Days 29-31: Crazy Tuesday, then Two Days of Relaxation...

After a busy Monday, we had an even crazier Tuesday.  Basically there were three events going on.

First Kerry and I went to the International Office to give Grace my police report and to get the paperwork needed for processing the visa.  Of course we got off to a late start and even forgot the police report and had to go back for it.  But eventually we got to the office: about 9:15 when she wanted us there at 8:40.  I gave her the police report, and she gave us the address and directions to the visa office.  We got to the subway station fine, but we got hopelessly lost after leaving the subway.  I ended up hailing a cab, and even the cab driver wasn't sure where to go.  We finally figured it out from the picture Grace gave us.  Mercifully, the visa office wasn't so bad--took about 20 minutes--and they spoke English to me.  But finding our way back was horrendous.  We walked and walked around in the 94 degree heat; it felt like we were in a dessert.  Kerry finally asked a young woman--via Google Translate--where the train station was.  She pointed us in the direction of one--but, surprisingly, it wasn't the station we got off on.  We had WALKED all the way to the train station near the university!!!  And then we couldn't find Chifeng Road, where the banquet for Shanghai Fulbrighters was being held.  We had to walk all the way around the HUGE train station to locate it.  It was a bit of a nightmare.  Finally, however, we got to the SISU hotel.

When we got there, we were absolutely drenched. "Is it raining outside?," someone asked.  No, we were just drenched in our own sweat.  How embarrassing.  Still, things improved once we were fed, as they usually do.  They served us banquet style again: lobster with butter sauce, shrimp, beef, vegetables, rice, soup--all kinds of wonderful foods.  We got take some of it home.  So that was nice!  I met the Cultural Affairs Officer, Dr. Ifeoma Okwuje, and her assistant, Tracy.  I also met Dr. Angela Yu, who was a Fulbrighter and a SISU faculty for 30 years. Wonderful people, very supportive. Angela got a car to take me back to campus and then we had coffee (I had iced plum tea).  Very nice!

Here are a couple pics: first the banquet, then me and a couple folks at the coffee shop.

At 2:30, Angela left, but the rest of us, including Grace and Dr. Hongling Zhang, the Director of the Intercultural Institute, had a meeting about my Fulbright experience.  I blithered on and on, but I enjoyed talking about it.  After the meeting, I blithered  more with Grace: we talked about American politics and food in America.  I'm really enjoying these kinds of comparative cultural conversations here in China--it's fascinating!

Then I took the bus home--I just chilled out and listened to music the rest of the evening.

Wednesday and Thursday, I just continued the relaxation.  I've been pretty much a hermit these two days, just staying in and e-mailing and chilling out.  We got a grocery order today--super exciting.  One oddity: Kerry thought he heard a domestic argument in the floor above us--a man yelling and a woman screaming that she was being hurt.  This is truly disturbing, so I let Carol know about it.  Grace also followed up.

Days 27-28: Dull Sunday, Teaching Monday

Sunday I didn't do much, just mostly prep work, so I'm going to focus this entry on Monday.

Monday I taught, and it was crazy: it rained all day long, AGAIN.  This time I got on the 11:30 bus, and it worked out, but I wasn't informed of my class change until I was actually on the bus (sigh).  Then Yanis, the class monitor, met me at the School of English Studies, to take me to my classroom.  On the way, a student stopped me, and asked, "Are you American?"  "Yes," I replied.  He went to rhapsodize about America and how he wanted to go there, etc.  I introduced myself and he did the same.  "Will you be my friend on WeChat,?" he shouted after me when I was going into my class.  But he didn't stick around to let me friend him.  Interesting.

So I taught my Short Novels class in the new room: nice, smaller room and of course fewer students...only about 30.  I had them do paired discussion to come up with questions that they wanted to talk about for discussion/lecture.  So I spent most of the class answering their questions.  They also signed up for presentations.  Again, several students wanted to talk to me after class--I'm just so popular!!  :)

I finally got to my office about 3:15, after getting a bit lost.  I ate lunch and called Kerry.  I also used a squat toilet for the first time.  I won't go into details, but it was a difficult experience for me.  I'm also perplexed by the lack of supplies: I had to bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer with me into the rest room.  Still not used to this.

