Life in Shanghai

New Panoramas

2007-08-13T21:06:00.000+08:00

I made some more panoramic pictures with "auto stich" some of them turned out really good.

Home!

2007-08-13T20:46:00.000+08:00

I'm home! Shanghai seems much nicer this time. We have been in some rough places.
I went to Decathalon, the local outdoor equipment store and bought a rain fly for my backpack, something I almost did before the trip, but didn't and should have. I also got a rack with a collapsible basket for the back of my bike.
Then I bought two baby turtles to add a little excitement to life at home. (Work starts on Thursday).
Erik thought of the names Rich and Rob, I agreed, they are good names. Rich immediately took to the task of escaping. He tried about five times to crawl out of the water, but kept ending up on his back flailing his arms. Rob sat idly by watching the spectacle. He then walked to the edge of the water and crawled out first try. He walked over to the corner and went to sleep. (I hope he is doing well, because he hasn't moved much).
Rich finally got out of the water, but walked right off the edge in his excitement and ended up with arms flailing again. He's still trying to get out, its been about 5 hours.

Rich

Rob

Song Kol

2007-08-13T00:16:00.000+08:00

Our second trek was to a 3000 meter lake called Song Kol. There are pleanty of Kygyz nomads living in yurts who have learned they can make a pretty good sum of money off of treking tourists. They provide a place to stay, blankets and food and the tourists provide the funds. We thought it was a good deal, because that way we didn't have to hike with food, tents, and sleeping bags. The first night was interesting. We hiked from about 3 to 7:30 after having waited out a morning rainstorm.

We waited out the rain with this family in there wagon. (They never made it to oregon).
From 3 to 7 the day was beautiful and sunny. At about 7 a sudden storm brought rain, then hail, then lightning. We were drenched in about 2 minutes. Luckily the yurt we were headed for was about thirty minutes away. The yurt had warm blankets and a stove to thaw us out.

That wall is made out of dryed poop, thats what they burn in the stove.

The next day we had good weather. We had to cross a 3,400 meter pass. The weather reached just above freezing, and a few snow flakes fell. As we crossed the pass, the lake came in to view.

The hike down to the lake was easy. The weather stayed somewhat clear for awhile, but there were various cloud systems constantly building and passing. Right after we ate lunch, a system of dark clouds started coming on fast. Luckily a tourist yurt was present, so we ducked inside for some bread and tea. The clouds and passed quickly so we decided to keep moving. We hiked about another hour along the lake, when another storm started approaching. There was a small settlement of various yurts and animals present. As we were looking for someone to talk to, it started hailing. We split into two groups, Erik and Trey went into a yurt, and Gilles and I went into a canvas tent.

The people in our tent were friendly and served us tea and bread. The storm didn't quit. It was cold, and it started to snow after a little while. (By this time I was on my 15th or so cup of tea for the day).
We asked as well as we could if we could stay the night. This tent was small and there had been many people in and out as we sat there. We had no idea how many people were planning to sleep in it. Through various English, French, German, Kyrgyz and Russian words as well as hand signals we found out that either five, seven or 10 people slept there. I thought five would be tight. We later found out that five were in the family, seven with us and he thought that 10 was possible. So we slept seven in a row on the ground.

This is the family. The lady in the goldish flower gown came from somewhere for the picture, she didn't sleep in the tent with us.
They offered us dinner. It consisted of bread, tea, butter, some other milk product, milk, and pieces of cold sheep that they took out of a grocery bag. Gilles came up with excellent idea that we were vegitarians. Had I had some concept of when the meat had last felt heat, I would have been more apt to eat it.
The evening was passed trying to communicate. Luckily Russian, although it is not at all similar to English, is about a million times more similar to English than Chinese. We communicated some basics. I showed them my pictures from the trip thus far. I took videos and played them for them; they loved that.

