And Now… Old Man Winter

I’m not sure I can truly express how different it was for me being in Sydney (still can’t stop talking about her) for Christmas, walking around in a T-shirt and shorts and then coming here to Shanghai where it’s cold. As soon as I got out of the airport I felt a familiar sensation. It was winter. The air was crisp and it had a certain aroma, just like back home. Coming from both South Africa and Australia, where it’s their summer, to be placed back into the correct season of my birthplace was confusing for me. With Christmas decorations still up and that certain chill in the air, I started to really get excited about the festive holiday season. Of course, since it was January 5, that meant that the season was over. Still, for the first few days I found myself getting prepared for Christmas based solely off of the familiar feeling of cold anticipation. Alas, Christmas was over. I was in Shanghai and I had no clue about how to speak Chinese.
I’d have to say the first week was pretty tame. We met a guy named Mike who took us around Shanghai, and then we ended up at a place called The Shelter later that night. And they played hip-hop! And no, not like the trashy stuff that floods radio stations around the world. This was straight up, 100 percent hip-hop. And the Chinese people were really into it. Now, I remember one night in Sydney (there it is again) where they played hip-hop at World Bar and a club called Hunter Bar. Other than that, there really wasn’t too much hip-hop being played. For this to be the first night out and to be exposed to something that I love in such a pure way definitely made me want to know more about Shanghai. Unfortunately, I had work to do. The South Africa video loomed over my head like a cloud and whispered a song of latent diligence like a back-up singer. But for the next eight months I’ll be on my grind like coffee beans with my Smirnoff Ten work.