After all this, I went to class.  I thought that Taozhen was going to be meeting me there to talk to the students and observe my class, but she did not show.  It turns out that she had been trying to contact me all day to say that she didn't come to the Songjiang campus after all, but she still wanted to see our apartment and have dinner with us. So I went ahead and taught my class.  They seemed to struggle a bit today--the large class discussion on Crevecoeur was not great.  I had them do group discussion on Jefferson and Paine, which seemed to go a bit better, but one student said to me, "I think these are too hard for us."  Perhaps.  But, as I kept stressing, they are important.

It was pouring rain when I got done and it took over 90 minutes to get back to the Songjiang campus and then I had to take the bus home when no cab materialized.  I was surprised to be met at the bus stop by Kerry and Taozhen.  Taozhen then hailed a taxi and took us to DaDong, a duck restaurant in Shanghai.  It was pretty late by this point, but the dinner was marvelous: duck, chicken, bamboo and asparagus, dates, the best fried rice I've ever had, and all for only about 700 RB for the three of us.  Extraordinary!  The conversation wasn't much, but I think Taozhen was very tired.  We were too.  But it was a good end to the day.

Here are some pics from the restaurant:

Days 25-26: SISU Days--Events and Prep

Friday was a busy day due to all the events going on.  Kerry and I walked to the bus in our suits because we were asked to dress formally for the reception.  "Look smart!" One Chinese man said to me, and gave me the thumbs up.  Another Chinese woman gave me a broad smile.

To begin the afternoon, Kerry and I attended our first beginners' Chinese lesson.  There were about nine of us, total, from countries all over: Thailand, Japan, India, Italy, and Spain.  The instructor focused on pronunciation of vowels and we practiced them.  She briefly went over some family words (father, mother, etc.) at one point, but at the very end she went over numbers 1-10 with us.  This was probably the most useful part for me.  I understand her desire to teach us pronunciation, but to me it's more useful to learn words and expressions.  And numbers, of course.

After this, Kerry took off on his own and I had to attend an orientation in the "British Conference Room," which Guillermo, the Spanish instructor, just happened to find on our own.  We sat around a table and listened to some background on SISU from the International Studies Director, and then Grace and Christine went over several things in the International Faculty Handbook.  There was then a break for cake and coffee, during which I finally met the university president--a quiet, unassuming (fairly young) man.

Then came the most formal part of the afternoon: the "welcoming" from the President.  He was accompanied by a woman named Betty (her last name escapes me), but she was retired SISU faculty, born in Shanghai and raised in Scotland...84 years old!  I got to chat with her a bit later on...very interesting person.  So after we all introduced ourselves (there were about 20 of us), the President welcomed us, Betty gave a speech, and then four of us (including me) had been selected to give brief speeches.  The first was from a woman from Greece, who gave an impressive speech in which she quoted Alexander the Great.  The second was me: I just had some notes in front of me, but I spoke about how kind and friendly the people at SISU had been, as well as the Fulbright mission and what I planned to do there.  I received applause, and a couple folks afterwards complimented me.  Not bad for not preparing much.  Third was a post-doc faculty from Korea, who spoke in Chinese--Grace interpreted for her.  She sat next to me.  I introduced myself to her at one point.  "Sorry, my English is not good," she said.  That may have been the case, but I feel a lot of these foreign faculty do a lot of apologizing for their English when it's fine to me.  The last speaker, a Polish teacher, spoke with me afterwards and said he was "nervous" about speaking. I complimented him on his English, but he seemed embarrassed.  "It's the universal language," he said.  This strikes me as so interesting: I think we in the US take the fact that we speak English for granted.  We don't have to learn other languages. I learned today that SISU graduates MUST learn "English and one other foreign language" before they graduate!  Wow.  Talk about global education.

After the "welcoming," we had a reception in the courtyard: beef filet, pizza (fruit and meat), salad, egg rolls, and watermelon were among the treats I dined on.  Little snacky things.  I located Kerry and he and I dined together.  He also found a stray cat, to which he gave many pettings.  It had a very loud, harsh "MEOW."  But Kerry liked it just the same.  "She's had kittens recently," he said.  I got a chance to talk to one of the International Studies Directors, Steve, from the US.  Very nice guy, very friendly to me and Kerry.  Once the event was over, we took the bus home.

