A few Lazy Days

Thursday Jan 29^th…

Dianne canceled class today…although we have to make it up on Friday. Today ended up being a day of rest. Caitlin and I went to the mall for lunch. We wanted to get dumplings but like most things in China, it was closed for the Chinese New Year. Everything shuts down it is absolutely ridiculous.  After lunch I got some laundry done. Later in the day Caitlin, Kyle and I did a workout video. It was a lot of fun, we set it up in the hallway of the hotel so we would have more room to move around.

We saw another amazing firework show from our window. Fireworks had been going off all night but around 11:40PM the fireworks were everywhere. It was crazy. They lasted for at least 30 minutes.  The sky ended up getting so smoky that we couldn’t even see them anymore. Every direction we looked there was another set of fireworks. It was absolutely incredible.

The reason their were so many fireworks was because at midnight it would be the 5^th day of the Chinese new year, which means the God of wealth would be coming, so everyone was welcoming him with the fireworks.

Friday Jan 30^th…

We sat through class all day. We had to make up our class from Thursday and then we had our regular class scheduled, which was really long because we were giving our presentations.  After class we all just hung out and laid low for a while then some of us went over to Metro City (The Dome as I like to call it) and ate at their dinning court.

While at dinner we decided we were going to drink in the rooms and just keep it a low key night. We bought some beer and headed back to the Faculty Club. We all just hung out and drank for a while. Eventually most of the guys left to go get massages while Caitlin, Kyle, and I went over to Bulldogs. We have hung out with the bartender so we knew it would be a cheap outing. After Bulldogs we ended up going to a dance club. It was absolutely dead but Caitlin and I had fun dancing.

It was a fun night and now another weekend with more gorgeous weather.

Back to Shanghai

Wednesday Jan 28^th…

Woke up and went to breakfast provided by the hotel.  It was a mixture of mostly Chinese food and some western food.  But dumplings for breakfast, I love it!!! Our last stop on our trip was to a place called The Temple of the Flying Peaks.  We all misunderstood our tour guide and were expecting to see The Temple of the Flying Pigs. Caitlin and I were banking on seeing a statue of a pig with wings and then the whole when pigs can fly thing would have actually been true J needless to say we climbed to the top of this mountain and our guide is sitting their explaining that this is where the pigs are and pigs this pigs that. We were all very confused but we went with it. Later we come to find out she was saying peaks the whole time. What a let down! But still a great climb to the top, and some wonderful views.

The Temple area was packed with a ton of people. There were many Buddha carvings right in the side of the mountain. They were all very detailed.  It was a short visit to The Temple of the Flying Peaks but it was still fun to see and a great laugh about the pigs. We ate Lunch and got back on the bus to leave Hangzhou and head for Shanghai. It ended up being about a 3 hour trip back to Shanghai but I slept a little bit so it wasn’t that bad.

When we got back to Shanghai we just hung out for a while and then the group decided to go to dinner. At this point we were all pretty tired of big traditional Chinese meals so went to Pizza Hut. Caitlin and I split a small supreme pizza and some garlic bread; they didn’t have bread sticks L the pizza was delicious, they put pineapple on their supreme pizza. Another weird thing was that there was no sauce on the pizza it was a great pan style crust with awesome toppings but no sauce.

After dinner we just came back to the Faculty Club and hung out. We were all exhausted so we didn’t end up going out. 

Visiting Hangzhou

Tuesday Jan 27^th…

Another early morning on the bus; we left Suzhou for a three hour bus ride to Hangzhou. Overall I really enjoyed Suzhou. It was not what I expected since everyone kept calling it Venice and it was really nothing like Venice but it was still really beautiful and we were able to see some awesome things. The city was a lot bigger than I expected but at the same time it wasn’t a huge city. I am really glad I was able to see Suzhou.

Upon arriving in Hangzhou we went on a cave tour. I started off thinking this was going to be a dark, wet, creepy cave but it ended up having neon lights all over the cave. These lights caught us really off guard. They ended up being neat but not cave like by any means. Also the whole time we were walking around in the cave there was a paved path laid out for us. So it wasn’t an adventurous as expected.  Inside the cave there was a Taoist shrine area. They were trying to get us to pay money to pray to their God…It didn’t work though.  To get back to the starting point of the cave we took a little train like vehicle. It was fun but it probably wouldn’t have been as fun as it was if we weren’t with a great group of people.

After the cave we went and ate lunch; another great traditional meal with far too much food. When we were done with lunch we sat in traffic for a while before arriving at West Lake. We walked around for a short time and then got on a boat to go over to the West Lake Scenic Area. It was a gorgeous day to be on the water.  I don’t really remember too much historical information that our guide told us about the scenic area however it was enjoyable just to walk around and see the people and the views of the city of Hangzhou. On the way back from the scenic area the sun was setting. It was a gorgeous clear sky with beautiful hills. The colors of the sky were a deep orange…incredible, a perfect moment to be on the water.

Since Hangzhou is known for it’s tea; next we traveled into the mountains and stopped at place that would have been called a vineyard if we were drinking wine but it was the tea version. We sampled a green tea and they also showed us there blooming flower teas. They put a flower bulb into the glass and as the water is poured on it the flower blooms in the cup…really cool to watch. It was a short visit but an awesome sight to be in the middle of all of these tea fields in the mountains.

We all got back on the bus and headed to dinner. This dinner was great-as always.  After dinner I was told that some of the guys at the other table may or may not have left the table with some stinky toufu and other food/bones. As a sidenote, stinky toufu is awful! It is one of the stinkiest things you will ever smell. It is just horrible, I cannot describe it and I do not understand why the Chinese people enjoy eating it because it tastes just as awful as it smells. The guys were plotting to hide this toufu among other things in our hotel room. Thanks to our inside tip we were able to find out about it before we got to the hotel and we were able to get a hold of their passports and have something to bargain/threaten them with J We were successful and no food was hidden in our room. These hotel rooms were very nice, so I am glad the guys didn’t ruin it with an awful smell.

We ended up going out in downtown Hangzhou. As we were walking around fireworks started going off everywhere. I love all of these fireworks!!! It was a really cool sight with the temple lit up in the background and fireworks going off right next to it.  Eventually 6 of us ended up at a local bar (our favorites J) This was probably one of the smokiest bars I have been in. We ended up staying and having a great time playing dice and just meeting new people. As a late night snack, I gave in to the American ways and got my first McD's. It was so good!!! and totally worth it!

A trip to Suzhou

Monday Jan 26^th (New Year’s Day)…

We left early in the morning for our 3-day tour to Suzhou and Hangzhou. The bus ride to Suzhou was about 2 hours.  Suzhou is known as the Venice of China. It is one of the many little watertowns outside of Shanghai.  Suzhou has been built up a lot so I wouldn’t really consider it a watertown now but rather is has some waterways that are still used. Nonetheless we had fun. We started our tour at Tiger Hill. The walk to the top was very pretty with everything decorate for New Years. At the top of the Tiger hill we saw the leaning tower of China also known as Yunyansi Pagoda. It was way different than the leaning tower because the Yunyansi was made of bricks. There were parts of the tower that looked like a brick was just going to come flying out of the structure…thankfully that didn’t happen.

