Pirates, Expo, and Qipaos: my life since Inner Mongolia

I'm sure you're all wondering what I've been up to for the last week and half- sorry I've been negligent with the blog...

So came back from Inner Mongolia two Thursdays ago (see last post for that), had our last weekend class- thank god. then that Saturday (two saturdays ago), we went on a Pirate themed Party Cruise through downtown Shanghai (the Huangpu river runs through the middle of Shanghai fyi). Everyone dressed up and there were lots of foreigners on the boat. The cruise was beautiful too cuz the whole city was lit up! Drinks were included in the ticket for the boat and we conveniently kept finding bottles all over the place :)

Magnolia and I in our pirate costumes

The dragon boat that our cruise was on

then the next day (two sundays ago) Magnolia and I had hot pot at her house family's house. Hot pot is like oil fondue, there's a broth in a boiling pot and you put in raw meats and veggies and such and cook them, then dip them in sauces, etc. It was delicious! They had soo  much food and of course, after we had eaten a ton, they were like, you're done already?! very chinese to offer never ending amounts of food to you. Then we had watermelon, traditional dessert. yum. Then Magnolia and I tried to go to the Shanghai Museum, which supposedly has the greatest ancient chinese artifacts in China/the world. We got off at the wrong subway stop and then I thought we could just walk, so we did. It was a long walk but a nice adventure. Then we got there and it was closed :( but we had starbucks instead, which was delicious! talked to some random chinese girls who yelled "hello!" at us as we walked by, which happens all the time. They were nice and invited us to a tea ceremony but we respectfully declined cuz we wanted to go to this carnival that we found. We rode the swings, it was great. fastest swings ever. so fun.

Then on last tuesday my internship was cancelled (yippee!) so I went to the World Expo (used to be the World's Fair) with some friends. In China, the expo is almost as big a deal as the olympics. They get tens of thousands of visitors a day. And haibao, the mascot (see pictures below) is everywhere. I also went again on friday afternoon (for free! cuz magnolia's host mom's company had free tickets). Basically the expo is filled with pavilions from almost every country around the world. The pavilions are supposed to portray the country's culture and accomplishments, etc. A lot of them are giant tourist advertisements though. But the good ones had stages and performances outside along with delicious food from their country.

Iran's Pavilion- filled with propoganda, carpets, and a potential execution happening inside? just kidding, the "Execution" was some kind of raffle but they were standing on a platform in the middle of the room and there was a guy sitting in a chair and it looked very ominous. haha

China's pavilion! You can't even wait in line to get in anymore cuz you need a reservation cuz the lines are too long. All the reservations are taken from now through the end of the Expo (Oct 31) so you can buy them off people but it's around 400 kuai (outrageous!)= $60 USD

Alex and I wearing 3D glasses (for their 3D movie) at the Hong Kong exhibit

India Pavilion, pretty cool 

Magnolia and I riding sheep at the Netherlands pavilion. We raced them. I won. 

Haibao and his family. Elissa, Jurie, and Jeff imitating them. :) 

There was a parade of all the countries-ish. This is the "french" part. 

Magnolia and I in front of the US pavilion. We got in fast since we're Americans. Basically all the US had were videos, but I liked them. They were obviously trying to appeal to chinese people- the first video was a bunch of americans trying to speak chinese, very funny. Then we ran into a Vassar girl who works at the pavilion! small world! 

Morocco Pavilion. We didn't go inside but it's sooo pretty! 

North Korea Pavilion. The theme was "People's Paradise" but then translated it was "Paradise for People", now really, you can't get a native speaker to help you with that? The inside had a random fake river and a cave and some pictures of what N Korea supposedly looks like. No food. (how accurate). 

A video of the stage at the US Pavilion, a chinese guy rapping in chinese. very weird- "Gei Wo"- Give it to me

So ya, that's the expo. Very cool, but not as cool as the chinese make it out to be, haha.

After the expo on friday, we went to a really nice bar that had an outside patio and yummy drinks, but a bit expensive (as in cost the same as in america). Then met up with some other friends at our fav bar, Windows, then danced the night away!

Saturday morning I went on a school field trip to a traditional Buddhist temple. We got a tour from the nun (only nuns there) and she was pretty cool.

my class at the temple

Buddha with a thousand hands, pretty amazing.

Also bought a traditional chinese dress, qipao, last week for my friend's birthday party, mexican food and chinese dress themed. I had to have it custom made because none of the regular qipaos come in my size, haha. It turned out pretty well. So saturday night, we began by eating mexican food and hanging out in my friends apartment. Then we went to the tallest bar in the world, on the 94th floor of the world financial center (the tallest building in Shanghai, and possibly Asia). Great view. Then we went to Windows again, then home. 

Today I was supposed to go to my internship, but again, cancelled yay! So instead I went eyeglasses shopping! Got some hipster glasses! 


Just went to the gym- another observation: A large number of the chinese women there do not wear workout clothes. They were sweater sets, jeans, dress pants, button up shirts, polos, whatever they wore to work apparently. very weird...


Also- more bike stories: So last monday on my way to class, I go outside to get my bike and ride to class, which I do everyday. I started looking around and no bike, how weird. It's common to have stolen bikes, but not within Tonghe, the essentially gated community where we live. And I have a lock on it. So then my friend is like, isn't this yours? blue bike with red lock? It is exactly the same lock and bike, but I knew it wasn't mine cuz mine didn't have a reflector (and this one did) and I have a dent in my basket. But my friend insisted it was mine so I tried the lock with my key and surprise- it worked! So apparently as long as you have a key to a lock of the same brand, you can open anyone's lock! but this bike was really messed up, handle bars going crazy and one of the pedals didn't work. So I relocked it and left it at Tonghe. Then I took a dingding to class (we call them dingdings cuz they "ding" at you a lot on the street, they're rickshaws). I come back after class and surprise again- my bike is back! MY bike, not the other one. So I quickly take it and go buy a new lock and fixed a pedal issue it had been having. And I got a bell, it's so awesome. I'm pretty obnoxious with my bell (so I've been told by my friends), but I'm really just being chinese (aka honking and dinging at everyone all the time). So me and my bike were back together again and we're very happy with each other. UNTIL on the way to class wednesday, my tire pops! really?! I was pissed. But got that fixed that day so it was only for a bit. Then I talked with my friend Anthony, who owns the look-alike bike/lock that I had tried out on monday, and he said he felt the same way. But he left 20 min before me so clearly his bike and mine were there and he's just an idiot who took mine. haha. (no offense anthony if you're reading this) But still a dramatic experience overall.

Bike riding obeservation: buses are scary. You're riding along, in the bike lane (unless you're passing someone or some car decided to park there, which happens all the time), and all of a sudden, you hear this loud, grumbling noise approaching quickly behind you. You're not sure what it is and it isn't honking or anything. You're afraid to turn around for fear the if you turn your head to look, you'll also turn your handle bars and serve into the path of the large roaring noise. So you don't, and just pray that the thing will pass you with a least a foot to spare on either side of you. (sometimes they don't leave that much space). Then it passes and you're still alive. yay. Oh ya, and as my parents discovered this week- no one wears helmets in china!

love you! bye!