For many of us, eating out three times a week, having an ayi and partying almost every weekend are not things that we would be doing in our own hometown.

When someone back home, wherever that may be, asks us about life in Shanghai, we have a wide variety of answers, depending on who is asking.

To our family, we may say how big the city is, or comment about its growth rate.

To our friends, we’ll say how fun the nightlife is, how amazing the choices of dining are, the potential of business, and maybe more often, complain about certain things that we may not like about living here, as well as the unbelievable experiences we have had here.

The fact of the matter is that life in Shanghai, like many other places in China, is very good for expats. I say this because for many of us, eating out on an average of three times a week, having an ayi and partying almost every weekend are not things that we would be as likely to be doing as an English teacher in our own hometown.

On the other hand, there is always a downside to any city and the most frequent one about Shanghai I’ve heard from my fellow expat friends is the difference of culture. Many times we find ourselves frustrated because of misunderstandings or things that actually happen which we just can’t believe, but we fail to understand that this is all because of a cultural gap that will always exist, in spite of the Expo and the effort put into making Shanghai a more westernized city.

There are a few things that I find we all must dislike very much and are quite worth mentioning, like in shops or stores, when we are looking around and all of a sudden the vendors come to harass us. To these people I say if I need your help I will ask for it! Or, when I find something I want and they don’t have my size, but they offer another model. It’s just those small things, like people who push and pack like sardines in the metro, that make life in Shanghai quite irritable.

However, some cute things are worth mentioning too, like staff workers standing in line outside the restaurant doing some unusual dances, and the BBQ vendors on the corners, feeding you at 5:00 am after getting completely wasted out of your mind. Also, the mopeds that will help you beat the traffic and get you to wherever you may need to be.

Shanghai is an extremely large city with an amazing amount of people, and because of that, there will always be things that are not to our liking, but the only choice is to make the best of it. For whatever reason we may have to be here, life can be great if we allow it to. ✖

(By Iñaki Illapa. Photo by Daniel Kwan.)