Last Reflections

In the last couple weeks of mania in Beijing, I ended up procrastinating each blog post. I figured that I would have years of free time once I got back home, and my time could be much better spent. So let's backtrack to where my last post stopped.

Class:
In general, class seemed to get easier as we got to the last two weeks. I'm not sure if I was actually getting the hang of how to study most efficiently or if I just got lazier, but in any case I seemed to have much more free time on my hands. In general, our 课文 got less interesting as we ventured into some economic and political topics. I can barely keep up a conversation about this in English, much less in Chinese. I enjoyed these much less than the culture-oriented lessons in the first few weeks. Our last lesson, however, sparked my interest in continuing Chinese, even if it has to be an independent study if I don't have room in my schedule. This lesson was on Chinese chengyu, which basically are meaningful four-character phrases that have a story behind them. I talked to my Mom about them, and was a little surprised at how enthusiastic she was about these stories. They are, after all, essentially fables. But these were a lot of the stories that she grew up with, and to her they describe some of the best parts of the Chinese language. I think that conciseness is valued in any language, and chengyu are the epitome of concise. I grew up with some of the more common sayings, but also encountered many when I took calligraphy lessons with my daddy. Before this lesson, I was worried that the summer had beat the will to study Chinese out of me - it was a spontaneous decision that led me to take it at Yale and to go to China, and I usually don't do spontaneity. I had a lot of second thoughts over the program (usually during Thursday night cram sessions) because I found learning monotonous and boring - I was only learning to know the language. But now that I've found a new direction through which I want to keep learning, I am a lot more optimistic about my future relationship with Chinese.
Teachers
I definitely had a rough start with my teachers, but they definitely ended up being one of the better parts of the program. Judging from other blogs I've read, I don't think I had as close of a relationship with them as others did with their teachers, but it still was a new experience to learn from teachers with such an apparently different background. We talked a lot about 中美文化交流， or exchange of culture between China and America, in class, and I think the best example of that was any given class. I think the closeness in age (and sometimes maturity level) and their unbridled enthusiasm made our classrooms a more engaging environment. I wish that I had gotten to know my teachers a little better outside of the classroom - a goal if I ever do a program like this again. I'm thankful that our class was very close-knit - 很自然 considering five of us were in the same class at Yale. But having a separate heritage class was nice - if we had different people in 大班 every week, or if we had been combined with 非华裔班，the experience would've been different.

Meeting my Yale tutor
The day before I left, a group of the Yale heritage students and I met up with our tutor - Wanting - for some 台球(pool) and dinner. It was fun to see her, but it was also encouraging to hear her say that our Chinese had improved a lot! I've always found it hard to measure improvement in Chinese because even after so much study, I still struggle with it daily. But it wasn't until I compared how easy it was to speak with her now vs. our last tutorial at Yale that I realized how much I have improved. Otherwise, it was great to see the PiB students and gloat about how we were done with the Language Pledge. Our program was definitely less intense than the PiB program, judging from how many lessons they do a week. But I'm glad that DSIC was more 轻松。

Yubanr
My yubanr and I had a farewell dinner together. Generally, we got along well, but I wish I could have had a language partner who was more friend and less language partner. We had very different personalities, and I think we often got frustrated with the other. I don't remember what I filled out on the form about language partners, but for anyone who is doing a program like this, I would highly recommend taking your time to fill out the answers to that form. Having a good yubanr can really change your experience in China, if only you don't have to dread the hour every day, as I know some people did. My language partner was also a stickler for rules. I know some people didn't meet for the required 4 hours every week, but we definitely did. At the time, it got tiring because everyone else had an extra hour for napping/sightseeing/studying, but when I think about the insights I gained and language practice I got, the time was definitely worth it.

