If Mark were willing to participate in the blogging of our Chinese adventures, this is probably what he would say about last night's story: After looking for a taxi for about 40 seconds, Suzanne suggested we take motorcycles to dinner. I agreed to it, since we were running late, but I'm pretty sure she was just doing it to have a story for the blog. And now for my (real) version: After looking for a taxi for a good 6 minutes, on a crowded Saturday night, I realized our chances of being on time for our dinner plans were low to none. A guy on a motorcycle gave me the look--the you need a ride? I have a ride look. I asked him how much, he said where to, and we began the long negotiation process. ... read more

I left class early to meet Mark for lunch at a bar near the school. This is the bar that has hosted all the Democrats Abroad events. I saw another classmate there and met some of his friends...all very interesting guys. 1 from Chicago, 1 from Michigan. We are everywhere, we Midwesterners. The scene was very up beat when we arrived. Things were looking very good. We got to enjoy the final returns and see them declare Obama the winner. We cheered and hollered at the tvs and enjoyed the feeling of community with our fellow Americans living in Shanghai. I wanted to record this historic day on my blog as it will be part of the story of our time in China. I am so glad I was able to watch the returns with Mark ... read more

Monday after language class, I went on a field trip with my friend Lisa. We took the bus downtown near Yu Gardens--a very touristy area. However, the goal was to go buy Lisa fabric and drop off some clothes and cloth at her tailor (and then I would meet her tailor and maybe go back on my own someday). Also, I was looking for some sort of costume for Nathan and Lisa had ideas on where we could find good stuff. The best part of the adventure was the bus ride. We sat in the very back with a group of Chinese ladies. We were trying to figure out how to say a few key phrases for Lisa's mission: Lengthen this dress was one phrase. I looked it up in the dictionary and then attempted to ... read more

There are some real advantages to being a chatter. I meet interesting people, I entertain myself with the constant internal conversations I have when nobody else is around...but now and then I think I should possibly consider being, uh, quieter. Here's what happened. I had a fairly nice day. Walked to and from class and had nice chat time with my new friend, Lisa...she's from Sweden and heading back to Sweden soon, but I am enjoying her while she's here. Maybe she'll come back. Anyway, that was nice. Then I had a good class and learned some super important words and phrases which included toilet paper, demonstrating by gesturing (there's a phrase for that!), how do you say...., and more. I used each and every one of my examples later today when I was home chatting ... read more

Saturday morning I heard what sounded like explosives going off in my bedroom, and ran in to discover Emily and Mark on the balcony watching a group of men shooting off LOUD and not pretty fireworks in front of our building. It was 7:30am! Why? I guess just because. It's not a constant activity but it seems to be a common one. I guess fireworks are made here (along with everything else) so they must be a popular pastime. Seemed very dangerous to us and I am glad we weren't walking by at the time. That would have freaked me out. We went back to Paul's (the French place) and sat outside in the sun and had great bread and coffee and treats. We met a man from St. Louis in town for work and he ... read more