We found Elvis

2007-08-06T00:03:00.000+08:00

In the Lonely Planet it says that if you stay in Kashgar long enough, you are bound to run into Elvis. Well we met him three times yesterday, so we had to take a picture. He said he calls himself Elvis for the business. His business seems to be helping foreigners buy carpets. Which all three of us bought today. We got Kyrgyz carpets, however, they are cheaper, or at least easier for us to bargain for in China.
Elvis is the one between Trey and Erik, the other guy just wanted to be in the picture.

Social Observations

2007-08-05T23:42:00.000+08:00

I shaved my beard and left long chopps when we got to Kashgar. I did it for fun and didn't really think about the attention it would draw. Kashgar is a pretty touristy place, so the people don't stare as much as they do in other places in China, but after the added facial hair trim, they really started oggeling. Some stare wide-eyed, some giggle and point, it's not a big deal because that kind of stuff happens regularly to us in small towns.
We met a Uighur University student who wanted to practice his English. He was home from Shanghai for the summer, and had not a lot else to do. So we were wondering around the city looking at shops when we stopped at one shop for a while looking at bills of currency accumulated from all around the world. A small crowd developed as is typical anytime we stop for too long. A lot was said in Uighur, but we don't understand any of it. Later as we walked away our new friend told us what some men had said. (Note that the Uighur people can and do grow facial hair much like the people of arabic nations). The men had taken notice of my beard, (nothing new to me) and thought it was interesting and funny. But the conversation that developed gives great insight into their social thought. One man pointed out to the other that I was from a free country where I could wear my beard however I pleased. There conversation that insued is best summed by sayting that they wouldn't dare to do something like that because they might be viewed as a radical by the government.
To us, it is very interesting to see the mix of culture here in Xinjiang (the largest province by land mass in China). The Uighur people live here under Chinese control. The government has brought in many Han Chinese to make help against any sort of uprising and promote assimilation. I don't know all of the details of what has happened good or bad, but it definitely creates for an interesting mix of culture. It is refreshing to see a difference of culture in China. There is different architecture and food here, as well as different looking people with different ways of living. There seem to be areas of town that are more Han and different areas, like around the central mosque that are Uighur. (The differences are nice, but we are ready for the variety of food that Shanghai offers again!)

Kashgar

2007-08-05T00:43:00.000+08:00

We have been in Kashgar a few days now and seen quite a bit of the town.

Tonight we had an interesting experience. We went to a local Uighur Restaurant and ordered some basic dishes. The custom here is to write the price on a bill and leave it at the table. We started getting a little suspicious when everything seemed to be rounded up to the nearest 10. Then we asked how much Sprite was from a waitress who said 3 and the one who had written 4 on our bill started to pull her away. So we asked another waitress what the menu said for each item. She was honest, because she didn't know that the other waiters were trying to rip us off. The other waitress started pulling her away again, but we had a lot better idea of what was going on. So we went up to the cashier and left the bill at the table. The waitress brought it up behind us and handed it to Eric who said "bu hao" and promptly threw it in the trash. After standing around and saying whatever we knew how to say in Chinese, they started to lower the price little by little. But we still weren't satisfied. I went over to another customer with the menu and asked him to show me how much a certain item was. The waiter tried to stop me, but I kept him back. Even after seeing the correct price shown on their menu, they still would not give the correct price. We started to add up everything individually, when the cashier said 10 kuai for two bowls of rice. At that, I got pretty upset, and started to ask the whole restaurant if 10 kuai was how much rice really cost. The look of the people in the restaurant was priceless as I asked them this question. The intended effect was achieved and the guy backed down some more on the price. I turned around gave him 40 kuai and we walked out.

