Week Eight & Nine: Museums, Markets, Movies, Oh My!

Hi, welcome back! Honestly, October has just blown by, and it has been a wonderful month. I left you at the beginning of the second weekend in October. On Saturday the 13th, I slept in and relaxed. Then my friend, Faith, invited me to get my nails done on Yanchang Rd. So, I got ready for the day and headed out. There are many different types of stores and restaurants on Yanchang Rd. Mostly small clothing boutique stores, eateries, and drink stands. Many of these places are walk-up and order style. They don’t actually have an inside section for serving food. Lots of people prefer to order at the counter and take their food to-go. Anyhow, Faith and I ended up going to the place she went before. The shop owners were very kind and did an excellent job on both of our nails.

Then, we went to one of my favorite places to eat and got some noodles. We chatted about our thoughts and feelings thus far on our study abroad experience. It was comforting knowing someone felt in a similar position as me. After we finished, we headed back to the dorms, and I got ready for the night ahead. I wanted to look extra glam, so threw on some make-up and borrowed my roommate’s jumpsuit. A group of us met at our usually meeting spot, West Gate, just several steps away from the double dorms. We all hustled onto the metro and made our way towards the Bund. After some time of getting the directions confused with another location, we finally reconvened with the others who were already waiting in this long line. So we grabbed our tickets from the booth and traded a few tickets so we could all be on the same boat. Our line eventually began to move, and we all made our way outside to board the boat. It was decently sized with three floors and room for over hundreds of people. When stepping into the boat, we were greeted by a few crew members who directed us to keep walking. There were little tables and chairs set up inside, with a drink and snack bar just before exiting onto the outside deck area. Then, as I turned the corner to head up the stairs, I was faced with the beautiful view of the Oriental Pearl Tower which was glowing purple.

The top floor was all outside, and it hands down the best view of the city. If you just stood in the middle of the boat and slowly made a 360-degree turn, you would see the tall city buildings glowing and flashing with their neon-colored signs and the water reflecting the vivid colors of the cityscape. We began moving, and we got different perspectives of the city. Deng Sheng was my photographer and helped me take some fun photos. I made my way down to the first floor where I was closer to the water, and the smoke from the engine was more apparent. Of course being the foreigners that we all were, we basically spent the whole time taking photos of each other. As the hour boat ride dwindled down, we asked someone to take a huge group photo of us. Other Chinese people were staring and snapping some pictures of their own. This was normal, and often times we felt like celebrities.

The boat reached the docking area, and we all filed off. Many of us were hungry, so we made our way back into the city and down a road with little shops and food stands. Eventually, we found ourselves at the Chenghuang Temple, but it was closed except for this on baozi spot. Baozi or bao is a classic Chinese dish of stemmed buns usually filled with some type of meat. I ordered some pork baozi and scarfed them down. By that time, it was about 10:00 PM. But the night did not stop there. The group split up at that point, some of them went back home, and the rest of us including me we going to head to a club called SOS to celebrate one of our friend’s birthday. We grabbed some waters and requested a taxi. By 11:00 we arrived at the club. Many of the clubs are dark, but all their signage is neon and colorful. The girls and I found a locker to place our belongings and made a quick bathroom stop before entering the dance floor. Just outside the entrance a glass wall and small swimming sharks swam around just behind the glass.

And for the second time, my heart began to thud as we walked towards the front of the club, the music pounded against my chest. Others were already there, so we greeted them and grabbed our drinks. Unfortunately, the music was techno and getting pretty repetitive. I didn’t feel like I could dance to this music, but Chinese people enjoy techno. Three of us girls politely said our goodbyes and decided to head to another club. Helen said Revolucion was a popping club with way better music. So we hopped in a taxi and traveled a short distance.

Inside, the club was PACKED. And I mean packed. Bodies were basically squished together. At first, I was kind of skeptical because there seemed to be no room to move. But Helen led us to the side of the club where the DJ was stationed, and it was a little less crowded. So I loosened up and started to dance. And she was right, the music was amazing. They played all of the good hip-hop dance songs. There also seemed to be a lot of other foreigners which was a good sign. People were usually nice and joined our dancing circle from time to time. It was such an enjoyable night.

The next day I just hung out at my dorm room, caught up on sleep and prepared myself for the upcoming week. That Monday seemed to be a sleepy Monday for everyone. Eventually, we all woke up and got our butts out of our rooms and to one of our favorite places to study. We all practiced our Chinese together. On Tuesday, October 16, I ate lunch at the cafeteria and played several games of Uno and cards with some friends that evening. On Wednesday, I went with a friend to Pudong to submit some paperwork. My parents will be visiting me at the end of November to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I will show them around Shanghai, and then we will travel to Chiang Mai to celebrate the lantern festival and stay at Joy’s House, the guesthouse we roomed at last night. To travel outside of China, I need to obtain an exit visa, thus, my reason to submit some paperwork to get my permit. After a few hours, I met up with my friend Arantza, and we grabbed some groceries and ate at the dining hall for dinner. The next day, I went back to the fake markets with Arantza. I was able to find some more cool stuff and some great souvenirs for my friends and family.

Side note: That day walking back to campus from the market was the day I finally felt at peace with where I am in my study abroad journey. I can call this place my home now, and that has never felt so great.

