Friday 9/9/05

• My suitemate Lea and I go to dragonfly to get shiatsu massages and manicures. Dragonfly is a really zen looking establishment with dim lighting, fragrant candles, a really chill soundtrack and of course, a really professional staff. For a one hour shiatsu massage, we only paid Y120, which is around $15USD. The manicure was the same price, which made it pretty expensive compared to another Chinese nail salon in New York City. But ehh, you only live once.
  

Saturday 9/10/05

• Eric, Lisa and I went around the city to do the scavenger hunt that I suspect only like 10 people are doing. Mike couldn’t come because he was feeling really sick and after going to the doctor, found out that he had strep throat. Yikes!
• The Jin An Si, which according to Lonely Planet, was erected in the third century and was has lost its appeal after it was destroyed in the nineteenth century and then robbed of its Buddhist statues during the Cultural Revolution. It still looks pretty nice though

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• When I was outside the temple, I asked a man if there was admission to the place and he said yes but he’d rather me get my fortune read before I go in. which took me a long time to understand that he was trying to sell me something. Chinese people are too good at selling you things because I almost got my fortune read since he was so persistent. Haha.
• Century Park, I would say, is the Shanghai equivalent to New York’s Central Park. Its pretty huge, compared to other parks in Shanghai. Admission was Y10, which isn’t so bad. Outside the park were vendors selling some sort of meat on kebabs. Eric and I wanted to try them so we bought some for Y2 each. They were really flavorful but that is because they were 100% fat. The spices made it extra tasty but we couldn’t really eat it since it was just fat. Yuck.

• At Century Park, you can ride bikes (Y30-Y80)
  

and boats (Y30-Y50)

• Check out this sprite, its Minty

• We ate at, literally, a hole in the wall. What you did was select everything you wanted on your noodles and then someone would cook it for you. The food came in a plastic back over a bowl, which is ingenious cuz after you’re done with the noodles, you can just throw out the bag and still have the bowl. Chinese people and economical thinking, wow.
• Here are some more pictures of the Shanghai skyline. It was nicer today because it wasn’t as cloudy.

Sorry it’s been taking so long for me to post some stuff on Shanghai. I’ve been pretty busy.  I started writing something a few days earlier but it started to look exactly like one of those Chris Wong dissertation-sized logs that I had to totally scrap it. So instead, here is what’s been happening to me in Shanghai, bullet point style. A lot of stuff has happened so it still looks like a long-assed CW dissertation. oops. Haha

Friday 9/2/05

ê          I call Julie Hanus to say goodbye and that I love her cuz I won’t be seeing her for a long, long time since I’ll be in Shanghai for the term and she’ll be in the London School of Economics for a year (cuz she’s a freakin’ genius) This girl never ceases to amaze me. She told me something that almost made me cry while I was on the phone with her on the bus. She said that I should take advantage of my time in Shanghai because it’s really rare that people go to a place completely foreign to them. Most people travel to places where they already have some kind of connection or go with someone they know. But because I am going by myself to a place far away from anyone I know, its like being given a new opportunity to be less inhibited and do whatever I want because it is exactly a fresh beginning, a time to reinvent myself. And she is totally right. I love you, Julie.

Saturday 9/3/05

ê          It hit me at around the time I was leaving for the airport that I was not going to see my parents for months and months; that I was going to be by myself for the first time in my life. That sort of fear made me cry almost uncontrollably, which also made my mom cry. I’ve never seen my mom cry. It was hard. Wah!!

ê          JAL Flight No.5 left JFK at 1:30. A 15hour flight...

ê          Watched three movies on the plane: The Gift (kiseki), Guess Who?, Monster-in-Law. The best one was definitely The Gift

ê          Japanese stewardesses are really pretty

ê          Japan Airline food tastes like crap, but Japanese cracker snacks are so yummy and so is their green tea

Sunday 9/4/05

ê          Flight from Tokyo Narita to Shanghai Pudong was delayed for an hour (probably because of super typhoon Nabi)

ê          Airline food tastes nasty

ê          POCARI SWEAT hahaha the Japanese equivalent of Propel Fitness Water. this definitely belongs on www.engrish.com

ê          At Shanghai customs, the agent checks my Mexican passport with every instrument to make sure its real. Its incredible. I think they should do that for everyone. Especially that Slavic man who was before me. He looked really suspicious but cleared customs without a hitch.

ê          The cab driver is lost but doesn’t want to admit it. when I finally get there, the security guard says that the building is closed. PANIC!!! Almost had a heart attack but luckily the cab driver let me use his cell phone to call the Director and he came to pick me up. Apparently someone forgot to write down my flight information. China, go figure.

