The train ride to Shanghai was about eleven hours. My classmates and I were put into the first class, soft sleeper beds, which are very nice. I had no problem sleeping the whole train ride and could actually move. Also, the conductor told me “no smoking” maybe ten times in English, and I did not hear her say it once in Chinese.
The purpose of our class trip to Shanghai was primarily to see the Expo. The Shanghai Expo is the world’s 2010 fair. I think I read that there are about two hundred countries represented and fifty corporations. A few of the pavilions I visited were Coca-Cola (did you know that Coca-Cola has a mascot?), the Space Pavilion, SAIC-GM, Norway, Romania, Canada, Australia, Czech Republic, Mexico, Italy, Nepal, Chile, a few more countries that I cannot remember, and a bunch of exhibits on cities. I also visited the United States Pavilion, which seemed to be pretty popular. Many of my classmates told me that this was the only one that they wanted to see. It consisted of three videos all dealing with “the American spirit,” and it was a bit lame. The SAIC-GM pavilion was absolutely amazing (and well worth the three hour line). I saw some really advanced technology that I have never seen before. I also visited a pavilion that contained a lot of historical information, and there were Chinese artifacts from 10000 BC on display. Interestingly enough, my classmates thought it was “no big deal.” All of the pavilions were well designed and aesthetically pleasing, but the lines were outrageous. The line for Saudi Arabia was seven hours. Some of my (very crazy) classmates were brave enough to wait in this line, but considering it was maybe one hundred degrees outside, I decided to skip it.
On the Friday of our trip, my class visited a high school in Shanghai. It was incredibly boring, and no one wanted to be there. It was interesting to see that the school had twenty Ping-Pong tables, though. I had to sit through a random math class, and they were learning vectors. It was horrible. The school also decided to not let us sit in desks, so we crouched on these tiny stools in the back of the classroom.
After visiting the school we were given time to explore Shanghai. Two of my classmates and I went to the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC). The SWFC is the tallest building in China, and it apparently has the highest observatory deck in the world. The elevator ride to the top was much longer than I expected, but as expected in China they decided to pack one trillion people into one square inch. Shanghai is really a gigantic city. The city spans miles and miles in all directions, and the edges of the city are not visible. After visiting the SWFC I walked around Nanjing Road for a bit. I’ve been told that Nanjing Road is famous for shopping. It was fun to explore the area with some of my classmates.
The hotel we stayed in isn’t legally allowed to host foreigners, so every time I entered the hotel, I was supposed to sneak up into my room. Well, one night when I was running up to my room, the man at the front desk spotted me. He started screaming in Chinese, and of course I had no idea what was going on. A few of my classmates started screaming, and then my teachers started screaming. I obviously had to leave the hotel (how many people can say they’ve been kicked out of a Chinese hotel?), and I slept the next two nights on the street. No, just kidding. I found another hotel a whole block away.
Luckily for me, the new (and much cleaner) hotel had an amazing duck stand in front of it. I think I ate a whole duck one night. I also tried KFC, and it was pretty fantastic. I think I’ve now had Chinese KFC more times than American KFC.
The train ride back to Tianjin was exactly the same as the train ride to Shanghai, except I watched the worst scary movie I’ve ever seen with three of my classmates. I returned to Tianjin Sunday morning, and on Monday my first week of school started. I missed a few of my classes to go take a medical examination to complete my residency permit. The medical examination was very strange. They required that I get x-rays and an ultrasound done, among many other tests.
Friday was teacher’s day. They put me in a video because they wanted to get a shot of a foreigner. I had to say some random stuff about teachers in English, and I also had to speak a little Chinese. Apparently the video is going to be shown to the whole school, but considering that teacher’s day already passed and I didn’t see the video, I think they might have been lying.
Today is the last day of a four-day weekend. The World Economic Forum is currently going on in Tianjin, so the government thought it would be a great idea to close down all the streets. With no streets people obviously can’t get to school, so we have these two days off. Unfortunately, I now have to go to school next weekend to make up for these lost two days. This school week (is it still called a week if it’s over seven days?) ahead of me is ten days long. No break.
Random observation: Louis Vuitton is everywhere. Don’t ask me if it’s real or fake, but it’s everywhere. Shoes, suitcases, pillowcases, seatbelt covers, and taxi floor mats… everywhere.
Also, today is my one-month anniversary of being in China! I don’t really know what to say other than I’ve eaten more eggs in this one month than in the rest of my life. I think I’m going to go to the store now and treat myself to some new junk food. Until next time, enjoy your weekend (I won’t!)!