That night, a group of us from Chinese sat down at the cafeteria and went over a list of 100 sentences that we needed to know for our oral exam the next day. Luckily, I did well on it!! On Saturday, I went with a group of friends to a cool starry night museum near the Bund. It was one of my favorite places I’ve been to! Inside, there were many different rooms and fun photo spots. As soon as you walked in, there were big mirrors that funnily reflected yourself. Just beyond the mirrors was a pathway where the walls and ceiling were covered with different colored fake flowers. There were some funny exhibits along the way too. But my favorite room was the stringing lights that changed color. As you stepped into the room, you were instantly hit with a numerous amount of vividly color staining lights and majestic music playing from the stereo. It really felt as though you were one with the sky. My two friends and I stayed their the longest, taking photos and relaxing. The museum was small but packed with beautiful little exhibits and perfect photo opportunities. It was worth the trek.

The next day, Chris and I took a Didi to Baoshan Campus around 3:30 PM to cover for our friend who teaches English to a group of kids. We met up with Deng Sheng who would help translate and explain our lesson in greater detail. We arrived at someone’s home and greeted by the house owners who welcomed us inside. We took our shoes off, headed upstairs and introduced ourselves to the eight children. We first had them repeat a script in English and then had each kid read all of it alone, and we corrected their pronunciation along the way. Then, we wrote the commonly mispronounced words on the board and had them say it until it stuck. Lastly, we read a children’s book about animals for the remaining time together. It was an exciting experience, to say the least. Their English was very good for their age. Although they were full of energy and yelled a lot, it was enjoyable.

The three of us walked back to the central part of campus and grabbed dinner. Tom and Chloe, some other language partners met up with us, and we did karaoke, which is very popular among Chinese students. Each karaoke room comes with a long table, a seating area, two microphones, a T.V. screen, and a hanging disco ball. We sang the night away alternating between English and Chinesesongs. Finally, they language partners sent Chris, and I home in a taxi, and we called it a night. When I got home, my roommate and some other friends were watching a movie, so I joined in and relaxed the rest of the night.

On Monday, classes resumed as normal. My weeks typically involve the same activities. Mondays are my longest days because I have two classes. So that night, I just had one of my really good friend Elizabeth and Monica come over to chill, eat snacks, and do sheet masks. On Wednesday night, the girls all cuddled up in our room, and we did another wine and candy movie night. We watched Hush (a suspenseful movie) and then to lighten to mood, we watched the first two Shreks. On Thursday, my friend Elena and Elizabeth and I took the metro for about one hour to the Shanghai Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful. There was barely anyone there, and the temperature outside was comfortable for walking a lot. The garden itself was pretty large, with many surrounding green trees. The pictures really capture the garden better than words, here are some of my favorite snapshots from the garden. I was also reminded how friendly Chinese people can be when we ran into an older couple, and the lady wanted to take pictures with us.

Friday was another busy day! After Chinese class, a group of us took the metro to Tianzifang (The French Concession) which is an artsy market with lots of gifts, jewelry, food and lots more. This was my third time going, and every time, I find something new. I spotted a bear restaurant and just had to check it out. To get there, you had to club some narrow stairs. Once at the top, you were surrounded by shelves of teddy bears of all sizes and colors. At one corner a couple big bears were perched on chairs, and I took a picture with them! Eventually, everyone was getting hungry. I had been in the mood for pho ever since I left for China. So I was determined to find some. After searching for some time and almost giving up, my friend Frida spotted a Vietnamese restaurant with the words “pho.” I smiled and immediately rushed inside. The pho was actually pretty good for being in China! When we got back to our usual metro stop, we split up and said our goodbyes. Elizabeth, Elena, and I made one last stop to the grocery store and little did I know, it would be my most stressful situation I experienced since coming here.

Everything was normal until we were starting to ring up our groceries. I paused momentarily, realizing my wallet was no longer my hand. And as I reached for my backpack in hopes it would be there, it wasn’t. So I began to panic. Elizabeth tried to keep me calm. She said she’d ring up the groceries and that I should quickly retrace my steps. So Elena and I rushed up and down the store looking up and down for my wallet. No luck. We decided to try and tell one of the employees our situation. My Chinese still isn’t good enough to have understood what they were saying, but Elena told me that they wanted to call the police. My eye widened, but at that point, I didn’t know what else to do, so I shrugged and let them help. One of the employees walked around the grocery store with me one more time to try and find it. And out of pure luck, as we were heading down to the main area to meet the police, an older man who spoke English asked me what was wrong. I was so thankful because he helped me translate and told me what I needed to do. Once the police arrived, he asked if I wanted to file a report. At that point, I knew I needed to cancel all my cards, but I didn’t think it was worth reporting because there wasn’t too much cash in my wallet. For the last time, the officer led us back to the cash register area. As we were walking back to the last place I remember holding my wallet, an employee ran after me and waved me back to the desk area. My heart lifted because I knew right then and there that someone had found it. She asked for my ID to make sure it belonged to me, and my wallet was returned shortly after. I then had that feeling of relief right after a stressful situation. I was fortunate and thankful that one of the workers found it!

That night we celebrated with chocolate and a movie. We are almost at the end, I promise. On Saturday, I slept in. When I woke up, I was super hungry, so I met up with Arantza, we grabbed some food, and I helped her revise her resume for a job she was applying for, Then, for the fun of it, I went to a newly opened lash and nail place and got eyelash extensions. I knew the place was safe and reliable, and I was always curious about how they would look. For $33, I could not pass up that offer!! The rest of the day I spent inside, working on my history paper with a friend and chatting about life.

And finally, we arrive at today. Sunday night, October 28th. I cannot believe how fast this month flew by. A few of us packed our books and headed to a spot to eat and do Chinese homework. I finally went back to dance class tonight! I have a lot of new movies I need to practice. This month has been wonderful. I’m so thankful the friends I have made here. A few of us are already planning to hang out when we get back to the states. I’ve still got a few more big things planned. In November, I’m going to Disney, and my parents are coming to visit. But for now, I will end this post here. Goodnight, and Happy Halloween!!