Sorry for my lack of posting this past week, I'm trying to keep up!
That past week i've been a tourist: passport hidden inside my jacket, frequent attempts at being scammed "hey lady, want a scarf? purse? We have Chanel, i'll give you a good price" and yes looking lost, all those things aside it has given me something to compare my time in Shanghai with so far. Since my campus is outside of the city in a very college area most people here don't speak english and everything is not disgustingly overpriced so I kinda feel like a local. Having this opportunity to see Shanghai beyond a tourist level has given me the opportunity to explore places and make my own opinion rather than regurgitating the information that a tour guide gave me to people when they ask me about my trip. From what i've seen so far it's very obvious that many things in China are not as they seem. For example, the movie To Live (a movie i highly recommend everyone watch, and yes it's in subtitles but if you watch it with my dad he'll be sure to read them out loud, good luck Megan, Molly and Anne Marte), which is about a working class families troubles during the 1940's- 1970's the time of Mao's rise and rule, is banned by law in China, however most young people have seen it and will openly talk about it. So clearly when we hear in the west the government controls everything they do on paper but i think there is more freedom than we expect. Like i said in my last post, I'm by no means an expert on the subject and am not trying to make any sort of generalization this is just "my version". Also, one of my professors was talking about how when she asks people in the United States what they think about China, red is the first thing that comes to mind. There is so much more to this giant country than communism, This same professor had us read 2 articles about westernization in China. The first was basically a tour guide to Shanghai that made everything seem like the economy thrived being completely overwhelmed by the western invasion of material goods, while the other article contrasted it by talking about the lives of people who live off of Nanjing Road (a big road for shopping in Shanghai) and how they keep to their local markets and still maintain lives away from tourism. i think we all can relate to being a local in a tourist area, over Christmas in the mountains is a perfect example. You're surrounded by the obvious tourists (think fur coats, layers of make up to ski, starter jackets and ITB's aka in the book ski pants) but its still the same mountain for locals, they still go to their same restaurants and don't do all of their shopping in town like the tourists. There is a tourist side to the mountains that involves extravagance and a local side that is like the life of any other normal person. So basically my point it that Shanghai is not a place that can be stereotyped, there is such a wide range of culture.
Take a look at the tag of the clothes your wearing right now or the electronics your using they probably say "made in China" somewhere am i right? This comes in handy when you want to get those expensive clothes made and your already in China! On Friday i went to a fabric market that could do just that. Since tons of clothes are made in China they know how its done so we were able to take pictures from magazines. You would have never guessed that behind the hanging plastic strips that function as a door would be a world of fabric wonder! Also along the lines of the outside not being what it seems that seemed to be the theme of People's Square. Think of Time Square but no cars and brighter! The whole blonde hair and blue eyes screamed tourist so i was bombarded by people asking me if i wanted a rolex or bag. We gave into one of them and quickly followed a man down and alley, through a hidden door to a room full of designer bags, wallets, pens and watches you could want! Now i may have seen one too many horror movies (what up CP and Katie) so i was slightly paranoid and was looking for all the escapes possible, making sure no one was trying to rob us and making sure to stake out my spot next to the door for a quick get away, like in all the movies of course! Mom, Dad you guys can quite holding your breathe right now we survived! Navigating People's Square was much easier than in my neighborhood, most of the people spoke english and i saw some arian representation heyo! That night a group of Alliance students got to experience KTV (Karaoke) bar. They need these in the US it was awesome! We rented out this HUGE room and had it all to ourselves. Most of the Western students called it a night around 2am but our Chinese roommates were going strong till 6am! Our room was in the back so we had to walk past a whole bunch of rooms to get back and we saw everything, people with shirts off rocking out, girls stumbling down the hall with their boyfriends following after them, all while enjoying listening to each other singing (or in my case speaking off tune to a rhythm). Back in the United States if i went to bed after 2am i was proud but they take staying out till the break of dawn to a whole new meaning!
As always hope you are all doing well i love reading your posts/e-mails/skypes!
xoxo
Aryn
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Little Things
So right now I'm sitting in my friends apartment trying to plan vacations. As i've told you all before everything in Shanghai is very inexpensive, so i've gotten into the mindset and become very frugal! We are trying to go visit (参观） Beijing, now if we went soon the tickets would be $83 roundtrip but it would be freezing, its below 0 C there right now. But if we waited till it was better weather it would be $100 and now the debate is do we want to freeze just to save $17, Mom, Dad, Pari aren't you impressed!?
