Sorry I'm Late

So, I haven't had much time until now to write a new post. Sorry. My 11-day National Day holiday has officially started, though, and I couldn't be more excited.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Qingdao, and on the 5th I leave Qingdao for Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. I'll be back in Shanghai on the 11th. While I'm gone, I may or may not be able to blog (I'm not taking my computer, and I don't know if anyone going will). I can, however, promise a great blog post on the 11th or 12th.

Last weekend, I went with my host dad to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra’s 130th Anniversary Gala Concert. Lang Lang and Liao Changyong were there to perform, among others. I had a great time. The Symphony played both Western and Chinese selections, including Berlioz, Bizet, Verdi, Lu Zaiyi, and Jian’er, among others. It was really interesting to see the mix of classical Chinese and Western songs right alongside modern political songs like “I Sing a Folk Song to Our Party.” After the intermission, Lang Lang played Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. For the encore, the Symphony played an awesome variation of “Happy Birthday to You” that was written by Lang Lang himself, just for the event. Then, they brought out a huge cake and the Party Secretary of Shanghai came onstage and help cut it.

Of course, I forgot to put the battery in my camera. Duh. Here are some pictures anyway.


The Shanghai Grand Theatre (Source: architectook.net)


Lang Lang (source: LA Times)

The rest of the week wasn't too exciting. I had a Chinese test and a history paper due on Monday. Tuesday was just Tuesday. But vacation started Wednesday, and we partied like it was 1999 at my host family's house.

Dinner was delicious (really, it was pretty good). Here's a before:


And after:


Wednesday was the first time I've ever had to pick my dinner up off the floor because it was running away. All in good fun, though.

After that, some friends and I went out to celebrate China's National Day.


I came home early because I wanted to watch the parade this morning with my host parents. Good choice, because the parade was really impressive. Look it up on Youtube.

Happy Birthday China! 我爱你!

My address

Here's my address, finally. English or Chinese will work.

Send me mail!

Matthew Archer
c/o CIEE Shanghai Study Center
Global Education Center, 4th Floor
East China Normal University
3663 Zhongshan Bei Road,
Putuo District, Shanghai 200062 P.R.China

or in Chinese:

To the People's Republic of China
邮编：200062中国上海市普陀区中山北路3663号
华东师范大学国际教育中心四楼
美国国际教育交流协会
马舒凯（密西西比大学）收

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted something. School has been taking up all of my time. I have a 1500 word essay due tomorrow that, of course, I just started.

There will definitely be a post later tonight though with pictures, I promise.

Unlucky

Two weeks, two car crashes.


But no matter how serious (or not) a wreck me be, Matthew Archer knows how to have a good time. Welcome to the Shanghai club scene.


The next day, Ryan and I went to the Shanghai Museum. It was pretty cool. The building is shaped like an ancient Chinese pot.


We went to another museum today, the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. It's pretty cool, too.




ECNU campus at night!


Sorry this post is boring. I'm tired and not much has happened recently.

Weekend Trip to 连云港

This weekend, the ACS class took a weekend trip to 连云港 (Lianyungang). We knew the trip was going to be awesome when, within about 30 minutes of leaving campus, we rammed into a little Volkswagon with our tour bus. We won that battle and bathed in victory for two hours on the side of the road.


Lianyungang is home to 花果山 (Mountain of Flowers and Fruit). Although a lot of different towns say that their Mountain of Flowers and Fruit is the real one, only Lianyungang's Mountain of Flowers and Fruit actually received recognition from Chairman Mao. This particular mountain is very important in Chinese folklore because it's where 孙悟空 (the stone monkey and chief protagonist of the 16th century classical Chinese novel Journey to the West) lived and reigned as king of the monkeys.


But that's boring stuff (It's actually really interesting if you're a Chinese major and living on this side of the world, which none/few of you are, so I'll spare you those details). What's cool is that there were real monkeys there and waterfalls and whatnot. It rained, though, and was kind of cold, but I have to admit - getting cold is a nice relief from daily heat strokes in Shanghai.


That night, we went to a hot springs hotel. I'll spare the details about the 30 or so completely naked Chinese men, the scalding water and the way-too-hot sauna. Just know that if you ever go to a Chinese hot spring or bathhouse, be prepared to see a lot.

The next day, we left the hotel early (thankfully) and drove the hour or so back into the Lianyungang city center. Lianyungang, a small city of only 4 million-ish people, is absolutely dead at night and devoid of any foreigners. The nine laowai walking down the streets got some odd stares for sure.

In Lianyungang, we took a boat tour of the harbor, a dinky, polluted little place with a lot of tour boats and noxious air. It was fun.


After that we went to an "aquarium" (water minority museum in Chinese), which was actually a tight, damp, concrete tunnel that went under the road and had fake whales, Finding Nemo posters and illegal animals everywhere. It was fun, too.


