When It Rains, It Pours

Instead of going to school on Tuesday, my class visited the ancient town of Zhujiajiao!  Also known as the “Venice of Shanghai” and the “Hollywood of Shanghai”, Zhujiajiao is a beautiful little town on the water.  There are no cars (just boats- like Venice!) and lots of movies have been filmed in the picturesque lanes (like Hollywood!).  We were assigned a scavenger hunt that we had to complete with a partner and a Chinese student.  My partner was Agatha and Audrey was our Chinese student helper.  Walking around the city completing the 20 tasks was fun at first, but after awhile the heat got overwhelming and we met up with Richard, Aiden, and their Chinese partner at the Starbucks.  While we were meeting outside, a woman came up and offered to read our palms (for a price, of course!).  After a little bargaining, Richard got his palm read.  It was really funny and surprisingly accurate so I had mine read too (apparently I’m going to live to be 102).  No one was able to finish the tasks just because it was so hot out that walking around outside all day was next to impossible.  I got a sunburn and was exhausted by the end of the day.

Yesterday afterschool, Richard, Agatha, Tafari, Tyler and I took the subway downtown to Tianshan Tea Market to buy some tea.  It was really authentic and we got to try a bunch of different tea flavors like Jasmine, Oolong, Green, White, Black, and Milk tea.  On the way home, it started to rain but I wasn’t concerned.  How bad could a few raindrops be?  Well, turns out it was pretty bad.  By the time I got to Xinzhuang, there was a torrential downpour along with thunder, lightning, and serious wind.  Everyone else got picked up from the station but I had to run all the way down the block to get to my bus.  It was pouring and the thunder was so loud I was afraid I was going to be struck by lightning.  As I’m splashing through a few inches of water towards the parking lot I noticed that none of the buses are there!  I stopped in a convenience store and called Ivy.  Turns out the buses weren’t coming!  Completely soaked, I hailed a taxi and told the driver my street in Chinese and just prayed he understood me and knew where he was going since I didn’t understand anything he said to me.  As a foreigner, taking a taxi here is always an adventure.  I made it home, drenched.  Of course I had missed dinner and we hadn’t had time to eat downtown so the Chinese version of Ritz Crackers was my dinner. Yum! 

xoxo

sar

Audrey, Agatha, and I in Zhujiajiao. 

On one of the 37 bridges. 

Fangsheng Bridge; the most famous bridge in Zhujiajiao.

Exploring a garden.

Tianshan Tea City!

Code Red

This week Shanghai experienced record high temperatures: 42 degrees Celsius, which is 107 degrees Fahrenheit!  Add in the humidity (to make it a nice 114 degrees Fahrenheit) and I basically felt as if I was being cooked alive every time I walked outside.  Because of the extreme heat (Code Red!), we got out of school early on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I’ve been so tired though that I just went home on Wednesday and Thursday.  Actually, I’m afraid I’m getting sick; my throat is really sore and I’ve lost my voice!  

It probably did not help that on Friday night all of us American students went to KTV, which is karaoke.  My throat was already sore but singing definitely did not help.  Either way it was worth it because I had a lot of fun!  When I got home, I played the board game Blokus with my host family.  I even won one round!

Saturday morning Agatha and I went over to her host father’s friend’s house where we made some dumplings and had lunch.  Then we met up with Richard, Tafari, and Tim and took the subway downtown.  We went to Tao Bao, which is sort of like a mall with lots of different stalls.  It is a little sketchy looking but really exciting and overwhelming because there is so much stuff! There are fake designer things, clothes, shoes, jewelry, little gifts; pretty much everything!   The best part is that you get to bargain for everything.  Since we’ve learned how to bargain in class, everything I bought I bargained for in Chinese!  It definitely makes the shop owners more respectful when you speak their language, even though most of them can speak a little English.  Chinese also helps because then they are less likely to scam you. 

After we shopped for a while, we met up with some of the other American students, Meghan, Amanda, Srinath, Tyler, and Aiden, and we all went to Tianzifang.  Tianzifang is a really cute little neighborhood that looks very authentic.  When you see Chinatowns in movie, Tianzifang looks very similar!  We ate at an Italian place where I had some decent carbonara and then we walked around.  There are a ton of little alleyways all lit up with lights and shops with tea and vintage glasses and scarves.  It has a vaguely European vibe and was really cute. 

