Day 26: January 29, 2013

    Today was pretty bland. I had class all day, once again spending one my classes just studying Chinese. I found something new at the dining court that was amazing! It was basically like pad thai with a little more of a creamy sauce but I will definitely be getting that again.

     We had to stay a little after class to practice Hail Purdue and this Chinese song called pengyou, which means friend, for a banquet we got invited to next week. After that I had a lot of blogging to catch up on and then a handful of Chinese to go over. Street nudes had to do for dinner again so I could cram while eating. We have a field trip in the morning and then some extra time to study for Chinese until our final. All I have to do is pass, so hopefully it won’t be to bad!

Day 25: January 28, 2013 "Yo, she a hoe sometimes"

     Today was pretty ordinary with a full day of class from 8:30-4:15. I spent one of my classes flipping through Chinese note cards instead of paying attention and the other learning about Chinese traditions and festivals, which was pretty interesting. After class a group of people went back for another cooking class, which meant that I got to nap while my roommate was gone. It was definitely one of the best naps of my life after such a long, cold weekend. 

     When I got up I did a lot of necessary homework including my online homework and a project for one of my classes here. By the time all of that was done, it was already 8:30 so I took my first solo trip for street noodles, or “street nudes” as we now call them. It was actually really relaxing to have some time to myself to just walk around and take in all of my surroundings. 

     After eating I partook in some group Chinese studying which was actually pretty fun as we made up the most ridiculous ways to remember words. One of my personal favorites is for youshihou, which in Chinese means sometimes, so we remember it with the phrase “Yo, she a hoe sometimes.” After some ridiculous yet somewhat productive studying, we eventually turned to some youtube video watching (outrageous fun is pretty funny if you are interested) until we had to call it quits and get some sleep.

Day 24 : January 27 Crouching Tiger or Let Them Eat Chickens!

     As much as we all felt like we could sleep forever, we decided to get up at 8 so we could use our free breakfast coupons. When you think breakfast buffet, there are a lot of things that come to mind, none of which were on this table. They had some flavorless gritty soups, fried onions, fried rice, and a lot of other sketchy looking things I was not bold enough to try that early in the morning. They didn’t even have any drinks so we ended up buying some at the convenience store upstairs after basically eating onions and rice for breakfast. 

St. Sophia's Church

    After some much needed teeth brushing, we headed out for our first adventure of the day to find the St. Sophia’s church. After some aimless wandering we asked a few people where to go and somehow found our way without even getting lost! It was really cool to see the Russian architecture of the church and we all decided that the whole trip we actually felt more like we were in Russia than China. For only 10 yuan, we could go inside and it turned out to be a museum. It was really pretty inside, although a little dilapidated, but well worth the money to see it and the history behind its construction.

     Jess and I decided to lean up against this stage and put our bags down for a little break when we realized some people awkwardly trying to catch us in their pictures. Eventually they just walked up and asked to take one with us, which was my first time since I’ve been here! The girls were really nice but we didn’t realize what we were getting ourselves into. Within the next 10 minutes we had probably taken our picture with 20 different people and it had escalated to the point where there was a line and people were just handing us their children for pictures. We realized that these were all tourists who were probably from Northern China in very rural areas and have never really seen white people before, which is why they found us so intriguing. I must say it was a huge confidence boost to hear 20 people call you piaoliang, which means pretty in Chinese. 

Some of our many new friends from the church!

     When we finally found a break in the commotion we dipped out and decided to head to the next thing on our agenda, which was the Siberian Tiger Park. It took us quite a while to find a cab but we eventually flagged one down who was really nice and funny. John wore his tiger shirt as a joke to take a picture with a tiger in his tiger shirt, but it actually turned out to be key in us getting there. We just pointed to his shirt and the driver knew where we wanted to go. He affirmed this by growling and then we were sure we were headed in the right direction.

     On the way he actually pulled over to get gas, which turned out to be quite a site. He whipped the cab in front of a 5 car line and just backed into a spot in front of the pump and proceeded to point at the driver he cut off and say “fuck youuu!” We all just lost it and started dying in laughter. He spoke no English and just pulled that out like it was nothing; he was instantly our favorite cab driver of the weekend. After not too long, we made it to the Siberian Tiger Park and he told us he would wait for us and started a timer. We assumed we were about to get ripped off so we told him to leave, which turned out to be a mistake. Apparently it’s near impossible to get a cab back, but that was a problem to deal with later. 

