If Communist China has Mango, Oatmeal, and Magnum ice cream bars, why can't America?

 Well, I’m back.  I’ve little time, so this may be short.  Maybe not.  Classes have begun, and I’m loving them.  My teachers are great, and I have the greatest class ever: me, Simon, Daniel, Tiffany, Bart, and Larry.  Aw yeah.  If you knew those people, you would understand why I feel so lucky to be in class with all of them.  Simon is absolutely wonderful.  He is so funny- his word placement is most entertaining. We hung out the first night in D.C., and I’m so glad I met him then.  He’s a favorite.  Daniel is really great, too.  I love his facial expressions.  When he doesn’t know what’s going on he rolls his eyes and it is really funny.  I think he means it to be funny, so it’s not like I’m mocking him for not understanding… During the acrobat show we went to see, they wanted a volunteer for this act where they throw knives around you and supposedly not at you.  Daniel volunteered.  I seriously thought the kid was going to die.  (He didn’t.)  Tiffany is my dear roommate.  Sadly, today she was sick.  She is still sleeping, and she went to take a nap hours ago.  I hope she’s alright!  I don’t think she has yet to recover from jetlag (I haven’t either), the pollution (she comes from North Dakota, where the air is clean and clear and under control)… just a lot of little things right now.  Bart is really funny.  He appreciates my sarcasm, has watched Mumford and Sons live, and today he found the Chinese character that has the definition “the ghost of a person killed by a tiger attack”.  Ha.  Larry is also a joy to be around.  He is so funny, but in a completely different way than the rest of them.  He is possibly the least threatening person ever, and somehow Daniel and I decided that we never have to fear in Shanghai because we have Larry to protect us.  Larry wasn’t sure how he felt about that…  I couldn’t have chosen a better class myself!

I feel like I am keeping up with the coursework in my classes, but that there is not enough time outside of class to do all of my homework.  That’s why I haven’t been blogging or even writing very lengthy e-mails to my familia.  My teachers are nice, and most of them speak slow enough and are willing to repeat themselves.  It is nice to be in a class with people who speak/write Chinese at the same level as me.  I feel like the style of teaching used is extremely effective, at least for me personally.  I am learning a lot, and I feel like it is actually sticking.  But it has only been two days, so who knows?  We learn approximately 20 new characters a day, and like 5 grammar structures.  Now I’m bored of talking about logistics of class.

So what are some fun adventures to share with you?  Here are a couple random ones:

I took on the squat toilet for the first time some days ago.  In the bathrooms in the building where my classroom is, there are like seven stalls with flush squat toilets.  There is also one Western toilet.  Obviously, I generally choose the Western toilet.  However, I decided to figure out squat toilets with a squat toilet was not a gaping, smelly hole in the ground.  I came out alive.  I still prefer the Western toilet, but on days when it is raining, the windows are open and if you choose the Western toilet, you get very wet.  As you can tell, my English skills are sort of decreasing.  I can only hope this means my Chinese skills are increasing.  Anyway… I don’t like that there is no toilet paper provided, and also, there is no soap.  Yay for antibacterial!  I use it so much here…

The shopping carts here are crazy sauce.  Pretty sure they are specifically made so Shanghai drivers can be just as crazy in the stores as they are on the roads.  All the wheels turn 180 degrees, and roll in any direction, no matter which way the cart is facing.  CRAZY!

Chinese food is the BEST.  There is so much variety, and there are so many wee restaurants that make delicious food.  I love the food here.  Especially breakfast- I especially love bao zi.  Om nom nom.  Also, the food is so cheap!  This morning I bought this egg pancake thing, and it was 3 kuai (less than 50 USA cents).  It was so big I couldn’t even finish it! 

Speaking of food, today I ate at an all-vegan place.  Simon convinced me to go.  He’s not a vegan, but he is one of three vegetarians participating in CLS in Shanghai right now.  I was very impressed with the restaurant.  The fake meat was especially good.  Also, the shop was close to uni, so we had time to prepare for afternoon class.  Also, its English name is the Loving Hut.  Ha.

I bought all three of the Hunger Games in Chinese!  I can’t understand it yet, but I may someday!  It was less than 10 American dollars!  I love this place.

“Brave” is playing in the local movie theatre.  I want to go see it.  I think it is in English, but it has Chinese subtitles.  Sounds good to me.  My two loves will finally collide!

Question: if Communist China has Magnum ice cream bars, why oh why can’t freakin’ AMERICA?

I went to the Bund!  It is the really popular bit of river bank in the city.  There are so many people!  Normally, there are some people constantly walking around, etc, but there, it is just silly.  The tourist masses!  Absolutely frightening.  Anyway… the view wasn’t as spectacular as normal because it was a polluted day, but I still really enjoyed the bright lights and the Western architecture.  It felt very European… but everything was written in Chinese characters.  I really want to learn more about Shanghai history.  I find it to be very interesting.

My Chinese name, Anzhuo, sounds exactly like the Chinese transliteration of Android, the phone robot.  Chinese people think it is really funny that my Chinese name is the same as the phone robot.  I got my name before Android was popular, okay? 

