Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Finally Back!!
So we are finally back in the states. It was nice to return to home. I had been away for a long time and had started to get a little home sick towards the end, but I would have loved to stay longer. China is an amazing place. Shanghai probably left the biggest impact on me because of how similar yet different it was from our major cities. Yes, Shanghai has many large sky scrappers and malls, but it also has the bazillion tiny street vendor shops that dot each road. Everything from small hardware stores where they will wire the light bulb you buy in front of you to stores that have around 100 hanging cleaned duck carcasses for sale.
My English is returning to normal. I feel if I knew more Chinese this would not have been a problem, but since that is not the case I spoke a lot of broken English. Which is probably how my English got screwed up. It is interesting to think about the way I was able to communicate with shop owners and my partner. We sort of created our own language of limited Chinese and English with lots of hand gestures. I will miss my partner Pan Zhi Fei, but I have been keeping in contact with him over skype and facebook.
I hope someday to return to China and visit Pan Zhi Fei and all the other friends I made at SUAD. Hopefully with a little more Chinese under my belt. People have been asking me 'how was China' and the first words out of my mouth are always "Amazing!" I can't wait to get back!
My English is returning to normal. I feel if I knew more Chinese this would not have been a problem, but since that is not the case I spoke a lot of broken English. Which is probably how my English got screwed up. It is interesting to think about the way I was able to communicate with shop owners and my partner. We sort of created our own language of limited Chinese and English with lots of hand gestures. I will miss my partner Pan Zhi Fei, but I have been keeping in contact with him over skype and facebook.
I hope someday to return to China and visit Pan Zhi Fei and all the other friends I made at SUAD. Hopefully with a little more Chinese under my belt. People have been asking me 'how was China' and the first words out of my mouth are always "Amazing!" I can't wait to get back!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Sept 20th
Today was a completely free day. I worked on my project a little bit and caught up on my blog. Then a couple of us decided to walk to Nanjing street (which is like Time Square). It was pretty cool lots of shops to see and walk through. Everyone was also really friendly on the street. Always offering us the chance to buy watches and hand bags. We wouldn't even have to walk in to a store! We did find this mall on the street that was laid out much like Pioneer Mall in downtown Portland. Which we ended up browsing through all the levels and finding several funny store names such as 'Easy Shop' which sold lingerie of all things. There was also a restaurant that appeared to be fairly fancy which was aptly named 'Dollar Shop.' Then we were hungry.
We found a Subway of all things just a block off the main strip. luckily our stomachs saved us from standing in a most fierce rain. It let up a bit, but we decided to save getting wet and take a taxi back. Later tonight we are going out, but we don't know where. We are trying to find a good bar to go to and supposedly Edwin knows a couple places. We shall see!!
We found a Subway of all things just a block off the main strip. luckily our stomachs saved us from standing in a most fierce rain. It let up a bit, but we decided to save getting wet and take a taxi back. Later tonight we are going out, but we don't know where. We are trying to find a good bar to go to and supposedly Edwin knows a couple places. We shall see!!
Sept 19th
We had an early start today, because we had to drive out to this city that had many chinese gardens. It was supposedly only gonna take us 1.5 hours to drive their, but it ended up taking some where close to 2.5 hours. Though the gardens were some what worth the wait. The bus driver kind of got lost on the way to each garden we were visiting which sucked, but was kind of an adventure.
We then visited a street, but it was not the one we were originally intending to visit I found out. There wasn't much there anyway. I had lunch at this place called KungFu which was this bruce lee endorsed chinese fast food restaurant that was actually pretty good.
After eating we met up with everyone else and got to go to the zoo where we saw a panda. There were a lot of other animals I saw such as a lions and leopards, but the zoo was not as good as what we see in the states. So it was a bit sad to see these animals in such small cages and you could tell it was a little to hot for some of these animals. We did get to see the panda eat an apple which was pretty cute.
We then visited a street, but it was not the one we were originally intending to visit I found out. There wasn't much there anyway. I had lunch at this place called KungFu which was this bruce lee endorsed chinese fast food restaurant that was actually pretty good.