     We walked up to the ticket counter and saw all of these different prices. We eventually figured out that we were looking at the prices to feed the tigers different animals ranging from live chickens and pheasants to goats and cows. We got tickets for the bus for 45 yuan and then Bryan and John each bought chickens for 60. We then waited for a bus to arrive and when it did made sure to grab seats with a good view. We proceeded to drive through a ton of gates and then all of the sudden there were Siberian tigers all around the bus! They were so close we couldn’t believe it. They then took us to this feeding area where a guy in a truck threw out the live chickens and we watched the tigers just absolutely devour them. They must get fed a lot because after killing the chicken, one of the tigers just dropped it and walked away. In addition to the chickens, we also got to see a few tigers eating a goat from the group before. After that we just continued to drive around and see different kind of tigers and they would stop and let some get really close to the bus so we got some amazing pictures.

     After a while they just drop you off at this fenced walkway that is raised above the tigers and let you walk around. This was probably the coolest part because you could just get so close to the tigers. There would just be groups of them sleeping on each other to stay warm and you could just walk right up and look. We were kind of following one of them and when we made eye contact it actually jumped up on the fence and scared the life out of us as it hung there for a few seconds before letting go. We also got to see a few tigers get in little fights and paw, growl, and tackle one another. It was pretty crazy to see this all up close.  

     After a necessary tiger picture with John’s shirt on, we ventured over to the area with different breeds. My favorite was definitely the white tiger cub but the tiger and snow leopard were really cool too. After we saw all that there was to see, we decided to go inside and warm up before tackling the challenge of finding a cab home. After a quick break, we headed over to where we got dropped off. We ran into a couple who spoke English and they said that they had their cab wait for them and it could be pretty hard to find one. But just then, an empty cab pulled up (probably some other idiots’ who told their cab to leave like we did), and we got right in. 

John in his tiger shirt with the tigers

   
      We had him take us to this dumpling restaurant we had read about and we got there without a problem. Ordering at the restaurant was a whole other issue though. No one spoke any English; they just had this giant menu of different kinds of dumplings without any pictures. They eventually brought out a few pictures and we just ended up saying rho jaozi, which means pork dumplings, and got a few plates brought out. After we picked the one we liked better, we each got our own plates and ended up being stuffed full of delicious food. After we managed to pay, we stopped by a bakery across the street to grab some snacks for the plane. This place was packed but was well worth the hassle for the delicious pastry and hot cocoa. 

     We then thought about walking around and exploring some shops but decided we didn’t want to cut it too close on catching our flight and were concerned about rush hour traffic. We decided to just go grab a cab, but that was much more of an ordeal than we were expecting. I kid you not, it took us over 45 minutes to get a cab. We still don’t know what the deal was, but at least 10 empty cabs drove by us and would not stop or would just shoo us away. We don’t want to think it was because we were foreigners, but we would watch the same cab who passed us pick up other Chinese people just a few feet down the road. We don’t know if it was just that we looked like a hassle since we all had book bags of luggage and obviously didn’t speak Chinese or if they figured we wanted to go to the airport which was too far away, but it was the first time I have really been frustrated since I have been in China. It was seriously unbelievable and we just had no idea what we were doing wrong. Tensions were high as we were all nervous to miss our flight when we finally found a cab that would take us. It took some acting skills and a “point book” that has pictures of things you can point to, but we eventually got the driver to realize we wanted to go to the airport and then we were good to go. He got us there really quickly and we were there with plenty of time until our flight.

     Once we got all checked in, we all had to go change out of our ridiculous amount of layers so we wouldn’t be hot on the plane. We once again had to take a shuttle to the plane, which was pretty brutal when I had taken off all of my layers except jeans, a short sleeve t-shirt, and a coat. On the shuttle ride I made a comment about how I was about to “blow up” our class facebook page when we got back and Jess pointed out that it was probably not the best idea to use slang like that in an airport where no one speaks our language. With a quick glance to make sure I wasn’t getting any scary looks, I decided I was in the clear. They then let people off the bus 5 at a time so no one had to wait outside too long and soon enough we were all settled on the plane. We had some good bonding time and even managed to get some Chinese studying in. 

Before we knew it, we were doing stretches again which meant we were back at the Shanghai airport. The last true test was if we could get a cab from the airport home, which we were pretty nervous about considering the airport was all shut down, once again very shocking for such a huge international airport. Luckily there was a line to wait for cabs and we got to the front in about 15 minutes. It was amazing to be able to keep our hands out of our jackets for more then 5 seconds without them going numb. Once we finally made it back to the hotel, we officially deemed the trip a success and decided that if we could survive in Harbin on a last minute trip, we could survive anywhere in China. We told a few people about the trip and then all crawled into bed in dread of class in the morning.

Day 23: January 26, 2013 Ice Ice Baby!

