Culture Shock
Okay, so we left the bus terminal at 5:30 a.m. this morning surrounded by our host families. We all agree that they are amazing people, we adore them, and already miss them! The two hour flight happened over lunch time so Korean Air provided us with lunch. It was pretty good too. :) I am in favor of Korean Air. They are awesome.
Boyoung mentioned on the bus that we don't have free time in Shanghai and I may not be allowed to go to the aquarium here. I am quite distraught over this concept as it is THE aquarium. THE aquarium, not a aquarium, THE aquarium and I am huge fish nerd. I MUST go! I will pay my way, or anything else I must do.
Then we arrived at Sanda University and it's already a cultural experience. We got off the plane and the two that picked us up were very nice. Then we got to the university and walked into the guest house and after being spoiled at Incheon, we had to take a minute to recompose ourselves and remind us that Lander doesn't even have an official guest house. We just put everyone in our most popular dorms. So after our initial culture shock, we realized that it's retro. The bathroom thankfully has an actual toilet and not any squatting toilets and a blockade to hold the water from spraying the rest of the bathroom (definitely the most interesting shower experience of the time in Korea). They also give us a TV and though we can't understand anything on it, it is here as it a water dispenser as the tap water is not said to be safe.
So, then the I.T. guy came to hook up our laptops and along with him was the male student who accompanied our leading Sanda University staff member for the trip. They seemed a bit nervous and I gestured for them to enter, I.T. guy did. other dude hung outside the door awkwardly. Then I.T. guy set up the laptops and I mentioned to awkward dude that he didn't have to stand awkwardly outside the door, because that was creepy to me. He got a very interesting smile on his face and said that he it showed great faith that I was willing to invite him into my room and then he walked off. If I had had time to explain that I take on horses that are significantly larger than his little stick figure, he might have answered differently.
We are now heading to a campus tour and then dinner with the Vice President of Sanda. It should be an interesting evening.
Boyoung mentioned on the bus that we don't have free time in Shanghai and I may not be allowed to go to the aquarium here. I am quite distraught over this concept as it is THE aquarium. THE aquarium, not a aquarium, THE aquarium and I am huge fish nerd. I MUST go! I will pay my way, or anything else I must do.
Then we arrived at Sanda University and it's already a cultural experience. We got off the plane and the two that picked us up were very nice. Then we got to the university and walked into the guest house and after being spoiled at Incheon, we had to take a minute to recompose ourselves and remind us that Lander doesn't even have an official guest house. We just put everyone in our most popular dorms. So after our initial culture shock, we realized that it's retro. The bathroom thankfully has an actual toilet and not any squatting toilets and a blockade to hold the water from spraying the rest of the bathroom (definitely the most interesting shower experience of the time in Korea). They also give us a TV and though we can't understand anything on it, it is here as it a water dispenser as the tap water is not said to be safe.
So, then the I.T. guy came to hook up our laptops and along with him was the male student who accompanied our leading Sanda University staff member for the trip. They seemed a bit nervous and I gestured for them to enter, I.T. guy did. other dude hung outside the door awkwardly. Then I.T. guy set up the laptops and I mentioned to awkward dude that he didn't have to stand awkwardly outside the door, because that was creepy to me. He got a very interesting smile on his face and said that he it showed great faith that I was willing to invite him into my room and then he walked off. If I had had time to explain that I take on horses that are significantly larger than his little stick figure, he might have answered differently.
We are now heading to a campus tour and then dinner with the Vice President of Sanda. It should be an interesting evening.
Well, when we got downstairs we met the "mob." They turned out to be our guides while we are here, but there are a bunch of them! Brenda and Poppy have me as their student and Brenda is interested in doing study abroad.
This campus has large metal gates locking hall ways on campus, they lock the students in their dorms with large metal gates, have curfews and boys and girls are completely separated here in dorms and classrooms. I miss Lander already. We don't have gates and our LUPD officers are nice. So yes, I miss Lander.