I can't believe i've only been here for 8 days, it feels like so much longer, in a good way of course. I know my route to school and all of the important stops (convenient store for snacks and the bakery for snacks!), i can make my way through a vegetable market successfully and I'm able to use a taxi! Now that i've mastered the basic survival skills I'm able to observe more of the daily life of the locals around me. Something that i've come accustom to people walking down the street with surgeons masks. During the SARS breakout the news showed people all over Asia wearing these masks but it seems that people wear the masks whenever they are sick. People even have "designer" face masks, sickness made couture! Its such a smart idea, if your sick and can't stay at home do your best to prevent others from getting sick as well. At school last semester when everyone was gettin H1N1 we had to wear those masks in the doctors offices and i felt so silly but now i don't even think twice when i see someone wearing one.
in the United States you're taught at a young age to look both ways before crossing the street, well in China the mentality is look both ways 9 times, then maybe its ok to cross the road, and the green walking man by no means means its ok to walk. The cars are just one of the many moving objects that you have to try and avoid, there are bikes, buses, and motorcycles that don't really have rules on the road and don't believe in using brakes! There are bike and motor scooter lanes and there are no rules on which way the traffic should go so if you look right and there are no cars, your are for sure not in the clear! And right turn on red means don't even slow down while your turning just speed up more and honk a lot at the pedestrians trying to cross. We've found that following locals is the way to go.
Now in the United States guys make fun of each other for being "whipped" aka their girlfriend can convince them to miss out on a guys night to go see a chick flick. Well American boys be happy you're not whipped Shanghai style. I've seen several guys carrying their girlfriends' purses for them. So next time your girlfriend convinces you to go shopping take a look at the purses and picture yourself sporting one. I'm not trying to put a bad stereotype on men in Shanghai, I'm simply reporting what i've seem.
Now to a section i know my sisters will enjoy...food! One of my favorite dishes that i've had so far here is called xiao long bao, which is a dumpling with soup and meat inside. There is an art to eating them that I'm in the process of mastering but none the less these little morsels of goodness are amazing! They sell them on the streets and in most restaurants. Since being here we have tried a mix of chinese restaurants and most american restaurants and the chinese ones win by miles. American food chinese style doesn't translate as well. For example today we went to a restaurant that had hawaiian pizza, and the first thing that comes to mind is canadian bacon and pineapple right? Well they went all out with this pizza and put bananas on it. Cheers to the effort but the tiny chinese restaurants with there menus in all chinese win!
Hope all in well across the pond! Please keep in touch again my e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype is aodonnell89. Thanks everyone whose added me so far! Sending my love!
xoxo,
Aryn
I can't believe i've only been here for 8 days, it feels like so much longer, in a good way of course. I know my route to school and all of the important stops (convenient store for snacks and the bakery for snacks!), i can make my way through a vegetable market successfully and I'm able to use a taxi! Now that i've mastered the basic survival skills I'm able to observe more of the daily life of the locals around me. Something that i've come accustom to people walking down the street with surgeons masks. During the SARS breakout the news showed people all over Asia wearing these masks but it seems that people wear the masks whenever they are sick. People even have "designer" face masks, sickness made couture! Its such a smart idea, if your sick and can't stay at home do your best to prevent others from getting sick as well. At school last semester when everyone was gettin H1N1 we had to wear those masks in the doctors offices and i felt so silly but now i don't even think twice when i see someone wearing one.
in the United States you're taught at a young age to look both ways before crossing the street, well in China the mentality is look both ways 9 times, then maybe its ok to cross the road, and the green walking man by no means means its ok to walk. The cars are just one of the many moving objects that you have to try and avoid, there are bikes, buses, and motorcycles that don't really have rules on the road and don't believe in using brakes! There are bike and motor scooter lanes and there are no rules on which way the traffic should go so if you look right and there are no cars, your are for sure not in the clear! And right turn on red means don't even slow down while your turning just speed up more and honk a lot at the pedestrians trying to cross. We've found that following locals is the way to go.
Now in the United States guys make fun of each other for being "whipped" aka their girlfriend can convince them to miss out on a guys night to go see a chick flick. Well American boys be happy you're not whipped Shanghai style. I've seen several guys carrying their girlfriends' purses for them. So next time your girlfriend convinces you to go shopping take a look at the purses and picture yourself sporting one. I'm not trying to put a bad stereotype on men in Shanghai, I'm simply reporting what i've seem.