Upon leaving Tiger Hill we went and had a traditional lunch and then went to Cold Mountain Temple. All of the temples that we saw, including this one were really crowded. Many Chinese people travel to the temples within the first couple of days of the Lunar New Year to pray for good fortune.  The courtyards at the Cold Mountain Temple were really busy with people lighting incense and candles.  Even though these places are temples they are not a place for silence like in a church. Many people were loud, and kids were running around.  We were able to ring the bell of the Cold Mountain Temple three times. After a little more walking around we got back on the bus and headed to Panmen Scenic Spot.

Panmen Scenic Spot was an old part of Suzhou. It still had the working canals and some beautiful scenery. We took a Gondola ride. It was not like a gondola you think of when you hear about Venice but it was a little boat with a woman standing on the back rowing, and she sang to us in Chinese. It was a short ride but relaxing to be on the water. It was also nice because we were able to see some of the old houses and a little bit more of the historic areas of Panmen, not just the tourist areas. Even though none of the flowers were blooming it was still a beautiful old area.

After a full day of touring it was time for dinner. These traditional meals they set up for us are just fantastic. We had an amazing sweet and sour tempura fish. Wow it was phenomenal. We also had many other enjoyable dishes.

After dinner we went to our hotel, which ended up being extremely nice. We weren’t expecting anything special but these rooms were really nice. I would much rather have those rooms than the Faculty Club room any day.  I went up to one of the guy’s rooms to borrow his computer; I had to send mom some birthday roses! In the mean time some of the other guys were in our room and we didn’t know it at the time but they hid some fish skulls and bones from dinner in our room. It was gross to find these fish bones later in the night. We walked around Suzhou for about an hour and then I headed back to the hotel. I was exhausted and ended up getting a good long sleep.

So I am a little behind on blogging (Part IV)

Sunday Jan 25^th (New Year’s Eve)…

I woke up to the sound of fireworks. Fireworks everywhere!

Caitlin and I decided to go see the Shanghai Museum today…the one we tried finding last time and ended up in the art museum instead.  We got ready for the day and headed to the subway. We went to peoples square and found it quickly, its amazing how quickly you can get somewhere if you know the right exit to use J The Shanghai Museum is free to everyone and 4 floors of great Chinese history. We saw clay sculptures, a bronze exhibit, a jade exhibit, there is an area on seals, Chinese calligraphy, and Chinese paintings. This is the same museum I went to last time I was in Shanghai, but it is still interesting to see again. I feel like I saw a lot of new things, or I just forgot about things that I saw 2 years ago. I think the Jade exhibit was one of my favorites.

After the museum, we came back to the hotel and quickly had to leave to go out with the class for our pre-arranged Chinese New Years Eve dinner. We went to a place right down the street from campus’s South gate.  The food was great. Nice to have another traditional meal and it was just our class so we were able to just relax and enjoy.

Fireworks continued all day and when we got back to the faculty club after dinner we were finally able to see some of the fireworks because it was dark.  Caitlin and I stood outside on our window ledge and watched some fireworks, saw a lot of reflections off of the high-rises and heard even more fireworks. We were getting antsy inside so we decided to layer up and go out to People’s Square, East Nanjing Lu, and we eventually made it to the bund.  Walking around the city was awesome. The fireworks never stopped.  Anyone can buy fireworks and they can be lit anywhere. 

It is the year of the Ox so there were Ox statues everywhere. The people walking around were so happy. It was just a great environment to be in. We spent most of the night at the Bund. Most people at the Bund were foreigners. The Chinese people traditionally spend the holiday with their families.  The Bund was really busy with eager foreigners with his or her camera and vendors wanting to rip off everyone.  When we first got there we saw people lighting these lanterns that ended up flying away from the hot air of the light…like a hot air balloon.  The sky was filled with these balloons it was an incredible sight.  Caitlin and I decided we wanted to buy one. The vendors weren’t into bargaining The vendor we got ours from tried selling it to us for 50 Kuai right after I heard him sell it to some Chinese people for 20 Kuai, we didn’t let that fly and he sold it to us for the same 20 Kuai price J We asked to borrow some guys lighter and we lit the cube at the bottom of the lantern. As the lantern was about to lift off the police came by and signaled for us to put it down, we passed it off to the guys that were helping us and they sent it up for us (The Police made Caitlin and I nervous).  We made our wishes (that is what you are supposed to do when you send one of these up) and our lantern joined all of the others in the sky.

The next couple of hours we just spent hanging out and socializing with people around us. Eventually the city lights and building lights started turn off and at midnight, in every direction, you could see fireworks. It was unbelievable how many fireworks were in the sky. The noise wasn’t as loud as expected because we were in an open area and the sounds weren’t vibrating off of the buildings, but there were a ton of them, and the sky was constantly flashing. It was one of the most impressive sights I have ever seen.  I cannot even put into words how magnificent it was to see all of the fireworks in every direction at the same time. It was truly breathtaking. Most of the firework shows lasted about 20 minutes. I later came to find out that most of the fireworks we saw were just form individuals, not a big display show. 4^th of July fireworks will never be the same.

New Year’s Eve was incredible. Words do not do this experience justice. I am so glad I was able to personally witness something so important to the Chinese culture. It is such a happy time to be in China J

So I am a little behind on blogging (Part III)

Friday Jan 23^rd…

I gave a presentation this morning in class. It is weird to think that today finalized our 3^rd week of classes in Shanghai. I cannot believe how fast time is going.

During the afternoon I went with Kyle and Adam to get facials. We were redeeming our free gift cards that the bartender from Luckys gave us.  It was 1.5 hours long and amazing!

I will definitely be getting another one of those while I am here. I still have not gotten one of China’s famous foot massages yet…but I know when I do finally get one, it will be marvelous.

After the facial we came back and ate dinner in the dome, which is by the Gateway Mall (a couple blocks away).  There is a big food court downstairs with great food. There was a big group of us that went.  There were so many options!!!

Later that night some of us ended up going to a new place called Mural. There was a lot of seating and a small dance floor. Two of the front desk girls came with us (a couple of guys have been talking to them), so it was fun to have some Chinese people with us. We taught them some of our drinking games, and they taught us some of their dances. It was another great night.

Saturday Jan 24^th…

Saturday was a wasted day. Since we had a late night on Friday I slept for a lot of the day on Saturday.  I ended up lounging around and eventually made it to the dinning hall for dinner. 

Saturday night was a ton of fun. We went to listen to live jazz music at Cotton Club. The Jazz was fantastic. The first set was instrumental and then next set they added a singer. Apparently this guy that sang is a big shot at 3M. The last set was with a different singer. She was awesome! Her voice was great, it sounded like some great Jazz that I would hear in the French quarter of New Orleans. Everyone performing looked like they were enjoying themselves. Some people from the crowd got up and danced while others enjoyed from their seats. It was a dark cozy place; we had a booth so it was even cozier.

So I am a little behind on blogging (Part II)

Wednesday Jan 21^st…

We went to class and sat through presentations…not such an exciting morning.  After class we set out on a journey to find the Museum…little did I know it wasn’t the art museum we were looking for, but that is where we ended up.

The Shanghai Art Museum was very small but in an awesome colonial old building. There wasn’t a lot to see, but for a student discount of 5 Kuai to enter it was worth seeing. 