After eating we met up with everyone else and got to go to the zoo where we saw a panda. There were a lot of other animals I saw such as a lions and leopards, but the zoo was not as good as what we see in the states. So it was a bit sad to see these animals in such small cages and you could tell it was a little to hot for some of these animals. We did get to see the panda eat an apple which was pretty cute.
Sept 18th
Today we went to an Art Museum that was really cool. I ended up spending a lot of time on the first floor. Which might have been a mistake, but I really got to take my time seeing the bronze pieces and the sculptures. I was also able to walk through (quickly) painting and calligraphy sections.
We then went to a museum of modern art that was having a biannual event. There were pieces from all over the world, but all shared a common theme which revolved around the People's Square in Shanghai. Most of the pieces followed this theme, but some did not. Such as these awesome dinosaur pieces that we found on the 3rd floor. They were dinosaur bodies that had human torsos, arms and faces grafted on to where their neck should be. I got a lot of great pictures today.
We then went to a museum of modern art that was having a biannual event. There were pieces from all over the world, but all shared a common theme which revolved around the People's Square in Shanghai. Most of the pieces followed this theme, but some did not. Such as these awesome dinosaur pieces that we found on the 3rd floor. They were dinosaur bodies that had human torsos, arms and faces grafted on to where their neck should be. I got a lot of great pictures today.
Sept 17th
Today we arrived in Shanghai at about 6:00am. We had to get off the train really quickly because the train was continuing on further then Shanghai. I had a bit of a problem getting off because of my backpack and I had waited for everyone else in my cabin to get their stuff out. Which left me with very little time myself to get off.
Once getting to our hotel which we took a bus to get to. We had until 2:00pm to recover and eat. It was really strange, once we got to the hotel It felt like it was really late in the day instead of 10:00 am.
We went to this place that was referred to as a garden. Upon arriving there it didn't seem like much of a garden, but more of a place with many many shops to buy over priced goods. Though I found out after walking around a bit there that there was a garden in the center of the area that you had to pay to get into. Instead I went with Brooke, Sylvan and Christian to areas surrounding this shopping complex. We ended up heading towards the Bund which is a large walk way that goes right along side the river next to these huge old banks. We took a detour before we got there and found a discount mall which turned out to be really cool. Lots of cheap stuff that is probably sold to the people who try and sell it on the streets.
We eventually made it to the Bund which was really beautiful. Not much to do but look at the scenery. After a brief walk on the Bund we made our way back to the hotel. We were meeting everyone back at the hotel at 5:30 to go to dinner.
We went to dinner and then took a bus to go to the top of one of the huge skyscrapers on the other side of the river. It was really cool at the top, being able to see large portions of the city at night. I also was able to get my girlfriend a pearl necklace at the top of the tower for a good price. You got a free pearl for presenting your ticket at the top of the tower and for just a bit more you could get it mounted for a necklace.
Once getting to our hotel which we took a bus to get to. We had until 2:00pm to recover and eat. It was really strange, once we got to the hotel It felt like it was really late in the day instead of 10:00 am.
We went to this place that was referred to as a garden. Upon arriving there it didn't seem like much of a garden, but more of a place with many many shops to buy over priced goods. Though I found out after walking around a bit there that there was a garden in the center of the area that you had to pay to get into. Instead I went with Brooke, Sylvan and Christian to areas surrounding this shopping complex. We ended up heading towards the Bund which is a large walk way that goes right along side the river next to these huge old banks. We took a detour before we got there and found a discount mall which turned out to be really cool. Lots of cheap stuff that is probably sold to the people who try and sell it on the streets.
We eventually made it to the Bund which was really beautiful. Not much to do but look at the scenery. After a brief walk on the Bund we made our way back to the hotel. We were meeting everyone back at the hotel at 5:30 to go to dinner.
We went to dinner and then took a bus to go to the top of one of the huge skyscrapers on the other side of the river. It was really cool at the top, being able to see large portions of the city at night. I also was able to get my girlfriend a pearl necklace at the top of the tower for a good price. You got a free pearl for presenting your ticket at the top of the tower and for just a bit more you could get it mounted for a necklace.
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