It's beginning to look a lot like Chinese New Year! Everywhere you go!

It's been a while since I have written. Things have been surprisingly calm since the haircuts. I think we're all trying to take it slow. As colds plague many of us, myself included, I was trying to rest up before the Chinese New Year. Sunday evening there was no cover at the reknowned JZ Club. Not meant to celebrate the famous rapper and mogul, instead, the JZ Club is famed for having some of the best jazz music in Shanghai. They didn't disappoint. A Chinese singer sang a range of jazz tunes, from America to Chinese songs that had been 'jazzified.' A band of American musicians accompanied her. It was a chill environment and since it cost me about 6 kuai or a dollar for the cab, I think I will be back often.



Monday we had class. Monday night is buy one, get one free at bluefrog, which is a popular American restaurant throughout China. These things are huge, so a group of us got together and grabbed some burgers! This is a picture of me, Rochelle, and Jeremy happily enjoying our bluefrog. They were playing soccer games on the television, so our friend Fito, was torn on whether to take this picture or risk missing a goal...



Tuesday, we had a field trip to an art gallery. My professor asked me how much I guessed one painting cost, and silly me -- believing that nothing in China should cost more than 300 kuai -- guessed $3,000 USD. I sensed that I was falling into a trap. However, I didn't realize how big the trap was until my professor told me that it was going for $10 million USD. A lady, a bull, and some chicken scratch... go figure! However, the professor remarked that the value had increased greatly due to the artist's untimely death. Art that increases in value due to tragedy, not just chinese phenomenon.

After the field trip, Jeremy and I went shopping for gear for our pending Chinese New Year trips. Jeremy and a crew are headed to Harbin, China which is in the very NORTH of China. Harbin is famed for its ice festival, which boasts many castles carved from ice. Jeremy & gang also plan to go snowboarding up there... should be great, but wayy to cold for me. Plus, I've seen a similar festival in Quebec. One can only see so many ice castles if you know what I mean. You gotta hand it to them. This thing does look really cool.



However, I needed a jacket that isn't a peacoat. Though fashionable, peacoats are not suitable for hiking. Jeremy need scarves and snow pants. So we headed to the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum... subway station.

Surprisingly in the basement of the subway station, there is the equivalent to a giant fake goods mall. I have developed quite an eye for fake goods, and these were among some of the best quality I have seen. However, better quality means less haggling room. I did end up buying a black Northface jacket. It's a nice jacket, and with a U.S. price tag of around $20, it may be the cheapest jacket I have ever owned.

After a few hours of shopping and haggling, which I have found to be the best way for me to practice my Chinese in a fast-paced environment, Jeremy and I decided to head above ground so that we might see a different part of Shanghai. Pudong, which means, 'East of the [Huang]pu,' is the opposite side that my school is on, and for me, the less explored side. So Jeremy and I wandered over to the Science & Technology Museum, but as it was only about an hour before the museum closed, we decided to save it for another day. Here's a classic Barbs pic for those of you who are interested...



Wednesday I had a full day of classes, so I just walked around with Meredith and Elinor. Yesterday was our first... bad China day. Running around the city as an American in Shanghai, you can really be oblivious to some of the human sides of China. However, yesterday, the city opened up to us and showed us its more desperate side.

When shopping, Meredith was shuffling through her wallet and pulled out a $20 U.S. bill. At the sight of what is the equivalent of about 140 kuai, the woman grabbed the bill and took off running. Meredith chased her down and got the $20 back, but it was a disheartening experience.

Then on the metro, the little boy who works our neighborhood was on our train. Chaperoned by a woman, he was being walked around our train, asking for money. In China, as is common in many developing countries, the beggars here belong to a network organized by a gang of mobsters. The mobsters who run the gang often live plush lifestyles, drive BMWs, live in high rise apartments, etc. However, the people who are at the bottom of the chain often live desperate exsistences. In China, it is common for the gang leaders to maim their beggars, so that they appear more desperate, even when they are women and children.

We have seen women who appear to have had a hammer taken to their knees, a man who is missing both legs, but perhaps the most pitiful is the little boy, who can commonly be found up the street, as we walk to the bank. He is ALWAYS chaperoned. I think they worry he will run off with some of his earnings. A pedestrian can't give money to the children, because they are closely watched and must take back all their earnings to their masters, often the people who harmed them in the first place.

