In my life of 28 (almost 29) years, I have called 17 various houses and apartments “home”. That is an average of 1.78 homes per year! But, as you can see from the chart above, I have lived in most of these homes in the past ten years!

So, when I decided to join in on Pin It Forward, a blogosphere ring-around-the-rosie collaboration between sfgirlbybay and Pinterest asking 300 bloggers to blog about “What Home means to Me” through words and images, my first thoughts were about my literal homes and the people I have shared them with.

8 Homes in Tennessee (2 in Hendersonville, 1 in Collierville, 5 in Knoxville), 1 Home in Denmark, 4 Homes in Oregon, 1 Home in Thailand, 1 Home in China and 2 Homes in California. The square footage has ranged from 200sf to 3000sf. They have been on three continents. I have shared 4 with family, 7 with roommates, 2 with no one and 4 with the love of my life. Five have been in enormous apartment complexes. One was extremely decadent. One was over 300 years old.  Seven have been within walking distance to a grocery store. Two of them were on campus. And I do not know who is living in any of them any more (except my current home, of course)!

Hendersonville, Tennessee : At Christmas

Collierville, Tennessee : At Christmas

Hendersonville, Tennessee : The house I grew up in

The University of Tennessee: My side of the dorm room

The ladies that made living in the dorms better than I ever expected

We shared some good times in our first off-campus apartments

Copenhagen, Denmark : Our flat in Christianshavn

My Partner in Crime throughout Europe

Knoxville, Tennessee : The house we called our own

And these were the ladies I shared it with

Beaverton, Oregon : My Uncle's bachelor pad that I crashed!

I'm sure he never imagined I would move in with him 23 years after this photo was taken!

Portland, Oregon : The first apartment I had all to myself

Portland, Oregon : The apartment I never dreamed I would live in

And she is the one that shared it with me.

Portland, Oregon : Perhaps the last apartment I will ever have all to myself

Chiang Mai, Thailand : Our first apartment together

We spent a lot of time at that table!!

Shanghai, China : Another apartment I never dreamed I would live in

San Francisco, CA : The one that gave us time to settle in

San Francisco, California : Finally, our very own Home Sweet Home

Many of the Pin It Forward bloggers are designers, and have filled their Pinterest Pin Boards with the most amazing eye candy!! In addition to the above photos, I have filled mine with a little bit of my own. So, if you haven’t already heard of Pinterest, be sure to take a gander. It is the best bookmarking site I have found for inspiration images, and I recommend that you give it a try. The boards that have been created will amaze you, and you will then want to have an account of your own.

Screen Capture of my Pinterest Boards

The final piece of Pin It Forward is that I would like to literally, Pin it Forward (and backwards!)

Yesterday, Casey Keasler of the K.I.D. Collective posted a great little story about how she came to call Denver home, and how Portland will soon be her new home. The funny thing about Casey is that she also went to the University of Tennessee AND she was in my sister’s interior design class. I reconnected with her via Pin It Forward, and her design blog is now one of my favorites.

Tomorrow, Kate and Jack of the Union Jack Creative will be posting about what home means to them. They have a wonderful eye for photography, design and all things whitty, so check it out!

To see the entire schedule of all 300 Bloggers, click the icon below!!

While I emptied my drawers, my mind wandered. Friday had been my last day at work, and Sunday had been my last full day with Nik, but those days didn’t really seem final. As I hugged everyone goodbye, I felt like I would see them next week. It was no big deal. Then when I was all alone in our apartment deciding what to take and what to leave, I realized it was final. I would probably never live in Shanghai again. It is possible that I may never even visit Shanghai again. Even if I do, the city will not be the one it is today. Most of my friends will have moved on. The buildings I walk past every day will probably be razed and replaced. The restaurants we frequent will be long closed to make way for something else. The bikes we love will eventually cease to exist in the fast paced world of motorbikes and automobiles. Shanghai will never be Shanghai as we know it, and that is when the anxiety of moving away from Asia hit me.

The good thing is that our reason for living in Shanghai in 2009 is precisely because it will be something completely different in a year’s time. China is growing so fast and recklessly that buildings are falling down as quickly as they are put up. Roads are being ripped apart to add more infrastructure as soon as the pavement is dry. Schools are too small as soon as they are built. Apartments are full before they open. Shanghai is simply growing at an outrageous rate, and it hasn’t found it’s identity as an international city yet, and that’s okay.

