Adventures in Everyday Life

I guess I should probably update this with the happenings from Shanghai before I forget too much of the details. Here it goes…

Wednesday June 25, 2008

We flew from Qingdao to Shanghai which turned out to be more of a hassle than it was worth since you were only allowed one bag that weighed less than 60 pounds. Anything extra you had to pay for. Luckily I only had one bag for that flight (I had two when I flew home because I took a bag for a girl that stayed longer). My one bag was at the exact weight it was supposed to be so I didn’t have to pay. After that our flight was delayed an hour and then we finally boarded and arrived in Shanghai. We checked into the hotel and then went to this shopping area near our hotel. It was another place where there were vendors everywhere and lots of people. Fortunately this was a little more spaced out than the market in Beijing. I didn’t buy anything that day. We were all pretty crabby and our tour guide was really annoying. After the market we went back to the hotel and had dinner and then relaxed the rest of the night.

Thursday June 26, 2008

In the morning we went to the Science Museum which was like many other science museums I have been to. Not something I really wanted to do while I was in China but we had no choice. Some of us decided to go to a 4-D show called Pirates. A 4-D consists of a 3-D movie and then other things will happen like when water is splashed you get splashed with real water and such things. I thought it was kind of fun. After that we went to the Omnimax and saw Forces of Natures but the naration was in Chinese so we couldn’t understand. After the science museum we went to this huge mall to have lunch and then on to the TVTower which is pictured. You can see the smog in the picture as well. It is a tower that is actually used to broadcast TV but you can also look at the city from further up. It was similar to the one I went up in, in Auckland. After the TV Tower we went to the Old Shanghai Museum underneath the tower. After we were done there we went to the Bund and walked around (it is right on the river). Once we were done there we went to dinner at this place were they also had some performances while you ate. It wasn’t anything too impressive but the food was pretty good. Once we were finished eating we went back to the hotel. Later that night a few of us walked back to the Bund to see it at night. They have boats in the water that have huge TV’s on them for advertising. There are also whole sides of buildings that light up as well. We wandered around there for a while and had some ice cream then we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

Friday June 27, 2008

The first thing we did was go to the Shanghai Museum. This was pretty interesting. We saw some Chinese furniture, scrolls, bronze, and clothing among other things. We had a few hours there and then walked to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall in the rain. Here they had pictures and information about old and new Shanghai. In one place they had these pictures of streets from years ago and then a picture of it today. It was pretty interesting. They also had this huge model of Shanghai as well which is in the picture. After that we had a good lunch and then we set free to do what we wanted. It was pretty much pouring rain the rest of the day but a few of us went shopping. We were pretty successful. I was able to get the rest of the gifts that I needed. Luckily I had rolled up my pants and had my umbrella otherwise I would have been soaked. Once we got back to the hotel from our shopping adventure we decided to go to and Indian restaurant for dinner. It took forever to find a taxi since it was raining and then once we found one it took us too far from the restaurant but luckily we found another quick and headed back a little ways to the restaurant. The meal was excellent. We then proceeded to find another taxi to bring us to a bar that was just opening. This took even longer than the first time but we finally got one and once we got to the bar we found out it was invitation only that night so we couldn’t get in. After that we were all pretty tired and wet and decided to go home. As luck would have it a taxi came by just then so we hailed it and rode back to the hotel. We then did some packing and went to bed.

Saturday June 28, 2008

In the morning we woke up took showers and finished whatever packing we had left and headed down to the bus to go to the airport. Everything went pretty smoothly and there was even free internet at the airport so I was able to make sure Nathan had talked to Josh about picking us up. All the flights were pretty uneventful and I slept for probably about half of the 11 hour flight. I only watched one of the movies and woke up on and off during the others. We had some pretty good turbulence during that flight but it never lasted very long. We finally landed in Minneapolis and customs took forever and then one of the girls riding home with us couldn’t find her suitcase for a while. This was due to the fact that they kept taking the suitcases off at random places around the conveyor so we didn’t see it for a while. After that we headed down to meet our ride and went home. I slept from North Branch to Hinkley and then stayed awake until we got home. I took a shower, did laundry, and emptied my suitcase. We then watched some TV where I fell asleep around 8:30 or 9 but woke up at 3 AM as my last post says. I wasn’t able to go back to sleep but I didn’t take a nap that day and managed to stay up until 10:30 even. I slept until 9 the next morning and did some shopping. Tuesday morning I woke up at about 5 AM and after that I had to wake up to my alarm because I had appointments to get to.

Overall it was a great trip but it is nice to be back home. I rejoined the real world last Monday when I went back to work since, unfortunately, bills don’t pay themselves and they don’t let you keep your car if you don’t make the payments. I haven’t done anything too exciting since I got home. I have yet to go through my pictures or even load them on my laptop. Hopefully soon I can get to that.

