Cafe Du Monde in Shanghai!

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Honestly, this week has been pretty uneventful. Since I wrote last, I kind of got into a bad sleeping pattern. I stayed up one night in order to finish a report, and crashed right after class the next day (about noon). So, I would wake up around 8 or 9pm, and I couldn't sleep till late morning, early afternoon again. I was like this for the entire week. A new massage place opened right on my block. Only 20 kuai (3USD) for an hour long massage. It's nothing fancy, they don't give you pajamas, there are no special scented oils, just a one hour massage for 3 bucks. I'm going to keep going to this place every night after boxing. Other than that, I have just been keeping busy with writing reports and studying. I decided that since I was gonna be up anyway, I might as well get some reading done. Oh yeah, we got Obama. People around the world are already seeing the US in a different light. The Chinese I've talked to love Obama. So the only thing of interest in my week was Saturday morning. Once again, I stayed up and got some reading done but I decided to stay up till around 9pm and get back on a decent schedule. I checked out the Shanghai Cafe Du Monde to keep me occupied. In typical China fashion, this Cafe Du Monde is not a franchise of the original (according to the original's website) in the French Quarter N.O. Honestly, it isn't even as original as the Cafe Du Monde's in Metairie. A Taiwan born guy who supposedly lived in New Orleans for sometime, basically liked the place and decided to build his own in Shanghai. No need to go through those pesky franchise rights issues, just build. Well, it looks like a million other coffee shops, but at least they've got beignets. The beignets weren't the same though, not as thick of dough, and the sugar was different too. They had pictures of New Orleans though. I finished some writing while there, and got home around 4pm. Its getting pretty cold out here in Shanghai BTW. Anyway, that's basically all that happened this week with me. Eva, when you read this, congrats on getting into the program. And, I was joking when I said China news says McCain won, though I wouldn't put it past them. Oh yeah, speaking of which, I found out that Chinese video sharing websites such as youku.com and tudou.com alter their search results depending on where your IP is from. I have to use a US proxy sometimes to get past retarded internet censors (if you search "Dalai Lama" in google, you won't be able to use it for at least a few hours). In any case, I forgot I had the proxy on, and searched for the show Mad Men at those sites and didn't get any results. This baffled me cause I had always gotten plenty of results in the past. When I switched off the proxy and searched again, instant results. Haaha, it is ok to watch pirated American shows only if you are IN China. Ah, China, these are the things I'll miss most about you. I just found that funny. I'll post pics of the pirated Cafe Du Monde.

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Photos

another platform sign
this one strictly prohibits being a dumbass

buildings
this is by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

Govt Building
Just like churches, it is essential for the Govt. to roll in style.

Map of N.O.
I guess this officially makes it legit

Close up
They tasted different for sure. Not bad though.