Quick note:

Went running this morning as usual. Walked into Starbucks (which opens at 7:00 AM, no lines EVER) and the nice barista girl asked me if i'd like my usual.

....

Apparently, I've become the store-opening regular. I love this city.

Classes

In Mandarin class this morning, I realized I'm finally starting to get this language.

I have struggled with languages from the time I was old enough to read. Because on my not-so-smart first grade teacher (who later became my third grade teacher...ugh) I didn't end up learning English grammar until about the fifth grade. After taking basic Spanish throughout most of my elementary education, I gave up and chose Latin upon my arrival at Castilleja. Big mistake. What is Latin? mostly grammar... hard grammar and vocabulary. Though kind of helpful in terms of SAT vocabulary, Latin pretty much kicked my ass till the day I completed my basic high school language requirement.
Luckily, Mandarin has been very different. Unlike most romance languages, Mandarin grammar is fluid and flexible. Mandarin is a conceptual language, based on primarily vocabulary and interpretive tones. As someone who is relatively musical, the tones come naturally and the language almost feels like music. In short: I like it. The hard part has been trying to listen. With the different accents and massive vocabulary, Mandarin initially sounded like gibberish. Now, after a summer and a few intensive weeks of exposure, I'm starting to understand daily conversation. Not every word, but I can listen and pick up phrases or common words. When putting a conversation in context, I can actually pick up on the general gist of the content. I realized this when sitting in class this morning. Instead of my normal struggle to interpret our laoshi's (teacher) daily lessons (which she tries to teach completely in Mandarin), I found myself actually understanding. Instead of forcing myself to do word-by-word translations of her instructions, I just listened and, with a few exceptions, understood what she was saying. It was fantastic.

My other classes are also good. I'm currently taking Asian art history, International Relations, and Statistics. None of these classes where what I was expecting, but I really like them all. Art History is more or less Chinese art appreciation. I am learning not only how to view Chinese art, but also how to recognize my own biases towards western art. International Relations is amazing. Our professor is one of the most intellectual, intelligent and down to earth people I've ever met. This man is a personal friend of Henry Kissinger... and he's teaching me?! I've only had one class thus far, but I can tell this is going to be an amazing semester. Statistics, with our visiting professor Khan Bui, is surprisingly comfortable. I haven't taken a math class since junior year high school... so I was naturally pretty nervous about starting a math course in China. To my relief, the class has been a combination of simple algebra and practical application. Thus far, I'm really enjoying classes here.

One more day of class and then we break for the Fall Holiday, or Golden Week. In China, this is the fall national holiday. I can't really tell what the Chinese do to celebrate, only that they don't work for a few days and eat a lot of food. Sounds good to me. Most of my classmates are traveling around China, but I'm hanging out in Shanghai because...... my mom and dad are coming!! Turns out my Dad had some business planned for earlier this week in China. My parents decided to extend the trip, stop by Hong Kong, and then come spend a few days in Shanghai with me. I'm excited that they'll get to see where I'll be living for the next year, as well as spend some time just exploring the city with me.

Hope everyone has a safe and fantastic Golden Week!

Tesco Nightmares

Once again, China blocked my access to facebook and this blog. After a few days of relentlessly hunting down proxy servers, I am once again online.

Yesterday I went over to my local Tesco to pick up some laundry detergent. Tesco is like a wall-mart style underground shopping mall that spans the entire double level basement of the large building in which it is located. As a westernized shopper, Tesco is both fascinating and frightening.

Upon walking into this emporium of madness, I am immediately overwhelmed by the number of people. These people have no organization, instead opting for snail-like browsing or aggressive pushing and shoving. While making my way over to the toiletries selection, I realize that despite having some western brands, nothing is in English. I hopelessly stare at the wall of herbal essence hair products, trying to remember which color shampoo I use, all the while being knocked around by various other shoppers. I then venture over to the aisle of washing detergent, walking past everything from small vespas to a large array or liquor. Again, no English. I scoff at the price, almost 75 RMB for a normal sized laundry detergent ( this is about 11 US dollars) but figure I can't decipher any of the cheaper alternatives and I don't want to end up with bleached out clothes.
Once I grab my essential items, I look around the sea of bodies for some sign of a check-out station. Nothing. I wander aimlessly around the bottom floor, looking for anything resembling a cashier. Finally, I see a moving ramp to the upper floor. Though not my first guess, I assumed the ramp would allow me to find some way of exiting the store.
I arrived on the upper floor to an even more massive crowd of people. Household products were replaced by food... so much food. Shelves and shelves of products that I couldn't recognize. I once again began my search for the checkout. I passed young women with microphones and adorable dress outfits, promoting the Chinese equivalent of Activia Yogurt. I passed through the fresh produce section, which considering how much local food I'm eating was a mistake. Not only were people handling the produce, but they were throwing it around and testing it. As I made to turn around, an small old woman literally sneezed in my face. Those who know me well know that I HATE sneezing, especially when not covered. This was in my face. To my horror, this is not uncommon in China. There were people simply coughing, sneezing, or hawking spit all over the place...in a supermarket. Worse was the meat counter. Apparently, in China, customers like to "feel" the meat before purchasing. Slabs of raw flesh lay out, amidst the crowds of people, being handled and prodded. I had to get out.
Ten minutes later, after stumbling through the frozen food section with my detergent and hair product, I finally found the checkout. Logically placed? No. I paid, bagged my items (you have to do that yourself here) and promptly went upstairs to the Starbucks to recover from my adventure. Shanghai has many a Starbucks, which is a definite plus for me. I haven't had American food for almost three weeks, but by God I won't give up my daily Latte. Whenever I get overwhelmed by the Chinese, the culture immersion, or just need a minute alone, I head to the beautiful shining beacons of either the local Starbucks or Coffee Bean (they are ALL over the city... lucky me.) I sit with my latte, recollect myself, and continue onward.