Dinner was huge and the food was great. It wasn't spicy which was a nice change and the shrimp tempura actually had the shells removed. I was happy about that. But there is a lot of bones in the meat. Odd to me.
This campus has large metal gates locking hall ways on campus, they lock the students in their dorms with large metal gates, have curfews and boys and girls are completely separated here in dorms and classrooms. I miss Lander already. We don't have gates and our LUPD officers are nice. So yes, I miss Lander.
Dinner was huge and the food was great. It wasn't spicy which was a nice change and the shrimp tempura actually had the shells removed. I was happy about that. But there is a lot of bones in the meat. Odd to me.
Class and a Museum.
Okay, so I skipped breakfast for two reasons: 1) I'm not a big breakfast person. 2) My awesome host family loaded me up with food that I must eat to have space in my suitcase. Well, I woke up this morning and since I hadn't changed my iPod from Korea time, I was actually up an hour earlier than I had planned to and I knocked on the bathroom door to let Jessica know that we had to be downstairs in 5 minutes at which point she came out trying to figure out if I was actually going to breakfast. Thankfully, she got me re-organized on time. I didn't sleep well last night as this bed has an actual mattress but it's super hard and they haven't given us any alcohol to knock me out so I can sleep on these hard beds.
Anyway, we headed to a class on Chinese culture and society and were there from 8-10. It was interesting learning about their festivals and the three types of religion in China and how the religious systems say that they students should aim to be in the middle, so whenever questions are asked in class, they don't want to answer. Instead they stay silent since they don't want to be seen as genius or idiots. It's a strange concept to me. Next, we were told about Chinese crafts and then were given some string to make some Chinese knots. That was fun.
Then we sat in on a business 101 class. The students were giving presentations as though they were company owners preparing for start-up. That was interesting, the first group was a pair of guys with a graphics company, they were awesome. They had gravity defying hair. The second presenter was a girl with a wedding planning company. She was having technical failure and then there were some problems with her presentation, but I was still impressed because they were presenting in English.
After class, we were re-united with our guides. Josh met another guy, his name is Charles. We all laughed since we now have Korean Charles and Chinese Charles. Hahaha! Brenda and Poppy met back up with me and took me to the dining hall for lunch. I had dumplings. I was quite happy to find dumplings. We dipped them in malt vinegar. It was very good. I quite like Chinese dumplings. I'm sorry Korea, but China has better dumplings. Now we are off to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Should be an interesting afternoon.
Anyway, we headed to a class on Chinese culture and society and were there from 8-10. It was interesting learning about their festivals and the three types of religion in China and how the religious systems say that they students should aim to be in the middle, so whenever questions are asked in class, they don't want to answer. Instead they stay silent since they don't want to be seen as genius or idiots. It's a strange concept to me. Next, we were told about Chinese crafts and then were given some string to make some Chinese knots. That was fun.
Then we sat in on a business 101 class. The students were giving presentations as though they were company owners preparing for start-up. That was interesting, the first group was a pair of guys with a graphics company, they were awesome. They had gravity defying hair. The second presenter was a girl with a wedding planning company. She was having technical failure and then there were some problems with her presentation, but I was still impressed because they were presenting in English.
After class, we were re-united with our guides. Josh met another guy, his name is Charles. We all laughed since we now have Korean Charles and Chinese Charles. Hahaha! Brenda and Poppy met back up with me and took me to the dining hall for lunch. I had dumplings. I was quite happy to find dumplings. We dipped them in malt vinegar. It was very good. I quite like Chinese dumplings. I'm sorry Korea, but China has better dumplings. Now we are off to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Should be an interesting afternoon.
So the museum was much more interesting than it sounded up front. We had a guide and she led us around. There was more than just science and tech. It was a showcase built for entertainment. That made it cool. And Josh made a music video. I put more details in the pictures.
Then we went to dinner and dinner was good. I enjoyed my noodles and shrimp. Finally, we headed to the cruise. Ashlin and I just sat inside the ship and waited on it to end. She was tired, I wasn't able to breathe outside, so we just decided to stay lazily in our seats.
