Hi Everyone! Welcome back to Astronomer in Shanghai! I hope that this update finds all of you enjoying the end of what I hope was a safe, happy, and healthy summer! This past month was rather hectic with wrapping up my time in China (so much packing and logistical things to do), but I still wanted to take the time to enjoy my final few weeks in Shanghai. Also, with my time in China over, I wanted to start this blog by thanking all of you who have followed along with my China experience over the past four years.
This entry will be structured slightly differently, I’ll start by discussing the month, the fun activities and such, then I’ll transition to a discussion of my Chexit (China exit) and journey to Nottingham. Thankfully, Emmet was able to come down from Beijing to join me for my last few days in Shanghai, which was lovely and amazing helpful! However, before I begin, I do want to let you all know that Scottie, Charlie, and I safely arrived in the UK on 8/16 and have been spending the last few days resting and relaxing in a nice AirBnB in Nottingham!
Astronomy in Shanghai
Given that this was my last few weeks in Shanghai, I don’t think any of you will be surprised to learn that it wasn’t a very productive month. With all the packing I had to do, I didn’t have nearly as much time to work on my different research projects. I’m really looking forward to getting back into the swing of research in the coming weeks! That said, I did want to share that my paper on the Conditional Luminosity Function was published by MNRAS! I’ve attached the link, though you need an academic internet account to log in to view it. If you can’t access it and would like to, let me know and I’ll e-mail you a pdf.
Even though I wasn’t doing as much research, I did have work to do. I had to do a lot of exit paperwork for SJTU. Thankfully, much of this, including compiling a dissertation constructed from my published papers (an unusual requirement unique only for postdocs in China), was a formality. Thanks to the amazing help from one of the secretary’s, Jie, I was able to get all the right forms submitted before leaving.
I also wanted to highlight some fun things. On August 8th, I had my last Zu group meeting. As I’ve said before, I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to work with Ying Zu at SJTU for the past 4 years. He’s been a very good mentor and provided me lots of opportunities to grow as a scientist through DESI! We had a lovely final group meeting/discussion. Sadly, many group members were traveling, but the sentiment was still there! Also, Ying posted a lovely write up about my leaving SJTU in his group WeChat page!
On the 11th, Emmet gave a fantastic talk on his research on bent radio AGN at SJTU! I have wanted Emmet to be able to visit SJTU and with the campus finally becoming much more open we were able to set up a talk! Emmet is a great speaker and it was fantastic to watch him explain his research!
I also got an opportunity to say goodbye to the department where (when I was able to go into campus, which only equated to half of my time in Shanghai) I worked for the past 4 years.
I also got to show Emmet the campus! It’s been quite a while since I’ve walked around the campus lake, but it was really nice to show Emmet the lovely SJTU campus (even if it was uncomfortably hot)!
Life in Shanghai
With this being my last weeks in Shanghai, I wanted to visit a lot of the places that I have enjoyed going to or walking by over the last four years. A lot of this was done during Emmet’s visit to Shanghai, which became somewhat of a whirlwind tour. However, I’m grateful that I could share these places with Emmet one last time!
Historic Shanghai: Marble House
Throughout my time in Shanghai, I’ve participated in many walks done by Historic Shanghai. Patrick and Tina (the founders) are lovely people and I’ve learned so much about the city I called home for four years from them! So, it was my pleasure to get to join them for one last walking tour.
Of course, we began the walk by looking at some of the gorgeous art deco style architecture in Shanghai!
We then went on a tour of Marble House, the mansion in Shanghai that was home to the Kadoorie family. The Kadoorie’s were one of the three wealthy Jewish families that set up large multinational business empires in Shanghai (the other two were the Sassoon family and the Hardoon family). Marble House is a mansion originally built to house only three people and servants, but could realistically hold many more. It’s currently used as the Children’s Palace, a place that provides after school extracurricular activities for children. I will note that there was an art exhibition (of the kids art), but even with that, the majesty of Marble House was amazing!
