So here it is, my last blog entry.My bags are all packed and I'll be leaving for the airport in about 3 hours. It hasn't sunk in at all that I'm leaving, I'm incredibly used to living here at this point. There's no way I can put into words how fantastic these past six weeks have been. Despite the heat and the homework, I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything.

The hardest thing to leave behind will definitely be all the relationships I've built, not only with my host family, but also with all the close friends I've made with my classmates. I doubt we'll ever get the chance to all be together again, so that 13 (14?) hour plane ride is going to be some serious last minute bonding time; pretty pumped for that, whooo! But honestly, it's the people around me that made this trip as amazing as it was. 

On another note, I'm pretty proud of myself for actually sticking with the blog and updating it semi-regularly. I'm usually horrible about journaling, so hopefully when I read these posts later they'll be a good reminder of this trip. Anyways,since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll stom writing for now and just upload some more pictures when I'm back in the Staes. I'm now off to enjoy my last three hours in Shanghai; see you guys back in America soon!

Week 5 is over, and I'm not ready to go home yet...I think. Shanghai is such a big city, even the people who live here say that haven't seen it all, and I haven't started to scratch the surface. Thinking about it, going home will definitely be a little weird for me. It's going to be an adjustment to get used to hearing everyone speak English again (I've been mostly using all Chinese here), eating American food, and just having nice trees and blue sky again. I'm not going to think about that until the end of this week when I have to. 

LIke I said in my last post, my family took me on vacation with them for the weekend. It was awesome; since it was a waterfront city, I got to go boating on one of those classic Chinese boats where you're propelled forward by someone rowing with a long pole. Minus the amazing scenery, there was also plenty of good food. I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my life as in the past 6 weeks. 

Before I leave, everyone is expected to give a presentation and write an essay in Chinese. Everyone is allowed to pick their own topic as long as it has to do with Chinese culture. My topic is on Mao Ze Dong. More specifically, it's on how different generations of Chinese people view him, and how those perspectives compare to each other. What I did was interview my host sister (19), my host parents (50s), and a Chinese Gate man (60s) about Mao. For the record, at almost every building and entrance in Shanghai, there are gate men who sit there with nothing to do. The gate man I talked to conversed with me for over a hour about Chinese history and how Mao impacted China. Usually, my Chinese listening skills are decent, but considering all the historical terms he was throwing around and his strong accent, I would say I understood 85% of what he was saying. Still,  I understood just about all of the main ideas he was trying to convey. Basically, what I found was that across the board, Mao is viewed in a very favorable light here. However, the people's adoration of him increases with age. The older the person was, the more strongly they felt about Mao. They also had a very personal conviction about it. In contrast, the yonger people also unananimously agree Mao was great, but more because they had been taught to do so rather than because they had formed their own views from experience. My presentation is on Thursday, so I should probably stop pocrastinating and finish my 1200 character essay...

It's very bittersweet to think I have one more week with my friends and host family here; I'll be sure to live it up while I can!

Nex blog post

It's nearing the end of week four, and I can't believe time's flying by so fast. Today's really the first day in a while that I've had time to sit down and go through all my emails, and it's almost nice to have a breather. I'll start where I left off last time, which is with the trip to SuZhou. We visited three places: Shi Zi Lin, a place with really cool rocks that are supposed to look like lions; Han Shan Si, a famous temple; and Hu Qiu, an ancient burial ground/memorial that looked more like a cool garden than anything else. At Han Shan Si, people throw coins on the roof of the temple for good luck. I was standing on the balcony above one of the tiers (the temple was in the form of a pagoda), and I was digging out my wallet for a penny to throw. Before I knew it, my metro card had fallen out of the wallet and onto the roof of the temple. I almost hopped the rail to go get it, but some lady came out with a big stick to poke it down to the ground, and by the time it fell there was a crowd of people watching and being pretty entertained. My friend also somehow managed to break off a shingle to the roof of a 2000 year old house- go figure on how he managed to do that one. 

