Return to Suzhou/Star Gym in Daning Plaza

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上个周末我去了苏州。*Last weekend I went to Suzhou*. USAC had another field trip to Suzhou, which was about a 2-hour bus ride from Shanghai University. The bus left at around 9 am and I was TIRED. I pretty much slept the whole way. First we went to Humble Administrative Garden. It was basically a garden with a lot of mini bridges, water, and trees. The scenery was beautiful, so I definitely took some pictures. Outside the garden were some shops so I spent some time buying souveniers and a flute thing called a Tao Xun. The Tao Xun is a handcrafted flute that looks like a grenade. They came in different sizes with the biggest one being 85 kuai and the smallest one being 40 kuai. I told the guy that I was Chinese-American and was able to bargain the price of the largest one for 40 kuai. After the garden, we went to the Suzhou No. 1 silk factory. I definitely remembered that place right when I got there, since I went to Suzhou several years ago. Everything was the same as it was several years ago. I remember last time there was a fashion show, but we did not get to see one. I saw the room to that auditorium, so I opened it and it looked exactly the same. I remember last time I was really excited to see asian girls in silk :-X. Right afterwards we ate lunch, and it was SO GOOD. I'm getting hungry just thinking about the food we ate. After lunch we went to Tiger Hill (another place that I remembered). In a nut shell, Tiger Hill is a burial site where thousands of swords are buried and there is a battlefield with a leaning tower. By 3:30pm, it was time to return back to Shanghai. I sat next to my friend Rochelle and we played Mario Kart DS the whole way back :-)

Today I decided to get a gym membership at Star Gym in Daning Plaza. Shanghai University does not have an on campus gym, so most of the students who give a shit about their body/health either go to Star Gym or some ghetto ass gym near McDonalds around the corner from Yanchang Rd. For the past month, I have not done anything active, so I decided to change that. In addition, I will be able to expose myself to new areas/situations in Shanghai. Most students here play basketball or some kind of ball game to keep themselves active, but I do not. I have classmates who are members at both places and the ghetto gym is 200 kuai/month, and Star Gym is 300 kuai/month. I think Star Gym is a little bit closer to campus since you only have to cross one street. In addition, Star Gym is in a nicer area (the plaza for the Four Points Sheraton), so I decided to settle with it. When I got there they had to get an English speaking person to talk to me so I could sign up for a membership. After filling out some paperwork she asked me if I was a student at Shanghai University. She mentioned one of my classmate's name, and we ended up talking for a good 45 minutes after taking care of business. Turns out she was a student in Suzhou, so we had a conversation about Suzhou. Every now and then I tried to speak in Chinese just to practice. I had my translator with me, and that definitely came in handy. She said next time, she's going to invite my classmate and I to her house to eat dumplings, so that will be interesting. I'm supposed to return in two days to get my membership card so I can start using the facility. I'm really excited to start going there. The equipment looks new, there are lockers (number one priority, because I don't want to get my shit stolen), and it's in a nice area. Since I signed up for 3 months I had to pay 900 kuai, which is a little pricey in my opinion, since 900 kuai can get you a lot here in Shanghai. I decided to use my credit card since I felt that it was a big purchase and I just went to the ATM machine to pay back Josh for the First-class plane ticket from Harbin. I think that the membership will give me more opportunities to use my Chinese and stay healthy at the same time, so there are no regrets.

I feel a lot more comfortable here in Shanghai (more so than in the U.S. surprisingly). Most of the places that I go to have the same staff working everyday so everytime I go, the workers know who I am and know what I want (which is amazing after only being here for a month). With that, you get better service and it feels more comfortable. I go to two different bubble tea places, and at both places they always know what I want. Sometimes I don't even have to open my mouth, but I order it anyways just to practice. On my way back from Star Gym, I ran into the guy that works at the Xiaolongbiao stand that I like to go to, so we had a little conversation. He was on his bike on his way to work. I guess in a way I am an easy person to remember because I'm the Chinese guy that can't understand Chinese HAHA.

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Photos

Humble Administrative Garden
"I think Jeremy can fit in that hole"
*Jeremy climbs into the hole*
"OH SHIT...he's in the hole!"

Humble Administrative Garden
ducks

Silk No. 1 Factory
Cacoons

Tiger Hill
Holding up the tower.

Tiger Hill
Flower with Tower in the background

Bus Ride Back to Shanghai
Rochelle and Me. She kicked my ass in Mario Kart DS several times.

Comments

[olivia]

i sooo remember that silk factory too from the pictures! and if you work out enough, you can fit into your skinny jeans bak in the states!! haha