I'm Safe

After getting my butt kicked in class on Thursday I decided I needed to start getting serious about studying. I signed up for a language partner, studied all night and, having an 8am class on Friday, went to bed relatively early so my mind would be fresh for the next day. I was in the middle of a good slumber when all of a sudden my dreams were interrupted with a very loud and steady beeping that sounded more like a high pitched chirp. Waking up suddenly I realized this probably was my alarm. Now, I don't scare easily but waking up to your alarm system, especially in a foreign country, is never a pleasant experience. After lying i

n bed and determining I didn't hear any movement (i.e. looters coming to steal all my luxury goods in my luxury apartment) I got up and slowly crept out of my room. Of course there was nothing there. Just me and my loud alarm system. 

Going back a couple weeks, when I was first showed to my apartment Ouxin made a very big deal about how safe the place was b/c of the security. He said he was outside my patio fence and tried to stick his hand through to test the system and from what I understood he said the guards came right away to see what he was doing. Nice. He also showed me a red emergency button (far

right) that he said I can push ANY TIME and the guards will come. 

So back to my night. I saw that it was now 1:15am and I had been awake for about 15-20 mins and who knows how long the alarm was actually going off. Besides the obvious concern of what actually set off the alarm I was also worried about waking up my neighbors. I had no idea how to turn this thing off! I began pushing buttons and when I pushed the * key it stopped! YAY...for all of 3 seconds. 

I stood there for about 10 minutes thinking about how I could tape something hard to keep the button pushed down. But lacking tape, this was not an option. Then came the image you always on TV of people smashing the fire alarm to turn it off but this is China...they take their property seriously and I was not about to risk jail time for this alarm. I stood there for anot

her 10 minutes holding down the button trying not to cry and contemplating whether I should push the almighty RED BUTTON. Normally this probably wouldn't have been a difficult decision to make but as I imagined it I would push the button and mulitple guards would come running to my rescue, burst through the door and do a thorough investigation of my apartment to make sure I was safe. Again, normally this would be fine but it just so happens that I had done laundry this night and lacking a dryer and clothes rack INSIDE the apartment,

my clothes were strewn about the whole place, most notably the 2 1/2 weeks worth of undies hanging from several hangers high on my curtain rods in my room. Don't believe me? I took a picture b/c I wouldn't believe me either --->

(In the interest of discretion, I didn't take a picture of my other laundry)

I couldn't handle it any more and took the plunge and pushed the RED BUTTON then took off running trying to take down my half-dry laundry. Bracing for the mass envoy about to barge in I went back to hold the * button to stop the beeping. Waiting....waiting....waiting....I'm sure they're going to come any minute...waiting. It is now 11am on SATURDAY and no one has come to make sure I am still alive. Awesome. Not knowing what else to do, I did what any young woman in this situation would do: I called my Dad. Knowing I was ok, he first had a little chuckle about the situation and asked, "If I tell you what to do will I get to be in the blog"? DAD!!! He eventually guided me to take off the panel face and get to the wires, of which there were 12. His advice? Just start pulling. After only 2 the awful beeping stopped. Ahhhhh. That's what Dads are for. And this is what remains of my alarm system. 

Is it Love?

Classes are going well. I still only understand about 35%. Is it possible to get worse?? Definitely a product of "The more you know the more you realize you don't".

On to the good story. I joined my Yao Ming gym on Tuesday, or California Fitness: Yao Ming Sport, and it is BEAUTIFUL and really hard to believe a product of 24hr fitness. Especially if you've ever been to the Marina 24Hour like I was forced to. For those of you who have no idea what the Marina is, it's the neighborhood I lived next to in San Francisco (I was in Cow Hollow...don't laugh SF people!) and is renown for the world's smallest gym. Anyway, this gym here is about 3 times the size and has every amenity you could want: Sauna, steam room, boxing ring, yoga studio and more. No one should ever be as giddy as I was to work out. And to make it even better, because I am a 24 Hour Fitness member in the US I get to use it free of charge. Normally it would be $140/mo! Considering I've been blowing through my hard earned savings enjoying the playground that is Shanghai, this was a major coup. But I digress. I was feeling fantastic after I had broken a sweat for the first time in maybe 3 weeks- since I contracted the plague w/ everyone else at Jacque's wedding I was out of commission the week before I left- and decided I would do some ab work before getting a good steam in. So picture this: I am lying down mid-crunch when I hear a very enthusiastic but heavily accented, "Hi"!! Oh no. Sitting up, I was greeted by one of the trainers. He repeats his happy "Hi" and asks my name. So I tell him and he tells me his name is "John". Not only is John studded out in his Personal Trainer uniform of a very, very tight shirt and black work-out pants but he also rocks the faux-hawk. Sooo not kidding here. His english is verrry broken and I see that he doesn't really understand me when I answer in English. Being overly confident I start to answer in Chinese and realize he is even more confused (siiiiiigh). The conversation starts out pretty standard: Where are you from, when did you come, why are you here. I answer... and then he brings out the big guns. 

