People

Day 26
Heaven in China. In other words, Hangzhou. We arrived to Hangzhou to a beautiful day. It was sunny out and it was actually quite warm; the temperature was a pleasant 8°C. I have seen many things in my life. I remember a good amount of my time in China 4 years ago. The sites always seem to stay the same. 4 years ago, I bet most of the buildings in Hangzhou were the same. The lake was probably cleaner and maybe the buildings were more colorful. The streets, the stones, the grass, the trees, and all of the things that most people love to take pictures of are all probably the same and will probably remain the same. It is difficult to be original when everyone is taking the same pictures of a certain temple or lake or statue or art piece. Don’t get me wrong, I love temples and art pieces. They represent the culture of China, the meaning and the history of China; but I love being original with my photos. While all of those things remain the same, there is one thing that is forever changing…the people. Most of the pictures that I will put up will be something “original” in my mind. There will occasionally be the sunset or the building, but many of my pictures will be of people. People are always changing. And these pictures will not be posed, nor forced. These are candid pictures at their best. One benefit of walking around with non-asian westerners is that everyone stares. Eyes are key, and I always have people’s eyes when walking with my friends. Now you might be asking yourself just how exactly I accomplish these pictures. I have a Nikon D40 SLR Digital camera, in other words I can’t see the picture I’m going to take without looking into the viewfinder. So most of these pictures are taken with the camera hanging around my neck and I am holding the camera to my chest on top of my camera bag (which is like a giant fanny pack, http://products.lowepro.com/catalog/Sling-bags,4.htm) and I direct the camera with my hands and judge the angle of the lens and focus with my fingers. I don’t mean to brag, but it’s an art, and I’m awesome at it.


The first day in Hangzhou we went to a few temples and a strip of some street vendors. There we went to the top of two temples and viewed Hangzhou and the West Lake and it was very beautiful. We stopped for some tea, and I had trouble tasting them, but it felt good and that’s what tea is supposed to do. After touring the temples, we went to some HOT POT!!!! Hot pot was of course delicious, but like most meals in china, I can always eat more. After hot pot, we all felt like doing some KTV. We found a nice KTV and sang our hearts out for a good 2 hours, and then they felt like going to a club called G plus. I tagged along and just enjoyed their company. We got back home around 2am and immediately hit the sack. We woke up this morning around 10 and headed to West Lake. Today was much colder because there was no sunlight and we were also right next to the water. It was a cool scene to see all the boats in the water and to see the rock formations, but all I saw were models for me to take pictures of. I enjoy taking pictures of the extremes. Younger and older. I know I sound like a creeper and a stalker, but I don’t mean to make fun of people, patronize or put anyone down with these photos. We walked around a couple of islands and then they went into Starbucks (yuck). We took the train back home and that’s we I am now. It was a long a tiring day and so it’s now time to hit the hay. Enjoy the photos and there will be more to come.

Chinese New Year part 1

So here are some pictures of New Year Eve. i'll have more to report as the week goes on.

Blue skies

Day 22
Today’s forecast, cold, windy, but blue skies! You never appreciate the beauty of a blue sky until you live in an area where blue skies are a rarity. It was incredible to see buildings that I have never seen before. It was incredible to be able to look up and see BLUE! It was incredible to see the sun shining on buildings and make them look actually fake and too clean. It was incredible just to breathe clean air…that was until the bus rolled by and we sucked up it’s exhaust. So enjoy the beauties while you can, enjoy those things that you cherish; especially those little things which include blue skies.

Muse

Day 21
Why do people go to clubs? They go either to A: get drunk B: meet people of the opposite sex C: to dance D: all of the above.
Today was a typical work day, nothing to do, a few wins here in free cell and spider solitaire, but also a few losses as well (I was not pleased with myself about those losses). It’s amazing how difficult free cell can be and actually stressful; especially when the window blinks orange as a warning that says, “ HEY! YOU COULD LOSE SOON!....WATCH OUT, BE CAREFUL!” thanks free cell king. So I got to leave early from work because next week is the celebration of Chinese New Year. So that was awesome, and I had a great sleep on the bus, until some old lady bumped me, that jerk.
For dinner, one of the Next Step interns organized a dinner at a Japanese Hibachi grill. It was all you can eat and drink for 150RMB. It was AWESOME! I ate: salmon, some other kinda fish, pork, chicken, beef, steak, shrimp, oyster, ham, eggs, mushroom wrapped in bacon (I had to swallow it whole), white rice, fried rice, and probably some other things. So after they all got drunk from their Tsingtao beer and Sake drinking games, they wanted to go out on the town. So they decided we should go to this club called: Muse. It had these crazy walls made of wood that had circles cut out of them, these huge glass panels and mirrors that surrounded the bar overhead, crazy light shows, and some hip hoppin music (yeah right). So they kept drinking and I just people watched. It is so intruiging to me to witness people use their money to get totally wasted, and then try to pick each other up or act really cool to try to impress people. Maybe I have the wrong impression, but that’s how I see it, and I’m in no hurry to become part of it.
Why did I go to club “Muse”? Cuz I’m a “tag along”, and I had to look after my roommates. I know, I know, I’m a gentleman.