Exploring
One of the places I wanted to go to was Central Perk. After hearing about it from a friend and reading the CNN article, the coffee shop, which apparently looked exactly like the one from Friends, sounded really cool. Finding it was not so easy though. We looked up the address and saw SOHO amidst some Chinese, and automatically assumed that it was the SOHO building we always saw from Sanlitur. Silly us, there are apparently many SOHO buildings all over the city, because SOHO China is a developer of commercial properties in Beijing and Shanghai. The Sanlitur one is the newest addition, evident from the multiple empty buildings we walked into. Each one was built beautifully, they just lacked shops and people. On this particular adventure in Sanlitur, we went to the Yashow Market instead, another version of the Silk Market, but less crowded and less pushy. This area of Sanlitur fascinated me. In a few minutes, we were able to walk from the sophisticated, brand-new Soho buildings to an average building housing the market to rundown, old hutongs and buildings that looked as if they had two days until collapse. And this is all very close to the bar street and the high end shopping near the Adidas plaza. There were so many contradictions around us.


We continued the search for Central Perk another day and went to Chaowai Soho, near Guomao Plaza and the CCTV tower. We found it at last, but were very disappointed. The sign on the window was close, but the interior was not nearly as similar to the show as the article made it sound. That it was on the 6th floor of a ritzy commercial building may have also added to the discrepancy. Even so, our adventures on the way to this coffee shop were fun. As long as we were in the area, one last trip to Xiushuijie was essential to get some more collared shirts/polos for the boys, and fake purses/shoes/scarves/clothes/all things imaginable for me. Since we knew exactly how much we can get for these things, bargaining was much easier. I miss the prices, but I do not miss the difficulty of acquiring new things!

This is a view of the Guomao area from the 60th floor of the Hyatt Hotel Tower. One of my favorite views of Beijing, possibly because it didn't really look all that much like Beijing. Much more like Shanghai:) It's also one of the few places where you can look over the fence of the CCTV tower.The final banquet was wonderful. We had a giant banquet room in one of the nice restaurants at Ximen, and we had courses and courses of delicious food, including 北京烤鸭(Beijing duck). The teachers put together slideshows of pictures and videos from China Night to play for us, and also awarded the most improved in each class, based on the pre/post test. It was amazing to think back to how awkward the Welcome Banquet was, when we all barely knew each other and had no idea what was going on.
Our heritage class had a table together, and it was nice to celebrate with our teachers. This is a picture from our last class.
In the last few weeks, I was constantly complaining about how ready I was to be at home. It's true, after the 25 hours of travel I was very much ready to be at home, but I didn't think I'd miss China as much as I do right now. I may not miss the daily vocab or the air or the food or the weather, but I miss all of the people and daily experience of living in China. Hopefully I'll see some of the people I met again - future road trips to Duke/Brown?

A few last pictures -

Decorations at a local restaurant we frequented. The other walls had African safari animals and Nelson Mandela in honor of the World Cup.冰at故宫 - one way of making the day bearable

popsicles - the key to making it through the summer

Thank you very much again to the Light Fellowship and Greenberg Foundation for making this summer possible! It has been unforgettable.

有山有水，pandas, weiduomei

With another blink of an eye, we are down to two weeks left! Today at lunch, we were discussing what we will miss most about China, and what we're most looking forward to. Generally, we're going to miss the Chinese prices, but we are also ready for clean air and ice water. Being in China makes you appreciate the simple things in life.

Yesterday, the program took us to Shidu, where we were all prepared to see 山 and 水 (mountains and water, the only two things mentioned when they told us about Shidu) but we also found out a few days ago that there is bungee jumping there. That was my incentive for going, as frightening as the thought of bungee jumping in China is, but unfortunately, the day did not go as planned. First, we hit traffic that turned a two-hour journey into a five hour journey. If I never see a Chinese coach bus again, I will be a happy child. We also did not go to the part of Shidu that had bungee jumping. Granted, it was a beautiful place. We got yelled at several times for failing to notice "no admittance" signs, but managed to find some fun trails to go on. There were a lot of stairs....definitely feeling it today. It's weird that there is such a scenic spot close to Beijing - but the change of scenery was very welcome.Near the end of the day, most of the other people in the programs went with the teachers to the river, where we commandeered a fleet of bamboo rafts. I was glad that I did not have to work the poles as it looked like hard work, but we kept the morale high by singing "I'm on a Boat."
There also was a zipline across the river, but I unfortunately did not get a chance to go across. So Shidu was less exciting than I had hoped, but I still had fun.

