Tuesday I went back to America! Or, as I like to call it, the United States. (Chinese people would always correct me when I said that, though.)
Woke up at 5, was out the door and in a taxi by about 5:45. Found the airport and checked in, etc. They have a line at security (or maybe it was some sort of customs-related thing) that is specially for people with disabilities...and people involved with the Olympics. If Beijing could rename itself after the Olympics I think it would.
Ate some dumpling-like things and went next door to get a mocha; what a great country. Dawdled for a bit and then got on my plane. We sat at the gate/on the runway (can't remember which) for about an hour because there were so many planes taking off, but it was okay because it just took an hour out of my layover in Tokyo (and I watched Cars on the flight so it went quickly). Hung out at Narita-Tokyo for a bit, then hung out for two-and-a-half hours on the plane before it took off, due to mechanical concerns. Luckily, the flight still went, and something around 10 hours after take-off we found ourselves in San Francisco, where I met up with my parents. I guess that's the end of the story of Ali in China...tune in next time?
P.S.: I'll go back to blogging on http://journals.aol.com/seafoam9/AlisUpdate/ now, but I make even fewer promises about its entertainment value than I made about this one.
P.P.S.: Thanks so much for following along. It really meant a lot.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
My lastday in China
Monday was my last full day in China. (And basically my last day period, since I expect to be in the air by the time I actually wake up tomorrow.) I'd had such a great day Sunday that I was fine with having a pretty chill day today, which was good because I'm kinda exhausted in a lot of ways.
Slept until 9, had the Swiss breakfast at the cafe across the street, did email until my computer crashed, and decided to head out. Took the public bus to the Summer Palace, which was an hour and half but cheap and simple. The Summer Palace is really amazingly gorgeous; I can't imagine how breathtaking it is with a blue sky. My pictures aren't going to do it justice with all the hazy grayness, but you'll have to trust me. It was kinda on the humid side though (surprise) so I got pretty worn out walking around and climbing steps and so on, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Kind of wish I hadn't had to stand for most of the bus ride home, but I guess I needed a last long, uncomfortable bus ride in China to complete the experience.
Got back to the hostel and did a lot of packing and some interneting, then went to eat dinner, and now I'm waiting for the massage place in the hostel/hotel to be free, which should be any minute. Can't believe I'm actually leaving tomorrow. I'm sure it'll all be more complicated in retrospect, as it was when it all happened, but at least right now I'm so happy with my time here. Really a wonderful experience that I think has made a very big, very positive impact on me. I'm a little too tired to be more articulate about it right now.
I'll write again from home for the sake of including any plane-ride adventures or last-minute thoughts.
Slept until 9, had the Swiss breakfast at the cafe across the street, did email until my computer crashed, and decided to head out. Took the public bus to the Summer Palace, which was an hour and half but cheap and simple. The Summer Palace is really amazingly gorgeous; I can't imagine how breathtaking it is with a blue sky. My pictures aren't going to do it justice with all the hazy grayness, but you'll have to trust me. It was kinda on the humid side though (surprise) so I got pretty worn out walking around and climbing steps and so on, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Kind of wish I hadn't had to stand for most of the bus ride home, but I guess I needed a last long, uncomfortable bus ride in China to complete the experience.
Got back to the hostel and did a lot of packing and some interneting, then went to eat dinner, and now I'm waiting for the massage place in the hostel/hotel to be free, which should be any minute. Can't believe I'm actually leaving tomorrow. I'm sure it'll all be more complicated in retrospect, as it was when it all happened, but at least right now I'm so happy with my time here. Really a wonderful experience that I think has made a very big, very positive impact on me. I'm a little too tired to be more articulate about it right now.
I'll write again from home for the sake of including any plane-ride adventures or last-minute thoughts.
Winning China
Sunday, Lizzie and I won many hard-fought battles, and it was extremely satisfying.
The day started with a dragonfruit, which is extremely cool-looking and pretty tasty. And things only got better.
First off, I had to sneak out of the dorm since we found out the night before that guests were, in fact, not allowed. Our efforts were extremely successful, and may or may not have involved an empty suitcase and overcoming my claustrophobia. (The whole story is available upon request.)
Step two was finding a post office we knew only by name and convincing them that Lizzie was the same person as the Chinese name the package was addressed to. It wasn't easy, and after they became somewhat convinced we were legit it still took them about 20 minutes to find my suitcase, but I finally had it back in my hands. And the angels began to sing.
We dropped it off at the dorm and headed out to Xiu Shui, which is called The Silk Market but is a market of all sorts of bargainable things. With a 45-minute break for whatever meal you eat at 4:30, we spent almost 7 hours there, getting things for the Very Special for Us prices, many of which were proclaimed as the Chinese Prices because we spoke Just Like Native Speakers. In truth, we took a long time and got what I think were really good prices because we bargained really well. We're pretty stubborn, and you get more so once you see how effective it can be. We bemoaned the fact that China will not be this way forever.
Headed back to the dorm via the grocery store, where we bought some fruit, including more of the dragon variety. Relaxed and ate that for a little bit while we admired our purchases, then went to The Bookworm, which is this wonderful English-language library and cafe, with charming decor and rooftop seating. One of Lizzie's favorite spots, and I can totally see why. We both just about fell asleep by 11 or so, though, so we headed back to the dorm and said our goodbyes.
The day started with a dragonfruit, which is extremely cool-looking and pretty tasty. And things only got better.
First off, I had to sneak out of the dorm since we found out the night before that guests were, in fact, not allowed. Our efforts were extremely successful, and may or may not have involved an empty suitcase and overcoming my claustrophobia. (The whole story is available upon request.)
Step two was finding a post office we knew only by name and convincing them that Lizzie was the same person as the Chinese name the package was addressed to. It wasn't easy, and after they became somewhat convinced we were legit it still took them about 20 minutes to find my suitcase, but I finally had it back in my hands. And the angels began to sing.
We dropped it off at the dorm and headed out to Xiu Shui, which is called The Silk Market but is a market of all sorts of bargainable things. With a 45-minute break for whatever meal you eat at 4:30, we spent almost 7 hours there, getting things for the Very Special for Us prices, many of which were proclaimed as the Chinese Prices because we spoke Just Like Native Speakers. In truth, we took a long time and got what I think were really good prices because we bargained really well. We're pretty stubborn, and you get more so once you see how effective it can be. We bemoaned the fact that China will not be this way forever.