Him: You like to go out in Shanghai? 

Me: Yes. I like it (where is this going?)

H: Where do you like to go?

M: Um... (don't say dancing, don't say dancing) Dancing

H: Ohh (glee on his face). I know best Shanghai places for dancing.

M: Oh...(hide fright) nice.

H: You have boyfriend?

M: NoYes. Yes I do.

H: Where is he?

M: At home

H: Oh. That is very far away....

Mom, before you start picking out cribs, I should say that I don't think John and I really found our spark. We continued talking about long distance relationships and how hard they are for about 10 more minutes (which seemed even longer since the conversation didn't exactly flow) all the while he was asking his other trainer-friend to translate certain words for him. The whole time I was thinking, no way am I getting hit on a) in a gym and b) in China!!! It's such a cliche! I can't wait to blog about this! :) I saw John again the next day and we said hi but I think for now we will just be friends. 

XOXO

Gossip Girl

(i've watched it waaayyy too much)

My first day of school...

was a near disaster. First of all, I woke up way later than expected for my supposed 8am class and rushed out the door w/o really stopping to prepare. I met up w/ Elin (who changed apartments and now lives in my complex!) and we walked to school together, about a 10 minute walk. Along the way the lovely overcast skies opened up and started to rain on us. Good thing I brought my umbrella b/c I'm wearing my favorite tan suede boots today. Oh wait, no I didn't. That was part 1 of the waking-up-late-and-not-being- prepared disaster. No umbrella just an uuber thin sweater w/ a hood. Still, no reason to panic yet. We made it to the building we assumed our classes were in, b/c everything has happened here. The day before, our class schedules and locations had been posted for us to copy down...all in Chinese btw, and which I did not do b/c I saw one room number and decided there was no reason to look at anything else on this schedule. All my classes were in rm 306. Great. Easy enough. I walk down the hall eager to start my Fudan career when, I kid you not, Rm 306 was the MEN'S BATHROOM! Not only was this comical b/c it's the men's bathroom but also b/c who gives their bathrooms room numbers?!? So I go back and luckily Elin is there too b/c her room # doesn't even exist in this building. We ask a very kind looking Chinese woman where ours are, b/c she seemed to be helping people to their rooms. She shakes her head as if our classes are not in this building and goes to the window and points. To where is still TBD. It seems to me that she is pointing to the nice, shiny towers. So I ask, "oh the big building"? And she does some sort of shake and point thing that I take as no and rather to a very old, scary looking building. Hm...ok. So Elin and I go to said building and this time Rm 306 is there but filled w/ all Chinese students and a very large screen that says "Welcome to Organic Chemistry". (Am I back at UCLA? ;) Anyone who knows me, knows I have no business being in an Organic Chem class. And again Elin's room doesn't exist. Frustrated, wet and tired Elin and I walk around a bit and by now its about 8:30am.

We decide the first class is lost and instead go to the nearby Starbucks for coffee and to call our liason, Carol, to see if she can help us. And then it starts to HAIL. Of course it does. We finally make it to Starbucks and indulge in it's warmth, plush couches and very satisfying lattes. Eventually we call Carol and she meets us back where the schedule postings are and looks confusingly at me and says, "Ni-ke-er (my Chinese name romanized), your class starts at 10am. Why are you so early"? Ha..eager beaver that's me. Oopsie! Elin's class didn't start until 12:30 so she was safe too. Carol escorted us to where our classes were, not unlike a mom taking a first grader to their first day, and along the way I realized part 2 of the waking-up-late-and-not-being-prepared disaster: I have no pen, pencil, or paper. Great. Carol shows me to a stationary store that Hello Kitty barfed on and after finding the only non-"cute" pen, pencil and notebook..I think I am ready for my first day!