If you’re ever in Shanghai and are looking for a way to get to learn more about the city, I highly recommend joining Historic Shanghai for a walking tour!
Jewish Refugee Museum
Although I’ve been to the Shanghai Jewish Refugee Museum more than any other museum in Shanghai (probably double digits), when Emmet was visiting we went for one last quick visit, mostly because during Emmet’s last visit, we were unable to go into the Ohel Moishe synagogue. This time that was not the case. Given how important Kehilat Shanghai has been throughout my four years in Shanghai, it felt fitting to visit one of the places tied to Jewish History in Shanghai one last time!
Even though it’s not located at the same place, while walking around Jing’an, Emmet and I stopped by to see the outside of the Ohel Rachel Synagogue. This synagogue is now a government building, but there is still a historic marker.
Jade Buddha Temple
Emmet and I also went to the Jade Buddha Temple. Some of you may remember that earlier this spring, I discovered that in my initial visit to the Jade Buddha Temple in 2019, I didn’t actually see both Jade Buddhas! These Buddhas were imported to Shanghai in 1882 from Myanmar. Emmet hadn’t visited this Temple and because the two jade Buddha’s are both gorgeous, I wanted to take him! However, because it’s an active prayer site, I didn’t take photos of the Buddhas. One of my favorite parts of this temple is the manicured trees and gardens, which you can see below!
Jing’an Temple
Even though Emmet and I didn’t go in to visit the Jing’an Temple this time, we walked by it a few times at night and it’s so gorgeous when lit up that I had to include it!
Xujiahui Park
As some of you may recall, Xujiahui Park is a park that is ~ 1 mile from my apartment and when it was cooler, I would often go running in and around the park. Even though it was way too hot to go running, I wanted to do one last visit because it’s so beautiful! While the majestic flowers of the spring are gone, the trees and pond are still absolutely stunning!
Fuxing Park and my old lane house in Xintiandi
For those of you who are longtime readers, you may remember that during my first year in Shanghai, I lived in Xintiandi in an old lane neighborhood. One of my favorite things about that location was how close it was to Fuxing Park (which has the statues of Marx & Engles). When Emmet and I walked to the Yu Gardens, we stopped by for a quick visit!
The Yu Gardens (Yuyuan)
The Yu Gardens (or Yuyuan) are a familial home and gardens built by Pan Yunduan in the 1570s (so one of the few old things remaining in Shanghai). It’s now surrounded by a fun (and somewhat touristy) shopping area built in the old style. It is reminiscent of many of the shopping areas I highlighted in Xi’an and Chengdu. Even though it’s somewhat of a tourist trap, it’s one of my favorite places in Shanghai because it always reminds me that I’m in China!
First the traditional gardens!
Then the shopping area (with a chocolate shop featuring chocolate animals!) and the water garden! Some of you should recognize the water garden from my cover photo!
The Bund
After a fun trip to Yuyuan, Emmet and I visited the Bund in the evening! While it’s been a while since I’ve visited the Bund at night (as you can see, it’s incredibly crowded), the way the Bund is lit up at night is absolutely breathtaking! My favorite building is the Pearl Tower!
The last couple of photos include photos of the Peace Hotel, which was built by the Sassoon family, another one of the wealthy Jewish families from old Shanghai!
The Former French Concession
Throughout my last few days in Shanghai, a lot of the places and restaurants that Emmet and I went to were in the former French Concession (which is basically the extended neighborhood where I live). So, I wanted to share some photos of this area! I’ve loved living in this part of the city! From the overarching and gorgeous treelined streets, to the wide streets, it’s been a great place to live in Shanghai without feeling like I’m living in a metropolis!
F45
With the weather being uncomfortably warm for my last few weeks in Shanghai, I basically went to F45 every day since returning from Chengdu! I also enjoyed getting to have Emmet join for a few workouts when he visited! It was his first time at F45! Though I don’t usually share workout photos, I wanted to share a few from my last workout at the Xuhui F45. Thanks to all the trainers for their coaching over the years and to my workout friends for making it so much fun!
I’m looking forward to checking out F45 Nottingham in the coming weeks!