Harbin Ice Festival crew

Ice and Snow World

     I am just going to start off by saying that this weekend was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I know that me trying to describe it is not going to make it sound nearly as fun as it was but I will just have to try my best with some aid from my pictures. So I woke up at 4:30 to just get up and out and was very surprised when I walked out my door to see Adam Skyping. I guess it’s a good time to Skype home, but it didn’t really seem to make much sense. He told us he just couldn’t sleep but we later found out he had just been up all night after going out and decided to Skype his dad and girlfriend without much recollection. After saying hi to his girlfriend, we all headed down stairs to catch our cab that was there promptly at 4:50 as promised. The cab ride was only about 45 minutes to the airport and when we got there we headed in and we eventually found where to check in for our airline. Unfortunately, the airline doesn’t actually open until after 6 which we found crazy for such a huge airport. After waiting in line for about 30 minutes, they opened and we were allowed to use the self-check in machine. I was a little worried about not having the credit card I purchased the ticket with, but all they needed was our passport and confirmation numbers and the boarding pass printed right out. We then made our way to the gate and decided we had enough time to grab some food but once again couldn’t find anything open so we gave up after not too long. We hung around at the gate until they started calling us to board. We actually had to take a shuttle out to our plane, which was the first sign of the “low-quality airline” box that we had to check before buying the tickets. We made it out to the plane and it was a mad rush to get on but we eventually made it to our seats and were all ready to go, or so we thought. We ended up sitting in the terminal for over an hour but ended up only being 30 minutes behind schedule getting into Harbin. We all basically slept the whole time other than a short burst of homework and some gazing out the window of the great view of the mountains. The best part of the flight came at the end when the flight crew actually led stretches that about 70% of the passengers engaged in. It was absolutely hilarious to see all of these people massage their earlobes and attempt to bend down and touch their toes with the negative amount of leg room we had. We then got to get off the plane at an actual gate, which was a nice surprise, and then headed towards the exit.

     We decided it would be easier to just get food there than attempt to find a place after checking into the hotel so we ended up just getting some chicken sandwiches and fries. Three of the four sandwiches were definitely undercooked and still pink but luckily mine was the best looking. After we had some food in our bellies, we were ready to start our adventure in Harbin and take our first steps into the below zero weather. John got a video of our first reactions, which was pretty funny, but we made it to a cab for a little warmth without much hassle. After quickly learning the amount of English in Harbin is limited we had to give our hotel’s phone number to the driver so he could figure out where to go and then just like that we were on our way. We ended up paying for a toll we went through but other than that we got to the hotel without much confusion.

    Checking in, however, was much more of a process. We walked up and showed them our passports and they looked up our reservation. After that they used their phones to translate to “hand over 1000 yuan deposit.” This was very startling considering the rooms were only 368 yuan and rounding up 1000 was basically all of the money any of us brought for the whole trip. Without much other choice, we handed over the money and got our keys. We threw our stuff up in the room, very careful not to touch a thing, and decided our first plan of action was to throw on all of our layers and then find an ATM ASAP. We severely underestimated how hard it would be to get cash to say the least. After 4 different ATM’s my card finally worked and I took out 2000 yuan to cover everyone until everyone else could get money. John also ended up getting cash but Bryan’s card wouldn’t work so we decided we would just keep a tally until he could pay us back.

Zhaolin Park

     With the cash situation mostly resolved we headed to Zhaolin Park, which was only a couple of blocks from the hotel. Admittance was only 80 yuan with a student ID, and we entertained ourselves for at least an hour and a half. There were just ice sculptures upon ice sculptures including towers and gazebos and anything you could imagine made out of ice. After much wandering we found a dark room full of a ton of ice that was lit up. This got us really excited for what was to come that night, but at the time we had no idea what we were in for. We even found an ice slide but apparently it was out of service so we couldn’t go down.  After hundreds of pictures and our fair share of awe, we decided to head back to the hotel to put on some more layers before it got dark.

Gangnam Style is everywhere!

       We boiled some water to warm up and then made sure we were prepared for the night to come. I successfully managed to fit 8 layers under my coat including a sports bra, tank top, 2 under armour shirts, 2 long sleeve t-shirts, and 2 sweatshirts. Don’t forget the bottom with 2 pairs of leggings under jeans and then all of that under sweatpants. I also had 2 pairs of socks and uggs in addition to gloves, a hat, a headband, and a giant scarf. After about 15 seconds of being dressed I was absolutely on fire and had to head outside where I was instantly cooled down. I was pretty well prepared but I must say that Harbin cold is not to be taken lightly. Within a few minutes of walking around our eyelashes all had icicles on them from the steam coming up from our scarves! After exploring the area a little bit we attempted to catch a cab to Ice and Snow World, which is supposed to be the coolest place in Harbin during the Ice Festival. For whatever reason we couldn’t just get someone to drive us there. After a very long and confusing conversation we realized that all of the drivers would either take us there for 20 yuan if we bought 300 yuan tickets from them (which is face value), or just drive us there for 100 yuan. We were very skeptical to buy a ticket and have it be a fake but we also didn’t want to pay 100 yuan for a cab ride. We ended up talking with these 2 girls from Wisconsin who said they had been trying to get a cab there all day and buying the tickets was the only way they could find so they were just going to go for it.