So I need to get used to the crazy shopping, but I guess that's culture immersion. I've gotten REALLY good at taking the subways ( it costs about 3 RMB per ride, or about 50 cents.) I take subways every day, by myself. I fight through the crowd and push my way in, just like everyone else in China. I can't get used to the public sneezing-coughing-hawking. I don't understand how that is culturally acceptable. Regardless, I just go with it. I take cabs when I have to, even though cabs here are also very cheap. No big surprise... I'm pretty independent.

More to come. Need to finish my IR reading first (yes, I am a student.)

Hangin with the Locals

Today, I finally went to get my health exam. A blood sample, xray, and ultrasound later (ha, please) I am finally on my way to becoming a semi-permanent resident of CHINA. I would like give a shout out to all those who believe bureaucracy or government run health care is "good": I waited 4 hours this morning outside a health clinic, only to be turned away because it was "lunch break time." I came back in the afternoon, waited another three hours, went through a series of checkpoints only to wait in ANOTHER line, allowing me to have about thirty seconds with an overworked doctor and then be unceremoniously shoved out of the way. We think America has crappy systems? Welcome to socialized medicine.

I've developed a sore throat and lethargic demeanor, much like everyone else in the program. Once I finally returned to the Jia, I napped and took a quiet afternoon of research and statistics. I keep reminding myself that I need to get more rest... mostly because i'm exerting energy i'm not even aware during these first weeks of immersion.

Tonight was an experience, to say the least. After crawling out of bed, I grabbed Carl and Saxon to help me find dinner down the street. We stopped in at a local dumpling restaurant i've eaten at before, only to find there was no room inside. The hostess gave skeptical glances to her fellow workers, then gestured to the back of the restaurant, pointing "upstairs." I didn't even realize there was an upstairs, but since we were hungry I followed the boys up the stairs. We arrived in a crowded room of local Chinese, all smoking and laughing over large, more expensive plates of food. The downstairs had resembled a storefront restaurant, but this room was slightly more upper class and much more local. We all sat down, ordered some drinks, and opened a menu of complete characters (not English pinyin, just characters.) After Carl (who speaks great Mandarin!) asked for an English menu, the waitress summoned the "person in charge" who we assumed owned the restaurant. After greeting us, he asked us (Keep in mind, there was NO ENGLISH spoken this entire meal) what we liked to eat. In a brave move, Carl asked the man to bring us what HE liked to eat.
We waited in eager anticipation of whatever was coming our way. First, a plate of pickled cabbage, which is typical of a Chinese starter. Then, a small bucket with tin foil appeared. Inside was some kind of tofu dish with an aromatic chicken broth sauce and chunks of what appeared to be clam. It wasn't like anything i've ever eaten, but very good all the same. Then out came something familiar: Jiao zi, or boiled soup style dumplings. Served like dim sum, these little pouches of heaven were incredible. Shanghai is famous for it's soup dumplings, and this dish certainly proved why. Hot but not scalding, savory yet light, and covered in delicate dumpling dough. ahhhhh.
Finally, we finished with a sizzling plate of beef in a sweet soy sauce. Incredibly tender beef paired with some egg fried rice... just wonderful. After some more conversation with the Manager man (we couldn't really pick up his name... his deep gruff voice slurred almost everything he said) we left, having paid 90 quai for the whole meal (for those at home counting, that's about 15 US dollars, apps 5 dollars a person.)