Ahh...with all disasters averted I settled in. Bring it on. Our laoshi (professor) comes in and immediately begins speaking Chinese. Oh dear. I understood..maaayyyyybe 5 words and begin to panic when she starts calling roll and asks every student to introduce themselves. Not just Hi My name is...I am from... NO...she asks questions and cracks jokes (which everyone seems to get but me) and these interviews last about 3 mins each! We were listed by country in roll call and the Japanese students went first and I swear they were fluent to me. But as she went down the list and got to the Europeans I felt a little better and felt pretty good by the time she got to me. Now, not only am I older than everyone, if not the oldest, in class but I also had more experience studying Chinese than everyone. It was slightly embarrassing when the 3-5 month kids were speaking w/ more fluidity than me and my 3 years experience (even though it was 5-7 years ago when I was in college, but I couldn't date myself!). I got through it though and it was quite interesting to hear all the different places everyone was from: Khazakstan, Turkey, Korea, Germany, France, Texas. There are only 4 or 5 of us from the US. It took me a while to dust the cobwebs from the Mandarin section of my brain but eventually it started coming back and I felt really good by the end of class. I have homework (awesome) and an actual 8am class tomorrow (awesome-er) but Elin and I are going to share some wine tonight and study together :) Yay China!

Day??? It's School Time!

Tomorrow I will officially be a student again. Complete with an 8am class start time to boot. Woo. I was hoping for a reprieve of early morning obligations but doesn't look like it's going to happen. Ah well... Cest le vie. I guess it will keep me out of trouble AND from watching another 5 hours straight of Gossip Girl. Jeez...the brooding on that show makes Brenda and Dylan look like they went to Disneyland High! I bought my books today for the steep price of 135 yuan or about $19. Let's just say class should be interesting tomorrow considering I had a tough time reading Lesson 1. Hmm.....good luck to me!

Without school to fill my days I've spent my time exploring Shanghai and all it has to offer. Which is a lot. Last night I was at a very posh club and was having a fabulous time with my new friends but couldn't help but miss my dear friends and family at home. Not because I wish I was back with them but that they were here to share all the excitement that this city offers. The only way I can describe Shanghai is as a city where the whole world converges into one place. At one moment I can be walking down a street and know that I am in the thick of China then turn the corner and think that I am in Europe with cobblestone streets and sidewalk cafes filled with people sitting outside and enjoying a coffee or glass of wine (feel free to guess my preference) and people-watching. I can then turn another corner and think I'm in Manhattan in the middle of world-class skyscrapers, shopping malls and hotels...maybe that has to do with Shanghai Times Square but still. This city is a fabulous juxtaposition of old world and new and quite exciting to discover.

Here are a few pics of my apartment from the outside and surrounding area.
That's my corner apt and patio and my street: Da Xue Lu.

And here is a pic of Me, Elin and her boyfriend Jostein from a recent night out. Jos returns to his ship for 5 more weeks tomorrow :( GGW 2008!


One final note, I haven't joined a gym yet but plan to on Tuesday. I found a 24hr fitness. I love globalization. And in true China fashion the gym has quite the name: California Fitness- Yao Ming Sport! I'm eating Jackie Chan's dumplings and working out at Yao Ming's gym...Wow I must just radiate greatness :)

Day 8: Settled Life

So I've been here a week now and each day gets better and better or at least more and more comfortable. I took my placement exams today (Level 3 out of 7) and will start classes on Monday so that means 4 more unstructured days of playing and exploring. Here is a pic of the main building at Fudan. My classmates appear to be mostly from other Asian countries or of Chinese descent and looking to improve their reading and writing capabilities. I've also met others from Australia, Russia, Spain, Britain, Italy and of course the US. I've come to appreciate the location of Fudan. Although it is pretty far from the center of Shanghai it will force me to use Mandarin more since few people here speak English. AND I found a great food delivery service that delivers from over 50 restaurants: both Chinese and non-Chinese including....CPK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!! BBQ Chicken Chop Salad here I come. I found this service after eating at a very yummy Mediterranean cafe downtown where I stocked up on hummus and whole wheat pita. Mmmm. After 6 straight days of Jiaozi (dumplings) I needed to switch it up a bit. Also, next to the Med cafe is a great DVD shop. Anything your heart desires can be bought here. I got Juno, Michael Clayton, Gone Baby Gone, Mean Girls, Memoirs of a Geisha and the first season of Gossip Girl. Life is good.