Crazy ice slide

     With some confidence in numbers we decided to just go for it too, with no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We took the cab to this sketchy little shop where they took us into the back room and got us the tickets. We felt a little better when we got loaded onto a bus and saw Chinese people but were then instantly taken back when we realized all of the Chinese people had different tickets than we did. We decided what was done was done and we were just going to go with it and see what happened. We did make sure to take a picture of the shop in case they did rip us off though, not that we would be able to do anything. We were only on the bus for about 10 minutes when we saw Ice and Snow World. Right then, we knew that this was going to be way more impressive than we thought as it looked like an entire city made out of ice. Only problem was that we had to get in with what were probably bogus tickets. The Wisconsin girls split off from the group and got denied with their tickets so things were not looking so hot. We ended up just sticking with the group as they counted us about 5 times and kept yelling to stay in a straight line. Eventually our group got led through the line to get in and without even asking for our tickets we were in! We are still about 90% sure our tickets were fake but we were so happy that we got it, we instantly did not even care.

     I think I can speak for all of us when I say we were absolutely blown away. This was unlike anything I had ever seen before and made Zhaolin Park seem like a complete waste of time. We all had to use the bathroom so we went into a little building and went to the bathroom and grabbed some dumpings for a quick dinner. We bought some foot warmers, and with that had about an hour and a half to make our way around the park before it closed. Our first plan of action was to get a picture of the giant thermometer, which was at -25 celsius. We then ran into this guy offering us to hold this adorable animal that must have been some sort of arctic fox for only 20 yuan. Naturally, we all jumped on the opportunity and made sure to get some good pictures. After that we decided we needed to find a slide to go down. We found one that looked ridiculous but waiting in line would have probably taken the whole time we were there and we hadn’t even seen any of the park yet so we unfortunately had to pass.

Ice thermometer showing -25 Celsius

Heavily sedated arctic fox

    However, seeing the rest of the park was well worth it. It isn’t even going to sound cool when I describe it but there was anything and everything made out of ice from slides, to bars, to a giant stage. John and Bryan couldn’t resist getting a Harbin beer that actually had to be brought from another area because keeping it in the bar would have made it freeze. They had to drink them pretty quickly considering they said it went from a chilled beer to the coldest beer they had ever drank in a matter of minutes. We went down a few small slides and got some good pictures but decided we needed one as a group. We tried to ask this guy to take one, but he ended up busting his shit on the ice and hitting his head. Bryan said his mouth might have been bleeding too, but either way we felt horrible. He ended up still taking the picture and recognized my Purdue sweatpants. We had just assumed he was from China because he was Asian so we asked how he knew Purdue. He ended up being from Washington and spoke perfect English so we felt pretty silly. We ended up talking for a little while and then getting a great picture.

     Jess and I then decided we could go for a snack and went for these fruit skewers coated in some caramelized sugar. We didn’t really think it through, but they were completely frozen solid and were pretty difficult to eat, but still delicious. After a few hours in the freezing cold it was time for the park to close. It was actually pretty good timing considering all of us had had about enough of the cold. We got a cab back for 100 yuan, even though the meter said 17, and just went with it because that’s what the guy had told us earlier and we had no way out. The driver was also really nice and we tested our Chinese to tell him how much fun we had, which was pretty funny. Even after getting ripped off we were just so happy to get back in our warm hotel room. After warming up for a little bit we decided to hit the town and find some hot chocolate and something to eat. We ended up at McDonald’s but I actually felt pretty sick from all of the changing temperatures so I just stuck with hot chocolate from next door at Costa Coffee. When we were done, we made our way back to the hotel. 

     Random, but we had some interesting observations of the hotel including that all of the hallways on our floor as well as the elevator were covered in bed sheets but we eventually noticed the others were not. I guess it was just to keep the carpets clean since everyone was always dragging in mud from all of the dirty frozen streets but we still don’t get why it was just our floor. Also, there was a little chihuahua dog in a kimono outfit, which was really funny to see running down the hall. After some cuddling under the covers, we all showered and got some sleep for another big day ahead.

Day 22: January 25, 2013

     Today didn’t seem like a Friday.  Culture class was actually pretty fun listening to everyone’s presentations on what they learned from the Chinese student interviews. It was kind of humorous though because everyone kind of had different information or takes on what the students said. Chinese class was pretty fun when we talked about our families to the class and then played a game. One by one we got called up to the front and Catriona showed us a picture and then everyone could ask questions to try and figure out what is was. There were pretty good ones like Yao Ming, Jackie Chan, Obama, and the 7 dwarves. When I went up there they had all been people so far so no one could figure it out until finally someone asked if you could drink it and then if it was at Starbucks. When I answered yes to both of those questions, it was pretty obvious that is was coffee, or kafei, in Chinese. 

