in Shanghai since we have been here. A Perfectly clear sky (no visible signs of pollution or clouds), and a temperature in the mid 70's with no humidity. And we were partying on the "Captain 2" with a hundred of our closest friends; actually the largest chapter of the American's women's club in the world.

We had a great time listening to the good old songs of the 70's and sipping champagne, a good recipe for a nice evening. We did meet a few really nice couples and it was interesting to discover that most of them had lived in more countries than we had. But none could say that their family had Lived on all the continents except Anartica (we will leave that one to Tommy). Well I will leave you to enjoy the pictures and hopefully plan your trip to come and see Shanghai.

A day with Habitat for Humanity China

About a month ago, Catharine came home from here Expat luncheon all excited because there was a presentation from the Habitat for Humanity China team and she was able to bring me a contact.  Needless to say I was also very excited.

So I immediately, if not before, contacted the group and said that I would be excited to help the local group in whatever way I could.  Well I guess that I should have been a little more specific. AS it turns out, the majority of work here in Shanghai is painting.  Painting is the only thing that I refused to do at Habitat Detroit as I really don’t like painting.  But that was the need here so I excitedly accepted the position of house coordinator for the painting detail at the apartment of an elderly man in one of Shanghai’s suburbs.  Come to find out, the owner of the apartment was one of those that was severely affected by the “cultural revolution”  .  His parents were both well-educated professors at the time and they were executed as they were a threat to the “party”.  He was also a college graduate and was thrown in jail and stripped of his social status.  When the revolution finally ended he was freed but he was still without social status and was an enemy of the state so he to this day is still an outcast and it is difficult for him to get any kind of meaningful work.  So we were happy to help him renovate his meager apartment.  By the time we finished we were very proud of the “new look” as was he. 

So now for the “experience”.  Well since this is not my forte, I was a bit apprehensive about leading the job but I didn’t let on.  Our task was to paint two rooms of his apartment which doesn’t sound too daunting, but as I was soon to find out, we had our hands full.

To begin I gathered the group of 5 volunteers in the main room and asked: how many of you have painted before….no hands were raised, so I asked ok, how many of you have seen someone paint something, again, no hands were raised; I knew I had my work cut out for me.  So undaunted, I proceeded to be the instructor for painting 101.  I started with things like, when you use a paintbrush and when you use a roller, then how to put paint onto a brush or a roller, and then on to the sequence of painting a room.  So after about half an hour of instruction, we proceeded to start the work.  So after I thought I had explained everything, I asked one person in the group to put paint in one of the pails so that we could start painting the corners of the room and ceiling.  (first mistake) So he proceeded to fill the pail so full that you could not lift it then he dropped the paint brush into the pail and it disappeared into the paint (so much for my full instruction), I could not believe that these people really had no practical knowledge.  On the positive side, they thought that I was all knowing and they were very appreciative of learning how to paint. 

So once we recovered from the first incident, we proceeded to painting the ceiling.  Second mistake; so after they turned their hair from black to white, I decided to take over and they went on to the walls (a good decision).  From then on out, they actually did a great job and we almost finished the job by lunch time.  After lunch we moved on to our second can of paint and discovered that it was YELLOW not WHITE!  Panic set in!  So after I admitted the mistake, we took a big breath and set about changing the color of the walls to yellow.  So I had to instruct them in one more skill; taping off the ceiling.  Actually they did a great job at this and we were ready to paint the walls in no time.  The group really stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.  We repainted the walls, the windows and the doors and cleaned up before it was time to go home.  I had a great group of hard, enthusiastic workers. 

Just as we finished, the habitat coordinator came by to take some pictures and said that this was the best job that he had ever seen (whether this was a pep talk or his real opinion we will never know but the group was very proud and they stopped just short of hoisting me up on their shoulders and parading around the block).  And the home owner said that we did a great job and that we even put a primer layer on the walls (a nice thought even if we did make the mistake).  Come to find out, the other house group did not even finish their work and so they asked me to come back next weekend and help finish it off.

So my first experience was a great and humorous one and one I hope to repeat soon.  It was really nice to be recognized for my skill and ability to teach since I never get any of this at work.  The team asked me how I learned how to paint so I related how I had learned this from my Dad; they were amazed and said that it must therefore be a tradition in America! 

I discovered that Habitat for Humanity Shanghai really only does painting because the contractors for construction, wiring, and plumbing are so cheap that it really doesn’t pay to let volunteers make mistakes with the hardware. 

I am now on the preferred volunteer list and was recently asked to lead teams at another 8 apartments before the end of this year. Looks like I found a new hobby.