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I remembered my journal today!!! Wahoo! Although, for my fans (hehe), it means there's some catching up to do. I'll try not to write a book, but I can't promise anything - too many bizarre things happened.
May 16th - Day of Departure
I woke up at 3:20a.m., got dressed, left my room at approximately 3:45a.m., and took the hotel shuttle to the airport. I was the only passenger in the shuttle (wonder why at 4a.m.?) and my driver was really nice.
After checking my bags (both without a checked-baggage fee) and after passing through security, I decided to take a little siesta. Surprisingly, I was pretty comfortable and hardly anyone was in the airport so it was very safe.
At the Newark airport, the airport personnel were all very insistent on checking visas and passports before even stepping on the plane - my visa was checked twice, but about eight times total for the entire trip. Sitting by my gate at Newark was very similar to life in Shanghai, everyone starred at me - and those who looked like me. To be fair, the percentage of cacasians traveling to Shanghai was about 5 percent, so maybe it wouldn't be so difficult for me to stand out.
On the plane, I lucked out because I had the aisle and a nice American girl, Jennifer, sat by the window. The extra seat between her and I was small, but it helped tremendously. Jennifer and her friend Erika came to Shanghai to do some research on something related to biology.
With a 13-hour flight, you can imagine the importance of entertainment. Obviously I didn't watch everything at once...I mean, a girl has got to sleep. But my entertainment included some episodes of Scrubs, Friends and Twilight, Good Will Hunting and Yes Man. Twilight was good...I wouldn't buy it, but it was good. Good Will Hunting...well, it's always spectacular. Yes Man...mehn - not my favorite Jim Carrey film.
Now, what exactly do moist towels do for passengers?? You know, the wet, scorching-hot towels the flight attendants pass out. I've seen people do different things with them - wipe their faces, wipe down their hands, lay them on their faces, etc. But really, who decided to pass out hot, wet towels?
May 17th - Arrival in Shanghai
Well, the plane landed - always a good thing. Overall, it was a smooth trip - some turbulence, but nothing too intense for me at least. I felt very at ease...and then...four quarantine doctors came on board and passengers weren't allowed to get off the plane until every singe one was checked for H1N1 (Swine Flu). It was amazing!!! These four characters, all dressed in white lab suits, had laser thermometers and pointed them at passengers' foreheads. When one came to me, he took my temperature twice! He didn't say anything, but stood next to me for about three minutes - which is a long time when you don't know what's going on - and finally another doctor came over and stuck a thermometer under my tongue. I'm sure it would have been a smoother process if the air-conditioning was still on and I wasn't wearing a jacket. But all was well and good...they cleared me. No Swine Flu!!! Yey!!!!!
All the airport employees wore masks. Considering the population is so dense in China, if one person got Swine Flu it would spread at an exponential rate fo sho.
The arrival gate was packed with people holding up signs with names in several different languages. It was a bit much if you ask me, but I too was searching for a sign - with my name on it. After about 30-40 yards of passing by signs, voila..."Samantha McCullough"...never thought I'd be so excited to see my own name before. Jia Gao, program coordinator for Next Step Connections, picked me up and she was very nice. She brought me water and some Dove chocolate (whipping out the big guns 😉 ). The company paid for several of my taxi rides that day, which was great! Jia bought me some unsweetened tea as well, from Japan, and it was delicious. I think the best part about it was the cost - 50 cents!!! She also bought me a unique kind of green tea yogurt that looked more like tofu (but it wasn't). It was really good. With everything Jia had done for me today, I decided to give her a little gift: a Detroit Red Wings bottle holder. I explained to her how awesome the team is in the U.S. and she loved it!
My apartment is nice - simple, but nice. I have two roommates: Riina-Riika (Finland) and Andrew (Originally from Hong Kong, but goes to MSU).
After dropping off my bags at the apartment, Jia took me around town and showed me how the subway worked and we talked about shopping for clothes and shoes. All good things. I was COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED though...dang...seven-hour flights are long, but 13-hour flight are BRUTAL. After the tour, I went home and took a nice, long, hot shower (well-deserved). My next priority was to phone the family to let them all know I was alive, which would have been easy if my phone card was in ENGLISH and CHINESE. Oh no no no...that would have been easy. lol. So after about an hour or so, I was finally connected and got...my sister Kathrine's voicemail!!! It wasn't until later that she told me she just didn't recognize the number, so she didn't pick it up. Now, just a little fyi to those of you who don't pick up a cell number you don't recognize- and I, too, am a culprit - pick it up! Ya never know who might be on the other line. 😉
May 18th - Rest and Relaxation
I went to bed last night at about 11:30, which meant I was traveling and partially awake for 36 hours. Today, I work up at 1p.m.!!! Thirteen hours baby - and realized it was the equivalent to my flight from Newark to Shanghai. Craziness!!