That's the first time something like that has happened at a restaurant. Luckily we have lived in China long enough to know how things work, but its still frustrating. (Secretly it was fun too...:)

Kyrgyzstan Pics

2007-08-02T22:08:00.000+08:00

Caramello

2007-08-02T00:08:00.000+08:00

I've never had a caramello before, but milk chocolate and caramel sounded good. After I bought this package and opened it up, all of the Kyrgyz women around started to giggle. One finally said "Kyrgyz candy". I got the picture, they wrap bread sticks in mismarked candy wrappers. Seeing as I paid 1/38th of a dollar for it I wasn't so upset, more amused.

Bishkek to Osh

2007-07-30T14:07:00.000+08:00

We bought plane tickets for Osh, in southern Kyrgyzstan. The tickets were cheap, and it makes a 15 hour minibus ride, 45 mins. in a plane. The other advantage is that the border from Osh to Kashgar is cheaper and easier to get across. The other border requires preparation and lots of money.

We plan to get back to Shanghai around the 13th of August. Hopefully we will have time to see some of central China, although it's going to be hot!

Kyrgyz Hats

2007-07-30T00:13:00.000+08:00

These are the traditional hats that Kygyz men wear. The old married men wear these kind...

Kyrgyzstan

2007-07-29T19:33:00.001+08:00

I never knew much about those countries in the middle of the world that end with stan, and I still don't know much, but I'm here and it's not what I expected. I'm not really sure what I expected, but it wasn't this. After having lived and traveled only in Asia in the last year, I got used to being a celebrity everywhere I went. It was slightly dejecting coming here, to "Central Asia" and no one really caring to look at you. Actually, now that I used to it, it's going to be weird going back to China.

Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan has a very culturally diverse population. I think only 40% are Kyrgyz. There are lots of Russians, that is why we don't stand out here. It's a little more difficult to tell who is a tourist, but for the most part it is pretty obvious. Their clothing and the lack of facial expression give the Russians away.

The farther south we travel, the more Kyrgyz people there are. They are a nomadic people related to Mongolians I think. This country is mostly mountains, and a very large lake. The second largest alpine lake in the world (Titicaca is number one). So we have been enjoying nature mostly. We have done a four day and a three day back packing trip so far, reaching elevations in the high 3000 meters. So far the weather has been unpredictable. We have had sunshine, wind, rain, lightning, hail, and snow. It's been exciting and frustrating at various times.

More later...

Pics from China

2007-07-29T19:33:00.000+08:00

www.picasaweb.google.com/chrswbrwn/SummerFun

Go to this link to see photos thus far from our trip

MMMMMountain Spring Water!

2007-07-22T00:15:00.000+08:00

We had to use iodine tablets to purify the water since we didn't have a filter.

