Oh, Hello Blogger!

I've been posting updates on my Tumblr, but I realized that people can't post comments there! So, I'll be posting both there and here from now on. Hopefully this will make it easier for people to comment and let me know how things are back in the States.

Rain in Shanghai

It rained rather horribly all day today. The sky was gray and unpleasant until it faded to the customary dusty pink of night time. Never having lived in a big city before, I hadn’t realized that night doesn’t really get dark in the way I’m used to. The sky gets darker, but it never gets quite dark. It just turns a different color.
The hallway outside my door is littered with open, drying umbrellas. It’s made sort of a damp maze that has to be traversed if one wants to get to the bathroom. I quite like it.

The Same Thing I Eat Every Night...

My cutiepie french doctor told me to stop eating fried food and to stick to fruits and vegetables. Does my C100 (I assume that means lots of Vitamin C) Grapefruit juice even out the fact that I’m eating fried rice for dinner?
Probably not.

Trees and Hospitals

The hospital was absolutely lovely, which is something I've never said before.  The Shanghai United Family Hospital is what all hospitals should be: clean, friendly, fast and polite.  Everyone I met there was helpful, cheerful and delightful.  The receptionist was very helpful and my sweet Chinese nurse ("Fiona") joked with me and made me smile. I was in waiting areas for, at most, 20 minutes all together, and that includes the time I spent filling out my healthcare forms.  

I saw a very pregnant and very French doctor.  After the normal round of questions ("Are you pregnant?" "Do you have HIV?" etc.) she gave me a basic physical and pronounced me fit as a fiddle (how annoying) and told me to get some blood work done.  Right now, at worst she thinks it could be Mono and at best she thinks it could be a poor diet, a lack of sleep and maybe a minor virus.  I'm hoping it's not Mono.  The blood work was a bit of a pain (har har) but I got through it with my customary nervous laughter and awkward wriggling.  The nurse held my hand and told me "Don't worry, no one really likes needles."

Getting home was a task, but it all ended up working out beautifully.  Walking back to the dorms from the front gate (a 15-ish minute walk, if you clip along at a good pace) I followed a whim and veered off the main road.  I wasn't really looking where I was going and promptly tripped over a protruding tree root, nearly falling on my face.  The root had grown up through the paving stones and jutted out at perfect tripping height.  Looking up from the ground, I was overwhelmed by the golden tree lined road I found myself on.  The trees arched over my head on both sides and the sun shone through their pale yellow and green leaves to light the road softly and beautifully.  Along my left ran one of the many rivers that flow through campus, and to my right was a Chinese woman holding a baby that laughed when I made a face.  

I really can't accurately describe this moment, but the first thing I thought after straightening up was "Oh, hello.  It's so nice to be here.  Thanks for having me, China."  I don't always believe that things happen for a reason or that there's a grand plan behind everything.  Still, I can't help but think that had I not been able to find a cab for 20 minutes, the sun wouldn't have been at the right spot in the sky to light the trees so perfectly.  Had I not lost my hair tie, my hair would have been pulled back into a pony tail and not down across my face, and the light wouldn't have glinted golden off of it in that subtle way.  Had I not tripped over that tree root, I probably wouldn't have had the "A-ha!" moment where I looked up and took in the beauty of the scene.  Had I not felt like absolute crap all day, I would never have needed to get back to the dorms from the front gate.

I walked down the tree-lined road and across a few bridges and then sat on a broken down bench on a little spit of an island between two of the canals.  I watched a middle aged man in white doing kung fu for a while and thought about my Mom and my Dad and how much I miss my family.  I watched a few young Chinese couples cuddling on other benches and missed Paul.  Then I reminded myself of that golden tree-lined path and cheered up a bit.  

I'm going to take a nap now.  I still feel a bit woozy and I need to go grocery shopping for fruits and vegetables later.  All in all, that really wasn't a bad trip to the hospital.

Sick Sick Sick.

I've been feeling under the weather for the past week or so.  I've been constantly achey and sleepy, but I don't have any sign of a cold.  Today in class I had to put my head between my knees to keep myself from throwing up, and no one likes having to do that.  After class, I went to talk to my advisor, Professor Tai, who told to 

1. Drink more hot water. (Every Chinese person I've ever spoken to has immediately told me to drink hot water as soon as they find out I'm not feeling well.  It seems as though hot water is the natural catch-all remedy.)


2. Ditch my classes. (His words, not mine.)


3. Call the hospital and get an appointment to see a doctor.

I have thus far done all of these things.

In China, when one doesn't feel well one doesn't go to see a doctor at a doctors office.  One goes to the hospital to see doctors.  I've done this before (4 years ago when I was in Beijing) but I've never done it alone, so this afternoon should be a grand adventure.  I'll take notes and report back on it.  