I met Andrew, roommate, this morning. He seems nice, although I would have enjoyed being introduced to him without wearing my robe and my hair looking like a lion's mane - darn curly hair.
Today was a very slow day though. I'm glad Jia talked with my boss, Hayleigh Davies, and both of them decided it would be best for me to start work on Wednesday. I walked around my apartment building a bit just to familiarize myself with the area and the shops. But that was about it...jetlag kicked my butt the first day so I just relaxed.
As far as culture shock goes...I haven't really experienced any. I don't know if after traveling to so many different places it's no longer a shock...just different. Several people have asked me what I think of China or how I'm doing? And it's really just the language barrier. I wish I could understand signs more and what people are saying. If I spoke perfect Mandarin this place would be a piece of cake. I'm not saying it's difficult to get around in Shanghai if you don't speak Mandarin, cause that's not the case. It would just be easier...but then again...traveling experiences aren't meant to be easy.
May 19th - Walking About
I woke up at 8:30a.m. - but woke up several times throughout the night...so thank you jetlag!
Walked down West Nanjing Rd to Jin'an Temple and it was beautiful. Right across from the temple was Jin'an Park. It was a lovely park, so I spent quite a bit of time there - taking pictures, people watching, etc. I met an English teacher - whose English was alright - he wanted to show me around the town a bit, but I told him no thank you and went on my way. He was nice and I'm sure he didn't mean any harm, but I wasn't going to take that chance. So...I told him to have a wonderful day!
I actually walked a lot today - my goal was to end up at People's Square. When I finally got there, two very nice Chinese people bumped into me. Wu Jing (who I've mentioned previously) and Peter. Peter lives in Shanghai, but Wu Jing was visiting from Beijing. They were both very nice and we walked through a park together and then both of them decided to invite me to have tea with them. The Tea House was amazing - very nice, traditional teas and the service was spectacular. Wu Jing translated everything in English for me so I would understand what teas I was drinking and what tea does exactly. Teas I tried: Jasmine, Green Tea, Black Tea, another type of Green Tea, a fruit-flavored tea, and tea made from a flower that was originally in a tight ball, but once placed in hot water, it blossoms. I also tried a few candies, nuts and bought my favorite tea out of all of them. It was a little expensive, 300 Yuan, but it was a traditional Tea House and well worth it.
My original plan of visiting the Shanghai Museum was cut short for a couple of reasons: One, the Tea House extravaganza; two, the sheer exhaustion of walking around all day (a very HOT day mind you); and three, I made dinner plans with Riina and a couple other interns. Needless to say, I headed back to the apartment for a quick shower.
Riina and I met up with Kaitlyn and Anna at a Turkish restaurant before meeting other interns at Bulldog - a British bar that happens to have Ladies Night on Tuesday nights. And for those of you who aren't familiar with Ladies Night - it means free drinks for moi! Dinner was fantastic! I had this turkish wrap that reminded me of a kebab sandwich - comme la France! The best part about it was it only cost $4. Food here is so bloody inexpensive it's insane. The bar was nice, a French DJ (which I thought was pretty hilarious), I got a free drink and met a few new interns. Other than that it was pretty mellow. Good tones, good company...so all around, a good night. I decided one drink was enough for me since I would start at Shanghai Business Review the next day - not such a smart move to drink a lot before the first day, right?
People I've met so far: all very interesting people.
Kaitlyn - England
Anna - Barcelona
Jordan - Argentina
Christian - USA, Massachussets
Lisa - China
Bosco - Paraguay
May 20th - First day at Shanghai Business Review
Jia picked me up from my apartment at around 1:24p.m. and because it was raining, we took a taxi to Nanjing W. subway entrance - which is the entrance I will always take to get to the subway from my apartment. My route to work is a 20 min. walk to the metro, take metro line two, then transfer to line one at People's Square (which is massive and packed with thousands of people). My meeting with Hayleigh Davies, deputy editor of SBR, went smoothly. We discussed what I'd be doing at SBR, my responsibilities, etc.