Congratulations!!!

Day 18
Well first things first, Congratulations to the Shull clan for they have added another member to their family. Cooper Elijah, welcome! We all can’t wait to see how you’ll grow into one of the best wrestlers of all time.
Well, the past few days haven’t been that exciting. Yesterday was work, which consisted of a little 3d modeling on Sketchup, a little meal and now Chinese lessons with Terry and Hou. A very awkward moment happened between me and the rest of the crew. One of the older ladies asked me if I had a girlfriend because she was thinking of introducing me to someone she knows, and then Terry asked if she had yellow hair. I said my first one did, and they all went,” ooooooooo!!!!” The older lady then asked me how many girlfriends I have had, and I said, “Two”. She looks at me in shock and then smiles and says that I should have had at least 10. She’s so nice, but I think I’m too young for her. Ultimate Frisbee was awesome except for the fact that I had no idea of how to get to the stadium. I new the metro stop and a general idea of where it was… about six blocks north from the subway station. So like Forest Gump, I just ran. And ran. And ran. And ran, stopped to catch my breath. And ran, and then called someone. I passed it.
Today was an exciting day at work because I was introduced to a new phenomenon called: Spider Solitaire. This is perhaps one of the most challenging but awesomeness game I’ve played on a computer for some time. I lost, I admit it, but then the fireworks were blazing (fireworks happen when you win) and I was the MAN! I was so worked up... I fell asleep on the bus. Luckily I awoke in time for my stop and stumbled off the bus and started preparing for Chinese lessons. Today’s lesson was probably my worst. I didn’t remember anything and I was just too hungry to do anything. So afterwards Anna and I ventured off to a local restaurant and we ordered some Xiao Long Bao (dumplings). We ordered 5 steamers full of dumplings. I expected it to cost at least 30 RMB….15 RMB= $2.35. I win cuz I’ll be eating there a lot.

Home

Day 16 Today was just another normal day. Chinese lesson with Cindy, which is awesome, a little shopping for some clothing stuff and then had a dinner with the rest of the interns. It was cool to meet and talk with the other people and to just hang out and of course have a great meal. It’s crazy to me to even think that I’m here and that I’m not back home in Connecticut or in Cincinnati. It has definitely hit me that I’m here in Shanghai, but it also hasn’t. I think because I’m in such a groove and I feel totally more comfortable here now, Shanghai just feels like home the same way the Cincinnati or Greenwich does. I guess that’s just the way I am. I think I am able to get some kinda groove or get comfortable enough to consider anyplace my home. Or at least it has been that way for the last three places I’ve lived. Even just saying that I’m living in Shanghai is weird to me. Just one month ago I was still in Cincinnati and getting ready to drive home to Connecticut. It’s amazing what can happen in one month, and I’m excited to see what happens in the next 5.