On Friday, we also went to the 动物园，the zoo. I love the zoo. At heart, I am a two year old and thus get very excited at the thought of lions and tigers and bears. And as an added bonus, there are pandas at the Beijing zoo. It was deathly hot that day, but a friend dumped ice water on my head which made things better for awhile.

We also went to the market across from the zoo, which was quite the experience. Unlike the Silk Market, which is entirely composed of foreigners, this place was all Chinese people. There was very little bargaining necessary which made shopping much less of a sport.

I also lost my phone...I think I left it in the cab coming back from the zoo. I'm still debating whether or not I should get a new one - surviving without a phone has been an interesting experience that I've grown rather fond of.

Since all of the actual UIBE students are gone for summer vacation now, the campus has slowly been shutting down, but also has gained a lot more foreign students on programs like ours. However the morning breakfast stand, and the East Gate (that we used to frequent to get to restaurants) are both closed. The nearby supermarket also has more empty shelves than stocked shelves. In lieu of the egg tortilla thing, I have been frequenting 味多美, a nearby bakery whose name means "taste more beautiful." The pain au chocolat and baguettes are too delicious - a good portion of my weekly food stipend goes towards this lovely place.

8 weeks goes by so quickly. My goal for the next two weeks is to study less and do more. Before, it was so easy to stay in my air conditioned room and study and say I'll go out and see things later, but we can't do that anymore. My grade can't suffer that much, and really, 经验比成绩重要 （experience is more important than grades).

One more gem of a picture from last night - at Wudaokou Solutions with the Yale 哥们人.
I still have yet to see a lot of the PIB and HBA students - our paths have just not crossed. Hopefully soon!

Datong, Buddhas, Buses and Spain!

It's hard to believe, but we're already done with our first semester! The midterm was not as bad as it could have been, especially considering I nearly fainted on Thursday and was unable to see straight for most of the day, much less study. I was afraid that Li Laoshi wouldn't let me go on the midterm trip to Datong, but luckily iron deficiency isn't a major thing in their books.

中文桌子was amazing on Friday. We went to a nearby 火锅 (hot pot) restaurant where each person had their own individual hot pot. They brought on plates of meats, vegetables, noodles, mushrooms etc but also let you go up to a self-service seasoning bar, that had everything from "salamander" to a very scientific looking "xyli......" (i don't remember exactly). I had my doubts about 火锅 in such hot weather - I usually only have it in the middle of a Minnesota winter - but sitting in front of the 空调 balanced it out nicely.

On Friday night, we were scheduled to leave for the Datong/Pingyao midterm trip at 10:00 and catch the 12:38am overnight hard sleeper train. At 10:00, I was showered and in my pajamas, ready to sleep on whatever bed they gave me, when the laoshi informed us that they bought the tickets for the wrong day....our tickets were for 12:38am on Friday, not Saturday. Instead, they chartered a coach bus to take us to the Shanxi province. We took this coach bus to 长城 a few weeks ago...they are made for people under 5 ft. There was a collective slump in the room, but what could we do?

Thus, we boarded a bus for an 8-hour bus ride on one of the busiest highways at night in Beijing. The Badaling 公路 is frequented by the giant freighter trucks, and thus we got stuck in the worst traffic I have ever seen at my life....at 3 in the morning. It actually got so bad that we turned off the bus. Apparently, it isn't uncommon for drivers to do this and then fall asleep, blocking off yet another lane of traffic.

The first site in Datong was worth the pain, however. We went to the Yungang Grottoes, a series of over 50 caves that house over 51,000 Buddha statues. In my favorite cave, there was a 17 meter high Buddha statue, surrounded by hundreds of smaller statues and carvings. It was really dark in the cave, so it took a while for my eyes to adjust but once they did, it seemed like every time I turned my head, I saw yet another statue or carving. The other caves were all similar, but I was stunned at how intricate and well-preserved most of the caves were. We were also blessed with amazing weather, making the day much more bearable.

