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Published: December 15th 2012
Lotus Pond
Coming up off of the People's Square metro stop, this was our first real glimpse of downtown Shanghai.Wow. It feels impossible to believe that I have only been here for 2 days. These 48 hours have been such a whirlwind that there are moments when those of us spending time together will talk about things that have happened, pause and say, “wait… that was today, wasn’t it??” because it will feel as though it was a week ago.
Not entirely unexpectedly, I’ve made a group of fast friends. In this type of situation, it’s actually harder NOT to have people to spend time with and bond with because honestly what else are you going to do?? Today, a small collection of us decided to go all out with the touristy-ness and grab our cameras for a day out on the town. As luck would have it, it was misty and rainy and foggy all the lid-long day, so our pictures (seen here) aren’t much to talk about. But, as our coordinator says, “TIC for ya…” That is China for you…
The group that I am “on-boarding” (or starting my career here at Disney) with is fabulously diversified. There are a handful from the States, a couple from Ireland, one from the Czech
Republic, one from Bulgaria, several from the Philippines, and our leadership varies from New Zealand, England and so on. We’ve all had a chance to share our “what are you doing here??” stories, and most of us have very similar paths to being here. So, that makes it easy to make such fast friends. We get it. We don’t really have to explain our decision because everyone here has made the same one.
Yesterday, we had a full day of orientation. They ran us through a heck of a lot of information… about 10% of which sank in. However, the one tidbit that definitely stuck was the tour of one of the Shanghai Disney English (DE) Centers. The place is completely fabulous, and everything I’d hoped it would be. The classrooms are decked out with all kinds of multimedia wonderfulness, complete with SmartBoards… and the supply rooms are floor-to-ceiling perfection. The families and students that we saw were transparently happy to be there, and the teachers were all down-to-business, but hugely positive. Great atmosphere!
Today, my little team of 5 ventured out around town to try and hit as many of the iconic Shanghai
spots as we could. While the pictures may not reflect much, we felt hugely accomplished (albeit exhausted) as we hit the Metro back to our hotel. We saw A LOT! We started in People’s Square where, by accident, we wandered through a series of personal ads… rows upon rows of parents advertising the perks of their child for arranged marriages. I’m not kidding. The rest of the day was one happy accident after another. We stumbled upon a Lotus Pond, found a shopping strip, wandered some side streets complete with scenes from Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods…. Upon deciding that we needed to reset a little after wandering around aimlessly a bit, we sat for literally hours at a Starbucks just sharing stories and histories. That’s about when one of the girls made the remark: “oh, hey – so I have this map with me…” For heaven’s sake, Michelle… we’ve only been lost for 3 hours! Finally, we discovered that we were a mere ½ mile from The Bund, so we wandered down that way. By no happenstance at all, we somehow still managed to wind up lost again for another 30-45 minutes. We started looking for the Metro, but communally
Nanjing Road East
This is a glimpse of many things.
Note 1: Fantastic walking district
Note 2: The group with whom I traveled today is dead ahead.
Note 3: The over-the-shoulder glance of the woman at center. Dave (in the cap) drew a LOT of looks and comments today. decided that a better option consisted of food and beer. Taking to wandering again, we accidentally came upon the Temple of the City God. For 10RMB we could wander around and experience the Taoist temple inside. So, we figured… why not? (10RMB comes out to about $1.50 depending on the day’s markets). We made a mad attempt at getting food in this crazy food court that had food on plates sitting for the taking… but got a little nervous and intimidating. I was honest-to-goodness ready to give it a go, but – typically being the one with cafeteria anxiety and therefore sympathizing with the looks on people’s faces – took the lead and suggested we find something easier. We ended up at Pizza Hut… no joke. But you must understand that the Pizza Huts here are not your typical red-roofed buffet… Pizza Huts are the upscale sit-down restaurants here. So, we were able to sit and be waited on with limited language difficulty… and get beer.
Not long after, we found that we weren’t at all far from a Metro stop, and we made our way home. I write all of this to you now from the
The Group
You can bet who's behind the camera... probably the one you'd recognize.
Today's travel buds: Jana, Meaghan, Dave and Michelle. warmth and safety of my room feeling exceedingly accomplished, if maybe a little damp.
Tomorrow will be a very slow and quiet day for all of us, thank you very much. I think for the first time I may even sleep through the entire night… yeah, like that’ll happen. Jet lag’s a b…eautiful thing.
So, here’s to a night of lots of water, a bit of relaxation, and a crash in front of some bad Chinese TV.
Cheers, y’all! Have a great weekend!
(More photos are viewable by continuing to scroll down below.)
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Grandpa Bill
non-member comment
Great Blog
Jess; You are adventuresome! Loved your narrative --- reads like a novel. Interesting with humor. Pictures are wonderful. Your Dad & Mom coming over for dinner Mon. --- Mexican cuisine, Yum. Looking forward to more blogging! Take care of yourself!!!!! Love, Grandpa Bill