The hotel is good, but it seems
everyone smokes here, so the room smells like smoke, and I'm having a hard time adjusting. I feel like I've ingested several packs worth
of cigarettes, and I haven't even been here 24 hours! The only English TV channel I get is CNN. CCTV (Communist China TV) is all propaganda!
Last night's banquet with the Shanghai teachers and administrators was probably one of the biggest dinners I will ever have. They had a private banquet room reserved, and it was very shiny and
laquery (I think I just made up that word), and there were several mirrors, chandeliers, and pillows with sequins. We had tea first, and then we went into the larger banquet room that had a table with rose petals scattered in the middle of a huge glass lazy Susan.
The server came around with a choice of drinks: yogurt, blueberry juice, orange juice, and lychee juice. We also had wine, and the serving size was about one thimble full for a serving. They had about eight different toasts, which I didn't understand because they were in Mandarin, and once I
drank my thimble-full, someone raced over and filled my glass again (another thimble). I didn't really want anymore, and one of the teachers picked up on that. She said that they will keep refilling your glass until you tell them no.
Then, a barrage of foods came. There were many things that were completely unrecognizable. Most of them were some kind of mushroom or bean curd. There was shrimp, something that looked like a mussel, crab, and several side dishes. Just when I thought we were done (and I was already stuffed!), they brought individual entrees of fish. It was really good. Then, they had soup, dumplings, more bean curd, more mushrooms, fruit, some kind of tapioca coconut soup, and more tea. I was really surprised at the table manners--a lot of slurping and crunching. When they were eating the crab, they would just bite into the shells and spit them out on the plate. Often, the shells would bounce off their plates and land on the table. Funny.
One thing I like here is that people don't hug. They sometimes shake hands, and they do a little bit of bowing. They don't talk much about their personal lives, but I did show pictures of my stepson, my husband, and my cats. They said that both my husband and stepson looked handsome and "really smart." They were right! They loved the cats, and one teacher (Dongping--aka "Jane") said that Miles had big eyes just like me. They also said that I represent the school well because I am young and pretty. Looks seem to be a big thing here. The women have beautiful clothes and jewelry, but I haven't seen one yet who wears makeup.
Today, I got to sleep in a little, which was good. I had breakfast here at the hotel--it's free for guests. I was by myself, and one of the waiters must've felt bad for me because he handed me a plate and walked me around--pointing out what he thought I would like. It was awkward and funny at the same time. It's the weirdest breakfast ever, though. It is a buffet that has some fruit, but it's mostly rice, noodles, dumplings, and pastries that aren't very sweet. I can't find enough of one thing I like to fill up on, so feel like I'm always hungry. I weighed myself, and I like Chinese scales--they always weigh me lighter than I know I am! To make up for my skimpy breakfast, I had a bunch of Digestif cookies with chocolate that I bought at Lawson--my favorite convenience store on the way to school.
Last night's banquet with the Shanghai teachers and administrators was probably one of the biggest dinners I will ever have. They had a private banquet room reserved, and it was very shiny and
laquery (I think I just made up that word), and there were several mirrors, chandeliers, and pillows with sequins. We had tea first, and then we went into the larger banquet room that had a table with rose petals scattered in the middle of a huge glass lazy Susan.
The server came around with a choice of drinks: yogurt, blueberry juice, orange juice, and lychee juice. We also had wine, and the serving size was about one thimble full for a serving. They had about eight different toasts, which I didn't understand because they were in Mandarin, and once I
drank my thimble-full, someone raced over and filled my glass again (another thimble). I didn't really want anymore, and one of the teachers picked up on that. She said that they will keep refilling your glass until you tell them no.
Then, a barrage of foods came. There were many things that were completely unrecognizable. Most of them were some kind of mushroom or bean curd. There was shrimp, something that looked like a mussel, crab, and several side dishes. Just when I thought we were done (and I was already stuffed!), they brought individual entrees of fish. It was really good. Then, they had soup, dumplings, more bean curd, more mushrooms, fruit, some kind of tapioca coconut soup, and more tea. I was really surprised at the table manners--a lot of slurping and crunching. When they were eating the crab, they would just bite into the shells and spit them out on the plate. Often, the shells would bounce off their plates and land on the table. Funny.