To ease my mind and put off packing as long as possible, I started this “Shanghai Miss List” on Monday and continued adding to it until I landed in Chicago on Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning China Time). It is a literal brain-dump of everything I’ve thought about missing or not missing that makes my 2009 Shanghai unique. They are in no particular order, but I know that I will miss exploring the city with Nik the most. On any given weekend we would be out and about walking or riding through the streets. Neither of us ever backed out of seeing or doing something new, and I know that it is Shanghai’s mysterious nature that pulled us away from the comfort of our apartment. I hope that we will have the desire to explore as much in the next place we live, but the allure of Shanghai will be hard to top.

Things I will miss
1. Exploring the city with Nik
2. My Students
3. My Friends
4. Watching people watch me with curiosity
5. Chatting with my bus ladies (a.k.a. other teachers)
6. Feeling that I will never see the entire city
7. Opportunities to see China
8. Surrounding myself with people unlike me
9. Empty coffee shops
10. The markets
11. Street sweepers using hand-made brooms
12. Sweet Potato vendors
13. Chinese Amusement Parks
14. Cheap (price) everything
15. Biking with the boys
16. The reckless abandon of the Shanghainese
17. Nik’s excitement at every turn to see something else demolished
18. Weird snacks
19. Not understanding conversations
20. The sound of bicycle bells
21. Steamer dinners for 2
22. Chinese dumplings
23. Group dinners
24. 8 kuai dvd’s
25. Locals arguing
26. Asian faces that appear to have made it through so much
27. Grocery shopping at Tesco
28. Hearing at least 2 if not 5 different languages spoken every day

Things I won’t miss
1. Incredibly Slow Internet
2. Being locally illiterate
3. Constantly worrying about being ripped off
4. The distance between me and my family
5. The 1-hour commute in the morning
6. The 1+ hour commute in the evening
7. Waking up at 5:30am
8. Falling asleep at 9:30pm
9. Donald’s
10. Nik’s long hours
11. The pollution
12. Street Smells
13. Shanghai summer heat & humidity
14. Seeing beautiful old neighborhoods being demolished
15. Cheap (quality) everything
16. The reckless abandon of the Shanghainese taxi drivers
17. Constant construction
18. Spitting and littering
19. The sound of screeching breaks
20. $5 mediocre coffee
21. Living in a high rise hotel room
22. Not having a full kitchen
23. Never feeling like a “local”
24. The stereotypical “expat” community
25. Really bad “western” food
26. Waiting in “line” in China
27. The abundance of mediocre food
28. Power outlets that spark

Since we were now short a bike, this weekend Nik and I set out to explore Shanghai the old fashioned way: on foot.

Two Explorers

We hadn’t had a significant walking day since we visited last December, and I honestly forgot that it was possible. Sure, we’ve walked five or six blocks to get from one place to another over the past year, but we haven’t set out for a destination on the other side of the city.

On Saturday, the Bund Soft Spinning Market (aka “the Fabric Market”) was our destination and along the way, we needed to pick up a cup of coffee, eat breakfast, exchange RMB for $$$, and enjoy the crisp November weather. For the first stretch, I window shopped while Nik filled up his memory card. I thought it was going to be a day where I was along for the ride…and then we crossed Chongqing Road into the older section of downtown. All of a sudden there was a ton of activity around a young couple getting married, so I took my camera out to take video of the firecrackers, and I never put my camera away until we made it to the Fabric Market.

If you ever visit Shanghai, be sure to reserve a day for wandering around the area east of Chongqing Rd South between Xujiahui Road and Fuxing Road West. Many of the buildings seem to be ramshackle and in disrepair, but they are loved and taken care of by multi-generational families that have probably lived and worked there for over 50 years. These are the streets that I will think of when I miss Shanghai. The ones where no matter where you turn, a hundred things are going on at the same time. Behind an elderly woman sitting in the sun is a doorway leading to another woman washing clothes in the shared sink in front of another open door leading to a table of five men playing cards where the sixth is mounting his motorbike and rolling it through the door towards the elderly woman. The layers of this neighborhood are amazing, and there are very few cultures in the western world where each family’s space flows into another family’s to the point where as an outsider, I feel as though I am walking through one huge maze-like garage.

Now I understand why Nik is worried about being bored in America. Please tell me if any of you know of a place in the continental United States where you can walk for four hours and see scenes as diverse, textural and beautiful as these. Because if this place exists, that might be where we should move next.