ê          The apartment is HUGE!! (pictures to come)

ê          After going around the other apts with Melanie, one of my suitemates, we return to our apartment to find the doorknob detached from the door. PANIC AGAIN!!! The security guards downstairs don’t have keys?!?! What kind of security does this building provide? After fiddling with the door, I finally get it to work.

ê          Sleep!! Finally I get to sleep laying down....

Monday 9/5/05

ê          Jetlag sucks cuz you wake up at 6AM

ê          The doorknob completely falls off and all of us are locked in. PANIC!!

ê          After fiddling with the phone, I finally figure out how to call the Director and he gets someone who has the key to let us out.

ê           CIEE Orientation Day 1

ê          At Carrefour, the French equivalent of Wal-Mart, I find the larger size of the ducky garbage can I bought in New York for $6 on sale for 28RMB, which is like $3.50. argh!!

ê          RIPPED OFF: I get ripped off buying a Chinese SIM card, paying 300RMB when others paid less than 100RMB. gRrr what’s worse is that my fucking phone is locked and the stupid cellphone store guy didn’t know how to unlock it. dumb Chinese people. He tells me to go to the Motorola store on Tianjin Road to see what to do.

Tuesday 9/6/05

ê          Jetlag sucks cuz you wake up at 6AM

ê          CIEE Orientation Day 2 at ECNU campus. Its really pretty there.

ê          Lea, one of my suitemates, stalks down an ECNU student to ask her where the got her shoes and walks away not knowing the shoe store or the shoe brand but with the girl’s email address. Weird. Haha it’s almost like a pick up line.  I wonder if it works on boys…

ê          Chinese buses ride like New York subways: bumpy, lurchy, and a little bit stinky.

ê          CELL PHONE SAGA: so Lea, Melanie and I take the cab to the Motorola store on Tianjin Road. Here are some pics of the buildings along the way. When we get there, I find out that I have to call Cingular to unlock the phone. ARGH!!

ê          WASHING MACHINE PROBLEMS: why is it not working?! Why is it leaking water?!

ê          We go exploring and find this pretty cheap liquor store and decide to come back later for booze.

ê          A Chinese sex shop. I was scared and a little traumatized that the workers at the sex shop were old Chinese women.
But check out the size of this penis.
And get a look at this sex doll!

ê          Here are more pictures of the day and of drunken fun at Fans during the night.

Wednesday 9/7/05

ê          Jetlag and hangovers suck because you still wake up at 6AM

ê          CIEE Orientation Day 3 something about culture shock.

ê          Downtown at the Fake Market, I got a Mao watch for 26RMB (a good deal) and a fake coach keychain for 50RMB (totally ripped off)

ê          Check this guy out, he’s sleeping next to his produce

ê          haha this guy manican is wearing flower undies.

ê          I got Chinese shoes!! 215RMB. But they were from a department store, so I couldn’t bargain for them.

ê          CIEE welcome dinner at some vegetarian restaurant

ê          Chinese Acrobatic Show. I fell asleep watching some of it but when I woke up I saw this little kid who was so cute. He was doing the act where you balance on a board that’s on top of a rolling barrel. Scary. Oddly enough, the BALL OF DEATH, which was a giant metal ball with motorcyclists doing scary things, was the closing act. That’s not acrobatics.

ê          Lea is one crazy mofo, and so is Melanie. I love these suitemates. We went to this club (forgot the name) and had a good time. Though I got skeeved by the amount of old white guys on the street. I also saw one with his pro. Eww. Melanie later told me that one of the old guys thought we were prostitutes and wanted to buy us. Wtf. Old white guys skeeve me out. Yuck.

ê          On the way home, the cab driver was saying to Andrew that he’s got three girls in the back of the car. ::winkwink:: and I’m like ‘no, he’s got a beautiful girlfriend.’ And the cab driver goes, ‘so? That doesn’t matter as long as you keep the two things separate.’ Haha this guy was fucking hilarious.  I love that Andrew, not Chinese, knows more Chinese than many of us. Puts us Chinese ones to shame. 

Thursday 9/8/05

ê          I suck cuz I still have jetlag after being here for four days. Waking up at 6AM sucks.

ê          Chinese 'high speed' internet sucks.

ê          CIEE Orientation Day 4. Finally, I get to do tourist things in Shanghai!!

ê          Jin Mao Tower 88    

ê          The Temple

ê          Yu Gardens

ê          The Bundt (argh the pictures keep not wanting to upload.. bastards)

ê          WASHING MACHINE FINALLY FIXED!! I love Yao A-Yi, our maid.

ê          Note: van Helsing sucks as a movie. It does not make any sense.