After that, we went to a beach paradise. No sarcasm there, actually. It was a pretty nice place, especially for a "small town" in "rural" China. Overdoing it with the quotes, but whatever.


So, the bus rides (6 hours to Lianyungang, an hour to hot springs, and hour back, an hour here and hour there blah blah) got really long. To make up for all that time sitting, we decided to get some dancing in at Lianyunang's two clubs (That's a 2+ million to one people to club ratio). The stringbean was danced. Fail.



Finally, on Sunday we went to 鱼湾 (roughly, fish harbor). It was nice, although there hasn't been any water there (thus no fisherman) since "an ancient earthquake that changed the geographical structure of the land" made the waters recede. Sounds fishy. I meant to be punny.



Picture with this monkey for 2 RMB? Yes, please.


This is my bicycle!



Enjoy!

Weekend and First Day of Class

Friday night we watched the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe perform at some random theatre. It was pretty awesome.






This is five motorcycles in a big metal ball. It was awesome and scary.


After that, I went home and rested because I was really tired.

Saturday, CIEE hosted the "Amazing Race - Shanghai." My group actually won first place, but it was close and we wanted the second-place prize (one hour foot and body massage) so we conceded defeat and went with it.

Saturday night, we went out. It was a really interesting night. I'll leave it at that.

Sunday, I went to pick up my friend Chris from the airport. He's studying this semester at Nanjing University, which is about a two hour train ride from Sha-town. After that, I went to watch the VT game with McDaniel. I had to leave early, though, because my host mother made me some super tasty crab and tofu soup.

Soooo....today was the first day of class, and it went really well. I had Chinese at 1:00 and history (for three hours) at 3. Then I came home and ate, updated my blog, and I'm about to leave for Shanghainese class.

In case you don't already know, the Shanghainese dialect sounds nothing like standard Mandarin. Although almost everyone in Shanghai can speak standard Mandarin, the real moneyz comes from speaking with the Shanghainese in, well, Shanghainese. They really respect foreigners a lot more if they can speak multiple dialects of Chinese.

Confucius say: 知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也 It means if you know what's up, say it. But if you don't know what you're talking about, shut it. That's how to tell who's smart and who's an idiot. (source: Archer, Matthew. Confucius in Modern English. New York, 2009.)

Excuse me?

There are 112 Starbucks in Shanghai.

Just thought I'd share that.

You can call me Random

So, the past few days have been pretty good.

Wednesday afternoon, we took a double-decker bus tour of the Puxi District of Shanghai, which is where ECNU, People's Square/Park, the Bund, et cetera are - basically, everything that mattered in Shanghai before 1989ish.

This is the Catholic Church in Shanghai. Just to the right (and out of the picture) is an eight or nine story church-looking building with a huge cross on top. It's the headquarters for Chinese Catholicism. Control, much?


I got really excited when I found BBQ sauce at one of the 50+ local KFCs. It was a miraculous day.


This is my host fam's dog, Charlie. He responds to commands in Chinese. I love this creature.


You'll never guess who I ran into at the US Embassy when I was registering my new visa. Why, it's meh friend Bamzy!


Actually, today all the ACS (Advanced Chinese Studies) kids went to Madame Tussauds' Wax Museum, or "The World Famous Home of the World Famous." It was pretty sweet.


This is me and Pu-daddy. We're looking ahead into the bright light that will undoubtedly be Russia's prosperous future. Notz.


This is me all up in Nicci's grill.


And this is me beating up Brad. The Misses was impressed. Mangelina? We're here.


After that, we ate at this awesome restaurant. The food wasn't magnificent, but the view was.


Then, we split up. Some of us headed back to the dorms. My friend Min-ah and I went to Pudong New District to see what all the hooplah is about.


Actually, I've been a few timez, but I hadn't been to the Jinmao Tower observation deck, so we went. Two student ID cards and CNY 120 later, we were 88 floors above you.


This is the atrium of the Grand Hyatt, which is inside Jinmao Tower and also the highest hotel in the world. But $300 a night for the cheapest room? Lolzasaurus I'm a student.


Finally, I'll leave you with some advice.

Fall is here

The weather in Shanghai has finally taken a turn for the better. Other than light afternoon rain, it's been pretty pleasant. It's definitely a lot cooler outside than it was last week - no more 110° F weather for me (I hope).

The Campus of East China Normal University (ECNU) is really beautiful. There are ponds and old bridges and little stone pathways. The best places, though, are the hidden study spots, where you can go spend some time alone and watch old people fish and play mah-jiang while you study.


But how could we really call this a Chinese campus without the MAO statue?!


This week is the program's orientation. We're about to sign up for classes online. My schedule, tentatively, is as follows:

Advanced High Chinese II - 6 hours
Global Issues in China - 3 hours
Modern Chinese History - 3 hours
Business in China - 3 hours
Writing Seminar - 1 hour

I'm pretty excited about my classes this semester. I'm also excited about participating in one of ECNU's extracurricular green organizations. It's sure to be a great four months.