一月。Wudong Lu 武东路

It was really nice out today, so I went for a little walk around our neighborhood! I went into the side alleys that I always walk by on the way to school (it's okay umma, they're not dangerous.) and got to see the houses of people who don't live as luxuriously as others. These are a few photos from what I discovered:
#1: People hang their poultry on their clothing lines. I guess it would make sense since a lot of women in China are "全职太太" (Full Time Wifes) and they have to do house work (家务） and prepare dinner (晚饭) at the same time....







#2: There are no such thing as dryers in China. I'm sure it is possible to find them, but hardly anyone uses them. I was always curious as to how they got their clothes so far out onto the pole..but while I was walking by this housing complex, I saw a lady reeling the pole in to fetch the clothes at the end. Hopefully Shanghai doesn't have strong winds..because that would just be disastrous..19million people's clothing..flying around the city..=O


#3: More hanging clothes! I also saw hanging sausages and fish. This is one of the alleys I walked down..(see umma, it looks fine) I felt a little strange walking down through here because it was obvious that I was either lost or just a 外国人 （foreigner) exploring the streets.

I'm really glad I came across this street because in a city like Shanghai, most people think of high rise apartments, shopping, fancy dining, luxurious hotels and clubs, but we forget that behind the big city lights, there are people who live in rundown houses like these, or people who don't even have a roof to live under. I'll be honest and say that when I was packing for my semester in Shanghai, I was thinking about the nice clothes and accessories to bring because I thought that the places I would be going to be with friends would be the high-end places often featured in magazines or the internet about Shanghai; I thought it would be a completely different experience from my semester in Beijing.


The area around the apartment I live in is relatively run down compared to the inner city of Shanghai, but unless you take a turn down an alley off of the main road, you won't see homes like the ones in my photos. I've realized after my three weeks of being here how easy it is to live in Shanghai without remembering that China is still a developing country. It's so easy to stay in our own little foreign bubble-- If I wanted to, I could only visit the tourist attractions that cater to foreigners, hangout at the popular bars and clubs that only foreigners go to, only go to fancy restaurants that most local Chinese can't afford, but that's not what I came here to do! I'm going to try as hard as I can to stay away from the foreign bubble that a lot of students get pulled into because that's not the real China.







I think for my next entry I"ll talk about Chinese food! so..here's a little preview picture of foods you can find in China...:)

一月。复旦大学－ Fudan University

Fudan University!
This is the building we have daily Chinese classes in~ it’s about a 15 minute walk from our apartments. Every morning on our walk to school we see students buying 煎饼 (jianbing)- it’s a kind of breakfast wrap that consists with fried eggs, onion, cilantro, spices. I don’t have any pictures of it yet, but I will post a few once I buy one here! I haven’t tried Shanghai’s 煎饼 yet, but I hear the ones in Beijing are better! I’ll have to see how the ones here compare to the delicious ones I had in Beijing :)

So, my class schedule here is a little bit different from the schedule I had in Beijing. In Beijing, I had Chinese class in the morning and then Area Studies classes in the afternoon, but here.....it’s JUST..Chinese! I have Chinese in the morning & Chinese in the afternoon--pretty much 24/7. This is what my week looks like:

So far the morning classes have been pretty simple~~ during the first two periods, we take our daily quizzes, go over the chapter reading, and then learn grammar structures. In the third period we have a different teacher where we do more speaking-- we usually talk about topics that the chapter reading was about, like men & women equality, our future goals, holiday celebrations, etc.

The Intensive Class is a little bit more difficult because the grammar book we use is all in Chinese with no translations! The vocabulary we cover in class is also a lot more difficult..we’ve been learning health words like: pain killer (止疼片), side effect (副作用), to fracture (骨折）..等等等...at least if I ever need to be hospitalized in China (hopefully not) I’ll be able to communicate a little bit with the doctors! that’s all for now :)

一月。The Beginning

Welcome to 同和国际留学生村

This is where I will be living for the next four months in Shanghai. The apartments are much nicer than I had expected, but it will take a little bit of work to “cozy” it up! I’m sharing a three bedroom apartment with ms. Wang Min! and our chinese roommate “ViVi” --we have a kitchen, living room, two bathrooms and an awkward one meter long hallway by the entrance..Here are a few pictures of my new home! (post beautifying it of course!)

So here is where I live! You are welcome to come and visit! but only if I like you. :) hehe just kidding! I"ll update another post later!