Ningxia

2007-07-14T23:54:00.000+08:00

Trey and I crossed Huang He (Yellow River) into Ningxia province, to the capital city, Yinchuan. We ate at Disco's, a McDonald's knock-off and jumped on another bus 3 hours south to Zhongwei We followed the Lonely Planet's recommendation to a place that does Camel treks into the Tengger Desert. I think we ended up at a different travel agency than the book recommended because it took us a few hours of charades and dictionarying to figure out what we were in for, but we got it settled and the trip was awesome. We left the next morning to drive to the fringe of the desert. There our camels and guide awaited. I have seen a camel quite a few times, but never really up close. They are quite awkward looking creatures; big bellies and skinny legs. When they sit, they fold their legs underneath themselves. The back legs fold two different directions, it's hard to visualize even when you see it first hand.
So, we loaded our gear and food and headed for the sand! Just the standing-up process is exciting. We were tied in a caravan, three in a row. The process was slow and a bit uncomfortable, luckily I was sufficiently recovered from horse riding in Inner Mongolia.
The weather was pleasant, but it started to get hotter as the day progressed. I have no idea how far we went, but the views were great, and the idea of riding a camel through the desert just made me laugh. We stopped around noon and ate lunch and took a nap. The camels grazed on the sparse desert vegetation. Off in the distance were dark clouds and thunder. Eventually a few drops began to fall and I saw a few lightning bolts. The rain seemed to be all around us, but never more than a sprinkle right on us. We kept heading into the desert after our nap. In the distance we could see wave-like peaks on the sand dunes. The wind sweeping sand over the peaks and showering over the other side. It was a first hand experience into how sand dunes are formed, and it was heading closer to us. Soon we were getting sand in every crevice, but being high up on the backs of the camels, definitely kept us above the brunt of the storm. As we trudged through the "desert storm", the weather started to calm. We soon found a resting place for the evening. The weather started to clear and after a few more light showers, the sky turned mostly blue. We ate dinner and watched a beautiful sunset atop the highest dune we could find. Its amazing how blessed I am to be able to travel around the world and see such wonderful things. The next day we headed back to town. We got to ride the camels by ourselves the whole way back. In general they tend to follow each other, but it was still fun to get to steer them. Sometimes my camel (Gigantor) would run down the dunes which was fun, but bumpy. It is really amazing to see the kind of slopes they can safely travel over in the sand. Camels, although cumbersome in appearance are quite sure-footed.
When we got back to the car, we headed to see "Chang Cheng" (the long wall or Great Wall). The wall in this area is just compacted earth and not very spectacular, except for its historicity. We came back after a swim at the local public pool, to watch the sunset.
Tonight we are heading on a night train to Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province. We are flying on the 16th from Lanzhou to Urumqi in Xinjiang.

Wuhai, Inner Monglia

2007-07-11T09:03:00.000+08:00

We took a night train to Wuhai. Once again our experience on the "hard sleeper" was very pleasant. The jont was only about nine hours. We got on the train at 10:00 PM, exhausted our Chinese vocabulary with our neighbors, learned a few new Chinese words, went to bed, woke up about 6:30 AM and arrived in Wuhai at 7.
Now we are at the "Wang Ba" (Internet bar) figuring out where to go next.
It looks like we will try to go to the Badanjilin Desert.
We still plan to meet Erik in Urumqi on the 16th.

Inner Mongolia

2007-07-10T19:00:00.001+08:00

I'm in Inner Mongolia now, heading toward the west. Trey and I are going to meet up with Erik in Urumqi around the 15th.
We rode horses and slept in a Mongolian girt (I don't know how to spell it, its kind of like a low T-pee.)

Beijing Continued

2007-07-09T09:12:00.000+08:00

After my parents left, Trey and I took a day trip to another section of the Great Wall. We hiked from Jinshanling to Simatai.
The hike is supposed to be about 10km, but it didn't feel that far. The surrounding scenery in this area was very beautiful.
The wall has been restored in some areas and not restored in other areas. There are also less tourists. At the end of the hike we went for a swim in a river that intersects the wall at Simatai. The weather was hot so it was nice to cool off.

Summer Vacation

2007-07-09T06:38:00.000+08:00

Summer vacation has begun!
My parents came to visit me in Shanghai a few days before school was out. They had been traveling in China for about a week before they got to Shanghai. We spent a few days seeing the sites in Shanghai, then we headed off to Xi'an where the famous Terracotta Warriors were discovered.
We did not have much time in Xi'an since we wanted to also spend time in Beijing. Basically we did a one day see everything you can see tour. This included a Buddhist Pagoda, a neolithic village and the warriors.
The village was uncovered in the 50's, and although it was small, I enjoyed it. The village was estimated to be 2,000 years old. I liked seeing the pots and their different styles of art, as well as the small bones of the people they had discovered. It's amazing to see how small they were.
The Terracotta Warrior exhibit is interesting. I really did not know what to expect. The massive quantity of soldiers and horses buried in the ground is what was most impressive to me. Most of the soldiers were just bits of broken clay, that have been pieced back together.