The swastika camel at Yungang

The next sight we went to was the Hanging Monastery. In a nutshell, there is a monastery that juts out the side of the mountain. It did not feel safe, and when I slipped I thought that would be my end. But it was extremely cool.

Clearly, safty comes first.

After another 5 hours on the bus, making a total of about 16 hours on a bus in 24 hours, we arrived in Pingyao. This was representative of what I always imagined China to be before I ever came. There were no tall buildings; everything was a small alley and there were red balloon lanterns on most doors. Our hostel was very unique, with extremely Chinese decor. The bathroom was smaller than my closet, which made showering interesting. Also, there was no lack of hot water; rather, it was unbearably hot. I believe I now know what it feels like to pour boiling water on your head.


The sightseeing in Pingyao was less fun. I think a lot of my impressions of a place depend on the weather, and Pingyao was muggy and hot. We were also forced to walk about a mile on the 城墙，or city wall.
We did see an old bank, an old monastery, and an old government building. There was a little bit of time for self-exploration and shopping, then back to our beloved bus to go to Taiyuan and catch the 动车 (fast train) back to Beijing. The train was really nice, it was like the Metro North but much newer and cleaner.

One of the many stray dogs in Datong

I'm glad we got back around 11, because it meant we could go out and watch the 世界杯 final! The game was at 2:30am, but we went out to Sanlitur and fought until we saw the sunlight. I felt outnumbered in my red shirt, surrounded by a sea of orange, but we were the last ones standing!

Well that was the midterm trip!

My blog looks so much better with pictures...it took me way too long to figure out technology. I'll work this week to get past pictures up.

June 28, 2010

And another week is about to begin…the weeks here seem to go by so slowly, it feels like a month has passed since I last updated. Oh wait, I’ve learned a month’s worth of Chinese, which might explain everything. Looking back at that last sentence, I can’t help but think that learning Chinese is detrimental to my grasp English grammar.  The random fragments separated by “dou hao” (,) are appearing more and more in my English emails.

This past week went better as far as academics goes. I think I’m starting to get down my routine and have learned how to manage my work a little bit better.  Last Tuesday, I was even able to finish all of Tuesday and most of Wednesday’s work so I could go out and watch the American soccer game that night! A few friends and I went out to a local restaurant, met some law students from Chicago, and cheered on as America won our group with that overtime goal. 

Of course, the very little sleep did not help as on Thursday, I was scolded by the program director rather severely.  According to her, teachers had heard me speaking English around campus and she wanted to remind me that I signed a language pledge.  I really haven’t broken my language pledge, however, so I’m pretty sure they’re mistaken.  In any case, I’ve started to talk really loudly in Chinese when I’m outside in case Big Brother is watching. I’m not willing to give up my good test scores because teachers think they heard me speak English.

This past weekend was another eventful one.  We went to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall on Saturday, an absolutely incredible experience.  There actually weren’t as many people there as I thought there would be, especially compared to the last time I went (although that was Badaling, not Mutianyu).  The downside was that we had to climb up miles of really tall stairs in order to get to the Wall itself.  I was a complaining, whiny baby – many apologies to whoever was with me on the way up.  There also were vicious bees following everyone around. As I’ve never been bitten before, I had mental images of being bitten, finding out I was allergic, and having my airways close up on a deserted stretch of the Great Wall. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Going down the Great Wall was the best part. We rode down on little toboggans that were basically a wooden raft with a semi-working lever that acted as a brake.  We slid down on these on a tin half-pipe that wound down the mountain.  The lack of safety measures was unsurprising, but still a bit unnerving.  In any case, it was a blast. 

