This is not China…

Almost a month in and it’s just becoming more and more entertaining. As I sit in the café recovering from dancing til 4AM and setting up job interviews for various Language Schools, it hits me that Shanghai is the Hollywood representation of China. Shanghai is not China. I think Chinatown in LA and Chicago are more Chinesey than Shanghai. Sarah, yes I’m on a first name basis with the employees at the café, just brought me my latte that I didn't ask for yet. I’ve become freaking Norm from Cheers. Not sure how I feel about this…good grief.
My cell contacts have increased to 10. To go from 200+ phone numbers to 0 to 10, is hilarious. Not being attached to my phone has been a life changing thing. I wish I was kidding. If you know me, you know that my phone was my right arm, boyfriend, child, soul. It’s embarrassing to admit, but whatever.
I’ve been “socializing” the past week. Going out and dancing like my life depended on it and meeting people. One of Jake’s school mate said “you really can dance and wasn’t lying about liking it”. HAHAAHHAHAHA, they don’t know. They will pffft.
It’s definitely a place that “its not what you know, it’s who you know”. I’ve not spent a dime going out, these people are crazy. A friend of a friend visiting here from DC told me that I’m working on my “Gwin qi”. This is why he’s in Shanghai. “Gwin qi” is the idea of meeting people and establishing and developing your worth with them. Scratch my back, scratch your back type of thing…
*(I apologize Marilla for all the idioms in this post, but that’s exactly how it is here)
My first mandarin lesson involved a lamented pinyin chart (thanks Jake for having that done!) Thomas, the teacher that’s in medical school and wants to work on his already good English, and myself desperate trying to mouthed and speak strange sounds. The pinyin chart looks like the Periodic Table of Elements…I’m not exaggerating or bullshitting you. Look here. Moving here is nowhere near as challenging as learning this language. I told Jeff that I would have a child (I don’t want to bear a child EVER!) and give it up to learn this language…that’s where my determination and/or craziness lies.


*pictures are from a day at century park with Thomas and Jake. It was a great fall day for walking around the park