Headed back to the dorm via the grocery store, where we bought some fruit, including more of the dragon variety. Relaxed and ate that for a little bit while we admired our purchases, then went to The Bookworm, which is this wonderful English-language library and cafe, with charming decor and rooftop seating. One of Lizzie's favorite spots, and I can totally see why. We both just about fell asleep by 11 or so, though, so we headed back to the dorm and said our goodbyes.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Feel the love generation
While Lizzie packs, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to use a computer that is connected both to the internet and a power source! (The two do not come in such proximity at the Far East Youth Hostel.)
Saturday ended up MUCH better than it started out. Woke up around 8 and was kinda cold, so I headed back to the hostel, which the taxi driver got lost trying to find. Decided I was going to have to look into the suitcase situation before I could feel at peace, so I asked the hostel people how to call Shanghai's post office, and they sent me across to a service station place on the other side of the street. The guy there made a bunch of calls, none of which led to any contact with anyone helpful, but he did recommend that I go to the post office at Hepingli. It was seeming fairly likely I wasn't going to get it in time for my flight on Tuesday, which was pretty stressful and upsetting after all I'd done to try to do what made the most sense for dealing with having stuff and traveling, so I decided to eat brunch and see if I felt better. I did, but only in that I was less hungry, so I called home and panicked and made an action plan.
Took a 2-hour nap, after which I still felt fairly fragile but better. Took a taxi to the Hepingli post office, where they had no idea why I was told to go them, but did make a lot of calls, and when I didn't leave after they told me to go back to Lizzie's school and look for it, they eventually contacted the post office near the dorm- where it had arrived! I'm trying not to count my chickens before I actually have it in my own hands, but what a surprise and relief.
Had some time before evening, so I went to the Temple of Heaven, which was pretty incredible. I have trouble seeing these sites as real places and not just iconic images of China; I drive past the big Tian'anmen gate (I think? You know, the thing with Mao's picture on it.) on my way to Lizzie's dorm and it's so weird just to see it out the window.
Chilled at the hostel and did some dinnering, then met Lizzie and friends (one of whom sang a cappella with Daniel Herriges) to go out and about. The first place, Hou Hai, was a really pretty, decent-sized lake with lights and stores and bars and restaurants all around. There were people releasing lantern things into the sky, and it was really cool. Anyway, we had a good time, mostly just talking, and got back to the dorm. We were a group of 2 Swatties, 2 Yalies, and a Stanford student (Stannie? Stanfordie?) and conversation went from lip gloss to the SAT 2 Writing test to cross-cultural relationships in the blink of an eye. I enjoy my peers very much.
Saturday ended up MUCH better than it started out. Woke up around 8 and was kinda cold, so I headed back to the hostel, which the taxi driver got lost trying to find. Decided I was going to have to look into the suitcase situation before I could feel at peace, so I asked the hostel people how to call Shanghai's post office, and they sent me across to a service station place on the other side of the street. The guy there made a bunch of calls, none of which led to any contact with anyone helpful, but he did recommend that I go to the post office at Hepingli. It was seeming fairly likely I wasn't going to get it in time for my flight on Tuesday, which was pretty stressful and upsetting after all I'd done to try to do what made the most sense for dealing with having stuff and traveling, so I decided to eat brunch and see if I felt better. I did, but only in that I was less hungry, so I called home and panicked and made an action plan.
Took a 2-hour nap, after which I still felt fairly fragile but better. Took a taxi to the Hepingli post office, where they had no idea why I was told to go them, but did make a lot of calls, and when I didn't leave after they told me to go back to Lizzie's school and look for it, they eventually contacted the post office near the dorm- where it had arrived! I'm trying not to count my chickens before I actually have it in my own hands, but what a surprise and relief.
Had some time before evening, so I went to the Temple of Heaven, which was pretty incredible. I have trouble seeing these sites as real places and not just iconic images of China; I drive past the big Tian'anmen gate (I think? You know, the thing with Mao's picture on it.) on my way to Lizzie's dorm and it's so weird just to see it out the window.
Chilled at the hostel and did some dinnering, then met Lizzie and friends (one of whom sang a cappella with Daniel Herriges) to go out and about. The first place, Hou Hai, was a really pretty, decent-sized lake with lights and stores and bars and restaurants all around. There were people releasing lantern things into the sky, and it was really cool. Anyway, we had a good time, mostly just talking, and got back to the dorm. We were a group of 2 Swatties, 2 Yalies, and a Stanford student (Stannie? Stanfordie?) and conversation went from lip gloss to the SAT 2 Writing test to cross-cultural relationships in the blink of an eye. I enjoy my peers very much.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Pictures posted
I haven't posted the end of Shanghai yet (most camps) but now I've added an album of the Qingdao and Beijing photos from so far. (Well, it's loading, but I don't think any of you are up in the middle of the night so by the time you read this they'll be there.)
It takes a while to load them onto a blog and I couldn't just pick a few...so take a look. (Or if you can wait, I'll let you know when I've gone through and labeled them and deleted ugly ones.) Again, that address is http://picasaweb.google.com/Alison.Flamm.
Go look at the Great Wall at least...it requires no captions. :)
It takes a while to load them onto a blog and I couldn't just pick a few...so take a look. (Or if you can wait, I'll let you know when I've gone through and labeled them and deleted ugly ones.) Again, that address is http://picasaweb.google.com/Alison.Flamm.
Go look at the Great Wall at least...it requires no captions. :)
Barricades can't block our way
Friday was kind of a super-day, although I didn't realize it at the time. I woke up at 5:45 and got on the bus to the Great Wall at Jinshanling. It was a 3-hour ride. Once at the wall, they just told us to hike to Simatai and to meet the bus there in 4 hours. No one really knew how to get to the wall, which was convenient because in trying to figure it out, I found 5 guys from London, Toronto, Hong Kong, Pakistan, and France who were also traveling alone. (I guess women don't travel alone in China very often...who knew?)
The wall was everything I ever imagined, but so much cooler in person. When they showed us a video advertising School Year Abroad in Chinese class in high school, the part that really made me want to go was the part where they were all hanging out on the wall...so it was very cool to finally go it for myself (and not have to miss a year of high school for it). Anyway, I took lots of pictures (that probably all look the same) so you can see the bright blue sky and the gorgeous mountains and the magnificent wall. A 4-hour hike in the sun was a lot, and we were definitely counting towers for most of it to keep aware of our progress (we started at 1 and went to 32), but there was shade in the towers and plenty of opportunities to buy water (or coke or beer, if you're stupid) from elderly Mongolian ladies. The company was good too; English-speaking, but all but the Londoner had some Mandarin so that was fun.