After a visit to the art museum Caitlin, Josh and I just wandered around the city for about an hour. It was a cold day so we didn’t stay out very long.

We found a new deal at a bar called Bulldogs. It is only on Wednesday nights…they call it men’s night but naturally they still let the women get the same deal J so we paid 50 Kuai for a 2-hour free flow. We played a lot of cards that night. It is a fun old bar with a very tavern-ness feel. I liked it a lot.

Thursday Jan 22^nd…

Another morning filled with class. A professor in the engineering came to class and we just had an open forum with her. We were able to find out topics we could/couldn’t ask Chinese about. And she answered some questions based on her experiences. It was interesting to get another perspective on the culture.

After class a group of 5 of us went to the Shanghai Botanical Gardens. It was easy to get there, we took the red line to the south train station and then a 20 minute walk from there. This walk really gave us a different perspective on everyday life in Shanghai. We ended up walking through an underprivileged area in Shanghai. We are very fortunate to have everything we have.  Despite the lack of a lot of things in this area the people seemed happy and seemed to be going on with their daily lives just fine.  I decided not to take any pictures of this area out of respect to the people that lived there, but pictures can’t even show how old, rundown, dirty, and unsanitary this area was.  I honestly don’t know how a whole family lived in some of these places.

We finally made it to the gardens. The gardens were really peaceful. It was nice to get away from the noise of the city for a while and just walk around and relax. Even though the gardens were nice I know they will be beautiful in late spring when everything is in full bloom.  While at the gardens we watched a group of older people play with something that is best described as a Chinese yo-yo. One of the men actually let us try, all of us were horrible, but everyone got some good laughs in the mean time. (I have some pictures of Kevin trying this…make sure to take a look at those J).

Thursday night I went out with 3 of the guys to meet up with Simon, who we met at the bars. He also brought some of his friends. We all went out to eat and then we went back to his place to hang out and drink.  Simon, took us to a great street with a ton of fresh seafood. It was delicious!!! We had wonderful crawfish and something that none of us knew what It was, but really good. Both of these we had to take off the heads, and peel all of the excess away. We also got oysters, scallops, 2 different types of fish on a stick, meat and chicken on a stick. In Addition, we had some vegetables and some squid on a stick. It was all so fresh and amazing. It was a feast!

Simon’s apartment was in a high-rise with an awesome view! The inside was really nice. Not at all what I expected. We just played cards and hung out. It was an early night but it was so much fun to experience something that we wouldn’t have found on our own. That seafood was the best.

So I am a little behind on blogging (Part I)

Monday  Jan 19^th  …

We had class all day…these classes are really getting in the way of our exploring J After class the dean of engineering at Jiao Tong, Dean Xi, took us out for a traditional Chinese dinner. It was delicious!!! I love having other people order for us like that; otherwise I probably wouldn’t order most of those things.  A lot of the dishes that he ordered were very spicy! I am not one for spicy foods so hopefully this trip will help me gain a little bit of a tolerance towards spice. Dean Xi was really polite, he made sure we were all taken care of and comfortable. He spoke English well.  His office is on the MinHang campus so I am sure we will be seeing more of him when we move there.

After dinner we all hung out in Kevin/Matt’s room. It was fun to just hang out and relex as a group. Eventually we ended up going out to Windows. Upon returning to campus we stopped by our favorite street food vendors and enjoyed some late night lamb and rice…street food is the best way to end the night J

Tuesday  Jan 20^th…

We started another morning sitting in Dianne’s class, but for Weiqi’s class we went on a field trip!!! Weiqi took us to a traditional tea ceremony. We took a bus to Duolun Lu, which is north of XuJiaHui in Shanghai. We tried a green tea and a chrysanthemum tea. I still prefer green tea’s however the other one was very pleasant. They played music for us and had some snacks out. After the tea ceremony we just enjoyed the tea and played some cards together.  This is a very common way for Chinese people to pass time. Before we left, we took pictures with the owners. Weiqi told us that they were going to frame the picture and post it in their stairwell…Caitlin and I are planning on going back to see if they posted it, basically to make sure we are celebrities J 

As we were walking back to the bus there were many street vendors. I ended up buying some fresh Beef Jerky. Wow, it was scrumptious! Tommy you would have loved it, since I know you love Jerky. It was like a sweet teriyaki flavor---Mmmm delicious!

We arrived back at the faculty club. My group and I met to figure out what we were going to do for our project. We got an outline figured out and divided each part up.

Later that night we were able to watch Obama’s inauguration. We had planned on going to a bar that said they would have it on for us but we ended up just staying in and watching it on the computer because the reception was actually really good.  China also had it on CCTV but they had everything dubbed over in Chinese so we didn’t want to sit through that.  For most of the pre-inauguration festivities we had a great feed through ABC.com. As soon as they started introducing everyone in front of the Capital the streaming failed. We eventually were able to pick it up again and we were able to see/hear President Obama’s speech.  Sometimes the video would freeze but we could hear what was being said so it all worked out.  Even though it turned into a late night we were happy we were able to see it, afterall it was a historic moment for the country.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!!

It is new years eve and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. This morning I woke up to the sound of fireworks and they haven't stopped all day!!! I cannot see all of the fireworks because of the skyscrapers but I sure can hear all of the booms!! It is absolutely incredible. 

We are getting ready to go out and walk around, eventually we will end up at the Bund to bring in the new year!!!

I will update the blog with the last weeks happenings soon. I just have not found the time to sit down and catch up. 

In the mean time, I hope everyone is doing well.

Happy new year!

Another weekend with more experiences

So we did Laundry for the first time this weekend. Well, actually, we didn't really do much of anything...The lady did it all for us. Laundry in China is great!!! 

Caitlin and I walked in (there is a laundry mat on campus) and we sorted our clothes into the amount of washers we wanted. We bought soap from the woman. She asked if we wanted her to switch the clothes into the dryer for us, we said yes even though it costs 2 kuai for this service. Then she asked 15 minutes or 30 minutes on the dryers, we said 30 and didn't think everything was going to dry but it did, amazingly! My jeans were even dry---that’s a good quick dryer. She told us how much it would cost for each of us; 44 kuai including soap...less than $7 for 2 washers, and 2 dryers, someone else to switch it, and turns out she folds everything!!! I love doing laundry in China! it was a fun experience because she didn't speak any english. I was able to understand most things she said however I struggled with responding. Thats okay, it all got done and it was really easy!!

This weekend we walked around the Pudong side. We haven't really explored it too much prior to this. It is really nice, everything is new, and its very modern. We walked to the JinMao Tower and actually went inside of it. The Grand Hyatt Hotel Lobby is on the 54th floor...we went up there and looked around. It is gorgeous! Someone looked at the prices, apparently for a single room, one night is about $1,000.00...I can only dream that someday a company will send me around the world and have me stay in hotels like that one!!!

I love walking around the city at night just to see everything lit up. Also, decorations for the lunar new year celebration are starting to go up so everything is ever more vibrant than it normally would be. That celebration starts in a week!!!

For lunch on Sunday we went to the street market to the west of campus and got some lunch, we then ate that lunch in the park. Since it was Sunday there were a lot of family's out and kids playing. It was a great atmosphere and even better people watching.

