Blogs from Jing An, Shanghai, China, Asia - page 3

We have had quite the busy weekend. The weather has been great. Cooler and sunny with clear, blue skies. Friday, after school, I treated myself to a pedicure. I went back to a place I had been to the month before across the street. I remember feeling very nervous and uncomfortable being totally unable to communicate besides pointing and miming my way through. This time, I had a very different experience. I chatted with the woman giving me a pedicure and she helped me practice my Chinese. She said I was great, to which I replied "mama huhu!" and she giggled at me just as I knew she would. Mama huhu means so-so and is the appropriate response when someone tells one who has not yet mastered the language how great he or she is. I ... read more

Also wo soll ich bloß zum erzählen anfangen :-) Hatte einen angenehmen Flug von Wien nach Peking. Von Peking nach Shanghai flog ich mit China Eastern Airlines. Da habe ich zum ersten Mal realisiert, dass hier alles ein bisschen anders abläuft. Also zuerst einmal stellen sich die Leute schon ca. 15 min vorm Boarding beim Gate an, obwohl noch kein Staff dort war. Naja und dann sind wir mit einem Bus aufs Flugfeld raus gefahren, es hat in Strömen geschüttet und dieser verdammte Bus bleibt ca. 50 min vorm Flieger stehen, aber ich glaub ich war die einzige die sich darüber gewundert hat :-) Endlich vollkommen durchnässt im Flieger angekommen (war ein Airbus und insofern warens viele Stiegen bis man endlich vollkommen durchnässt einsteigt) hat die nette Crew auch schon an alle Tücher gereicht (also ist ... read more

First off, let me say that I miss you all dearly on my birthday...I wish you could be here with me celebrating! But since I'm nowhere near wealthy enough to fly you out to China for the weekend, I'll share with you all the crazy twists and turns of my birthday weekend. The festivities basically started on Friday. Getting off of work that night at 6 was the most incredible experience...and my boss wished me a happy birthday HAHAH. That night we went to New Harbor as usual, and had some good 'ol fashioned Lazy Susan dinner (for those of you in the audience who haven't tried that yet, it's the traditional Chinese dinner on a spinning glass top...but I'm pretty sure you've all experienced it. I digress). Then we decided to hit up this ... read more

Nee hao, So I'm at my cubicle at the GreenTree right now :) We just went through 3 hours of training (oy vey!) and then had a lunch break and then 1.5 more hours of training. The most exciting thing all day has been the acquisition of our very own GreenTree binders, which is going to make this experience far more official than we thought. Actually, this has become less of an internship and more of a legit job. We even have quotas (sell 500 room nights within 9 weeks), but it's not like we get fired if we don't hit them. My task here is to sell rooms for Beijing during the Olympics...but I have no idea if I have to make cold calls. I don't know if I can live up to the telemarketer ... read more

For those of you who have not been able to have the experience of taking a 10 hour over-night train ride, let me tell you. It's quite the experience. Our adventure started as we were dropped off at the train station by our speedy taxi driver. I would like you to make a note at this point and mention that the words speedy and safe are not used in the same sentence when referring to a taxi driver. Giles and I boarded the train leaving Shanghai on route to Huang Shan, China. We were told by our Chinese friend Mia that our tickets were for the bottom and top bunk in room 9. So,prior to the trains arrival, Giles and I had agreed that I would get the top bunk. After many years of letting my ... read more