    After class all of the students in the program met to take a group picture so we can put it in frames and give them to our teachers when we leave. There was a guy taking pictures of us on his phone and then we just asked him to take it for us, and it actually turned out pretty well. After that took a lot longer than it should, I did some catching up on emails and made sure everything was ready to go for Harbin. Shout out to Laura for her lovely emails that keep me feeling in the loop of US happenings. 

     I then decided to see how many layers of clothing I could put on and still bend my limbs. I ended up packing 7 or 8 layers on top and 4 on the bottom in addition to tons of socks, gloves, earmuffs, and a hat. Hope that’s enough! Bryan, John, and I tried to get some homework done but it wasn’t really going so well and we realized it was 8:30 and we were starving. I took them back to Metro City Mall to eat in that giant food court again. It has yet to disappoint. We got this sizzling plate with steak, noodles, rice, and an egg. For what must have been a pretty poor quality steak for a total of about $5, it was amazing. After we finished eating we headed back to the room so Bryan and John could pack and then hit the sack around 11:30 to rest up for the crazy cold weekend ahead!

Day 21: January 24, 2013

     Today was a productive day as I made about 300 flashcards to study for our Chinese final next week to take along while traveling this weekend. Other than that, it was a typical day of class and we even got out an hour early again. Unfortunately we have a project due tomorrow to present our findings from the student interviews, so we had to take care of that. We also had some readings for class and I decided to get most of my homework for Monday done so I didn’t have to deal with it over the weekend. 

     We went out for street food for dinner and then got as many characters drilled in to my head as humanly possible before bed. I’m going to sleep with my flashcards in hopes that they will all just jump into my head (or that they all fall of my bed and get lost so I never have to see them again). I would be happy with either at this point.

Day 20: January 23, 2013

      I didn’t do all that much today, but we did have another field trip! We had students from 3 different grade levels (elementary, middle, and high school) come to our class and we got to interview and talk with them. The elementary student who was 9 years old, was extremely shy and nervous so we didn’t get much out of him. Supposedly he is normally a wild child, but I guess we were pretty intimidating. We did end up asking if he had a girlfriend and he told us that he did. It turned out pretty fun when he reversed the question on us and we all responded that we didn’t have boyfriends or girlfriends. He then told us to “hurry up!” and that we were “running out of time.” I thought to myself, “Did I really just get told by a 9 year old that I need a boyfriend?!” but decided to keep that to myself. After talking with the little boy and his grandmother, who takes care of him as is typical in Chinese culture, we moved on to the middle school students. 

    The middle schoolers were probably the most exciting group to talk to. There were 4 of them and 3 of them were pretty outgoing. Those 3 spoke really good English and one girl was so good that I wouldn’t even know she was Chinese. She actually told us about how she is going to the US for boarding school and I think she is going to do great things some day. She said she was studying to become a musician but that her father says that becoming a doctor would be a great profession. Whatever she does, I am sure she will be very successful just based on the level of commitment she has already dedicated to her English and other studies. We got to look at her textbooks and were amazed. There were things in it that, judging by the pictures, were things I didn’t learn until college; no wonder they are so smart! It was amazing how diligent the middle school students were but it makes sense because their scores in middle school effect which high schools they go to which then affect which colleges they can go to. They said they had class from 7:45 – 5:30 everyday with 3 or 4 hours of homework and then went to bed at 9:30; that doesn’t leave much time for activities! None of them played sports or were in any clubs other than academic ones that met on the weekends. In a way, they were almost more impressive than the high school students.

     There were 2 high school girls we got to talk to. One spoke good English and the other not so much. They must have been very smart, however, because they go to the number one ranked high school in Shanghai. One girl talked about going to college for fashion design which I thought was crazy considering she has got to be in the top 1% of students in China. We were curious if that is just what she wants to do but her parents won’t allow her, but maybe parents aren’t as big of an influence as has been portrayed. After talking about what we learned from the day, we got to leave 30 minutes early. 

     Adam, Bryan, John, Jessica and I decided it was prime time to hit up the fake markets again and find some warm stuff to get us through the projected -30 degree weather for the weekend in Harbin. I came out with a giant scarf (I can literally mummy wrap myself in it), another scarf as a gift, fuzzy socks, and some adorable bows. This is going to sound so ridiculous, but I can’t even describe how cool this bow store was. There were just hundreds and hundreds of bows that were absolutely adorable. They all had clips on the back that would actually stay in your hair; even the tiny ones! I got a little too excited and had to decide between about 10 that I wanted and narrow it down to a reasonable 2. Enough about my rant on bows, but needless to say I will probably be returning for more.