The little boy has had his right eye sewn shut in the most hack-job ever performed. His scars number about 7 and each are about an inch long. It appears that after the initial infliction, the wound was not tended to. The scars show signs of infection, and his eye is permanently swollen. As he stood at my arm, tapping me on the elbow and begging, I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw up. I didn't eat dinner last night. I couldn't.

Perhaps another woman felt the same way. As we got off the train, a woman was wretching her brains out into a garbage can in the metro station. As we made it back to our street, rats scurried into the sewers. Overall it was a rough day, and I missed home for the first time. I woke up this morning and got a ham bao bao from McDonald's.


Tonight, I'm going to get ready for my trip. We have a lot of packing and organizing to do before our 8:30 am train...

Life is busy in the pearl of the Orient. As many of you may know, I am preparing for the Chinese New Year, from which I have a week off of school. My itinerary is jam-packed. I will be traveling with 3 others, Alex, Amanda, and Trent. We also hope to be joined by some other kids from our program at various points throughout our journey. We will be traveling by train to Guilin, by bus to Hong Kong, by train or bus to and from Hainan Island, and finally by plane from Guangzhou to Shanghai. It promises to be an exciting trip.
Widest to smallest lines track our itinerary.

Asian Haircuts

Whoot whoot! It's Friday.

So after an excruciating Chinese class, we headed down to the train ticket office to try to get tickets for the Chinese New Year. As the Chinese New Year is the biggest travel holiday on the Chinese calendar, this was no easy task. Three other students on my program, Amanda, Alex, Trent and I are heading to Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year. As many of you know, I have to leave the country every 90 days, so by making this trip to Hong Kong, now, I will be able to hold off another trip outside of the country until my Spring Break.

The place was a zoo. Where most people will let you speak broken Chinese to them, the train people would not. Since it was packed, they had no time for anything but fluent Chinese. So we called You Sha on the cell phone and she translated for us what we needed. Our plan is to take a 24 hour train to Guilin, in the southern part of China. Guilin is famous for the Li River which flows up to a small rural town, Yangzhou (I believe) which is the base town of one of the most beautiful mountains in China. For one day we will cruise up the Li River and visit the mountain. The second day we plan to visit some of the many caves in Guilin, and do some other site seeing before heading to Hong Kong.

After we had our tickets in hand and we had grabbed a bit of lunch, Amanda, Elinor, Trent, and I spontaneously realized we were badly overdue for haircuts. ((I think I had split ends about an inch long.)) Obviously, given the language barrier, it's not something a novice would want to undertake. Despite the risk of a bad hair cut for the next 3 months, we decided to head to the salon right down the street from our school.

They were crazy excited to see Americans. They gave us our own private area, a balcony over the rest of the salon to do our hair. There were 4 of us there to get haircuts. One girl, who has phenomenal Chinese (she lived here for a year in high school), went with us to supervise.

At any given point there were no less than 6 Chinese hairdressers attending to us or hitting on us as the case most frequently was... Interestingly, only men were actually stylists and allowed to cut. The girls were only there to massage and wash hair. My hair washer made me promise 12 times that we were best friends. I promised. I also asked her if she liked Jay Chao. She does...



Amanda got highlights. Hilariously enough, they dont use foils. They rip pages out of magazines.



We grabbed magazines and picked out the hair cuts most like the ones we desired and then showed them to the staff. One guy, Yan Yu Long, was apparently the only person who knew how to cut curly hair (which surprisingly all four of us had). So he cut all of our hair. He was great, because each of us picked out hair styles, and he honestly told us, with your hair/ your face, that won't look good. My biggest concern going in is that my stylist wouldn't have ever cut anything but Asian hair, and so he wouldn't know what to do with my wavy-curly mess.

We called him the master, because all the other male hair stylists just stood around and watched. He has been cutting hair for 8 years. He's 24. Such a cutie.

Yan Yu Long and I


After he told me that he couldn't give me the cut I wanted, because it wouldn't work with my hair, I gave him free reign. "I want whatever you think will look good." I think it worked out perfectly. Here's a picture of us on Wednesday night, and then here's a picture after our sassy new dos.

Amanda, me, and Elinor at M2.


Chillin in the Dorms...after our new dos.

After our 4 hour hair appointment, we were craving something American. We headed to McDonalds. The spicy cucumber quarter pounder caught my eye. Delicious. While some dishes are a little different, it is McDonalds: world reknowned provider of consistency.

Early to bed. Saturday, we're going on a day trip to Xitang, a traditional water town. Made famous by Mission Impossible 3.