Saturday not much happened--just prep mostly--and Kerry cleaned.  We had leftover spaghetti for dinner.  One really cool thing happened, though: almost within an hour after sending our curriculum vitae to SFLS, we received a response from the principal interested in hiring Kerry, for either volunteer work or employment.  They want him to teach a class on essay writing, and they'd like me to give lectures (of course voluntary) as well.  Very cool!   We expect more to happen Monday and Tuesday, so maybe I'll write again one of those days.

Days 22-24: "Tasty" Wednesday but Not Much Else

Tuesday and Thursday, not much really happened.  They were "not much fun," as Dorothy Parker would say.  I just mainly stayed in and did prep, listened to music, and we got groceries from Eper Market (we've been ordering some groceries online--fun!).  Wednesday was the most eventful day, so that's what I'll focus on here.

Wednesday was interesting because Kerry and I went for a job interview.  We took a bus to SISU, and then Christine accompanied us to the SFLS (Shanghai Foreign Language School), where we were interviewed by a Principal Hang.  SFLS is apparently one of the most prestigious language schools in Shanghai.  The students, ages 11-17, have to take an entrance exam to get in.  I talked about my background a bit, but most of the interview focused on Kerry because he is the one who would have the most time and availability. The principal suggested Kerry could get paid to teach there, and perhaps even obtain a TEFL certificate.  If not, he could at least volunteer.  I would like to volunteer for them as well, in some capacity.  Both the principal and her assistant, Mario (he teaches Spanish so that's his "Spanish" name), were both very kind to us. Christine will send my c.v. to them and Kerry plans to send his resume as well.

Afterwards, we decided to go out for dinner at the Hongkou Plaza.  There's this restaurant that we'd been meaning to go to called Tasty (yes that's the real name).  The sign proudly proclaims, "STEAK.  WOW IT'S AMAZING.  LET'S TASTY.  LET'S ENJOY."  I can't make this up.

In spite of the English grammar issues there, the food was quite good: we both ate from the set price menu: only $24 per person for bread, salad, soup, steak, drink, and dessert.  Not bad!  For some reason the rolls were served with a side of grits, and I noticed that people ate the rolls with their forks, so I figured, when in Rome....  The soup was a "duck seafood" soup, with an egg yolk/chicken broth base--not too bad.  I also had a raw beef salad (like a beef carpaccio), a very peppery steak, a gelatinous iced apple tea, and cherry cheesecake.  All in all, an interesting--and not too pricey--place to dine. Calm atmosphere, not too crowded.  Overall, I think I liked it better than Good Fellas in the Bund.

Days 20-21: Academic Stuff

Sunday, I pretty much stayed in and did prep all day.  I had a lot of foot pain in my left foot (left side) from the museum trip, so I just decided to stay in and take things easy.  I read poetry and planned things out.  Not much else.

Monday was a better day, but it didn't get off to a strong start. I woke up at 6 am--Kerry made me oatmeal--to take the bus to campus so I could catch the shuttle to Songjiang.  While the bus came quickly, the bus ride took FOREVER, and I ended up missing my 8:15 am shuttle by 6 minutes.  I was crushed. So I went to the international office, where they were very kind to me: turned on the AC, gave me water, and just let me hang out.  They showed me how to access the wi-fi; my e-mail still can't be accessed as of this writing, though.  Around 10 am or so, I went to the cafeteria and had some pork and rice: quite good for only about 8 RMB (about $1.50).  Then I had another Hong Kong Iced Tea at SISU Coffee.  I had spilled some BBQ sauce on my white shirt in the cafetria and was wiping it down with some water.  The older lady behind the counter noticed and hurriedly began to wet some tissues down, get soap on them, and hand them to me.  She stood there, waiting over me, until the stain was out, and all I could say was "Xie xie!" (Thank you!).

So eventually the 11:30 bus arrives. A fellow from the US named Raymond chatted me up, and we talked all the way to the Songjiang Campus.  He is a retired lawyer and is teaching eight--yes, eight--classes at SISU.  "I don't really have much prep to do," he said.  "And mostly I just give midterms and finals."  He seemed very intelligent to me--his field is international law/affairs--but he also had a bit of that L.A. arrogance to him (that's where he's from).  I liked him though.  He even invited me to dinner--he mentioned that a bunch of guys get together to eat Italian, and he would invite me as well. I look forward to the invitation.