Another big part of this program that I haven’t talked about yet is the language partner.  On Mondays through Thursdays, I meet with my 语伴儿(language partner)，陈晨(Chen Chen) who is a first year student at the college.  After hearing about other yubanrs, I think I am really fortunate to have one who is extremely dedicated to her job.  We don’t have much in common so it is hard to talk as friends about things unrelated to the class, but lately we’ve gotten into a lot of interesting conversations mainly regarding differences in culture.  Being forced to speak an hour of Chinese nonstop was so tiring at the beginning, but I’ve definitely noticed myself getting better at being able to carry on a conversation about whatever the topic of the day is.  Chen Chen is very good about helping me learn new vocabulary – she emails me a list of 生词 after our talk every day.  I’m not as good a student as she is a teacher, but it is still helpful to learn phrases that I want to say but haven’t learned the words for yet.  She is also good with helping with pronunciation, and has been very patiently confused when I accidentally revert to Shanghainese when flustered.  The college final exams are over on 7/15, so she is already making plans for taking me out to Beijing to play. I’m curious to see what exactly she means by that.

June 20, 2010

I finally have the first week of class out of the way! It was definitely hard to get back in the swing of things, but I had to learn quickly – there really isn’t any other option here.

I’m living at the University of International Business and Economics (对外经贸大学) which is located in the Chaoyang District.  It really does not look like a college – I think I’ve grown too accustomed to the distinctive architecture at Yale. However, the largest dormitory in Asia is on campus. It houses about 10,000 students, although about 5-6 girls occupy one room.  There isn’t even air conditioning, something my Minnesotan blood cringes at.  However, my language partner says that it never gets too hot there because it is on the yin side, not the yang side. I don’t fully understand, but I’m glad that they get through it okay.  Speaking of yin and yang, apparently the school owns some sheep to balance out the yin with the yang because there are many more girls on campus than guys.  It partially is a joke too, as the word for sheep in Chinese is 羊 (yang).  Overall, I’m really happy with my dorm, which feels more like a motel room.  My roommate and I have our own bathroom (although it lacks a shower curtain/stall) and patio.  The bed feels like a yoga mat laid out on cement, but hopefully I’ll get used to it soon.

My classes have actually felt a lot like Chinese at Yale, only four times longer.  We start off with lecture, where there are 8 students in my class, then split into two classes to practice grammar and conversation.  School also seems like a return to high school, when I woke up at 6:30 every day and spent many hours in the same hallway every day.  I’ve also started drinking coffee again, as the 9:20 start time at Yale is a luxury not to be had here.  The difference lies mostly in the language pledge, which has been a constant source of frustration since I signed my pledge on Tuesday.  There are so many times when things I try to say get lost in translation, which means I can either speak with correct grammar or say what I actually mean to say, but rarely can I do both at the same time.  If laughter is the best medicine, we’ll all be very healthy by the end of the program because the other students and I resort to speaking in such a roundabout way when we don’t know a word for something.  In a way, I feel like I’m constantly playing a game of charades.

Last weekend, our excursion was Gugong (Forbidden City) and Tiananmen Square.  In all honesty, I was not the biggest fan of the visit.  I remembered much of it from 1998, and couldn’t concentrate on our tour guide because I thought I would collapse from heat stroke.  I really enjoyed my peach popsicle and people-watching – especially since we’re keeping a running count on how many tourist couples wear matching T-shirts.  Even so, it is humbling as ever to visit the ancient tradition of China, although Gugong isn’t even that ancient, especially after seeing the modernity in Shanghai.

Eating in China is quite the experience, especially when I eat until I’m stuffed and haven’t even made it to the bottom of the plate then pay 7 kuai.  There are a lot of restaurants just off campus – I think we’ve managed to try at least one new place every day.  The first couple of days were fun as a group of 12 would get out of class and get lunch, but the capacity of many places seems to be just over that.  We still need to learn words that show up on a menu – there have already been too many times that I either order “牛肉面” or point at a picture.  I’ve always liked Western food more, however, and thus miss cheese and salad a lot.  I also think I’m almost due for one of my steak cravings – I miss being able to eat meat that is not cooked thoroughly. 

On a side note, thank you Cisco for rendering the Great Firewall useless. The VPN is lovely. 