p.s. You ever eat jellyfish? It was gross…

Ultimate

Day 15
Today was a pretty awesome day. As many as you know I am an avid ultimate player and was very excited to see that Shanghai does indeed at Ultimate. So today was the first of many times to come for ultimate in shanghai. I met up with a guy name Nads, who took me to the fields via Metro, which is in fact pretty crazy and very crowded. I met up with some other ultimate people who are all basically Caucasian. It was awesome and just cool to be playing in Shanghai and to be with people that can speak great English. I am out of shape. My right hip hurts, I had cramps in both my calves while running for a disc, I knocked people over, was sucking wind…but that’s ultimate and I love it.
My third and final apartment mate arrived around 10am, but I didn’t get to meet her until later in the day. Like Caitlin and I, Anna just slept for the better part of the day. Anna is from Spain and she just graduated from law school. Cool stuff. We went into Xuijiahui to buy her a phone so she could use a sim card, and it was really cool to kinda talk with the sellers. I didn’t really understand them that well, but I had a new confidence in myself because of the lessons and just that I’m way more comfortable here now. We all went to this restaurant called: Little Sheep. They’re specialty: Hot Pot. If you never have had hot pot, you need to find a place that has it and go. It is basically like a Japanese Hibachi, but also kinda not. There is a large bowl of broth that is cooking in the middle of the table. And you order different types of raw meat and vegetables. We got beef, duck, bok choy, pork dumplings and sweet potato. You drop items into the broth, let the stuff cook in the broth and then dig in! It is probably entirely very unsantitary, but that’s China! It was delicious, but also very hot. The price was also great. It came to a total of 165.5 Yuan…=$24.26 for three people. Talk about a deal and a meal.

This is Shanghai

Day 14
So it has been two weeks now that I’ve been in Shanghai, and the day wasn’t at all the special. I woke up, did my daily devotional, caught the bus for work, got to work, played Sudoku, went to lunch and almost ate eggplant, and “worked”. One cool thing happened at work. Terry came to me and asked me a question about sun angles and shading and just orientation of buildings. It was really cool to teach him something and to know that I’m also a reference and I’m here to help and maybe teach them too. The day was pretty ordinary, but the night wasn’t. This night the company was having a dinner party to celebrate Spring Festival, or Chinese New Years. We walked to the restaurant (which took about 30 minutes!) and it was called: Homelike Restaurant. What the heck does that mean?! We sit down and there is food already on the tables but no one is touching it. We are all eating tiny oranges and these awesome pistachios. I’ve never had real fresh pistachios, and boy do they make a difference. So we eat all of that and basically wait until the boss, Issam arrives, which is about 45 minutes after we arrive. He says a toast in Chinese and then everyone just bull rushes the food. It’s tasty, but I’ve had better. Duck, chicken, fish, shrimp, soup, vegetables, everything. And then someone breaks out the wine and beer. People start making toasts and walking around to people they know and toasting to them. It’s crazy. I’m just merrily drinking my sprite and cola and just watching 85% of the people slowly but surely get drunk before my eyes. Terry tells me that I need to drink to be a man, so I oblige and he welcomes me to manhood. It interesting because he tells me that I need to drink more. And I just ask him, “Why? I don’t want to.” He has no response besides, “because you be man. You drink!” he’s drunk. Some people start sneaking out of the party, and as I’m about to the HR lady, Amy stops me and orders me that I can’t go. I need to take care of Terry and I need to do KTV.
KTV: karaoke. I don’t spend much time around drunk people or people that smoke. I usually go home and sleep and don’t stay out and experience the night life. I say what the heck and tag along to KTV. Terry and I wander around the building trying to find our room and eventually wind up back to the entrance where we see people from our party about to fight other people. Amy is cursing and yelling and it’s all because we might not get a room. This is Shanghai. They LOVE their karaoke. Beers are back, cheers are back, smoking is back, snackies are back, and bad singing has now just entered. I go to the bathroom and start using the urinal and all of a sudden I feel a really warm towel on the back of my neck and then it starts to “massage” me. I’ve never felt so awkward in my life. Here I’m relieving myself and there is this guy just rubbing my neck. This is Shanghai. Terry want me to do KTV and I say ok, and tell him to choose an English song that he knows, but he never seems to understand me. He just nods and keeps on asking me to pick a song. We eventually pick “Lean on Me” and “Billie Jean”. Our songs eventually come up and I don’t recognize it at first cuz the background singer is some lady. So we grab the mic’s and I start singing. It’s cool to be applauded, but I know that it is just a customary thing. They have no idea what I’m singing, they just want more drinks and more time for them to sing. Lean on Me was fine, except Terry doesn’t really have any rhythm and pretty soon I was singing by myself. Billie Jean comes on and he just stops singing, he said he knew the song, but he doesn’t. Choosing Michael Jackson was a lose lose situation. He sings to high, and he’s too good. The night finally ends after I try to leave, but Amy stops me again, so I wait til Terry feels like leaving. We catch a cab and head back home. This is Shanghai. Pictures soon.

Happy Birthday!

Day 12
Happy Birthday Warren!!! That's all I got. take or leave it. take it.