Got to the end of our part of the wall and had the choice between a 30-minute walk downhill or a $5 zipline ride over the river...looked relatively legit, and it was actually not scary at all, just really cool to be flying over the water looking up at the wall. Hung out in the cafe and bused back to the hostel.
Once back, I ate dinner at the cafe associated with the hostel, ate some fruit freshly picked from their courtyard, and of course cleaned up a bit. Then I went to meet Lizzie, a friend of mine from Swat who had just earlier that afternoon graduated from her summer language program. Hung out in her room and met her friends, then went out dancing with them and their teachers. They had all been released from their language pledge about 5 hours before I arrived, which meant they spoke Chinglish like I'd never heard it before and were constantly re-introducing themselves to each-other by their English names.
Had a good time, but tired out (Lizzie had just gotten through exams, so she was the same) and just spent some time catching up on Swat news and gossip. She was on the wait-list for a room for next year, and got one in my dorm on the floor below, so that's great. Eventually turned in for the night in la casa de Lizzie.
The wall was everything I ever imagined, but so much cooler in person. When they showed us a video advertising School Year Abroad in Chinese class in high school, the part that really made me want to go was the part where they were all hanging out on the wall...so it was very cool to finally go it for myself (and not have to miss a year of high school for it). Anyway, I took lots of pictures (that probably all look the same) so you can see the bright blue sky and the gorgeous mountains and the magnificent wall. A 4-hour hike in the sun was a lot, and we were definitely counting towers for most of it to keep aware of our progress (we started at 1 and went to 32), but there was shade in the towers and plenty of opportunities to buy water (or coke or beer, if you're stupid) from elderly Mongolian ladies. The company was good too; English-speaking, but all but the Londoner had some Mandarin so that was fun.
Got to the end of our part of the wall and had the choice between a 30-minute walk downhill or a $5 zipline ride over the river...looked relatively legit, and it was actually not scary at all, just really cool to be flying over the water looking up at the wall. Hung out in the cafe and bused back to the hostel.
Once back, I ate dinner at the cafe associated with the hostel, ate some fruit freshly picked from their courtyard, and of course cleaned up a bit. Then I went to meet Lizzie, a friend of mine from Swat who had just earlier that afternoon graduated from her summer language program. Hung out in her room and met her friends, then went out dancing with them and their teachers. They had all been released from their language pledge about 5 hours before I arrived, which meant they spoke Chinglish like I'd never heard it before and were constantly re-introducing themselves to each-other by their English names.
Had a good time, but tired out (Lizzie had just gotten through exams, so she was the same) and just spent some time catching up on Swat news and gossip. She was on the wait-list for a room for next year, and got one in my dorm on the floor below, so that's great. Eventually turned in for the night in la casa de Lizzie.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
So this is Beijing.
Early night in, and fully-charged laptop accessing free wifi...time to catch up.
Wednesday (Qingdao still) I slept in a bit, then waited for a bus for a while and gave up and took a taxi instead, which cost me approximately $1 more than the bus would have. Took it to #2 Beach, from which I walked to an old house that I think used to be the German Governor's mansion. I'll post a photo entry after this one, which won't include Beijing since they're still on my camera, but will give you an idea of Qingdao. Anyway, the house was cool because you could just wander around and sit in all the chairs and touch everything, but obviously not very well-preserved. It had an extensive love-themed park in the front yard, which was kind of frightening.
Walked and wandered and ate and so on for the rest of the morning and early afternoon, then came back to the hostel to pack up and write emails and so on. Ate dinner, and found a couple from Vienna who were taking the same bus to Beijing, so we found a taxi together and hung out at the stop. (It was nice to have some company, since it was really unclear if we were in the right place at all.) The bus itself was quite the experience, and in a much better way than I had expected it to be. There were three rows of beds with two aisles in-between, each with a lower bed and upper bed. I had an upper bed in the middle row, and it was surprisingly comfortable. Slept on and off, and after 11 hours arrived in Beijing.
I kind of felt jet-lagged all over again when I got here, but was stubborn enough to find a taxi that wasn't going to cheat me and got to my hostel without a problem. I'd read and heard great things about this hostel, and it's impressing me so far- the hostel rooms are just the basement (and maybe other floors, but I don't think so) of a hotel. The hotel is right in the middle of the city, and had a tour office and breakfast and stuff.
Anyway, I felt awake enough when I first got here to just want to get out, since I knew I would crash later and want to come back to chill. So I went out in search of a bank, a post office, or a Forbidden City. Found the last one first, and woke up enough to realize that I was actually there, looking at images I had seen a billion times before in real life. Kind of surreal. I let myself just wander through whatever rooms of the palace attracted me, and came to the fairly firm decision that the whole thing should become a living history museum. I wanted so badly to go back in time and see how things used to be, and reading signs while looking in glass cases just wasn't giving me enough of a picture.
I then went on a pilgrimage to a post office, where they seemed less than surprised that my suitcase was 4 days late and gave me hope it would still arrive. Ate a late lunch and came back to the hostel to clean up, unpack, email Lizzie, and chat with the tour people a bit. Looks like Lizzie and I will hopefully meet up tomorrow night when she and her classmates are celebrating being done with exams.
After relaxing in the hostel a bit it was too late to run out and catch anything important before it closed, which was fine since I will probably have more energetic days. Found a bank and took the subway to a shopping area, mostly just for the sake of taking the subway. (Everything about the Beijing subway feels totally different than the Shanghai one. These are VERY different cities.) Ate dinner, and came back to the hostel in time to see if they'd found a ticket for me for the Beijing Opera performance nearby, and they had, so I headed over. Beautiful theater, and I'm glad I went, but I don't think I love Beijing Opera. (Same thing as Peking Opera.)
Tomorrow is looking busy, so don't worry if I don't write, but you may hear from me. :)
Wednesday (Qingdao still) I slept in a bit, then waited for a bus for a while and gave up and took a taxi instead, which cost me approximately $1 more than the bus would have. Took it to #2 Beach, from which I walked to an old house that I think used to be the German Governor's mansion. I'll post a photo entry after this one, which won't include Beijing since they're still on my camera, but will give you an idea of Qingdao. Anyway, the house was cool because you could just wander around and sit in all the chairs and touch everything, but obviously not very well-preserved. It had an extensive love-themed park in the front yard, which was kind of frightening.
