This is a picture of the building where we meet for Church. I thought you might be interested in some details of what Church is like for us here. This is the first Chapel where we get to ride an escalator in and out. We meet above a car dealership and in amongst offices.
The chapel is to the right of the top of the escalators. It is huge. I should take a picture of that one day. Our whole District fits in their easily. When we have finished Sacrament Meeting we walk to the left of the escalators. That area contains the classrooms, library, Branch Presidents' offices etc.
There are also regular work offices in the building. Usually they are empty on Sunday. However, sometimes when China has a public holiday they schedule a work day on the weekend to make up for the holiday*. Yes, that would cause a riot in Australia, but it is the norm here. So, on those days you go to Church and can walk past people in their offices working away on their computers.
There are three branches in Shanghai. We all meet in this building. We get the enviable time-slot of 8:30am. But this is fair given other branches have a much greater distance to travel or need to make their way across the river. The majority of the YSA meet with a different branch. So, our Branch is almost entirely made up of families with youth/children and couples. There are about 100 - 120 people who attend Sacrament Meeting each week (but I might be off, I'll ask David for his estimate later). I serve in the Primary and David serves with the Young Men.
Our branch covers a fairly compact geographic area - well it is compact compared to what we are used to in Australia. For some of the American families it is probably larger than what they are used to. As an example, in Ethan's Deacon's group there are five boys and they can all easily ride their bikes to each other's houses. There are three other families from the branch in our compound. One of those families has a girl from Erica's primary class and a boy who is a Deacon with Ethan. Another family has a girl who is Clara's age. The other family teaches seminary, so we hope they stay long enough to teach Ethan when he is old enough to attend!
There is no font in our building, so when somebody is baptised they use a swimming pool, or a large bath.
All members of our branch are expats. You must have a foreign passport to attend our branch. A statement is read at the beginning of Church each Sunday reminding us to restrict any discussion of the Church to only those who hold a foreign passport.
There are Chinese branches that meet somewhere else entirely and we have no contact or shared resources with them at all.
* I think the weekend work days occur to try to string together as many holiday days as possible. Many people travel long distances back to their home towns during holidays, so it makes sense to put together as many spare days as possible for them to maximise their break. It isn't as mean as it sounds. So, for example, you might work one day on a weekend before the holidays, and one day on a weekend after the holidays, but you get an extra two days to spend with your family while you are there (and you might only see them once or twice a year) - this includes parents who may only see their child in person once or twice per year. We sure are fortunate to not have to make these types of choices - income v. staying with your child.
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