Homework

Day 11
Today began the day of the snooze. I think I hit the snooze about 4 times this morning. Completely settled in. Today was a very weird and unpredictable day. Lunch was not filling at all because we shared dishes between my 5 co-workers and myself, I didn’t drink as much water, I didn’t feel like falling asleep at work, and our daily meeting was held at 4pm instead of 9am. Our meeting lasted about an hour and a half and during that time they talked about everything. At first it was about work, then I was finally officially introduced to my fellow design team, learned everyone’s names, and then it just went off. Terry eventually asked me, “Do you believe in God?” I said yes. He said, “So that mean you no eat blood?” uh….I eat meat. It was so interesting to see their reaction when I said Jesus and Christianity. Terry then asked if I did this before every meal, and he put his hands together as if he was praying. I chuckled and was kinda amused but also saddened to see what he thought of Christianity.
Tonight was my first Chinese lesson, Cindy is my teacher. Learning Chinese is probably one of the most frustrating things to do because of all of the different tones and just to figure out how certain endings sound. It is also difficult to see letters together and sound out how the would sound either in English, Spanish, German, and now Chinese. I learned how to pronounce (poorly on my part) pinyin (written Chinese characters in decipherable words), family members, greetings, good/bad, open/close, and taxi/driving directions. All in all I’m really looking forward to learning more, even though I have homework.

Settling in

Day 10
You wanna know how I know that I have settled in? of course you want to know, why else would you be reading this! 1. I haven’t gotten sick from the food yet. 2. I haven’t gotten lost in the past few days. 3. I can start to calculate the prices of things in my head in terms of US dollars. 4. People at work will actually talk to me. And 5. I overslept.
I usually wake up around 6:30 in the morning to do my daily devotional and my morning routine. I use my Ipod as my alarm because of the different awesome alarm noises it makes. I personally prefer the noise titled: Strum. It is simply a high to low pitch made from the sound of a fake electronic acoustic guitar…it’s beautiful. I woke up around 4:40 by accident and immediately slammed my head back into my pillow to get some more sleep. Typically I will wake up at the most an hour or two later from when I first wake up and I was banking on this. I finally decide to get up because I felt like it was the right time (doesn’t that happen a lot). I looked at my clock: 7:58. At first I don’t believe what I see. I just stare at the clock, first with puzzled and dizzy eyes trying to decipher the numbers. I try to think of what time I start work. Is it 9 or is it 8. Am I late? Where am I? It finally hits me that I start work at 9 and I need to catch the 754 bus which arrives around 8. FWOOM! I rush outta bed. Brush my tooth put my clothes on and rush to catch the bus. I make it right when the bus pulls up to the stop. I actually get a seat on the bus and it feels like a good day. I check my watch and I calculate that I will in fact be early to work. Lately I’ve been getting these breakfast doughs every morning. They either have nothing inside, lettuce and vegetable concoctions, or some kind of dumpling meat. I got the best one. The one with the red bean (that’s for all you asian people that know what I’m talking about. The rest of you, just ask). Work actually moves quick and I’m actually kinda hyper today, it was probably the red bean because around 3pm, I start to hit the wall. I look at the clock and just see the minutes creep by. I start getting the head nod like I was at a rock concert. Terry shows and tells me some really cool places to go to in shanghai, and so those are definitely some posts to look out for. And so that’s how you know you have settled into a place, you oversleep.

Life is Good

Day 9
Man is my life good. How often do you just think about your blessings and just how good we have it. Today, I did just that. I did absolutely nothing until 5pm. I watched my pirated Seinfeld DVD’s, which has all of the seasons on 4 discs, shaved, sat around, talked to someone awesome on skype, and just relaxed as much as possible. awesome. It was also another beautiful day, and ventured out around 5 to get some more photos, this time with my newly bought 100 yuan ($15) tripod to capture some cliché photos of the city. For dinner I ordered some kinda fish, dumplings, and some rice. It is so difficult to make people understand that I can’t speak their language! The waitresses asked tons of questions about what I wanted, pointing to words and writing some down….so I just nodded and grunted and made noises like, “Wah, Hah, Huh, Yah.” That’s basically my Chinese, and it is working so far. I tried ordering some simple tea (cha), and they had no idea what I was talking about. I look around and see other people with their tea pots and I just point and grunt. No good. They bring me a Budweiser glass filled with tea leaves and hot water. thanks. The fish typically was the entire fish, head and all. It was good except that it tasted and looked as if they reached down into the tank, pulled out the fish and then just made 5 cuts and then put it on a plate and then put it in front of me. The taste was just about as fine cuisine as if you were to dunk your head into some sea water and then drink. tasty. The dumplings were good, but the orange slices stole the show. My life is pretty good. Good family, good friends, good school, good area, just good good good. Tonight was good, cuz my meal would probably have costed about 21.39 US dollars. 37 Yuan…$5.

