Hello again from Genband-Shanghai! Josh and I had an amazing weekend and we're here to tell you all about it. The excitement began Friday night when Josh came with my host family to spend the night. Our first stop was dinner at a local resturant which was very good after a long work week. (So much free time is surprisingly exhausting) After dinner we got in the car and drove to downtown Shanghai to visit the huge TV tower which apparently has an amazing view of the whole city. However when we arrived, we didn't have much time to spend at the tower and we decided that it wasn't worth paying to go up for only a few minutes. So we decided to walk along the river that divides the city into two parts. The view from the side of the water was breathtaking. The Shanghai skyline was gorgeous and the yachts in the river were all lit up in verious neon colors. Some of the buildings actually have TV screens along their sides which caused Josh and me to do a little double-take. One moment we would see the windows of an office building and a few seconds later there would be an advertisement. My host family didn't understand why we were so amused but we thought it was pretty neat. After spending about a half an hour by the river, we headed back home. We got home at about 9:00 and watched two episodes of "The Apprentice." (My host mom loves American TV shows, so she has a ton of shows on DVD) After watching the show and eating a few slices of watermelon, we went upstairs to get ready for bed. Josh and I were actually quite tired so we were pretty eager to get some rest. Afterall, we had a whole weekend ahead of us.
We woke up on Saturday at about 8:30. We took showers and headed downstairs for breakfast with my host family. They had put out quite the spread for us. Breakfast was comprised pancakes, papaya, pears, and a traditional Chinese pastry. After a very filling breakfast, we set out for the underground market to buy a few gifts for our friends and family. The underground market is essentially a mall, but instead of big stores there are just a bunch of small shops. (you can also bargain for everything in China, so going back home and not being able to do so for a pair of shoes is going to be tough. Actually, I'm not sure what the Footlocker salesman would say if I tried to cut a deal with him.) After about an hour and a half Josh and I were finished shopping and were ready to head out. Our next stop was Ohel Rachel Synagogue. Josh's grandmother is from Shanghai and she went there about sixty years ago. The government only allows visitors in the actual synagogue one day a year: the second Saturday in June. We'd say that we got pretty lucky there. We walked around inside the main building. They had an exhibition about the Jews who had used it over the past years. After visiting the Synagogue we were pretty hungry so we went to a noodle resurant in the area which ended up being very good. After lunch we went to see the General Electric office where my host dad works. The office is quite large and very nice. They have a gym and ping pong area where we played for about an hour. We went out for a quick dinner and went back home to watch more of "The Apprentice." After a few more episodes we went upstairs and crashed. Overall it was much more exciting than our average day at the office and it was really nice to get out and about for the day.
Sup? it's Josh I'm going to take over for the rest of the weekend. So yeah, we did what all teenagers do on sundays: slept in! Well comparitively at least, we awoke at nine thirty ish, not too bad (expecially considering the sun comes out between 4:30 and 5 here... still haven't figured that one out *shrug*). So yeah we showered and had another huge breakfast, consisting of some pretty delicious fried eggs, fruits of different sorts, toast, and cheese. Yes, I know I was surprised too. Cheese! See, they don't usually eat cheese in China. Bonnie bought a large block of Mozzarela and had to come to Michael and I for isntructions. We of course told her it was best on pizza, but she has assured herself that pizza is beyond any normal persons cooking skills (yeah, it's not that hard, I know =). So instead she cut it up and we put it on toast. Well Michael and I did, because as I said before, the average Chinese person wants nothing to do with cheese. Milk is cool. Just don't add any cheese cultures.
We hopped in the car and headed to Xintian's (my bachelor of a host) place. The first thing that came out of his mouth happened to be "I left the key in the apartment." Oh well! So what do you do when you don't have a key. Eat, apparently. So an hour and a half after that lovely feast we had for breakfast Michael and I found ourselves in front of seven more excellent tasting Chinese dishes that even our growing boy stomachs couldn't accept. But never fear, we got out of that perdicament. Right as we realized that we were way too full to swallow another bite of this amazing feast that our gracious host had just spent his own paycheck on nothing short of a miracle happened: I finally communicated the idea of take out! It's not that hard, I know. I even know how to say it in Chinese. But prior to this mindblowing moment, whenever I asked to take out leftover food from a resturaunt, no matter how many languages and scentence patterns I used, it didn't happen. One time I was told that you could only take out pizza. A couple other times my idea was accepted but never followed through on. Who knows why. The point is, it worked this time! We wasted not one morsel of that scrumtious feast, leaving the resturaunt with arms full of take out containers and our consciences assuaged.
