Recent Happenings

World Financial Center in Pudong-had dinner here

Oriental Pearl Tower

Hot pot restaurant

Lupu Bridge

Lupu Bridge

Picture of a picture of lupu bridge

About to start climb

Foggy view from partway up

Foggy view of French world expo pavilion

Fired dumplings at Bellagio Cafe

Awesome mango shave ice dessert

Metro City

More metro city

    Sorry for the lack of recent blog posts.  I have been very busy and not very many blog-worthy events have occurred.  Last week after class on Tuesday, we ventured to the Metro City area and checked out a huge fancy mall with Western brands.  We had dinner on the top floor at a fancy Chinese restaurant called the Bellagio Cafe.  Highlights included a large variety of frozen drinks and the most amazing mango shaved ice dessert (see picture).  The mango was incredibly sweet and juicy, albeit likely injected with sugar.  On Friday after class, we ventured to the  People Square area for some shopping and manicures.  There was even a Hershey's store!  I then went back to Yu Yuan and did some gift shopping for family and friends.  We even had our first encounter with people who wanted to take pictures with us.  Some young guy approached us and said in perfect English, "Excuse me, can I take photo with you?"  That then started a trend and several others followed, including a mom shoving her little girl towards us.  For dinner, we decided to try hot pot, which in my opinion was fondue gone horribly wrong.  We ordered two "pots"-one hot and spicy and one mild.  The hot and spicy was very much so-perhaps too much so.  I accidentally got a little spice ball of some kind in a bite of food and my mouth was on fire afterward.  The mild one had a huge bone floating in it, which was also odd. 
     On Saturday, we had a group outing with our program to do the Shanghai climb at Lupu Bridge.  Unfortunately, the weather was really foggy/hazy, so we could not really enjoy the view from the top. It was cool to climb stairs along the arch of the bridge though.  After the climb, we went to a large market in the Museum of Science and Technology metro stop.  After waiting in line for over 20 minutes at KFC, we did some cool shopping.  The highlight was definitely the pearl market.  We had way too much fun there if you know what I mean.  The prices were really low and it was fun to bargain because the vendors spoke decent English.  We all got gifts for people and enjoyed buying a few things for ourselves too.  On Saturday, my addiction to counterfeit DVDs also began.  There is a store right next to our complex that sells all kinds of American movies and tv series.  They also only cost 10 yuan, so it is kind of addicting.  Yesterday, we went on a trip to the Propaganda Poster Art museum with our culture and society teacher.  It was so interesting to see all of the history that I have read about propogandized in the posters.  The posters started with the Korean War in the early 50s and then continued through the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.  Many glorified peasant families and showed fat babies to symbolize and abundance of food.  Others glorified the red guard and the sending of young people to the countryside.  There were also anti-imperialist/anti-American posters.  Overall, it was very cool.  Afterward, we decided to check out Nanjing road.  I then had dinner in Pudong in the World Financial Center at a Canadian restaurant (yea pancakes!).  It was really neat to walk around the business district and see the WFC and the Oriental Pearl Tower up close.  Today, a large group of us went to Morton's steakhouse in the IFC mall.  There is a great happy hour special there.  If you buy a drink, you get unlimited free filet mignon sandwiches on really good homemade bread.  The sandwiches are really expensive, so it was great.
      Tomorrow morning we leave for Beijing bright and early at 4:45!  I am super excited and can't wait to blog about all of the great things we will see including the Lama Temple, Forbidden City, Hutong area, 798 art district, the Jinshanling portion of the Great Wall, and the Panjiayuan Market.  We are flying there and taking a new high speed 5 hour train ride back.  We will also be trying Peking duck tomorrow night for dinner!