Now to a section i know my sisters will enjoy...food! One of my favorite dishes that i've had so far here is called xiao long bao, which is a dumpling with soup and meat inside. There is an art to eating them that I'm in the process of mastering but none the less these little morsels of goodness are amazing! They sell them on the streets and in most restaurants. Since being here we have tried a mix of chinese restaurants and most american restaurants and the chinese ones win by miles. American food chinese style doesn't translate as well. For example today we went to a restaurant that had hawaiian pizza, and the first thing that comes to mind is canadian bacon and pineapple right? Well they went all out with this pizza and put bananas on it. Cheers to the effort but the tiny chinese restaurants with there menus in all chinese win!
Hope all in well across the pond! Please keep in touch again my e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype is aodonnell89. Thanks everyone whose added me so far! Sending my love!
xoxo,
Aryn
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Let the games begin!
So much is happening its hard to be able to express it! Shanghai continues to amaze me everyday. Yesterday (Monday) was our first day of class, it was nice to get a routine started. I'm taking language classes, a class on the issues with Chinese Society and Comparative Chines Politics. In the Chinese politics class our final project will be to do a capstone on an aspect of society that we studied using secondary and primary sources. Its a great chance to get down and dirty with the locals! There are 7 people in my language class and we're soon to be best friends since we will be spending 3 hours of class and then outside of class together practicing speaking!
Enough with class, everyone is in class enough anyways! On Friday (星期五 xingqiwu）we went to lunch at a hot pot. This is the asian version of fondue but they give you two options to cook your food in, spicy or regular. We had more food than i could have imagined, lamb, pork, seaweed, chicken, fish shaped into balls etc. etc.! After that i met my Chinese roommate whose name is Potato, and yes she is one of the coolest roommates i have met (in China of course, don't worry Rachel, Lauren and Molly i haven't forgotten about you!!) She helped me exchange (换huan）money from 美元(meiyuan) into 人民币(renminbi) at the bank (银行yinhang) and also purchase a cell phone. Thank goodness Potato speaks English well or else this would have been a disaster. My Chinese has improved since i've been here and im able to understand more all the time! You are able to get by on English but that just to do the tourist things and pointing and i don't want to be spending my next 4 months pointing at things to order and get around, which is a wonderful motivation to study!
On Saturday we went on a scavenger hunt around our neighborhood. On the hunt we had to find a lunch for less than 11 kuai (about $2) which to my wonderful surprise was not hard to do. All of my meals here have been more than enough food for very little money! One of the most interesting parts of the scavenger hunt was to find playground for old people, such a great concept. They seemed to have play equipment to help keep older people's joints loose. When we were at the park there was a really old man sitting on the equipment and a baby climbing around on it!
Everyday as I learn more and more about China and its culture it continues to fascinate me. There is so much behind the facade of the city that i cant wait to explore more as my language skills improve and i am able to be more aware of the differences.
Enough with class, everyone is in class enough anyways! On Friday (星期五 xingqiwu）we went to lunch at a hot pot. This is the asian version of fondue but they give you two options to cook your food in, spicy or regular. We had more food than i could have imagined, lamb, pork, seaweed, chicken, fish shaped into balls etc. etc.! After that i met my Chinese roommate whose name is Potato, and yes she is one of the coolest roommates i have met (in China of course, don't worry Rachel, Lauren and Molly i haven't forgotten about you!!) She helped me exchange (换huan）money from 美元(meiyuan) into 人民币(renminbi) at the bank (银行yinhang) and also purchase a cell phone. Thank goodness Potato speaks English well or else this would have been a disaster. My Chinese has improved since i've been here and im able to understand more all the time! You are able to get by on English but that just to do the tourist things and pointing and i don't want to be spending my next 4 months pointing at things to order and get around, which is a wonderful motivation to study!
On Saturday we went on a scavenger hunt around our neighborhood. On the hunt we had to find a lunch for less than 11 kuai (about $2) which to my wonderful surprise was not hard to do. All of my meals here have been more than enough food for very little money! One of the most interesting parts of the scavenger hunt was to find playground for old people, such a great concept. They seemed to have play equipment to help keep older people's joints loose. When we were at the park there was a really old man sitting on the equipment and a baby climbing around on it!
Everyday as I learn more and more about China and its culture it continues to fascinate me. There is so much behind the facade of the city that i cant wait to explore more as my language skills improve and i am able to be more aware of the differences.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
你好！
Hello from around the world! It took make failed attempts to find a website that would get me past the block on this website, one of my wonderful friends in Shanghai was able to help!
