For the first time of the semester, I worked late into last night. I was trying to understand and put together my presentation on Constructivism Theory in International Relations. Not only was I struggling with the subject matter (Constructivism is highly hypothetical and purely analytical) but also with the concept of once again putting together a full scale powerpoint presentation.
The nice thing about working in Shanghai is that unlike Malibu, things stay open. I can go get a Starbucks (or 24 hour 85 degrees) coffee at 11:00 pm and then head down the all-days convenience store at the end of our street at 1:00 to pick up a soyjoy bar and green tea. Malibu is pretty much shut down by 10:00pm, and the nearest open areas are usually a 20 minute drive through the canyon.

Even better are the mornings. I can wake up at 6:30, light already streaming through my window, and revise my presentation. Go for a run, pick up a coffee, enjoy a bowl of cereal, and keep on going. It's all pretty fluid and easy here... even more so than on the Malibu campus. The amount of work is still very real, but I don't mind it nearly as much here.

8 hour of class in one day... Tuesdays are rough.

October 3rd. Lunar Holiday.

So here I sit, house almost completely to myself. It's nice to have a night of just quiet... but I also miss having the group home. I was invited to go out tonight, but I figure, how many nights alone will I get for the rest of this term? So I sit with my take out curry, enjoying the full moon and catching up on my busywork.( despite the large availability of American/western food, I'm trying to see how long I can hold out before I go running for the pizza hut down the street :) )

My parents came to Shanghai for a few days this week. Unfortunately, the week's rain hadn't stopped by the time they arrived. We spent the first day cruising the Super Brand Mall on the Pudong side of the river. Ten full stories of commercial madness is, at times, overwhelming, but I think they liked it. It was mostly just interesting to see how modern Shanghai has embraced capitalism in it's purest form. After an afternoon nap at the Four Seasons, we headed out for a traditional Shanghainese dinner. We ended up in an old mansion in the French Concession where we were served iced chicken, Mao pork, smoked fish and fresh peas. The flavors and style were definitely not what we were used to, but it was fun to try something new.

Friday was a gorgeous day, so the three of us headed out to the Yu Gardens, the only slightly historical sight left in Shanghai. Because of the holiday week, the gardens were PACKED with people... almost all visiting Chinese with a few random westerners thrown in. Our morning was filled with bartering, shopping, and sampling the local fair. For lunch, we stopped by a crowded stand of street food where whole deep fried crabs on skewers were flying out of the stalls and devoured by local tourists. After an order of crabs, xiao long bao (little dragon buns, or steamed pork dumplings), and egg tarts (amazing!), we finally found the actual garden inside the large circling walls of the complex. The gardens themselves were lovely and tranquil, especially in the Shanghai midday heat. After a walk around, we headed back to the Four Seasons for massages :) and some down time before dinner.

On the way to dinner, we stopped by People's Square to admire the lights and holiday festivities. The whole country seems to have the holiday spirit, waving small China flags and supporting the national activities. We then headed over to New Heights, a trendy bar with an unbelievable view of the Bund. Below New Heights was our restaurant, the Wanpou club, where we had some of the best Chinese food I've ever had. Specialties of the area (xiao long bao) combined with fusion shrimp and sweet pistaccio beef made then dinner incredible. We enjoyed all of these local delicacies while looking out on the river skyline, perfectly clear in the cool autumn night.
Sadly, My parents left come Saturday morning to head back home. After some sad goodbyes, I took advantage of the Four Seasons health club and then headed on my way to explore Shanghai. The day was incredible: perfectly clear, not too hot, and full of Chinese tourists. I headed back down to People's Square to Shanghai's No. 1 department store, where at the request of my father, I bartered myself a working cell phone. I stopped for a Starbucks at the People's Square outdoor patio, where I opened up my Shanghai book and skimmed through the local attractions. Finally, I head back home, got myself some take out, and now sit here reflecting on the past week.

At night, the city is covered in lights and decorations for the holiday. Driving down Nanjing road is almost like going through some lit up Christmas neighborhood... only instead of holiday cheer, the energy is unmistakebly nationalistic. I have two more days of "vacation" until classes start up. I have laundry and homework looming, but hopefully some fun mixed in here and there.

It's amazing to me that after only a month, I really am starting to fall in love with this city. I can't wait to get out and do some traveling (I'm already reeling with stories from my groupmates and their assorted travels) but at least for this break, I'm glad I got to explore the city a little further. I have many more places to try, more things to see, and hopefully some more fun time to experience here. For now, I'll simply enjoy my East Indies shrimp curry and the beautiful full moon in the quiet of my beautiful Jia.

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.