Now the real story is what prompted my need to stock up on DVDs. Now normally I wouldn't talk about my alcohol-driven exploits but this one is too good not to share. It was my Swedish friend Elin's boyfriend's b-day on Tuesday and she invited me to join them and a couple other friends they had met for dinner. I was absolutely up for it. Dinner was at The Grill at the Grand Hyatt which is next to the space ship looking building-very posh. The Hyatt boasts the highest bar in the world, Cloud 9, so of course we had to have a drink there after dinner. Well one drink actually turned into the 5 of us getting a bottle of vodka. What kind of vodka you ask?? Well they were out of Absolut which disappointed Elin so we asked for Skyy which was also on the menu. No dice. Ok what do you have? My stomach dropped and heart pounded w/ fear as I saw our fuwuyuan's (server) finger point to the only vodka they have (duh-duh-duh): Stolichnaya!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! NO. For those of you not understanding my fear should know that Stoli (as we endearingly called it) was the vodka we drank in college b/c at $15 a bottle it gave you the most bang for your buck. But of course being at a) a hotel and b) the highest bar in the world it ran for $90!!!!!! My Nordic friends, not ever having seen Stoli before, thought it had to be good since it was Russian and were pleased to buy this bottle. On a side note, to my horror, one of our companions suggested we get Vanilla Stoli and mix it with diet coke (GAG!!). Anyway, following our most expensive bottle of Stoli in the world at the the highest bar in the world we moved on to another lounge for more drinks and little did I know, my friends were just getting started. Three bars later capped by a stint of karaoke we were spent. I casually looked at my watch to see that it was 6:45 AM!!!!!! Wha??!?! I went to bed with daylight shining and didn't get up until 2pm only to move to my couch and watch terrible Chinese TV. Thus prompting the need for DVDs. So my friends, there you have it. My first Shanghai all-nighter and subsequent hangover :( Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I have no pics to document the evening but Elin took some and will send them to me soon.

Ok I'm off to join a gym w/ Elin. YAY!

The Great (fire)Wall of China

I guess my blog is officially blocked here by the Great FireWall of China (a common term used to describe sites blocked by the gov't) because as I sit in a cafe with a full wireless connection I still can't pull up my site :( So I hope all is ok w/ it and if you have any feedback about it let me know.

So the novelty of my blondeness took a hit today when I met my first classmate, Elin: a tall, beautiful blonde from Sweden. We picked her up on the way to registration and immediately bonded over the mutual sentiment of feeling stranded out at Fudan University which is quite far from all the action of Shanghai's city center. We were both duped into the Fudan program by the prestige everyone talked up to us rather than mentioning its location in the boonies of Shanghai. Maybe not boonies, there is a Sephora (woo-hoo!) and great shopping complex across the street from me but zero nightlife w/in a 25 min radius unless you count Karaoke. Anyway, Elin and I are great friends already as we got to know each other over lattes and internet in a really cute cafe near our apts and university. Speaking of apts..let me just say THANK GOD I chose luxury apartment. I now see why they call it that b/c poor Elin got stuck with the local apartment. I think I would have been on the next plane back to CA (or anywhere for that matter) if I had just arrived and they led me to where she is living. The poor thing tried to get a luxury apt but they told her they were all filled (which is odd b/c I am the only living organism I've seen in my complex besides my security guards). Her place smells and is quite dingy and exactly what you would think of as a local chinese apt. Ick! But Elin and I chatted about our love for wine and the cool places we've been to already in Shanghai. She doesn't have any friends here but came w/ her boyfriend who is an engineer on a ship off the coast of Angola. He works 5 weeks on the ship and gets 5 weeks off and comes here during his 5 weeks b/c his company pays for it and its the same cost as going back to Stockholm. Not a bad deal for them.