Jade Buddha Temple

Monday, January 12th, was my first day of Chinese language class. Boy, it's amazing how out of commission I am! The class is going to be very difficult. For one, the professor only speaks Chinese. Her English is very poor, which makes it impossible for her to describe the subtleties of the language. She only speaks to us in Chinese, though we are allowed to ask her questions. So much for intermediate! Furthermore, I don't know how to read simplified characters. I can only read traditional, which, to my dismay, is only used in Taiwan. It's an understatement to say there is a bit of a learning curve with this class.

After the painful 3 hours of Mandarin, I needed a little break. After a little bit of studying, a couple of the guys and I decided to head over for an afternoon sightseeing adventure to the Jade Buddha Temple. People legitimately worship at the temple. Additionally, the temple is still inhabited by monks!



The temple is beautiful. There is fabulously ornate statues and traditional Chinese art everywhere. In fact, they keep a large inventory of fine Chinese art to sell as souvenirs. It is how they keep the temple up and running... that and the 20 yuan admission fee. Totally worth it. In fact, they even had an artist on site creating great works of art. This woman is a master of Chinese finger painting. Using only her fingers, she was able to create AMAZING watercolors. I wish I had taken a picture of one of her paintings, but they were of Chinese landscapes. Apparently, she is one of only 5 people in all of China who is trained in this type of art.



Similar to Disney, the tour guides all dump you in the gift shop to purchase some of their fine art. However, we just took advantage of our guide's knowledge and picture taking abilities. He told us the story of Piu Xi, a baby dragon with a taste for precious metals. His appetite was voracious and he consumed all the gold he could find. A mischievous dragon, his father spanked him so many times, that his bum hole closed up... making his stomach fat! No lie! Chinese legend for you!! As a result, Piu Xi symbolizes abundance and prosperity. Go figure! I would just have guess it symbolized the importance of Pepto.


Everything is "lucky." The tour guide suggested we rub everything from Buddha's belly to Piu Xi's snout for good luck. We took all the good luck we could get.


Coolest piece? The sculpture carved from one piece of mahogany. It took 5 artists 5 years to complete, but it has the most spectacular detail in each of the 18 Buddhist monks' faces. It depicts many of the main symbols of traditional Chinese art, including pagodas, which mean step by step, progress, and dragons, which symbolize power, as well as the certain tree, whose meaning I have forgotten.



They had a super sweet coy pond. Did you know that coy fish can live up to 200 years.

The oldest living coy fish is 226 years!!

As part of the price of admission, guests are welcomed to a tea tutorial, in which the fuwuyuan (server) describes the different functions of various flavors of tea, while the guests sample them. This was incredibly interesting, not to mention the tea was phenomenal. My comrade, Alex, wrote down the different types of tea and we are going to go to the tea mall and get the teas that we most enjoyed. Though I didn't like tea upon coming here, China has opened my eyes to the benefits of tea drinking. Also, I've learned that the key to drinking tea is to just drink really great tea!



Finally, as souvenirs, I decided to purchase a Buddha cell phone charm. Cell phone charms are really popular in China. As all the kids in my study abroad program bought the same cheap cell phone, I needed something to distinguish my phone. I have become pretty decent at haggling. Just I am about to make the woman an offer for the cell phone charm, Mike warned me of the sign that alerts buyers to the monks' blessings. This isn't the Roman Catholic Church circa 1300... no discounts for blessings. I saved face, just this once!!



January 13, I had Calligraphy class. It is so cool!! I can't believe what amazing things I get to learn. My professor is the cutest old Chinese man. I want to put him in my pocket! Though a very talented artist, he doesn't speak any English, so my program director is our class translator. He has clearly discovered that I'm the only person in our Chinese class who understands any Chinese. He only lectures to me. It's very different than my education at UF, school of 53,000+. I'm really getting a small school feel these days. It's a very personalized approach.

You Sha, our program director, and I discussed the differences between Chinese art and Western art and how those differences are deeply rooted in each culture's values. Chinese art, which is based on rules and form, focuses on the beauty of structure and organization. Western art, especially modern, looks to do the opposite. Modern art defines itself by it's ability not to conform to traditional ideals. You Sha suggested that this can even be seen in how children are raised. In the Western cultures, many families nurture creativity. In China, children are taught to obey and are brought up in the strictest discipline with immense respect for traditions.

Not a very interesting day. Spent the day studying and catching up on school work.