Once we took the metro home, Richard and I got in a taxi.  I gave the driver my address (in characters) on a slip of paper Ivy had written for me.  Unfortunately, the driver got very lost and I couldn’t communicate with him the way to go!  Every time he made a correct term I’d say “hen hao!” which means “very good!”.  The best part was that the driver assumed Richard could understand him because Richard is Asian.  Richard is, however, Korean, so the driver was REALLY confused when Richard couldn’t respond to his questions in Chinese.  Don’t worry, we eventually got home!

On Sunday I went to the top of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower!  The TV Tower is the needle shaped building that you see in all of the skyline pictures of Shanghai.  I went to the highest part and got to see the entire city below me!  It was amazing and I’m so glad I got to do it.  Afterwards, we all went to the market underneath the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.  Agatha, Richard, and I got some shopping done but I wasn’t feeling well (I also could barely speak) so we went home in time for dinner.  My host family took me to Spicco, a classy Italian restaurant near our house.  I had told Ivy that we were learning how to order food in class so she had me order our meal.  So, in a very hoarse and quiet voice, I ordered it all in Chinese! The pizza was excellent and it really tasted like Italy! 

In terms of other food, this week I accidentally ate a head of garlic.  My host family and I were eating dinner the other night and we had some pork in this brown sauce.  The pork was on the bone though so I was having trouble finding little pieces without any bones in it.  I thought I spotted a piece so I grabbed it with my chopsticks and popped it into my mouth while my entire host family goes “Oh!” with concerned faces.  Right then as I bit down I realized that this was NOT pork!  I tried to downplay it to my family and said that I eat a lot of garlic back home, but the rest of dinner my mouth was on fire.  Next time I’ll look at my food more closely before I eat it.

Sorry this post is long; a lot happened this week!  Fifteen days until I’m back in the States!

xoxo

sar

Here we all are at Tianzifang! 

351 meters above Shanghai! 

The group at the top of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. 

 Observation Deck; we had to.

Classic pose on the observation deck. 

Aggie and I making new friends!

I'm on a Boat

On Monday I got home from school at 6:30.  Ivy had told me that she was going out to dinner with some of her friends so I sat down with my host mom, dad, and grandma for dinner.  Considering they speak almost no English and I speak practically no Chinese, dinner was pretty quiet.  Afterwards, I went upstairs and took a shower and started on my homework.  It was really hard because normally Ivy and I do it together so she can help me but since she wasn’t there I was completely on my own.  I had finished everything except I still had to translate twelve characters into pinyin (Chinese characters written phonetically) and then into English because I had a test the next day on it.  Unfortunately, I do not know any characters and my teacher assumes that our host sibling will be available to translate for us.  But Ivy was gone!  Just when I was about to give up my host dad knocked on my door and in very broken English asked, “Chinese homework? Can I help?”  I said “Shi de” (which means “yes”).  We went down to the office and my host dad rewrote all the characters in my notebook and then with the help of my dictionary, my host mom and her computer, and my host dad’s smartphone, we wrote the pinyin and English.  I was touched by how sweet they were and how much they genuinely wanted to help.  And they got so excited when I read the pinyin back to them!  It was a great bonding moment and even though I don’t speak the same language as them, they still treat me like a daughter.

On Tuesday instead of afternoon class, we went downtown to a martial arts museum.  There were some interactive exhibits and Agatha, Richard, Tafari, and I almost beat the high score on a reflex game (although I'm not sure if it counts as cheating since all four of us had to work together).  Afterwards we went to this gym (no AC- I was dying) where we met all these other exchange students and watched some martial arts routines.  It got slightly embarrassing when our group was asked to perform something.  We had nothing to do and had about 3 minutes to prepare so we ended up singing the National Anthem (which was hilarious considering none of the other exchange groups were American).  Then we went on a cruise on the Huangpu River with the other students and I got a chance to talk to these two French girls who were really nice.  I'm glad I had gotten to the see the Bund on Friday night because not all the lights were on during the cruise so it wasn't as pretty.  But still, it was pretty cool!

xoxo

sar  

Here we are at the beginning of the cruise. 

