Shanghai- The Beginning

Yesterday was the longest day of my life. Not that anything bad happened to me- it just was a long day. I watched the sunrise from my flight from Charlotte to Chicago. That was right around 6:00 AM EST. That’s the last thing I remember before waking up during our landing at O’Hare International Airport. From there, I found my next gate to begin my 3 and half hour wait before boarding the massive Boeing 777, which would take me the rest of the way to Shanghai. My flight was understandably uncomfortable, as I was in a small area with about 100 other people. The lady next to me would fall asleep with her arm completely taking up the arm-rest, and I found it extremely difficult to sleep. They did have a good selection of movies on the plane, and it had a little remote for the tv, which was right in front of my face in the headrest of the chair. The remote also allowed me to play some games, so I had some quality Tetris and Solitaire time. Still, it was a very long flight, and my Ipod was dead by the time we got to Shanghai. We arrived at 3:20pm Shanghai time, which was 4:20 am EST. When the sun went down at 6:30, I had experienced around 24 full hours of day light.

I rode in a taxi for the first time ever yesterday. Actually I rode in two taxis… That’s what happens when you’re in a foreign country and
can’t talk to the cab driver. The first ride was fun. The guy drove like I would love to drive in America. In total, there were about 5 stoplights that we passed through and they were all close to the university, which is 2 blocks up from downtown Shanghai. The way to navigate the streets is easy. Put your vehicle where you want it to go, cut everyone off, and honk if you’re about to hit someone so they can get out of your way. He cut some many people off and did so many ‘illegal’ lane changes that I was laughing from the experience. I was dropped off at the SISU Hotel, and I was so glad to see “SISU” because the only English around is small catch phrases and web-addresses on signs. However, it was the wrong place for me to be. I had to take another cab for a few blocks to the SISU Guesthouse, which is my residence for the next few months. Luckily it’s right on campus, so getting around to where I need to be won’t be so difficult. I’m on the 9th floor and the view from my room is pretty good. There are many tall buildings and I can observe the traffic from where I am. That also means that my drafty windows pass along all the honking and street noise, and there’s a lot of it!

After I was checked in, I decided to take a walk around the block. It was mildly nerve-racking, but only because I didn’t know how to say the university’s name in Chinese, were I to get lost. All the signs are in Chinese and I recognized some of the symbols, but my current knowledge of the Chinese language is so shallow that really don’t know anything. However, I do know how to say ‘beer’ in Chinese, so when I went to eat, my ‘Seafood Noodles’ were accompanied by a rather large one. The whole meal cost me 20 RMB which is about 3 USD. And it was a lot of food! After that, I was tired of feeling like a complete foreigner and also tired from being awake for almost two full days. I returned to my room and fell asleep at 8:30. It was a difficult sleep, because I hadn’t figured out how to make the heat come on, even after asking the front desk about it. I just bundled up and put another pair of socks on. When I woke up from the cold, I played with any switch that looked like it would be useful until I finally found the one for the heat exchanger. Its now mildly warmer in my room (remember: drafty windows) and its 7AM here. I’m hungry and have to take care of a few things, so for now, “Zai Jian.”

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