Beatuful day

Day 8
Today was my first real day in Shanghai where I could really do whatever I wanted. It just happened to also be one of the best days I’ve had so far weather wise. The sun was shining and it was just a great day for pictures and to really explore more of the area. Caitlin and I have been eating basically cup o’ noodles for dinner everyday and we decided that it would be a better idea to eat some real Chinese food. The main plan was to get a wireless router and lo and behold: Best Buy! 5 levels of best buy merchandise and it took 20 minutes just to find the router and it only cost about $25. We had beef noodles for lunch, we knew what we were ordering because the menu items had English pictures. That’s awesome. After a huge headache of trying to set up the wireless in the apartment it was time to see downtown at night and to get some even better photos. Shanghai looks amazing and we even managed to get some pirated DVD’s. “Bolt” was actually not a bad movie, in fact I plan on buying it when it comes out to DVD and more importantly the US, and I’m looking forward to watch Seven Pounds via DVD.

Judging a book by it's cover

Day 7
I’m a pretty prideful guy. Ok, I’m really prideful. I have trouble asking for help or allowing other people to do something if I know I can do it better. I hate being told things twice and I hate being treated like I don’t know anything. I have lived that way for 21 years now and things seem to be going well today. Today I learned one of the oldest lessons in the world: You can’t judge a book by its cover. There is this guy at work who doesn’t look like much. He isn’t very fashionable, in fact he looks sloppy and I have never seen him doing work. During his time of “work” towards the end of the day, he decides along with the rest of the design team, to watch me work on Autocad. One by one as they all go back to their desks to resume their work, this guy, we’ll call him Goku (that’s for you warren), decides to show me a few tricks. He really doesn’t speak English and we have to resort to grunting and head nods. The things he is showing me are kinda helpful but I don’t really need them (PRIDE!). About 15 minutes of this happens and I’m watching the clock waiting til 5:55 so I can leave. He returns back to my desk and opens up a powerpoint presentation. I look at what he shows me and the first is a Beijing hotel. I look at it and it seems kinda cool but we moved onto the next one. Goku designed a hotel just like me, and to my surprise it got built, and it looked awesome. Part of me just wanted to leave, but the other wanted me to look and really absorb everything that he has designed. The design was sleek, clean and just really simply but beautiful. I have a new respect for Goku even though he doesn’t work.

Getting Better

Day 6
Today I almost didn’t feel like getting out of bed. Almost. That can only mean that I am starting to adjust to the time change, which is a relief because I don’t think I can survive on only a couple of hours of sleep. It’s nice to start becoming more comfortable and familiar with the way of things here in Shanghai. Everyone is rood. When taking the bus, it is a battle to see who can get the empty seats. Drivers are not afraid to completely cut each other off. In the states, the people generally have the right of way, but here, it is again survival of the fittest. The bigger always wins, and the bigger is the bus. Just like in Cincinnati, buses rule the road, except here they drive without any regard for anyone else (I guess that applies to Cincinnati bus drivers sometimes).

I finished my first draft of my hotel design today and I’m very pleased with it because Terry didn’t have to tell me to try and try and try. Work is getting better and the people are getting more accustomed to me and I am to them. Lunch was interesting because the question of my age came up and they all thought I was 25-26 years old. WRONG! Lunch was awesome. There was some kinda pork, beef and then chicken with peanuts. I ate some of the green peppers and it wasn’t that bad. I’m really digging the food and so far no belly aches. I can’t wait to learn more Chinese so that I can go to a restaurant and order food by myself.

Speaking of which. I knew going into my meeting with Nancy that I would be a beginner 1 student when it came to mandarin lessons. I’m really excited for these lessons. You probably have no idea of what it is like to walk around and not be able to understand almost everything. Or to be at work and to not understand a lick of what your co-workers are saying. It’s really frustrating because I KNOW they are sometimes talking about me. Looks like things are starting to get better and that’s the way I like it.

