Meet the Jiangs

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I am currently sitting at the Hongqiao Airport. FREE WIFI! I left the hostel this morning at 11:30-11:40. Last night I was able to take my suitcase over to Tristan's so I can travel light to Beijing.
Yesterday Xuzhi invited me over to her parent's home in Jinshan District which is about an hour away from People's Square. I took line 1 from People's Square to Jinjiang Park, where I met Xuzhi at a McDonalds. From there we took a bus to Jinshan District which was about a 40 minute ride. Xuzhi and I took a nap for almost the whole ride. When we arrived at Jinshan District I noticed that it was a lot more peaceful than the center for the city. She lived in a complex all the way at the top and her home had 2 stories. Her mom already had lunch prepared for us which consisted of chicken, beef, melon, green beans, duck, and rice. It was a little difficult for me to eat because it was quite hot, but I still enjoyed the food. After lunch we relaxed upstairs and Xuzhi showed me her stamp collection. In the room we hung out in she had her suitcases all ready to go for England. Later she took me to her friend's art school, called UPEP Art School which was about a 10 minute walk from her complex. While we were walking, the roads were less crowded and you could actually cross the street without worrying about getting ran over. The school was very clean and very modern and there were children taking classes. We went to the top of the building to meet her friend. A woman brought over a red bean shake and Xuzhi told her friend that I love red bean, so he kindly gave it to me. He asked some questions about America and then he showed me a lot of his art work. Apparently he is part of a group that designs advertisements for companies such as Dove chocolates, Quaker Oats, and he designed some products for the World Expo. We walked back to her place to meet up with her dad for dinner. When her father arrived, Xuzhi's friend from the art school came to join us for dinner. We decided to go out to eat. Her dad drove us to Jinshan Hotel in a brand new black Volkswagon. When we arrived at the hotel we just walked and ended up in a private room with a circular table. Xuzhi ordered all the food. Xuzhi thought it was cute that I had my own business card, so her father and I traded cards. In Chinese culture, the proper etiquette for giving someone your business card is by holding it with two hands, and receiving one with two hands. I also traded cards with her friend from the art school. I think her mom thought it was funny/or was impressed that when I traded cards, I stood up and used two hands. I also traded QQ numbers with her friend.
After dinner, Xuzhi's dad said that he would drive me to the Lianhua Metro Station (40 minutes away) and spend the night at his other home in the city. I said good bye to Xuzhi, her mom, and her friend. I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to meet her family this time. I can see why Xuzhi is such a nice girl, because she has such a nice family. I don't know exactly when I will see her again, but I know I will sometime in the future. After earning her Masters degree at South Hampton, she wants to work in America someday. Hopefully she will achieve that goal. I'm glad that she will have access to Facebook while she's in England since it will make communication a lot easier. I am very happy to know a girl that is so sweet, charismatic, and appreciative of the smaller things in life. It's a shame that girls like that are hard to come by.
I arrived at Lianhua Metro Station and said thank you and good bye to her father. It was very nice of him to drive me that far after a long day at work. I took line 1 back to People's Square. I told Tristan that if he came over to my hostel with a taxi I would pay for his fare, since I spent an hour the other day looking for a taxi. Unfortunately, the taxi driver took him on a wild goose chase and he ended up on Huaihai Road. He lost the taxi so after he found me, we had to walk around to find a taxi. Luckily we found a white taxi with a foreigner getting out. We told the cab driver that we wanted to go to Lujiabang Road. For some odd reason he kept saying that he was going to take us to the Ji Chang (Airport)...we were like "Bu shi ji chang...lujiabang lu" Eventually Tristan got irritated and started yelling at him saying that we wanted to go to Lujiabang road not the airport. The taxi driver made the assumption that we wanted to go to the ji chang because I had a suitcase. Finally, we arrived at his place and this Australian named Mike that I met from school last year invited us to go out to SOHO to grab some drinks. Tristan and I took a taxi and wanted to go to Henshan Road Subway Station since the bar was close by. For some reason, the taxi driver could not process it and wanted to go to a street way off from it. Tristan got mad and said "if I say I want to go to Henshan subway station, i want to go to Henshan subway station. Don't ask questions". The taxi driver was definitely lost. I looked at his name card and he was number 30XXXX. I read in an article earlier this week that you can tell the experience level of the taxi drivers by looking at their ID numbers. 01XXXX or 10XXXX would be a more experienced driver, and higher numbers would indicate a newer driver. They also have a star system. This driver was 30XXXX and had no stars. I told Tristan about the ID numbers and he said that it finally made sense because all the taxi drivers for the Expo have numbers that start with 0 or 1 (more experienced). We met Mike at SOHO and the there was open bar for 60RMB (about $8.88 USD all you can drink). I got pretty drunk at SOHO and then we were supposed to meet up with some people at M2. I don't remember exactly who we were meeting up with (summer USACers?). I just remember it was very loud and crazy. Maybe I will look at the pictures later and find out.
I decided to go straight to the airport after checking out at around 11:40 even though my flight is at 3:30, because I wanted to avoid being pressed for time in case if I'm sent on another adventure. Tristan told me yesterday that this airport has free wifi, so it wouldn't hurt to go early too. I was able to find a taxi on the main street and I told him that I wanted to go to Hongqiao Airport, Terminal 2, China Eastern....no English, pointing, cards with characters, or gestures.... AND HE UNDERSTOOD! I arrived at the terminal in time for lunch, so I ate Subway. When I was at the line, I realized "oh shit, I do not know how to order the individual pieces of the sandwich." Luckily they understood some English and my pointing finger on the glass. The sandwich looked really shitty...good thing I have a box of Imodium in my backpack.

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Photos

Art School
Art school in Jinshan

SOHO
Me, Tristan, and Mike

M2
SOMEONE IS HAPPY