Walked and wandered and ate and so on for the rest of the morning and early afternoon, then came back to the hostel to pack up and write emails and so on. Ate dinner, and found a couple from Vienna who were taking the same bus to Beijing, so we found a taxi together and hung out at the stop. (It was nice to have some company, since it was really unclear if we were in the right place at all.) The bus itself was quite the experience, and in a much better way than I had expected it to be. There were three rows of beds with two aisles in-between, each with a lower bed and upper bed. I had an upper bed in the middle row, and it was surprisingly comfortable. Slept on and off, and after 11 hours arrived in Beijing.
I kind of felt jet-lagged all over again when I got here, but was stubborn enough to find a taxi that wasn't going to cheat me and got to my hostel without a problem. I'd read and heard great things about this hostel, and it's impressing me so far- the hostel rooms are just the basement (and maybe other floors, but I don't think so) of a hotel. The hotel is right in the middle of the city, and had a tour office and breakfast and stuff.
Anyway, I felt awake enough when I first got here to just want to get out, since I knew I would crash later and want to come back to chill. So I went out in search of a bank, a post office, or a Forbidden City. Found the last one first, and woke up enough to realize that I was actually there, looking at images I had seen a billion times before in real life. Kind of surreal. I let myself just wander through whatever rooms of the palace attracted me, and came to the fairly firm decision that the whole thing should become a living history museum. I wanted so badly to go back in time and see how things used to be, and reading signs while looking in glass cases just wasn't giving me enough of a picture.
I then went on a pilgrimage to a post office, where they seemed less than surprised that my suitcase was 4 days late and gave me hope it would still arrive. Ate a late lunch and came back to the hostel to clean up, unpack, email Lizzie, and chat with the tour people a bit. Looks like Lizzie and I will hopefully meet up tomorrow night when she and her classmates are celebrating being done with exams.
After relaxing in the hostel a bit it was too late to run out and catch anything important before it closed, which was fine since I will probably have more energetic days. Found a bank and took the subway to a shopping area, mostly just for the sake of taking the subway. (Everything about the Beijing subway feels totally different than the Shanghai one. These are VERY different cities.) Ate dinner, and came back to the hostel in time to see if they'd found a ticket for me for the Beijing Opera performance nearby, and they had, so I headed over. Beautiful theater, and I'm glad I went, but I don't think I love Beijing Opera. (Same thing as Peking Opera.)
Tomorrow is looking busy, so don't worry if I don't write, but you may hear from me. :)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Crashing waves, not cars
Tuesday was pretty much exactly what it was supposed to be, and I had to keep reminding myself of how ideal it was throughout the day because I did get a little tired at points. Started waking up to everyone else’s alarms in the morning and finally decided to get going on my day, in fact as soon as possible. Was out the door in about 15 minutes wandering towards an unknown bus stop. (The hostel people kinda give directions, but they’re mostly “walk down that road, and you’ll see it!” which you won’t.) Luckily, I’ve gotten used to asking an average of 4 people every time I’m trying to find something, and each one led me closer until I found it.
Got to the right stop to catch a bus to Lao Shan (it’s a mountain) and started asking around to find out where I could do so. Finally asked a woman who turned out to be a tour guide, and paid $10 for a 9am-5pm tour with 6 other people, one of whom was an adorable Chinese child and one of whom was a young woman who took a while to warm up to me, but in time she was taking my hand and making me sit next to her. I win them over every time. We traveled about in a shuttle van, which was very pleasant with the windows open.
The day went something like this: We first stopped at a temple that was just like every other temple I’ve seen here, then at the TV tour, which thinks it’s the Oriental Pearl, when it SO isn’t, and is also the Olympic Hall, since the sailing competitions are going to be here. Ascended the tower, which was even less exciting than the OP, but I’m not complaining. We stopped at a place that wanted to sell us pearls, and then went on to Lao Shan.
We took one bus up a ways to…um…a cable car I guess. (I always want to call it a Sky Ride but that’s just at Disney parks, isn’t it?) It was really cool, and none of the cars fell off. From the top of the cable car, we took an hour’s hike up the hill/mountain/whatever and came back down. It was really pretty, especially since the view below was a bunch of misty mountains and the ocean. I realized that I seem to think I have some special claim on being amazed by oceans and mountains since I’ve had limited contact with them…somewhat justified, right?
On our way back, we stopped at a tea-tasting and a place where you could sample (and buy) all sorts of dried seafood. Pretty much everyone fell asleep on the way back, and then we parted ways.
Since I had spotted an SPR Coffee (a coffee shop whose lettering is suspiciously similar to that of Starbucks) and Mary had asked me to check it out if I saw one, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Feeling rejuvenated, I wandered around the waterfront, and since I was wearing sneakers instead of flip-flops like yesterday, climbed out on some rocks to read for a while. Really idyllic. Night began to fall and I went to a restaurant I had spotted yesterday with outside tables overlooking the water and cheap seafood you selected out of buckets of water. Delicious but salty, accompanied by a cheap but not terribly deliciousMonday, August 13, 2007
Being outside is NICE?!
Making this quick before time runs out at hostel computer...
Monday morning I finished packing up and Damin saw me into a taxi to the Hongqiao airport. As soon as I walked into the airport, I felt a lot more relaxed about everything. I guess airports are something of comfortable place for me...they have a lot in common with one another I suppose. Killed a bunch of time with things like breakfast and reading, and then a bit more since my flight was delayed (by less than an hour). Walked through the gate...and then onto a bus...and then from the bus up the stairs into a plane. Pleasant flight with good snacks.
Took a bus into the centerish of town. Cheap, and easy to use since people were very helpful explaining it to me, but took a while. Had a lot of trouble finding my hostel, but someone eventually took my bag and walked me there, which was especially nice because it involved far too many stairs for me to ascend without help. (With a computer and a 24-kg bag, at least.)
The hostel is in an old observatory at the top of a hill that's a park. The people at the desk told me trains to Beijing are sold out through the 17th, much to my surprise, but they can reserve a bus ticket for me, which may not be fun but it'll get me there when I want. Headed out soon after arriving and eventually found the right bus to the most popular beach. Qingdao is the perfect temperature and full of parks and beaches- so different from Shanghai, and the perfect place to go to recover from 2 months there. I hung out on the beach a bit, then walked along the shore for a really long time on a nice path. Ate some seafood on a stick that made me squirm a little bit, and taxied back to the hostel, where I read outside a little just because it's soooo nice out.
