From a swanky train ride, we followed the signs to an even swankier Shanghai subway system. Which happened to drop us off 10 feet (ok maybe 20) from the main gate of Tongji University: the campus we will finally settle into for a month. Following Zhao Laoshi's directions, dragging our suitcases we made a couple roundabouts but found Liuxuesheng Lou #1 - Foreign Students' Building #1. (Other than the fact that our beds are wooden slats with basically a comforter-thickness cushion on top), meet our dream rooms! I call it Chinese Ikea. Definitely adequate quarters for a month.
There may or may not have been screams and shouts of disbelief as each successive travel group arrived and checked into their new rooms. "Why can't Carleton be this nice?!" Well, we are fortunate to be in the foreign students' dorms, that is for sure. Normal Chinese students end up 5-7 kids sardined into a room probably about the size of a Carleton triple. For foreigners to stay, they must be made comfortable, after all...
My travel group was the first to arrive, and having two out of the three RAs (resident advisor - Kellianne and I) scoping the place out made for a fun situation. We are excited that our entire program is on one floor so we can finally feel like one, big, crazy dorm family. We tried to bring some Carleton touches to our new floor, but while the tradition of Sunday 10pm study breaks could undoubtedly be continued, Kellianne's and my attempt to put up Dragon Rider door decs ("door decorations," usually a sign with the resident's name and a silly photo that every Carleton RA masking tapes up each term) was quickly shot down. Just a few hours after we attempted to make people feel at home, a woman of the custodial staff came through our hall ranting in high volumes about how the signs needed to be taken immediately because they'd hurt the paint. Seems like they chose about the cheapest paint that could be found, but that's what you get for throwing up beautiful buildings as quickly as possible.
Frustration of the day: no internet in our dorms. Options: 1) somehow figure out how to get a modem set up and pay about $40 for a month or 2) bring your computer to cafes that have wireless. After some internet over 15kuai mango smoothies, I figure out my VPN does not work with wireless. Bye-bye Facebook and Blogspot! Hello, being more deliberate about how I spend my time on the internet.
Upon exploring the area around Tongji for necessities, we quickly realized that some of the familiar helpful vocab we picked up in northern China is no longer quite as helpful. A couple charades later we learned a new word for trashcan, and we are also trying to get used to the accent. Here goes!
Also, other than getting accustomed to southern accents (just as we were getting used to erhua - thick Beijing accents!), being in the foreign students dorm, when meeting buildingmates from countries Seychelles to Syria, and we had to figure out what language best to communicate in – Chinese, English, French, Spanish? The majority of students are from Africa on programs that China has sponsored so they focus on Mandarin for about a year, and then for another three to four years they dive into fields such as electrical engineering. That jargon cannot be easy.
While surrounded by modernity and shiny new buildings, especially in our architecture-renowned university, we were excited to find a cheap street food village like the one in Nankai that made home that much better. Favorites such as fried doughs, baozi, chuan, and even the same chain of Lanzhou Lamian (really excellent pulled noodles styled from lanzhou, a western province)! And plenty of fresh fruit and veggie stands to stock up on the healthy stuff - especially since our Chinese Ikea abodes are outfitted with silver bingxiang, refrigerators. Here in Shanghai, the Chinese food options we have fallen in love with are also complemented by a wider array of different Chinese ethnic cuisines as well as western cafes, sushi restaurants, and a curry house within ten minutes walk from Tongji.
Speaking of sushi, another opportunity practically landed on our feet while we were out and about. Or oat and aboat if I chose to let the Minnesooootan accent fly out. A few of us had actually just eaten lunch, but in English we heard someone call to us, "Do you like sushi? Want some free?" Free sushi? Yes, please! Some of the others headed home, but my friend Max and I decided to investigate further and learned it was in fact not too good to be true. No catch, the owner of the restaurant, a perhaps thirty-year-old woman who spent a good piece of her life in Canada, wanted to photograph some of her dishes for a new caidan (menu) and would simply dispose of the perfectly edible photogenic food post-photo. So Max and I hung around for a few, even helped with some photography ideas, and received some fish, sushi pizza, and business cards to bring home!
With some snacks in the fridge and between bouts of helping people move in, before classes start on Tuesday, the main task is to find the ideal kafeiguan (coffee shop) from which to Skype the family and to roam about the rest of the web (whatever isn't blocked).
I cannot wait to see what else Shanghai has in store for us!
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