That being said, this week has been a very tedious, very boring and very busy time.  I have midterms next week, but I'm not really scared about them yet as I have no earthly idea of how to prepare.  (I've got plenty of unearthly ideas, but they probably won't help me much.)  Next friday my China in a Global Context group and I ship off for Beijing, where I will see the beloved and dearly missed Noah.  We'll be in Beijing for (I think) 8ish days.

I'll post more about Urumqi either later this evening or, if I'm feeling too gross this evening, tomorrow morning.

Golden Week, Part 2: On the Train, Day 1

We were to set out on October 3rd, at around 5pm in the afternoon.  The plan was for us to leave our dorm at about 4:30 and to take the 15 minute walk to the train station near campus.  From there, we would take the subway to the Shanghai Train Station. Unfortunately and embarrassingly for me, I fell out of the shower on Sunday morning and injured myself rather badly.  In my defense, the shower floors are very slippery and the shower shoes we were given are notoriously slick, especially when wet. Laying sprawled and soggy on the white tile of the bathroom floor, I decided to buy better shower shoes.  Moments later, while trying to convince my feet to stay under me and coercing my aching left leg not to give out, I decided that we'd need to change our transportation plans.

(Read about How It Began.)

Golden Week, Part 1: How it Began.

I've been back in Shanghai for almost exactly a week, so I suppose I ought to write about my Golden Week travels.  Here's part 1 of the Golden Week Saga: "How it Began"

In lieu of a real post, have this.

When I woke up this morning, my roommate wasn't here.  Assuming she just hadn't come back from her night out, I left the door unlocked and went to the grocery store to buy breakfast. I came back with bags full of bananas and apples and a loaf of bread and then spent the rest of the day alternating between singing along to songs on my computer and pretending to work diligently.  I have, so far, done approximately 1/4th of my work for tomorrow.

About an hour ago, I realized that I was getting nowhere in my readings and the gurgling noise that had been annoying me for a while was coming from my stomach.  I try not to disagree with my stomach when it talks to me, so I pulled on my shoes and went out in search of dinner.  (It honestly seems as though I only leave campus to get food)

It's a beautiful night in Shanghai.  The weather is just beginning to turn, and the leaves will soon be following suit.  It's an in-between time, where it's too cool for short sleeves and too warm for long sleeves but always on the nicer side of pleasant.  

I had fried rice for dinner, as usual.  There's a cart outside the back gate where brave men will fry rice or noodles for you in giant woks.  Their forearms have had all the hair burned off them by the huge propane stoves they fling your dinner over.  Tonight there was only one man working the cart, and when he saw me coming he smiled and asked if I wanted rice or noodles.  He didn't have to ask how I like them prepared - I've told him often enough.  

He usually only asks two questions: "Rice or noodles?" and "How spicy do you want it?" I always get my rice "just a little bit spicy," and he knows that I don't like too many bean sprouts because he's seen me picking them out as I walk away.  Tonight, the cart wasn't as busy as it often is and so the Noodle Man (that's his official title) asked me about school and about what I was studying.  I answered him as fluently as I could, and he handed me my rice in a styrofoam container.  I thanked him and left.

The rice was as good as it always is.  Shanghai is as beautiful and as strange as it always is.  I, as always, don't want to do my homework.  Some things never change.

The Internet in our Hostel is Awful.

On the train to Urumqi!

Outside our Hostel.

A real post will be coming as soon as the internet agrees with me!

Quick Check In, Just So You Know I'm Alive

Kyle, Riane and I arrived safe and sound in Urumqi today around 4pm.  We tried desperately to get a taxi and failed for about a half hour.  We then threw all caution and good sense to the wind and got in a minibus with a sketchy lady who was actually quite nice and took us quickly to our hostel.  The hostel had screwed up our reservations, so instead of being in a two private rooms, we are now in one dorm-style room with two very sweet Chinese women, one of whom frequently makes cat noises.  All in all, it could be way worse.

I'll write a real post tomorrow.  I've got some great stuff for you.  The adventure is just getting good.

Queueing Issues

“KYLE, QUEUE HARDER!”
“SHORT OF PUNCHING SOMEONE IN THE FACE, I’M QUEUEING AS HARD AS I CAN, BECCA!”

-KYLE AND I AT THE SHANGHAI TRAIN STATION

The Road Leads Ever On And On

Riane, Kyle and I leave for Urumqi in approximately 2.5 hours. We had planned to take the subway to the train station, but I (magnet for trouble that I am) fell out of the shower this morning and am now grievously injured. I've probably torn something in one of my thighs and can now not really lift things, which is unfortunate as I've got a huge backpack to be carrying with me. It'll all work out.