Lazy Sunday in the French Concession

Sunday, January 11, started out slowly, I mostly relaxed in my bed and watched bootlegged DVDs. My internet was down, so I tried to read and do other things to occupy my time. I woke up early, but most everyone else slept past noon.

KO gave me a great guide book before I left. Around 3 pm, a few of us decided to go exploring... we took a self-guided tour through the French Concession that the book recommends. I wore my new grey boots, which I thought were a good choice. Surprisingly they didn't hurt at all through the first 3 miles or so... after that, as all heels will, they were killing me! The trouble with Shanghai, as with any major city, it's a lot of walking. Heels are best for short distances.

We took the metro from Yanchang Lu about 7 stops to Shanxi Lu (lu meaning "road"). From there we walked to Maoming Nan Lu, the site of Ruijin Guesthouse. It was an estate once owned by a newspaper magnate (when those existed), but now it is a hotel and restaurant area. They're doing serious renovations on it, and we accidentally wandered in through the back entrance, so it was a while until we found the main house.

After the Ruijin Guesthouse, we meandered down Maoming Nan Lu past a wide variety of shops, restaurants and bars. It was interesting for us to walk in this area, because there was a much higher concentration of foreigners. Overall though, the feeling in the French Concession was OLD. Everything is under renovation for the upcoming World Expo to be held in Shanghai in 2010. This area was also a lot less crowded than anywhere else we've been. It seems everywhere we go we're just jammed in with tons of Chinese people.

At the corner of Huai Hai Zhong Lu, we saw the Cathay Theater. Located on what used to be the French Concession's main drag, but is now swarming with luxury American and European stores. The Art Deco theater was built in the 1930s and is still a working theater. They show mostly Western movies with Chinese subtitles. Madagascar 2 appears to be pretty big here.

From there we headed over to the former Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas. Built in 1933, it was dedicated to the last czar. Now, it is really just another relic. It does not appear to be an occupied building. It really sticks out like a sore thumb though. It is surrounded by old buildings that are currently being renovated, so it kind of looks like a war zone. The waste management team was actually sorting tons of garbage in the middle of the street by the church. It was an interesting site.

After that we headed to Xujiahui, which is the famed electronics market. On the sub ride over a fat Chinese man approached us on the subway. Initially, we thought we were going to get mugged, but we soon realized he was actually trying to recite a speech. It was incredibly well timed, rehearsed, etc. I wish I could remember it better, but there was a lot of noise interference from the subway. He apparently had followed us, got on when we did and got off after just one stop.

The gist of his message was that the people in China are not free. They suffer under a great deal of corruption. Chinese people cannot talk about it and they cannot change things. He said that he is in grave danger in China. He encouraged us to tell the world. He believes that the only change that could come would have to be from outside. I don't think I'm up to rallying the whole world, but for the few who read this, now you know. If anyone asks, tell them you saw the fat man.

We perused Xujiahui for a bit. Some of the guys were looking for memory cards for their cameras. While there are some deals there, generally things aren't that well priced, because of it's touristy nature. It's also hard, because the sales people jack up the prices when they see white people. Instead of shopping, we got dinner at a tapas style Chinese restaurant. It was okay. The best was a fried pork dipped in a spicy mustard sauce. The worst dish was the boneless chicken feet. Some Chinese people may try to fool you with the classy dish "Phoenix feet," do not be fooled! It, too, is chicken feet. It is a very chewy delicacy and the chicken skin has a very distasteful texture. When in Shanghai...



After dinner, we decided to hit a local bar for a beer or two. It was about 8pm when we got there and our goal was to be back in the dorms by 11pm. Needless to say, that didn't quite work out. We spent most of the night playing a dice game. Trie Niu is a Chinese game similar to the popular card game, Bullsh!t, in America where players try to guess how many of each number the other players have in their hand. The game is really helpful for practicing saying Chinese numbers. I've put in a picture of Meredith playing, as well as a picture of our group taken by the fuwuyuan (waitress).

Brrr! It's cold in Shanghai.

Today was a slow start because most everyone went out last night and had a little too good of a time. Went to the grocery store this morning and bought tons of water and Gatorade. I'm feeling much better today, but I really wanted to make sure that whatever I had that was making me sick was out of my system.

Grabbed lunch with some of the gang, so that everyone could trade war stories. Sounded like I missed on heck of a night, but knowing this crowd, it's surely not the last.