Monday morning I finished packing up and Damin saw me into a taxi to the Hongqiao airport. As soon as I walked into the airport, I felt a lot more relaxed about everything. I guess airports are something of comfortable place for me...they have a lot in common with one another I suppose. Killed a bunch of time with things like breakfast and reading, and then a bit more since my flight was delayed (by less than an hour). Walked through the gate...and then onto a bus...and then from the bus up the stairs into a plane. Pleasant flight with good snacks.
Took a bus into the centerish of town. Cheap, and easy to use since people were very helpful explaining it to me, but took a while. Had a lot of trouble finding my hostel, but someone eventually took my bag and walked me there, which was especially nice because it involved far too many stairs for me to ascend without help. (With a computer and a 24-kg bag, at least.)
The hostel is in an old observatory at the top of a hill that's a park. The people at the desk told me trains to Beijing are sold out through the 17th, much to my surprise, but they can reserve a bus ticket for me, which may not be fun but it'll get me there when I want. Headed out soon after arriving and eventually found the right bus to the most popular beach. Qingdao is the perfect temperature and full of parks and beaches- so different from Shanghai, and the perfect place to go to recover from 2 months there. I hung out on the beach a bit, then walked along the shore for a really long time on a nice path. Ate some seafood on a stick that made me squirm a little bit, and taxied back to the hostel, where I read outside a little just because it's soooo nice out.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
One Night in Shanghai
Sunday was my last real day in Shanghai, since I leave Monday morning for Qingdao. I tried to sleep in and failed, but luckily Judy was online to talk to me for a bit as I woke up for real. Walked to the bakery nearby to grab some breakfast, and ran into Damin on the way back! We made plans to get lunch. I packed for a while, then he and I went to eat, which was nice. Packed for a while longer in the afternoon and took care of various things, then headed into the city because I knew any minute I'd get a text from Amy about dinner and I wanted to already be kinda in the vicinity. Stopped at the foreign language bookstore to get junk reading for the rest of my trip, and sat in a coffee shop to kill some more time. Then I walked around a bit, and finally it was time to meet Amy and Ben for dinner. Had a really nice 2-hour dinner with them, said goodnight and goodbye, and came home for the last time.
It's really hard to leave, especially since I'm heading to the less-familiar before I get to the more-familiar. I AM excited to see new places, though.
It's really hard to leave, especially since I'm heading to the less-familiar before I get to the more-familiar. I AM excited to see new places, though.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
You get what you give
A lot to write, and unfortunately I'm not going to remember it all.
Friday I got up early, although not as early as Wednesday, which proved to be less than smart since getting on the bus 30 minutes later got me to the kids' hotel 5 minutes late instead if 40 minutes early. Guess I found when rush hour begins. Made the bus to the zoo, though, and spent the morning and early afternoon looking at animals in dirty, small cages while absolutely roasting, being eaten by bugs, and carrying my laptop for unavoidable reasons. It was like the most awful trip to the zoo ever, except that I was there with 15 kids who thought it was the most wonderful trip to the zoo ever, and that made all the difference. They even insisted on carrying my computer at times, as much as I tried to insist I was fine.
These kids have gotten more and more amazing every day. They were singing on the bus at 8:30am, and again in the office of Standard Chartered bank when we visited that afternoon. (Standard Chartered had prepared a really fabulous session with skits and a multimedia quiz and prizes and everything.) On the way back to the hotel, someone discovered the microphone on the bus (like, for tour guides to use I assume) and the kids took turns singing for each other to thunderous applause. These kids are 12-17, so many of them aren't in the pure "I'm a cute kid" stage anymore, but they're, like, people, with personalities and opinions and everything.
We got back to the hotel around 4:30, and Rose and I headed over to Creek Art, the location of the closing dinner, to meet Simon and Rager and talk about the dinner. We there for 4 increasingly frustrating hours, which ended with Rose and I realizing if this dinner was going to happen, we'd have to basically take over. It was a lot of validation for general frustration I've felt at times over the past 2 months, but also gave us both serious headaches. Some combination of the day in the sun and the new stress made me not feel so good, so I chilled in the office while they got dinner (and ate something myself), wrote a new script with Rager for MCing, and went home as soon as I could (11:30).
Saturday I woke up and felt better, and headed off to the office for my last day as a Chi Heng intern. Rose had decided to skip the camp trip to the science museum to make sure we got everything dealt with okay, which meant I spent a fairly pleasant and low-stress morning. Worked on the script with Rose's help in the afternoon, then she developed a fever and Rager went to get her some medicine. That's when the really heavy rain started to hit, and before I knew it I was wading through 3 inches of water to bring Rager an umbrella. We taxied to Creek Art, I changed into my fancy (and dry) clothes, and we did set-up.
I really like events. Before it started, I rehearsed with Rager, hung around checking people in, and talked to the kids when they arrived. The event itself was not extremely smooth, but Rager and I definitely did our part as MCs and I was pleased with how it went. Lots of enthusiasm from the guests. Hung out for a while after, mingling and saying goodbye to the most awesome kids ever. I'm gonna miss them a lot! Brought some stuff back to the office and said goodbye to the Chi Heng staff. It's been a valuable experience for sure, probably worth the bad times just for the conversations I had with the kids tonight alone. I'm not really a kid person, so it's really special for me when I meet some that I connect with.
Friday I got up early, although not as early as Wednesday, which proved to be less than smart since getting on the bus 30 minutes later got me to the kids' hotel 5 minutes late instead if 40 minutes early. Guess I found when rush hour begins. Made the bus to the zoo, though, and spent the morning and early afternoon looking at animals in dirty, small cages while absolutely roasting, being eaten by bugs, and carrying my laptop for unavoidable reasons. It was like the most awful trip to the zoo ever, except that I was there with 15 kids who thought it was the most wonderful trip to the zoo ever, and that made all the difference. They even insisted on carrying my computer at times, as much as I tried to insist I was fine.
