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.