A year later, Weathers moved to Shanghai to teach marketing and advertising at Shanghai Normal University. His first impression of the megacity was one of pure awe. Weathers said he was amazed at how clean and modern the city was, as well as the rate of development as the city was preparing for the World Expo. It was nothing like what he had seen in the movies and overseas media portrayals, and certainly unlike any city he had seen in his travels to over 50 countries.

Pleasant obstacles

Weathers said that language was one of the greatest challenges he faced during his initial years in China. He recalled how he once spent over an hour at a gym in Luoyang trying to communicate to the staff about the deposit payment required for a locker.

"That incident taught me that the best way to learn a language is to put yourself in a situation where there is no one to translate for you. You have no choice but to solve the problem on your own," he said.

Cultural differences have proved challenging at times too. He points out that back home in the US, the hosts are usually the ones who initiate the first bite at the dinner table. In China, it is the opposite - the hosts often wait for the guests to start the meal.

"There were many times when we were sitting for more than 30 minutes at the dinner table and no one took a bite of the food. Everyone was just waiting politely for the other person to get things started," Weathers laughed.

As exasperating as these differences might be at times, Chinese culture has nevertheless been a source of several valuable life lessons. He recalled how he was once frustrated by a parked bus that was blocking a lane in traffic on a day he was running late. Instead of becoming emotional, Weathers' taxi driver simply drove around the bus into oncoming traffic.

"The driver told me that the bus was like a rock and we were water. It was a reference to the traditional Chinese teaching of going with the flow. I'll always remember how he laughed at me and said, 'water never gets angry', and I finally understood a nugget of Chinese wisdom," he said.

Growing together with the city

Despite having lived in Shanghai for nearly 11 years, Weathers is still impressed with the pace at which the city is evolving.