Try, just try

“Try. Try. Just try” That’s what I hear my supervisor at work, Terry Du, tell me every time he is done looking at what I do and after he makes a suggestion. I work for an interior design firm called VMC constructions. Because of the economic crisis, it is hard for firms to find work and jobs and so there isn’t work for me to do. Instead, most of them sit at their desks without internet and either play on their phone, look at photos that are on their computer, re-read documents, nap, and this one lady continues to just read over and over the company’s handbook. I actually have “work” and my assignment is to design a 5 star business hotel. It isn’t hard work, it is just like school, it’s fun… until Terry tells you to do something different. He tells me to do crazy and be crazy, so I give him crazy. Now he wants efficient. BORING!!! I’m tired of seeing firms not take a risk with their designs and fit into the cookie cutter mold. I understand that it has to do with money and there really is a large risk when you attempt to do things that we do in school, but then what’s the reason for the awesome stuff we do in school?! I hope this gets better cuz apparently I only have 2 more days to finish my design with complete Autocad drawings.

One of my roommates came in last night around midnight and I finally got to meet her. Caitlin is her name and she is from England and many other places, but mainly England. She’s cool and we nearly blew up our kitchen trying to light our stove. It’s nice to have internet now, but also just to have someone that understands me completely is how do you say, Awesome.

January 5, 2009- Day 3 (day of H E double hockey sticks)

Today is a day that I will never forget, but is one that I wouldn’t mind not remembering. It was supposed to be my first day of work. I was to meet Bonny outside my apartment at 8:15, and then we would go to the police station to get my temporary residence certificate and then she would take me to work. Let me remind you that the time difference is GMT+8; which means that all you have to do is add 13 hours to Eastern time, which is what I am accustomed to. I woke up at 3:42 am this morning. I tried going back to sleep, I tried listening to music, reading, everything; nothing. I got changed around 8:00 and then headed down to meet with Bonny. 8:10…8:15…I remember she first said half past 8 at first…8:30…8:40…I have no idea where she is and I have no way of contacting her. My phone does not have the capabilities of switching a number that easily and I’m not ready to start spending money on international calls when I’m already international. 8:45…8:50…I say to myself, “Hey self, maybe she meant to meet at the police station!” So I start walking to the police station (we went there two days ago, but they were closed). I get to the police station after my awesome navigational skills and see no Bonny. So I say to myself, “Self, time to head back.” At this point I am STARVING (9:15 Shanghai = Dinner time America). I get back to my apartment around 9:30 and start microwaving some stale Chinese cookies hoping to create some genius cookie, and then my door knocks. It’s Bonny. I hardly understand what she is saying cuz I am just so tired and hungry.
We go to the police station and get my certificate after taking a bus. Bonny begins telling me how to get to work and which bus number and which stop to get off at, I start taking notes. We’re now on the bus to work. It takes about 40 minutes because we were going in the wrong direction. We then get off at a stop that she did not say to get off at, and start walking. My feet are killing me and I’m still STARVING. We finally get to the office building and walk inside the firm: VMC Construtioms (That’s spelled correctly). Bonny talks to the receptionist and then a girl walks in. They looked confused and don’t really know what to do. I am supposed to meet the HR lady Amy. The girl walks up to me and introduces her name as “Phoenix”, cool name. She tells me, “Amy isn’t here right now. She’ll be back in…2…no 3 hours.” What am I supposed to say to that?! I just shrug and say good bye to Bonny. Phoenix sits me down at a desk and I just sit there. The other employees are talking to each other in Chinese (obviously) and I’m the minority in my own ethnicity. Phoenix tells me we’re going to lunch, THANK YOU!!! We walk out the office building and take a sharp right into a building that I think is a construction site. It’s just the back entrance into the “food court”. It smells, it dirty, it humid, it’s China. This was what I was looking for. Real Chinese people and real Chinese food. I don’t know what I was about to eat, I just didn’t pick anything green. I ended up with some fish that had tons of scales (which isn’t uncommon) and some kinda chickenish thing and huge pile of rice. I down everything and then head up to the office.
They tell me to sit back down and just look at the companies website. cooooool. A guy named Terry tells me to follow him and he sits me down in a different desk. His English is not very good and I’m glad that he acnoknowledges it. He asks me what I do, Architect and then follows up with this question, “Do you want to design architecture or decorate?” I was put back and said design. He said, “Oh…we don’t do that here, we do the decorate.” I was astonished to hear an interior designer say that they only decorate. I think a lot of DAAP professors would like to have a word with Terry. I spend the rest of the day looking at plans and pictures and just sitting at the desk. I finally meet Amy hoping that she would speak English, she doesn’t. Terry then gives me an assignment. To design a small 5 star hotel. He checks on my work and gives tidbits of wisdom like: You design from outside in; now design from inside out. Terry is now my immediate supervisor, which is cool because I know I will learn a lot from him. I leave work early and the adventure doesn’t stop.
I’m exhausted. I have been up since 3:42 and have walked at least 5 miles, I’m dehydrated and only eaten one meal. I try to remember how to get back and start walking to try and find the right bus. It’s not long before I find myself lost. Completely lost. So lost that I can’t even ask someone for directions because I don’t know how to do that. I do what I know best. As Dorrie says, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…” I just keep walking. I walk and walk and walk hoping to find the right bus. I give up and decide to just get a cab. Luckily Next Step Connections gave me a card with my address on it and I just show it to the taxi driver. Chinese people in China are crazy drivers. When we think about road rage, we think about people getting angry and wanting to do harm to someone or they are just really frustrated. That’s all the drivers in China. There are no easy cut-ins, red lights don’t really exist and it seems it is a survival of the fittest.
I finally get home and I’m ready for a vacation already.