Although not quite worthy of their own subsections, I also wanted to highlight some of the other cool things I saw around Shanghai in my final month, from interesting and neat looking buildings and statues, to cool anime statues (many at the anime toy stores in the Yu Gardens), to the adorable cats that I fed at F45 and in my neighborhood!
As you can see, I often feed many of the cats in my neighborhood and in F45. Thankfully, many of my other workout friends also feed the F45 cats and I gave them my leftover catfood. While I love seeing the street cats throughout Shanghai, it can often be sad because Shanghai (and many other places in China) are overrun with street cats. While these ones are well taken care of, that’s not always the case and it can be sad seeing sickly or malnourished cats who are in need of love.
Scottie and Charlie
As you can probably guess, this was a rather stressful month for Scottie and Charlie! With packing up the apartment and having to go to the vet’s office for their exit checkup, I knew that they sensed that something was up. Thankfully, they’re both adjusting well to UK life!
I was also pleasantly surprised by how friendly they were to Emmet! Scottie, in particular, spent a lot of time cuddling with Emmet! Given that it took Scottie 3 days to be nice to Emmet last time, this was a big change! Scottie and Charlie also turned 2! While we didn’t do any celebrations because we flew out of China on their birthday, once I’m settled in my new apartment, they will be getting some belated birthday presents!
And here you can see Scottie and Charlie playing or cuddling with Emmet and me!
Food in Shanghai
With my time in China coming to an end (and not wanting to get a lot more groceries), I ate out a lot. Emmet and I had a ton of fantastic meals together!
First, before the Historic Shanghai walking tour, my friend Sarah and I went to Godly for lunch! We enjoyed crispy vegetarian duck, Sichuan sword beans, cabbage, vegetarian eel (seitan), and dumplings with peanut sauce! The duck and sword beans were my favorites!
On Emmet’s first night in Shanghai, we had a fantastic vegan hot pot feast at Yan GeGe! Although hot pot is best enjoyed in large groups, Emmet and I were able to get a delicious appropriately sized hot pot and some delicious dim sum (including the Shanghai specialty xiaolongbao — soup dumplings)! This was Emmet’s first time at a traditional hot pot restaurant and I’m so glad we could go together!
First, you see the drinks (a hawthorne juice, fruit tea, traditional tea, and apple & greens juice)! Then you see the array of amazing vegetables that we could select to add to our hot pot! Additionally, you can see some of the delicious sides as well as some of the amazing Yunnan mushrooms for us to enjoy! The dim sum were tofu in curry, a mushroom bread, pan fried boazi, shanghai noodles, wild rice, xiaolongbao, and tofu and kaofu! Then you can see the hotpot being made for us! We had a tomato broth! The top pot was filled with the Yunnan mushrooms, which were amazing. The bottom pot was filled with all the delicious veggies and tofu that we selected! Emmet and I greatly enjoyed it! Then we got a cocounut milk and red bean desert! So glad I got to do another fun hot pot meal before I left!
After visiting SJTU on Friday, Emmet and I ordered lunch from Carrot & Cleaver, a take away vegan restaurant! We enjoyed a noodle salad with braised veggie meatballs, cold noodles with spring vegetables, a lotus leaf and seitan baozi, and a coffee and berry mousse!
On Saturday, after visiting the Jewish Refugee Museum and the Jade Buddha Temple, Emmet and I went for a fantastic lunch at Vegetarian Lifestyle! This was the first vegetarian/vegan restaurant I went to in Shanghai. I was so glad that we could go again as it’s one of my favorites! We enjoyed tofu skin rolls filled with mushrooms, spicy mushroom skewers, seitan with basil and peppers, fried lotus root, melt in your mouth soft braised tofu, crispy shiitake mushrooms, grapefruit and mango juice, and sword beans! My favorites were the mushroom dishes, tofu and sword beans!