Pictures will be posted shortly – I finally found my camera cord, which got stuck in the leg of a pair of jeans.   A couple days ago, it was actually cool enough for jeans and a sweater.  I am praying for more days like that so I don’t have to hesitate about walking outside. 

Finally, many many thanks to both the Light Foundation and the Greenberg Yale-China Initiative for the generous support! For those of you who may not know, my summer at Duke Study in China is fully funded by them, and without them there is very little chance that I would be able to be here.  Thank you!

June 11, 2010

The past few days have gone by in a blur – it's hard to believe that I've already been here for over a week!  I still haven't quite fully adjusted to the time change, but it's actually for the better as I wake up at 6 am.  I'm hoping that this habit will continue when I start school on Monday...

A quick recap of the past week:

Last Friday, I went to the Shanghai Museum with my parents.  There was an exhibition from the Uffizi that included Titian's Venus and Cupid with a Partridge.  Since we didn't make it to the Uffizi when we were in Florence, it was nice to see a little bit in Shanghai.  More outstanding, however, were the Calligraphy and Painting exhibitions.  As my dad is an artist, I've grown up with Chinese art in my life.  Finally learning a little bit of the long history was very interesting.  At night, I went to see the Hong Kong Ballet perform several short original pieces, one of which was a story of Hong Kong culture and history set to Nutcracker music.  They performed at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, a beautiful concert hall shaped liked a flower – there are five petals on the buildings that each hold a stage tailored for different types of performances.

I've also had lunches with both sides of the family – it was fun to see my family again after four years, see how my little cousins are doing with college applications, eat a lot of good food, and endure some minor embarrassment as I practiced my Chinese on them!

On Sunday, I got a haircut for all of $4.50. Some things in China never change.

Tuesday was a very touristy day as my parents and I got on a Chinese coach bus and drove over to Hangzhou for a day.  We saw the iconic West Lake and the Longjin Mountains, drank a lot of Long jin tea, ate some lotus roots, went to the famous silk factory, and visited the major temple.  Our tour guide was a pretty young guy from Hangzhou with a lot of knowledge and a lot of attitude. If he ever needed to repeat any information to you, you'd be on his bad side for the rest of the day.  It was good Mandarin practice, however, as the entire tour was of course conducted in Mandarin.  I was encouraged that I could understand slightly more near the end of the tour.  I think the immersion in Beijing will be a great thing for my Chinese.

I had the most unique experience on Wednesday when I went to a Latin dance studio with my aunt and attempted to learn how to rumba and cha-cha.  For the past ten-some years, she has been taking private Latin dance lessons in order to stay in shape.  The last few times I've been here, I've seen nothing but ballroom CDs and DVDs and the occasional glittery costume.  My aunt finally decided that I could come watch her class, but took it a step further and arranged a teacher for me as well.  My teacher, Martin, was a ballroom dance major my age from Harbin and spoke only Mandarin.  The lesson was fun and I learned quite a bit, but I think what I'll always remember is the sight of over-the-hill wealthy wives with nothing to do during the day dancing and shimmying and grinding up on these twenty year old teachers.  Quite entertaining.

I arrived in Beijing yesterday! Heading to school tomorrow with no idea what I should be expecting. Wish me luck!

June 3, 2010

Yesterday, I went to the上海2010年世博会. My parents and I left my aunt’s house at 7 in the morning to take the subway over, but when we got there, there were already hordes of people running through the lines, trying to gain a spot above even one more person.  I was going to sit on the ground if I got tired, but almost every Chinese person around me had brought a little fold-up stool and a bag of cucumbers, tomatoes, jiaozis, and other snacks. 

Once the doors opened at 9am, people pushed forward in a wave to hurry through security and get to the first pavilions.  Even though we were that early, the reserved tickets for the China pavilion were already taken by the people who ran in front of us.  Instead, we took the ferry over to the Pudong side of the Expo to the country pavilions.  There, we went into Spain and saw flamenco and the giant baby, Luxembourg and saw their outdoor gardens, Lithuania and met a delegation of college students, Africa and went into many pavilions, Venezuela and sat on hammocks, Cuba and drank mojitos, Canada and saw magical water and a picture movie, and the Central and South America Pavilion.  The foreigners working the Expo were so friendly – I talked with the Lithuanian students, a Canadian pavilion architect/designer, and the Cuban bartender.  Getting around the Expo was pretty confusing at times, but there were helpful 小白菜 volunteers, who wore signature green and white clothes for the nickname, college students there to answer any questions with a smile on their face. 