January 4, 2009- Day 2

I had the day to myself, a day to rest, to think, and to basically try to figure out exactly how I am going to survive here. I know that my situation will get better the longer I stay and the more I learn, but being only the second day, and really the first full day, that I am in Shanghai, I have no idea of what to do. I don’t understand any of the buttons that are on the numerous air conditioning units, so like I always do, I just press and decide I can figure out what they do. Wrong decision. Before long I had switched to cold air instead of warm and found myself freezing in the spot. Frantically I start to try to fix it by the only way I know, and that is by pressing more buttons.
I went to the next door drug store to get some nutrients into my body. I picked out two huge “cup o’ noodles’, a surge protector, and a large Sprite. The total was about 60.1 yuan. I handed the lady a 100 bill and she looked into my eyes and started talking to me. Hmmmmm…no idea of what she was saying. I just stared back trying to communicate to her with my eyes just saying, just ring them up please! She hands me back my change and then asks if I want a bag (that’s probably what she was asking me). Of course I didn’t understand her until she motioned with her hands that she was talking about a bag. It costed .3 yuan and I gave her a 10 bill. She started to talk really angrily and making ugly faces at me. I don’t blame her, who wants to give 9.7 in change to someone. Because I was in such a hurry and just wanted to get out of there I had forgotten that she had given me change already for the purchase. I pleaded with her by showing her my wallet that only carried 10 bills and higher. She gave me my change and I could sense that this will be a very interesting experience.

January 3, 2009- Day 1

I have experienced many things in my life before. I have been independent for quite some time now. Coming to Shanghai by myself will be a “once in a lifetime experience”, as so many people have told me. I didn’t really realize that I was going to be in Shanghai for the next 5 months until I woke up from my flight, being the last person to leave the plane because I was sleeping, and then saw the long line of customs and immigration. Even now as I am typing, it is hard to even comprehend that I will be here, in Shanghai, for the next five months. This is one of the first times in a long time where I haven’t be completely comfortable; where I don’t know what is going to happen, or even have the slightest bit of what is going to happen. We take for granted our ability to communicate with each other by speech. Taking the taxi, I had no idea of how I would be able to manage without Bonny.
I had my first Shanghai meal, and I couldn’t even understand the menu. Luckily I had Bonny to help me, and I just told her to order whatever she liked. I had some of the best duck I have ever had, beef balls, and other food things that I have noticed before at dim sum, but never it never really tasted as good as this. This might have been due to the fact that I was starving and was given two burnt meals on the plane and a cup o’ noodles for a snack (thanks United). Even the scent of the air is different. It is such a pungent smell, it just enhanced the experience already. People are crazy drivers and I feel like I should have died already just by riding the bus.
I not that nervous because I don’t believe anything horrible will happen to me, and I’m not afraid of what could happen. I’m more excited than anything else. I’m excited to eat and eat and eat. To see and be in one of the most busiest and rising cities in the world and to be part of it. I don’t know what to expect, but I’m ready.