From Xi'an we flew to Beijing, the city of gray polluted skies. I thought Shanghai was polluted until I went to Beijing. The first day rained on us, so we went to the Temple of Heaven Park and Tiananmen. It started to clear up that evening.
The next day was better weather. We headed for the Summer Palace. It's basically a big park with a lake and some old Chinese buildings and towers. It was nice because of the lake and trees. We rented a boat and drove around the lake for an hour. Next we went to the Forbidden City. I have seen all of these things before about five years ago last time I was in Beijing, but the Forbidden City was not very impressive this time. I think after you have seen so many Chinese style buildings, it gets monotonous. We enjoyed a Frappuccino at Starbucks (this was within the gates of the "Forbidden" City. China seems to have more Starbucks, McDonald's and KFC's than America sometimes).
The next day we went to the Great Wall. We went to the same part of the Wall I had been to before. It is all restored and made for tourists, but still very impressive.
My parents left on Friday the 6th and so did the luxury.

Teacher Chris

2007-06-20T22:31:00.000+08:00

School is almost over, so I had my kids draw pictures of themselves so that I would be able to remember them.

A few of the kids finished faster than others, so I had the ones that got done early draw a picture of themselves with "Teacher Chris".

Kindergarten Waltz

2007-06-15T15:24:00.000+08:00

We had Kindergarten Graduation last night. This is one of the performances they did, filmed from the rehersal.

Dual

2007-04-27T19:10:00.000+08:00

I might become a dual citizen of the US and Germany. My mom went to the consulate and it seems to be no problem. If I get a EU passport there could be many travel benefits. I stitched my Duality onto my backpack in preparation for the up coming May holiday in China.
I will be traveling to Zhejiang province, just south of Shanghai. I'll post pictures when we get back from the trip. Suzanne and John will be my travel compadres.

Panorama

2007-04-23T00:10:00.000+08:00

Panoramic Pics

I photo-stitched a bunch of photos to make some neat panoramic shots.

Travel

2007-04-12T23:21:00.000+08:00

This doesn't really have anything to do with life in China, but I thought this was fun...

I'm not really sure which states I haven't been too, but this is my best guess...

Kindergarten Easter Play - Behind the Scenes

2007-04-06T23:31:00.000+08:00

Translation fun...

2007-04-05T23:13:00.000+08:00

I was thinking about how even if I tried to recreate something like this, it would never be as good...

What does any of this have to do with cheese?

South East Asia

2007-03-01T20:45:00.000+08:00

South East Asia 2-07

Here are some pictures from our trip to South East Asia.

We had 3 weeks off for Chinese New Year, so we traveled from Kunming, China through Northern Laos to the beaches on the Indian Ocean coast of Thailand.

It's Cold

2007-01-19T17:42:00.000+08:00

So after much looking and idea pondering, I have constructed a pull-up bar for our apartment. It’s actually very simple, but it took me three trips to B&Q (China’s Home Depot) to figure it out.
Since it started getting cold I haven’t been very active. I was swimming a few months ago when the weather was warm, but the pool is not heated. We also were playing volleyball during volleyball season at the school, but that has been over for months. Jr. High volleyball is supposed to start soon, so hopefully things will get a little more active for me.
I have been rock climbing at the local indoor (really it’s covered, but not enclosed) gym twice in the last five months. The first time was in the summer heat and the second was in the winter cold. It was still fun, but I am so out of shape from not climbing in so long, I get tired too fast. So that’s where the big push to get a pull-up bar came from. Hopefully when I actually go climbing I won’t get pumped too quickly!

Southeast Asia!

2007-01-19T17:40:00.000+08:00

We bought tickets for February break this last weekend! In China the biggest holiday of the year is Chinese New Year in mid February. We foreign teachers benefit greatly from this and get three weeks break. Five of us are flying down to Kunming in southern China. From there we will go over land through Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. We don’t have return tickets yet, but the plan as of now is to fly out of Bangkok right before we have to be back. It will be a nice break from China and work, as well as the cold.

