Confusion turns to elation

Traveling abroad has been an interesting experience to say the least. I'm in Shanghai, China, and I don't speak the language. Granted, I'm better than most tourist with one semester under my belt, but there's still so many things I'm confused about. Right now, I'm pretty sure that my laundry is being washed in dish soap. Oh well. At least I got all the bleach powder out first...

Its all coming a little easier for me now though. I'm not as nearly turned around as when I first arrived here. I didn't know North from South, and was seriously worried about the taxi ride from the airport, because if I was dropped off anywhere else but at my university, I would have been so badly lost.

Now I've adapted though, as much as one can adapt to an entirely new culture in less than a week. My first friends in Shanghai were Chinese. Chen Xiao (Corona) and Zhao Chengyu both approached me because I was doing kung fu at the soccer fields. I've already invited Chengyu to stay with me in America when he comes in the fall. He's going to be attending NYU as a international economics major, I think. And Corona! Actually she and I are going out this weekend. She's bringing a friend, and now I am too. We're set to go out on Saturday night to head to a coffee house. It'll be my first cup of coffee in China.

Yesterday I went for a walk with Katharine (I hope I'm spelling that right) to downtown Shanghai. I love this city. We walked about 6 blocks to get to the major shopping areas, then we cut across to 'Shanghai No 1 Department Store.' This was a huge 8 story store with many different vendors in there. We even witness a brawl between two Chinese men. There were people already in place to keep them separate, so no kung fu... awww!

From there we walked to find the Shanghai Art Museum. After going two blocks too far, we finally found it by exploring a back alley. By that time I could feel the blisters forming on my right foot. So that meant there was one stop left- Katharine wanted to find a sports bar she read about. Apparently she's a huge Liverpool Football fan, so it takes a good bar to go root for the team. About another 4 blocks later we found it. As we walked in the door, we were greeted by smiling Chinese waiters speaking English. This was a very westernized area of town. The beers were very expensive by Shanghai standards, but it was happy hour so they were buy one get one free.

From there we found our way back to the metro and came back to campus. I rank yesterday as one of the most fun days I've had yet.

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