Raymond showed me where to get off the bus.  Two students met me at the School of English Studies to take me to my graduate Short Novels class.  One carried an umbrella (ostensibly, I suppose, to shield me from the sun), and she carried my briefcase.  The other carried the bag that I had for Yanmei's friend, Shenghong.  I reveled in the royal treatment.  There are NO students at Century who would do this.  :)   Anyway, the girls and I are walking around, and one of them gets a message on WeChat that we're going to the wrong classroom.  So I find out 10 minutes before my class starts where the class is actually being held: this is very typical of China--last minute changes!  They took me to a huge lecture hall.  I was expecting to see 20 students, but THERE WERE 87 STUDENTS IN THE ROOM.  I know because I counted. I still introduced myself, walked around the room, and let them ask me some questions.  The first student asked what Americans thought of Donald Trump; the second asked what I thought of feminism; and another asked me if I knew how to use chopsticks before I came here.  Fun questions, but they broke the ice a bit.  I talked about the class, and decided to forego my plan to have them sign up for presentations  I figured this was pointless at the moment.  I kept alluding to the fact that the class was so large, and at one point they began to laugh.  "What is it?," I asked.  "Professor, today we are just observing.  We are not registered yet," one young woman with a British accent sitting in the front row explained.  "Ohhhh....," I replied.  They all laughed.  I had no idea, obviously, and wished that someone had explained this to me.  I went on to lecture a bit on the novel as a genre, and then collected brief "intros" from them about their name, why they are here, and questions they had.  I'm not going to grade these--I'm not even going to look at them, honestly, until I know who is in the class.

After class, about 10 students surrounded me.  "Please professor," one implored.  "Would you open up more seats in your class?"  "Do you all want to take my class?," I quiered.  "Oh yes," they replied, and nodded their heads.  "I'll see what I can do," I said.  Later, I e-mailed Wang Xin asking if she could increase the enrollment to 30.  I think this is fair considering that I have only 15 in the other class, and SISU has been very, very kind to me so far.  On the way to the School of English Studies, I said Jin, one of the young women who led me around initially, "I hope they liked the class."  "Yes! They think you are nice!" She replied.  Later on I was inundated on WeChat with messages from students telling me how wonderful they think I am.  "I think you are lovely," proclaimed one. "Today you just like a super star! Every student likes you. Hope you enjoy your life and work here," Jin wrote me later on WeChat.  WOW.

In my office, I finally got to meet Shenghong, Yanmei's friend.  He seems very nice--a bit blunt, though.  He was telling me to show the students that I am harsh, and then they'd want to drop.  He has a point, but I was on such a high from people telling me how wonderful I am.  :)  But he also seems very nice, even inviting me and Kerry to a barebeque.

Then I went to my honors American Literature class.  I was a bit late because it took me awhile to find it.  The students actually seemed to like talking in groups much more than I thought.  Their in-class responses seemed a bit canned at times though, and they quoted from websites a bit too much.  I tried to discourage that.  They seem very nice and very bright though--looking forward to reading their response papers.

Then I took the bus back to the main campus; after that, I got a taxi home.  The taxi was kind of a bad experience--the guy didn't seem to be able to read the address I gave him: this is a new one, because I haven't had this problem before.  However, I said, "Shuidian Lu" (Shuidian Road), and he figured it out.  So I'm alive.

Came home, ate a lot of leftover spaghetti and salad, and went to bed soon after.  Mondays are long days.

Days 17-19: Two Days of Boredom, then Museum

Thursday and Friday we really didn't do much.  Thursday I gave some fresh peppers that we had leftover from our grocery order to a neighbor and I watched a couple movies (one on YouTube, and I watched Evita with Kerry on his computer--the TV is useless here). Friday the big event of the day was going to Starbucks and then going shopping at Century Mart.  I'm going to try to avoid Starbucks in the future--their green tea latte iced is about 36 RMB (6 dollars) here.  Insane!