These kids have gotten more and more amazing every day. They were singing on the bus at 8:30am, and again in the office of Standard Chartered bank when we visited that afternoon. (Standard Chartered had prepared a really fabulous session with skits and a multimedia quiz and prizes and everything.) On the way back to the hotel, someone discovered the microphone on the bus (like, for tour guides to use I assume) and the kids took turns singing for each other to thunderous applause. These kids are 12-17, so many of them aren't in the pure "I'm a cute kid" stage anymore, but they're, like, people, with personalities and opinions and everything.
We got back to the hotel around 4:30, and Rose and I headed over to Creek Art, the location of the closing dinner, to meet Simon and Rager and talk about the dinner. We there for 4 increasingly frustrating hours, which ended with Rose and I realizing if this dinner was going to happen, we'd have to basically take over. It was a lot of validation for general frustration I've felt at times over the past 2 months, but also gave us both serious headaches. Some combination of the day in the sun and the new stress made me not feel so good, so I chilled in the office while they got dinner (and ate something myself), wrote a new script with Rager for MCing, and went home as soon as I could (11:30).
Saturday I woke up and felt better, and headed off to the office for my last day as a Chi Heng intern. Rose had decided to skip the camp trip to the science museum to make sure we got everything dealt with okay, which meant I spent a fairly pleasant and low-stress morning. Worked on the script with Rose's help in the afternoon, then she developed a fever and Rager went to get her some medicine. That's when the really heavy rain started to hit, and before I knew it I was wading through 3 inches of water to bring Rager an umbrella. We taxied to Creek Art, I changed into my fancy (and dry) clothes, and we did set-up.
I really like events. Before it started, I rehearsed with Rager, hung around checking people in, and talked to the kids when they arrived. The event itself was not extremely smooth, but Rager and I definitely did our part as MCs and I was pleased with how it went. Lots of enthusiasm from the guests. Hung out for a while after, mingling and saying goodbye to the most awesome kids ever. I'm gonna miss them a lot! Brought some stuff back to the office and said goodbye to the Chi Heng staff. It's been a valuable experience for sure, probably worth the bad times just for the conversations I had with the kids tonight alone. I'm not really a kid person, so it's really special for me when I meet some that I connect with.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Entry postponed
Friday was a looong day and I'm unwilling to extend it further by writing about it tonight. You'll get a real entry either tomorrow or the day after, once things have calmed down. Things are fine, though, it's just work craziness.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
让我们期待明天会更好
I've resisted use of characters in these entries for two months, because I don't imagine most of you can see them and those who can probably can't read them, but I gave in to temptation today. This is the last line of a song, and roughly means "Let us look forward to a better tomorrow."
Thursday was very black and white. I had agreed to come into the office for half the day, and ended up staying the whole day because it was going to be too hard to catch up with the kids in the middle of their day's activities and by 3 or so when they came back they were just resting anyway. It was a somewhat frustrating day in the office, but it was fully made up for by a few things. One, A Guang (the secretary and all-around awesome person...I think I mentioned that he came with yesterday and was great with the kids) offered me a jump drive of his pictures from yesterday and talked to me about how I'm leaving soon and how he'll miss me and will I remember them the next time I go to China? Such a sweet guy. So much of how I interact with people is based on language that I know the people I've made friends with without any English are really special.
After 6, I headed over to the hotel and had dinner with my Hong-Kongian (better guesses?) artist friends and some of the volunteer adults from Anhui province (where the kids come from). I guess Avon and Vero really liked the noodles (technically not "noodles" I am told because they are made from...potato I think?) because we immediately went to the grocery store and bought some. Hung out in their room for a bit, then went to do more art! It was a low-key day, since the kids were just writing things about their art, so I spent most of the time being taught a song by the older girl I met the first day and a boy who really likes to sing. After we finished with the art, everyone practiced the song a bunch, and it was really fun.
My camera batteries have run down and Damin took my charger back, and he's not around, so I don't know what I'm going to do (since I need to use rechargeable batteries for my camera and haven't seen any for sale) but hopefully I'll run into him in time to recharge them before my travels. On the plus side, I have A Guang's photos from yesterday, and Avon and Vero said they'd email me the ones they took tonight. They're heading back tomorrow.
There was blue sky again today for the third day in a row. At night, you can still totally see the sky and clouds...it's just like you're in a room with a painted ceiling and you turned the lights down. Does this not happen in the other cities in which I live, or have I just never noticed it?
Thursday was very black and white. I had agreed to come into the office for half the day, and ended up staying the whole day because it was going to be too hard to catch up with the kids in the middle of their day's activities and by 3 or so when they came back they were just resting anyway. It was a somewhat frustrating day in the office, but it was fully made up for by a few things. One, A Guang (the secretary and all-around awesome person...I think I mentioned that he came with yesterday and was great with the kids) offered me a jump drive of his pictures from yesterday and talked to me about how I'm leaving soon and how he'll miss me and will I remember them the next time I go to China? Such a sweet guy. So much of how I interact with people is based on language that I know the people I've made friends with without any English are really special.
After 6, I headed over to the hotel and had dinner with my Hong-Kongian (better guesses?) artist friends and some of the volunteer adults from Anhui province (where the kids come from). I guess Avon and Vero really liked the noodles (technically not "noodles" I am told because they are made from...potato I think?) because we immediately went to the grocery store and bought some. Hung out in their room for a bit, then went to do more art! It was a low-key day, since the kids were just writing things about their art, so I spent most of the time being taught a song by the older girl I met the first day and a boy who really likes to sing. After we finished with the art, everyone practiced the song a bunch, and it was really fun.
My camera batteries have run down and Damin took my charger back, and he's not around, so I don't know what I'm going to do (since I need to use rechargeable batteries for my camera and haven't seen any for sale) but hopefully I'll run into him in time to recharge them before my travels. On the plus side, I have A Guang's photos from yesterday, and Avon and Vero said they'd email me the ones they took tonight. They're heading back tomorrow.
There was blue sky again today for the third day in a row. At night, you can still totally see the sky and clouds...it's just like you're in a room with a painted ceiling and you turned the lights down. Does this not happen in the other cities in which I live, or have I just never noticed it?
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
New friends and old universities
Wednesday was a long day, but a fairly good one. I have pictures from Hangzhou and from today that I'll post next, probably without captions because it's late, but you can probably tell which ones are of a pretty lake and which ones are of cute children and/or a university.
