perfectly disastrous

Today started off perfectly well, and ended perfectly disastrously.

The woman whose apartment we're renting left us a list of nearby restaurants and such, which has turned out to be a wonderful help. We went to a bakery she recommended that's about a fifteen minute walk from our apartment, and it was strange and comforting to walk through the door into what was clearly a little expat haven. It was a legitimate bakery better than any I've found in Irvine, with almond croissants, baguettes, pain au chocolat, etc and everyone who came in was expatriawesome. A New Zealander with her baby and a New Yorker (who bought her kids bagels, of course) and two French grandparents with their 5-year-old grandson who was decked out in loafers; well, you get the picture.

My dad had his first event that afternoon. He was initially offered a position teaching at the CET summer exchange program for college students but all except for four of the students signed up for the economic track rather than the history track (surprised?) so instead he is hosting a series of four "conversations" about Shanghai, one each Sunday, with different notable guests each week.

The Bund, deemed the "Champs-Elysees of the East," is the walkway along the river that separates Pudong (whose distinctive skyscrapers and "Pearl Tower" have become symbolic of Shanghai and the subject of countless postcards) from the rest of Shanghai. The event was held in a building on the Bund, called the Glamor Bar (an apt name for the chic, Australian-owned bar on the sixth floor with an amazing view of the city and filled with a kaleidoscope of colored glasses hanging from the bar and colored furniture strewn about the floor).

This first event was with an American and a British writer talking about "Americans in Shanghai"--since it was the fourth of July, after all. There was a great turn-out, and afterwards my dad was thrilled to learn that his bookseller couldn't get the books through Customs, and the slight disappointment at the loss of a book-selling opportunity was far overshadowed by the delightful prospect of his books being banned in China.

As I said before, everything began perfectly well. And then at dinner, everything fell apart. First, jet lag struck with a vengeance and my mom and I became increasingly exhausted. Then, we sit down to dinner and the men at the table next to us are chain smoking, blowing smoke practically right into our faces (and right onto the "No Smoking" sign, which is plastered in most public places but blatantly disregarded). Which was practically unbearable for me, and completely unbearable for my mom's lungs, which had already been strained by the wetness and smog. I was exhausted and felt sick to my stomach, my mom was exhausted and coughing up a storm, and we finally could handle it no longer and left the restaurant and got into a taxi only to find that it had the most awful stench of any taxi ever. We finally reached the apartment, practically jumping out of the taxi and inhaling deeply, only to step into the elevator and find that someone had peed on the floor so it smelled horrific. Then we get into our apartment and my mom goes into the bathroom to wash her feet in the shower and someone (me) hadn't flipped it back to faucet rather than showerhead so when she turned it on she soaked her pajamas (and it's impossible, by the way, to dry anything when there is 100% humidity in the air).

A hilariously awful night.


And really, at the end of the day...

...Happy Smile Panda says you have a nice schedule, so everything is okay.