blind

today, the girls and i finally decided to try out the massages everyone has been talking about. they range in price, but being student travelers on a budget we went to the one that was listed as the cheapest in my travel guide. it is a massage parlor where blind people work on you... i know this is a strange idea but i guess it works for making jobs for people who are blind. you really do not need to be able to see in order to be a massuse. for less than 10 dollars, (60 renminbi) we got an hour long massage. it was AMAZING and i feel so much better after it. i think that we are going to start making it a habit to go every sunday, and for that price we can afford it. for 11 dollars total we even took a cab there and back. the place was located in the french concession, and this older blind man worked on me. i was a little freaked out at first by it, but im guessing he has been doing it for a long time. they do your back, neck, legs, feet, arms, head, and even your face for a bit.

other than that, we went back to english corner today to speak with more people. it was very intresting, yet again. no questions about guns or ethanol this time though, the setting was a little calmer. i'll make this one short since things are starting to settle in more, and i still have tons of reading to do. miss all of you, keep in touch!

em

english corner

i just had the strangest exprience of my life, right here in china. jordan and i were returning from the front gate back to our dorms and ran into ECNU's english corner nightly gathering at the mao statue. there were about 40 chinese people, waiting to speak and practice english with native speakers like ourselves. we thought that we would just stop for a bit, but instead it turned into a 40 mintue conversation about everything from guns, obama, social security, and jeeps (mind you, all with chinese people). i got bombared with questions as to why america uses corn for fuel when people are starving, how social security works, why do americans own guns, and countless other of contraversial topics. they might not be as big of an issue in t he states, but ive never met people before that are so eagar to learn from someone about their home country. it is acutally such a shame that in america we have tons of foreign students and we do not have the same intrest in where they come from. ive never felt so singled out or chalenged in my own beliefs as an american before. probably one of the best experiences i could possibly have, and im definitely going back again on sunday. i met a girl named cici, and some guys named tony, larry, (haha, brothers names as well), jordan, and greg. those are just the names i remember; it constantly cracks me up at the names that chinese people choose as their english names. they know SO much about our politics, and what is going on. some guy, i think larry, knew that obama and won in oregon, and the demorcatic primary. do you think any random person in america could even name the president of china? didnt think so, let alone follow their political system and elections. phew....

so that was my exprience in english corner. i highly reccomend any one to ever try that. you are not truly soild in your own ideology until you have to defend yourself and your country to 20 chinese men and women.

other than that i had my first day of chinese class. three hours a day... sooo much but ive already learned a great deal. now that it is finally almost nine, ill start my homework. today flew by sooo fast. i was worried at first that i would be struggling to spend my time, and even though im here for another seven weeks, i think that everything is going to be ok.

ill give another english corner topic update soon.

em

finally figured it out...

i finally figured out how people can contact via my chinese cell phone. if you ever want to give me a call or text, this is the way to go! i think that its much cheaper on my end.

dial... 011 + 86 + 13764837357

easy enough! or, skype works as well. more of you need to get it!

em

beginning to fit in... kinda, in that white girl way

so, today was MUCH better. i had a break down the other night. i was extremely homesick, tired, food deprived, and just all around frustrated with culture shock. after about an hour or tears, phone calls, ect jordan took me to get kfc and beer. i felt much better afterwards, and finally fell asleep.

today i woke up feeling totally fine and was good for most of the day. i usually being to feel a tad homesick around 5-6, but then its time to go study or hit the bars/clubs so im fine. its been really fun to go out with my new group of friends in my program. there are two other KDs on this trip, go figure! they are both really amazing, along with everyone ele.

this morning we took our chinese placement test. i was super nervous, but by the end of all of written and speaking parts i think i had done pretty well for three weeks of no practice. i got placed in intermediate II, so thats just about where i should be. i probably could place myself in advanced I, but i would rather get a good grade and really refine what i know already before making it hard for me. i got placed into the advanced business class though, so im VERY excited about that. it is all about business in china, which is exactly what i love to study and focuses very well with my major.

