Finally in Shanghai

 Sorry for the delay. I arrived Tuesday night, but  have been too tired and busy to post this sooner. I have much more to post, but I will get to those in the next day or two.

Just getting off of the plane

Wow! Shanghai! This is an interesting city. I have not been able to fully explore my part of the city, which is known as Pudong, but there are just so many interesting things in my neighborhood alone. The plane ride was not too bad, but was not exactly what I expected it to be. Upon leaving LAX there was a girl who was passed out drunk. A man tried to wake her up, but to no avail she just sloshed around in her seat. Next thing you now she is spewing like a fountain. For some reason they allowed her on the plane and she sat in front of me. Next thing you know she is throwing chunks again. After that we were ok. The flight to Shanghai wasn’t too bad. I slept off and on. I thought it would be a miserable flight because my personal movie screen did not work. They reset the system and everything worked, but then my sound did not work. After about 4 hours it began to work magically. They fed us three times on the plane. Food was not amazing, so I do not think I will write any more about it. The only problem I had on the flight were my legs.

Turns out that my legs, ankles, and feet swelled. I have never had that happen to me and I did not experience that from my flight to Israel. I looked it up online and apparently other people have experienced similar reactions. I think it has to do with sitting down for long periods of time and not moving around. Whatever the case it seems that is has taken about 2 days for the swelling to subside. 

Customs was fairly easy. I didn’t have to declare anything so I flew right through. Jess and the driver were waiting for Jenny and I. Shanghai is very modern. I would argue that it is more modern than much of what I saw in Israel. Shanghai reminds me of Los Angeles or New York, but Chinese.  Where I live is very modern. I live in the part of Shanghai called Pudong New Area. There is a plaza that is less than five minutes walking distance from my home. It is a mini-America.  There is a KFC, McDonald’s, Subway, Café Du Monde, Cold Stone, Coffee Bean, Hagen Dazs, Nike Town, Nine West, and a few other Western style places. There is a supermarket that resembles Walmart called Carrefour. There are a few bars here too. 

Coca-Cola is EVERYWHERE!

So far, my impression of Shanghai is quite amazing. As of yet, I am not convinced that I will experience any significant culture shock. I feel like I am still in the US, but with a larger Chinese population. More to come...stay posted!