On Saturday night, Emmet and I went to Tacolicious for a final Taco Night! Tacolicious is probably the restaurant I’ve been to the most (thanks to Logan, Thijs, and Saira letting me host trivia nights there and also hosting so many other wonderful KS events)! I’ll definitely miss their tacos and fun atmosphere! Emmet and I enjoyed vegan zrou nuggets, limeade, bean and corn salad, chips & salsa, mapo tofu tacos, nopales (cactus) tacos, and zrou chorizo tacos! The zrou chorizo tacos are definitely my favorite!
On Sunday, Emmet and I went to LN Fortunate Vegan Cafe for a lovely lunch before going to Yuyuan! We enjoyed watermelon juice, a delicious vegan lemon cheesecake, Hong Kong style satay noodles, tofu and seaweed rolls, and eggplant with a spicy ragout!
After spending the afternoon exploring Yuyuan, Emmet and I went to a fantastic meal at Hui Yuan Vegetarian! We enjoyed stir fried cauliflower, sword beans, stir fried teatree mushrooms, a spicy cauliflower/lotus/potato/tofu dry pot, and Beijing style baozi with seitan and cucumber! The baozi and sword beans were my favorite! The spicy dry pot was one of the first dishes I had in China, so it was fun to share that with Emmet!
On Monday, Emmet and I went to Ru If Vegan for lunch! My Mom had treated my friends and I to a meal here for my 30th birthday (she paid for the meal since she wasn’t able to send me gifts in person) and it was so nice to be back and this time bring Emmet! We enjoyed a blueberry seltzer, eggplant in peanut sauce, ginger mushrooms, a dried tofu, mushroom, and pickle soup, and walnut mushrooms! We also tried a rose and a green bean bun for dessert! The walnut mushrooms were my favorite!
On Monday night, we had a wonderful last meal at Duli! Duli is unique from a lot of the other Chinese vegetarian restaurants because it is a fusion restaurant! We enjoyed mapo tofu hummus, corn and chickpea baozi, a mango smoothie, corn ribs, a tofu/pear/seaweed cold noodle salad, and Dan Dan gnocchi! The hummus and baozi were my favorites!
Lastly for my final meal, my friend Heather and her daughter Rae joined us for a final delicious meal at Godly! Shimi was unfortunately out of town working. It was so nice to have a final meal with friends and have it be a sendoff from Shanghai! Godly is one of the original vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai and certainly one of my favorites! I love this location because it still feels small and homey! We enjoyed kaofu, crispy vegetarian duck, Yunnan mushrooms, dumplings in peanut sauce, stir fried eggplant with sichuan chili garlic sauce, sword beans, mapo tofu, and a tofu and mushroom clay pot! The kaofu, sword beans, vegetarian duck, and eggplant were my favorites! Though everything was delicious!
It was so wonderful to get to see Heather right before I left! Heather and Shimi have been my friends for almost my entire time in Shanghai and it was so nice to get to share one more Shanghai memory together!!
In addition to all these amazing meals because it was so hot, Emmet and I enjoyed a few cool treats as well as sugar covered strawberries!
Plus, Emmet and I had to get one last jianbang after one of our F45 workouts! Although they’re no longer selling them with the vegan just egg, we were able to get them without egg and they were a delicious breakfast!
Even with all of these delicious meals, I did do a little bit of cooking in my last few weeks, too! I made DanDan noodles, jam squares, chocolate tahini cookies, chocolate brownie cookies (not shown), and sloppy joes!
Jewish Life in Shanghai
On August 11th, my final Shabbat in Shanghai, Kehilat Shanghai hosted one final Community Shabbat gathering for me before I left! We’ve been able to have a few lovely Shabbats this summer, thanks in large part to my friend Larry who will be organizing them going forward! I’ve loved being such an active member of the Kehilat Shanghai community throughout my entire time in Shanghai! It was so wonderful to see so many friends one last time before I left! I’ll greatly miss the KS community and hope to reunite with some of them in the future whether visiting China or visiting other places around the world! Kehilat Shanghai will always hold a special place in my heart and I’m so glad that I could do so much to help the community share meaningful and fun religious experiences over these past four years. Also special thanks to our community member and baker extraordinaire, Michael, for making the fantastic challah!