I know back home is struggling with some very harsh cold weather but i am happy to report this weekend was about 12 degrees (I am in celsius), so we were enjoying about 55 degree fahrenheit weather :)

My first all nighter in China

Friday Jan 16^th…

We had Dianne’s class in the morning and then we took a field trip to the Shanghai Municipal Museum for Weiqi’s class.  I wouldn’t say it was the best field trip because everything was written in Chinese. However, based on the history that we have learned in class and the dates posted next to the pictures on display it was cool to kind of be able to tell the general themes for each picture. They did have a quick video with the time line of the construction in Pudong, which was interesting to see all of those skyscrapers be built within about a 15 year time frame. Most of the big skyscrapers only took about a year and half to build.

After our field trip we came back and watched Kung Fu Panda, well everyone else did, I ended up falling asleep but the parts that I saw were really cute. After the movie we all got ready and went out again…this time there was reason to celebrate, Chris was turning 21. The drink of choice was Whisky and green tea….it is absolutely amazing! I had it last time I was in Shanghai and everyone thought I was crazy when I told them about it. And the other night the guys had an opportunity to try it when we were hanging out with the locals at C’s…they too, loved it.

I met three Chinese people who were playing dice. They looked like they were having a lot of fun so I just introduced myself and they taught me the game. I swear every Chinese person I meet knows another game with dice. We laughed a lot and we are now friends (The girls and I exchanged numbers…I am telling you, it is what the younger Chinese people do).

This night turned into a long night of just meeting people and hanging out with everyone in our group. We actually came home around 6:30AM…haha turns out the main gate is open that early. See I am learning so much!!!! 

It's just like at Purdue...All nighters!!! haha I guess at Purdue when I pull an all nighter its usually school related

Getting to know the locals

Thursday Jan 15^th…

Today we were stuck in classes all day! We ate in the dinning halls again. After class we just hung out. Did a little more research on traveling and then just caught up on emails and things of that nature. After a while the guys came down to our room and surprisingly they told us we were going out again. We had heard about another cheap drink bar so we thought we would try it out. Caitlin and I had to find the location of it because they are boys and we wont get anywhere if the girls aren’t prepared. So we looked it up and decided we would take cabs there but then the guys didn’t want to pay for a cab (even though it is cheaper than the subway when we have 5 people splitting a 14 kuai cab fare), in anycase we went on an adventure based on one persons recollection of what stop to get off at.

So we got off of the subway and started to head East. After walking for a few blocks the guys asked an old couple where the intersection was…good thing the girls wrote this information down. At this point Caitlin and I are freezing, we didn’t layer up since we thought we were just going to get into a cab and well we didn’t really wear walking shoes. The old couple told us they thought it was about a 30 minute walk. No one knew to believe that time frame or not because the Chinese walk a lot slower than we do. However, they knew exactly what they were talking about. It took forever to get there!!! We finally made it and it turns out this place is underground.

The bar is called C’s. We walked right past it and didn’t even know. It was one of the shadiest bars, but a lot of locals were there. At first we thought we were going to just stay for a drink but then we started playing some games and naturally we spent all night there. We met a lot of local people and played games with them. Sat at their tables, and just enjoyed the interaction. They are all so welcoming and want to get to know us.

It is interesting how quickly people exchange numbers.  After talking for a night the Chinese have the mentality that we are friends and we need to exchange numbers. It is fun though because we have met up with some of these people a couple of times and we are starting to create friendships with some locals.

This bar had the grossest bathrooms we have encountered since being in China. The whole squatty potty/hole in the ground isn’t that big of a deal and you learn quickly to carry your own toilet paper but this bathroom was just gross. It was very dirty and for the first time this trip Caitlin and I complained about the bathrooms. YUCK!

Another weird thing about this place was in the peanut basket they had sardines mixed in. Before I knew this Adam told me to try something, I wasn’t really paying attention and I am up for trying most foods, so why not. But wow was it salty!!!! So take note if you are in Shanghai and end up at C’s check your peanut basket before you jus take a big handful!

The guys decided taking cabs home was a better idea than using our means of transportation to get there because they know that the girls were right…again J

Another great night, with an adventure, meeting wonderful people, and creating long-term friendships.

Nanpu Bridge Market

Wednesday Jan 14^th…

Today we only had Dianne’s class in the morning.  Then we ate lunch in the dinning hall and Weiqi took us out for the afternoon even though she didn’t have class with us.  She wanted to show us another cheap bargaining market.

To get there we took the public bus. This was a new experience. We never ride the buses because they are way to confusing and there are too many of them, and they don’t have any of the stops listed in English.  The bus wasn’t that crowded since it was mid day but we were able to use our public transportation cards and just swipe when we got on.  The buses are so confusing, we got off at the wrong stop…and Weiqi uses the bus system a lot. Haha. We just walked a few blocks and we were there. The market she took us to was the Nanpu bridge silk market. Basically it was a custom tailored market, with more than just suits and coats. I saw some really cute dresses so now I just need to pick out what styles I want so I will be ready for the weddings when I get home!! The girls stuck with Weiqi and she was teaching us all of her best bargaining hints.

After a few hours Weiqi left us and we went over to Pudong to go back to the science and technology market.  I made my first bargaining purchase of the trip. I bought a cute coach purse. The woman originally wanted close to $200 but I stood my ground and I payed around $24.  A bunch of the guys ordered custom tailored coats. Caitlin and I decided to wait and see how there’s turn out to see if we want to go to the same tailor…they are our test dummies J

After a full day of shopping some of us went to get dumplings, then someone had a craving for ice cream so we searched around. We ended up getting scoops of ice cream from a vendor in the mall. Ice cream is not any cheaper than back home. But it was great to finally have a dessert!!!

Eventually we ended up out at the bars again…not a surprise at all. We keep justifying it by thinking we are in the heart of the city now, so we can live it up while we don’t really have any obligations and then when we move to Minhang we are just going to get killed with school, and we will be a lot further away from everything. So it is okay to go out a lot now.

The cheapest place we have found is a place called Windows on Huaihai Lu. The beer is cheap and the long islands are strong J we have been spending a lot of time there. Every time we are there we meet great people from around the world including some locals.

The guys said this the other day and it is honestly the best way to some up Shanghai…. “Eat. Drink. Shop. Shanghai.”

A Lazy Day

Tuesday Jan 13^th…

Today we sat in class all day. Although we only have 2 classes right now we are in the classroom for a long time. Today we had Dianne’s class in the morning for about 1.5 hours and then Weiqi’s class in the afternoon is over 3 hours long. In Weiqi's class I gave my presentation and we also took our first quiz. Between these two things I am already 30% done with this class in just 2 weeks!!!

We didn’t do much after classes. It was a low-key day…a lot of people were recovering from lack of sleep. We ate lunch and dinner in the dinning hall. During lunch time the dinning hall is crowded and there are a lot more food options but I feel like no one eats dinner because at night it is empty!  

After dinner Caitlin and I came back to the room and started looking at airfares and things to travel around a little bit. We want to take small day trips around shanghai and then we are also wanting to take a couple of bigger trips maybe to Tibet or Japan or something of that nature. Flights are just really expensive right now.

We both ended up going to sleep at like 10PM. I guess every once in a while a lazy day is just what I need.