On the way back, Saxon and I stopped for iced green tea outside the 7/11 style convenience shop outside our gate. The street woman near where we were sitting had taken an old chair and was stripping it for wood. Saxon, who is both wonderful and a complete mystery to me, decided to help the woman. I sat and watched as this odd act of kindness turned into a fantastic scene. John and Patrick drove by the house, saw Saxon, and proceeded to help him in his act of public service. Locals started to appear, confused yet fascinated by the odd Americans helping the street woman. As we later learned, higher class local Chinese do not help the street people with their "work," so watching Saxon was very strange and borderline taboo. We explained to the onlookers that Americans pride themselves in being both friendly and helpful. The locals, to my surprise, were impressed by this and watched in interest and the boys continued to help the woman with her work.

After the wood-stripping had finished, one of the woman who I had been pathetically trying to communicate with decided to walk John and I back to our Jia, which was right down the lane. After walking and chatting, we discovered that she lived next to our Jia in a small apartment across the way. She asked if we both would come up and see her home. Though small, the apartment housed the woman, her husband, and her young daughter. After assessing the the situation was perfectly safe and these people were simply being very hospitable, John and I sat and talked with the girl (Joy) and her mother (Laura.) The immersion was intense, but Joy spoke some English and John helped with the Mandarin translation. Joy, who is twelve and very good in school, was eager to exchange emails to she can practice her English. Both Joy and Laura were polite, kind and very hospitable to John and myself. Though in a normal situation, being invited to a strangers house would have seemed both sketchy and dangerous, but here it is a cultural norm. The home is a source of pride for Laura and her family, and inviting us up to chat and meet her family was incredibly kind of her. After a long series of conversations, I finally got back to the Jia. After a very long day, I feel like I definitely am staring to embrace the cultural transition. I chose China as my study abroad because I felt the transition here would be most difficult, yet also the most rewarding. By making the effort to step out of my comfort zone, I feel I'm getting much more out of this experience than If I were simply staying with the group 24/7. I'm meeting people, eating with the locals, and trying to bridge the cultural gap. I'm (safely) taking the leap into China.
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Living in the City

This morning, I got up and went for a run. My normal runs are relatively boring, usually with a few people passing by and a nice view. Running in Shanghai is more like an obstacle course. There are hundreds of people EVERYWHERE, going to school, work, or just simply wandering the streets in the early hours of the morning. I ran up to the Ji'an temple, circled around, grabbed a coffee at the CHINESE coffee store 85 degrees, and picked up some fresh fruit on my way back to the Jia. I was pointed at and photographed by a few commuters in buses, but other than that, I kind of meshed in with the rest of the morning commute.

For a city of over 20 million people (the largest city in China) I feel surprisingly safe here. Walking around the streets feels comfortable. Crossing the street, though incredibly dangerous, isn't so hard once you get in the rhythm of things. Everything here is moving all the time. It's a nice change of pace from Malibu.

Today we're learning how to use taxi directions and public transportation. Our hands-on activity later today will be a scavenger hunt around the city. During the "intensive" class period, we have three hours of sit down class work in the morning, followed by a one hour review in the afternoon. Then, we are all given an activity or task in the city and are expected to go out and use what we've learned that morning. Practical, hands on application learning.

Hopefully, I'll finally join the local gym today and get some cardio in. We've been getting plenty of excercise just walking around, but I'm itching to get into a good gym habit here. Tomorrow we have our orientation day at Fudan University, and then normal classes start!

:) Love to my family, friends and readers.

Exploring the City

I've officially been in Shanghai for four days. I can't tell if it's been four days, four weeks or four years. I've had absolutely no time to update because I've been running around the city non stop with some new and wonderful people. I finally had to sneak back up to my room during lunch just to get a quiet minute.

I'll try and start from the beginning, summarizing as I go along.

Upon arrival at LAX last Tuesday night, the group received boarding passes and instruction regarding the following days travel. We greeted each other with hugs, smiles and excitement. Despite our large piles of luggage, we all looked relatively travel savvy and ready to take on China.

Two Tylenol simply sleep later, I woke up with only three hours until our landing in Shanghai :) God's gift to red eye travelers. After passing out for the majority of the flight, I got off in Hong Kong to find my two morning necessities: a toothbrush and some kind of latte. About a second later we were on our way to Shanghai. Two of my new roommates and I shrieked in excitement upon landing in China. Then came a fast paced march to customs and swine flu inspection, followed by luggage and meeting our program director at ground transportation. One relatively short bus ride later, we were standing on the front porch of a french style mansion in the middle of Shanghai, known to us as Jia or HOME.

The next night was a random assortment of hello's, unpacking and dinner. We went out to South Beauty banquet Chinese restaurant where we were served an excellent array of traditional formal dishes: chicken, shrimp, pork ribs and fish. Pickled cold items to start, like mushrooms and tofu, followed by seafood, meat, and then finally a large plate of fresh fruit. I was impressed to find that our group made the effort to try everything, no matter how foreign.