What I’m Reading and Watching
With all the moving stuff, I didn’t actually finish reading anything this month. However, I did watch a few good things. First, I finally watched HBO’s adaptation of Philip Roth’s A Plot Against America. I read the book in 2019, while in Shanghai. Due to the subject matter, I wouldn’t say that I enjoyed the show, but I did think that it was well done, though I wish it had been more faithful to the book. I also finished the Kuroko’s Basketball anime, which was excellent! If you’re a fan of sports and manga/anime, this is a great blend! Lastly, I watched the Superpowered: The DC Story documentary on Max! While I know a lot about DC’s history, I thought that this was a really well done overview, though I would have loved even more focus on the comics.
In terms of movies, upon my arrival in Nottingham, I finally got to see Oppenheimer! As an Astrophysicist, I am relatively familiar with the Manhattan Project, but I found the movie to be fascinating. There was so much history I was unaware of! I loved Nolan’s use of visuals to convey Oppenheimer’s struggles surrounding the bomb and found the sound use to be amazing! Cillian Murphy did a fantastic job capturing the title role! On the plane, I also watched two DC animated movies, Legion of Superheros and Batman & Superman: Battle of the Supersons, which were great fun! I also was compelled to watch the 2010 Robin Hood starring Russel Crowe, which was an interesting take on the origins of the folk hero (even if Crowe looked far too old). I also watched Pitch Perfect 2 and The Man from U.N.C.L.E, both of which were fun!
Chexit: The End of my Time in Shanghai
I now want to turn to my departure from China. First, I want to let you all know that I’m going to be doing another blog post which will serve as a reflection upon my time in China at some point in the next few months. So, this will not be that.
Let’s begin with what was needed for Scottie and Charlie. On Monday 8/7, 8 days before exiting, I took Scottie and Charlie to Shenpu, the state run veterinary hospital in Shanghai to do their exit health check and prepare their forms for both EU and UK entry. The UK requires extra forms, which thankfully the vets were able to fill out. The health check is just to make sure the pets are healthy enough to fly, so somewhat trivial. In order for pets to enter the UK, they need to have been vaccinated against rabies and pass the titre test (in addition to being microchipped and having the proper forms). Thankfully, other than the forms, all of this was done months in advance. So, after Monday, I had the UK forms. Additionally, because I wanted them to fly in the cabin with me, I had to have the documents for my friend Evelyn who flew to Paris with me (then on to Dublin). But that all went smoothly as well. On Friday, after Emmet’s talk at SJTU we went to the Shanghai Huangpu Custom’s office to pick up the EU paperwork. However, because I wasn’t sure where to go, we ended up first at the historical Customs House on the Bund, which is a museum, so we had to trek back to the right place (by people’s square). Thankfully, once again, all the paperwork was correct.
After Friday, I had all the paperwork needed for Scottie and Charlie! Between Friday and Monday, Emmet and I spent a lot of time packing (and repacking) my suitcases. I’m super grateful to Emmet because he definitely helped me more efficiently pack the suitcases (and get them to close) as well as convincing me to order cat food and litter instead of trying to bring it with me (I definitely didn’t have space). In total, I had 2 very overweight suitcases (~ 30kg) and 1 underweight (but packed to the brim) suitcase, as well as my backpack. So, counting what I brought in June, I moved with 6 suitcases, 1 backpack, and 2 cats in cat carriers. For comparison, I came over with 4 suitcases and 1 backpack, though Emmet did bring me things when he moved to China 2 years ago.
In terms of packing up my suitcases and taking apart my apartment, Emmet is definitely the MVP! I just want to reiterate how amazing he was the final week as I was definitely a bit of a mess. Emmet also helped me take trash out, organize clothes and shoes for donation, as well as decide what to leave for my neighbors. Many of my neighbors were happy to take things like my air filter, storage containers, and some food! Though I also left a lot of cooking and cleaning supplies for future tenants and gave some of the nicer things to my friends Heather and Shimi!