After a wonderfully 3 hour delayed flight i made it! Lucky for me i met some girls from my program and was able to sit next to them on the flight so the grueling 16 hours didn't seem as bad. Since our flight arrived late we missed out on a welcome dinner that Alliance had planned for us so instead i was able to unpack and meet my other international roommate who is a doll. She's from University of Illinois. We will get to meet our Chinese roommate on Saturday.
Last night was quite the experience not only dealing with jet lag but also trying not to turn into ice while sleeping! I think the heaters in the apartments are just for show because they are less than warm! The apartment is a wonderful and fully furnished. I'm in the process of making my room more my own (aka piles of clothes in a very organized mess!) Hopefully once my camera starts cooperating ill be able to put up some pictures of my accommodations. Ok so enough of to boring stuff that probably only my parents enjoying, now to Shanghai. Fudan University is about a 20 minute cab ride (only 50 yuan which would be less than $10) from the heart of Shanghai. The street to the university is lined with cheap food joints, perfect for the starving college student, i have yet to try them out but i did talk to some girls who got waffles filled with chocolate and marshmallows (don't worry Molly OD, i try and bring one back for you!). One of the great parts about the Alliance program is their effort to make us use out Chinese by rooming us with chinese roommates. Some of the roommates had already moved in and helped to herd us from place to place today. I really enjoy being surrounded by the language and also be able to speak my very broken Chinese to someone who speaks English as well and Chinese.
After the beginning of our orientation today, a group of us decided to tackle Wal-Mart. Now in OXford Wal-Mart is our go- to, one stop shop, which is similar to China, minus that fact that it's slightly harder to navigate. We did make our way around the store though, whether you can all it successful or not is debatable. Most of my interaction with the Wal-Mart employees in the United States have only been at the check out but here they were all so helpful. Even though we were both struggling to understand each other they were going out of their way to help us. One sweet lady even went out to get us a cart as our baskets got too full. To try and find hair dryers we tried every work from hair (头发）and hand motions to electricity (电）and somehow found our way! The challenge came when trying to get a taxi (出租汽车) and fitting all of our purchases in the trunk, there was lots of honking and what i can only assume chinese curse words being thrown around.
And this all only Day 1! Can't wait to share more with you all.
xoxo,
Aryn
After a wonderfully 3 hour delayed flight i made it! Lucky for me i met some girls from my program and was able to sit next to them on the flight so the grueling 16 hours didn't seem as bad. Since our flight arrived late we missed out on a welcome dinner that Alliance had planned for us so instead i was able to unpack and meet my other international roommate who is a doll. She's from University of Illinois. We will get to meet our Chinese roommate on Saturday.
Last night was quite the experience not only dealing with jet lag but also trying not to turn into ice while sleeping! I think the heaters in the apartments are just for show because they are less than warm! The apartment is a wonderful and fully furnished. I'm in the process of making my room more my own (aka piles of clothes in a very organized mess!) Hopefully once my camera starts cooperating ill be able to put up some pictures of my accommodations. Ok so enough of to boring stuff that probably only my parents enjoying, now to Shanghai. Fudan University is about a 20 minute cab ride (only 50 yuan which would be less than $10) from the heart of Shanghai. The street to the university is lined with cheap food joints, perfect for the starving college student, i have yet to try them out but i did talk to some girls who got waffles filled with chocolate and marshmallows (don't worry Molly OD, i try and bring one back for you!). One of the great parts about the Alliance program is their effort to make us use out Chinese by rooming us with chinese roommates. Some of the roommates had already moved in and helped to herd us from place to place today. I really enjoy being surrounded by the language and also be able to speak my very broken Chinese to someone who speaks English as well and Chinese.
After the beginning of our orientation today, a group of us decided to tackle Wal-Mart. Now in OXford Wal-Mart is our go- to, one stop shop, which is similar to China, minus that fact that it's slightly harder to navigate. We did make our way around the store though, whether you can all it successful or not is debatable. Most of my interaction with the Wal-Mart employees in the United States have only been at the check out but here they were all so helpful. Even though we were both struggling to understand each other they were going out of their way to help us. One sweet lady even went out to get us a cart as our baskets got too full. To try and find hair dryers we tried every work from hair (头发）and hand motions to electricity (电）and somehow found our way! The challenge came when trying to get a taxi (出租汽车) and fitting all of our purchases in the trunk, there was lots of honking and what i can only assume chinese curse words being thrown around.
