Five days.
One city.
Sixty Americans.
And only one will survive….
Meh, heh. Maybe not. It does sound a little bit like reality tv. There was certainly a… surreal… atmosphere to the entire week. I had arrived at last in China. However, instead of exposing myself to Chinese culture this first week, I had a small dose of the lives that expat Americans lead.
Small dose. Very small dose, because a lot of orientation felt to me like a what a mini-convention, of sorts, would feel like in New York City. I’ve got loads of pictures (Yes! I got a camera for this trip, and I am actually going to start taking some pictures of my own. Please forgive me if my pictures look blurry… or if there’s a random index finger cutting across the top edge of any one of my photographs.)
So… Shanghai!
Day 1: Missed it completely. My first day in China was actually a night spent in Newark, New Jersey. See the previous entry for more details.
Day 2: We – that’d be the eight unlucky Americans who got stuck on the same flight – arrived at the Shanghai airport, jetlagged and smelling like a plate of fresh, stinky tofu. Two representatives of CIEE picked us up, loaded us and our luggage onto a bus, and sent us to the Faculty Club at the Shanghai Jiaotong University. We had lunch. Dropped off our luggage. And went straight to our first class: three lectures given by three experienced TEFL teachers. That was followed by an excellent dinner at a Sichuan restaurant.
What is Sichuan food? Think… cold and spicy.
Got it? Stick a jalapeño pepper in your mouth.
Spicy, eh?
Now increase the spiciness dial threefold.
Yummy.
And here’s some squash with… something inside it. Not entirely sure what. I was too full by this time to eat any more.
Near the end of our welcome dinner/feast, we had a little magic show – a traditional mask changing show. I’m not quite sure what the performance was called. In the center of the restaurant, there was a little balcony-stage thing.
A performer came in, dressed in a neat outfit with a mask on. Every so often, he’d wave his hand over his face, and his mask would change colors. Everytime I blinked, he’d change masks again. As a magician who doesn’t know very much about stage illusions, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. My response? It’s magic, of course. The truth? I have no idea.
After that show, I used the restroom (and was rapidly reminded of the squatter toilets commonly used in China), and hopped on the bus drove us back to the Faculty Club at Jiaotong University.
A couple people were planning on going out for the evening. Me? Since I had just arrived that day… I was ready to crash. Peer pressure and an urge to see a little bit of Shanghai drove me out for an hour, where I wandered around parts of the city – lost – before stopping at a small restaurant for some good conversation, magic, and a drink. Then back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.
And thus ends my first day at orientation.
…There! Yes.. heh. It took me… five posts or so, but we made it at last.
Now I must head off to class. More about orientation to come.
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