Bills, bills, bills..

Something someone told me (whilst drunk) when I first got here was that I would have days that were ‘Shang-highs’ and days that were ‘Shang-lows’. What they didn’t tell me was that it’s perfectly normal to switch between the two about 6 or 7 times a day.

A few weeks ago I talked about little victories and how even the smallest thing, if you manage to get it done, can fill you with euphoria. Sadly the reverse is also true. The slightest little hiccup and it’s easy to go into a fit of unbelievable rage ‘this f*ing country’ etc, followed by a bout of despair ‘what am I doing here, what am I doing with my life’ etc. The whole thing is like a massive emotional rollercoaster.

So this week I have had a cold, so that has led to Shang-lows. Mainly because finding the ingredients for honey and lemon were challenging (yes, really). I paid £6.50 for a squeezy jar of honey, which is nearly as much as the whisky I bought to also go in the honey and lemon.

On the other side, I also had a huge Shang-high in that I managed to pay my electricity, water and gas bill. That sounds weird because normally as you know in the UK, they drop through your door and you’re on a DD scheme so they just up and lower your monthly payment in accordance. Not here (of course). Firstly, there’s the bill itself. For water there’s no envelope just a perforated piece of paper that looks like a wholesaler’s invoice (which it is I suppose). It’s all in Chinese apart from the numbers so you know how much you owe but that’s about it.

Traditionally in Shanghai you’ve had to go and pay your bills in person, either at a bank, a Family Mart (they’re like the Co-op or Tesco Express, one on every corner) or if you live in a fancy apartment building there is an office where you can do it there. So in the last couple of years the government have set up a website where you can pay all your bills online, including topping up your phone. And it’s in English too (score).

 

Once you’ve picked which bill you want to pay e.g. electric, gas, it shows you a whole list of suppliers and you have to choose yours. The fun begins when you realise that the company name is written on the invoice in Chinese so you don’t know. However, help is at hand! For every company, the website shows you a picture of what the invoice looks like so you can figure out which one you have. The website then recognises the barcode you type in, you fill in your card details and you’re done! You can pay all your bills in one place and apart from the company name thing, it’s super-efficient.

It’s my first Chinese Bank Holiday this weekend. This is for the Mid-Autumn festival, which is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar and during a full moon. This year that falls on Monday 8^th, so we all get the day off. The festival is sometimes also called the ‘moon festival’ as it is very much a celebration of the moon and the Moon Goddess of Immortality Chang’e – there’s a really interesting story of how the festival originated on Wikipedia. So there are celebrations and fireworks etc all over China. The traditional gift to be given is a mooncake. It kind of looks like a pork pie, but is sweet with a filling generally of lotus seeds or red bean although I have seen some that are filled with chocolate, cream etc.  The top is normally inscribed with Chinese characters including the name of the bakery. Mooncakes are big business – most companies give their employees vouchers so they can go and buy a cake, and suppliers will gift them to companies too. Some of them can cost a fortune – about 500 RMB (50 quid) for a really fancy one!

Chinese bank holidays fall in a really weird way in that they are at different times every year, and the schedule is announced towards the end of the previous year. What makes it different is where a holiday falls on a weekday, often the weekend will be ‘moved’ to compensate for that. So for example, I get a week off in October which starts on a Wednesday, however I have to work the previous Sunday, as well as the Monday and the Tuesday.

I was initially planning on going to Japan for the long weekend but as it is my first national holiday I’ve decided to stay in Shanghai and experience it all. I’m going to go to People’s Park (one of the biggest parks in Shanghai) to see the fireworks and also go to the old town to see the displays at the temples – and hopefully get some good pictures. I’m looking forward to seeing such a big part of Chinese culture.