This week, I also visited YuYuan, a famous tourist attraction in Shanghai. It's filled with old styled Chinese architecture. Since I went at night, all the pagodas and such were lit with Christmas lights, and it was absolutely beautiful. I went twice- the first time with my host mom, and the second time with my friends. The first night I went, my host mom and I walked into the entrance plaza and noticed a small group of people crowded around five guys who were dancing to hip hop music. Naturally, we went over to watch too. What I didn't expect was my host mom shoving me into the middle of the dance circle. It was incredibly weird at first, but I figured standing there doing nothing was more awkward than dancing, so I decided I might as well. However, American hip hop is quite a bit different then what the guys were doing, so as soon as I started moving, the other guys just sat down to watch and stranded me by myself in the middle of the circle. Next thing you know, there's a crowd of about 100 people around the dance circle cheering me on. Definitely one of the weirder things I've done, but hands down one of the funnest and most memorable. 

I'm still not homesick, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss pasta and chicken salad. Still, the one thing that I miss the most about America is the public bathrooms. I never realized how nice they were. Here, public bathrooms are usually squatty potties, lacking toilet paper (you have to bring your own), and lacking soap (which is where hand sanitizer comes in handy). They smell pretty bad, and finding a public bathroom with real toilets has become a pretty big deal. 

Last weird thing that I've noticed. Dogs in Shanghai are some of the cleanest, nicest, and most beautiful that I've ever seen. You would think there would be a lot of stray mutts wandering around, but there isn't at all. Every single dog looks like they just came out of a grooming salon. Many of them don't even have leashes, because for some reason dogs in Shanghai don't run away when they're not chained. Props to Shanghai dog owners!

 This weekend, my host family is taking me vacationing with them. We're going somewhere that's basically the China version of Venice- there's waterfront houses, boats, the whole deal. I'm super duper excited because I've always wanted to see a water town, so yay for wishes coming true!

So I haven't posted in a while since I've been so busy, so this will be a long-ish one. I should really be doing my homework right now, but this is procrastination at it's best. I realized I never described where I live, so I'll do that right now. I live on the 16th floor of an apartment that's in an apartment complex. All the apartments look ridicuously similar, I've already walked into the wrong one three times. The apartment itself is extremely small. You walk right into a small area that contains a kitchen table and a fish tank. Right next to the kitchen table is two doors that lead into two bedrooms. The kitchen table space also opens up to a small living room where there's a wooden couch set and a tv. Lastly, there's another door that leads to the bathroom and the kitchen. The kitchen is tiny, maybe just a little bigger than my pantry back at home. I guess I've never really appreciated how much living space I have back at home, but this is already a pretty well-off apartment in Shanghai, considering the real estate prices here.  Now for what I've been doing. Thursday of last week I went volunteering at a institution for mentally and physically handicapped people. It was truly a humbling, and even shocking experience. It was aboslutely heartbreaking to see some of the people there. There was one girl in particular that really stuck in my mind. She was 28 years old, but she could have passed for 11. She couldn't speak or move; she simply lay on the bed and looked at me. However, above her bed was a picture of a beautiful little girl. Her caretaker said that's who she had been when she was 13, before she was struck with a fever that robbed her of her intelligence and basic functions. There were also many people there who suffered from depression, seizures, down syndrome, and other mental illnesses I couldn't understand in Chinese. I tried speaking to them, and I feel like I succeeded in bonding a little bit with some of the children there before we left. Nevertheless, it was extremely, extremely sad to see.  I also spent my 18th birthday in Shanghai, whooooo! I started off by exploring a Shanghai church with my friends in the morning. We sat through the service, but goodness gracious it was the longest sermon I've ever sat through in my life. The fact that Chinese sermons are extremely hard to understand didn't help. (They had an english translation through a headphone, but the tranlator kept snorting mid-translation which would send my friends and I into fits of suppressed laughter, so we gave up on that route). The church itself was really pretty, it was built in the style of a gothic cathedra. Later, my host family took me out for hot pot, which is when you order dishes of raw meat or uncooked vegggies, and throw them in a huge pot of boiling soup in the middle of the table. The dishes cook really fast, so you then take out whatever's in the pot after a couple of minutes and eat it.  Although today wasn't my birthday, my friends on this trip celebrated with me again today, since I was out with my host family today. They got me some really cool presents, and took me out for sushi dinner. Afterwards, we all went to see the night scenery at the bund, which is the area where all the postcard Shanghai skycrapers are. The view was gorgeous, and standing there made me really thankful for having the oppurtunity to come here. This Saturday our whole group will be going to SuZhou, which is a hour or so away from Shanghai, so more updates later! 