But we still hadn't found a key, right? We asked Xintian how he managed to lock the door from the outside without the key, and he told us he didn't he just closed it. So we said ok lets go upstairs to the apartment then. And he said that we couldn't open the door. And we said "why not? Did you lock it?" Nope. He didn't lock it. I don't get it. Communication block. If only I had learned the words for break the door down.
Xintian, however, had an idea. He wouldn't tell us what was going on, so we followed him into a taxi that sped (on the wrong side of the road, stopping a good ten feet into every intersection we encountered a red light at) to an apartment complex that turned out to be his landlord's. The day was saved! yay!
Next we decided to head out and see the center of the cultural life of Shanghai, what some may call the downtown area. Nanjing street is actually more of a square with streets all around it, lined by the fanciest hotels known to mankind, smothered in a swarming mass of people going every which way. We encountered a public information and donation gathering effort for the earthquake, some exellent bubble tea, ferrari and porsche dealers, the normal handful of fake Rolex dealers, and more people than frequent New York's theater district on an average friday night. And that was only the start. Turn down Nanjing North street and you reach Nanjing Walk, completely closed off to all vehicles except for the large, trackless passenger trains that weave in and out of the masses of people shopping in some of the fanciest stores I've ever layed my eyes on. No cheap tricks here, or the dirt cheap prices that usually accompany them. Hagendaz, the only ice cream dealer in the area was selling their smallest size for 47 yuan; a normal cone at the local ice cream joint is three yuan. And they had business! My empty pockets and money concious mind wouldn't let me buy socks at one of these stores, let alone the fancy track suits and designer jeans that hung in store windows, so we just walked up and down gaping at this super modern and decidedely western economic monster of a street. When we got to the end we hopped on one of the formerly mentioned trains, painted bright blue with a goofy looking locomotive on the front. The picturesque wealth was broken by one thing that brought the world back into perspective - as the train was starting up, a crippled, ancient looking man came to the window and stared vacently in our direction, eyes pleading. Capitalism at it's finest, folks! *wan smile*
We then headed for a smoke filled bar where we played pool with Xintian and one of his friends for a couple hours, before we had our next shocking experience. The "vegetable market." Doesn't sound to horrid does it? If only they had named it properly: "the vegetable and animals-that-are-slaughtered-painfully-before-your-very-eyes-so-you-can-buy-them-cheaply-and-make-a-super-tasty-feast-with-their-organs market." More repulsive sounding? Because that was the reality. I'm going to go into detail here, so if you don't want to hear gross things, skip to the next paragraph. Seriously I write vividly. I do well in English class, ok? This is going to be gross. Anyway, first there were all the body part lying everywhere. Pig legs, every organ I know from I'm not sure what animal, lungs, kidneys, stomachs, livers, gross! And then there were the fish, swimming peacefully in their tanks, until, that is, a customer approached, and the shop keeper obligingly picked one up and chopped it's writhing body in two, spilling vicesera everywhere. The cooks in the fancy resutraunts in Maine where you get to pick your lobsters from a tank usually don't kill them on the table in front of you. Not that I eat lobster, it's not kosher ; ). So back to the grossness. The worst park hasn't come yet. The eels. Oh my, the eels. The eels were held in a shallow thank. The first thing I noticed was that they were all lying on top of each other, and they were lying in their own blood. But they were still alive. They were thrashing about trying to avoid the large pair of scinister looking scissors that kept decending from the sky to attempt to chop off their heads. If only the scissors had been true to their aim. Instead they just stabbed the eels, adding more to the pool of blood they swam in. And peopel just bought them and put them in a bag and went about their buisness. I meanwhile wanted to throw up when I smelled the place; forget my feelings after I saw that.
So yeah, if you just skipped to here, from above, know that we bought some meat and went on our way. We went home, where Xintian and friends cooked an amazing dinner (I was super happy I'm a veggie kid). We sat around a small table on big comfy couches and had a relaxing end to our weekend.
Now we're back at work, and the days over. I'm out of here. stay tuned for more. I miss you mommy and daddy!
