Week One recap

Well, I made it through week one.  It was an exercise in endurance some days because we had very long lectures / presentations from Chinese professors in art, culture, economics, history, and philosophy.  A couple were very interesting and exciting. The last one today was three hours on economic development in the past 30 years....yawner....but I didn't talk or fall asleep. Just scribbled in my notebook a lot and kept looking up like I was paying attention to GDP and GNP and projected trade deficit figures and spread sheets!  

Now the culture sessions are over. The language classes ended today, too, so I'm practicing what I learned (and listening to what I recorded). My Chinese student guide is stopping by again on Monday to go over some tricky words with me.

I taught an English class today to Chinese students. I was going to observe the class (taught by an American), and I got involved with the students' questions about not understanding vocabulary and reading for understanding, so the teacher said I could give it a try.  We had a great time for 45 minutes - sounding out words and repeating words "....adventurous...adventurous..adventurous...." - and then I gave them crazy examples.  They got braver and braver with pronunciations, and we played word games.  It was a great break from the routine of my week. I will go back and see them one more time before I leave.

Tomorrow we board the bus for Shanghai-proper. We are going to the urban planning center, the Jade Buddha Temple, WALMART!!!!, the French Concession area and a Catholic church, and a giant market with lots of stores. Two meals out, bargaining, shopping, sightseeing, not getting lost, the buddy system, tired feet, good shoes, my backpack purse, and a determined spirit are the watchwords of the day. 

We are excited about a real trip out of the compound. This will be my first shopping adventure, except for the little adventure for clothes hangers and clothes pins when we first arrived. 

 BIG news for the day? I found a towel. Bought a new full-size towel at the campus mini-mart, which we just discovered. I also got a new bar of great smelling soap. I'm set. The basic luxuries of life have returned. 

[Editor's note: This is not an actual photograph of Linda's new towel.]

[Editor's note: Some changes have been made to punctuation in order to meet the author's exacting standard for correctness, which she was not able to do herself due to quick typing.]