At Kerry's behest, we decided to take a day trip to the China Art Museum on Saturday.  It took about 90 minutes to get there on the subway (25 minutes to walk to the subway, then 65 minutes on the subway itself).  We saw some exquisite Chinese art, mostly contemporary stuff: oil paintings, sculptures, photographs, you name it.  The highlight for me was an animation exhibit: they were showing old Chinese animated films from the Shanghai Animation Studios and had animation cells posted on the wall.  We watched an animated film in Chinese called Three Monks--very interesting stuff!  After the exhibit, we ended up going to the mall across the street for lunch: the menu of the restaurant was varied.  They had everything from Cantonese food to Western.  Kerry opted for the hot dog, and I opted for the tuna sandwich (it had egg whites in it, interestingly enough).  Then we came home (subway to the 745 bus to a walk home), made a stop at the ATM (my first--it was successful), and collapsed.  We even skipped dinner--sooooo much walking today!!

Here are some pics from the Museum:

Days 15-16: Lessons in Shanghai Transportation

Tuesday we didn't do much during the day--just some laundry and planning out of events--but in the evening we decided to go to an Italian place called Good Fellas, near the Bund, partly because we haven't been to that area yet.  We got a cab pretty quickly and it cost only about $5.  Then we strolled around the Bund at night--beautiful views, lots of people!  It reminded me of a combination of Vegas and New York.  Very modern, opulent buildings, touristy.  Then we went to the restaurant, which was good but I think a bit overrated.  (It was reviewed as the #5 restaurant in Shanghai...I think this is an overstatement.)  Kerry got a wonderful lasagna, but my ravioli was just okay.  I did like the beef carpaccio and their chocolate dessert, though.  It was interesting to be in a place that reminded me of  NYC restaurant: lots of music, English being spoken, intimate setting with not many tables. One of our waitresses was this beautiful, charismatic Russian woman who engaged us in conversation about the Russian alphabet and Prince.  On the way back, we had some issues.  Kerry encountered a beggar woman who grabbed his hand and wouldn't let go. He just kept walking and eventually she gave up. We encountered a taxi who at first said "no" to our request and then asked for 100 RMB to take us back. We were tired--it was 11 pm by this point--so we acquiesced--even though I quickly figured out that we were being ripped off.  Still, he got us back quickly (are there speeding laws in Shanghai? This guy didn't think so).

Today began with a trip to SISU to sign some paperwork in order to procure my residency permit.  I was only there 10 minutes but it took an hour to get there (I took the bus and there was a traffic jam), and then it took about 30 minutes to get back.  I am beginning to realize that since we don't have a car that there's only so much that we're going to get done during the day. I then had lunch and took a nap while Kerry went grocery shopping (another walk). Later, we decided to use the subway system and explore the city a bit. We ended up going to a rather decrepit-looking mall (I think it was an abandoned building!) that included about six rooms of adult sex toys.  The entire thing was a bit creepy, especially when a Chinese woman tried to explain sex toys to us in Chinese.  We made a fairly quick exit.  But, on a positive note, we did become more confident with both the bus and subway systems as a result of this experience.

Major lesson for the day: if you don't use a taxi, scooter, or car, it may take A LONG TIME to get where you want in Shanghai.

Day 14: My First Day of Teaching in China

Well, after today, I can honestly say I feel better about being here. I woke up to some bad news--my friend Jerry Foss (real estate agent extraordinaire) had passed away Sep. 9 due to brain cancer.  I will miss him terribly.  But still I had to proceed with my day.

Kerry accompanied me to the bus--30 minute bus ride, then a brief walk to campus.  There I grabbed a Hong Kong Milk Tea, chatted with a couple professors, and then jumped on the shuttle to the Songjiang Campus. At this point, Kerry left me to go shopping.

The shuttle ride took about 80 minutes....we arrived about 12:40.  It was pouring rain outside all day today. Professor Wang Jin was on the bus as well, and she walked with me to Teaching Building 5, where the School of English Studies is housed.  Along the way, I admired the beauty of the campus: absolutely gorgeous Victorian architecture, domed, cathedral-like library.  Unbelievable!  When I walked into the building, a bust of William Shakespeare greeted me. Carol was on campus and I was led to her office.  She informed me that I had an office on campus, too: yay!  All to myself with air-conditioning.

Soon after, we went to the dining hall for lunch. They have three floors of dining halls here, but the bottom two were closed by the time we got here. Again, the rain poured, and it was VERY hot today: about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  I chose the option of eating a "hot pot": mixing veggies and meats into one bowl.  The bowl comes with noodles, a cold soup, and a bowl of rice.  Huge amount of food for only about $3 in US money--amazing!!  I could eat only half of it.  (Part of this was because it was a tad spicey for me...)

