Nihao, wo jiao Zhou Ling

Here I am one day in Shanghai, and I already have a Chinese name!  Zhou is my host family's surname and Ling is the name my host sister, Ivy, picked for me.  In China, when introducing yourself, the surname always come before your first name.  Ling means "cool and refreshing", which I figured is appropriate because it so a million degrees here and so humid!  Much worse than the humidity in Arlington!

Yesterday when our bus pulled into Shanghai Minhang High School, all of the host siblings were standing outside with signs that had our names on them.  It was a really sweet greeting, although perhaps a little awkward at first.  After a brief orientation, baba (which means father) and Ivy took me to dinner at a mall near our house.  Baba does not speak any English, but he is really sweet and kind.  They did laugh at me quite a bit though when I completely failed at my attempt to use chopsticks.  

Then we drove home and I got to see my home for the next six weeks.  The condo that I am living in is very nice!  It is five floors, and I have my own little room with air conditioning, a full size bed, a TV, and a wardrobe.  My bed has a mattress and a blanket but one top there is a bamboo mat to sleep on.  I found it a little uncomfortable so I just stuck with the blanket.  

This morning Ivy and I went to school.  Normally, we will take the subway to school, but today her dad drove us.  It is about a 35 minute care ride.  My first Chinese class went pretty well, and after school my new friends Agatha and Richard and I took the subway to downtown Shanghai with our host siblings.  It was amazing!  It looks and feels exactly like New York City, except everything is written in characters.  I even got a Starbucks drink to go along with my authentic Chinese street food!  

Tomorrow Ivy is going to help me with my Chinese homework, and then we are going to meet up with Agatha, Richard, and their host siblings and go to a water park!

Here are some pictures of my first day in Shanghai:

This is all fourteen of us students studying at Shanghai Minhang High School.

Here is me, Richard, and Agatha in downtown Shanghai.

This is what we got for dinner tonight!