The Fourth

Shanghai, China
I have had some memorable Independence Days in my life. I’ve seen one of the largest fireworks displays on the west coast in Vancouver, Washington; my friends and I spent the 4th of July weekend in Reno and Lake Tahoe on a private beach; and a few years ago I spent it on the island of Ibiza off the coast of Barcelona, Spain.

Today I wanted to run up and down the streets with sparklers, draped in an American flag singing The Star Spangled Banner, but then I remembered that I was in China and I had to suppress my patriotism.

I arrived in Shanghai on July 3. After a wading through a sea of Chinese people, my eyes finally met the eyes of my friend. Toward the end of my senior year of college I met Alli through the Danish study abroad program. Countless hours were spent hanging out with her in Denmark and exploring other countries like Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, France and Ireland. After Denmark, she went back to school then off to China to tutor English. She’s now employed at a sports marketing firm that works with Reebok and raises awareness about football (the American kind, not soccer), among other sports like basketball, which has become hugely popular since Yao Ming, who is from Shanghai, joined the NBA.

I hadn’t seen her in over a year and a half. We hugged and she took Brad and I to her apartment that she shares with a Japanese roommate. Here’s another interjection: If you have friends or acquaintances living abroad, you should definitely take advantage of them by visiting. They will love it and you will too because you will get to know a city from an insider’s perspective and see things that the normal tourist wouldn’t see. Such was the case with Alli. She took us to several restaurants that we would never have found because they weren’t in our guidebook. Another bonus was that she spoke Mandarin, the local language.

That first night Brad and I indulged on the most exotic, if you want to call it that, delicacy. I don’t know what they call it in Chinese, but in English it’s referred to as rabbit’s head. Cooked and loaded with spices, this rabbit’s head was cut in half, vertically from brain to chin. I picked at the brain and other scant muscles in the head and was actually quite amazed at the pleasant taste of it.

It rained gently on us to and from the restaurant. We didn’t try to avoid it because everywhere so far has been hot. We welcomed the rain. And on us it rained as we walked through streets of a market turning down offers to buy knockoffs at every booth.

A good night’s sleep, a free night’s sleep (another perk of knowing someone locally), and we were ready for our country’s Independence Day.

There were no fireworks. No flag waving of the red, white, and blue. No parades. But why should there be here? Quietly a couple of Americans, two travelers and two expatriates, celebrated our country’s independence at Malone’s, an American café that was actually founded by some Canadians. Close enough, I guess, for being this far away from home. As it was sort of a sports bar, we watched as fellow American, Venus Williams, lost at Wimbledon. Burgers and fries were consumed as we talked about our homes; the one in the states for Brad and I, and China for Alli and her friend.

From living and working in Shanghai, their views of the US have changed. I don’t want to try to explain their opinions. If you know them, then you can ask them yourself. But the point is that these two people who have lived in the US most of their lives decided to take a chance and move across the world and live in a country totally contrary from the one they came from. And they like it that way. A question that was posed to me and one that I wonder about from time to time is this: Could I live anywhere else in the world aside from the United States? Sure, I lived in Denmark, but it was only four months and wasn’t permanent and though I miss it, and the people I met there, tremendously, I was ready to come home. Why? Because I missed salsa. I missed macaroni and cheese. I missed using dollars instead of kroners. I missed labels, signs, and newspapers being written in English. I missed my friends and family. I missed all that was American. But there were also aspects of the US that I didn’t miss. Every country has its plusses and minuses, its ups and downs, its positives and negatives. The bottom line is that I don’t think I could live anywhere else permanently.

I have spent the 4th of July in several countries and several states. And though it is a nice thought to think that I could live in Italy on the Riviera or on an island off of Thailand or on the coast of Australia, ultimately, I don’t think that I could for very long. I don’t know that I could fully adjust to life outside the United States forever. But who knows? I bet my friend didn’t think that either until she lived somewhere else. I’d have to bring a load of salsa.