Jing'an and Nanjing Rd. (Downtown Shanghai)

If you haven't noticed right yet most of my blogs are about a day behind the actual event. I have been so exhausted by the time 10pm  hits. Yesterday was no exception. We decided to take the metro over to Jing'an Temple, which is situated on Nanjing road. Nanjing road is also where there are tons of hotels and shops. I am sore from all the walking I did yesterday. Also, I am being ferociously eaten by bugs!

Right outside of where I live

I guess the best way to tell you about the day is to start at the beginning. We decided to go to the city (we live in Pudong which is the new suburban area, but by no means less crowded or less crazy). We took line 9 at Middle Yanggao Rd. to Century Ave station where we got on Line 2. This took us to Jing'an Temple. Line 2 is one of the main lines from Pudong to Puxi.

Note: Shanghai is separated by the HuangPu (river). So there is PuXi and PuDong. West of the Pu and East of the Pu, respectively. Shanghai is also broken up into areas. Typically, my area is just called Pudong, but I am in the area near Thumb Plaza or Da Mu Zhi Guang Chong. 

Ellyse and John

 Continuing, Line 2 is the main line from Pudong to Puxi, so this means that this is a VERY busy metro. On our way to Jing'an Temple a guy must have heard us speaking English and he kept saying "hi, hi, hi, hi." He then started talking to me and asking random things and seems a bit sketchy. He then talked to John and sang a few songs and told us a little about himself. Seemed like a nice guy, but something may have been a little wrong with him. He did not pay to get out of the metro, which made him appear even more sketchy, but he also reminded me of just another Joe trying to make a buck. His clothes were not particularly clean and he had dirty finger nails. I think he may be just like every other person in China trying to make a living and is doing the best he can.

Jing'an Temple

Once we exited the metro the Jing'an Temple was right outside. Beautiful temple and I am sorry that my camera could not capture the full glory of this temple that is in the heart of Shanghai. The temple is on Nanjing Rd. We continued to walk down the road as John took pictures of buildings. Tons of tourists and many American or Western restaurants and stores. I saw everything from Gloria Jeans Coffee to Ferrari to a Puma Store. 

After walking for an hour or two we almost made it to 外滩 (waitan) or The Bund, which is on the water and is a beautiful view of the Pudong skyline, which is where I live. I will get pics of this soon. From where we were we decided to go into an agriculture park and walk around. It was primary lotus plants. I was against this because I have been bitten a million times. Ellyse has also been bitten quite a bit. I think the bugs must like the flavor of brown skin more. After the park we decided we were tired, hot, and hungry. 

Boy were we in for a treat. We knew the metro would be crowded, but when we arrived it was a zoo. Basically, we waited in some sort of a "line" to get on the metro. We didn't make the first train as it was packed like the human version of a sardine can. We made it onto the next train and next thing I know I am being pushed by the force of the crowd behind me. I got onto the train with little effort because I was being pushed. It was an interesting experience. I could not guard my belongings because I could not move. It was a relief to make it to Line 9. On our way back Jenny and Ralph discovered that we have a mall near us. This place has Best Buy, Sephora, Zara, and a few other stores. 

I thought these were extinct

Stay tuned for more exploits of my life in Shanghai. Tonight I am headed back to Puxi to meet up with other people from the MAIS program. I am sure I will have plenty to say.

Also, feel free to comment on my blogs!

再见！！！

Hot and humid morning at the Bund

Today was an eventful day. Jenny and I went to the Bund also know as 外滩 (waitan) to have lunch with Jed who is a fellow student in the MAIS program. We took a taxi from Pudong, which cost 41元 which is about $6. We arrive at the Bund and Jenny did not really now where we were supposed to meet. Needless to say, we never found Jed. It was hot, humid, and I was starving. I was becoming a grumpy mcgrump. We had lunch at Gloria Jeans next to the Mao statue. 

The Bund is quite nice and it had a great view of the Pudong skyline. We took a couple of pictures of the pearl tower. On our way back to Pudong we took the metro. That was our first time and we had a good experience. However, the walk back to our place was about a mile and a half in the humidity. I was extremely sweaty when we finally arrived.

Went to Carrefour for a few things. Later in the evening it rained. Had a late dinner at the Uyghar restaurant.

Overall, I am really enjoying my time in China. Tomorrow I plan on getting out there and being more aggressive. I have not had to speak much Chinese because I have Jenny. She is ABC (American born Chinese), so it has been fairly easy. I want to go look for a gym, look at where I will be working, and maybe go see the Jing’an Temple or the synagogue in Jing’an. 

 Stay tuned for more pictures.

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!

Last post from the United States of America

Well folks, this will be my last post from the United States of America. Over the next several hours I will be flying to the People’s Republic of China. I feel like I am being attacked by my emotions. I am happy, sad, excited, nervous, scared, and just jittery. This is not a trip in which I visit a foreign country for a few weeks and see the sites, but eventually head home. Instead, I will be in China for almost a year! I cannot believe I have the opportunity to be in another country for such an extend length of time. I know the experience before will provide me with invaluable experience and opportunities to see things in the world that no ordinary will see.