On Tuesday afternoon, after a lovely lunch at Godly with Heather and Rae, Emmet and I packed up Scottie and Charlie into their cat carriers and did one final sweep of my apartment. Before leaving I got to say goodbye to the apartment I’ve lived in for the last three years. I’ll definitely miss the painting behind me.
At 5 pm, I arranged for a taxi to pick us up and take us to the airport. While Scottie and Charlie were not thrilled to be in the cat carriers, they calmed down once we were in the car.
At about 6pm, we arrived at the Pudong Airport Terminal 1 for our flight. This was where the real adventure began. Rather confusingly, when we went through the security that is needed to actually enter the airport (not to go to the gate), which I believe may be unique to China, I needed to show the paperwork for Scottie and Charlie. However, the security didn’t know the English phrasing and I didn’t know the Mandarin, which made it a bit confusing. However, once it was resolved, we went then went to the section for Air France Check in and waited for Evelyne.
Once Evelyne arrived, we lined up for baggage check (we had thankfully checked in earlier). We also decided to upgrade to premium economy so that we could all (Scottie and Charlie included) have a bit more space, which was definitely the right call. After doing that and checking in my bags, we had to go to another window to actually pay for the cats space on the plane (I’m still unsure why this couldn’t have been done in advance) and then got our boarding pass. However, thanks to some eagle eyes by Emmet and Eveylne we noticed that my underweight blue suitcase was flagged and had not been loaded (annoyingly nobody told me this, so I likely wouldn’t have noticed if not for them). It was flagged because I brought a clock and cat toys and forgot to take out the batteries. Definitely something to keep in mind for the future. We also got the security forms saying that we had permission to bring the cats through on to the plane.
After this, it was time to go through China customs and security. Somewhat annoyingly China still requires a health declaration, though it’s really just a formality at this point. This was definitely the most emotional part of the journey, because this is where I said goodbye to Emmet. I was really sad to leave Emmet. Maybe it’s because we’ve gone both 2 years and then 1 year without seeing each other in person, but it’s been so special to see each other so frequently in 2023. You all know how close Emmet and I are and while I know he’ll succeed in his last year in Beijing, it is certainly sad knowing that I likely won’t see him until next summer.
After an emotional goodbye to Emmet, I got in line for security and customs. Customs was rather easy. However, security was a mess. First, I was required to take out all of my computer, phone, and ipad chargers, despite only being told that I needed to take out battery packs, not the ones you put into the wall. Then, I needed to take out all my pencils because they thought there were knives (they were not). This lead me to have to basically repack my backpack at the gate. Thankfully they were much kinder about the cats. Evelyne and I knew that Scottie and Charlie (who was already starting to hyperventilate) were way too stressed to be taken out and carried through the metal detector while their bags were checked. So, we asked if we could go to a separate room, which they were happy to do. There they went for a ride through the X-ray machine, which was only okay, because the security guard didn’t turn it on, it was just done purely as a formality. With all my stress about repacking my backpack, I’m so grateful that Evelyne could take charge and help me get Scottie and Charlie through security as comfortable as possible.
By the time we got through security it was ~ 8:20. We waited for ~ 1 hour by the gate (where I met two other people bringing their cats to the UK) and then boarded the flight! I carried Scottie and Charlie onto the plane and until take off, we kept the two of them on our laps.
Once the flight took off, I put Scottie and Charlie below the seats. Scottie was a real champ throughout this whole process. He was surprisingly very chill. Charlie was a bit of a wreck. He was hyperventilating for the first half of the flight, but then finally calmed down, much to my relief. Every hour or so, I would check on them and pet them throughout the flight. We left Shanghai at 10pm on Tuesday 8/15 and then arrived in Paris at 6am on 8/16 (due to the time change 14 hours later). With that my time and life in China officially came to a close,
Upon arrival in Paris, things were very relaxed. We went through customs and immigration, which other than having to maneuver a bit because I was carrying two cats, nobody seemed to notice or care that I was bringing cats with me. None of the EU forms were checked (they were only looked at in Shanghai). We then went to baggage claim, which was definitely a bit stressful for Scottie and Charlie because of all the noise. After collecting all of our bags and somehow figuring out how to maneuver them and the cats, we made our way to the exit. I also helped one of the other passengers who had a cat, but was also the flight volunteer for 3 dogs get the dogs to the exit, which was really challenging, since the dog crates are humongous (though they only had to move about 100 ft)! However, at about 7:05 am, we were through to the exit of the Charles de Gaulle Airport.