Somehow.

I hope.

We really have no idea what we're getting ourselves in to, but we should be arriving in Urumqi on Tuesday around 4 pm. We hope. I'll let you know how that goes.

Love you all dearly.

Pictures, because I am ill.

In the Garden of the Master of the Nets in Suzhou.
At the Silk Factory!

Max with his Street Flute in Suzhou.

Eli outside our language classrooms.

I've been horribly ill, but that hasn't stopped me from partying with rich Nicaraguans and Slovakian models or from going to Suzhou, the Venice of China.  

Pictures now, more words tomorrow.

October Break and Homesickness

I wrote, and then re-wrote (because Tumblr ate the first one) two beautiful posts about being homesick today. I cannot bring myself to do it a third time. Suffice to say that I miss the Northeast of America and I miss my Mother and my Father and my sisters something awful these days. I love it here, don't get me wrong, but I really love Autumn in New Jersey and New York. They tell me that the leaves will change here, and they tell me it will happen soon, but I can't believe that it will be the same, because it won't be.

Next week is a National Holiday in China, so the CIEE-ers have 10 days off to travel around China. I'm going to Urumqi with Riane and Kyle by train and coming back by plane. We aren't leaving until tuesday, because we absolutely refused to take the 45 hour journey on anything less than a hard sleeping berth and everything before tuesday only had seats. We ended up getting soft sleepers (ritzy!), but there's a guy named Morgan who's going to Urumqi on a hard seat. Allow me to explain why this is a big deal.

On Chinese trains, there are four classes of ticket.

First class is the Soft Sleeper. Soft sleepers are, like I said, kind of ritzy. I've never been on a soft sleeper before, but it was only moderately more expensive than a hard sleeper and, for 45 hours on one train, I'd like to be as comfortable as I can be (without spending a ridiculous amount of money). There are 4 bunks in a Soft Sleeper car, so Riane, Kyle and I will be making a new friend. There's also a closable door (which I'm probably going to want to keep open - Even more new friends!), a table, and a trash can. According to the link above, I might also be getting slippers, a duvet and a TV, which the three of us absolutely did not know about before buying our tickets. This ride is sounding easier and easier.

Second Class is a Hard Sleeper. I took a Hard Sleeper from Beijing to Lanzhou, an 18-20ish hour ride. That wasn't bad. I could probably do the 45 hours to Urumqi on a Hard Sleeper if the price was an issue. (I'll probably regret not taking a Hard Sleeper because the Soft Sleeper will make me feel cushy and privileged and American when I really want to feel crunchy and alone and worldly, but I am a cushy privileged American, so that settled that.) Hard Sleepers come in cabins of 6, with 3 bunks on each side. I slept on the top bunk last time which, according to Wikipedia, has the least room. The bruises on my forehead after the ride can be my testament to that fact. There is absolutely nothing at all wrong with a Hard Sleeper. It's mostly comfortable, it's never too expensive, and you get to hang out with lots of Chinese people. Awesome.

Third Class is a Soft Seat. I don't know much about Soft Seats, but they look sort of like normal airline seats on a transnational flight. Fine for like 12ish hours, I'd probably not suggest doing a seat for more than 15 hours.

Fourth Class is a Hard Seat. This is what Morgan is doing to Urumqi. Again, they're certainly fine for shorter trips, but anything over 8ish hours would be taxing to say the least. Morgan is doing 45 hours. According to Wikipedia:

A journey in a hard seat carriage can be a great chance for westerners to experience Chinese society and customs and interact with many of its peculiarities. However longer trips could prove quite challenging as overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions tend to deteriorate dramatically as the trip progresses. Even longer trips may be overtaxing for a foreign tourist mainly due to the impossibility of sleeping (unless one lies on the floor or in the passageways, as the locals do) and the levels of odor, smell and filth becoming critically intolerable.

I'm excited for the trip to Urumqi, and I'll be writing posts every day I'm traveling. They might not get posted every day, but I'll write them and I'll take lots and lots of pictures.

Leaps and Bounds

I've been in Shanghai for one full week! I'm sorry I haven't posted - my days have been all Shanghai and sweat and running and laughing and getting lost and there's been no time for much deep reflection on anything.

Beware: the post I've written is overwhelmingly large and doesn't begin to cover the leviathan of a week I've had. It's longwinded and it doesn't do a very good job of summarizing anything. Forgive me! So much has been going on and I want to share absolutely everything.

Shang-Hai There!

Hello! My name is Becca.

I'm going to Shanghai for a semester, and I'm going to be posting here as often as possible to keep my friends and family up to date on what's happening across the sea with me!