Shanghai

Blogger is not blocked in Shanghai. Apparently, the great firewall of China is thicker in some areas and much thinner in the others. Its brilliant. Live journal is blocked though... and so is watchtvsitcoms.com... So grace, i can't read your blog. :(

This entry will mark the end of my first 2 weeks in Shanghai. Honestly, it feels as if I've been living here forever. My amateur-ly sore butt and aching leg muscles when i ride, remind me otherwise. Perhaps the people here develop calluses on their nether regions to protect themselves from the onslaught of ridiculously hard bicycle seats, classroom chairs, study chairs... well anything that was built for its comfort anyway... Awfully ironic.

Life here is really different. The culture, the people... the way things are done. In Singapore, you request and expect that things will be done for you. Here you cajole, smile, beg, and when all things fail, throw some form of authority over them (think embassy, professors etc...) Thats why what the chinese term as 关系 is so terribly important. I'm obviously not adept at it yet as my requests have not been met. :(

Culture differences aside, living here, studying here is like entering a whole new world, never before seen and experienced. Insanely narrow long wooden tables with attached wooden chairs (So narrow that if someone in the row wants to get out, everyone has to exit the row before the person can disgracefully squeeze his/her way out), Chalk boards... yep they still use them! Even in the top universities of China! Glass windows with green frames, better yet! Studying in old chinese buildings-toilets... Long indentation in the ground separated by cubicle walls, the pee of your fellow classmate behind the cubicle will flow towards "your" part of the indentation. OH! and with chinese people around, singaporeans don't deserve the "KIASU" title. The mad rush to get from teaching building to teaching building in the enormous campus ignites a mad whoosh! of crazed bicyclists, pedestrians and bottle necks! (This phenomenon must be explained... If you don't get to class 30mins before it starts, you are stuck with the last row... far far far away from the source of vital information, doomed to be forgotten, lost forever from the heater in winter and your brilliant As). Eating in the school canteen... :):):) Prisoner metal trays, with extremely oily and salty lumps gracefully dumped in its respective partitions. (5 rmb meal) Chinese students left right centre, wolfing their food down voraciously and speedily... TO GET TO CLASS BEFORE YOU! hahahaha! Studying in China rocks! I mean it. Its an experience that has brought me much pain (Chinese administration) yet so much delight. The charms of China are unique.

I'll post some photos up soon. Such delights must be seen and not only read.

I have material possessions to my name now. A fridge, a water dispenser, an iron, many chinese textbooks, and my electronic equipment. :) The first three were scavenged! YAY!

I will end this immensely erratic post, for how can you describe your life?... and go cut my hair at a KOREAN hair dresser.