One thing I like here is that people don't hug. They sometimes shake hands, and they do a little bit of bowing. They don't talk much about their personal lives, but I did show pictures of my stepson, my husband, and my cats. They said that both my husband and stepson looked handsome and "really smart." They were right! They loved the cats, and one teacher (Dongping--aka "Jane") said that Miles had big eyes just like me. They also said that I represent the school well because I am young and pretty. Looks seem to be a big thing here. The women have beautiful clothes and jewelry, but I haven't seen one yet who wears makeup.
Today, I got to sleep in a little, which was good. I had breakfast here at the hotel--it's free for guests. I was by myself, and one of the waiters must've felt bad for me because he handed me a plate and walked me around--pointing out what he thought I would like. It was awkward and funny at the same time. It's the weirdest breakfast ever, though. It is a buffet that has some fruit, but it's mostly rice, noodles, dumplings, and pastries that aren't very sweet. I can't find enough of one thing I like to fill up on, so feel like I'm always hungry. I weighed myself, and I like Chinese scales--they always weigh me lighter than I know I am! To make up for my skimpy breakfast, I had a bunch of Digestif cookies with chocolate that I bought at Lawson--my favorite convenience store on the way to school.
The other food we have eaten is--well, I'm just going to say it--mostly disgusting. I'm pretty open-minded about food and want to try new things, but I'm already tired of noodles, rice, dumplings, and unidentifiable slimey slabs of meat. The hotel also has room service breakfast. Here are the choices: Congee (like rice mush), assorted vegetables, fried rice, stuffed shrimp small sumplings, steamed bread, and noodle soup with seafood. The dinner room service includes fried shredded eel and shark fin soup. There is a free breakfast buffet downstairs every day, and I just head straight for the pastries. I'm just not into beef stew and fish with heads for breakfast. Nevertheless, I don't think I've lost any weight because whenever I see a McDonald's or convenience store, I go in and binge on something bad for me. Oh, well.
After breakfast, I came back to my room and we went to the school around 12:00. They took us on an amazing boat ride down the Huangpu River. The skyline is so cool! On one side of the river, you have futuristic, mod buildings. On the opposite side of the river, you have the old Shanghai--the area called The Bund. These are the buildings that the British built in the 1800s after the first Opium War. After the cruise, we walked The Bund. It was strange how people would openly gawk at us. Whenever we stopped to take pictures as a group, other people would always take pictures of us, too. Sometimes, people would follow us for a while when we walked. It's just weird. There aren't many white people, though.
After our trip, Tim and I came back to the hotel. He wanted to eat dinner at a place he went to last year. It's called the "Little Fat Sheep.' It's a hot pot restaurant. We took a taxi, and it cost 20 RMB ($3.00) for a ride that was at least 10-15 minutes away. So cheap! The meal was good. The funniest thing is that you have to pay for napkins! I was also the only white person in this restaurant that was full of hundreds of diners. So, of course, staring...
We just came back to the hotel, and I'm going to pack for our two-day trip to Suzhou tomorrow. The students have three days off for the Qing Ming Festival, so they will come with us. The kids will share rooms with their host brothers/sisters, and I will have my own room. It's supposedly another 4-star hotel. We will check out of this hotel for one day and store our things at the front desk. Then, we'll come back the following day and check back in.
I'm getting used to the money here--I
did my first cash exchange today. They
charge a $15 transaction fee at the hotel, but it was more convenient than
going to the bank. So far, I haven't
spent a ton of money.
It's weird that hardly anyone seems to speak
English here. I thought there would be
many more who would. I'm picking up a
few phrases. I learned today that
"Ching bang wo" means
"Please help me."
No comments:
Post a Comment