Got up an hour earlier than usual to make sure I was at the hotel before the bus and kids left, and had time for a short nap in the lobby. The kids were excited to see me back again, which is awesome. We spent the morning, lunch, and beginning of the afternoon at Jiaotong University, which I've heard named the top university in Shanghai, although I think Fudan is pretty renowned as well. (Jiaotong is where Iris went.) We took a tour from and played games with Paul and Daisy, with whom I've had almost 2 months of email contact, and some of their fellow students. Talked to them for quite a while over the lunch hour, and learned something interesting from Paul, who is an English and Economics major: his Economics courses are split between Western and Marxist theory, which are often contradictory, and while his professors tell him the Marxist theory is correct, they are to answer exams using Western theory. Ohhh China. Daisy was great too; I wish they were on facebook!
Simon called me while at JiaoDa (short for Jiaotong Daxue- Daxue means University) and asked me to come back to the office, so while the kids rested, did some art, and ate dinner I called people, read emails, and made spreadsheets (and sort of ate dinner). I finally got out of the office around 7:30 and went back to do some more art with the kids and my artist friends.
Got up an hour earlier than usual to make sure I was at the hotel before the bus and kids left, and had time for a short nap in the lobby. The kids were excited to see me back again, which is awesome. We spent the morning, lunch, and beginning of the afternoon at Jiaotong University, which I've heard named the top university in Shanghai, although I think Fudan is pretty renowned as well. (Jiaotong is where Iris went.) We took a tour from and played games with Paul and Daisy, with whom I've had almost 2 months of email contact, and some of their fellow students. Talked to them for quite a while over the lunch hour, and learned something interesting from Paul, who is an English and Economics major: his Economics courses are split between Western and Marxist theory, which are often contradictory, and while his professors tell him the Marxist theory is correct, they are to answer exams using Western theory. Ohhh China. Daisy was great too; I wish they were on facebook!
Simon called me while at JiaoDa (short for Jiaotong Daxue- Daxue means University) and asked me to come back to the office, so while the kids rested, did some art, and ate dinner I called people, read emails, and made spreadsheets (and sort of ate dinner). I finally got out of the office around 7:30 and went back to do some more art with the kids and my artist friends.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
They call me "big sister".
Some exciting things about Tuesday: the first day of Chi Heng 2007 Summer Camp in Shanghai, the spontaneous recovery of my keyboard, and a decently blue sky that lasted until sundown.
Went into the office in the morning, where the network was down but my computer found some wireless like the good little computer it is. Called people repeatedly in efforts to up the numbers for attendance for our dinner, ate lunch, and then it was time to find some AIDS-affected children to subject to my questionable mandarin. Walked over to their hotel, and we all headed to Shanghai GM on their bus. Everyone has Chi Heng shirts and hats (including me!) so that's fun. Touring Shanghai GM's plant was kinda cool, although I think my favorite part was getting to share with the random man from Detroit who happened to be on our tour that I have overcome my fear of welding since touring the Ford plant as a child. (The vast number of awkward conversations I have have made me very accustomed to sharing barely-relevant things in an effort to continue to appear friendly.)
Headed back to the hotel after the tour for a bit of relaxation time, which I spent using MORE conveniently-discovered free wireless and then hanging out with the kids. They're ages 12-18, which means they can talk pretty fast and have fairly large vocabularies, but they're super nice and patient with me. I talked to one of the older girls for pretty much the whole bus ride back from GM, and actually got sat down by a bunch of the boys to be interrogated about the U.S. while drinking the tea they made me. Simon called (he'd headed back to the office after the tour) to say he didn't get the things I'd emailed him so could I come to the office and jump drive them? Okay, sure. And then about halfway back to the office, he called to say he'd gotten them, so I headed back to the hotel.
Had dinner with Rose (staff from Beijing...I've talked about her before), some of the staff from where the kids live, and 3 women from Hong Kong who were there to do Art Therapy. (While chilling in the hotel I had had several confusing phone conversations with Agatha before we realized both of us spoke better English than Mandarin. Avon and Veronica are her helpers, probably around my age and really friendly and awesome.)
We headed over to the conference room of the hotel (not actually connected...and right next to where someone was setting off a ton of fireworks) for Art Therapy, which is supposedly a really fancy program for having children deal with their pain through painting and other art, but looked a lot more like Agatha telling the kids what to do and doing it for them when they weren't doing it "right". Luckily, Agatha couldn't be everywhere at once, and I still had a great time. These kids have lost a parent to AIDS, and are probably poorer than almost anyone else I've ever known personally, but there's nothing sad or pitiful about them, at least if you didn't know. They're just normal kids; maybe a little more polite or a little calmer, but that could just be a cultural thing.
Went into the office in the morning, where the network was down but my computer found some wireless like the good little computer it is. Called people repeatedly in efforts to up the numbers for attendance for our dinner, ate lunch, and then it was time to find some AIDS-affected children to subject to my questionable mandarin. Walked over to their hotel, and we all headed to Shanghai GM on their bus. Everyone has Chi Heng shirts and hats (including me!) so that's fun. Touring Shanghai GM's plant was kinda cool, although I think my favorite part was getting to share with the random man from Detroit who happened to be on our tour that I have overcome my fear of welding since touring the Ford plant as a child. (The vast number of awkward conversations I have have made me very accustomed to sharing barely-relevant things in an effort to continue to appear friendly.)
Headed back to the hotel after the tour for a bit of relaxation time, which I spent using MORE conveniently-discovered free wireless and then hanging out with the kids. They're ages 12-18, which means they can talk pretty fast and have fairly large vocabularies, but they're super nice and patient with me. I talked to one of the older girls for pretty much the whole bus ride back from GM, and actually got sat down by a bunch of the boys to be interrogated about the U.S. while drinking the tea they made me. Simon called (he'd headed back to the office after the tour) to say he didn't get the things I'd emailed him so could I come to the office and jump drive them? Okay, sure. And then about halfway back to the office, he called to say he'd gotten them, so I headed back to the hotel.
Had dinner with Rose (staff from Beijing...I've talked about her before), some of the staff from where the kids live, and 3 women from Hong Kong who were there to do Art Therapy. (While chilling in the hotel I had had several confusing phone conversations with Agatha before we realized both of us spoke better English than Mandarin. Avon and Veronica are her helpers, probably around my age and really friendly and awesome.)
