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 7th) 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!
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