Christmas in Hong Kong

2007-01-10T17:56:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong

I know its a little late, but I'm finally getting around to posting about our Hong Kong trip.

When we got back from Hong Kong our internet was extremely slow at best. Now things have picked up a little bit, but its still slow and some sites just don't work. I guess the earthquake in Taiwan severed some cables that we need to access this WWW superhighway thingy.

So posting pictures took weeks, but I finally got quite a few up to my google web album.

Our trip was great. Nine of us left Friday night the 22nd for Shenzhen, which is a major economic city in mainland China that borders Hong Kong. Because of the weird desctrepancy between China and Hong Kong, flying to Hong Kong from mainland China is not considered domestic. So we flew to Shenzhen, crossed the border and rode the train to Hong Kong. This saved quite a bit of money, but also took extra time.

Hong Kong is very different than Shanghai and the rest of China. The British influence is apparent and heavy. They drive on the wrong side of the road for one. The streets are much cleaner; spitting and littering is heavily dissuaded by the numerous signs warning you of the fine you would incur for such offenses. Every bus is a double decker and they have double decker trolleys or "ding-dings" running down the main thoroughfare. Hong Kong is quite a bit more expensive than Shanghai and Shanghai is quite a bit more expensive than most of China.

We arrived late at night and needed a place to stay. Four of the girls that came with us decided they wanted to go all out and stay at a nice hotel, so we parted ways at their train stop. We actually didn't see them again until Christmas day. They five of us cheap skates went hostel hunting. We determined that the Kowloon side of Hong Kong would be the cheapest place to stay. Kowloon is the end of the peninsula directly across for Hong Kong Island. In Kowloon there are two 15 to 20 story decrepit high rises affectionately and incorrectly named mansions. They have markets on the bottom floors and "Guest Houses" and hotels as well as apartments mixed throughout.
After some effort we found a reasonable accommodation for the first night, but it was for that night only, since Christmas was coming up and he was already booked for the next few nights. So the next day we started bed hunting.
Long story short, we got turned away from about twenty hotels before we found a dump of a place that wanted the equivalent of $13 US each. Since we were sick of looking, we just went for it. This place was one of the worst places I have ever seen. I have stayed in a lot of gnarly places in Central and South America, especially Bolivia the home of the "Bolivian backsagger". So we left our stuff and went exploring for the afternoon. We returned a few hours later to a horrible stench. The cleaning lady had poured some sort of extreme draino-type solution down the drains, that smelled like sulfur. One of the tiny rooms we had didn't have a window and the smell was unbearable. We told the manager we could not stay there and demanded our money back. But before we left we wanted to make sure that we would have another place to go, so half of us went bed hunting again. After some time we found a reasonable place. The three of us guys each got our own room and the girls shared a room with two beds. The place was not amazing, but it was good enough, and Kenny, the manager, was a great guy.
That evening we took the ferry across to Hong Kong Island. The Ferry goes from Kowloon to either Central or Wan Chai on the Island. The trip takes about 10 minutes and costs about 25 cents. We had planned to meet up with a family friend of mine who was studying in Hong Kong. Kathryn was once a student of my mom's and her mom and mine have kept in contact. It was very nice to have a local show us around. We were able to get our bearings a lot faster. We met Kathryn at Timesquare in Causeway Bay. She showed us all around the city. We went to a very nice Indian Restaurant for dinner and took pictures and enjoyed the Christmas lights all over the city.
The next day the guys (Erik, Adam and I) went exploring on the Island. We found Hong Kong Park which has an aviary as well as beautiful ponds, waterfalls and plant exhibits. Overall, Hong Kong is well planned out for a large city. You can really get into a more natural type environment and still be surrounded by high rises, than you can in Shanghai. The first thing I actually noticed when we got off the airplane was that there were hills and mountains. In Shanghai the only 3-dimensionality to the landscape is buildings.

To be continued...

