Mooncakes, Volunteer Work, Good Saltines

Another Wednesday night/Thursday morning, up writing the weekly paper for developmental economics. So naturally, I'm on xanga blogging. And before, I even caught the season premiere of Heroes on tvlinks. The day before (9/25) was 中秋節 (Mid-Autumn festival, or rather Mooncake day). A bunch of us had Korean BBQ and the place gave us moichi (non-ice cream) and mooncakes (strange flavored ones). Didn't think I was going to do anything else for the night, so I planned to finish my homework. But, of course, something came up and ended up going to a 中秋節party at someone's apartment. These were all UC students so it was a beer and mooncake filled night. Played a little beerpong and a lot of drinking games. Got back at 2am and couldn't believe how full the moon was and how clear the sky was. We normally can't see any stars in the Shanghai sky, but unbelievably we saw the big dipper and orion's belt constellations. It was a beautiful night sky to say the least. I then had to wake up for an 8am class, which I did wake up for, but decided I was too "sick " to go. I guess beer and night air disagree with my throat because now I have an irritating dry cough. I really don't want to get sick in China, much less right before the National Holiday.

Wednesday I was supposed to spend doing homework, but saw some people I know get on a bus, so I got on with them instead of eating. Don't worry, it wasn't completely random. They were on their way to an orientation to volunteer at a migrant workers' childrens' school. I've been looking for something to do since I'm only taking classes right now. So volunteer work is perfect. We took the subway all the way to the end (opposite from Shanghai South Railway station) to the boonies of Shanghai. Completely different from the rest of Shanghai, rundown, dusty, not modern. The school was in the middle of the rundown residences. When we went through the gate, two rows of little kids holding pompoms greeted us with 歡迎關臨 it was the cutest thing ever. I wanted to take one. The orientation consisted of the principal introducing the school to us and explaining to us how he got to create the school with no government help. We then got a tour of the school which is just one building surrouding a courtyard. All the kids kept looking at us while smiling and waiving, with the occassional, "HALLO!" so cute. Like I said, I wanted to take one. I have the opportunity to teach English on Tuesdays and play with the kids of Fridays. I think I'm going to really enjoy this, and earn a few karma points. Volunteer work where you get to see the result of your contribution is the most satisfying.

I got back and lounged in my room for a bit before going to another Korean restaurant where I spilled my cold noodle soup all over my lap. My shoes smell like kimchi. I took a much wanted shower and watched Heroes. And now I'm blogging and snacking on some delicious Saltine crackers. I hesitated in eating these because they're all carbs and it's 1am, but I'm hungry and working. I'm glad I opened them because they were the best Saltine crackers I've had in a long time.

Okay, I guess it's back to the paper. Starting school off on the right foot, right people? Have Fun!

P.S. Expect my aggressive soliciation for donations for the kids' school in the future. You are now forewarned, get those pocket books out. Please.

Around Fudan

I really enjoy living at the foreign student dormitory here at Fudan University on the outskirts of Shanghai. Today I met 3 Liberians (West Africa) and had dinner with a Mexican from Chihuahua at a Muslim noodle place. The area around our dorm has food from almost everywhere. Korean restaurants are the most popular besides the Shanghainese places and there are plenty of coffee places. There is also street food which consist of skewers, 包子 (bao zhi), and the like, which are delicious if you have the courage to try them and the stomach. This Muslim noodle place we went to is very popular among the foreign student set, apparently.. or maybe just us UC students. Four of us ordered a huge thing of Xinjiang Dapanji (Chicken, potatoes, bok choy, an array of spices and noodles), and it was indeed delicious. Also, fyi, Xinjiang is the Uigher territory in China, if that rings any bells.. no?

