Shanghai is absolutely beautiful—although, I'm not really sure I can be objective at this point … after a 15-hour flight in coach, any landmass would be freaking beautiful.
The flight actually wasn't that bad. I got lucky and the back of the plane was pretty empty so I had an entire row to myself. I arrived safely, cleared customs, and successfully lugged my 1,000 pounds of luggage to the hotel. I spent four days in Shanghai for orientation, which consisted of CIEE (The Council for International Exchange, the program I found the job through) trying to teach me enough Mandarin, Chinese etiquette, and teaching skills to survive for the next year. I also got to spend some time doing the tourist thing, seeing the city.
Some of the highlights:
- Bian lian "Mask Changing" show in which performers wear crazy costumes and dance to dramatic music all while changing the vividly colored masks which they change within a fraction of a second. Check it out on you tube. It was pretty awesome and the picture doesn't quite do it justice.
- The Bund, a waterfront area along the Huangpu River in central Shanghai. Home to some pretty spectacular architecture.
- Wandering through the art district. Check out this gem of a purse that I found. Even the Chinese think that Obama's a Communist.
- Delicious food. Tried lots of great new things (and some not so great). The best thing, and my new favorite food, was ba si ping guo. It's a highly addictive plate of extremely hot, possibly fried, apples drizzled with caramelized sugar, that you must eat while it's hot otherwise it glues itself to the plate and gets pretty tough to eat. Once it is served, you take the apple pieces and dip them into ice water; the outside gets really crunchy, but the inside stays super hot and delicious.
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