cooking class

today alliance took us on a trip to shanghai's largest outdoor wet market, and then to a cooking class! very fun, and i learned exactly why i pay top dollar for the xiaolongbao at din tai fung... they are HARD to make.

just to rewind a bit, this morning we had class as usual from 8:30-11:30. for lunch, i joined my roommate, su wenjun, for a celebratory lunch with her friends. she finished exams today! FINALLY. we went for korean food, which is very popular here. during the summer, the iced noodle soup is the thing to order. so refreshing. on that note, shanghai is really heating up. 100 degrees for the first time today! anyway, it was so interesting to meet her friends and speak chinese with them. if they address me and speak simply, i can hold a conversation. but if they are chatting away among themselves, it's hard for me to follow.

after lunch i hopped on the bus with alliance for the wet market. it was chaotic and unbelievably hot, but still lots of fun.

above, our guide discussing prices and quality with a veggie vendor (who also happened to be stuffing her face with fried noodles). below, the group!

below that, some graphic de-scaling of fresh fish that made the vegetarians in our group quite squeamish. speaking of vegetarians, this week i joined some of the girls for a meal at "the loving hut," a vegan restaurant run by this amazing chinese man who has been a vegetarian for 15 years. i am convinced that it is the cleanest restaurant with the healthiest food in all of china.

from the market, we headed to the cooking class, where we divided into teams and made: cucumbers with vinegar, homestyle tofu, xiaolongbao, fish dumplings, kungpao chicken, beef with green peppers, shanghai fried noodles, and dry sauteed green beans! a regular feast. here is the xiaolongbao lesson:

above, karen wyatt and leo hand-mixing the chaomian. below, big smiles because we even got to take stuff home! and as usual, the day ended with leo (one of the chinese roommates) and i belting britney spears as we walked down the street. seems like there is no better method for learning english.

so that was our day. i can't believe another week has passed! no big news other than our biweekly test and me getting run down by a crazy old lady on a motorcycle (as you have likely seen on my facebook). THAT story is better told in person so i will refrain from narrating it now. this weekend we have plans to go to zhujiajiao, a cute little canal town outside of shanghai. till then!

museums and malls

busy weekend! on friday, we visited the shanghai urban planning museum as a group. after our tour, a bunch of us split off to check out the shanghai museum, and the people's square underground mall. on friday night, we did some serious group bonding at a popular karaoke place. saturday, director michelle held a group meeting to check in with us and our chinese roommates. after the meeting, wenjun and yanan (sarah's roommate) took three of us girls for an AMAZING soup-dumpling (aka xiaolongbao) lunch. in the evening, sarah and i gave into homesickness and had mcdonalds (maidanglao 麦当劳)... only to be dragged to the SUFE night market for meat skewers and fresh watermelon with sue right after. sunday, we woke up to the heartbreak of the US being eliminated from the world cup by ghana. we then engaged in some hardcore retail therapy at the qipu market (chee-puh, aka CHEAP!) for approximately 6 hours. we now know where fudan students get all their clothes. finally, we walked from the market to people's square via nanjing east road, shanghai's high-end shopping destination. us ladies rewarded our shopping exertions with a classy, sit-down dinner at pizza hut. then took the bus home!

pics and deets: here we are at the urban planning museum, which features exhibits about shanghai's infrastructure, architecture, transportation, and future plans. you can see the gigantic model of downtown which apparently cost 6 million USD to build? tour guide was quite proud.

next, the shanghai museum, which is considered the best museum in mainland china. it did not disappoint! we visited jade, bronze, calligraphy, painting, furniture, and ethnic costume exhibits. PLUS it is free. yaay.

from the museum, we walked through the people's square underground mall to a food court that i discovered on my last visit in the raffle's city mall. dinner was hilarious because we all ordered variations on asian noodles except for john. the man wanted lasagna! can't blame him. getting back to fudan was the adventure of a lifetime, since we happened to leave people's square (shanghai's #1 transportation hub) precisely at rush hour on a friday night. since the situation is nearly impossible to describe, i'll leave it to one word: trampled.

after all that, the fact that we decided to go out is somewhat miraculous to me. i will save those photos for facebook... but my favorite karaoke tunes so far include: justin bieber - one time, lady gaga - telephone, britney spears - hit me baby one more time, enrique - hero, celine dion - my heart will go on, taylor swift - you belong with me.

fast forward to today! qipu market was overwhelming, but the bargaining was intense and the deals were fantastic. i feel like i have a stamp on my head that says "FOREIGN STUDENT, CHARGE 400%" ... but i am working on my chinese language skills, aggressive body language, and starving student routine. here's a nice example of a "changing room" and the girls at a t-shirt store with outrageous chinglish slogans.