We were busy over the fourth when Nathan’s parents came up to replace the front deck which was a lot more work than we thought. It turned out really nice and is much sturdier than the old deck though.

Patrick and Dillinger are alive and healthy, at least that’s what the vet tells me. Patrick is adjusting to having me around again but he’s getting there. Him and Dillinger were trying to get the cream cheese mints I was making last night. Luckily I caught them before they were able to get any.

That’s about it from here for now. I’ll do my best to go through my pictures and get them online in the near future. Until then I will leave you with a picture of the new deck and one of Dillinger after a hard morning of playing outside.

I just thought that I would let everyone know I made it home safely. I slept some on the plane and then passed out on the couch around 8 or so maybe. I would have slept there the whole night if Nathan hadn’t woken me up and told me to go to bed. Our flight got in around 1:15 or so and they were all pretty uneventful. The flight from Tokyo hit a little bit of turbulence but overall wasn’t too bad. I’ll post about our Shanghai adventures in the near future and hopefully get my pictures online as well. I am definitely enjoying the fast and censor free internet right now. I woke up at about 3 AM this morning and was extremely hungry so hopefully I can get back to bed in a little while. That’s all for now, I’ve got to do a little more internet browsing and then it’s back to bed.

We now have less than a week in China. Only two more days of class, it will be nice to have a break although I do have an astronomy class to finish this summer that I started last fall and a paper to write for the China trip. At least I won’t have class everyday. I’m still pretty excited about passing my FE exam. Overall, the trip here has been a lot of fun. All of us get along pretty well except one girl but she left for home last week. We leave for Shanghai on Wednesday. I’m getting pretty excited to come home. It’s been a really good trip but it will be nice to be home again. I definitely miss having a dryer, my clothes have stretched out without one.

This weekend we’ve done some shopping and went out with our Chinese friends last night. I learned how to play Chinese checkers which was a lot of fun. There’s a night market that we’ve gone to a couple of times and it has all kinds of stuff from household items to jewelry to fake bags. It’s a lot of fun to walk around there.

Last night we were discussing driving with one of the Chinese girls. She had asked us if we owned cars and so we were explaining how to get your license in the US and such things. Apparently if you get your permit in the US now they actually issue you a license that says instruction permit on it rather than just giving you the slip of paper. In China you have to take driving lessons but I really wonder what they teach. When people drive they really do not obey the lines on the road and don’t always stay on the correct side of the road. There’s a lot of honking to let people know you’re there, it’s not angry honking like back home. I would not want to drive here, it’s pretty crazy. One of the first days we were in Qingdao we were in a taxi on a highway and this taxi in front of us all of sudden did a U-turn and went the wrong way on the exit ramp we had just passed. When crossing the road you just walk out in front of cars and just keep working your way across the road if you’re not crossing the road at the stop lights. It’s all pretty crazy.

This may be my last post until I get home, we’ll see how things go over the next couple of days.

There hasn’t been anything too exicting happening lately. I think I’ll wait to put up more pictures until I get home. It doesn’t work on the laptop I’m using and going to the internet bar on campus is a bit of a hassle and I’m too lazy right now to do html code for it.

On Wednesday we met some of the US Olympic Sailing team. The sailing portion of the Olympics will be in Qingdao. We had dinner with them. It was really interesting. One of the guys I talked to the most is a civil engineering and is the youngest to get a PhD from Tulane. He has started a few companies and has seven kids and lost his house and seven of his eight boats during Hurricane Katrina. That was a good night but unfortunately was a Wednesday night so those of us that made it to class the next day were pretty tired.

Last night, which was Thursday night, we visited some Chinese families at their homes. I went with three of the other students. There was a daughter and her father and the father cooked for us. It was some really good food. The father also liked to keep doing cheers with beer so we drank quite a bit but luckily beer doesn’t have too much alcohol in it. For once it wasn’t Tsing Tao beer it was Laoshan Beer, Laoshan is the mountain we climbed a few weeks ago in Qingdao. They get drinking water from there and green tea.

Other than those two things there’s not much exciting happening. We leave Qingdao on Wednesday and go to Shanghai so I won’t be have internet access during that time. We fly home on Saturday and get home the same day. Only eight days left in China and two days of class. I talked to Nathan this morning and he was telling me about the damage that happened to I-35 and we just found out yesterday morning about the tomato problems. The only news we get here is BBC and apparently it’s just a lot of the same stuff over and over, I haven’t turned on my TV.

Today we’re going to do some shopping in the afternoon. Saturday I think we are going to go out to eat with the whole group and our professor that came with us. Sunday there are no plans as of yet. They do have a Wal-Mart here but instead of calling it Wal-Mart like the sign says they say War-Ma. That’s about it. I’ll try to get another update done before we leave Qingdao and I’ll be sure to update when I get home and get my pictures online.