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Life in Shanghai
My third week in Shanghai was quite eventful. It began by moving in to my apartment! I’m living in Xintiandi (near the metro station). I haven’t done tons of exploring, but it is close to Fuxing park (which I showed in my previous entry) as well as a ton of shopping districts. In also found a great fruit market (fruit is very cheap here) just down the block (I’ve gotten apples, oranges, grapes, and canteloupe!) as well as a restaurant with vegetarian items specifically labeled (which I’m sure to check out soon).
My apartment is a lovely loft (or two floor apartment). My bedroom is on the lower level, while the living room/kitchen is on the upper level. They’re connected by a super cool spiral staircase! Thankfully the bathroom is on the same level as my bed, so I don’t have to worry about climbing the staircase at night. As you can see below, this is not a finished product, so, I’ll post some more photos once I’m happy with the final layout.
My bedroom has a mantle, like my apartment in Ann Arbor! 
My bedroom 
The living room. 
My kitchen. I also have a porch! 
The cat in front of my building!
Now you may be wondering, Jesse, since you don’t have a car (I will not be driving in China!) and you don’t have your bankcard setup (I will once I get my work visa, which should be soon), how are you getting all the stuff in your apartment? The answer is Baopals, an english version of the Chinese website Taobao (kind of like Amazon), that accepts Paypal! Most items are delivered for free within 1-3 days, which has been great in getting set up, and the delivery men leave the packages in front of my door.
In addition to setting up my apartment, I also went grocery shopping for the first time! I got lots of the things I wanted, such as tofu, soy milk, cereal, orange juice, and vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, peppers, mushrooms). The grocery store I went to was ~ 1 mile from my apartment, so the trek back was reminiscent of when I was 10 and my family spent the summer in Bath, England. There, my Dad, Emmet, and I would load up our backpacks at the grocery store and schlep back to our flat.
Tofu! 
This weekend, I also went for my first run in Shanghai! It’s been about a month since my last run, so I was a little rusty. I did 4 miles. Although not as much fun as running in Saratoga with my Dad or Emmet in Boston, it was nice to get my legs going and put in a few miles! I did a few laps in Fuxing park (shown on both sides) as well as running down Fuxing road. I look forward exploring and finding fun places to run!
While setting up my apartment took a lot of time this week, I also did a lot of Astronomy work/research. I’m mostly working on my DES project (which was the last chapter of my dissertation), but I also attended my first DESI (the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) telecon (thankfully at 8:30 am. Yay Asia friendly telecons!) and officially claimed a project analyzing the spectroscopic completeness of the clusters in the survey. Ironically, and unbeknownst to me, my Ph.D. advisor, Chris, previously worked on this project.
I did make time for some fun exploration of Shanghai. I visited the Jewish Refuge Museum (housed in the Ohel Moishe Synagogue) as well as the Xiahai temple.
The Jewish Refuge Museum was particularly interesting and moving experience. The museum is housed in the beautiful Ohel Moishe Synagogue (where Kehilat Shanghai does Rosh Hashanah services). Unfortunately, this is not allowed to be used regularly as a synagogue. The synagogue was built in the 1920s by Russian immigrants who were fleeing the pograms, but by the 1950s was vacated (since most Jews left). However, the Synagogue was restored in the mid-2000s to it’s original form and remains a historic site.
A statue of the Jews in Shanghai 
The Ark. 
The routes Jews used to reach Shanghai 
The outside of the synogogue. 
The museum focuses on how during WWII, ~20,000 Jews escaped the Holocaust by coming to Shanghai. The routes were either by land or sea. There were two temporary exhibits discussing a personal experience in Shanghai and a second which highlighted three Jews who remained in China and joined (and assisted) the communist revolution. Much of the museum focused on the individual experiences of the Shanghai Jews. One thing the museum makes clear is that by no means did the Shanghai Jews have an easy life. At the time, Shanghai was under Japanese occupation, so Jews were forced into a ghetto (where the synagogue was located) and also faced tight and difficult living conditions. While the museum offers a lot of insight into the experience of Jews in Shanghai, I hope to learn more about how the Jews were able to come to Shanghai during my time living here.
Additionally, the Museum has a wall of names (as well as a database) of all the Jews who escaped the Holocaust by coming to Shanghai. So, if anyone reading this blog has a name that they would like me to look for, please contact me (or comment on this entry). I’m happy to visit the Museum again.
Nearby to the Ohel Moishe Synagogue is the Xiahai Temple. This is a smaller, but nonetheless still beautiful Buddhist temple. It’s very interesting going to these temples and seeing the different depictions of the Buddha and other Chinese gods. Additionally, since it’s a Buddhist temple, there was a vegetarian restaurant attached!
On my daily commute and trip to the Ohel Moishe Synagogue, I also saw cool sculptures, artwork, and advertisements! My surroundings are still super interesting!
A Lego Poster! 