2006-12-19T21:55:00.000+08:00

Our Christmas Tree

My Chinese Christmas Tree

So, it's been quite some time since I updated this blog; two months and 10 days to be exact. A lot has happened here in China, but everything has gone by so fast. Kindergarten is still fun and challenging. I have been busy preparing for youth group and meeting with kids every week. The weather is getting colder, so we spend a lot more time indoors. Talk of plans for next school year are the new buzz. Everyone is starting to make decisions and I haven't come to any conclusion yet. I think I might consider staying if I get a position teaching older kids. While I truely love my kindergarteners, I would rather teach older kids I think. My favorite times with the kids are informal play times. When it comes to teaching 20 five year olds in a classroom setting, I can do it, but its not my favorite. Sometimes it feels like too much structure for such a young age. Some of the kids can handle it, but many of them have trouble sitting still.

It will be hard to leave the kids at the end of the year, maybe I should teach first grade. I have really come to love each one of them. Its a funny thing, how much you come to love each child, even the ones who are often "bad". I love seeing them grow and learn. They are learning past tense right now, which is really pretty impressive for a bunch of kids whose native language doesn't really have a past tense.

One thing I really enjoy about this job is that it makes me smile all the time. Sometimes the funniest things happen in class. The kids are just so neat and different, each in his own way. Some kids have quirks or expressions that just make me laugh. I also feel truely loved by the kids. A childs heart is still so tender, they love anyone.

Anyway, as of yet I don't know what will come next...

We have two days off for Christmas, so a group of nine of us are heading to Hong Kong for Christmas. I will try to actually update the blog with some pictures from the trip when we get back.

If you read this far, then you might be interested in checking out my South America blog. I just posted some videos that sort of sum up the trip. Its been many months I know, but they are still fun to watch.

www.travelingsouth.blogspot.com

Yangshuo (More pics than before!)

2006-10-09T23:47:00.000+08:00

We just got back from our October holiday trip to Yangshuo in southern China. The trip was awesome, the scenery was amazing and the adverntures were outstanding. I will hopefully write more soon, but I just wanted to post a few pics up on the site while I was thinking about it.

Yangshuo

Oct 3, 2006 - 46 Photos

Video Problems

2006-09-09T11:02:00.000+08:00

Sorry, I don't know why the videos don't work, its not your computer though...

Kindergarten Squirt Gun Fight

2006-09-07T23:16:00.000+08:00

The K2 kids (5-6 year olds) had a squirt gun fight on the 2nd day of school. The K2 English teachers got to participate. Having no idea what to expect, we came with little squirt guns we found around the Kindergarten supplies. The range of guns can be seen in the video. Some kids had mega guns with back packs that held water reserves, while other kids were content with little gun. On kid actually had a syringe from Rite-aid. I made a quick video to document the experience. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully the video will work!

Free video hosting, video codes at www.vidiLife.com

Our New Apartment

2006-08-30T19:24:00.000+08:00

We got all of their old kitchen stuff, from chopsticks to dried mushrooms

Trying out the sweet new 21" ChangHong TV

My room

Erik's room

We live on the third floor with a balcony on either side. Erik and I both have large rooms. He chose the room with the window seat, I got the one with the balcony. We also have fake hard wood floors. Its really pretty nice. Our rent is about $140/month for both of us.

The LQ

2006-08-30T19:15:00.000+08:00

This is where we live, its called the LQ (living Quarters)

Moving In

2006-08-28T19:20:00.000+08:00

We were totally blessed to get furniture and just about everything we needed from some girls we met who were leaving. One of the bummers about the living situation here is that you have to furnish everything, so finding everything used saved a lot of time and money.

This is our apartment before we started to organize.

Rock Climbing!