I then picked up some sundries at the campus store, added money to my Campus Card in the library, and then went back to my office for a bit.  After the air conditioner was fixed, I relaxed for about 30 minutes and even had time to call Kerry.  I thought about using the bathroom, but I am not yet brave enough to deal with squat toilets, no toilet paper, no soap, and no paper towels. (I forgot these things at home!)

Carol accompanied me to the Admin. Building, where I was greeted by the Deputy Dean of the Honors College and her assistant.  They were so friendly, inviting me to sit down, rest, have coffee, etc...  They told me about the Honors College and the students.  Apparently the students were sent my handouts before class, so I didn't have to worry.  And an assistant had been appointed!  So I was ready to go!

When 4:30 arrived, I turned on the charm.  I told the students about myself, my lack of background with China and the Chinese language, and then took their questions about me and/or the United States. One girl asked if, since I had lived in Detroit, I had been to Eminem's house. One student wanted to know if I was on Facebook; apparently the students DO use Facebook here.  They know about VPNs and how to use them.

I then gave them a brief lecture on the Puritans to prepare them for the Puritan poetry they are reading for next week (Bradstreet and Taylor).  Some of them asked good questions during the lecture.  At the end, I had them write a letter in which they introduced themselves to me.  When I got on the bus to return to the main campus, I looked over these letters, and I was amazed: perfect grammar, wonderful sentence structure, intelligent insights. I was so impressed!  I went home happy.

After procuring a taxi home (note: my drive dropped me off in front of the wrong building, but I figured things out), I walked to my apartment.  Kerry was there starting dinner.  We had steak and salad: the salad was wonderful (fresh veggies), but the "steak" left something to be desired.  More like Salisbury than filet mignon.

All in all, a very good day.  I feel better about this place.

Days 12-13: Sickness and School Prep

On Day 12, when I woke up, my pain in my throat was even worse, so I decided to decline the luncheon invitation from Wang Xin and try to make a doctor's appointment. I found Shanghai East International Hospital on Google, and they answered the phone in English.  The receptionist told me I could come in at 10 am. Oddly enough, both Wang Xin and Carol called regarding my illness, and Carol volunteered (or perhaps she was coerced?) to take us to the doctor's.  It was a long cab ride on the freeway, and when we got there, we saw HUGE lines of people at the "Registration and Cashier" area.  So when we got to the front, they claimed that they had no record of my appointment, and the people behind me were yelling (in Chinese, which was somewhat scary!) for us to leave.  So we went to the information desk. Fortunately, about this time, I noticed that the receptionist had called and asked why I hadn't come in.  I told her that I was told there was no record of my appointment, but she informed me that I went to the wrong place.  All we had to do was literally turn in corner, and we found ourselves at this neat, clean, serene, and empty office.  It was like discovering heaven after the earlier fiasco.  They took me right away (didn't even weigh me!), and I was seen by one Dr. Rose--a very friendly 29-year-old British physician who had also lived in Australia. We chatted quite a bit; he was extremely affable. Also, it was nice to actually speak in English for awhile!!

I didn't do much after I came home other than some class prep. Leftovers for dinner. We tried to order pizza online but couldn't figure how to do so. One thing I am learning on this journey so far is the importance of KNOWING THE LANGUAGE. Literacy truly is power.

Today, Day 13, was more productive. Kerry and I went to SISU in order to get my ID Card. We made it on the bus okay, but promptly got lost soon after we got off the bus. A young Chinese man pointed me in the right direction (thank you, whoever you are!), and we located a river that leads to the campus. We were soaked with sweat by this point--it was about 94 degrees today--and were lead into a small room with couches. The Director of International Studies came in for awhile and talked to us both, which was somewhat unanticipated--it felt a bit like an interview. However, she eventually departed and were given some key information about orientation and such. I met several nice people in the office: Alex, an American who's been there ten years; Christine, another professor; and Guillermo, a Spanish instructor.  It made me feel more connected to the place.

When we went to Room 109 in the Admin. Building, we noticed a long line of students waiting to get their cards.  We waited for about 20 minutes in the interminable hear, and then a young man came up to me and said, "Teacher?"  I nodded, and then all of a sudden I was thrust into the loud, chaotic office, where they eventually took my picture and got me my card.

