School?

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Playing Catchup

It is now Friday morning, and I realize that I haven't written about anything that happened since last Saturday. It seems like this week went by really fast! At some point I realized that I actually have classes, with mandatory attendance, reading assignments, and homework. Eating out for every meal also takes more time than I thought. This week I feel like I got the hang of my schedule and how to do things efficiently so that I can squeeze the most out of the remaining time. I guess we'll see how that goes.

Here's a recap of this week's activities:

Sunday

In the morning I woke up early and decided to have breakfast before going to the gym with Nikhail. I refused to go to McDonald's, however, so I had to walk around and find an alternative. I ended up in a Chinese fast food restaurant called Kungfu, where I had something made of rice and egg wrapped in leaves. They gave me a plastic glove to unwrap it, which was necessary because the leaves were wet and steamy. It was unusual, but it tasted alright and made me feel like I was cool for trying something "authentic". I wish I knew what it was called, but this particular item did not have an English description next to it.

After lifting Nikhail and I discovered an awesome place for lunch called Steak King. It has an enormous selection of food, with everything from noodles to waffles. The menu has pictures next to everything, so it facilitates my point-and-smile communication method. The best part is that many of the prices are below $3, and you get a lot of food for that money. Woohoo!

The rest of the afternoon was spent on Thermodynamics homework. Bleh. Then in the evening I went to "Open Mike Night" where students were supposed to share their experiences in Shanghai. This time, however, we spent most of the time discussing a party that took place on Thursday. The students from the Minghan campus of SJTU invited us over to eat and have fun, and we were told to prepare skits. In the end we decided on singing the Star Spangled Banner, the Ramblin' Wreck, and performing a skit I suggested from my days in the Boy Scouts. I'll explain the skit a little later.

Monday-Wednesday

I spent these days working on my routine: going to class, eating at the right times, getting my work done. We had another cooking class, where we learned to prepare a Cantonese-style glazed pork dish. It was very good, something I would actually cook at home.

I found time on Monday to visit an old Catholic cathedral near campus. It made me think about how Chinese people must have felt when a bunch of foreigners came to their several thousand year-old civilization and told them everything they knew was wrong. With reminders still standing all over their country, I wonder how they feel today?

Thursday

Yesterday was a great day! Once working out and class were out of the way, I got on the bus with everyone and headed to Minghan for our gathering. The campus was huge, and the Chinese students were very hospitable. We ate dinner at an on-campus restaurant, then we moved to a recreational center for the rest of the party. First the Chinese students performed several songs and skits, most of which were in English. A lot of what they sang was familiar American pop music. They also set up a karaoke competition, with verses from 10 random songs on screen to see who could sing the most. I participated, and won, mainly because I'm an enormous ham =D The prize was a table cloth and chopstick set which I'll be giving to my Mom, who might actually use it.

Afterwards it was our turn to perform. First came my skit, where I stood on stage with another student (Nicolas) wearing a towel over his head and introduced him as the ugliest man in the world. I called a volunteer from the audience (Anastassia) to look under the towel. She peeked, screamed, and ran off stage. Again I called a volunteer (Nikhail), and he did the same. Finally I picked one of our professors, and asked him to look under the towel. When he did, Nick screamed and ran off stage, followed by laughter and applause. Good thing I remembered something from Boy Scouts!

Our Star Spangled Banner and Ramblin' Wreck performances were equally amazing. What can I say, Georgia Tech students are just bursting with talent! The rest of the night we danced and listened to music, then headed back to our campus.

Leaving Shanghai

I would have included pictures, but I'm about to leave with a big group to catch a train. We're going to a nearby town called Suzhou, which is supposed to be a really pretty place with gardens and temples and stuff. We'll be back Saturday night, then I'll sit down and upload pictures so I can post them.

Until then - Zai Jian!

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Comments

[anonymous]

What a lovely little blog you have here!