Shanghai Summer: 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