We headed over to the conference room of the hotel (not actually connected...and right next to where someone was setting off a ton of fireworks) for Art Therapy, which is supposedly a really fancy program for having children deal with their pain through painting and other art, but looked a lot more like Agatha telling the kids what to do and doing it for them when they weren't doing it "right". Luckily, Agatha couldn't be everywhere at once, and I still had a great time. These kids have lost a parent to AIDS, and are probably poorer than almost anyone else I've ever known personally, but there's nothing sad or pitiful about them, at least if you didn't know. They're just normal kids; maybe a little more polite or a little calmer, but that could just be a cultural thing.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Shanghai breezes, soft and gentle
I spent almost all of Monday on the phone, unsure of what language to be speaking and whether or not I should really be calling. (Simon is eager to get rsvps for the dinner, which means I end up calling everyone to ask them if they've gotten invitations by email that clearly say they don't need to rsvp until August 8.) It made me really comfortable calling relatively important strangers, which is good. I also went through Simon's email to find rsvps, and called the people whose emails had bounced back to get corrected addresses. And somehow, that took from 9-6 with a relatively short lunch and about a half-hour of downtime.
The kids get here tomorrow morning, and I think I'll have some flexibility as to how much I am glued to the camp. Tomorrow since they are just settling in and there are things to do at the office, I'll head in as usual in the morning, but hopefully go to tour GM with the kids in the afternoon and then who knows what. I kind of have to play things by ear, which is not my favorite thing in the world, but I can probably do it for five more days.
Made hostel reservations for Qingdao and Beijing, ate dinner, all that fun stuff. Rager had sent me a rough script for our MCing, so I looked up words I didn't know. He ALSO found me a spare keyboard at work, which is what I am now happily typing on.
Ever since I got past the first week or so, I've been about the same level of homesick. Nothing consuming, or that stops me from appreciating where I am or what I'm doing, but enough that I'm kinda happy when I look at my calendar and see how fast the time is going. Interesting to me that it hasn't gotten worse or better significantly.
The kids get here tomorrow morning, and I think I'll have some flexibility as to how much I am glued to the camp. Tomorrow since they are just settling in and there are things to do at the office, I'll head in as usual in the morning, but hopefully go to tour GM with the kids in the afternoon and then who knows what. I kind of have to play things by ear, which is not my favorite thing in the world, but I can probably do it for five more days.
Made hostel reservations for Qingdao and Beijing, ate dinner, all that fun stuff. Rager had sent me a rough script for our MCing, so I looked up words I didn't know. He ALSO found me a spare keyboard at work, which is what I am now happily typing on.
Ever since I got past the first week or so, I've been about the same level of homesick. Nothing consuming, or that stops me from appreciating where I am or what I'm doing, but enough that I'm kinda happy when I look at my calendar and see how fast the time is going. Interesting to me that it hasn't gotten worse or better significantly.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Shopping in plaid
Sunday had a slow morning in the Wang household and ate, then headed home to get my suitcase mailed, a simple process that required the help of no more than 3 postal workers, 2 bystanders, and 1 call to Amy. Read emails, then met up with Amy and her mom for shopping.
It’s easier than texting…
Saturday was a pretty weird day. I started by catching up on my sleep, and woke up rested and healthy-feeling. Unfortunately, the same could not be said (as many of you know) for my computer keyboard. Did some elaborate scheming in efforts to troubleshoot, and have spent a fair amount of time on Dell forums and playing with drivers, but no luck yet. I did find an on-screen keyboard that will certainly do for now.
What frustrated me most was that I needed to buy my ticket to
Bought a smallish suitcase at the grocery store (where else?) and packed my big one to send it to
Friday, August 3, 2007
Cordiality
Friday was a relatively busy day at work, which unfortunately didn't mean it was relatively un-frustrating. Luckily, we are very close to the end now. Basically, we had to get email invitations out to all of our sponsors, but there seemed to be no time to actually think through how to have me do so, although it was very important that it be done correctly. So it meant asking a lot of questions, making a lot of strong suggestions, and having a lot of patience. Life skills, Ali, life skills.
After work I just took myself to a coffee shop to read and chill. I'm a little under the weather, so no crazy parties tonight. :p
After work I just took myself to a coffee shop to read and chill. I'm a little under the weather, so no crazy parties tonight. :p
Thursday, August 2, 2007
To withstand the world, that's what it takes.
Thursday I was displaced at my office, which happens periodically but doesn't make my happy. I like my desk! Aside from that, I have no complaints about the day. Went out for Indian food with Amy, which was fun. She said we don't stop being friends after China, but also that if I don't finish Harry Potter by Saturday she's telling me what happens. Tough love. Also found out that her uncle designed the two most famous buildings in Shanghai and the international airport. (Found this out because I was talking about the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and she said her uncle always wanted to design bridges but his company only did buildings, so he made the airport like an upside-down bridge.) So that's cool. Came home and called the parents...sounds like the Cities are a little shaken, understandably, but so far no one knows anyone involved in the collapse. It was actually kind of amazing how many people checked in with me about it, including Katie from the place I interned last year and Holly from the Beijing office of Chi Heng. Apparently I get hired by nice people.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Purple lights in the canyon
Tuesday I had some exciting news at work, which is that I'm going to be one of 2 MCs for our combined closing/opening dinner of camp. (The first session closes on August 11 and the second session opens that day...we'll have 40 kids instead of 20 from about noon until 9pm. Not my idea...) It will be my last day on the job, and I'll do the Mandarin introductions and so on while Rager, the Chinese head of our office, will do the English. Even for someone who doesn't like being in front of people, this should be fun.
After work, went for a wonderful dinner with Phil at Laris, which is on the Bund with a view of the lights of Pudong. We walked around a bit and then hung out at the air-conditioned hostel and watched License to Wed, which has a lot of people I like in it but doesn't go to the top of my most-loved movies. We found out the hostel was being temporarily shut down (I guess some girls got lost getting back and called the police, so the police has decided the hostel is incompetent? Not so sure about the details.) but luckily they were checking out today and so weren't kicked out like some people. It did mean they were requested to leave pretty early today, so I taxied on home.
After work, went for a wonderful dinner with Phil at Laris, which is on the Bund with a view of the lights of Pudong. We walked around a bit and then hung out at the air-conditioned hostel and watched License to Wed, which has a lot of people I like in it but doesn't go to the top of my most-loved movies. We found out the hostel was being temporarily shut down (I guess some girls got lost getting back and called the police, so the police has decided the hostel is incompetent? Not so sure about the details.) but luckily they were checking out today and so weren't kicked out like some people. It did mean they were requested to leave pretty early today, so I taxied on home.
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