Chicken feet & other strange foods

Monday Jan 12^th…

We started the day off with our Chinese Culture Class. The class was uneventful, just long and cold. Classes are currently pretty. When we move to the MinHang campus we will be taking our engineering courses so that is when we will actually feel like we are here studying, not just here enjoying a great big city! After class we took a field trip for this class. Weiqi took us to a Chinese restaurant and we had a great big meal, she ordered everything for us so she was actually able to tell us what we were eating…kinda nice for a change.  This field trip relates to class because we just finished learning about dining etiquette…so this was a legitimate field trip J As for what we ate…This was a good meal not to be a picky eater because she had us try a lot of the traditional dishes…and yes I tried them all!!!

The way a big meal like this one works is everything is family style. We sat at a table that seats 10 with a big lazy susan in the middle. You ordered everything at the beginning and then the waitresses just bring the food out as it is ready in the kitchen but traditionally appetizers are served first followed by cold dishes, warm dishes, and soup & noodles are served last. For our meal Weiqi ordered everything and we just sat there and enjoyed as she explained what we were eating.  I don’t remember what dishes were under what category but some of the dishes we enjoyed were…chicken feet, duck brain, jellyfish, longevity noodles, chicken jaw, dumplings, egg drop soup, eggplant, fish, beef, and vegetables (I know there were more but I don’t remember all of them).

Chicken Feet---When you got over the fact that you are holding a little chicken foot, well it just tasted like chicken. The surprise with the chicken feet is they were served cold. I think I would have liked them better warm but it was still good. The worst part was the cold skin. Other than that it was some good chicken. I am glad I tried it because I see them being sold at a lot of vendors, and I know the Chinese eat them a lot. I may try them again, but I would definitely get them warm next time.

Duck Brain---The duck we ate was served as if it was sliced in half and laying on the plate looking at you (yes, head and all!) This was also a cold dish. Apparently duck is traditionally served cold when it is served as a whole bird. They cooked it and then refrigerated it or something but it was definitely cold. Again it was good, but it would have been awesome served hot! As for the brain we ate…we picked up the head that was laying on the plate and worked around the skull and tried a little bit of the brain. It tasted like a paste. There wasn’t much flavor. Slightly disappointing.

Jellyfish---It wasn’t great. It was really chewy. Since they appear so soft in water I was a little surprised. I wouldn’t rush back to have more jellyfish.

Longevity Noodles---This is a traditional birthday dish. Instead of a birthday cake this is what is enjoyed which is why we didn’t have any dessert. We were fortunate enough to try such a great tradition because it was on of the guy’s birthdays. Basically it is a soup with really long noodles and there is a certain way they are supposed to be served to each person. Delicious!

Chicken Jaw---This was really good. Served Hot. The skin was tough to get into but there was some good meat after getting past the outside of it. I would recommend it. Don’t let the name deter you.

Dumplings --- This was actually like a dumpling soup and the dumplings were more of a dough rather than a thin outer layer. I didn’t like it. The consistency was gross since it had been soaking in the soup. I prefer the traditional dumplings much better.

Fish---The fish was served whole. This fish that we ate had a delicious flavor however it was served cold. I can get past the bones and all of that but some things just don’t taste right cold…and the way this fish was cooked it was one of those things.

Overall the food was awesome. I am really glad that Weiqi order some traditional things for us to try…after all I am in China and I am supposed to be eating weird things. I think the best way to approach it is not thinking about what you are eating, just try everything and most likely you will be surprised with what you like. In China you definitely cannot eat according to appearance because you would miss out on so many great dishes, or at least the opportunity to experience those dishes.

After lunch we just walked around as a class for a while and then got back on the bus and headed back to campus. We hung out for a while and just layed around, I think we napped. And then we had to go eat again.

I worked on a project that was due on Tuesday (so I am doing a little bit of school work) and then met up with some people who were out at the bar.  It was another great day/night. I loved that we finally experienced some interesting foods!

My feet hurt from being a tourist

Sunday Jan 11^th…

I woke up early to go to church. There is a Catholic cathedral about 4 blocks away from campus in XuJiaHui.  The tour book said there was a service at 8:00AM but I got there at 7:45AM and it had started at 7:30AM. When I walked in late there was the smell of incense lingering…it smelled very good. I think I was one of two westerners. Naturally the service was in Chinese but it held my interest. I enjoyed seeing the differences and even though I couldn’t understand what the priest was saying I was able to pick out words here and there and also from knowing a mass I was able to tell what was going on.  Some big differences that stood out in my mind are…there were monitors all over the cathedral with what the congregation’s response should be. Another difference was when extending the peace be with you everyone bowed to each other and no one shook hands. Throughout the mass instead of making the sign of the cross the Chinese congregation bowed. The last big thing that stood out about the mass was the communion. No one waits in line going pew by pew it is a free for all, whoever can get there first, just like everything else in China. The cathedral was nice, but cold.  It looked like it had not been cleaned in a while. It was dark with old wooden pews. There were some side chapels and a few stained glass windows. I will try to get a picture if I remember my camera at that hour of the morning…good think I found out that there is a 10:00AM mass and a 6:00PM mass on Sunday! After leaving church I was confused about the religion and communist thing and how that works out. Turns out religions can be practiced in establishments approved by the government. China is declared as an atheist country but going to services in churches approved by the government is alright to do. Also, there are churches that are not approved but to enter one of these you need to have a foreign passport. If the government finds out that a Chinese person is worshiping in one of these churches the church will be shut down. It has been very fascinating to find out little things, like that, about the government.

After mass I met up with everyone to head to lunch in the dinning hall. We then hung out for a while and decided to become tourists again. We were going to go on a walking tour that was mapped out in a tour book but instead we decided to just go in that direction and wander the streets of old shanghai on our own.  We usually see the most out of China when we just wander on our own, we get to see what China is really like on a daily basis.

We ended up in the Yu Bazaar area. We decided not to go to the gardens; we will save that for another day. But the Yu Bazaar was really neat to see again. I was there last time I was in Shanghai but during the day so I didn’t see it all lit up at night. We also saw it lit up at night on Saturday when we were looking at the city from the pearl tower.  At the bazaar we finally were able to find soup dumplings. Anthony Bourdain was not lying about how delicious these things are!!! They are unlike any dumpling we have had so far. They are a must have when in Shanghai.

After the Yu Bazaar area we started wandering the streets. We ran in to a street market. This one had a lot of live fish. The grossest thing was the dead eels wrapped around each other on the tables. I am okay seeing everything else chopped up or live or hanging in front of me, but that was really gross! They had dead fish chopped up and hanging to dry out on the power lines running over the streets. We were joking by saying that man learned quickly to use a wooden stick to get those things down. Again we were getting more stares than we ever thought imaginable.

I always love seeing the young kids speak the 2 words of English they know to us. We were walking down one of the streets and two kids…probably about 6 years old kept following us and continually said hello and goodbye. They were super cute. We tried talking to them a little bit but they would get shy and scatter.