It's getting bitterly cold here, with snowfall projected for Monday. I can't describe how cold it is here, but I'm wearing leggings under my clothes every day and often two or three layers of shirt. For some reason, though the forecast says it's only 32 or so, it feels much, much colder. Perhaps it is because we are between the river and the ocean... some effect similar to the lake effect, maybe. As a result of this cold weather, my hands and toes are always freezing. Plus, as I packed for 6 months and did it all pretty much in one duffel, I really only had 4 or 5 long sleeve t-shirts. So today I set out for some more warm clothing and some boots.

We cabbed down to the yu yuan garden district, which is very near one of the smaller fabric markets. They have some very cool handcrafts there and a lot of jewelry. From there we headed to Fangbang Zhong Lu, which has many Chinese clothing and shoe shops.

Elinor and I paired up and went on a boot quest. Because you are walking around a city that is dirty and cold, shoes get destroyed fast here. The pair of boots that I brought with me are so beat up after only a week of wear. So we were looking for a nice pair of boots that could withstand some wear and tear. That was surprisingly hard to find, as my tastes are a little bit more preppy and it seems Chinese people really love everything bedazzled. I did find a pair of fur lined ankle boots, they're really warm and cute, too!

It's fun for me here, because every shoe store only carries my size. Good luck if you wear size 8 and up. It's a nice change for my little feet though, because in the U.S. I can hardly ever find shoes that fit. The Chinese people are somewhat humored by my existence. They can't believe that an American wears size 5... they expect all Americans to have huge feet. The other day a woman came up to me and after speaking to me for a minute and learning that I was an American, she bluntly asked me why I was skinny. She knew all Americans were fat and couldn't comprehend how I was an American. I think it helped that I've lost weight... I'm not sure that she would have been saying these things to me a week ago. I don't have a scale, but my guess is that I have lost about 5 pounds so far.

We went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was very good. I think we're going to call it an early night. We've had a week full of excitement and I think it is catching up with some people.

Oh!!! and apparently, the dish that is pictured at the top of the last post is sweet and sour squirrel fish. Very good. Name could use a little work...

Too Exciting to Write

Tuesday, January 6, the USAC group from Chengdu visited us in Shanghai. We went to dinner with them, and it was only alright. Usually when we go out to eat with our program director, You Sha, she takes us to the most phenomenal restaurants. However, this was the first "miss" of our trip. However, there was a sweet and sour dish that was to die for. A full size fish, the exact type I can't be sure, was filleted and drenched in this amazing sauce. To top the dish off, shrimp was sprinkled over the top.

After dinner, we went to the acrobatics show. It was a lot like Cirque d'Solei shows in Orlando, except less polished and more Chinese... The male acrobats all had uber funky hair styles. There were no nets and the stunts were awesome. I was literally on the edge of my seat the entire time. Everyone around me had to listen to me ooh and ahh the whole time.

Wednesday was the first day of class for me. Since our class didn't start until 1 pm, a group of us decided to venture out to Nanjing Road, a signature shopping street. Our goal was to find a spectacular, somewhat rumored, market. We later came to realize that the market is on Nanjing Road West and we were on Nanjing Road East. Personally, I was in the market for a large purse. I really only brought one and it's quite small, definitely not built to carry all the things that a life in Shanghai requires; including, but not limited to toilet paper, hand sanitizer, chopsticks, napkins, immodium, camera, map, cell phone, phrase book.

We wandered the street for a quite a while. We had no success finding this "fashion market." As foreigners on Nanjing Road, locals are constantly coming up to you asking if you want bags, wallets, watches, etc. After we couldn't waste any more time wandering around, we decided to follow one of these Chinese personal shoppers that had approached us.

He led us several blocks behind Nanjing Lu Dong (Nanjing Road E.) to back neighborhood stores with brightly lit secret showrooms, designed to mimic the luxury stores. One such store was actually a hotel room that had been redesigned to resemble a store. Another was by all street appearances a children's clothing store. However, when you went in, a shelving unit was actually a door to a back room containing tons of imitation luxury goods.

These shops require serious haggling. For 200 kuai, after a starting price of 800 kuai, I bought a red leather Chloe bag. It's actually really nice and huge! (thankfully, as I really needed to carry so many things around with me)

On our way back, we got confused and ended up taking the wrong train home. By the time we realized our mistake, the damage had been done. We were over a half an hour late to class. Luckily, as we're quickly learning, the classes here are not very strict at all. Our professor was very understanding that we are not well acclimated to the area yet.