At night, we went back to Puxi to see the Sao Paulo City Ballet perform in the综和艺术大厅.  Watching a ballet in China was very different.  There was a low murmur of voices throughout the show, even during dances in silence.  The two hour line to get in was worth it; the ballet was absolutely incredible. 

I always thought that I look pretty Chinese, being 100% Chinese, but according to many people I met, I am either half-American or African (I’m pretty tan).  Must be something in the American water.  I love confusing people though – they rarely meet someone like me who looks Chinese and foreign and who speaks fluent Shanghainese but broken Mandarin. 

June 1, 2010

I'm finally here in China!  I left bright and early on Sunday morning to catch a flight to Chicago, then Los Angeles, and finally Shanghai.  Though the Duke program doesn't begin until June 11^th, I'm here early with my parents to visit our family in Shanghai.  It was a very long flight and I spent about 24 hours on the road.  It's been four years since I've been to China – I think I must have repressed exactly how long the flights take.  At least I had an emergency exit seat so there was plenty of legroom and a great view of the TV screen. 

Once I arrived in Shanghai, I immediately had my first challenge.  With all the transfers, the airline lost one of my suitcases.  It's been a month since my last Chinese class so everything was a little rusty… I would start off speaking in Mandarin with the occasional English word interjected, then subconsciously reverted to speaking in my native Shanghainese.  I'm pretty sure the employees thought I was crazy.  I managed to file the report though – hopefully the suitcase gets here soon!  I then met up with my parents at their terminal, we found my uncle, and we were on our way to the city!

The drive was absolutely amazing.  As I said, it's been four years since I was last here, and everything has changed so much.  In preparation for the World Expo, Shanghai has completely changed the look of the city.  Many of the buildings have rainbow lights on them, the roofs are all covered with a golden light, and the bridges have this crazy blue light on the underside.  Everything looked psychedelic – that's the only word besides colorful that I can think of to describe it.  We drove past the World Expo where all the pavilions were lit up when we were on the Lupu Bridge, which looked like Rainbow Road in Mario Kart.

My parents and I are staying with my aunt, who lives near the Gymnasium in Shanghai.  A new addition to her house is a little Yorkie named Dong Dong (Candy).  I laugh at the name, but even more so at the sight of the hyperactive pup slipping and sliding around on the slick wooden floors.  There are so many people who own dogs now – walking around I saw Pomeranians, Westies, golden retrievers, and even some huge bear-like dogs.  I also saw a bulldog! Reppin' in China.

The time difference didn't affect me too badly – I think waking up at 2am for my 24 hour flight sufficiently tired me out.  It was nice waking up early today though – at around 5:30 – it gave me a chance to Skype and email.  My parents and I went out for an early breakfast (I had Shanghai-style wonton soup) then met my uncle's driver, who took us to my uncle's house.  Instead of living in an apartment in the city, he lives in a community of single houses about 40 minutes out of the city.  The house is beautiful – all of the decorations are Gudong so I get a feeling that I'm surrounded by a lot of history.  He has a golden retriever named Niu Niu. 

It's a little depressing that I forgot a good bit of my Chinese characters.  Driving around, I've seen a lot of characters that I know, but also a lot of ones that are familiar but escape my memory.  I'll be spending a lot of the next two weeks reviewing…or maybe try to learn through osmosis since I'm surrounded by so much Chinese. 

A favorite moment so far – watching Chinese peoples' reactions to an American student weaving through the pedestrian traffic on a longboard.

My Yale VPN is failing to connect, so I'm blocked from Facebook and Blogger.  Experiencing minor withdrawal symptoms.  I hope it works in Beijing!