Anime Figures! 
Food in Shanghai
Since I didn’t get groceries until Saturday, many of my meals were at the SJTU dining hall. However, I ate out for a couple of meals. I’m also going to cook for the first time in my apartment (I’m making a tofu and vegetable stir fry) and will post some pictures of that next week. I’m looking forward to getting back to cooking for myself while still taking the opportunity to enjoy the local cuisine.
Potato shred with oodles 
Seitan and vegetable soup with noodles 
A whipped cream cake
Interestingly, much of the desert that I have seen has a strong western influence.
Jewish Life in Shanghai
In addition to visiting the Ohel Moishe Synagogue, this week also featured a lot of different Jewish events, Simchat Torah, Shabbat, and a Bagel Brunch!
On Monday, I joined my friend Julia and attended the Jewish Community Center’s Simchat Torah event (which celebrates reading the conclusion of the Torah). The Jewish Community Center is the Sephardic (and Israeli) community of Orthodox Jews in Shanghai. This was an interesting experience for me. The service reminded me a lot of when Emmet and I would get dragged into the Orthodox minion at Brown’s Hillel and awkwardly stand there while prayers were quickly read at us. It probably didn’t help that the prayer book I had was in French. While it was fun dancing with the torah (you can see the back of my head in this photo), it was uncomfortable that the women were not allowed to participate. I felt this took some of the fun out of the evening. On a positive note, the Israeli food was delicious.
On Friday night, I joined Kehilat Shanghai for Shabbat. This week we honored the one year anniversary of the Jews who were killed at the shooting last year in Pittsburgh. Despite being so far from home, it felt right and comforting being with a Jewish community to honor their memory.
Lastly, on Sunday, I went to the Moishe House for a Bagel Brunch. Surprisingly, you can get good bagels in Shanghai! This was a fun opportunity to meet and get to know some of the other Jewish young professionals living in Shanghai. Since I’ve been to a few events, I’m starting to see some of the same people and get to know them more. At all of these events, it’s been very interesting to see people’s reactions to learning that I’m an Astronomer. It makes me happy that people are interested in what I’m doing in Shanghai and ask me a plethora of questions, though!
I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my third week in Shanghai, I think that this weeks life progress will help me settle in nicely to my new life here. This upcoming weeks adventures focus mostly on getting my work visa (so fingers crossed that that goes well). Also, as I said in the beginning of the blog post, I’d love to hear from you, so if you have any questions or comments, please comment on the blog and subscribe!
Until next week!
In peace,
Jesse
It sounds like you had a great week. I’m glad you have an apartment of your own now! The Jewish museum sounds really cool. Will you do the Jewish Shanghai tour at some point? We’re there other runners where you were? Keep taking photos of the ads, they’re great!
I was talking to Julia about the Jewish Shanghai tour and it sounds like it may be more fun to do with a group of people (So maybe when you, Mom, and Dad visit?). There were other runners, but most of the other people exercising were doing Tai chi, dancing, or playing soccer and badminton.
Hi, Jesse. Sounds like you are settling into living in Shanghai and finding a new balance of living in China, continuing important dimensions from your life in Ann Arbor, and striking out with new activities. Thanks for sharing all of this with us.
I look forward to reading about the more Chinese aspects of life in Shanghai. The city seems strongly global. Is it?
Keep writing.
Love, Michael
Hi Dad. Thanks! Shanghai is a very global/international city. However, there are many more Chinese aspects of the city. I’ll post more about those in my next entry.
Hi, Jesse. It was a wonderful week for sure, and I enjoyed seeing how settled you are already in your new home in Shanghai. Like Emmet, I also wonder if you plan to take the Jewish Shanghai tour. I took tours like that in Prague, Budapest, Krakow, and Amsterdam, and I found them all very meaningful. Please post about it if you do. It is fascinating that the Old Synagogue is so close to the Xiahai Temple. And I think it is neat that you chose a new project that, as it turned out, your graduate school mentor Chris previously worked on. Here is to another great week ahead. I look forward to it. Love, Mom
Hi Mom! Thanks! As I mentioned to Emmet, Julia suggested that the tour is more fun in groups, so we’ll do it when you visit.
Hi Jesse
Very interesting experiences!
Great pictures!
I think that Josephine Zilberkweit’s dad possibly lived in Shanghai.., last name is Vallette…
Though perhaps it was earlier… oh well, if you get a chance… I’ll see if I can find out from Lara what his first name was…
Thanks for the updates!
Nice apartment!
XoxPam
Hi Pam! That’s very interesting that Josephine’s father lived in Shanghai. Please check with Laura and find out. If he did (especially during WWII), I’d be happy to look at the museum.
Wow, I had no idea that so many Jews escaped to Shanghai during WW2! It’s great they have a museum there to teach about that (and that I can learn it second hand from your pictures of the museum!). I would love to see those museums, parks, temples, and even the grocery store!!!