There’s a sort of thrill that comes when you go into an establishment knowing the only answer you have to any sort of “How do you want it?” question is “I don’t want spicy.”  It is really fun.  Even when I feel like an interaction isn’t making my Chinese better, I will say it helps me become more comfortable interacting with people I don’t understand at all.  It’s exciting in a weird sort of way.  It is so cool to say stuff that always seemed like a secret language me and my Chinese class buddies spoke to each other, and have other people—people who have spoken it their whole lives—understand me.  Wow.  That was terrible grammar.  Sorry.

In like five minutes, I’m going to meet with my language partner.  Her name is Kexing, and she is so sweet!  I really, really like her.  She has a Jason Mraz bag (from his “Love” tour), and she was so happy when I started singing, “I won’t give up on us even if the skies get rough!  I’m giving you all my love!  I’m still looking up!”)

Alright.  I need to zuo some zuoye.  Bye for now!  Here are some pictures!

This ugly river is one of the many sights to see whilst going to the metro, Walmart, etc.  So we decided to have a picture taken in front of it.  All the Chinese people thought we were crazy.  I love this picture.  Tiffany's in the front, with Larry, Simon, Ethan, John, and Daniel in the back.

Simon contemplating the glory of the nasty river. :)

Me at 南京東路 (East Nanjing Road)

Top row: Myles, Erin, me, Sean, Katie.  Bottom row: Miriam, Tiffany.

May the Glory of the Mac live on forever!

No baritone playing allowed here...

At the Bund!  Looks very Western, no?

It was really polluted, so it isn't a very good picture...

This was on a photo album in Walmart.  This was supposed to be cute.  Instead, I just thought it was confusing.  :)

On an umbrella.  I have NO IDEA what this is trying to say.  My arel it happy!

In which I wander into a ball of light, among other things

Yeah, I know I already posted something today.  But that was actually written my first day here.  Now I have more to say!  Yesterday we went to the Former French Concession!   I saw Zhou Enlai's house, and the first copy of the Chinese translation of the Communist Manifesto, and a cannon that was used by the Qing army during the Opium Wars!  Aw yeah.  I love me some history.  We also saw the campus.  It looks good quality for a Chinese uni.  It certainly isn't up to American standards in regards to facilities, but all the kids who have studied at other universities in China say it is one of the good ones.  The floors in the classrooms are concrete with spots on it, and there is a decoration hanging that has Santa on it that shouts in all caps: MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY NEW YEAR.  According to Kelsey White, this isn't uncommon in Chinese classrooms.  Christmas decorations all year long.

This is me, standing in the very building where the first CPC meeting was held!  I never thought I would have the opportunity to stand in that former girls' school!  But I did!

My, I'm such a terrible photographer.  My scavenger hunt group: Nick, John (normally he looks a lot better), Hannah up top, Tiffany down below, and me.  Obviously.

A close in the Former French Concession

At Zhou Enlai's old house.  Very cool.

Shanghai has crazy buildings.

They brought me, John, and Nick forks and knives.  They brought Tiffany chopsticks because they thought she was actually legit Chinese.  Success!  And I told you John looks better normally...  I had just made them laugh in this picture.

I ate some really great Chinese food today.  Thus far, I haven't died, and I haven't been sick, either.  Apparently even boiling the water doesn't cut it- there is still high metal content (like lead, etc), so I will be drinking lots and lots of bottled water.
Good stuff.  These people are awesome.  They make me realize that I can actually learn Chinese through study.  People CAN learn Chinese without going to the MTC and going on a mission.  Whodathunk?  It is so fun being surrounded by awesome people who all CARE.  It rocks.  They are so funny.  Today I spent a lot of time with a boy named Daniel, who is from Raleigh, NC, and Bart, from Little Rock, Arkansas.  During the Scavenger Hunt at the French Concession, I was in a group with Tiffany, my awesome roomie, Hannah, a girl from Seattle who looks like Melinda from IWA, Nick who lived in Taiwan for 2 years, and John, who is from Wisconsin.  He actually studied in Harbin for a semester!  They are really fun people.  At the end Hannah went to hang out with a friend in Shanghai so me and Tiffany and John and Nick went and ate at this priceyish place (touristy area, it is) and then found our way home somehow.  It was so great.  We only got sort of lost for a second there.  We got off the metro at Wujiaochang, which is the closest stop to Tonghe.  But we started down the wrong road, so we had to go back to the crazy intersection (called Wujiaochang because wu means 5, and 5 roads converge there) and cross it.  We took an escalator down and expected it to be underground.  Instead, it was open air in the middle.  You could see the traffic going around above you and this crazy light ball.  There were ponds and it is very indescribable.  So I'll add some photos.  They still don't do it justice.  We were not expecting anything like this, and suddenly, it was there.  It was magical.

五角場 （Wujiaochang)

When we magically found ourselves under the crazy light ball, surrounded by ponds at our feet and zooming cars about our heads

This is where the closest metro stop to my apartment is.  Aw yeah.  Legit.  I'm in China.

