Restrooms

对不起！ 对不起！ Or in English “sorry” I haven't posted lately, but to make up for it ill make this one full of fun! So after I got back from Yunnan it took a little getting used to you know, being in classes and having homework, crazy right! It it great having more people around like I said before but the one downside that they all use internet also which messed with my internet so I spend long hours in the cafes with wifi. While the Chinese know what’s up when it come to dumplings you can only have so many xiaolongbao so I’ve taken a short hiatus from dumplings so the fact that the cafe's with internet were the ones that served western food was 很好！
Last weekend we took a day trip to one of the towns near Shanghai called Hangzhou. All the tour books talk about how Xihu, the western lake there, has inspired poets and artist and even Marco Polo referred to it as one of the most magnificent places on earth. So now that I have set you up to hear all about how beautiful this place is, our experience consisted of torrential rain! That didn't stop us though (Dad you would have been proud!) We went to see the Lingyin Temple, which is one of the biggest Buddhist temple complexes in China and one of the few that survived the Culture Revolution, its actually fully functioning today, the name translates into the Temple of the Souls Retreat. When we were visiting we were overtaken by these tiny women who seemed to be trying to retreat their souls but instead they were making us want to retreat! Now when im talking tiny I mean some of them came up to my stomach. There were at least 100 of them and we asked someone why they were moving so fast and there was no apparent reason. So for those of you who haven't learned about religions since high school here's a little bit about the temple and Buddhism. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama ("the Buddha"), when he left the walls of his palace for the first time and saw all of the suffering in the world. The premise of Buddhism is to reach enlightenment and eliminate suffering by following the 4 noble truths by way of the teachings of the 8-fold path. I really like the compassion in Buddhism; its very real how it recognizes that their is suffering in life but by letting go you can stop the suffering. The Buddha has preached about compassion and loving kindness towards all human beings. Compassion means accepting and recognizing the suffering of others and wishing that the suffering would come to an end. Loving-kindness means showing care, consideration and concern towards others. These feeling should be extended to each and every human being, without exception. These ideas I think are something that are good general reminders and guidelines of life….. and God bless us everyone….
On a less compassionate and loving note, on Sunday we went to visit the site of the First National Congress of the CCP and also Mao Zedong's Shanghai residence. The CCP site is in the beautiful Xintiandi area. This is a primarily expat area that looks like it could be in any big city in the United States with its’ Starbucks, Coldstone and Subway. The CCP was founded on the ideas of Socialism and Marxism, however today they still stand by that foundation but talk about how they have many Chinese characteristics with it. The museum was beautifully laid out. We didn't have to pay for the tickets, the people spoke English and they have western restrooms! All of the security guards had smiles on their faces, which was not the same experience when I went tot he Shanghai Museum, they were less than friendly or helpful. Mao's house was fun to see but nothing too special, just an ordinary house, though it was also free and they had English speaking tour guides... hmmm makes you wonder why. One of the highlights of the day though was our visit to the 4 Seasons hotel. If we were in America and 2 dumpy college students walked in asking for directions we would have been questioned immediately if we were staying there but in China we just walked right in, asked directions walked around and used they're really really nice restrooms (ok I know there is a lot of talk about restrooms but you come to live in China and you will start to appreciate toilet paper, soap, towels and toilets that aren't built into the ground!) without any trouble.
So the other weekend we were planning on going to a night club called Sin for what we thought at first was a "private party" but it actually ended up being a Pervert night, full of men in leather masks being pulled around by chains and midgets in leather... ya it was and experience for sure!
Yesterday I came home from one of the best experiences at a spinning class where we listened to BSB and I think the instructor thought he was a pro biker/ boy band dancer extraordinaire, to my roommate, Potato, super excited that she found her bike that she though was stolen. Now only was it a great day cause she found her bike but it was also Woman's Day so she bought up dessert to celebrate. One more reason to be happy in China!
Overall though i am becoming really happy here, while my English is becoming the level of middle schoolers, my Chinese seems to be improving. Last night I had a dream of being back at home and in my dream it was such an uneasy feeling, not only did I forget to bring my families gifts home (don't worry guys I won't forget you in real life!) it just felt so different.
Speaking of family, my dad and Pari are coming out to China this weekend. I’m going to meet them in Beijing for the weekend and if any of you guys know how my dad travels this week I need to start resting up for the trip with them! Then we're coming down to Shanghai and celebrating my birthday (this is my subtle hint for those of you who haven't gotten your presents in the mail, ill still love you if it's a day late but if it's more than that it better be good! he he :-))

Xoxo,
Aryn