After crashing Thursday night, we all got up on Friday for orientation, group bonding, and more food. We went out to the bund (the riverside edge of the puxi, our side of the river) and got on a dinner river cruise up and down the pudong river. We got to see Shanghai lit up at night, which from the boat was incredible. A small group of us (Morgan, Brennen, Katy, Allie, Zach, James, Jason and myself) went out on to the bow of the boat to watch the city lights. It's an incredible city: a combination of modern, classical, international and local. Later that night, the entire group (40 people, so a lot, with the exception of only a few) went out to the local club by our house to enjoy the nightlife of our new district. The club was alright, the open bar was terrible, but having around 35 Pepperdine students dancing and enjoying one of our first nights was worth the ten dollar fee. Some stayed late, some left early, but we just had fun together.

After a groggy Saturday morning, we continued orientation and went shopping for a few essentials. Later in the afternoon, Clay, Allie, Luke, Jordan, Morgan and myself sat outside the nearest Starbucks and tried some of the local cuisine we picked up on the sidestreets by our Jia. Luke insisted that we buy some mooncake, which was awful but culturally significant. We sat and savored the afternoon over a few iced drinks and 20 questions style games.

On a side note: NO, i haven't kicked my coffee habit... yet. I'm working on it. Thus far, I've tried to just do an iced coffee with nonfat milk versus paying for the more expensive vanilla latte, but it's a process. I'm hoping I can go local and just go with green tea... ha I can dream.

Saturday night Allie, Zach, Meghan, Brennen, James, Luke and I all went out after dinner. We ended up meeting an Ex-Pat couple who took us out and talked to us about living in Shanghai. They've been living in the city for three years and plan on staying for at least another five. We learned how to find good places to eat, We stayed out late, made some new friends, and explored the French Concession at night :) Fantastic night.

Sunday flew by. I went down with a group to the Bund to shop, eat, and explore (all i seem to be doing is exploring :) ) Now it's Monday and we're doing six hours of intensive Chinese. I'm learning how to barter and speak simple sentences, which will be taken out on the street later this afternoon.

Thus far, things are INCREDIBLE!!! more to come later :)

Away We Go

So. Here it is.

I'm about three hours away from meeting everyone at the airport in Shanghai. I've been running around LA for the past three days, everywhere from Manhattan Beach to Malibu to Burbank to Pasadena. I've been blasting classic rock out the back of my uncles' red jeep wrangler and living it up for my last few days in the USA. It's odd to think that in less than 24 hours, I'll be speaking mandarin and trying to negotiate my residential visa in Shanghai.

Like everything in my life thus far, I can usually tell when something is going to be important. I can sense when some event or moment is going to have a significant impact on "life" that I can't really explain. Mostly I just get nervous and can feel something shifting in whatever greater universe I'm living in. I know it sounds ridiculous. It's like I can feel something bigger is coming... lol

Now is the moment where I take the leap. I said goodbye to my family, waved goodbye to my home and my friends, and now stand on the edge of this huge adventure that I can't even really see yet. I'm excited, nervous, but mostly just waiting for it to begin. I figure if I can live on my own, work and internship, and be self reliant in Los Angeles for two months... this Shanghai thing shouldn't be too difficult.

Here we go.... Finally :)

leaving the house

Well... here I am. 20 minutes away from leaving for the airport and two days away from leaving for China. My bags are somehow not overstuffed, my things are in order, and I might actually be ready to go. I sit here in my somewhat normal looking bedroom wondering how my bags can have so much in them when my room doesn't really look empty.

So I am really packing my life and moving to China. Two days. More to come.

One Week.

One week to go.

Thus far, I have two empty suitcases, a large pile of potential clothes, and a totally chaotic room. Despite a lifetime of traveling, I am still a terrible packer. I tend to just throw things in a general direction and attempt to imagine various scenarios in which to wear far too may outfits. The weight limit isn't helping, either. 100 pounds, 15 of which are already taken up by the suitcases, is not much for almost 8 months in a foreign country.

So far, I have a list of mostly layers. Lots of tanks and sweaters to layer with jeans depending on the weather, which from what I hear can be extreme. Some trek gear for harder travel, along with winter layers for the upcoming cold months. I have some random items for everyday, like a dress or flip flops, but I mostly have practical clothing. I'm bringing a few luxuries, like hand sanitizer and my fantastic new camera. In reality, I'm not actually taking that much stuff. What I can't figure out is why it all weights so much...

This month went so fast. I can't believe that in a week I'll be on my way. I have to disconnect my beloved iphone, change over my money, and say goodbye for awhile. With the time change and lack of convenient communication, I'll have to rely on skype, facebook, and this blog to kind of keep people updated on what i'm doing.

Also, sad news :( my puppy of over 12 years passed away last friday. He was the best dog in the world...I miss him very much.