I know my avid readers (Mom) have been waiting patiently (not so much) to hear about what has been happening!
Well, here is a little update! I left on August 20 and then had a 17 hour layover in Seoul before arriving in Shanghai on August 22! I was pretty tired but excited to see what awaited me! There was a girl holding my name at the gate and we hopped in a taxi heading for my hotel. She informed me that this was going to be a two person personalized orientation! With the program I did we are promised a four day orientation, but since we needed to get to our school early for their orientation we would be missing the main orientation in Shanghai the next week. So, CIEE put on a special one for Anokhi and me! So nice! I met Anokhi later on during the day and was so excited at how alike we were and how easy it already was between the two of us. That was a huge worry I had, because we were going to be sharing an apartment in Chongqing together. Phew!
Sharon, the girl who met me at the airport, was our main guide and took us out to breakfasts, lunches and dinners. She was so nice and helpful. She gave us a Mandarin lesson and right away I knew this was going to be hard. The sounds that they make are not in our natural vocabulary! Add in the tones and the fact that they speak so fast and I am completely lost! It is going to be so much harder than Thai...Thai seems like cake compared to Mandarin!
During the lunches and dinners we met up with two guys who have been teaching in China for 11 and 10 years! They were very helpful, letting us ask questions and telling us many stories about their many experiences. It made me feel better that they have been teaching here for so long, obviously they like it a little bit if they have stayed!
Shanghai was really really really big! I thought Bangkok was big, no Shanghai is BIG. There are people everywhere, all the time, cars driving on the wrong side of the road, honking for no apparent reason, and crazy tall skyscrapers! They took Anokhi and I to a traditional tea house where we got to drink tea and were told that many movies were filmed there. Then, they took us around the Yu Yuan Gardens that were just beautiful! It used to be a house that belonged to an Emperor and had stunning architecture all throughout it. We learned that only highly ranked people are allowed to have dragon statues on the roof of their house (the more you have, the more "special" you are). If you are just a normal person and you build your house with dragons on the roof you will go straight to jail! Sharon also told us that this was a small garden and there is a garden in Beijing that is the largest in all of China, can't even imagine!
For one of our outings, Sharon took us to the Bund, which is a waterfront area that has a great view of the famous Shanghai skyline and divides the two sides of Shanghai. It's definitely one of the prettiest skylines I've seen! So many different shaped buildings and all trying to the be the tallest building. The Chinese government has to keep shutting down projects because businesses want to build 100 story buildings in a matter of months just to make the record books.
She took us to the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center (the bottle opener looking building in the picture above). We went up to the 100th floor and it was so pretty at night! Seeing all of the different colored buildings and neon lights was really cool!
The next day, two CIEE gals Alice and Ellen, took us to a famous arts and crafts area, Tianzifang. It is a labyrinthe of alleyways of craft stores, art studios, and coffee shops.
Next, they took us to the Liuli Musem where we saw blown glass and Buddhist sculptures. Anokhi and I both felt very cultured at the end of the day.
Alice and Anokhi with a glass flower
At lunch with Alice and Ellen!
Anokhi and I were both excited to get to explore Shanghai and get a personal tour around the city but excited to move into our apartment and see our new city!!
"If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary."
~Jim Rohn
No comments:
Post a Comment