To reward ourselves from that experience, Kerry and I went to the Ciao Cafe, a nice cafe near the university that Carol had introduced us to.  We each got a thin-crust pizza, so we could take home leftovers: only about $22 for two (really nice) pizzas here.  After eating, we eventually procured a cab (although five of them flew by us before someone finally stopped, which worried me a bit).

We just chilled after we arrived home: did laundry, class prep, and such.  We had grocery successfully delivered, which was kind of fun!  Now we have all kinds of veggies and meats!  No dairy though--WAY too pricey here.  They even gave us extra veggies: eggplants, carrots, cucumbers, and even (yuck) peppers.  But it's the thought that counts.

Tomorrow--first day of class...wish me luck!

Days 10-11: Sick in Shanghai

I woke up on Thursday morning feeling sick--very congested in my throat, ears, and head.  But mostly in my throat. Consequently, I spent the entire day inside sleeping and drinking water and hot liquids. I worked on class prep, but that was about it.

Today, Friday, was more productive. Kerry and I took the bus with Carol over to the main campus and had a meeting with Wang Xin, the Deputy Dean, and I got a chance to meet two of the foreign teachers, who seemed very nice.  The meeting was mercifully very short and then we were lead to the SISU Guest House for "lunch."  The "lunch" proved to be more like one of the banquets that we had in Beijing: lots of dishes in the middle of the table, such as fish, shrimp with vegetables, pork, squash, and fruit for dessert--plenty of amazing stuff.  The room in which we dined was also opulent, with a brimming chandelier on the ceiling and elegant furnishings. Wang Xin, Carol, the two teachers, Kerry and I had a very pleasant conversation, and we all shared our impressions of Shanghai and also discussed the Chinese language a bit.

After the lunch, Kerry and I headed over to Carrefour in the Hongkou Plaza where he bought a beard trimmer (he left his in the US), and we obtained water and other sundries.  We have been going grocery shopping almost daily here, but it's really sort of necessary, considering we have no car and we had no household goods when we got here, except for a bar of soap in the shower.  We got home via taxi by ourselves for once (I was able to show the driver the address)--still very cheap, about 18 RMB (3 US dollars).  I napped a bit (still sick, of course), and then I did some class prep in the evening.

Tomorrow, we head back to the school for a meeting with the Dean!

Day 9: Medical Exam/Early Christmas in Shanghai

So today was pretty dull.  I had to get up early for a medical exam.  Carol came with us and the cab ride was about an hour to the building (only about $15 for the ride...cabs are SO cheap here it amazes me!!).  The exam was pretty straightforward, but they kept having me go from room to room to have one procedure or another.  So that was weird.  But it didn't take too long...only about one hour or so. Also, we learned that Kerry doesn't have to have a medical exam tomorrow after all, so we are very happy about this.  (At least, that's what we are being told today.)

After breakfast, we went to a Starbucks near the Century Mart.  The food was pretty good: here, the drinks are expensive (about $5-6 each) and the sandwiches are pretty cheap (about $3-4 each).  In the US, it's the opposite.  The most bizarre part of the experience is that we went upstairs, and we then proceeded to hear one CHRISTMAS song after another: "The Christmas Song," "Winter Wonderland," etc.  Keep in mind it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit today...

It was fun conversing with Carol during breakfast about Americans.  She asked a lot of questions about how Americans behave and we tried to fill her in.  She wondered about things like Halloween, American sense of personal space, road rage in the US, etc.  It was fun to be in the position of advisor after spending so much time these last few days in the position of advisee.

When we got back to the place, Carol cornered a maintenance man and had him check out our water again. They had a lengthy discussion (in Chinese, of course) about the situation. It does seem to me that the Chinese are very....well, loud.  It always makes me wonder if they are arguing, but they don't look upset to me. But they tend to have much louder voices than Americans, which makes me wonder if they are angry, yet they don't appear to be. Suffice it to say, apparently the shower faucet has to be in a certain position in order to work properly. However, when I tried to wash dishes this evening, I got no hot water in the kitchen sink. I wonder if part of all this is due to being on the 23rd floor.....