Love those bows

     After we felt prepared to face the extreme weather while still looking stylish in bows, we headed back to the hotel and grabbed some street food on the way. Different guy wasn’t quite as good but it is way closer and 1 yuan (0.15 cents) cheaper, so we may go back again. Mine was a little too spicy for my liking but I’ll probably give it another try soon. The rest of the night consisted of finalizing our plans for the weekend, including figured out our sleeping arrangements. Originally it was just Bryan, John, and I going so we figured we could just put 3 people in a two-person room but then Jessica joined so we decided we should get another. Problem was, the rooms were all sold out. After much debate we just decided to email the hostel and ask if we could have 4 in the room and they responded saying absolutely not and that it would be an issue with regards to the Harbin police… good thing we asked! We ended up finding two hotel rooms really close by for only $30 each so we ended up booking those so now we are all set! I can’t wait!

Day 19: January 22, 2013 Pizza Pizza!

     I am just going to say today was nothing out of the ordinary. Class was the usual but we did have a little excitement for dinner. Bryan found this number where you can order Pizza Hut in English and got it delivered to our hotel. With much confusion about where it should be delivered and a few text messages and calls later, it finally arrived. He got a pepperoni pizza, not my favorite but still delicious, and cheese sticks. They were both really good but way overpriced. It cost us about $10 each for the equivalent of a medium pizza and maybe a 6-inch order of cheese sticks. Although it was pricey, I would say it was worth it considering I have been missing my Italian food like crazy. 

           After cranking through some online lectures so I would have them done before our weekend trip, I decided to go out with everyone to Perry’s. It was a lot more low key than the other night we had been, but it was really nice because we got a huge table for all of us. We reverted back to the usual Chinese dice game, which we now actually know how to play correctly. The funniest part of the night by far was when Nathan decided to order cheesy bread. When I think cheesy bread, I think straight XL mad mush with cups on cups of ranch. I don’t think I could have been more off. It was literally 2 pieces of toast with some cheese melted on top. Granted, it was only $1.50, but just very disappointing yet well worth the laugh. After we had all had enough, we headed back to the hotel and Adam and I decided to forgo our typical 5:30 shenanigans and called it a night around 2:30 after a country music hour.

My carving at Perry's

Cheesy bread Chinese style

Day 18: January 21, 2013

     Today was pretty low key. Adam, Bryan, and I started off the morning with our second attempt to do laundry. The lady remembered us, which was helpful, but we definitely still had some issues communicating. She put Bryan’s laundry in and then motioned upward showing us that we needed to go upstairs. We were confused since it looked as if there were at least another 5 washers open but we just went along with it. When we got upstairs she put in me and Adam’s laundry and then told us to go back downstairs, which we actually caught in Chinese (all of this class is paying off a little bit I guess)! She then told us how much we owed, which we also understood in Chinese, and then things got a little confusing. She started acting out like she was sleeping and from that we somehow figured out that she wanted us to write down our room numbers. Problem is, we don’t actually live in the international dorm but in a hotel across campus. We decided to just go along with it in fear that she wouldn’t do our laundry if she realized we didn’t live there, but then were a little concerned that she would deliver our laundry to those room numbers. As we were walking out the door she held up the number 4, which we assumed meant to come back at 4:00 to pick it all up. 

     With hopes our laundry wouldn’t be missing upon our return we headed to class. Chinese wasn’t as painful as usual although the fact that I have to know 300 characters in the next week is definitely starting to sink in. For lunch, Bryan and I decided to venture up to the second floor of the dining court, which we just recently found out existed. We put our charades skills to the test as usual and ended up with what we thought was Kung Pao chicken and rice but turned out to be tofu with a few pieces of chicken. Bryan was completely okay with it until I told him what it was, and then he refused to eat any more. 

     The rest of the day of class dragged on as usual and then we went back to pick up our laundry. It turned out surprisingly well although our clothes weren’t really dry and she lost one of my socks and another turned up in Adam’s laundry. I guarantee I would have lost one of my socks anways so I can’t even be upset. After putting my laundry away I spent a solid hour trying to upload my online homework and then downloaded a VPN since mine has not been working. I can officially get twitter and snapchats! After that we grabbed some street food and then officially booked our trip to Harbin. Well, Bryan and John did. My credit card wouldn’t work so I have to wait until the morning to get things figured out. Can’t wait until its all squared away for the weekend!