We walked all over the city! I don’t know the distance but we were out wandering for atleast 7 hours…if not more. It is the best way to see everything and experience everything. On the way back Kyle and I decided to get off at a random subway stop and explore a new part of Shanghai.  Well this slightly backfired, on the new part thing.  We got off the subway and ended up a block away from that dive bar Luckys. Who would have known there was a subway stop right there!!! We decided to go in and see if our bartenders were there. And they were. They didn’t recognize us at first but then they remembered us!! It was fun the bartender that spoke the most English showed us a dice game…kind of like poker but with dice and she also gave us her phone number. She is excited to go KTV’ing with us and also I think Caitlin and I might have another girl to shop with J Wu Xiao (her name) also works at a spa place. She gave us gift cards to this place, she said there was 500 kuai on each gift card. We are going to go there on Saturday and see if she is telling us the truth or if it was just a scam to get us to the spa and spend money. We think this is legit though…we will find out. 

Something we have noticed is the locals our age are always willing to give us there number so they can have American friends. They want to show us the city and interact with us a lot. These gestures really make us feel welcomed to the area. And we will definitely walk away with some great Chinese friends.

We eventually left Luckys and what else were we going to do at about 1:00AM on a Sunday night when we had not eaten dinner yet…that’s right, street food!!! Mmm lamb on a stick and some of the best fried rice I have ever tried. I just wish these street food vendors were out all day…their food would make a perfect lunch J

It was a packed weekend but we will have time to sleep when we are on the MinHang campus a little removed from the heart of the city. 

Being a Tourist

Saturday Jan 10^th…

W slept in today and then we finally got our dinning cards filled with money for the month of January! Yay! So Caitlin, Josh, and I had lunch at the dinning hall…which actually has good food but like any other dinning hall it mostly has the same things everyday so it gets old pretty quickly.

After lunch Caitlin and I planned another wonderful outing for the day. We decided we were going to be tourists and we would invite the group and of course everyone wanted to join on our adventure.  We headed out to the Jing’an Temple. It was a lot smaller than I expected but still very interesting. I liked that the Temple has not been turned into a big tourist trap. It doesn’t cost anything to get in and there are still a ton a people their praying. People go there to pray for good fortune (at least that is what we read in a tourist book because all of the signs there are written in Chinese). I also liked that the city was built right around it. Everywhere you looked there was a skyscraper. It’s always interesting to see structures that are so old and still standing.

We left the Jing’an temple and got on the subway. We went over to the Pudong side and went to the Oriental Pearl Tower. This is a massive Tower. Looking at it from across the river you know it’s big but the size of the concrete cylinder legs is just incredible.  We paid 150 kuai to go up to the highest public point as possible…the space module (350 meters).  This was worth every penny. It was a beautiful clear day, the smog was almost non-existent, and it was just about to be sunset. So we saw the city during daylight, sunset, and at dark all from a 350 meter birds eye view.  It was really neat to see both Pudong and Puxi from this lookout. We were able to see XuJiaHui (well some of the buildings in XuJiaHui) from up there. It really is the biggest skyline I have ever seen and they are still constantly building more.  Every direction you look there are skyscrapers for as far as you can see. 

With our ticket we purchased we were also eligible to go on a rollercoaster. They have a rollercoaster in the tower! It was extremely unexpected and a lot of fun. Also, we were able to go to the 90 meter observation deck so we were able to look at the city in the fresh cold air! By the time we made it down to the observation deck it was dark out and all of the city lights were on which was a completely different sight, but just as incredible. In addition, we could go on the space floor. This was entertaining for us in the sense that we are in China, and they are advertising the China space program and had model rockets with China written on them, and then directly behind these rockets on the walls they had pictures of space ships with USA on them…just kind of backwards. Another thing the ticket had to offer was an Imax style simulator. The ‘movie’ started with us riding the ‘American Eagle’ at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL, then we were in some sand dunes riding dune buggies, and eventually we were on snowmobiles. We were pretty shocked that we were riding the ‘American Eagle’…in China. When we bought our tickets we didn't know about all of the hidden deals we just thought we were going up to the highest point but turns out we had atleast 4 hours of great entertainment. And we didn't even make it to the museum in the tower!

On the way back home we went to a Chinese fast food restaurant, Kungfu. I guess that is kind of an oxymoron in the sense that Chinese food usually comes out quickly after ordering anyway but, this is structured like a fast food restaurant back home. The food was decent, I will probably have it again at some point, however, it is not a place I am rushing back to. Also, it was kind of expensive compared to other places we have eaten at.

After a long day of touring we all just hung out and talked, I ended up going to bed semi early. Being a tourist is hard work but it is awesome to explore such a big city with so many different dimensions. There is always something to do and see.

I love it here!

Yesterday, the 9^th, we went back to the street market over to the West of us and got some amazing meet and rice dishes. The sad part is we didn’t know what half of it was. But it was delicious. We went and just pointed to what we wanted and it turned out to be a very successful meal! As we were ordering/pointing everyone in the area was looking us…we may have been the first Americans to eat there J haha. But they will be seeing more of us because we will be going back at some point over the next 5 weeks. The woman who was getting our food was just laughing at us because she knew we didn’t have a clue as to what we were ordering…and she was right!

We went to class and finished our section on Chinese history…all of those dynasties get confusing. We asked Weiqi about traveling and day trips and she was so willing to help she immediately called her husband to ask him questions about where we should go. They gave us some awesome tips so hopefully next weekend we can get a couple of day trips in!

We heard about a bar that has cheap drinks in the city (which is very uncommon at a bar here) so we headed over to this place after relaxing for a while. It was a fun place. It was called Windows and the drinks were cheap J another cool thing about it was that it was a giant melting pot for foreigners. So we met people from all over the world. Some of the people were just visiting Shanghai and others had moved to Shanghai. We got some tips on where to go and what to see around the city and around the neighboring parts of Shanghai. 

On the way home we stopped at the night street cookers and instead of just the normal lamb that I usually get I also got Chicken intestines (atleast that is what a local said they were)…which were really good. except I forgot to say 'bu la' which means no spice, so they were a tad spicy. I hope I will learn soon that most things come spicy unless you say no spice.

So as I write this on the morning of the 10^th I look outside and it is a gorgeous day! The sun is shinning and the smog is non-existent. It is still chilly out but it is going to be a great day to be a tourist.

Some things I have noticed about the Chinese….

They are very concerned about conserving energy…kind of. For example, In our room you must put the key into a slot to turn on the power…that way you don’t leave you lights burning when you leave. It’s actually a good idea, it makes sense. But contradicting that they leave most doors open into the buildings…which lets out all of the heat which in turn doesn’t conserve energy.

Paper products are harder to get and definitely more expensive. It is rare to go to a restaurant and get paper napkins…actually it is rare to get napkins in general. Public restrooms you do not get toilet paper and then after washing your hands there are definitely no paper towels. But on the contrary everyone gets food to go and what does that come in…styrofoam to go containers.

One more thought…..Thank God a horn honk has a universal meaning….MOVE! I feel as though the honks are used in excess, like any other busy city, but with the nontraditional ways of the traffic patterns those horns can save your life!

Black Markets

On the 8^th Caitlin and I woke up early to head out and explore some of the black markets! We went down to Nanjing Rd but got off at the West subway stop and not the east one so we had to walk about 20 mins before we finally got where we wanted to go. But we made it and started following the people that would ask…Coach? Gucci? Prada? Watches? Bags? Glasses? When you follow these people it turns into heaven for women, that is after you make it past the winding alleys and street ways to get there. They lead you to more purses than you have ever seen. The first room always has their lower end (not such good knock offs) but as soon as you ask do you have any more they twist a wall and there is another room of glory. Some places have a couple of walls that twist some just have different levels but they always have more to show you.  We didn’t buy anything but the experience is a lot of fun. We were kind of scoping it out so we know how much we want to spend and we can go back and talk them down to the price we want.