Yesterday, we went all the way across the Huangpu River to Pudong to have Indian food. The place was called Punjabi Indian Restaurant, it was in a swanky plaza that also had a Jia Le Fu (家樂福), which if you know me is my favorite place in China (jk, its a chain store, kind of like a WalMart, but way cooler). The Indian place had a buffet that was 68 kuai (roughly $9.50) and had a mix of Indian and Chinese waiters. The food was okay, not as good as the Indian food in California though, hah. But there was a guy dressed in traditional clothing and when really hip Indian music played, he danced. It was rather amusing, some Chinese guy went up there to dance with him, very funny. I felt like dancing too, but I accidentally bit into an insanely spicy pepper. No idea what kind it was, but I felt like my mouth was on fire and my lips were bleeding. Most insane spiceyness I've ever felt in my life, gave me a headache . Besides that little episode, I had a good time.

So we've decided to go to Guilin for the National Holiday. Every October, China has their National Holiday, everyone has a week off and everyone travels. So about a billion Chinese roaming around the tourist areas of China is going to be crazy. Guilin is in the Guangxi province of China, close to Vietnam. It's known for its magnificent scenary, so I hope it's awesome and not boring. I also read that they have a lot of horse meat in their dishes.. Can't wait.

Alright for now then, term is starting for those in the Southern UC schools, so good luck everyone!

Shanghai Part One

These are old blogs from my time "studying" in Shanghai. I decided to move them over from Xanga in the hopes that they'll be of more use here...



I think I've decided to blog about my time in Shanghai, or else I won't remember much of it later.

I'm supposed to be studying right now, but this free internet shouldn't be wasted so here I am. There's a typhoon coming tonight. It's supposed to be the biggest one to hit Shanghai in a long time. and here I am in this cafe, which serves the best pork masala sandwich I've had in a long time. I hadn't noticed this cafe before, even though it's only a block from our dorms. I'm glad I went in though, it's a nice place to surf the web with a cup of chai.

So what have I been doing with my time abroad. We started classes three weeks ago and there is so much reading to be done already. The one economics class I'm taking has a paper due every week, keeps us accountable for the reading, which is good I guess. The other classes just have a lot of reading and the professors must have a Masters in boring the crap out of their students, because I've managed to zone out for at least 2 hours of every 3 hour class. I can't say that I've been keeping up on the reading though, just the Econ ones. However, I'm actively trying to make it up right now. Besides this little break to blog. The walks to class are killer. The Foreign Student Dormitory is located in this North most part of campus and the classes are in the South most. Makes for good exercise I suppose, except its hot and humid most of the time. The weather, besides the typhoon, has been clearing up as of late. It'll be fall soon and the weather should calm down.

I've been craving non-Chinese food lately, which has led me to a variety of different Korean restaurants, lots of stone pot rice and kimchi. The other day we even went to a Mexican place, the burritos were dinky looking and they used red bean in their nachos (weird), but the quesadilla was probably one of the best quesadillas I've ever had. We then went to an American diner. The blueberry pancakes were gigantic and even our resident eater couldn't finish it. The banana split was good though and the fries came with all sorts of different sauces, including tomato curry.

The places I've been to around Shanghai have included a lot of tourist attractions and shopping places. The most notable being the bund at midnight and Xintiandi, the trendiest place you can go in Shanghai I suppose. We ate at a German brewhouse (Paulaner Brauhaus) in Xintiandi and I had a munich lager with my mom (my parents were here for 2 weeks). It was the best lager I've ever had, which I suppose doesn't say much coming from me, but it was really good, none of that bitter taste I associate from most brews. On the way to the bund, we walked through West Nanjing Lu and there was a Chinese idol concert going on, we only caught the fireworks at the end, but those were awesome. I've been able to buy a lot of stuff from the usual TongYang market place, cheap designer knockoffs, which makes me happy. There's a dvd place near the dorm that has a decent selection of older cds and I got Fleetwood Mac: Greatest hits for 15RMB, which translates into about 2 bucks, best two bucks I've ever spent, love the music. And I also bought a bunch of dvds, that's a given.

Well, that's it for now, I really should get back to reading. If you miss me, drop me a line (comment)! haha