Day 17: January 20, 2013 Monkey King

      Today didn’t really feel like a typical Sunday because we actually had a class field trip. I grabbed some lunch at the café, which was delicious as usual, and headed to our “field trip” location. I don’t really know if it can be considered a field trip since we just went across the hall, but it turned out to be awesome. A performer and two of his students from the Peking Opera came and put on a special show for us. First the performer acted out a few things and had a competition for which of us could replicate it the best. The winner, Josh, won the prize of getting his face painted in Peking Opera make up. They then had another competition when one of the students came out and did a performance as a monkey king and chose a few parts for people to imitate. There wasn’t as much of a clear-cut winner in this one so they actually had to have not one, but two tiebreakers. The first tiebreaker was to see who could spin these batons the quickest and the second was to see who could keep a ring spinning around their foot the longest. Justin ended up winning and also won the chance to get his face painted. Since he won the monkey king competition we thought it was only appropriate for him to be painted as the monkey king.

Chinese Monkey King performer

    

     After the competitions were all over we switched rooms to watch the face painting in action. While the artist painted Justin’s face we all painted along on a piece of paper which turned out to be pretty hard. They then painted Josh’s face which was basically all black with a few spots of red and white which was pretty funny compared to the intricacy of Justin’s. We then took a group picture and were on our way.

Justin as the Monkey King with my attempt on paper

Peking Opera performer and instructor

    
     For dinner Catriona, Joe, and I decided to go out for an actual dinner rather than our usual street food. We went to one of the malls close by and found this giant cafeteria with more options of things to eat than I could have ever imagined. Joe and Catriona ordered this beef, egg, and noodle dish and I was about to follow when the cashier pointed to a different dish. I asked if it was good and he didn’t really know what I meant but I decided to go for it because it basically just looked like beef and peppers and onions. The workers were all giggling so I then figured they were going to give me some outrageously spicy food or something but it turned out to be really, really good. I think they must have already had  an extra made, because as soon as I paid it was ready down the line on a sizzling plate. It also looked nothing like the one they had on display, so that was a little confusing but I have no complaints. After dinner we headed home and I caught up on all of my homework, which probably took longer than it should of. We did some planning of future trips to take and Bryan and I really want to make it to the ice festival in Harbin although it is looking a little pricey. I briefly Skyped with my mom and told her to do some research for me and also did my first Viber call with my dad but unfortunately he was busy at work so it didn’t last too long. Time to rest up for a long school week ahead.

Dinner at the mall

Day 16: January 19, 2013 Oh What a Day and Night!

     Today was another amazing day that was pretty jam-packed. Bryan and I needed to do our laundry considering I only had one pair of socks left, but failed miserably. The lady spoke no English so we ended up pulling out a calendar and she pointed to come back Monday. This was pretty unfortunate after lugging our laundry halfway across campus; looks like I’ll be doing some laundry in the sink. After that little mishap, we decided to start our day. We added John to our travel group and headed across the river to Pudong. We hit up the Shanghai Aquarium, which was really impressive. 

Penguins!

     
     My favorite part was probably when we took an escalator down a floor and it was completely surrounded by a full fish tank. There were also these really cool tunnels surrounded by tanks with moving walkways, which ended up making us all pretty nauseous by the end of it. After we got out into the gift shop we decided to check out the picture they had taken of us at the beginning. It turned out to be hilarious because John was wearing a green jacket so when they would change the backgrounds behind us, his shirt would change with them. He ended up getting the one that looked like he had a coat with a jellyfish pattern on it while the rest of us got one where you can’t really notice it.

My postcard

     After the aquarium we headed back across the river and to the Urban Planning Museum in People’s Square. I didn’t have that high of expectations considering it was just another museum, but I was absolutely blown away. There were 4 floors of different things, the most impressive of which including a scaled model of all of Shanghai and a 360 degree movie room. The model of Shanghai was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. It transitioned from day to night and all of the buildings would light up, making it even more impressive.

Urban Planning Museum entrance

Shanghai scale model

     There was all sorts of cool stuff and I felt like I could have entertained myself there all day but we decided we wanted to try to pack one more thing into our busy day – Xiantandi. Xiantandi is this district with this little pedestrian strip of shops and restaurants (we saw a replica of it at the museum) which is very upscale and decorated really nicely with lights everywhere. We decided some night we will have to “suit up” and have a nice meal down there. After we walked around for a while we decided it was time to head back and once again Bryan and I resorted to street food and were so happy to eat it in bed with our feet up after such a long day. 

     I then worked on some homework until I got recruited to go to this club on the Bund. I was a little skeptical at first because we had to have this password to get in and were supposedly going to have our own table and free drinks. My skepticism ended quite quickly when we walked in the door and were instantly greeted with Jager shots poured through an ice sculpture. The night only got better when our table just kept getting served bottles of Grey Goose like it was nothing. We didn’t even have to order them, they just kept bringing them out! The club was so unbelievably nice I didn’t even know what to do. It felt like I was in a James Bond movie or Ocean’s Eleven or something because there were lasers everywhere. I was so tempted to try all dodge them all on the way to the bathroom but I somehow managed to restrain myself. 