The class itself is actually going to be very interesting. Super easy compared to a class back in the United States. As most of the class ended up being a discussion, we asked the professor any and all questions about China. The professor seemed to relish the opportunity to speak English and ask questions about America. She studied in England and worked at an old folks home, interestingly enough.

Wednesday evening we headed out to a nightclub, M2. M2 was a bangin' club. In my effort to pack very few things, I managed to bring no clothing for going out. As an American, the dress code is debatable. The DJ was great though. He played a great mix of songs from "SexyBack" to Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." Everybody had a great time. No real sloppiness... one guy lost his coat, but I think that was just because he was inexperienced with club etiquette, not so much a reflection of his coherence.

Wednesday was the first day that I got any sense we were in a communist country. For us, as Americans, it's like a dreamland here. It's all we can consume from food to alcohol to goods. Chinese people, like our professors and the people we meet paint a more realistic picture for us. Life in the cities is manageable. However, so many things are manipulated in China by guan xi or "connections" and "relationships," that corruption is commonplace. The corruption limits true freedom. And, from all accounts, life is worse in the rural areas.

Thursday began with my first real illness since I've been here. I woke up and went for a run. There is so much pollution here. I haven't seen a blue sky in the week that I've been here. But since I was breathing in a lot of the air, I could only run about half of my normal distance. I came home and threw up. I grabbed lunch, went to class, came back and got sick. Afterwards, I was feeling a little bit better, so a few of us went and got massages and took our second stab at locating the marketplace. We met up more people for dinner... dumpling soup. We came back and tried to watch a movie, but I ended up falling asleep. From the 30 minutes that I saw, Valkyrie was pretty boring.

By 9 am this morning, we were up and at an expatriate sports bar called Bubba's Texas BBQ to watch the National Championship. The bar was so great. I got American food and my first full stomach of Shanghai. We met several Gators at the bar. It was a great game, great atmosphere, especially after we won, there was a bar full of people to celebrate with.

After the game we met up with the group. The were touring some sights around Shanghai today, which unfortunately we missed. I definitely plan to visit the sights on my own time though. We did meet up with everyone just in time to take a river boat cruise on the Huangpu River, which is the main river that cuts through Downtown Shanghai. Interesting fact, if a person falls into the Huangpu River, then the standard procedure is that they must be hospitalized for at least 3 weeks. You could probably guess... it's pretty brown.

I have been on and off sick since Thursday morning. I felt okay today, but just now I've been so nauseous that I can't even stand. I'm very disappointed, because I couldn't go out with everyone. I take comfort in the notion that there will be plenty more nights here in Shanghai!

Pi Jiu on the Subways

Yesterday we had orientation followed by a tour of the surrounding area. As part of the tour, we grabbed lunch at a 2nd floor restaurant in a shopping area outside the West gates of campus, near Gong He Xin Road. It was a delicious Sichuan meal, served family style. The food was placed on a round spinning glass plate, nearly the size of the table. More than once, someone started spinning before everyone had grabbed their serving, resulting in a messy meal.

The experience that followed lunch was surprisingly simple, yet completely exhausting. we went shopping at RT Mart for some generic stuff and cell phones. RT Mart is kind of like Walmart. At first, I didn't like the cell phones. They were surprisingly expensive (for here) and since I'm only going to be here for a few months, I'm happy with just a generic, cheap phone. They told me that the cheapest cell phone they had was 299 yuan or kuai. I told them that it was too much. They immediately cut their price to 250 yuan. Mr. Hayes was right. The first one to name the price, loses. I told them 225 kuai and they accepted. Yay!! My first barter of China.

My shopping mate and I were led to another part of the store, where we paid, then we went back to the cell phone counter, where they set up our phones and changed the devices to English. The whole time they were pushing way over priced SIM cards at us. The most exciting part was that all the negotiations were in horrible, broken Chinese. I thought that was tough! Then Alex disclosed that he needed hangers. This is a massive 2-story store. Asking where the hangers were... was impossible. I swear, nothing is more difficult than explaining a hanger in Chinese. Not a jacket... Not pants... The thing, this thing...

It's interesting shopping for things at stores in China. I can't read any of the labels, so I really just depend on good packaging to figure out what things are. Funny though -- they don't give you shopping bags here. They expect you to bring your own. Needless to say that was a lesson learned the hard way.