i am so tired and almost glad to return to classes tomorrow because i need the rest! plus, i am looking forward to a "free" meal because each monday we have zhongwen zhuozi (中文桌子, chinese table) where we feast with each other and our teachers, speaking only chinese. last pictures, nanjing east road at night :)

testing testing

it's friday afternoon and we were just released from our first big TEST. in two weeks we covered 7 lessons and about 175 new words (plus catching up on old/less common words). that's just the morning class! afternoon is another story. for me, the written test was by far the easier portion. the speaking, which includes reading out loud from a text and then conversing with the teacher, was a catastrophe. ahhhh.

in case you had guessed otherwise, testing is a big deal in china. right now my roommate wenjun and her friend yanan are midway through their two weeks of final exams at the shanghai university of finance and economics. they have test(s) every day... thanks to their TWELVE class course load! they are always together studying, and they barely sleep or eat. american students definitely do this too, but i think the psychology of test-taking is different here. when you say you have a test, it's serious business. american students pressure their friends to come out even if they have a test coming up (i miss this/i miss you guyssss)... chinese students don't!

anyway, aside from our test, this was an average week in the tonghe international dorms and at fudan. the initial adjustment period is basically over and we are enjoying our routine here. get up early for class from 8:40-11:35, break for lunch till 12:30 (cheap dumplings, baozi, noodles, fried rice, fruit, milk tea, whatever!). go back to class till 2. do some homework (read the next day's lesson, memorize 25ish new characters, practice 5ish new grammar patterns, do practice exercises to turn in). nap from 3-4, go to the gym with the ladies. meet up for dinner in the evening and then (a) do more homework or (b) go out!

no need to explain option (a). during the week, option (b) usually means going to Helen's, the bar two blocks down the street that caters to all the international students around here. it's a cozy place upstairs with big bench tables so you are bound to meet lots of people every time you go. there are dozens of flags hanging from the ceiling and on the lamps...on any given night, tables are populated by students from all over the world. lately, the world cup has lent some excitement and friendly competition to the scene (i thought the place was going to collapse when america finally scored on algeria wednesday night). i love it! i'll try to rustle up a picture to add to this post soon.

today the alliance crew is heading to people's square 人民广场 to see the urban planning museum. tomorrow, i'll have more pictures from downtown shanghai and whatever adventures ensue!

world expo

let's talk strategy: you want to go to the world expo and see as many pavilions as possible. you also want to avoid being trampled by the average 400,000 people that visit a day. 怎么办？what to do?!

i give classmate john bryan props for picking this sunday to go. chinese high school students took their SAT equivalent this weekend, and chinese university students had make-up classes because of the holiday on wednesday (yes, holidays here aren't actually holidays at all). best of all, it was overcast and lightly drizzling. john truly had a recipe for success! we were only joined by 333,000 other expo-goers.

the expo hype has basically given way to horror stories about the crowds and heat. sarah, john, michael and i were so lucky to experience none of these problems! between 3-9 pm, we visited 8 different pavilions and walked all over the park. we started with the practically empty ones: north korea, iran, lebanon. worked our way up to some more popular ones: india, new zealand. and finally some big tickets: singapore and canada.

SINGAPORE WAS MY FAVORITE. i know... predictable. but i loved singapore so dearly and i'm totally susceptible to propaganda when it comes to this dazzling [authoritarian] city state. the theme of the pavilion is "music and harmony," symbolizing singapore's success in harnessing its diversity. it's shaped like a boom box and the activities on the ground floor are all musical.

as you walk up the stairs, you can glance at cool graphics and statistics about singapore's insane GDP growth since 1970. upstairs, you watch this amazing music video in a circular room where you're completely surrounded by the screen (i freaked out, overstimulation really affects me). finally, the rooftop is a stunning orchid garden that plays the most tranquil music you have ever heard. wahhh take me back there!

ah yes, obviously there's plenty of closed caption video monitoring too. smile for singapore!!!

our last stop of the night was canada. sarah and i are both huge canada fans, seeing as i was practically raised there and she lives 3 hours across the border in new hampshire. the activities in the canada pavilion were cray-zaaaay. there are bikes surrounded by LED screens, and the faster you pedal on them, the faster you "fly." there is also a motion-sensitive pool-projector thing where you can draw in the water.

we treated ourselves to genuine poutine fries for dinner! i even did as the chinese tourist do, and took a picture with a real, live canadian. it was great.

anyway, i'll finish off with a picture of the park and the lupu bridge from on top of a pavilion. the boys noted that lupu strongly resembles mariokart's rainbow racetrack on the good old nintendo 64.... good call. and a good day!

exhaustion

where to start? today was an ambitious day.

it all began with the fact that on fridays, we only have morning class.  so michelle arranged a group excursion to the fish bird and flower market and the antique market in 南市 (Old Town). this was similar to the market by carrefour, but way bigger! this woman is haggling over the price of a hamster. two for 15 RMB! that's $2.50. mary and i want some for our apartment. below, plenty of maoist materials available.

old town seems to to be the only part of shanghai that retains a tangible amount history and culture. along with these markets, you can visit mosques, temples, and chaotic bazaars. you can also sample a bazillion delicious types of shanghai street food. so... when the group was done with the markets at 3 pm, i decided to stay downtown and indulge in all of the above! so began my 10 hour journey around shanghai.

circa 4 pm, chat with muslim women at shanghai's central islamic center, Peach Garden Mosque. fail at explaining that my aunt is of shanghai-muslim decent (chinese kinship terms are infinitely complicated!)

