Beautiful day!

So this very moment I'm laying on the grass in front of our ten story residence hall enjoying the beautiful day. Not only is it extremely warm (>70 degrees Fahrenheit) it is also Women's Day. Women's Day is a big deal in China. To celebrate it, women don't have to work and spend the day doing typical female activities like shopping so stores have special sales. At lunch today, all the girls got a bowl soup for free which had soy beans and other things in it which I have no idea what they were. A few minutes ago, some of the female workers on campus took part in a tug of war. Not quite sure why or what exactly but it was still fun to watch.

Today for class, we went to Luxun park and talked to the locals. We had 10 questions prepared ahead of time to ask them. I was shocked how willing they were to talk to us but not everyone received a friendly hello. I was fortunate enough to be welcomed by all the people that I talked to. We saw them doing many activities: tai chi of course (太极拳), tai chi with a sword (太极剑) using the outdoor exercise equipment (锻炼), dancing (跳舞), singing (唱歌), writing calligraphy on the sidewalk with water (书法), and this whipping thing (鞭子). A few of the guys from our group attempted to do this whipping activity and succeeded, while others ended up whipping themselves! Basically what they would do was swing the whip around their head and then snap it real quick making a loud noise! It was pretty entertaining and amazing how many people were there partaking in many different activities and how strong some of these elderly men are!

Today concludes the third week of classes. Next week we have our Chinese test on Thursday and then we leave Friday to go to Zhejiang province. There we will be able to go to Hangzhou and see the West Lake. I'm excited to take a weekend trip. I've been trying to figure out what I want to do for our weekend vacation and have been debating between going to Chengdu and Xian or farther south cities like Guilin. I have to make up my mind soon and start planning it all out. Either one will be great, I'm sure.

During my internship this last week, I was able to visit a few different universities like Jiaotong University and Tongji University. It is truly amazing seeing how large these schools really are. I talked to a girl at Tongji University about wanting to go abroad and her English was really good! Everyone here seems to start learning English at a very young age, just like in the United States but with Spanish. Also I have posted some pictures of Jing'an park which is right behind my work!

The food here has been unbelievable thus far, even though we have eaten American and Mexican food already and it's only been a month. Most meals consist of either noodles and dumplings or meat, veggies, and rice. Here in shanghai you can find pretty much any food you could ever imagine. The quality may not be what you are used to in the United States but I have not had a situation where I've gotten sick from the food yet. (That doesn't hold true for everyone in our group though)

I haven't figured out why there are so many jets that fly by our campus yet, sitting here for only two hours, they've flown by at least 5 times and it seems like each time they are lower and lower. It makes me wonder....

Well I'm going to rest my eyes for a bit and then I'm going to explore Shanghai more tonight with friend. Tomorrow, we will go to Shanghai Science and Technology Museum which has a fake market below it!