2006-08-26T21:09:00.000+08:00

On Saturday a big group of us went to the Shanghai Stadium where they have indoor rock climbing. I definitely prefer outdoor climbing, but it was a lot of fun. In door rock tends to get slippery with wet hands, so climbing in near 100% humidity was not easy. We were all dripping, if not pouring sweat, it made for a great workout. After climbing we had a great spaghetti dinner prepared by Tarah and Amber, two returning teachers. Then we hung out and watched some amazing lightning from their balcony.

Brett showing us how its done

Suzanne and Tarah bring new meaning to the term ripped

I'm way out of my league

Janai stopping for a little chalk

Erik hangin' in the bouldering area

Paulaner

2006-08-25T21:43:00.000+08:00

On Friday night we went to Paulaner, a brew house from Germany. They had a live Philipino band that played every type of music there is. It was a ton of fun, we had quite a dance party. I think the Chinese people got a kick out of seeing us dance.

Downtown Shanghai

2006-08-20T23:59:00.000+08:00

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Downtown

2006-08-20T00:10:00.000+08:00

We spent Saturday exploring downtown Shanghai. We had a few hang ups with the language barrier, but all in all I think we did pretty good getting around. We bought some public transportation cards that can be used with local buses, taxis and the Metro.

In order to get to down town we have to ride a bus or taxi a few miles to the nearest Metro station, then its another 15-20 mins on the subway. Its really quite simple. The Shanghai metro is quite nice. The cars are modern, but there are loads of people.

I'm still pretty clueless about where and what things are, this trip was more of an exploritory/introductory trip. I'm sure later I will know street, district and building names, but as for now it suffices to say we went to one of the main downtown type areas.

I think something was lost in translation here...

A Thai restaurant we went to for lunch

I have no idea what this advertisement is trying to sell.

Janai with her Shanghai Architecture book, trying to spot buildings.

Downtown

2006-08-20T00:08:00.000+08:00

Downtown

2006-08-20T00:05:00.000+08:00

This is the classic older Chinese tourist pose. Younger Chinese throw a peace sign.

The girls having fun on the Bund

I'm not sure whats going on here, but its a toy.

Left to right: Suzanne, Laura, Jackie, Erik, Dan, Sarah, Janai, Trey

Downtown

2006-08-20T00:01:00.000+08:00

Just getting used to things

2006-08-19T23:36:00.000+08:00

Eating dinner at Carrefour the first night. Tara and Amber helped us get used to things.

At the company signing our lives over to China. We got to wear blue slippers.

Nothing like a hotdag at Ikea

The Computer Lab

2006-08-17T23:10:00.000+08:00

We made it...

2006-08-16T19:35:00.000+08:00

We arrived in Shanghai to 87 degree weather and about the same percent humidity. There was a guy waiting for us holding a sign that said our names, so we hopped in the van with him and our years worth of luggage. About 20 minutes later we arrived at our new home.
Shanghai is a city of 18 or so million people, but we live on the outskirts in an area called Pu Dong. It is more rural than downtown, but definitely not rural by our normal standards. It seems like every building is at least five stories high. The companies area seems to be quite large, but I still need to explore. To get to the LQ (living Quaters) you have to go through a guarded gate. Its not really strictly guarded, it seems like you just walk in, maybe its because "wearenotchinese". The LQ is interesting; it reminds me of Germany a little, but I'm not quite sure why. The apartment complexes are many and tall. We were assigned a temporary apartment which we can call home for two weeks while we situate ourselves in our new place. The places are not furnished, so that makes things difficult. You can't just drive your truck down the street and pick up a couch off the curb around here. And from what we have heard thrift stores or other second hand type stores don't really exist. So you either get stuff from Ikea or if you're lucky you find someone who is leaving and wants to sell you all of there stuff. I met a girl that might be moving very soon, she is supposed to let me know on friday. If everything works out we might get a fully furnished apartment which would be very cool. (Speaking of which, Erik and I are going to share a two bedroom and Janai, Laura, and Sarah are sharing a three bedroom.)
I will share more later...

On the plane

2006-08-14T23:08:00.000+08:00