Here's the kicker though...it's all BRITISH ENGLISH! In other words, center is centre, flavor is flavour, z's change to s's, etc. So, please try not to poke fun when I come back to the states and I can't spell. 😉
On my first day, Hayleigh put me right to work. I edited roughly six articles and stayed until about 6:30p.m. Normally, my shift would be 9:30 to 5:30. But today, especially, I stayed a bit later because I wanted to bypass rush-hour. Ha...tha's a joke. I experienced the loveliness of thousands and thousands of people - chinese people - crammed underground inside a worm-like structure. It was a tight squeeze and I got up-close and personal with the Chinese. We were like cattle for sure. I was pretty exhausted when I got home at 7:30, so I had a little dinner, caught up on the writing styles of SBR and went to be early since I have to be to work at 9!!! Holy cow, that means I have to get my butt outta bed at 6:45ish.
May 21st
Nothing too crazy happened today, other than going to my first news conference. I went with Olivia, another intern from Chile, and it was interesting. It was about Shanghai's real estate market and its possible rebound. They had both Chinese and English translators there - one other English-speaking journalist was there besides Olivia and I.
For lunch, I went to this French restaurant with a British co-worker named Paris Franze (cool, huh?) and it was delicious. I ate ham-n-cheese crepes with a salad - soooo good.
May 22nd - Welcome dinner with Next Step Connections
Work was simple. Hayleigh didn't have too much for me to do since SBR was finishing the last touches of the July issue - I'll be able to show you all grammar errors I corrected when I'm home. 😊 So, all I had to worry about was getting to the spicy Chinese restaurant where all of the interns from NSC would be for the welcoming dinner. San Gu Niu Wa is the name of the restaurant and it was absolutely splendid.
I had quite a few different dishes...but still, no mushrooms. 😉
- frog legs, bullfrog specifically.
- shrimp, with the eyes and all.
- Tsing dao, Chinese beer - which they normally serve at room temp. Yuck!
- friend dumplings
- spinach and oil, delicious.
- fried noodles
- very thinly sliced potatoes and carrots
- coconut balls, Chinese dessert.
- baijou, very strong liquor - Chinese delicacy.
I was stuffed but the fun didn't stop there. Riina and I took a cab home (only cost $1.50) and quickly showered, changed and got ready to go to a club. We planned on meeting people at G Plus - hip club in Shanghai - but we were there for 10 minutes or so, bought two long islands (that tasted like water), listened to some very interesting Chinese music (no lyrics, just beats) and then...thanks to my allergies, I had to step outside because the smoke was killing my eyes and Riina and I heard POKER FACE. Haha! I screamed, "Riina! Do you hear that?! POKER FACE!" We headed towards the music and this Chinese woman started pulling us toward the club's entrance. She had this coupon in her hand too and I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about but I thought it had to be better than the club we were just in. And it totally was!!! Both of us go VIP seating at the bar - chairs and all. Plus, two free cocktails. The music was amazing! All hip, popular, ENGLISH music. Soooo great! Riina and I made a few friends and danced with some Chinese peeps. It was great fun! We finally got home at about 2a.m. and that was late enough for me fo sho.
May 23rd and 24th - Slow Days
Honestly, I was a slow today because of last night's events...and alcohol. No worries though, I didn't drink too much, but with the combination of food, drinks and dancing in heals...I was a wee bit tired. Needless to say, Rhiina and I vegged-out today and it was great. We walked to this video store and bought cheap movies for $1.50 each - all new movies too.
May 25th - Monday, Networking Party
At SBR, everyone was preparing for the networking party hosted by themselves. Other than attending an edit meeting, I didn't do too much - just visited and researched a few Chinese blogs. Although, I do have my very first feature story deadline - June 25th. Exciting, but I'm a little nervous.
The pary was definitely different. For those of you who've never been to a networking party, business people try to sell themselves to other business people. Each person has a stack of business cards in his or her hand and search for prospective clients. Very interesting - kind of have to be a people-person for it to really work. Also, in China, there is a certain business trading card procedure to follow: take business card out, place thumbs on the top corners of the card (with name facing the prospective buyer/client) and give a slight bow. This is what I'll be doing for another month. It's kind of cute, really.
I tried a few tasty treats:
- spring rolls
- fried egg/potato/spice thing
- chocolate bars (crunchy)
May 26th - 27th
This week will be quite brief because this Thursday is a Chinese holiday and I'll get Friday off as well so Riina and I are going to BEIJING for three days!
Visit the Beijing Extravaganza entry to read about my trip. Until next time...
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Vernia McCullough
non-member comment
great job
Thank you for the news-love to read them-take care-MOMXXOO...