Bike sculpture outside of the club

     They had an awesome illuminating dance floor and an amazing view of the skyline with tons of reserved tables, making us feel pretty important. They basically had strippers dancing around and at one point kicked us all off stage so they could put on a show that was basically a bit with two girls in police outfits combined with a guy pulling some Magic Mike moves. The whole night was seriously unlike anything I have ever been a part of before. Adam and I decided we wanted to try to get back by a decent hour but then realized I had checked my coat with 2 other girls, neither of which I could find. I went looking for them and eventually found out the one who had our ticket had been missing for hours and the other had been looking for her. After much searching, I just decided to head home without my coat. Imagine trying to tell someone who speaks no English that you want your coat that looks like every other black coat in the hundreds they are holding. Yea… So I managed to find someone who spoke decent English and made sure they would have my coat if I came back in the morning and they assured me it would, so I headed out. Luckily on my way out I heard they had found the missing girl and the other girl promised to get my coat for me, so that was good timing. Even though Adam and I managed to make it home at a decent hour we still ended up staying up until 5:30 yet again but it was just such a good night we didn’t want it to end (Luke Bryan didn’t help us there). Needless to say I will definitely be tagging around with that crew again to check out some more crazy clubs!

Day 15: January 18, 2013 Rolling on the River!

     Today was probably the best day I have had here yet! First of all, we did not have our second class of the day because we have a field trip planned on Sunday. Then, we got out an hour early from our first class so we were done by 10:45! We definitely had to take advantage of the beautiful day and decided to go check out the infamous Yuyuan Gardens.  We got off at the subway stop and wandered for a little while until we finally found the entrance and paid only about $2 for an amazing experience. Inside of the gardens was absolutely gorgeous and had so much to see. We wandered around for quite some time and got some of our best pictures yet (Catriona and I decided to take off our coats since we looked like we are wearing the same outfit in every picture so far).

 

The roomies!

   
   When we had seen all there was to see, we went back out of the gardens to the giant area of surrounding shops and found this giant dining court to eat in. Bryan, Joe, Catriona, and I all got different things and split them, which all turned out to be pretty delicious. Between the four of us we had spring rolls, dumplings, baozi (stuffed buns), and satay chicken, which was more than enough.  We were feeling too cheap to pay for pricey drinks since our meals were pretty expensive, so we hit up McDonald’s. I ended up getting a McFlurry since my throat was hurting, but it was definitely not the same as at home. The texture was right but the ice cream was more creamy/milk and the best way to describe it was that it tasted like the inside of an oreo. Not a bad thing, but just not quite right.

    

    After lunch we did some walking around the shops to try and find Joe some jade and started talking to this guy with really good English who ended up showing us all around the area. He even took us up in this awesome building for an amazing view of the city from the top floor. We were a little concerned we were getting “teahoused” as we like to call it after our encounter with Mr. P, but I think he was actually just a nice guy trying to show us a good time. After we took in the great view for a while we went back to shopping and I ended up buying another scarf, some postcards to send home, and some chopsticks for gifts. Randomly a guy had his van stopped on the side of the road with his doors open and told me to “take a seat,” which we found pretty humorous. The funny part is that it is so safe here and I’m sure he was just offering a ride, but to us it just seems so weird.

Roof top view

  
     We passed up the ride and decided that we had had enough walking around.  Bryan and I decided that since we were so close to the river that we should go on a cruise. Getting our tickets was relatively easy and it ended up being one of my favorite things I had done so far. We were one of the first people on the boat so we could have had a nice seat inside on the main floor but decided the view outside was much nicer and to stick it out through the cold. On the way up we passed a VIP room for $5 where you get a free drink and snack and then have a whole room to yourself with a big couch and a perfect view. For whatever reason we passed it up, with much regret later, but still had a great ride. They drove us down past the skyline and back down the Bund and it was seriously breathtaking. It is one thing to see that view from the other side of the river, but being right in front of it was just crazy. After a chilly 50 minutes we were back to where we started with a lot of wind burn but absolutely no regrets. 

Pudong skyline

Beautiful view

    It was a little bit of a walk to the subway but found a really cool music store to stop in on the way. Bryan had seen these Chinese instruments around the gardens earlier and was so close to buying one and then found them again in this store. He couldn’t commit just yet but he seems pretty convinced that he is either going to buy one of those or a ukulele before he leaves. When we finally made it back we grabbed some street food for dinner, but felt really guilty because we went to a different guy to test him out. It was basically the same but this place had the option to get meat which we decided wasn’t really worth it after the fact, so we decided from now on we will stick to our main man. We took it easy for the rest of the night as everyone else either went to the Aoki concert or back to Perry’s, both of which turned out to be pretty disastrous. Aoki didn’t even come out until 2 am when the concert started at 9 and was just absolutely packed, so I was glad I didn’t spend the money and got a night to relax.