Elin and I are off to downtown for my first shopping trip. YAY!! Classes still haven't started but we have an orientation dinner at a typical Chinese restaurant tonight...oh boy. Maybe I'll have my first class tomorrow???

XOXO,

Nicole

Day 3: A Day of Discovery

Where do I begin? Day 3 certainly was a day of discoveries. So many that I have broken them down.

This is what I call sad discoveries:

Sad discovery # 1: My hair straightener doesn't work :( reducing me to using a round brush and leaving me contemplating the possibility of changing this blog title to "A Blonde-bob's Blog in China". My hair has taken on a very rounded effect not to my liking. My girlfriends reading this will understand my distaste of the bob effect. But enough about hair.

Sad discovery #2: My Sonicare base charger blew out!!! It will be manual brushing for me until April when my parents come and bring their spare charger (Hint Hint mom and dad).

So if this is the worst that happens then I think I'll still survive. This next section I will call "The Chinese Way" Discoveries:

TCW Discovery #1: Maintenance crews drop in unannounced at any time of day and no matter how many times you ask them to hold on a minute (in multiple languages mind you) they still insist on ringing the doorbell and shouting through the door at you while you scramble to get out of your robe and decently dressed b/c you just got out of the shower and were about to get into your after-shower routine.

Yes my cable guy came today and after about a minute of trying to figure out his actual purpose for being in my doorway I understood that he was there to set up my digital cable. Its funny how when you don't understand someone you revert to your own language and keep talking in it as he continues to talk to you in his language as if at some point either person will miraculously reach fluency in the other's language. Luckily "Justin" came to my rescue who I think is the property manager, although I'm still not exactly sure, and spoke english to explain the situation.

TCW Discovery #2: How to hang your clothes outside for drying. The first thing Justin wanted to show me post cable situation was the outside clothes hanger for drying (b/c dryers do not exist here). I think he was pretty proud of the pulley feature that dropped down the bar for hanging the clothes. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the clothes hanger didn't have a snowball's chance in hell at being used. Not only b/c hanging your clothes outside for all the world to see is just not right but also b/c I'm a laundry service girl all the way. On a side note though the pulley malfunctioned during the demonstration and Justin asked me to pull down the bar b/c "You are taller than me. I am typical Chinese man and very short". Which led to TCW Discovery #2.5: Chinese people are funny!

So the cable is up and running and I am now the proud owner of 46 channels of really Cheesy Chinese programming. Oh and in my haste to get dressed I neglected the zipper on my jeans and was happy to discover after everyone left that it was down the whole time. Awesome.

This section I will call fun discoveries.

Fun Discovery #1: I have friends!!! Yay! I went out last night with the guy I was supposed to meet up with the night before, Randy. We met at a wine bar to chat about living and surviving in Shanghai and the wine was actually very good! Phew... We then met up with a few of his friends for dinner: An ambiguously gay Canadian (ribbed turtleneck sweater and all), A cheeky Brit (not doing anything for the teeth stereotype I might mention) and a very lovely Australian couple. The Australian girl had on a fabulous top that I was delighted to discover she had made. The ideas immediately started forming for my new wardrobe.

Fun Discovery #2: MEXICAN FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I probably shouldn't get too excited b/c I haven't tried it yet but we passed "Cal Burrito" on our way to dinner. The words jumped out of me "Chips and Salsa"?? Randy explained that the owner is a Chinese American from SF and although it's the best in Shanghai, its not quite the real deal. My reply was, "Honey, i've been eating at Left at Albuquerque for 3.5 years. Obviously real-deal Mexican is not of utmost importance to me.


Fun Discovery #3: Shanghai nightlife. It really was a cornucopia last night. We started at a very posh bar that was filled w/ a French group celebrating a birthday and I was happy to get a raspberry vodka and soda...or two. We then headed to a very, very smoky "hipster" bar that instantly took me back to the Mission scene in SF...needless to say, not my fave. The Australian couple, the Brit and I left for a quieter, less smoky bar and were graced with the presence of Chinese prostitutes. That's when I knew it was time to go home.

And that, my friends, is all for Day 3.