Alrighty, so adding the the list of weird things that I've eaten is: 

- baby octupus

- sea snail

- stewed sea cucumber (at least I think. They didn't know what it was called in English and I may have translated wrong..)

I've also eaten every type of seafood imaginable. Fish, lobster, crab, mussels, clam; you name it, I've probably eaten it. This weekend, I went to two really nice restauraunts- the first time to celebrate a family friend's 100 day celebration for their newborn baby, and one to celebrate my host grandmother's 80th birthday. The second of the resteraunts was by far the nicest I've ever been to, even in America. Everything was glass, crystal, marble, and mirrors; each dinner party had a private room with a private bathroom and coatroom, and each dish cost about seventy dollars. You can be sure I enjoyed my meal, it was absolutely delicious. 

I'm a little overwhelmed by how generous my host mom/sister is. Other than overwhelming me with snacks, my host mom has also bought me brand new converses among other goodies. They also take me out every single day to sightsee, shop, etc. I feel pretty at home with them by now, and I think spending the rest of the time with them will be a blast. 

As I said in my last post, I went karaoking. It was reallly fun, I wish they had karaoke places in America. Basically, It's a small room with a tv, microphones a screen (kinda like the screens at bowling alleys) for selecting songs, and a couch and table. You can order food and drinks while you're karaoking; we ordered dumplings and some other snacks. I also went to a board game parlor (also something I wish existed in America) with my friend, his host brother, and my host sister. In sum, the weekend passed incredibly fast. i had originally been worried that I might be bored, but as it was, I didn't have time to start my homework till around 11 on Sunday night because I was so occupied.. not that I'm complaining.  

So I think I've bascially settled into a routine. It goes something like this:  7:00 am: wake up and eat breakfast (I think I've finally adjusted to the time difference, since I'm not waking up at 3 am every night anymore, whoo!). My host parents are usuallly still asleep, so I either eat alone or with my host sister. If it's just me, food is left out for me on the table by the time I wake up. It's always good food; I've eaten everything from french baguettes to zong zi (a type of sticky rice dish wrapped in leaves)     7:30: head out the door for class. I have a fifteen minute walk to class. This would be absolutely fantastic if it wasn't for the 100 some degree temperatures. It's absolutely sweltering here, and the humidity and pollution doesn't help. By the time I get home from school, I feel like I'm dying. At times, it literally feels like you're swimming through the air. How some of the locals are still going around in long pants and shirts is beyond me. Still, I really enjoy my walking time, especially when my host sister Yan Yun walks with me.                                                                                                  8:00 am: Start classes. It lasts for four hours- the first two consists of learning reading and writing, the next two consists of learning to speak, etc. We watched a panda movie in class today in Chinese, it was pretty entertaining.  12:00: lunch. This is usually catered food from local restaurants 1:00: culture class: So far, this has included a class on Chinese Tea, Paper Cutting, Chinese Painting, and Chinese Folk Songs After culture class, school is dismissed, and we're free to do what we want. However, some days there are organized field trips, like the tour of Shanghai I posted about earlier. Usually, I hang out with friends for a while before heading home. We've hit up some Shanghai malls, and just generally explored the city.  6:30: dinner with my host family. Often, their relatives come over for dinner, which is always fun because they're an extremely talkative and entertaining group of people.  11:00: shower and lights out I'm really enjoying my host family, I feel like I'm already good friends with my host sister. Having an understanding of the language helps a ton- a lot of my American friends who don't speak Chinese well have said sitting at a silent dinner table is rather awkward. I'm not sure if I can pass for a native or not- while one lady stopped me on the street to ask for directions (which made me laugh), another lady at the jewelry counter finally came over to ask if I was Chinese after giving me sidelong glances for a while. She was shocked when I told her both of my parents were Chinese, because she said I looked like I had white features. Maybe it's my tan- I'm already pretty tan to begin with, even by American standards. However, here in China where girls carry around umbrellas to avoid the sun, my skin color kinda sticks out.  Tomorrow I'll be going karaoking for the first time. That's a huge pastime here. I've rented out a private room with some of my American friends, so we'll see how that goes. I'll be going again on Saturday with my friend Garett, his host brother, and my host sister.  Lastly and most importantly, I think my Chinese is definitely improving. Being surrounded by it constantly helps a lot; I'm excited to see how fluent I'll be by the end of six weeks!