Kerry and I napped in the afternoon, and then we had spaghetti for dinner (no parm cheese!).  Then I worked on my class prep a bit. I am looking forward to the first day...just one class, the Honors undergrads...on Monday.

Days 7-8: Negotiating China with the Help of Carol

So in the last couple of days (yesterday and today), we've been dealing with a lot of little irritating issues with the apartment: the hot water doesn't work well, there's an unexplained hole in the living room wall, and we are really puzzled as to why they are having us live 20 minutes from a grocery store and 20 minutes from a subway stop.  I was sort of hoping that we'd be more centrally located to things.  This is a disappointment.

We also feel like sometimes my questions are not getting answered, or getting only partially answered. For example, I still have not been given directions on how to get to the campus where I'm supposed to teach, and class starts in five days.  I realize that this may be part of Chinese culture, but this is extremely frustrating to me.  As anyone who knows me will tell you, I like to plan out everything in advance.

On the plus side, our weiban, Carol, has been a wonderful guide and interpreter through China.  She has guided us through the streets and through the subway, taken us to an Italian cafe for dinner (GREAT food--near the university), shown me the main campus of SISU (quite impressive), and even helped us with phone issues (twice: the first time to get SIM cards and also on a return trip today after we realized that our American phones won't work with Chinese SIM cards).  She also took us to Hongkou Plaza twice, where we shopped at Carrefour, a Western grocery store that's bigger than a Wal-Mart but not as annoying.

Today I also spent some time planning out my first class: the Classic American Literature class for Honors students.  It's difficult to pare things down: the class meets only 90 minutes a week on Monday afternoons.  But it's been oddly enjoyable to work on class planning again.

Tomorrow I get my required physical exam.  I do not expect that this will be a fun process.  We'll see.

Days 4-6: From Beijing to Shanghai

On our last full day in Beijing, we got to climb the Great Wall of China.  They piled us into a tour bus and it took about an hour to get there.  We had the option to take a cable car, walk downhill 40 minutes, and then slide down on a toboggan, and this is what we chose.  (The other option involved going up on a ski lift, which wasn't great for my fear of heights; also, we we're allowed to walk around as much with this option.)  I really enjoyed the view on this option, but WOW was it a physical challenge for me!!  I was sweating and panting most of the way.  But at least I can say that I did it!!

Afterwards we were treated to yet ANOTHER dim sum buffet for lunch, and in the evening we were pretty much left to our own devices.  Mark Mahoney, one of the other Fulbrighters, invited us to get pizza at a place called The Cro's Nest (yes, that's how it is spelled) with him.  We ordered a large pizza to split, and it was HUGE--about 3x the size of pizza in the US.

The next day, we went to Beijing.  We took a car to the train station.  Getting our luggage on the train was a bit of a challenge--we had to pay a gentleman 150 RMB (about $25) to procure his assistance, but I suppose this was fair because we had 10 bags.  The train ride was pretty uneventful: I dozed off and on during it.  It was interesting to see some of the countryside.  The train made three stops before Shanghai--including one 20-minute one for seemingly no apparent reason.  But we finally made it, got into another car with Carol (our weiban), and drove to the apartment.  The Assistant Dean of the School of English Studies, Wang Xin, greeted us.  The apartment is very sparse, as expected.  The air conditioner works great, and the Internet works okay, as do the burners on the stove, but there is no oven and no dryer.  Our biggest issue as of this writing is that the hot water is almost non-existent.

Here is the view from our apartment window:

Wang Xin drove us to get some groceries: there's a place called Century Mart a short drive from us, along with a KFC and a Domino's (it's kind of a mini-mall there).  After she dropped us off, we located some household goods, but we were at a loss to find groceries.  Just when Kerry and I were in full panic mode, we saw Wang Xin again: she returned to help us shop, and then even got us into a taxi (which she paid for), and we got back to the apartment safely!  :)

Yesterday (Sunday), we did a grocery shopping excursion on our own: walked back to Century Mart, bought a lot of household items, and then took a cab home (Carol had written out the address of our place in Chinese, so I could show it to the cab driver--thank goodness!).  At home, we prepared our first dinner in the apartment: a stew with chicken breasts, spices, tomatoes, and lots of Chinese greens (which are SUPER cheap here--about 2 RMB (about 30 cents for a huge bag).  We also did most of our unpacking and then collapsed around 10 pm.