after that we made a trip to the oriental pearl tower and went to the top. it was too smoggy to see much from the top but we could still see the bund. after that we just headed back to the dorms. long day of walking, ive probably walked about 3 miles total today. more to come tonight... we have class tomorrow at 10, but then after that we are done at one. i think that the girls and i are going to go out to the club, i love shanghai. tonight is ladies night, so basically we pay for nothing. it should be fun, and taking a taxi is super safe so we will be fine. i dont want anyone worrying!

like always, i miss ALL of you and im finally getting settled in. it is nice not to be quite so homesick and feel that i am getting the hang of things. this is probably the strangest place ever, or at least the strangest ive been to yet. love you all and dont forget to write me!

xo, em

ughh im so exhausted. orientation is really taking a lot out of me.

first we had a tour of the ECNU (east china normal university), classroom presentations, ect, lunch at a homestay family's apartment, shopping (got a cell phone, yay!), and now we are back at the dorms. im SO tired but we are going to go to the french consession and get some "western" food. i really havent eaten much today, so hopefully i will feel better after that.

that is a picture of the mega mall we went to today. SO crazy. i could never imagine finding my way in there by myself. i was so disoriented, but i guess i have been that way all day. this place is so big, crowded, funny smelling, and lots of other things. its definitely interesting. i guess i really didnt know what to expect, but this is what i got. it is a super fun place though, and im sure once i get a set schedule i will settle in a lot better.

still miss everyone a lot, remember to email or write me!

xo, em

one more

one more picture of the room, stupid internet

keeps giving me problems.

made it alive, skype

so, im finally all unpacked, internet working, sitting in one spot. i am approaching the 36 hours without sleep mark. i have yet to take a shower, but that is the next thing on the agenda. ewww i know, i feel disgusting.

the flight was long, very long but bareable. i think on the way home it will go even slower because i will be even more excited. jordan and i had a brief moment of "crap, lets go home, it smells strange and we miss everyone" but finally gave into the fact we'd be serious wussys if we did. i am feeling much better about it though, i honestly just need to man up and remember why i even came here.

GET SKYPE! I have an account, its emily.escobosa or you can just look me up.

I havent taken many pictures yet, but here is a few of jordan and i's dorm room. thanks brad for the awesome new camera ;)
anyways.... im still a tad homesick and counting down the days, but im really looking forward to getting acclamated, et cetera. please write to me! i know that you are all excited to hear what im doing, but im equally excited to hear what you guys are up to as well! i dont want to come home two months behind on everything thats happened.... love and miss all of you!
em

Canada

So I made it to Canada safe. The flight was easy, only about an hour or so. The flight attendant dude said "Eh!" a lot, so that was enteratining. Jordan and I are enjoying our last subway for awhile, but I've heard that they have it there, so maybe it wont be so bad.

We still have about two hours until our flight, hopefully the bar will open soon so I can "relax" before the flight. We already met some kids from our program, and they seem cool so I'm really excited for that too. The Vancouver airport is really nice, nicer than I expcted (if anyone even cares, random I know). Um.... I miss everyone already! I hope that all of you are chillin and enjoying your summer. As for that, I've now been awake for 24 hours straight, the only nap being my hour in the car ride to pdx.

I'm done for now, my brain isn't functioning very well at this point.

Em

expert procrastinator...

so, i leave in about a week now and i haven't made any progress on packing. i haven't even considered moving anything home yet either, mostly because i work better under pressure and ill want to move home once everyone else is moved out. doesn't hurt that i only live 30 minutes away either...

im finally getting excited, finally. i guess its always been too far off to really imagine the day coming but im ready for it now. anyways, not much to add except that im going to be really lazy about packing till the day before, and that ive already spent too much money. but is that news to anyone?? i hope not... :/

em