SIS.

Single in Shanghai (SIS).

It's a different experience being single in Shanghai. I think in general you are more open to experiences because essentially, it's all about you now. Well it would be the same wherever I lived, I suppose. There is something quite liberating about doing whatever the hell I please and not having to worry about how it will affect my partner. Of course, I am still accountable to myself for whatever consequences ensue, but I've lived with these consequences for the last 32 years and I'm still alive. They have made me who I am.

I have been having a ball, hanging out with different people, making new friends, living in different areas of Shanghai. I have eaten bullfrogs, which taste surprisingly like codfish. I have joined a drinking group with a running problem and then pissed in a gutter on the freeway at the "pitstop." If I did not have to work and find an apartment right now, I would have embarked on a random 10 day journey to Vietnam with 2 people I hardly know. In a couple weeks I will be presenting for the first time internationally in front of Chinese professionals who want to improve the state of mental health services in China.

I will be able to see Shanghai through open and different eyes. Not to say I could not have the same experience if I were in a relationship. Plenty of couples have awesome experiences. But it will be different now for me b/c the spontaneity level is about to go way up, which always makes for more stories to tell. For me, that's what it's all about in life. If it makes for a good story, it's worth doing.

I'm about to fall in love with Shanghai in a whole new way. And I hope in the meanwhile, I fall in love with everyone I meet and the joys of being me, as a single, independent expat woman braving this Chinese NYC from circumstances unforeseen.