One Month Down...

Hi readers...

I have been in China for a good month now and I think I might just be getting used to the culture here. A lot of things happened this week. 

1. I got a Chinese name!!! My Chinese name is Li Aisi, which means "thinking of love!" I have always wanted a Chinese name since I found out that a lot of Chinese people have English ones! 

2. Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a classic Chinese holiday and people are off for two days. :D My friends and I are taking this time to be tourists. We might go to the zoo to see pandas or go to the top of the Pearl Tower. Around this time, people eat these mooncakes, which are these pastries filled with red bean paste or egg or fruit. I have tried them and I think they are just ok. Red bean paste is not my favorite. 

3. I got a job at a school! I now teach 2nd graders at Da Hushan First Primary School! It is a really nice school, the "model" school for the area. I have about 25 students in each class. Right now I will be teaching 2 classes at this school per week. I have to pick up stickers this week for my students (They love stickers here! Especially cute panda stickers). Two guys who work in Shanghai with me were needed because they have way more male students in China than girl students because of their one child law. At the other school I was placed at, I might be teaching an AP English course...but we will see.

4. I turned in my first video for City Weekend! My boss really liked it. I will post it on here as soon as the final version is put on the website. It is how the metro system functions in Shanghai...you know, for those clueless expats (aka me). 

5. My friend told me today that she can go to Beijing with me on the National Holiday week! So excited! I will email my friend Henry to see if he would like to hang out with us  while we are up there. You can't go to China without seeing the Great Wall after all!

6. Last Saturday Quibao where we had a nice little feast set up by Ameson and went on a little boat ride through the ancient city. People here sell everything in the streets and there was a cricket museum that has cricket fights sometimes. There was an open door where this butcher was chopping up lambs. Interesting... 

7. My Internet was setup in my apartment today, but we don't have a router yet...being unplugged is hard. Thank goodness for this internet cafe :) 

P.S.: Shanghai has the cutest dogs everywhere! Although, this guy I saw on Nanjing Road is pretty bizarre. He has booties though!

"This is China!"

T.I.C.:

"This is China" refers to everything that happens in China that is out of the ordinary for anyone from a western country. We say it here at least three times a day. When someone on the subway spits on your foot--"This is China." When babies don't wear diapers so that they can relieve themselves on the street--"This is China." When you realize how packed the country actually is with a trip to IKEA--"This is China."When it becomes the Hunger Games to get a seat on the subway--"This is China!" When MacDonalds has black and white burger buns--"This is China." When you are a celebrity just because you have blond hair and even the waiter at the hotel you are staying at wants a picture with you--"This is China!"

These are all the cultural things that we will have to get used to over the next couple of months. There might be a lot of these culture shock moments, but when weighed with all the positives, it is all worth it. For instance, the people here are so nice, the food is great, and my fellow teachers are super smart and nice. There is a local Muslim family who makes the best noodles which are really affordable. One of the big




dishes is 8 RMB which is about $1.20 in the states.

This trip so far has been interesting, to say the least. Actually it has been a bunch of things combined in these past two weeks, which feels more like a month. I have already tried bullfrog, dumplings, the Chinese version of a crepe, and real bubble tea! I had my first class last friday at one of the top middle schools in Shanghai. My group of 6th graders had a pretty firm grasp on English and I think my lesson that I prepared was too easy. But, it was my first attempt at teaching, and overall I think I did a good job. One girl came up to me at the end of my lesson and said I was the most interesting teacher she ever had. Made my heart melt.

At first we thought we were all going to be forced to work forty hours a week when our contracts only say 25. Eventually, we got the school to look at our contracts and got things settled. Out of everything, I love my apartment!!! It's very cute, modern, and colorful, complete with a red kitchen and some orange walls. My favorite part is probably the air conditioner in the living room since it has been extremely humid here. In other news I have already made great friends who are mostly from the east coast.

Along with our 25 hours a week teaching, we were promised chances to get internships. I got one at an English magazine called City Weekend! I am excited to do some video and blog work for them :)