The Pad

Here are some pictures of my place. As you can see, I have yet to "settle in" and have just recently purchased sheets for my bed. The couch has worked alright so far. I've been told that I'm living at the nicest complex in Chuansha. I recently found out that the Headmaster of the Primary school that I work at lives right below me in the same building. But it is a massive complax that is under construction, which has prevented me from needing an alarm clock. I have to balcony's, which is pretty nice, but there is no dryer, so you have to hang up your clothes on this contraption they have on the back balcony. It will take some getting used to because when you don't have a dryer, all of your clothes are really hard and wrinkley once they dry out. I don't have a microwave or an oven. But I will survive...

And you thought the Chinese didn't have a sense of humor..

Saw this on the bus ride into downtown Shanghai. Thought some might find this humorous.

There is a picture of me at the Bund. The slightly hazey picture with the people in it is Nanjing Rd., where I have never seen so many people, in such a small area of space, in my life. One of the most ridiculous scenes I have ever seen! I probably saw around 1 million people that day. I havn't been down that road since I've been here, but jesus christ! I think it may have been because it was their National Holiday (the day that China became the PRC), but it was outrageous! I've never had so many girls come up to me wanting to "be my friend," although usually it will be guys coming up to you asking you if you are looking for a "lady friend!" The colorful picture is of a hotel near my hotel. I just thouhgt it was pretty. Most of the KTV's, or kareoke bars look like this, or are very colorful. I still haven't been in one of those, but they are everywhere and I have been told that they are "something else." I can't stand American kareoke bars. I just can't see how I would enjoy a Chinese kareoke bar. I've heard its pretty funny though, so sooner or later I'm sure I'll venture into one. I just need to make sure I'm pretty sauced before that happens.

First Couple 3 weeks

These are two pictures from the hotel I stayed at the first week I arrived in Shanghai. The hotel was located just north of "central downtown." Upon seeing past the bars that divided each hotel room balcony, you can see Hongkou Football Stadium. That is where the Shanghai (I don't know there mascot's name) Football team plays. My friend Devin says that they are pretty good (for the Chinese league), but they haven't won "their" cup in a few years. He said that he has season tickets and that he will take me to see one of their games. That should be something else. I wanted to get a picture of it at night when its lit up, because the outside of the stadium lights up with all these different colors and its really cool. I only saw them turn it on one night, so I never got a picture of it. The first two days I was here, I went running in circles around it becuase if you tried running on the sidewalks or streets in the morning or afternoon (probably even at night), it would become very frustrating becasue there are so many people and you would spend most of your run dodging people, bikes, cars, etc.