While I sit here waiting to board my flight I am pondering the experience that I will have, who I will meet, what different cultural items will I encounter. I am unable to find wifi in this terminal so this post will be delayed.  I am beginning to get tired, so I think that this will be it for this post. I will post more later as things occur. I think that I am emotionally tired at this point in time. Once I arrive in China I will be physically exhausted as I am accosted with new smells, sites, and sounds. 再见 zaijian  or see you later for now!

(disclaimer: I was getting sleepy, so some of this may sound weird. )

More to come!

got the visa now need the money

I now have my visa. It was quite a "fun" experience. When I walked in I had a flashback of being at the DMV. Take a number, sit down, and wait for the electronic voice to announce it over the speaker. All in all, I only waited about 40-50 minutes. I spent less than three minutes at the counter. She told me thank you and that I should come back at 1:40pm. To get a visa to visit China it costs $130, but if you do a same day rush it is an additional $40. I did the rush because I wanted enough time to handle any potential issues that could arise from my visa. I am almost set to go to China. Just today I realized I need to go to the bank and have my money converted into renminbi or yuan. I am not sure how long it will take for the bank to get the currency. I think I will check in the next hour or so. One week left and I will be on a plane to Shanghai.

Summer school is over!

It has been over a month since I last had an entry. There is much to report. First, I am happy that I decided to quit my job at Hampton Inn. It would have been extremely difficult to work and take classes this summer. I would have been a meglamaniac! Second, MAIS friends and classes. I have made so many new friends. It is great to find people with similar outlooks on life or who have the same drive to explore the world. It is the second day of not having classes and I already miss my MAIS friends. So many personalities in the program. I will not lie, there were days I wanted to get my laser gun out and zap some people to oblivion.

Jenny and I after our going away dinner

It was an intense six weeks.  Chinese culture class was interesting because there was so much that I did not know before the class, but overall its structure was quite boring. Research class sent me through the roof. The stress from this class was annoying, but I learned new things. I think this was an invaluable class since I learned various methods of research and writing that I will have to incorporate into my thesis paper. Chinese Business seemed less about China and more about international business with a sprinkling of China topics. This class was by for the most annoying. I am not sure if it was due to the fact that it was at the end of the summer courses or if I simply hated doing debates every other day. Now I am in my first week of summer vacation.

Ellyse, Jenny, and I at Plush Lounge Karaoke

I have three weeks before I leave for Shanghai 上海. I am excited, scared, nervous, sad, but overall enthusiastic. I can only imagine what experiences I will have during my time in China 中国. The next few weeks I will be tying up loose ends. I have already handled my car insurance, car registration, plane ticket, and to a lesser extent my cell phone. I do not have many bills, so this will be a benefit for me as I will not have to constantly look at my credit card statement to see if anything has been charged. I still need to get my visa and visit the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, but I first must wait for the paperwork to arrive from my employer. It is supposed to arrive anytime this week.

After karaoke

While waiting I intend to work on my lesson plans. I will be teaching Asian Geography, European Geography, ESL Writing, Music, Personal Development, Test Preparation, and Spanish. I have a very large spread, which is why I want to prepare now rather than later. Fortunately, my geography classes will be B-level, which means the students have a high-beginner to intermediate level of English. I will also have a coworker who will be teaching the A-level equivalent. We will be able to help out one another. Test Prep and Personal Development are more or less the same class. The difference is one is 11th grade and the other is 12th grade. With the older students I will focus more on college prep (requirements, exams, essays, etc.). Once the 12th graders have filed all of their college applications I look forward to going over resumes, interview skills, public speaking, and debate. I am not too sure what is going on with music. For those who know me well, music is a very important aspect of life to me. I have not played my trumpet in awhile, but it is still very deeply rooted in my heart. I was told that I have to teach the students a song to sing. I have no idea what I will do with this, but I am sure it will come to me in time. Spanish was my elective course and I figured it would be something simple for me to teach.

Sorry for the length of this post. I realize it is quite long, but I did not have the chance to write about these various topics as they occurred over the last month and a half. More to come!

Ready for the Shanghai Experience

I have set up this blog and hope that I can remain religious with take the time to post. I am becoming extremely excited for classes to being and also the chance to meet the other students in the MAIS program. I have chatted with a couple on skype and they seem to be such great people thus far.

Learning Chinese is turning out to be a very significant chore. I have not devoted the necessary time this week to study in the manner I should. I am confident that I will acquire a sufficient amount of the language before I hope on the jet plane to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) or 上海浦东国际机场 (pronounced Shànghǎi Pǔdōng Guójì Jīchǎng). My goal is to learn Chinese or Zhōngwén 中文 at a conversational level or above, so that I may be able to obtain a job with the United State's government or with a company that has close relations with the People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国(Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó) or simply known as China 中国 (Zhōngguó).

I will have to wait and see what the future unveils for me, but until then, I will continue to learn Chinese. As of right now I can say simple sentences like, "I am American. My friend is Chinese." 我是美国人。我的朋友是中国人。