Several scenes from today seemed like pages from the Where's Waldo? book series. Nik's striped turtle-neck helped!

Yellow Coat

Fresh Noodles

Key Maker

Legs

Waldo turns the corner

Mine!

Kid plays with chopstick, Chinese cellery stored in the hallway, fermenting vegetables in pots, huge squash sitting on the sidewalk, knife resting on chopping block

Fruit Stand

Crabs trying to escape

Door recycling passes by vegetable vendors

I miss my bike....but I'm glad I don't have it any more.

Elderly woman sitting in the sun. Young woman washing dishes.

Preparing Dinner

Airing out in the sun

Tea Pots

Old, not as old and new buildings exist within blocks of one another

Demolition

Stools on a line

Chopping Board

Rubble under my feet

Balance

Chestnuts roasted on the street

He's busting holes through buildings

Shoe Repair

The cobbler

Then today after meeting Andy for lunch, Nik and I took a detour down an old lane so that I could photograph the three blankets that I have made here in Shanghai. The first and last ones are gifts for new little ones, and the middle one is for Nik and I. I had never made blankets before, but for some reason I was drawn to the repetition here in China. We’ll see how long my blanket streak lasts!

* Melina's Giant Granny Square....this is a work in progress. I hope to make it about twice as large as it is now.

* Our Blanket....Garter Stitch with Fan Lace border

* Tyler's Ripples

* All three

Nik has also written a blog post about this weekend’s adventure, that is accompanied by 90+ photos!

Nik’s blog: Walking through Shanghai’s Old Town

A few of my students basking in the sun of Yunnan

I can’t believe it. Honestly, I can’t.

One week from today will be my last day teaching in Shanghai.

For the past three months I have never dreaded going to school. I have never been aggravated that I had to teach. I have never wanted to stay home. In the beginning, it didn’t even feel like “work”. It was like I was playing pretend in China. Then, after the newness wore off, it did feel like work, but in the best way possible. It felt like work because my students were accomplishing the goals that we set. Which means that they were actually learning what I taught them. Imagine that!!!

This is why next Friday will be a hard day. In three short months I have gotten to know my students better than I ever imagined. I have seen them take a few steps forward, then one back only to leap forward again. I have seen their confidence grow, and their abilities mature. I have seen light bulbs go off as student after student exclaims “Oooooooooohhhhh, I get it.” I have seen them walk in my classroom laughing and joking with friends, and I have seen them walk out of my classroom laughing and joking with friends. I have seen them walk in my classroom nervous, and I have seen them walk out of my classroom confident.

I have also met some amazing adults along the way. Did you know that teaching at international schools is the best kept secret in the world? These men and women get to travel all over the world to teach! They have taught on all 6 inhabited continents, and they all have stories to tell! I’m just glad that I discovered this little secret while I’m still young!!

Despite the glamor of teaching internationally, my fellow teachers have shown me that teaching is not easy. It is a profession that requires constant attention, and their day is never over when the bell rings. They have committed their lives to making our children better, and they are doing a darn good job. What’s more is they all realize there is more out there. They are constantly looking for new ideas and methods to engage the students inside and outside of the classroom, and I can tell that the students appreciate it.

I am writing this post a week before because I know next weekend will be insanely busy because it will be my last in this enormous city. Granted…I should be too busy right now, but I’m procrastinating. It is a habit I formed when I was in high school, so it’s appropriate that I continue to foster it while I teach high school.

Saturday Laundry

As I mentioned before, I finally had my camera repaired. I have a Canon G9, and got a lens error every time I turned it on. Luckily, I purchased the extended warranty when I bought it, because my lens was shot and had to be completely replaced. I was worried about having it replaced in China because I didn’t know if I could find a reputable repair shop. But it turns out that there is a registered Canon retailer/repair shop downtown in the Yalong International Plaza at 500 Jinling Road East. They were extremely professional, called me when they found out that it was going to be more than the 100RMB they originally quoted, and had everything ready for me when I arrived to pick it up….including the old lens. Now I can take photos again, but I have found that I forgot how. So excuse me for these less than great photos, but they’re still kind-of okay.

Squid in the sky

Condemned

Mop Man

Training

Red Hydrant

Shanghai Newstand

Fire Exit

Laundry and Construction

Dancing Dresses