Shanghai!!!

I'm officially in Shanghai! It's incredible here, but I'm actually not as culture shocked as I expected to be. Shanghai reminds me a lot of Chinatown in New York City (parts of which look almost exactly like Shanghai) and also of Los Angelos. Some major differences though:  - crazy drivers. It literally seems like they stuck everyone who's ever failed Driver's Ed onto the roads. Traffic is crazy, and the rule for pedestrians is basically weave and dash, and pray you don't get hit. There's no such thing as orderly lane changing or merging, cars drive in the middle of lanes, and getting around is basically a free for all. But it makes life interesting, right? - pollution: as our plane was going down, we thought we were passing clouds, but it was actually grey smog. The night sky is permanently purple from all the smog, and I can't see any stars.  - the people (well obviously): People here seem a lot more comfortable with their bodies, themselves, and things that we would consider "socially unacceptable" For instance, this morning I walked into the elevator with an old man wearing only his old boxers and carrying a huge box of fruit. While I might have looked twice if this happened at home, here it just kinda fits with the custom and the feel of the environment.  - the laundry: it's kinda crazy how much laundry hanging on every street and building changes the feel of an atmostphere. I kinda like it though, it gives the city some character.  Of course, the food deserves it's own little section. Weird things I've already eaten that I would never try had I been in the States: Congealed Duck Blood, Pig Liver, some type of weird mushroom (ikf you know me, this is crazy, I actually never go near mushrooms), fish head, frog, and some type of tree fungus. However strange that might sound, most of it was actually delicious, minus the pig liver and mushrooms which I still couldn't bring myself to like. Even the duck blood wasn't that bad- I think it was more of the thought that I was chewing on duck blood that grossed me out more than the taste or texture. Nevertheless, really odd things are the exception, and I've eaten some of the best food I've ever had in my life. We discovered this store called Yang's Fried Dumplings that's basically heaven on earth, I think I've found my true love.  Unfortunately, classes have also started up. There are three level of classes, and I was put in the "Dolphin Class" (as opposed to the Whale and Shark Class). We're working on speaking, reading, and writing. Classes begin at 8 and end at 12, after which is lunch and cultural activities. We've already learned about Chinese Tea, and we're learning how to sing Chinese Folk Songs. Today, we also went on a tour of Shanghai, and visited famous shopping centers in Pudong. Shanghai is split into "Pudong" (East Pu) and "Puxi" (West Pu) by a river. I live and go to school in West Pu, which is less developed and less like the postcard Shanghai you typically imagine. Today was also my first day haggling- I haggled for a pair of fake RayBan Sunglasses. I was terrible at it, but hey, I got the price lowered, so good enough for me! Lastly, my host family. They're absolutely amazing, and so nice. They've already taken me out to dinner, shopping, and to get my nails done. I somehow accidentally picked bright orange nails, so I think they think Americans are a little extravagant...oops. My host sister's aunt has also promised she'd take me out at night and teach me how to dance (at night, people gather in plazas and parks to dance- it's kinda like swing dancing but calmer). They keeep feeding me massive amounts of food- as soon as I insist I'm full, they bring out another full course meal. Literally, every day is like a Thanksgiving Dinner, I wasn't even aware I could fit this much food. Still, considering the fact that no one drives and you walk everywhere (I walk to school every day), hopefully there isn't a chance of me being obese by the end of this trip. That's basically it for now, I figured I'd do a long post to catch up for the lack of posting over the past couple of days. Yay for Shanghai!