Alright, let’s pick this up where I left off last time.
Monday, August 29th – Orientation Day 3:
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| Yeah, that's a whole duck on our dinner table |
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| Old Shanghai Quarter |
Most of the day was more of the same. Breakfast, Chinese
lessons, a seminar on cultural differences and living in China, teaching
practice, lunch, and more teaching practice. That afternoon, we took a trip to
the Old Shanghai Quarter. This was kind of more of what I was expecting of
China – street venders and people trying to sell the most random gadgets,
crazily busy streets, and beautiful traditional-looking Chinese buildings. We ate what was definitely the most
interesting dinner to date. There was a lot of seafood (bummer for me), a whole
fish, a whole duck, and who knows what else.
When we were done with dinner, we came outside to see all
those beautiful buildings lit up and looking A-mazing.
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| Old Shanghai Quarter at night |
It was just starting to
rain a little, but we carried on to our boat cruise down the Huangpu river, which
we ended up waiting around for an hour for. But it was well worth the wait. The
Shanghai skyline looks INCREDIBLE at night. Plus, the clouds were really low,
even obscuring the tops of some of the buildings, which made everything look
super magical and mysterious. It started pouring rain while we were on the
boat, but I didn’t mind. After the massive drought we’ve been experiencing in
Texas, and the intense and unrelenting humidity of Shanghai, a downpour was
completely welcome!
After the boat, a lot of people decided to stay in that part
of town and find somewhere to go. I, however opted for the cheaper option of
taking the bus back to the university and finding somewhere around there to go.
I headed out with a group of 8 other people to find a row of bars that someone
had been to a few nights before. Andrew, one of the guys who’s going to be in
Nanchang, a city about an hour away from where I will be, busted out the Catch
Phrase at the bar which completely fascinated the Chinese waitresses. And that’s
pretty much all I feel like sharing about that night – not my finest hour!
Tuesday, August 30th – Orientation Day 4
The next morning, with a surprisingly mild hangover, we
began our last day with more Chinese lessons, our last teaching seminar, and a
debriefing session before lunch. In the afternoon I went on the “optional
walking tour” which was really a ride on the metro to the Tian Zi Fan “Art”
area.
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| Tian Zi Fan art district |
It was actually a pretty cool place – a labyrinth of little alleyways and
hidden stores with all kinds of little arts and crafts and souvenirs, as well
as some cafes, bars and dry cleaning stores!
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| Art made out of watermelons! |
Last was our Farewell Dinner back
at the Faculty Club. While some of the food was just as questionable as always,
it was nice to have everyone together for the last meal. Oh, and we got some
free AMAZING entertainment from Felice, a fellow teacher, who is also an
outstanding magician. After that, some
people headed up to bed before early departures the next morning. Since I was
not leaving until 5:00 pm on Wednesday, I was in no hurry to go back to my room
and pack. I headed out with a group to a bar just around the corner for on last
round of beers and a farewell to Shanghai.
Wednesday, August 31st - Shipping Out
I spent my last day in Shanghai packing my bags and taking one last walk around the shopping area near the university. It was a great city and I had a great time getting to know everyone, but I was definitely ready to get settled in in Jiujiang. But more on that next time!
Caroline
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