We arrived successfully in Shanghai on the evening of August 23 and got to our hotel around 9:30pm.  The first night we were here, Adam and I went out to explore around our hotel.  We found a Family Mart (like a 7-11) and stopped in to buy shampoo and conditioner, water, and some snacks.  Everything was in Chinese!  I know this sounds like an obvious observation, but it was still shocking since it’s something I’ve never experienced before.  The only way we recognized some of the items was because the labels and colors on the containers are the same as in the U.S.  Also, we happened upon some of the best cookies I have ever tasted.  I don’t know what they’re called because the label is all in Chinese characters, but they are little balls of chocolatey wafery goodness.

After that, we stopped by a food stand on the side of the road.  This guy had an assortment of skewered goodies: meats, fish, veggies, bread.  We picked out a bunch of different things and he grilled them up for us.  Since it was our first meal in China, we stayed relatively safe; although we did try to be somewhat adventurous by choosing two skewers of hot pink meat that we couldn’t identify.  It turned out to be chicken.   The meal cost four and a half US dollars for us both to eat.

The next morning when we woke up at 5:30am (darn jet lag!), we got ready and went down to breakfast where we met the rest of the group of teachers who will be living in Shanghai.  Everyone is really nice and feels equally unprepared for this experience, so that was comforting!  We had the whole day to ourselves, so we all went out exploring Shanghai with our program coordinator, Qing Qing (pronounced “Ching Ching”).  She helped us buy cell phones and power outlet adapters (both of which you have to bargain for in Chinese, with the seller starting with a price that gives them a 10,000 % profit margin.  We’ve been told to offer 10-15% of the initial offer when trying to negotiate).  Then we took the metro to the People’s Square (like a giant mall) and had lunch.  I’m not really sure what I ate…it was a container of “mixed meat in chili sauce” and a stir-fried vegetable that I had never heard of before.  It tasted good, and I didn’t even get a stomach ache!

After that we went to the Apple store (the entrance is a giant glass pillar with a spiral staircase that leads you to the underground store.  Very impressive), and then home for a rest before heading out for dinner.  I finally got to eat hot pot!  I’d been looking forward to this for months!  It’s a giant pot of chicken broth (or other kind of broth) in which you dump thinly sliced beef, seafood, dumplings, and veggies.  You wait for everything to cook, then you take it our and eat!  At the end, you have a delicious broth flavored by all of the foods to drink as a soup.  It was everything I wanted it to be.

This morning we begin our orientation and hopefully will find out the subjects and age groups we’re teaching.  I’ll let you all know how that goes!  Oh, and PICTURES to come, I PROMISE!!!

Happy travels-

*I know this post is like a week and a half late BUT...Blogspot  does not work in China.  It's blocked because google and China don't really like each other very much.  I had to get a VPN (first I had to get a computer...THAT was a trip to do in Chinese!!!), which allows me to get onto blocked sites like blogspot, facebook, and youtube.  NOW I will be able to update this blog regularly.  YAYYYYY!!!!