After a while we had to head back to get to class. We had not eaten at this point so naturally we stopped and got some dumplings to go. 

Class was interesting. Weiqi (our professor) has been talking about Chinese history and the different dynasties. Since the class is so long (3+ hours) we get a break in the middle. During this break we asked where the best ‘black markets’ are. She quickly corrected us and called them ‘affordable markets’ but she knew right where they were J She told us to go to the Pudong area (the East side of Shanghai) and take subway line 2 (the green line) to the Science and Technology Museum stop.

So naturally after class we decided to go see if Weiqi knew what she was talking about. And wow did she know!!!! If you ever are in Shanghai and want anything ‘affordable’ come here!!! Take line 2 to the Science and Technology Museum and get off the subway at this stop but never go above ground. Swipe out of the subway area but stay in the subway station and you will be amazed. Hand made tailored suits and coats for about $70 (note you don’t want to bargain with the tailors because they are sewing this article of clothing for you so if you go too low in the price they can easily go very low in the quality of the sewing…other than with the tailors bargaining is encouraged!). I didn’t buy anything but I know exactly what I am going to go back and get J

This place closed kind of early (7ish) so we grabbed some dinner and came back to the Faculty Club. We had a low key night and just hung out in one of the guys rooms.

The whole day was an ‘affordable market’ adventure. I cannot wait to go back and bargain some good prices for some cute purses J

Field Trip 1 & The Bund at night

So I forgot to mention the dessert that was ordered with dinner on Tuesday night…first of all they sent out the wrong thing (multiple other parts of the meal were wrong too).  In any case, someone at our table ordered something that was like snow cone ice covered in fruit and fruit sauce (the picture looked appealing) but what he got instead was snow cone ice with frozen beans and a bean sauce. I cannot even describe it other than it was in the shape of a mountain and it was gross!!!!!

Wednesday morning, (the 7^th) Caitlin, myself and Adam went to the grocery store and bought some snacks. We stocked up on a few things for the room and also we were going to be heading on a field trip for most of the day so we needed snacks for the bus ride.  Also, Caitlin and I finally got a hair dryer!!!! Yes mom, we have been walking outside with wet hair, but don’t worry we will no longer have to do that J

After we left the market Adam showed us this new dumpling place—we wanted a little snack. The last place was not your traditional type of dumpling but this place is. Like many of the places we have been eating at, it is a hole in the wall and it is only a couple of blocks away from campus. This place is not clean by any means but the locals are there and the dumplings are steaming. They sell 8 dumplings for 5 kuai (remember the conversion is about $1 = 6.8 kuai) so they are cheap and delicious!!!

After the dumplings we dropped everything off in our rooms and met up with the rest of the group to go find lunch and then head to our field trip. We wanted to eat at the dinning halls but Purdue has not sent the check to SJTU, so SJTU won’t give us our meal plans yet therefore we went on another adventure to find a new place to eat. We wandered out the back gate of campus and ended up finding where a local cinema is and also where a dry cleaner is.  Caitlin and I ended up trying a place that had a type of dumpling soup. This place was packed! And we pointed to what some lady was eating and told them we wanted it to go and then waited for our food. We were really excited since our last soup was so good but we got back to our room and started to eat and we quickly became nothing but disappointed.  This soup was very bland, no real flavor to it and it didn’t smell that good either. We had some of the dumplings but not many.

On Wednesday afternoon we went on a field trip to a shanghai performing arts school.  We watched the students get tested for their finals in music and kungfu.  The kungfu portion that we watched was the younger kids being tested on the basics. These basics didn’t seem so basic too me but these things were the essential skills that kungfu is based on.  The setting was really informal, even the judges would laugh and talk as everything was going on. The hosts were really nice, apparently it is custom to give something small to your visitors saying that we are glad you are here. The hosts gave us bottles of water…we were not expecting anything at all. It was a very nice gesture and we were grateful.  After the kungfu we moved on to watch some music instrument performances.  Most of the instruments that we saw being played were traditional Chinese instruments. It was awesome to hear. Most of the songs were really long. The girls playing these instruments were really talented and their hands moved really fast. Next the students were going to be putting on a performance of Beijing Opera. So we were able to go back stage and see the costumes up close and watch them do their makeup. The costumes were beautiful and very detailed.  There are many layers that go into each costume. Also most of the main male roles wear platform like shoes to ensure that they are taller than the females…I don’t know how they walked in those shoes (make sure to take note of the shoes in some of my pictures). We were able to stay and watch some of the Beijing Opera. The kids did a great job. The fighting scenes were very intriguing to watch (there was tumbling and a lot of juggling of the swords type scenes. Overall it was interesting to see how the students get tested in their disciplines and then to see all of the work that goes into the performance of the Opera.

On the bus ride back the guys decided that it was mine and Caitlin’s job to plan the night….it was already about 7:30PM. Caitlin and I shot some ideas around and told everyone to bundle up and meet in about 20mins.

So when we got back to the Faculty Club (the name of the hotel we are staying in) we bundled up and headed to People’s Square and ultimately to the bund. Until this point we had not really ventured out to explore the city at night. Also it was a nice clear night to see the skyline and the bund. We took the subway to people’s square and then made our way on foot to the bund. On the way to the bund we passed a park and there were couples dancing (it almost looked like a class) so we stopped to take pictures. As we were taking the pictures they noticed that there were about 10 Americans standing there and watching them so a couple of them waved us over. Myself, Caitlin and Adam went over and were quickly swept away to dance with them. It was a lot of fun. The man that I was dancing with was counting in English for me, so I started counting in Chinese, He was really surprised to hear me count in Chinese and he started smiling really big. It was so much fun, we were counting and he was twirling me around. It was such a great local experience. They were so welcoming of us and were just as happy as we were to have that experience. The man that I danced with didn’t care that I didn’t know what I was doing or that I didn’t know where to step next but we had a great time.

We continued our walk to the bund and it was gorgeous!!! The night was super clear (with all of the smog that doesn’t happen all of the time) so the skyline was great. We all just walked up and down the strip for a while and continued to be hassled by people saying…watches? Rolex? you like?

On the way back to the subway station we decided to take the famous East Nanjing Rd. Not too many shops were open but some were. So we took our time getting back and then jumped on the subway and headed back to XuJiaHui. 

When we got back a few of us went and got food from the street cookers.  Down the street from our main gate there are night street cookers. This food is some of the best! All the meat you want in the world on a stick, or fresh vegetables. You pick out what you want and hand it to the man with a tall trough like grill filled with burning coals. He cooks it for you and it is delicious. Also there is another stand where you can get fresh egg fried rice or fresh fried noodles. These stands are delicious and like most things in China, relative to the dollar it is cheap!

A trip to the Market

Today was a low-key day but a successful one. We found an amazing market! We ventured west of where we are staying. It was more of your stereotypical china area…and it was great.  We walked around this market that had everything possible. All the fruit in the world, fresh noodles, fresh herbs, bags of spices, fresh fish (some alive, some not) and meat.  The meat was just laying there raw, you could pick a pigs foot or a rack of ribs. Everything you could ever want to cook an amazing meal, was in this market.  They also had little places to eat. 

