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!