Today we had a placement exam.  It went alright, I suppose.  The most frustrating bits were the grammar structures I know I knew at some point, but I've forgotten how to use them over the few months since school let out.  I knew not studying would curse me!
I ate lunch with Jamie and John.  We just ate at a little Sichuan restaurant on Guoding Road, the road that the main entrance to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE) is on.  We had more safety information, and later tonight we are going to go see an acrobat show!  Woohoo!
To celebrate Duanwujie (Dragon Boat Festival), we ate zongzi.  If you want to know the story, ask me.  We performed it in CHIN 3010, and I was the poet who jumped dramatically into the river.  Sadly, there are no dragon boat races nearby.  Ho hum.  We pretty much have all of Monday free because of the holiday.  I wish we could have Sunday off instead.

Me and my roommate, Yehong.  That's a zongzi in my hands.  Also, appreciate how good my hair looks.  The humidity is KILLER.  My hair is hating me.  Everyday.  It's worse than Belgium.

It is so hard to describe this place... you go from fancy shopping malls to little local shops in mere seconds.  It was deadly hot and humid the first day.  Today, it was pouring.  Absolutely, Scottish pouring.  My rain jacket was drenched.  It was very fun.  :)  I was singing a Regina Spektor song that goes: "I love Paris in the rain!  I love Paris in the rain!" but instead, I sang "I love Shanghai in the rain!  I love Shanghai in the rain!  I love!  I love!  In the rain!  Oh..."
Speaking of songs, there is a girl named Alicia who is rather fantastic.  She's from Texas.  Anyway... Bart called her Cecilia once, so every time I see her, I sing her the Simon and Garfunkle song but I changed Cecilia for Alicia.  Good stuff.
Life is good.  These people are great.  I'm excited to begin studying Chinese again.  I just don't know enough to even have a decent conversation alone with a waiter or a salesperson.
Peace OUT!

First Impressions of Shanghai

First, a disclaimer.  I'm not necessarily promising that this will be entertaining or witty or anything... I'm just writing it.  Moving on to life... our wireless isn't up and running yet, so I'm in the lobby of the Tonghe International Students Village.  That's where I live.  Shanghai is awesome.  And crazy.  And very Chinese.  The apartment is clean... it wouldn't hurt to give it a good scrubbing, but it is much better than I thought it would be.  There were no towels, so I'm glad I brought a hand towel.  After we (meaning all of us) ate dinner at a local place down the road (also, clean--- I saw quite a few clean restaurants on the road as I walked, and I have actually been pleasantly surprised with the cleanliness thus far), my Chinese roommate, Yehong, took the rest of us roommates to Walmart.  It is down the street probably 15 minutes away.  Yes, it is Walmart but completely in Chinese.  Whilst at Walmart, I experienced my first salesperson speaking at me rapidly and not understanding anything.  That was fun.  I was buying a pot so I can boil water.  She was telling me about the differences between all of the pots.  And the prices just sound so high!  39 yuan (or colloquially, 39 kuai)... but then I remember that that equals like 6 dollars.  Yeah.  I also got a big towel and an instant noodles packet so I can eat on Sunday.  Sadly, we have the last day of orientation on Sunday, so I won't be able to go to church, but I suppose I couldn't go to church the first week in Scotland, either.  We walked on and I felt like I was in a movie about a Chinese city.  Seriously.  The lights, and so many characters!  Very cool.  It's really weird that I am here.  We took a taxi home.  Twas Yehong's idea.  There were no seatbelts!  Aah!  But it was fine.  Actually, the thing that makes Shanghainese drivers scary is not the speed they go--it is the blatant disregard of lane markings.  People weave in and out of lanes, sometimes straddling the line for blocks.  If there is a biker or pedestrians, they only go as far as they must not to hit them.  Nothing more.  It is insane. Even more crazy is that I've yet to see a wreck.  I saw two cars on the side of the road, but i haven't seen a wreck yet.  These people are insane and tough and will not stop at anything.  Motorbikes are everywhere! Funnily enough, the first thing I saw when I exited the plane at Heathrow was an advertisement for HBSC Bank.  The first thing I saw when I exited the plane in Shanghai was also an advertisement for HBSC Bank.  Only 10 minutes out of the spotless, completely modern airport, there were people living underneath freeways.  I don't mean homeless people.  I mean people have houses and fields that go under the freeways and almost go all the way up to the freeway when they are on the same level.  There are fields and more fields and in the distance there are high rise apartments that look all the same and then you see more high rise buildings...

Freeway, fields, and city

We drove up to this, I read the words, and I knew this was the place I would call home for the next two months.  Tonghe International Student Village.  My building is situated farther inside the compound.

The view out of the window from my bed.  I'm on the seventh floor.

The view out of the window from my bed.  The window covers an entire corner.  It's awesome.

Thus it Begins

Why hello there.
I haven't used this in oh so long.  But now that I'm going to China, I need a place to speak of my adventures and share my photos.  This blog will be such a place.  Faretheewell.  Enjoy the ride!