Two places stick out in particular…. One had about 10 trays of food already cooked that looked amazing and you could select what you wanted and then eat it there or take it to go. This is the place I originally wanted to eat at but when you have 5 Americans just looking at your food and a group of people just staring at you while they are eating and no one coming to help, we decided to take our business elsewhere. So we went around the corner and had amazing dumpling soup. It was so good and fresh. Basically it was whole in the wall in this market with two tiny tables, a lady with two pots of boiling water, some shelves, and a lady folding dumplings.  I didn’t and still don’t know what this soup is called in Mandarin so I pointed to a woman’s bowl who was sitting there eating and said one and somehow I am not quite sure how but I was able to convey that I wanted it to go!

After we all got our soups Adam bought some fruit (strawberries, cherries, and oranges) and we were going to eat in the park but it was starting to rain again so we just went back to the guys room and ate there.  This Soup was fantastic!!! I think possibly one of the best ever. The fruit was also delicious. I usually don’t like cherries but I decided to try them anyway…and they were very good.

After we had just pigged out on all of that we decided to cut open the honey pomello. This was a task in itself…this melon was about the size of a cantalope but the skin wasn’t as tough but all we had was a pocket knife. We had no idea what to expect from this melon, but it was scrumptious. It was like a grapefruit but a little more sweet and a little less bitter.  We wanted to figure out what we were eating exactly so we Goggled it and found out its not even in season right now…I can’t even imagine what it tastes like in season if it was that good out of season.

With all of that local market food and the fresh fruits we are hoping we don’t end up sick over the next couple of days.

We went out for dinner as a large group including our professor Dianne.  Everyone is calling it an early night tonight because we have stayed up late the last couple of nights.

It is interesting that this is starting to become my temporary home. At first it felt like I was just visiting since it was new to me. I wasn’t use to the little things like everyone staring at me because I am American, and not being able to communicate 100% but now it is just part of the day. I don’t notice the stares as much. I have been using a lot of hand signals with my broken Mandarin to communicate and I have noticed a number of times when I am talking to other people in my group from Purdue I am starting to talk with hand signals to get my point across…like I said its becoming part of daily life J

Becoming a local...kind of

We were supposed to get our Student ID cards yesterday (the 5th) which will have money for our dining hall but like most things in china we waited around for a really long time and nothing got accomplished. Ms. Wu (our 'advisor' in the international office) told us that the right information did not get put into the system for our group so we still don't have our cards.  However, they gave us dining hall coupons and we were able to eat there for lunch. The food was good. 

After lunch we had our first class.  It is our Chinese culture class. The professor seemed really nice and had a sense of humor. She was able to keep us all awake for our 3 hour class.  The building was old and run down but the room was updated with computer connections so she could use a powerpoint. The room was freezing. the weather outside has been tolerable during the day, it gets colder at night but I have been fine in a fleece, until that class. I am going to have layer up next time I go to class.

After class we all just hung out on our own for a while but eventually the group met up to go cell phone shopping. Cell phone shopping is an experience all on its own. All the phones in China take sim cards and all of the phones are unlocked so it doesn't matter where you buy your phone or sim card. so naturally we were looking for the cheapest phones since we are only using them for 4.5 months. The cheapest Sim cards are the ones with the number 4 in the telephone number because 4 is a bad luck number in china. As americans we don't care if we have the number 4 so we were able to get some good deals.  I ended up buying my phone on a side street, but it was in an actual store. Most of us got our phones there.  Like most things in China you must bargain for what you are buying.  I was able to get a phone for 100 kuai and my sim card for 80 kuai.  So basically I got everything for about $25.  You just can't beat those prices!

After we were all connected with local phones we were hungry. we went to a restaurant that was in one of the tourist books someone has. It was family style and the food was awesome! we haven't been too adventurous in the types of food yet because we want to make sure our bodies are used to the local bacteria and things, that way our chance of getting sick is a lot less. Almost our whole group was together at dinner.

As for our living arrangements...well the room is less than great but its really not bad.  We do have a great view of all the hustle and bustle and some of the skyline. I will take pictures and post them. But we have a TV with one English channel all the rest are in Chinese, obviously.  Two twin beds that are slightly hard but not as bad as the floor. I am glad I have my pillow though. We can get maid service everyday since it is a hotel but Caitlin and I have sort of agreed to have it every couple of days for clean towels, every day just doesn’t seem necessary. There are no drawers so we are keeping all our clothes in the suitcases. The shower is dirty, thank God for flip flops, but the water is warm and the pressure is high. And there are a lot of mirrors everywhere we have like 4 mirrors in this room and its not a big room!

The Beginning

Well I made it to China. After getting lost at O'Hare we almost missed our flight---Why wouldn't you put a flight to Shanghai in the international terminal??? The flight only took about 15.5 hours so it wasn't too bad. I didn't sleep too much on the plane, but stayed up upon arrival to Shanghai so I could get accustomed to the time difference.  At the airport we had to wait in long lines to go through immigration. After they let us in the country we were able to pick up our luggage and two staff members from the university were waiting for us with a coach like bus. 

By the time we got to our hotel/dorm it was about 6:00PM and we decided we needed to go out and explore Shanghai. We are a block away from the center of Xujiahui! Shopping is everywhere! We ate some noodles for dinner which were delicious and then called it an early night.

Yesterday (Sunday 4 Jan).....The weather was awful. It was raining and foggy but we ventured out anyway.  We started just walking around random streets and then we decided it was time to figure out the subways. we bought our passes with ease because the man spoke some english. we payed 20 kuai (The current exchange rate is about 6.8 kuai = $1) as a deposit and then we are able to add money to the pass and reuse it over and over.  this pass also works in taxis—really convenient.  I was surprised by the subways, they were moderately clean. I mean they were no tube in London but they weren't bad. We went to people's square and wandered from there to The Bund. Since it was such a gross day we didn’t stay long, we couldn’t even see half of the pearl tower L  We ventured through the Old Shanghai district which was really neat. It was the stereotypical China! The smells of West Lafayette have nothing on China. WOW! He have run into some pretty awful smells.

For Dinner we ate dumplings, which were fantastic! However the shop was pretty dirty and gross. It is better not to think about that otherwise I will starve to death here!

After the dumpling dinner we went out to the bars. My roommate Caitlin turned 21 today (the 5th) so we had to go out and celebrate. We went to a couple of places but one of them was a complete Chinese dive bar…it was awesome!!! We were there for a while and probably gave them their monthly quota but they were fun and between some broken Chinese on our end and some broken English on theres we were able to talk with them.  The bar prices were high…no college specials, but the beer in the convenience stores is cheap! After the bars last night we went to the supplies shop (their translation for essentially what was a convenience store) and we were able to get cheap beer (about $0.80 for about 20oz) we came back to my room and just played cards and hung out.

Before coming back to our room we were trying to find a bathroom. And everyone we asked was giving us the weirdest looks...turns out I had the wrong word for toilet and what we were asking everyone was 'where is not good'....haha thankfully we finally found one and I am even more happy that I now know the right word for toilet!

Overall it was a great day. We saw a lot of Shanghai and didn’t get hit by one of the millions of bikes!