Though I have just arrived at my school in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, my mind is reeling from the past week's activities in Shanghai. It was new teacher orientation, it was crash courses in Mandarin, ESL teaching, excursions to select locations and it was 90 degrees. And of course, it was ridiculous amounts of food (posts about individual meals to follow).
I need to be ready to start teaching on Wednesday, but my mind is still in Shanghai, an intimate but endless sweaty city of 13 million people.
I anticipated that arriving in China would be overwhelming -- spending a week in Shanghai was pretty much a guarantee of my experiencing that. High-rise apartment buildings and glassy office buildings with quirky adornments dot the skyline as far as the eye can see. The city appears to never end. Even as a NYer, I was awed.
My Lonely Planet map was laughably inadequate for navigating the city's sprawl -- thankfully taxis are very affordable. Every intersection yielded yet another crowd of bikes and scooters, purposefully piloted by locals of all ages with deliveries to make and meals to cook. Traffic laws don't seem to exist; people plow out in to the street regardless of the light color or oncoming traffic. Pedestrians are scornfully disregarded.
Given the intensity of the heat, I was pleased to discover bottled iced green tea. Sold just about everywhere on the street in Shanghai, as well as in airports, hotels and restaurants, this is the real stuff--just barely sweet and so refreshing. Above is Suntory brand green tea that I purchased on the 88th Floor Observatory of the Jin Mao Tower, the tallest building in China.
Much more to follow -- I am so excited!
Posted by Astrid at August 28, 2004 10:06 AM