Days 38-40: French Dining and Prep Work

Thursday our major event of the day was having dinner with the Shanghai Fulbrighters, Abram and Connie (with her family: her husband and three kids). Dinner was at 5 pm at La Creperie, a French place in the French Concession area of Shanghai, which I thought was appropriate. Even though we left fairly early, we ran into all kinds of problems. First the bus to take us to Chi Feng Station was much later than usual. Then we got off at the wrong subway stop: we couldn't find the road we needed and didn't know what was going on. I accosted a white male who sounded Russian when he spoke. It turns out that we got off three stops earlier than we should have: we got off at Changshou Lu when we should have gotten off at Changshu Lu (note the ONE LETTER difference!--both were on the same subway line). By the time we finally got there, we were about 40 minutes late. Sigh.

However, from the minute I walked in, I liked the place. The greeter was French and I spoke French to her--it was nice to be able to use a language that others understood--ha!  And the food was amazing and I was in good spirits. It was fun to talk to everyone, and I liked being able to compare the experiences of the researchers to my own. Apparently, as researchers, Abram and Connie did not have to do a medical exam, and I'm sort of irked that they get just as much vacation time as I do, even though they're going to be here only one semester each.  Grrr.  Connie's little girl (age 7) was adorable: she sat there writing a story and talking about how she used to be President. She could probably do a better job than our current one. We also got to talk to Abram about Taipei Pride a bit--he has a husband back in the States--and even suggested that he meet up with us there. He seemed interested, so we'll see what happens. All in all, they seem like nice people.

Friday and Saturday nothing much happened: I just stayed in and did prep work for my classes. Late Saturday, though, I learned one remarkable thing: I was elected to the TYCA-Midwest Executive Board! Yay for me! I don't know what position I'm going to have yet, but I will find out soon.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from the night at La Creperie:

The Shanghai Fulbright crew: (clockwise) Connie's son Rory, Connie's husband Bill, Kerry, me, Abram, Connie, Connie's daughter Meara, and Connie's son Kiernan.

Abram, Connie, and Kerry.

My chicken galette at La Creperie--scrumptious!