5 pm, hurry across 南市 to the Town God Temple before it closes. independent travelers in china can count on tons of eager tourists who are willing to take their picture (just try to avoid theft by choosing someone with a nicer camera than yours?)

by 6 i am starving, head to "shanghai's oldest vegetarian restaurant," Songyuelou. in case you haven't guessed already, this entire 15+ kilometer walking journey was designed with Lonely Planet guide's help. here is my [delicious] fake chicken and my bible:

7 pm, time to hit up taipingqiao park and xintiandi on my way over to tianzifang, the artists' and photographers' haven in the french concession. michelle recommended this maze of alleyways to me, and it is the coolest area i have visited in shanghai thus far! plus, the journey there took me through lots of authentic, residential backstreets. voila, some art and some reeeally sweet shopping...

8 pm, start looking into potential ways to get home! metro to fudan closes at 4 pm, so not an option. it was going to be the bus again. i knew if i made it to people's square, i could find my #537 bus back to fudan. this was a struggle, but once i got to people's square, i couldn't resist looking around a little...!

what do all major asian cities have in common? MALLS. huge, modern, international, expansive MALLS. people's square is obviously no exception. but i had to pry myself away from the friday night/date night crowds, to catch the last bus north to fudan at 9:45 pm. the next 40 minutes looked something like this:

anyway! now i am home, clean (you have no idea), and ready for bed :) BONUS: when i opened the computer i was greeted by the news that the lakers are nba champs. i could not be happier with today and i'm pleased to report that the entire excursion + foodz cost me about $13.00. gdub <3 LP. peace.

carrefour

大家好！helloooo everybody. i am sure you were all relieved not to receive any news from me yesterday. i am for-sure overdoing it. but i have some today! ha

yesterday was a free day because of the chinese public holiday, 端午节, or Dragon Boat Festival. this holiday commemorates an ancient politician who also happened to be a great poet, Qu Yuan. this poet/politician was extremely patriotic. his greatest wish was prosperity for his kingdom. when he saw that it was in decline, he was heartbroken and drowned himself in a river. the townspeople loved him so much that they thew tons of rice balls into the river so the fish would not eat him, and they could retrieve his body. during this festival, people eat the sticky rice/meat balls，zongzi or 粽子，to remember him. this whole story is very chinese to me... patriotism, suicide, and in the end, we all get to eat!

sue made us 粽子 this weekend so we could try them. deliciousss... there are savory ones with meat and sweet ones with red bean.

with my free day, i chose to find the nearest carrefour and take a look-see. google maps is amazing, i found the closest one and mapped the bus route online before venturing forth. the carrefour is a thirty minute walk/bus ride, pretty convenient. it also has lots of interesting things around it, like this outdoor fish-bird-insect-flower market.

here are grandma and grandpa, perhaps taking the girls for their first pets? there were lots of different types of crickets, turtles, frogs, bunnies, kittens, birds... and the occasional hamster. this may be the first live market i have encountered in asia, where the animals AREN'T intended for dinner. *sidenote for all my veggies out there, vegetarian food is actually pretty accessible here! becca, you will be pleasantly surprised by all your options. there is a vegan restaurant by my school and there are a few veggie establishments in each major area of town.

carrefour was a fun experience too. i love shopping in china because if you plainly state that you are looking for the cheapest version of an item, the salespeople are more than happy to oblige. for the most part, they won't try to upsell you, they will earnestly search for the cheapest form of what you need! very much my style. here's mary looking for index cards... sooooooo many chinese characters to memorize each day. oh, and do not be mislead. this place was CROWDEDDD. i actually don't know how i even took this picture.

tonight i'll study for a bit, and then who knows what? tomorrow we only have morning class and then a trip to old town to see the market and the food streets. i'll have lots to share :) 明天呢！

my hood

我想给你们看看复旦大学的地方。。。i want to show you guys around fudan university a little! 

above, the fudan towers. when i first saw them, i was so confused! looks like an office, not a school. but our chinese classes are in that small wing on the right. also, a big character sign encouraging students to work extra-super-hard, and some of the trees and hedges that make the campus so beautiful. 

the surrounding area has tons of inexpensive little shops, restaurants, and food stands like this one. breakfast? snacks? these baozi are 1.50 yuan or 20 cents, people usually grab a few on the way to school in the morning.

finally, that's the tonghe guoji gongyu 同和国际公寓，the international student apartments/my home! you can see a few more of the small stores in front of the apt and behind the fruit man. i love this area :) it's very collegiate... very chinese... couldn't ask for more!