After that, I said goodbye to Evelyne (who was on her way to Dublin for a conference) and met Alex my Pet Taxi driver who shepherded me to Nottingham! For those of you who are curious, the Pet Taxi is basically just a large van, where the drivers are familiar with all of the paperwork and logistical processes needed to enter the UK with pets. It certainly helped and made the process go by much quicker! We left the airport at ~ 7:30 am. We then drove to the Calais entrance to the Eurotunnel. There, Scottie and Charlie had their UK entry forms checked, their titre (rabies antibody level) tests checked, and their microchip numbers. Thankfully I had brought a Chinese microchip reader as the UK one didn’t work. Much to my relief all of the paperwork was in order and we were set to enter the UK via the Eurotunnel! After that, we went through French and UK customs. For the UK customs, I had to go out of the car and get my work visa stamped and to be fingerprinted, since this was my first time entering the UK on a work visa.
At ~ 11:45 am, we drove the pet taxi on to the train which took us across the Eurotunnel. It was really neat. Basically, cars are loaded on and then taken by train through the Eurotunnel under the English channel. The cars are turned off, so people can walk around if they want, though I just stayed in the car. I had thought we would just drive through the Eurotunnel, but as you can see from the photos, this was not the case!
After getting out of the Eurotunnel at Folkstone, we then continued the long drive up to Nottingham. We arrived in the UK at ~ 11:30 UK time (45 minutes after entering the Eurotunnel). Other than stopping to get food, we drove straight to Nottingham. However, because of traffic and because the speed limit in the UK is ~ 70km/h (~42mph) we didn’t arrive in Nottingham until ~ 4:30. Scottie was fine the whole way, but Charlie definitely got very antsy and was ready to be let out of his carrier.
So, by about 5pm UK time, 31 hours after we left my apartment, Scottie, Charlie, and I were all safely in the UK! It was a long, stressful, and exhausting journey, but I’m thrilled to say that we’re here!
Much to my delight Scottie and Charlie have taken a quick liking to the AirBnB in Nottingham! They’ve been exploring a lot over the last few days, and definitely miss their high perches, but they seem to be adjusting well. It only took ~ 1 hour for them to get comfortable in the space.
While I haven’t done much exploring yet, I did want to share that I already meet Robin Hood, or at least his statue in front of Nottingham Castle during my first run!
So, despite all the stress and anxiety about leaving Shanghai (and Emmet), I’m happy to say that Scottie, Charlie, and I are all starting our next Chapter of Life in Nottingham. We hope that this is a fantastic chapter for all of us, filled with excellent work and more fun adventures!
For those of you who have gotten this far (and been reading since the beginning four years ago), thank you for all of your support and interest in my experiences in Shanghai! It truly was an experience over the last four years. With that said, this will not be my last post, as I said earlier, I plan to write a reflection piece about my time in China in the next few months. However, at this point, I don’t know what the future of the blog will be. Part of the reason that I chose to write the blog was because so much social media is challenging to access or banned in China. As that’s not the case in the UK, I plan to investigate whether there are other ways to share updates and photos (maybe instagram). Additionally writing a weekly and then monthly blog was a huge and time consuming undertaking and I’m not sure I want to document my life so regularly going forward. Whatever I decide, I’ll make sure to let you all know.
Lastly, thank you all again for reading! If you have any questions or comments about my life in China, any of my adventures in the final month, or about my exit from China please reach out. Thank you all so much for joining on this journey with me! See you in a few months (likely October) for my reflections on my four years in Shanghai!
In peace,
Jesse