This is us with our two new French friends (they're in the orange shirts).

Week in Review

Hello, America!  I am halfway done with my stay here in Shanghai.  I can’t believe I have only been gone for 21 days; it seems like so much longer.  It is equally as crazy that I only have 21 days left!  778 Xinnan Road has really begun to feel like home to me.

This week I spent a lot of time shopping.  I went to the mall five days in a row!  On Tuesday, Agatha and I went to Xinzhuang mall afterschool.  Then on Wednesday, we went again with Ivy to help her find a dress.  On Thursday, Ivy took me downtown afterschool to meet two of her friends.  We went to Metro City mall and ate some great noodles and dumplings at a place called “RamenPlay”.  Afterwards they took me shoe shopping because I am not allowed to wear flip-flops to class and my Toms are getting a hole in them.  Thursday was also fun because in the afternoon instead of class we got to go to the Shanghai Museum and look around.

On Friday in the afternoon we went to the local market and were given 10 yuan and had to bargain (in Chinese of course!) for at least three items while staying in our price range.   I was with Tafari and Richard, and when our Chinese bargaining vocab failed us, we just said “wo ai zhong guo!” over and over again, which means “I love China!”.  That always made the shopkeepers laugh and I got a free onion and a free potato! Then on Friday night, Agatha, Richard, Tafari, Kevin (Richard’s host bro), and I went downtown again and ate dinner at the Super Brand Mall, which is this gigantic mall right next to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.  We ate at a Pizza Hut (which sounds bad, I know), but here in China, Pizza Hut is a fancy sit-down restaurant.  Then we went exploring in the city! 

Literally everywhere you look there is just skyscraper after skyscraper.  We took the ferry across the river to the side that is actually called the Bund.  I felt like I was in a postcard.  All the buildings were lit up and, of course, the famous Oriental Pearl TV Tower completed the skyline and really made me realize that I am here in Shanghai.  As we were walking along, these people came over to me and handed me their grandson and started taking pictures!  The little boy was adorable and random passerby stated taking pictures of the Westerner holding the Chinese baby.  By this point in my stay I am pretty used to having strangers take my picture and I like to imagine just how many random people’s photo albums I am going to end up in.  When I got home that night, I had an awesome surprise.  In my room waiting for me was a box from Caitlyn and Kyle with some treats!  I have the best friends; thank you guys!

On Saturday, I ended up at Xinzhuang mall (again) with Agatha and Richard.  We hung out, browsed, and got some coffee and then Agatha and I took the bus back to my house.  Then we left with my host family for Suzhou!  Suzhou is a city in Jiangsu province and it is about an hour and half drive away from Shanghai.  My friend from Virginia, Maeve, is also on a NSLI-Y scholarship here in China, and she just happens to be in Suzhou so my host family booked a hotel room and offered to take me and Agatha to see her!  The hotel was “ancient Chinese style” and was absolutely gorgeous, and for dinner we went to this great restaurant and then walked around the downtown area.  After coming from Shanghai, the downtown of Suzhou seemed so… little!  Nevertheless it was great to see another city!  On Sunday, we met up with Maeve and went to Lion Forest Garden, which is one of the gardens that Suzhou is so famous for.  It was beautiful but the humidity was overpowering and we decided not to go to any more gardens.  After lunch we headed home because Ivy and I had tickets to a piano/cello concert back in Shanghai.  We were both so exhausted though that we only stayed for an hour and then took the bus home.  Ivy and I both had a pile of homework to do and then we went out with the host parents to dinner at a Thai restaurant.

Below are some pictures from the highlights of the week!

xoxo
sar

Agatha and I outside the Shanghai Museum. 

Downtown Shanghai! 

Exploring the Bund at night!

Me, Agatha, and Ivy walking around Suzhou. 

Ivy and I at the Lion Forest Garden in Suzhou. 

Meeting up with Maeve in Suzhou!