One of the guys who has already been here for a semester took us to get dinner. I had hao ju niu riu (I think!). It's some beef dish. The meat looked hardly cooked, but I didn't get sick. As an appetizer we ate xiao lun bao, which translates to little ball of pork (i think). It's like pork in oil juice sacks. The sack is made of the same flour product as jiaozi or dumplings. They were so good, but really messy. The oil/juice gets everywhere. Chinese are pretty easy going on manners... i.e. table manners do not exist, which is great, because I end up with some grease or food all over my face after nearly every meal.

We grabbed a 4 kuai beer on the way out. Again, beer here is ginormous. There are no open container laws in China, so you can carry your beer anywhere... and we did. We're feeling like real B.A.M.F.s at this point. We were walking down the street and riding on the subway with what best resembles a forty. We to the subway from Yanchang Lu to People's Square.

From there we walked a short distance to a bar called Barbarossa. The bathrooms were super clean! The lounge was really fly. No place that I have ever been to is really comparable. To get to Barbarossa, you walk through a Chinese garden, past several historical buildings and art museums. The bar is designed in a Mediterranean style, complete with tents and wrought iron lanterns.

Ali, the manager, met us all and sat us right away. He gave us a nice table and waived the table fee, apparently a common charge at Chinese bars. ((Chinese bars meaning bars in China. The majority of the bars we will go to cater towards foreigners.)) Ali also brought us a shisha (hookah) for our table. Amanda, the other Gator on the program, and I migrated to the bar. Apparently while we were away, Ali brought a round of shots for everyone. As we were away and the other girls had left, the boys got to enjoy all of the complimentary shots.

I met a kid studying at another university or "uni" as the Aussies call it. Back home, he goes to Auburn. He's been here all year and has missed SEC football. He is going to meet up with us to watch the UF game. It turns out there are several sports bars in Shanghai, so our plan is to arrange to watch the game there on Friday morning.

We went to another bar, a Western style sports bar, called Windows Scoreboard. This place was off the beaten path. So far as I could tell, there weren't a lot of well marked signs to indicate that there was nightlife in the building. The boys later stumbled upon a techno club, which has a similar underground vibe. To get to the bar, one must go into the building, take an elevator up to the 3rd floor, exiting the elevator through the back. Perhaps the only indicators are that there are Chinese men outside selling cigarettes in front of the buildings and there are a few cabs idling. It reminds me of the discoteca that we went to in Rome, except more inconspicuous and way nicer inside.

After an exhausting night exploring Shanghai's nightlife, I overslept. Luckily, the whole group was running late. We broke into groups and were assigned a location for a pseudo scavenger hunt. I didn't want to wait for an assignment. Instead, I dibbsed Nanjing Rd. and The Bund, was approved by the teacher and we were off. We took line 1 to People's Square then changed to line 2 and rode it to Nanjing Rd. East.

People were all over us. There were lots of beggars down by the Bund. While taking some pictures, we met a family from rural China, west of Shanghai. The son, Tang, taught himself English. He speaks amazingly well for never having studied. He and I spoke about different customs in China and the U.S. He was telling me all the traditions of Chinese New Year and I told him all about Christmas. He really was having trouble grasping the idea of Santa. I don't know that imaginary gift givers are popular/common in China.

Tang told me that Chinese New Year is really just a celebration for families and friends. It really is very similar to Christmas, without the gift giving. They spend lots of time with family, then make lots of food, often taking it to older relatives so that the elderly don't have to do any work on the week long holiday. Additionally, lots of businesses are closed.

Not so much in the city, but in Tang's hometown, there are dragon re-enactments and drum processionals, as one traditionally thinks of China. It is a great honor to be selected as a dragon, one that Tang auditioned for and won in his hometown.

Many of the USAC students are thinking of leaving the country for Chinese New Year. Prices increase in China for travel that week. Also, with all the businesses closed, there will be very little to do here. Thailand appears to be the front runner. I'm looking to experience the Chinese New Year. Everything I've read says that Hong Kong has the greatest festivities.

Tang asked me if we could meet up to practice his English and my Chinese. While this would be a good opportunity, I was in some way weirded out by him. But I gave him my number, because after talking for at least 45 minutes, I thought it would be rude not to.

You Sha, our program advisor, warned us during orientation of a scam where a Chinese person invites you out for tea and then tries to make you pay an outrageous bill. She told us to be weary of any tea festivals. Comically enough, after I gave Tang my cell phone number, Tang's family then invited us to a tea festival at the famous Peace Hotel, which appears to be under renovation!