And this all only Day 1! Can't wait to share more with you all.
xoxo,
Aryn
Sunday, January 10, 2010
All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go
The great John Denver put it perfectly.... I'm leaving on a jet plane! (granted i'm not so lonesome i could die and i do kind of know when i'll be back, but thats not the point here!). I've got my visa, my luggage is weighed (each bag is 30 lbs. if you must know, impressive right??), and the farewell dinner is planned; i think im ready, at least thats what the packed suitcases, a clean room and a plane ticket say. I start my international adventure tomorrow in Chicago where i'll catch my flight for Shanghai on Tuesday morning. The reality of this next semester is coming true, in 3 days im going to getting off a plane all by myself in China.
Something that i can't wait to see in Shanghai is the World Expo (http://en.expo2010.cn/). It starts in May and goes through October so i'll get to see the transformation of the city. Shanghai is a polluted, dirty city but the theme of this expo is "Better City, Better Life". This theme focuses on a better future with sustanable development and better living in urban areas. Like with the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai will have to clean up the city since the worlds eye's will be on it. As i continue this blog i want to share what i see in this changing city for the expo.
After a wonderful 16 hour flight Wednesday when i get there we'll move into our apartments and get situated. For the semester i'll be living in Tonghe International Apartments with either one or two other housemates. One of my housemates will be a student at Fudan University, which is going to be a great opportunity for me to practice my Chinese and get a local perspective. From Thursday (星期四)- Sunday (星期天) we have orientation. During this four day orientation ill get to know more about what to expect this semester and get to know the city better.
The best way to contact me this semester is either e-mail or skype (which i expect all of you to take advantage of). My e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype contact is aodonnell89. Facebook has blocks in China and im exactly sure when and if im going to be able to use it.
xoxo
Aryn
Something that i can't wait to see in Shanghai is the World Expo (http://en.expo2010.cn/). It starts in May and goes through October so i'll get to see the transformation of the city. Shanghai is a polluted, dirty city but the theme of this expo is "Better City, Better Life". This theme focuses on a better future with sustanable development and better living in urban areas. Like with the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai will have to clean up the city since the worlds eye's will be on it. As i continue this blog i want to share what i see in this changing city for the expo.
After a wonderful 16 hour flight Wednesday when i get there we'll move into our apartments and get situated. For the semester i'll be living in Tonghe International Apartments with either one or two other housemates. One of my housemates will be a student at Fudan University, which is going to be a great opportunity for me to practice my Chinese and get a local perspective. From Thursday (星期四)- Sunday (星期天) we have orientation. During this four day orientation ill get to know more about what to expect this semester and get to know the city better.
The best way to contact me this semester is either e-mail or skype (which i expect all of you to take advantage of). My e-mail is odonneka@muohio.edu and my skype contact is aodonnell89. Facebook has blocks in China and im exactly sure when and if im going to be able to use it.
xoxo
Aryn
Friday, January 1, 2010
12 days to go!
Hello out there,
Currently I am still in the United States, i leave for Shanghai on the 12th out of Chicago. My dad was nice enough to escort me to Chicago on the 11th (he claims its so he can "help out if there are any issues" but we all know he doesn't want to send me off so soon!). My thoughts on spending a semester in a new country are countless, i go through waves of being excited to see what life across the world is like and then come the stresses of everything that has to happen before that time can come! Right now I'm sitting in the middle of my room where half of the mess is my stuff from school that needs to be unpacked, while the other half is what is going to accompany me to Shanghai.
We have a wonderful foreign exchange student staying with us for this school year from Norway who has helped me with the reality of studying abroad (shout out to Anne Marte!). As many of you know i live in a fantasy world a lot of the time (I blame that on movies and TV shows of today, everything should have a happy ending duh!) and i think this semester will be a lot of a fantasy but I need to be realistic that it will be different. For the past 2 and a half years i've lived in the wonderful bubble of Oxford, Ohio. Don't get me wrong i love Miami and wouldn't trade me experiences there for anything, but i think I need/am ready to try and tackle something new. I've mastered the art of life as a college student; late night pizza on speed dial, tweeting, finding costumes for various functions, luging (Sandbar do me proud!) and some learning (kidding mom and dad!), but i can't wait to see what else there is out there. There are so many opportunities to see the world in a different way, from appreciating little things, like the food to big things, like living in a democratic country. I hope to keep you all updated on my experience, thoughts and feelings in China through this blog. I not the best with words but i want to be able to share this experience with you all as best I can!
While I'm slaving away on this blog I hope you all keep me updated with what is going on in you're lives and in the United States!
xoxo
Aryn
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