The other half

On our first visit to Shanghai, we stayed on the East side of the river, in an area called Pudong. This is the newer side of Shanghai, and we found the city blocks long, the streets wide and the entire area uncrowded. It wasn't particularly charming or exciting. In fact, it felt a little bit cold and sterile. Papa works on the West side of the river, so it was easy for us to chose to live  in Puxi, which is older, more charming and quite lively. We have been happy with that choice. But now we are switching to a new school, which is not only in Pudong, but it is on the China Sea.  Although we do occasionally visit Pudong, today we decided to spend the afternoon exploring one Pudong neighborhood more closely. We are all glad that we did! We were able to locate the Pudong branches of many of our favorite shops and restaurants. We saw a few potential housing compounds, and even found the church. We were surprised how easily we were able to cross the street. We noticed car honks with decreasing frequency and fellow Americans with increasing frequency. This time Pudong didn't strike us as cold and sterile, but quiet and comfortable. I guess a year living in the bustle can do that.  Next year we will have an entirely NEW China experience!