Then we went to dinner and dinner was good. I enjoyed my noodles and shrimp. Finally, we headed to the cruise. Ashlin and I just sat inside the ship and waited on it to end. She was tired, I wasn't able to breathe outside, so we just decided to stay lazily in our seats.
It's not so bad now.
So we went to a traditional village this morning and I was feeling much better after sleep and with my mask on. I was breathing better so that contributed a lot to my new mood. Again, I skipped breakfast and at this garlic and bacon bun I bought last night on the bus. It was good. At the traditional village, I found a tea set (left). I was quite happy to find it as I've been looking for one. So then, we had a feast for lunch.
Unlike Korea, I will not be eating near as much in China. Every form of meat is full of bones and I'm not a big fan. What I do eat, is really good and I am quite happy to have shrimp without the shells on them again (they had the shells in Korea). Check out the pictures from the feast. It was too much food.
So when we got back, we did our presentations. Either this is the last one or we have one more. I stuck with the simplified version from the high school. It seemed to go well. I can't really tell because their culture doesn't really let them do anything while someone is speaking to them. They just sit there and absorb. It's quite different.
Okay, so after the presentations, I met back up with Brenda and Poppy. Well, apparently, blogs are banned in China and they flipped out when they heard that I had one. It was like complete and utter panic. I felt bad for scarring them so much.
Now we are getting ready to head to dinner and some sort of welcome party.
Unlike Korea, I will not be eating near as much in China. Every form of meat is full of bones and I'm not a big fan. What I do eat, is really good and I am quite happy to have shrimp without the shells on them again (they had the shells in Korea). Check out the pictures from the feast. It was too much food.
So when we got back, we did our presentations. Either this is the last one or we have one more. I stuck with the simplified version from the high school. It seemed to go well. I can't really tell because their culture doesn't really let them do anything while someone is speaking to them. They just sit there and absorb. It's quite different.
Okay, so after the presentations, I met back up with Brenda and Poppy. Well, apparently, blogs are banned in China and they flipped out when they heard that I had one. It was like complete and utter panic. I felt bad for scarring them so much.
Now we are getting ready to head to dinner and some sort of welcome party.
So after our break, we headed off to the welcome party. It was interesting because apparently Jessica and I were the only ones to get the memo that we were now meeting at 5 instead of 5:30. So we didn't really eat before we went. But they gave us a cultural lesson. It was fascinating. They danced, they sang, they performed. It was awesome! I have it all on video so will post it when I get back to youtube.
Last day at Sanda University.
To my anime friends: It's Gara's gourd!
So I woke up at 8:30 this morning to Jessica walking into the room Sophie asking me to sign something. So I jumped up and realized that she wanted me to sign her book. I did so and then I had to dress and pack quickly as we had to be downstairs at 9 ready to go. We made it.
Finally, we headed off to the Chinese medicinal museum. It was interesting, they had live turtles. I was mostly interested in the stuff about how they use plants and animals from the ocean in medicine. Of course, no pictures.
Then we headed off the lunch. Lunch was awesome. We ate with the vice president and she was so nice. We found out that four more students want to sign up to come to Lander because of our presentation. We were excited to hear that. They gave us way too much food, I didn't even take pictures of it all. I ended up sitting next to Henry and he pointed out that what we were looking at across the river was the British concession. It explained the British architecture.
Finally, we said good bye and headed to Shanghai Normal.
Finally, we headed off to the Chinese medicinal museum. It was interesting, they had live turtles. I was mostly interested in the stuff about how they use plants and animals from the ocean in medicine. Of course, no pictures.
Then we headed off the lunch. Lunch was awesome. We ate with the vice president and she was so nice. We found out that four more students want to sign up to come to Lander because of our presentation. We were excited to hear that. They gave us way too much food, I didn't even take pictures of it all. I ended up sitting next to Henry and he pointed out that what we were looking at across the river was the British concession. It explained the British architecture.
Finally, we said good bye and headed to Shanghai Normal.