I'm becoming very untrustworthy of Chinese people. Probably with good cause.

One of the girls in my team had to get back to class, so we all headed back to the subway station to make our way home. One Chinese lady followed us for at least 1/2 mile, trying to get us to buy things from her market. Since we traveled in a relatively small group, 3 people, I feel like we had much more interaction with Chinese people today. In addition, I was presented with ample opportunities to practice my Chinese. Frankly, I'm a little fried for the day. China is really cool.

My Shanghai Sabbatical Begins!

My flight from Chicago to Shanghai went well. About 16 1/2 hours in the air... we flew northwest over Canada and Alaska and Russia, arching before we came back down to Shanghai. My apologies to those who I mistakenly told 22 hours. It is my greatest disappointment that we didn't fly over the polar ice cap.

There were a lot of families flying to Shanghai, to my surprise. A fair number of the families were comprised of a Caucasian father and a Chinese mother, however, there were quite a few Caucasian families who appeared to be headed out on vacation... one such family with 6 kids in tow!

The couple sitting next to me was not particularly friendly. The man read his book the whole time and the lady gave me unpleasant looks when our elbows grazed. Quite unfortunate.

No complaints about customs, although when I got my bags, it was clear they were more than just I could handle. Instead of getting a cart however, I just struggled. When I got to the taxi exit, I was greeted by two Chinese men. As I am fighting my luggage, they ask if I need a taxi. I can see the taxis not more than 50 yards away, so I assume, that's where we're going. I told them yes, and one grabs my bag and starts to walk toward the taxis. Then he kept going!

I started telling him that I didn't want to go with him, but he wouldn't give me my bag back. Finally, after arguing with him in the middle of the street, I grabbed my bag and started high-tailing it for the marked taxis. One of the cab drivers got out of his cab and sort of scarred off the two guys, who were at this point following me. Because of his help getting rid of the guys, and because he knew where Shanghai University was, I got a ride with him.

It was about an hour drive to the school. As I am a fan of vegetation, I'll tell you that beyond Shanghai, the farms are divided into much smaller plots. The trees and shrubbery, as one might imagine are distinctly Asian. However, the highway medians are much more ornate in their decoration. We're not talking about mass dumping poppies, as is common in Kentucky. These large, well-groomed trees provide a significant barrier between directions.

I was embarrassed by my near-mishap with the two men at the airport. I checked into my dorm, couldn't figure out how to work my space heater, and went to bed in all my clothes, including my winter coat.

I did not sleep well. Not only was I freezing, but the bed is quite hard and the only covers were too small. I got up around 6 am to find it was cold and raining outside. I read a little of my book, until about 9 am. Then, as my laptop was not set up yet, I went downstairs to the computer lab (consisting of 3 computers) and decided to check my email and facebook. Little did I know, this is the hangout spot for all the American students. I started meeting people left and right, as I sat down there for over an hour and a half... it really picked up after 10:30 am.

I met a guy named Dmitry, who is studying here on a month long program from some university on Staten Island. Dmitry was looking for someone to go grab a bite with and I was very hungry at this point. So I ran upstairs to change and then we met back in the lobby with two girls from his program.

We walked about 3 blocks and then we stopped at a street vendor. I forget the name of what we ate, but it was essentially fried sweetened dough with a beef center. It was delicious, and pleasantly enough did not make me sick. Best of all it was lunch for 1.2 yuan, which converts to about 18 cents. God Bless China.

We took our lunches back to the lounge area. While people were coming and going, I met a few more people from the other program who were going to get massages. It appears to be a life of luxury for Americans in Shanghai. I headed out to get some essentials. For the dollar equivalent of about $40, I got bedding, toilet paper, lotion, slippers, and water. I also got a Chinese Gatorade. The bottles are way cooler. The slippers are so quintessentially Chinese. Red, with some animal, presumably a bear with squinty eyes, and some Chinese cursive. However, they keep my feet warm in this cold, cold room.

As a reader might be able to tell, they formatted my laptop. I also made friends with 2 Aussies. One of which I mistook for a Brit. Classic American. It's fun being in dorms again, constantly meeting new people, and having the supreme flexibility to go when someone suggests a fun activity.

For now, I will nap for a bit. The USAC group flight gets in soon and then we will go out to grab dinner. Shanghai is exciting. While I am nervous about my poor Chinese skills, I can see how I will be quickly carrying on in Mandarin in no time.